A summertime bath

Eli has a baby pool now and he tried it for the first time Sunday. He was naked, so we think he thought he was taking a bath :)

Fun-filled Saturday

Today was fun and packed! But before we left the house we lounged in the backyard with Eli on a blanket. He had a great time -- rolling back and forth and trying out his sounds.

Eli and I went to a cloth diaper class later in the morning and learned all about it so that we can switch to cloth diapers. I am very excited since it will save us thousands of dollars and be easier on the environment.

We also went to the Saturday Farmer's Market and ate lunch. It was ridiculously hot today so Eli was a bit fussy but it was fun to see our friend Mardell and listen to music and eat yummy fried food :)

This evening we went to the World Beat Festival with our friend Malcolm from Walla Walla. We got more ethnic food and sat in some shade next to the Willamette River on blankets. We cooled Eli off by spraying him with cold water and then blowing air from a battery-operated fan on him. Yes, he is very spoiled. He really liked it when we sprayed a little water in his mouth. He was probably dehydrated...

Sitting up and falling over

Eli is learning how to sit up. Today we practiced several times. Once he lasted for about 10 seconds, which is pretty good. When he falls over, it is very cute. He sort of slumps to the front or side and then slowly falls to the ground. He always looks a bit startled that it happened, but I usually laugh, and then he smiles.

Today we went for two walks -- one with Sarah and Elliot in the morning and the other with Stefanie and Alex in the afternoon. He was in his Ergo carrier for both of them -- he likes to be next to his mama :)

I kept trying to get him to laugh again today. I would blow on his belly and pretend I was eating him up, and he kept smiling really huge smiles and then going, "Ack!" Very sweet.

Eli laughs but doesn't get weighed

Eli laughed today at the dinner table. It was so great. I yelled to Michael to get the camera and he came running downstairs but Eli wouldn't do it again. No matter how hard I tried. I posted one video of my attempt to get him to do the full-fledged laughing again, but mainly you will just hear me laughing. Sorry about that. You get to hear Eli giggle a little bit.

We missed our doctor's appointment so no update on his weight. I thought it was at 11:30 a.m. but it was really 11 a.m. Bummer. We have to wait until July 10th for a full report.

I think Eli is getting in some more lower teeth. His gums are really swollen. I just hope that it isn't as bad as his first two...

1/2

Eli turned 1/2 today! We can't believe he is 6 months old. We sang him "Happy Birthday" this morning and he loved it. He kept smiling his huge open-mouth smile and making little squeals.

I totally love this age. He is very happy and excited to see new things. I sat him in the garden today in his bouncy chair while I (FINALLY!) planted some basil and tomatoes. He sniffed the sage and basil I gave him and was content to watch me doing something different. In the afternoon we played on the living room rug -- he was rolling over and I was doing yoga. He watched me intently and kept trying to catch my eye so he could smile at me.

I love that he is a 1/2 :) Tomorrow at his doctor's appointment I find out how much he weighs. If it is over 22 pounds (I really think he could be) then we have to upgrade his car seat.

A boy and his dog

Wally and Eli get along famously. Especially during meals. Wally hangs around waiting for Eli to drop something on the floor. Eli gets a kick out of watching Wally and getting licked by him. I like it because Wally can distract Eli from wanting to grab his bowl of food on the table.

In the photos, Eli is wearing his new bib. It is actually a SUPER BIB. It has long sleeves and fully covers his front. There is no way food is landing on his belly now :)

A hard day

Eli had a hard day today. He couldn't stay asleep long enough to feel calm and happy. He took a 30-minute nap in the morning and then we played for a little bit. Then he took another 30-minute nap, which was way too short for his mid-afternoon nap.

When Michael came home in the afternoon, Eli seemed very happy to see him. Michael was holding him and Eli was smiling until Michael --who was being silly and teasing me about going to work -- jokingly said something like, "You have a bad mommy, don't you?" Eli promptly burst into tears in protest of Daddy slandering Mama. It was very funny.

Michael and I just noticed that Eli is doing this really cute thing these days: putting his head down on our shoulder when we carry him. He can hold his head up really well now, and his back is super strong, so when we carry him with one arm under his bottom, he usually sits up and looks around the entire time. But sometimes he rests his head on our shoulders. It makes us melt whenever he does it.

In general, Eli is so much more aware of what is going on around him. He will cry if I leave the room. He reaches out to touch EVERYTHING that I am holding or that is near him. When I turn on the faucet to wash his hands after eating, he is leaning over to get his hands under the flow. And when I take something away from him, he gets upset. It wasn't too long ago that he wasn't doing any of those things. I can't believe how fast babies learn....

Sleep update: Eli has been amazing. Now that I started feeding him 3 solid meals a day, he sleeps for at least 5 hours in a row. Last night he only woke once -- at 3 a.m. and then slept until 7:20 a.m. We feel so much better and Eli seems to feel better too. Of course, during the day we feel like we are trying to fatten up a pig with the way we feed him, but every bite gives us an extra 5 minutes of sleep, so it is worth it :)

Don't read this if you don't want to hear about poop

I never thought I would blog about poop, but here it is. Poop is a big part of my day. Mostly it goes like this: I wonder if Eli pooped and I need to change his diaper; Eli pooped and I need to change his diaper; or Eli farted but I better check his diaper to make sure it wasn't poop.

Until yesterday, Eli's poop was the same as it was when he was 1 week old. (I won't go into graphic detail about what that was like!) But now he's been eating solids. And he has little turds in his diaper. They are the exact same color of whatever he ate several hours earlier. It is the weirdest thing. So far, he has only eaten seven foods: sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, rice cereal, apples, bananas and watermelon. So you can guess what I found in his diaper. Anyway, it does make him seem less like a baby. Aww, my little boy is growing up :)

OK, so enough about poop.

Today I tried to nurse Eli down for a nap but he clearly wasn't ready for a nap. So we just rocked in my nursing chair and looked at each and I talked quietly to him and he just stared and stared at me. Then I started sticking out my tongue and making funny noises with my lips and he just smiled and did his half-giggles like I was so entertaining. Really, he was the one entertaining me because his smiles are so cute. It was a sweet moment.

We played on a blanket in his nursery and he was having a blast staring at himself in the mirror on the playmat. He was also rolling over and over -- from back to front and front to back. Ever since his two front teeth cut through, he is much much happier.

The perfect day

Michael, Eli and I walked to the Salem Saturday Farmer's Market this morning. It was a gorgeous walk through the park and quiet downtown. We met Mardell and found a table in front of the musicians, Roundhouse. Eli and I danced while the band warmed up. We got scones, Michael got coffee, and Mardell and I drank fresh-squeezed strawberry lemonades.

Eli napped in my arms for a litle bit and then we perused the market and bought some yummy stuff, like wild rice. We stuck around so long that we ate lunch there too! Eli was in a great mood and he smiled a ton and sucked on his fingers, toes (which were covered in shoes, by the way) and anything else he could get in his mouth.

This evening we had Sarah, Jeremy and Elliot over for burgers on the grill. Elliot had been asking about Ee-ii and Wawwee all week so it was very important that Elliot come over. We had a great time while Elliot played with the dogs, threw rocks in the pond and played with Eli on a blanket on the grass. Eli ate some watermelon, which he loves.

It was the perfect summer day :)

Oh, and I captured Eli's new teeth on film!

Mommy-and-me yoga

Eli and I went to Mommy-and-me yoga today. We usually can't go because I work on Fridays but I had the day off. Eli loved it!

He was on a blanket in front of my yoga mat and he smiled and chewed on his toys. When I brought him onto my belly for some poses, he got a huge grin. He even did a high-pitched squeal in response to another boy's squeal. I think that is the first real squeal I have heard from Eli. And he was babbling a little bit. For a very quiet boy, it was quite remarkable.

Eli cuts two teeth at once

Eli cut two teeth today! I was feeding him some mashed banana on my finger and he bit down and, OUCH, I felt his teeth. They must have just come through because two days ago I saw his gums were swollen. I can't believe he got both of them at the same time. Well, I guess I can -- he has been so upset lately. Mostly I am sad about his teeth because I love his toothless smile. I tried to capture it on film today but no such luck. I still got cute shots of us playing.

We spent some time in the nursery this morning on the quilt I made for us. I gave him a baby massage. We sang songs and shook a rattle. I made him almost giggle by pretending to eat his cheek.

I am on my part-time schedule now so I only had to put in 4 hours today. Eli was an angel and took a 3-hour nap from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Holy cow. I finished my story and made some calls on some other stories and then still had the afternoon free.

We went for a walk with Stefanie and Alex around Bush Park. When Alex got a little fussy in his stroller we sat in the grass and the boys had fun grabbing the grass and trying to eat it. Then we took them swimming. Eli last about twice as long as he did the first time he went, but then he was wailing in the locker room. We'll try again...

Sweet potato mess

Today, Eli ate sweet potato baby food for the second time in his life. At first, he didn't like it and made a face. Then I made such a show of eating the sweet potatoes that Wally came over to find out if he could taste them. Eli decided he liked them and ate most of the jar. It could be that he thought he would starve if Wally was allowed to eat his food!

Tonight he finished the jar from yesterday and ate the entire second jar! Of course, not all of it ends up in his mouth. At the end of his dinner, he had sweet potatoes all over his face, hands, neck, outfit and some even made it onto his eyelid. I had to change his outfit it was so bad. Sweet potatoes are a bit messier than rice cereal. (At least, you can see the mess with sweet potatoes. Rice cereal sort of blends in.)

One thing that helped him eat today is having him watch me open my mouth and make chewing noises. Before, he wasn't really opening his mouth -- he would just shove his lips into the spoon. I opened my mouth really wide and he mimicked me. Then he chewed when I chewed. It was super cute, and of course, super smart!

I also gave Eli a teething biscuit today and he seemed to like chewing on it until I saw that his gum was bleeding a little bit. I really think a tooth is very close to coming out. Later in the afternoon, his lower gum was so swollen, it was painful just to look at.

When Michael got home from work, Eli was really happy to see him. After his bath, I carried Eli to Michael and Eli sort of put his arms out like he wanted Michael to take him. Michael was so happy!

We gave Eli some formula before bed tonight and he took 2 ounces. We are hoping it helps him sleep longer at night. Last night was a terrible night (waking every 2-3 hours) and we are hoping that some extra food in his belly will keep him zonked out for a good 5-6 hours. We need the rest...

Eli rides a train

On Saturday, Eli went to Ben's birthday party. Ben is 3. He is the son of my friend and co-worker Lori. Ben's party was at Antique Powerland in Brooks -- and it has a miniature train and track so kids can ride around. There is a small grass spot in the center of the tracks for a picnic. It was a perfect birthday party.

I am not sure Eli knew he was on a train and he wasn't all that happy, but I bet in 2 years he is going to go crazy over trains!

Sleep breakthrough?

Eli slept so long last night, I was worried something had happened to him.

He went to bed at 6:30 p.m. and woke briefly at 8:30 p.m. Michael sang to him and put him back down. Then Eli didn't wake again until 4:30 a.m.! The night before, Eli slept for 6 hours straight.

We thought we had a breakthrough on the sleeping front until we realize he felt really hot and took his temperature. It was 100.6 degrees. Michael stayed home from work and Eli had Tylenol throughout the day. Poor little guy.

Coffee date with bananas

Michael took the day off work today and I went in to finish up some stories on the invasive species project I have been working on for the last 10 months. I got to see Eli at lunchtime when Michael walked to my office with the stroller.

Eli and I sat together at the Ike Box coffee shop and I nursed him. He fell asleep almost instantly and he stayed asleep for about 40 minutes while nursing. It was peaceful and I closed my eyes for awhile, just enjoying him in my arms.

When I got home from work, I mashed up some banana and fed that to him. He likes banana a lot, although it could be that Eli likes all kinds of solid foods. He is certainly quite enthusiastic about eating from a spoon!

Swings and smiles

Eli and I had a very good day today. He was all smiles during the day even though he is teething. Sarah loaned him Sophie, this all-natural rubber giraffe teether, and he really likes to chew on its legs.

We went to the Crooked House Playground at Bush Park and he used the bucket swing. I just sort of propped him in it and he nonchalantly let me push him back and forth. He had this expression on his face like "This is what the swing is, mama? It's not THAT big of a deal!" I am hoping he likes the swing more in the future :)