One month!

Well, Eli is a month old! (Actually, he's 5 weeks old as of yesterday, but this is his official one-month blog post.) It has been a whirlwind of diapers and dinos in our house over the past month, but it has been SO fun! He seriously changes every single day, and Ryan and I are discovering so many fun things about his little personality all the time! 

 

He can smile, but not really on purpose yet. Sometimes when Ryan is making silly faces and boy-noises at him, he makes a happy face, but it still doesn't seem purposeful yet. But sometimes we do catch faces like this, and it is always a thrill!

 

Eli is very curious. My mom and I laugh about how he inherited a condition called FOMO from me. FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out, and it looks like the boy is going to be like his momma! He loves to look around and see what's going on, and he has really starting to look AT things, rather than just looking in their general direction. When he was about 3 weeks old he started to actually look in our eyes when we hold and talk to him. It's pretty neat to have your son look you in the eye. Just sayin'.

Eli and I work on some tummy time every morning. He is really getting good control over his head! I am excited for him to start noticing toys and items that I put in front of him and reaching for them. For now, I lay next to him, and we talk to each other while he gets his workout. It's a really special time for me to just look in his eyes and watch him concentrate so hard on his movements.

Eli still sleeps a lot during the day. Just this week, I have started to lay him down when he is drowsy but not quite asleep. So far, this is working like a charm! He puts himself to sleep on his own in his crib! What an over-achiever!

Nights have gotten much better since the first couple of weeks at home. Eli still wakes up to eat throughout the night, but it's starting to be every 2-4 hours instead of every 2 hours on the nose. This past week, when he has woken up at the 2 hour mark, I have been able to put him back to sleep and get another hour or two out of him before he wakes up and wants to eat. This is very exciting news for this tired momma!

In the middle of the night, when he has gone back to sleep after a feeding and I'm laying back down, I always say a little prayer for him before I fall asleep. We waited a long, long time for this little boy. He is the most perfect gift to us.

Ryan and I are very excited to watch this little boy grow! We can't wait to see him smile at us, and Ryan is looking forward most to getting Eli to laugh. Once he starts, he is going to be laughing all the time! Ryan is never short of boy-noises (read: fart noises) and silly faces to make for Eli!

We both have so many big plans for this kid! Ryan and I both love to read, so we each have several books that we want to read to and with him as he grows up. Ryan figures he won't get through all of them before Eli is grown up and moved out on his own!

At his 1-month checkup, Eli weighed 9.35 lbs. This is up 3.35 lbs from his birth weight! His cheeks just get more and more kissable, and those little thighs are getting chubbier every day! Even his feet are starting to look chunky! Bring on the baby fat!

It seems like it can't be possible that our little boy is already 5 weeks old! It's going by so quickly! All at once, I'm excited to watch him grow and missing that tiny-tiny newborn phase! For the most part, though, both Ryan and I are looking forward to seeing who Eli turns out to be, and watching him discover his world.

 

Now that I have this thing up and running, I'm going to try to post something every week to keep friends and family up-to-date on our boy and what our little family is up to. So check back here for more adorable photos and stories about our adventures from dinos to diapers!

Love, 
Caitlin, Ryan, and Eli