Month 6 (week 25)

Eli has been mainly full of tears or laughter this past week,and not tears of joy! One word TEETHING! His cheeks are all red,chewing stuff while all the time crying,drooling all over the place and now he's not eating! At first I thought that it might be my fantastic veg purée that I so loving made for him, but he's not keen on his milk either. Poor little man,When Max and Megan were teething we used to keep their dummies in the fridge to keep them cold. That would be a big help,only Eli doesn't like dummies and he gets really frustrated with teething toys,added to the fact he's in pain.It's a recipe for a lot of crying and cuddles.On doing a bit of research, distraction might take his mind off the pain,cold carrot sticks for him to chew on,and teething powders could help, and as a last resort Calpol for pain and temperature relief, apparently it's not uncommon for babies to have a slight temperature while teething.Anyway Eli is taking a trip to the surgery to see the GP so we can be sure it's nothing else. Unfortunately it's a stage of development they need to go through,I just hope it doesn't last too long.
On a happier note now that Eli can almost sit up by himself we have invested in a ball pit and a baby walker.He loves them and now that he rolls about all over the place as soon as he's let go of,they are a good idea as he can't move around as much.:

Communication

Eli has found his voice at last! it's not just blowing raspberries any more lovely though it was.

Month 6 (week 24)

Finally i've caught up with time.Eli turned 6 months old 2/05/10,half a year has gone by already,time really does fly when your having fun.Or should I say sleep deprived and rushed of your feet with an endless list of things to do! Eli got weighed last week,now a bouncy 19lb 2oz.I decided to make my first batch of veg purée. Butter-nut squash,Parsnip and sweet potato,yummy! After steaming all this lovely veg I found out the blender didn't have a fuse in it, so I had to use the potato-ricer gadget.All the while with Eli in the background letting me know,he wasn't impressed with my efforts.The kitchen looked like a bomb hit it.But after about a good hour of going backwards & forwards I managed to fill my brand new ice-cube trays and pop them in the freezer. Job done! The next day transferring these lovely little cubes to a bag wasn't as easy as I thought.I banged them on the work-top,stuck! I tried to gently ease them out with a knife,no joy! in the end I just hammered each cube out and in the process broke all three ice-cube trays!But I do learn from my mistakes,we are now the proud owners of a silicone ice-cube mould, Yay!After all this effort Eli tasted it and well he didn't seem to impressed, I think he just needs to give it another go:) It hasn't put me off torturing his taste buds in the future, I am looking forward to trying out my new mould and more challenging recipes :)

Month 5 (on the move)

Week 16,Eli was weighing in at 16lb 4oz, not a bad weight.He's above average size but has been since he was born,i thought he might of had a jump with all the extra food over the past 2weeks but it hasn't really affected his weight yet!In 6-9 month clothes already!He doesn't like getting dressed, especially tops.He constantly fights me, by the end i've got him vice-gripped between my legs, trying to bend he arm into the sleeve without breaking it,honestly is it worth all the struggle? roll on summer,then it will be nice weather and clothes won't really matter :).Eli was now showing signs of movement trying so hard to roll over,really putting in lots of effort.after about 2 weeks of trying he did it! Also so close to sitting up by himself, there is just a slight issue of balance,but so close it won't be long. Dave had the brainwave to do a Tesco online shop,fab idea you pick what you want,and when you want it and they bring it to your door.no more struggling to fit everything on the buggy or having to rush back because Eli wanted feeding,brilliant!And even better if you join the baby club you get sent money off vouchers/hints/tips and a magazine.Over the Easter holiday the weather was lovely so we took a family day trip on the canal,got another flat tyre on the buggy :(.Also Dave set me up accounts on Facebook,Twitter and last but not least this blog.While on Twitter i got talking to another mum who's little boy is 2 weeks younger than Eli,now we are in touch and she gave me the idea to make my own baby food.She sent me to annabel Karmel's site,it's brilliant,full of recipes and information.next month i'll give it a go i think :)

Month 4 (it's all happening now)

At 12 weeks old it all started to happen.Eli moved into his very own big boy cot, his feet was starting to dangle over the end of the Moses basket,we thought it was time for a upgrade.Max now had to share,now it's the 'boys room'.Our room seemed empty,he was only in the next room, but with the monitor next to my ear constantly listening,we made it through the night.It seemed like forever until the morning,but it eventually came and so did the wake up call or should i say scream."where am I, this isn't my normal ceiling?" jumping out of bed like a mad women,i managed to navigate into the boys room with my eyes half shut.It didn't take long until it was normal.Eli did and still does keep waking up at around 3am,i stopped feeding him in the night around 8-9 weeks old,it must just be habit, which eventually he'll grow out of,i hope:).Shortly after the big move Eli started to show signs of being ready for weaning, he was always looking for food,didn't sleep for very long,always chomping down on anything he could get his hands on and watching us eating.Now the guidelines say it's better to start introducing proper food at around 6 months.But we knew he was ready,a suck on a rusk here and a teaspoon of baby rice there.Like a duck to water.I bought some cow&gate jars,they all have yummy names like,granpa's sunday lunch and creamy cottage pie.Trouble is Eli didn't like them.He did love their banana porridge,and had it all the time for breakfast.Heinz choc pudding,egg custard with rice and spaghetti bollonaise went down better.And he is sleeping for longer periods of time,a good 2-3 hours at midday and again about 6-7pm.so i can tackle the ever growing mountain of ironing:)

Month 3

Eli now 8 weeks old,being a very determined baby and knowing exactly what he wants. Nappies and bottles, baby sick and crying it's all fun and I can't remember what life was like before he arrived.First thing in the morning after he has woken up,looking over the edge of the Moses basket and seeing his smiley face,well the 3am feed just fades out of your memory.Or on some mornings waking up like a little Mr Hyde,grumping and crying,if only he would have opened his eyes he would have seen his adoring parents smiling thinking "Ah bless him!".
Megan was like and still is a mother hen clucking about all over Eli,loving and hugging,singing and rocking.She really wanted to get involved.She couldn't believe her luck when Dave told her to change Eli's nappy.It was so funny he was wriggling about and kicking his legs,all the time she was trying to talk all nice to him while trying to do up the poppers on his baby-grow.It took her about 15mins,but bless her she didn't give up until the job was done.Both kids helped out by setting up the changing mat and getting the nappy ready.Fetching emergency changes of clothes when Eli was sick,Rocking the buggy to get him to sleep,all the units in the kitchen have scuffs and dints where the buggy has banged into them,we bought a mothercare urban detour buggy to replace the Graco one.It is a brilliant buggy,It doesn't take Eli very long to fall asleep as it's a smooth ride,the only down side is it's size.It is quite a big buggy and takes up all the car boot,but thats not a problem if you walk everywhere like us.I was taking Eli to the doctors for his second lot of injections and we ran over a little twig on the path,I didn't relise until I was half way up a big hill that I had a flat tyre, the twig had a great big thorn on it.I was still 20 mins away from the surgery and I had to half carry,half push it the rest of the way,what a nightmare! funny now it wasn't funny at the time.

Month 2 (Tears & Treatments)

Eli was overdue when he was born so he had very dry skin.We had all the lotions and baby creams.The midwife just told us to use olive oil out the cupboard,It's natural and is good for moisturising baby's skin.We used it for a while but Eli developed baby eczema, which I am told fizzles out at around 2-3yrs, also he had really bad cradle cap on his head.After speaking to the health visitor she gave us some cream called Epaderm,which we had to plaster all over him twice a day,within a week you could see the difference.His cradle cap has all gone now and his eczema is under control.He didn't much like being turned into a greasy blob,but it was for his own good.
In the early evening He would just cry and cry.Both Max and Megan has a dummy to sooth them, not our Eli he just doesn't like them,I keep trying but he just spits it out and chews his fingers instead.It turned out that Colic was the cause of the crying.He used to arch his back and then draw his knees up to his chest,all the while screaming the place down.And there was nothing we could do,Gripe water although is usually helpful it didn't do much good,so we only used it twice.All we could do is try to distract him,MTV helped but listening to a Black eyed peas song over and over sent us mad.We took it in turns to gentle rock him,and eventually he would be that tired he would go to sleep.These crying episodes when on for about 6 weeks and then they started to be less frequent,then stopped.It is really hard to cope when you're so tired but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Eli had his 6 week check with the doctor which was fine and then at 8 weeks he had his first set of injections,I was dreading taking him because of the inevitable crying.Cry he did, the look on his face was "what are you doing to me mummy"I felt so guilty,we had spent the last 8 weeks making sure no harm came to him,and here I was allowing this to happen.All i can say is it's a good job they don't remember.I had took a bottle with me so I could feed him after,which did calm him down.Only two more sets of injections to go.
On a happier note It was Eli's first Christmas he didn't have any turkey but he got snow what better present could you ask for.

Month 1 The begining

We were well prepared, I had spent most of the summer on Ebay buying everything I could Think of including clothes,sterilizers and bottles,a Graco travel system,which turned out to last 4 weeks,This was a second-hand buggy said to have be used for only 3 months and was in excellent condition,BARGAIN I thought when I won it for £25.All I can say is beware! Coming back from the shops the wheel feel off and kept falling off all the way home.Anyway The first 2 weeks was like piccadilly circus midwives coming and going,measuring,checking weight and blood tests.Eli was a massive 8lb7oz when he was born,well massive to us having had 2 babies under 7lb8oz.
Dave took over the school run and faced endless questions from all the mums on the playground.He came back everyday with messages and well wishes.He basically did everything,while I got plenty of rest.With the kids back at school bringing home lots of lovely germs it wasn't long before Eli got a cold.He sounded like a coffee percolator because he was that stuffed up. Unfortunately you can't buy anything for newborns to help.After some research we found a few things that helped to de-congest him.
1.Elevating baby's mattress at the head end.
2.Putting baby in the bathroom while running the bath or shower.
3.Putting wet washing on the radiators to dry.
4.Taking baby out for a walk in the fresh air.
We did manage to buy some nasal spray made by Calpol which was suitable from birth,but found it to loosen the mucus and made him more snotty.So basically it was just a case of waiting till it passed.
Eli was adorable sleeping all day.Then he got hungry! We decided to feed him on demand,and demand he did every 2 hours to start with.Bless him I understand he was a growing lad but honestly.All the lovely newborn clothes I had bought only fitted for 3-4 weeks he grew so fast.Night time wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, having a last bottle at 11pm.Then wrapping him up like a bug in a little blanket,I think this is called swaddling.Eli only woke up at about 2.30am and then at 6am.So we didn't do too bad sleep-wise for the first few weeks.

The new arrival

Eli was late arriving.Eventually he arrived in style,at home in the living room,It was a planned Home birth,and with 2 older kids it seemed the easier option.Eli was a considerate baby and decided he wanted us to Labour over night,so Max and Megan could sleep soundly upstairs in their beds, unaware as to the pain and agony that was happening below them. After what seemed forever he thought it was time to make an appearance.The kids then decided it was time to get up at 6.30am on a Sunday,Dave went to let them know what was going on and they popped down to say hello and being only 6&7 at the time wanted a bit of reassurance.which was fine,Mothers multi-task all the time.At 8.45am our little bundle was here screaming his head off! which was a good thing at the time. Megan was the first to hear his cry, They then knew that Eli had arrived at last.After a quick clean up operation they got to meet him,what can i say,tears all around.Megan asked "are you all right mummy" and i just answers "yes darling i'm fine now". And that's just the beginning of the tale that is the Blog of Eli.