It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Things here in Denver have been good. We went Sunday to buy a Christmas tree (MUCH harder to do here than in NC; nothing grows here, not even Christmas trees, so we ended up with a Fraser Fir imported from Idaho of all places). We spent Sunday evening decorating the tree.

Eli loves it of course, since he's enthralled with bright lights, patterns, and colors. He stares at it pretty constantly. For example:
An ever-so-slightly different picture, but with a very different Eli face:


We woke up this morning to about 2 inches of snow (and it's still coming down). This is one of the best things about Colorado...it's not stingy with the snow, and often (like in this case) you'll get snow even when they weren't remotely forecasting it. It's great. Eli still hasn't noticed the difference between snow and non-snow, so he is pretty blase about the whole thing. Here's the tree with this morning's snow through the window:

Festivities and Milestones

Eli is learning to take a bottle. This picture is of his second attempt...he drank 3 whole ounces at a restaurant. The pumping/bottling method is certainly easier than the clandestine-feeding method when in public places.
Sleeeeeeeepy baby.
Eli flirted with the ladies on Thanksgiving. Pictured are fellow North Carolinian expats Megan, Christa, and Tiffany. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at their cabin/lodge in the mountains.
Winter has come to Colorado...it hasn't been above freezing since Tuesday afternoon, and it's snowed twice. We love it, though. Thank goodness we were able to get a new furnace.
Another patented Eli Face (TM).

Thanksgiving Eve

Many apologies for that long blogging hiatus. As we said in a previous post, our primary blogging computer has been in the shop, and we just recently got it back. We were told in no uncertain terms that our lives BE (before Eli) were not really interesting enough to read a blog about, so I'm sure all of you are glad to get back to updates on Eli.

As of Monday, he weighs 12 pounds, which is a pretty big gain from his birth weight of 8 pounds and 5 ounces (he was actually down in the mid-7s a couple of days after birth). You can definitely feel it, too--he's getting pretty heavy to lug around.

He's getting really good at standing with help. If you grab his arms or just keep him vertical, he'll push upward until he's standing. He's really very good at it. He's also getting better at hand-eye coordination, and he's babbling a little bit. He's even started matching cute noises to his smiles, which are getting more numerous.

Lots of pictures and commentary below:

Eli and dad chilling on the bed. This is the only way Eric is allowed to hold Eli...left arm under, right hand under Eli's armpit. Switch sides and he wails. Hold him with two hands and he wails. Pretty much any other configuration, and he wails. Eric's left bicep is always sore.

Our NC friends Christa and Tina came to visit last week. Christa is the mother of twin boys, and so has had lots of experience with little guys. They took to each other pretty well. Eli flirted with these ladies like flirts with all ladies.
Eli's hair is growing a bit (and turning redder). With all that extra hair, he's starting to get funny hairdos and bedhead patterns. Often there's a little tuft at the front now, but in this picture it's pretty much an epic wave. He looks like an extra in Grease.
This is one of two consecutive diapers over the weekend where things...escaped. What's impressive about this is that it wasn't like he was sitting, and it gradually leaked out the top. No...this was instant. He went from a non-poopy diaper to this in about 5 seconds. Twice in a row.
Eli sleeping in his crib. He's spending more and more time there. There's talk of transitioning him there at night after our NC trip. We'll see.


Finally, we have Eli reading a book. He likes to read, and has a quite extensive library.

More interesting news and photos to come in the days ahead, including (probably) some pictures of our second snowfall of the year (about 2 inches, last night).

This Time Last Year

You may have been wondering where we have been. The truth is, we've been battling the Computer Death Disease, which has claimed Eric's laptop, which is the primary blog-posting device. Some sort of mysterious ailment has befallen the beloved laptop, leaving us temporarily unable to post anything (not to mention do other stuff, like write the 20-page paper due tomorrow). It has also put a stop to our photo uploading of Eli, since the camera hooks up to the laptop too.

There is hope that the laptop will be resurrected today or tomorrow, but who knows. In the meantime, we thought it'd be fun to remember what we were doing one year ago--back in the dark recesses of time before we had a kid. Back then, we could do things like sleep through the night and go places on the spur of the moment--and travel. This time last year, we had just returned from a trip to Italy with Eric's church. We visited Venice, Pisa, Sorrento, Amalfi, Florence, Pompeii, and Rome on an 11-day whirlwind tour. It was amazing in every possible way. So below you will find a web album of photos from that trip, taken in the year 1BE--Before Eli.

italy

Nearly 6 Weeks

Unbelievably, our son is approaching 6 weeks of life. How can that be possible? It has gone by so fast, with so much happening in that short time. He's grown and learned and discovered so much. As have I. It's amazing how much love we have for thissquatty needy little man. I am constantly taken aback by it. When he cries in the night, and I wake thinking, aw crap, it only takes me long enough for my eyes to crest the side of his bassinet to be just beaming with love and excitement that I get to pick him up. I love everything about him. I love howbeautiful he is. I love it when he poops. I love it that he can rival his dad in the gas passing department. I love how he smells (still like love and warmbiscuits with honey, but also sometimes like cheese). I love snuzzling the little curdy folds in his neck. I love that he hides lint in his armpits. I love that he trusts me, even when I have to let him cry a minute to go to the bathroom. I love his new little sounds. I love it when he sleeps. I love it when he looks in my eyes and smiles at the light in them. It must take so much effort for him to make a smile happen on purpose, and he does that for me. I love talking to him about what a great burp that was, or how we're going to wash the dishes now. I love that he can be calmed without fail by the vacuum, inexplicably. I love that he loves the outdoors. I love it when he sleeps on me all heavy and sweaty. I love his breaths. Oh, and the sneezing.Every time he sneezes I believe it's love.

This week I put the first of his clothes away because he outgrew them. It made me sad. Not because he's growing, but because so many people who love him never got to see him brand new like that. That is a tragedy to me. He was such an amazing newborn, and he'll never be that again. He's an amazing infant too though, and hopefully all you who love him will get to meet him while he's an infant, even though that still feels long overdue. So, I had to put away his funny littlecorduroy overalls, and some of his 1st onsies , because they're too small for my big old boy. And now he's wearing some 3-6 month outfits, which are a little loose, but not so much so that they look too big. It's shocking. Slow down life! Slow down.

I took him to see his first movie yesterday. It was really just so I could get out and do something normal. Our friend Christa and I went to the $2 theatre and saw hairspray. He did really well, and it was fun to get out. We're getting out of the house on most days. We go walk in the park with a few different friends. We go to a new mom's class on Fridays. And we go to the library. Also, we go out to eat with Dad a lot. For example, he's not 6 weeks old yet, but today he went to our favoriteMexican restaurant for the 6th time. They're talking about making him the restaurant's mascot.

We're really starting to find our groove. I'm feeling more able to meet his needs, and it seems that he is figuring out what this life on the outside is all about. We both still have our moments, but we're getting better at working it out together. It's all about being creative and flexible. Sometimes we both just need a change of scenery.

I have also been able to make some pots again. It's weird because I'm used to just cranking pots out and working 14-18 hours a day. Well, those days are gone obviously. But I am able to get things made in little spurts. Here we are in the new indoor throwing room:
Here are some more recent photos. He's so alert these days. Just look at those beautiful bright eyes, taking it all in.

Eli Smiles

This was at the tail end of his first smiling fit...there were bigger, better ones earlier. Still, though, Eli is smiling.

Eli Clause Is Coming To Town

Attention east coast friends and family: we're flying back for Christmas!

One of the great benefits of the quarter system (and there aren't many) is that Eric's classes are over by Thanksgiving and don't start back until the 2nd week of January, so we have a nice long break! We're flying in on December 18th (which Eric is calling Black Tuesday for reasons relating to his 30th birthday) and out again on January 3rd. We're actually flying in and out of Nashville, TN, because it was much, much cheaper (if we may brag for a moment...about $330 for TWO tickets at CHRISTMAS!). We'll see our friends in Nashville, then make our way east to NC and see everyone there. Eli is excited to meet you all!

Here's a video that Jessa took on Halloween...you can see how alert and aware he is, and how expressive his face is. You also get a sense of just how much this kid spits up...all the time. We're told that Eric did the same thing when he was a baby. Eli actually has seen the doctor about this (which was causing irritation from stomach acid), and things are getting better. Anyway, enjoy the video!