5 Months Old

It is hard to believe that another month has gone by - a month completely spent at home! I took Eli's 4-month pictures on my first day of working from home in March, and I certainly didn't think that we would still be at home a whole month later. I can count on one hand the number of places we have been in the past 30 days. There are so many places I want to go and things I want to do with Eli. I hope it isn't too much longer before we are able to once again go to parks, restaurants, the library, and the Science Center. There is a great big world out there waiting for Eli to discover! 

Still no belly laughs yet, but as you can see, Eli loves smiling and screeching, and when Daddy tickles his tummy, he gives a high pitched snort. Time has seemed to stand still this past month, but there is no denying that Eli is growing. He is still currently in size 1 Pampers during the day, but we have moved up to size 2 Huggies at night. (I've discovered that the special elastic waistband on Huggies prevents any late night leaks!) He is wearing 3-6 month clothes, but in onesies and sleepers, his feet are starting to stretch out the fabric and pull at the neckline. He still often requires an outfit change at some point throughout the day, but we have found the bandana bibs to be helpful in catching any of the drool or watery burps. It is possible that he is teething, which would explain the extra slobberyness. We are doing baths twice a week, usually on Mondays and Fridays. As Eli becomes more active and as the weather warms up, I am sure we will move to a more frequent schedule. We are still using the special baby bath bassinet, but he is quickly outgrowing it. He is working on his head control and not quite steady when sitting on his own, so for now, we will continue using the bassinet a little while longer. When we put him in the monkey chair during meal times, Eli likes to thrust his hips in the air, as if to eject himself out! When you raise him up to a sitting position, he generally gets his legs underneath himself to go all the way to standing. His legs are pretty strong, and he has a sturdy stance when he plants his feet. We think he is watching his sister and trying to imitate the things that she does, and because of this, he may be an earlier walker - yikes! Two new things we introduced Eli to this month were the Bumbo seat and the baby carrier. Next up in Month 5: food! Eli's diet has been exclusively breastmilk, so we plan to start with the introduction of rice cereal, then move on to fruits and vegetables. Stay tuned!

There have been a few new things for big sister Emmy, too! She has finally figured out her tricycle. She no longer pushes with her feet on the ground, but now she uses the pedals like she's suppose to. On nice days, she loves going around and around in our cul-de-sac. For our walks around the neighborhood, she has discovered a new way to ride on the stroller with Eli. I'm sure we are testing its weight limits! On our walks, she loves saying "hello!" to all the dogs in the neighborhood, which have been named Charlie, Marshall, Rubble, and Sky. Lastly, she is doing a much better job at staying inside the lines when coloring. She continues to like "school stuff" with Grammy and is working on learning her lowercase letters and reading a clock. During meal time when the clock is in view, a common question is "What is it on nowwwwwww?"  

This month was also a milestone for Mommy - I turned 34! With the social distancing rules still in place because of the coronavirus, it is a strange time to have a birthday. Since my birthday was a Thursday and a weekday, we followed our usual routine of playtime in the morning and work in the afternoon. Boomer was able to work from home that day, and he made every effort for it to be a special day for me. I even got an extra hour of sleep in the morning while he dressed and fed the kids! Then in the afternoon, he took them over to my parents' house so that we could have an uninterrupted dinner at home. We decided on take-out from Cracker Barrel, followed by a milkshake from Sheetz on our way back to pick-up the kids. Emmy and Eli had a fun time with Grammy and Grandpa. They sent us a few pictures, and we got a good laugh out of Eli's face as he is looking at his big sister. We used to be worried that she wouldn't want anything to do with him, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore! I had a second celebration tonight during our Saturday take-out tradition with my sister, her family, and my parents. They helped make it a special birthday after all!

 

A Happy Easter at Home

Easter was a bit different this year as we are still staying at home. We tried to preserve some of our usual traditions while remembering the true reason for the holiday - Christ's resurrection. Good Friday happened to also be Grammy's birthday, so we gathered at the Houstons' house to celebrate. We first dyed Easter eggs, then we all watched Frozen 2 together. Since we had just recently watched the original Frozen for the first time, Emmy was glued to the screen and loved having "Elsa power" the rest of the day. After the movie, we had lunch with some of Grammy's favorite foods and sang "Happy birthday!" with jumbo cupcakes from a local Kernersville bakery. As the kids napped/rested, the adults watched a second movie, and then we took a walk around the neighborhood after mostly sitting the whole day (well, as much sitting as you can with four kids under the age of 7!) According to Grammy, it was the perfect day. We are so thankful for all she does for our family! 

With the forecast for Easter Sunday not looking too good, we had an impromptu Easter egg hunt in our backyard on Saturday when the weather was mild and sunny. Daddy did a good job of hiding the eggs and even put a special treat (a Hershey kiss) in one. 

Before any of the predicted storms on Easter, Emmy had a special surprise that morning when there were more eggs outside! Aunt Megan and Maddox "egged" our house, and Emmy had fun once again collecting all the eggs in the yard. Instead of just one Hershey kiss, every egg had a treat inside! Since Eli was too young to hunt eggs this year, Emmy enjoyed carrying both of their baskets. She is becoming such a good sharer and even put eggs in his basket, too. (Of course, after she took out any of the candy!) 

We watched our church's Easter service on livestream once again this week. Emmy is starting to learn our new routines of "church on the TV," and she especially loves the singing. Our relaxing holiday weekend ended with a delicious Easter dinner at my parents' house - no take-out this week! My mom made her cranberry chicken recipe with mashed potatoes, corn, and deviled eggs, with ice cream and warm-from-the-oven cookies for dessert. We are back to our "regular" schedule (our stay-at-home-schedule, that is) with Daddy going back to work today. We miss him on the days that he is gone. On the most recent shopping run, he bought new shampoo for Emmy in Iron Man and SpiderMan bottles. It has prompted her to bring back out her Iron Man mask, which she wore around the neighborhood for our walk this evening. Have you ever seen a cuter Iron Man? :)

Stay-at-home Life

The last few days have included a lot of conference calls, comfy clothes, and games of Candyland. I thought I wouldn't be taking too many photos during this stay-at-home order, but boy was I wrong! I find that I am snapping even more pictures in these simple moments of being at home. I am enjoying seeing so much of the kids and also having time with Boomer. This week, his county has Spring Break, and he has been working from home each day. (He plans to go in on Thursday to have one day in his building.) Emmy and Eli have joined in for a few of his virtual meetings. After saying 'hello' I'll then scoop them up and attempt to give Daddy some space until his meeting is over. We have found a good groove between the four of us. In the [little] downtime between meals, naps (for the kids), and work (for the adults), we've enjoyed introducing Emmy to a few board games, like Candyland. Emmy tends to make up her own rules, and we let her pretty much take over the board. I'm seeing so much of her personality coming out during our days together. Boomer and I often find ourselves laughing at her funny sayings and bossy commands. She is very imaginative and makes up full-blown conversations with all of her stuffed animals. Luckily, she hasn't shown any signs of boredom with the same rotation of toys that we have at home and loves to play school or other pretend games. One night this week, we had our first movie night. Of course the movie of choice was Frozen. It was Emmy's first time seeing it, but she was no stranger to Elsa and Anna. She knew both characters already and watched intently throughout the whole movie, claiming "that's me" any time that Elsa was on the screen.

We've certainly been spending a lot of time inside the four walls of our home, but we've had some outdoor fun too. The weather this past week has been beautiful with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. The highlight of our day is often our evening walk around the neighborhood. Although there is a good amount of pollen right now, it is so nice to be outdoors and to get some fresh air. On one evening walk, Minnie and Purple Baby even joined us. Emmy walked [almost] the entire mile loop pushing them in her pink polka-dot stroller. Other outdoor fun has included helping Daddy mow the grass, rocking on the front porch, and getting creative with sidewalk chalk. This past Saturday, everyone got out in the driveway to make mosaic chalk art at the Houstons'. It has become somewhat of a tradition to get together on Saturday with my family for a take-out dinner buffet. Everyone picks up their own dinner, and then we gather around the table with our to-go boxes. I feel a little nervous extending "our circle" to include even my immediate family, but since we are all otherwise staying at home, hopefully there is no risk of being together. The evenings are laidback and simple with everyone in comfy clothes and heading home before the sun goes down. It is a fun ending to the week for all of us. 

Eli will be 5 months old soon. I know that under normal circumstances, I would only be seeing him a fraction of the time that I am seeing him now. I am trying to set aside the stress of juggling my work with mom duties and instead focus on this precious gift of time. His newest tricks this week are holding his own bottle and [almost] sitting up on his own. Emmy has given him the nickname of "E-Guy." She loves to narrate her little brother's life, with declarations of "Eli spit up!" "Eli had a poopie!" "Eli is making funny faces." She has also learned how to whisper when he is napping, and it is the cutest thing.  

I'll close with one funny story from the week. As I was attempting to clean off the patio furniture and move it back into place for use this spring, I shattered the glass top of the table. SHATTERED! (see picture below) I was trying to put the umbrella back into the stand, and I guess I didn't quite have it lined up to the base, and the pressure of the umbrella broke the glass. Thank goodness I have an April birthday coming up, because my parents already bought and delivered a replacement. I'm hoping we can enjoy more time outdoors over the next few weeks!