Two Months Too Fast

Mother Nature has been quite confusing these past few weeks. We've seen temperatures as low as the 20s and as high as the 60s. Throw in a little wind and rain, and there you have January in North Carolina. Keeping everyone healthy and dressed appropriately has been a bit of a challenge. Last weekend on a rainy Saturday, we enjoyed some indoor fun at Kaleideum Downtown, a museum and play space for children of all ages. We had previously been to Kaleideum in the summer of 2018 when Emmy was 1 1/2. It was fun to return again now that she is a little older. She loves playing make believe, so of course she was particularly drawn to the doughnut factory and grocery store. She and Boomer also enjoyed drawing and creating things in the prop studio. Eli slept for most of the outing, but he was otherwise content in his car seat. After spending a couple of hours at Kaleideum, we ate lunch in downtown Winston-Salem at Alma Mexicana. It was our first time eating there, and the unique blackberry salsa and Surf & Turf tacos were delicious. Boomer and I traded bites of each other's tacos. As we were heading back to our car, I couldn't resist snapping a photo of Super Daddy carrying both kids.    

When we went to Kaleideum, Emmy and Eli matched for the first time. As a birthday present, Emmy received a set of DIY shirts that say "Big" and "Little." On a different rainy day in January, Emmy used the special fabric markers to color her own design on both shirts. She loves doing any crafts with crayons, markers, paints, or stickers. Don't mind Eli's face in the picture; he loves matching his big sis! :)

The very next day, temperatures warmed up to close to 70 degrees! After church and naps, our family of four walked up to the neighborhood park for some exercise and fresh air. Emmy was a protective big sister holding on to the stroller as we walked. 

The rest of the week has consisted of working on Eli's smile. He is becoming more and more expressive and vocal. Boomer is the best at coaxing out his smiles and those sweet baby coos. I've tried to capture some of the smiles I get when it's just the two of us during the day or in the early morning. 

Eli is 2 months old today, and since it is a Saturday, Boomer and Emmy were home to help with the photo shoot this morning. We have moved on from the newborn clothing, and Eli is now wearing 0-3 month clothes. He is in size 1 diapers, and at this week's Baby Cafe, he weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces. We are finding a routine with morning, evening, and dinnertime naps. Naps are often in the car seat as we go from one place to the other. After several nights of 7-hour stretches of sleep, we've regressed to about 5 hour stretches. I think I bragged too soon that he was sleeping through the night! I am trying to figure out the right amount of milk for his nightly bottle; sometimes extra ounces mean extra sleep for everyone, but sometimes not. There doesn't seem to be a direct correlation. Eli's favorite activities right now are "talking" to Daddy, gripping and grabbing onto objects (especially Mommy's hair), and looking at lights and ceiling fans. We are still swaddling him at bedtime, and I often find him with his head at the opposite end of the crib in the morning. We see a lot of similarities between Eli and his sister, but he has a distinctive cry and a small dimple in his chin. We've loved getting to know him over these last two months!

 

 

In addition to these 2-month photos from my iPhone, my sister-in-law Darby came over this past week to take some better professional photos of Eli. Darby is so talented, and she captured several sweet moments. After being wide awake for most of the photo shoot, he fell asleep in my arms at the end. I wish Boomer and Emmy had been home to be in the photos, too - I hope to do family photos with all four of us soon. I'm thankful for these pictures to remember Eli at this very precious age!

Update 1/23/2020: Eli had his 2-month appointment on Tuesday. He weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces and measured 22.5 inches in length. His head measured in the 88th percentile at 16 inches. Dr. Albright looked him over carefully and said that he looks great. And apparently his ears are a "doctor's dream" because Dr. Albright could easily see through the ear canal. Eli did have to have a few shots, which he wasn't too thrilled about. He got some cool Spider-Man band-aids to show off how brave he was!