My dear sweet Eli - you are 3 months old already!

You are a very social boy these days. You get upset if you realize you are in a room by yourself and get the biggest smiles on your face the instant someone comes over to talk to you. You are also very vocal. You love to coo on and on as long as there is a person there to coo at.

Eating and sleeping still aren't super structured. During the day you eat roughly every 2.5-3 hours. Most times after eating for a little bit, though, you get much more interested in smiling and talking to mom to eat any more. You are still up at least once at night to eat. This is making Mommy VERY sleepy! We would all really love for you to sleep through the night, but you still haven't figured out your own way to comfort yourself when you wake up. Mommy is trying really hard to be patient and give you time to learn this skill. Praying it will be soon!

Sometimes you have big mood swings too. You will be super happy one minute and then be crying the next. Usually I think it is because we stop paying attention to you and you get mad until we talk to you again. But in general you are a happy guy. I have noticed that you seem to have a sensitive side. You can only take so much of Lydia "playing" with you before you seem to get a little scared. I know... she's loud... one day you will get used to it! But you make the most adorable face when you pout and stick out your lower lip. I know you are sad, but it always makes me smile because it's so darn cute!

You are still a big boy and everyone makes sure to tell us that when they hold you. Grandma and Papa Tom held you today and said you feel like a bowling ball! I love how "sturdy" God made you and know you are going to be a nice strong man someday like your daddy. You are currently wearing size 3-6/6 month clothing and wearing size 2 diapers, but we're moving you into size 3's as soon as the current open pack of 2's is gone and are washing your 6-9 month clothing in anticipation of you needing them soon!

The only place you really like to hang out is still your bouncy chair. You are okay with the swing these days, but if you are fussy that's not where you want to be. We've also tried letting you sit in the bumbo seat and you aren't a big fan of that either. Maybe you'll like it more when you get a tad bit more neck strength. I keep wanting to let you try out other things besides the bouncy chair, but that's really the only place you love! You nap there a lot, but do pretty well napping and sleeping at night in your crib (except at 7 or 8 at night which is the one time you completely refuse to go to sleep in your crib). You don't typically go to bed for the night until 10 or 11, and if we're lucky you'll sleep for at least 4 hours after that. You've gone 8 hours once or twice, but there are also nights that you still want to wake up every 3 hours. We haven't done as much cry-it-out with you as we did with Lydia, mostly because we don't want you to wake her up but partially because we're waiting to see if you find a way to soothe yourself without us having to intervene.

Your sister loves you a ton. It isn't uncommon for her to get up in the morning or after a nap and immediately start saying, "Eli? Eli?" until we let her know where you are. She brings you toys and makes sure you have your blanket on (or off if she sees you just woke up). She even loves to rock you when you get upset over being put in the carseat.

You've only been here for 3 months and already I don't know what life would be like without you. We all love you SO much, Eli! You are getting more and more aware of the world around you, and I can't hardly wait to see all of the changes the next month will bring. Love you, little man!

At the Pirolli household, 2011 entered with a lot of coughing and sniffling. We should have seen it coming. Brent and I both had sore throats around Christmas, but it never turned into any more than that for us. We had a wonderful time in Cincinnati with my family and made it back home on the 29th to relax a bit before the new year.

Or so we thought.

By evening of the 30th it was obvious that both kids were getting a bug. It is oh so much fun to have a sick not-yet-two-year-old and a sick 8 week old. Ha! Lydia was a trooper on New Years Day when we took her to Great Grandma's and then to Grandma's house to open gifts from Brent's side of the family. But the poor girl could only take so much. She opened so many presents that by the last few she was actually pushing them away and saying no. It didn't help that she was completely exhausted from being sick.

With the holiday endeavors behind us, we've been at home trying to get everyone well. I took Eli to the pediatrician on Monday and found he has an ear infection. Beyond that, though, he has been handling this cold quite well. Lydia on the other hand has been a wreck. She's barely eating anything and it takes constant coaxing to keep fluids in her. She wants to be held all the time (very difficult to do as a nursing mom to Eli), she's had a fever, and she has been so tired. Yesterday I thought she was doing better... she seemed to have taken a nap well (short, but no crying before or after) and was playing as normal. But by mid-afternoon she was a mess again.

So there I was trying to cook dinner so Lydia could try to eat before going to bed early, Eli was fussing unless I was bouncing him in his bouncer, and Lydia was super tired and crying on the couch in the living room. Ugh! I just kept plowing through dinner while trying to encourage Lydia to lay down and watch her video... then suddenly I turned around and she had completely crashed. She was on the pillow, mouth hanging open, snoozing away. Scared me at first, but I felt better once I was sure she was still breathing! Poor girl!

After that experience, I decided today that if the whining picked up in the afternoon I was putting her down for a second nap. And thus it has happened that it is 4:30 and Lydia has been in her room for nap #2 since around 3. Here's hoping she'll be a much happier little girl this evening! It's so hard for me to watch her be so exhaused but be struggling to sleep. I know how tough it is to sleep when you can't breathe normally... I can't imagine trying to make sense of it when you are two!

Praying for health to return to both of my little ones ASAP. I have goals for both of them once they are back to feeling better: Potty-training (or at least more prep) for Lydia and a solid bedtime routine/schedule for Eli (with ultimate goal of getting him sleeping in his crib, preferably through the night!). A mom's job is never ending.

Dear Eli,

You are two months old today! Though it always seems a little funny to me to celebrate on the 4th. You were born so early in the morning that by mid-day on the 4th it no longer feels like the anniversary of your birth. Instead I often find myself thinking through the events of that day in the evening on the 3rd. How I called your dad at work to tell him what was going on. How we ate dinner, called Aunt Sarah to stay with Lydia, then headed to the hospital. How I was lying in a hospital bed listening to your heartbeat while watching Survivor on the tiny hospital room TV.

Regardless, you officially arrived on the 4th making you two months old today. I have loved having your in my life for every single moment of those months. You don't smile a ton or "talk" a ton, but I think it's just because you are a bit more reserved and quiet. It melts my heart when I do get to see those precious smiles and hear those adorable coos, though. :-) You are a fiercely growing boy, always at the top of the growth charts. And you are strong too! You like to stand and you do great pulling your head up. I'm so excited to watch you grow and develop even more in the next month (and the next one and the next one and for years to come!). I never once doubted that I would love you just as much as I loved Lydia when she was our only child, and it has proven to be true. You are SO loved, little man! I am blessed to have you in my life and look forward to every minute to come.

I love you, Eli!

- Mommy

I'm so bummed because I'm becoming more convinced that Eli simply does not like being in a swing. The swing was SO nice with Lydia because she could hang out in it (happily) and then drift off to sleep when she was ready for a nap. It really helped me get a break once in awhile.

Thus far Eli has only had one decent nap in a swing. Beyond that, he tends to cry whenever I put him in it until I transfer him to his bouncy chair. I'm really hoping he still grows to enjoy swinging!

I always have high hopes of keeping up with my blog, but there always seems to be so much going on and so little time to write about it! So here's a brief update on our lives.

Lydia is doing great, but noticeably approaching the terrible twos. She tests limits constantly and we've had to introduce timeouts (which she seems to find amusing...) and spankings (which have only happened a couple of times). She usually stops the bad behavior after a warning, but the annoying part is that she gets a warning once or twice a day. A part of me feels like she should get warned if it has been several hours since she was told not to do something... she isn't even 2 yet afterall... but another part of me KNOWS that she is aware of what she is not allowed to do and perhaps enough is enough with the warnings. We're still learning around here.

Her speech continues to skyrocket and she is now using combinations of phrases (ex: "Where is the bear? Oh here it is. I found it.") She knows the appropriate response when asked what her name is and knows the sounds all of the letters make (except vowels). I get a running commentary of what she sees/does/wears/holds throughout the day, and she absolutely INSISTS that I say "Bless you, Lydia" any time she coughs or sneezes. She, of course, makes sure to tell Eli "Bless you" when he sneezes, as well as anyone else in the house. We've been working on counting with her and she quickly recognizes when there are two of something, but generally any quantity above one gets labeled as two or three.

As for Eli, he's still growing! I took him in for a follow-up appointment after he had an infection at his one month well check and he was 13 lbs at 5.5 weeks old! He is now almost 7 weeks old and I'm moving him into 3-6 month clothing already. He smiles a little bit, but it's much harder to get smiles out of him than it was with Lydia. But when he grins and coos at things it melts my heart. I love my little boy!

I've tried to get him on a semi-regular schedule, and he's doing okay with it, but he definitely has a mind of his own. I haven't quite been able to figure out his pattern (if there is one). He's eating 8 or 9 times a day - usually once or twice during the night. He does alright at night, sometimes going 4 or 5 hours between feedings, so I'm hopeful that I'll eventually sleep through the night again. It took Lydia until she was 3 months old, so here's hoping Eli will meet or beat that!

And... now I have to stop blogging because the boy wants to eat. See? This is why I can't blog anymore...

Today marked day 1 of our "new normal" around here. All of my family members are back at their respective homes and Brent was back at work. It was just me and the kids here all day. I admit the day did not pass tear-free. I had high hopes for at least a short nap after a rough night last night, and it was looking promising when I had Eli fed before Lydia went down and she didn't throw a fit about naptime. I was SO close to having Eli asleep in his bouncy chair and could see my nap on the horizon... but fate would not have it. Lydia slept well (got to give her credit there), but Eli continued to fight it. I'd get him so close to being out, or so I would think, and then his eyes would pop open, he'd start to squirm, and we'd be back to square one. Why oh why must kids fight sleep so much?!

This attempted sleep continued until it'd been a couple of hours since he last ate and I decided to give up and just feed him instead of fighting to get him to sleep. Brent was home for lunch by that point anyway, so I took the boy downstairs and fed him... and cried over my failed attempt at getting some rest. Of course, he eventually settled down and slept. Just in time for Lydia to wake up. *sigh* But his long nap did allow me some time with Lydia and a chance to get some laundry done.

All in all I feel we survived the start of our new normal okay. I know each day will come with new ups and downs, but such is the life of a parent. It's definitely feeling a little overwhelming and I still don't know how I will ever get much done, but ultimately I'm glad we are moving forward. It was SO nice to have the help I have had for the past 3 weeks. I can't thank my mom enough for all she did for us! But I think it will be good for us, Lydia especially, to get back to a sense of normalcy. It's got to be hard for a not-yet-two-year-old to adjust when things are still changing on her. Now I feel like we can get back to her routine and she can better adjust to life with her little brother.

At the same time, I do recall how quickly life with a baby changes. When Lydia was this little, I remember that as soon as I felt like we were at a point of calling something "normal" she would change and we'd be adjusting again. Eli will do the same thing to us. Before I know it he will have a completely different schedule and completely different needs than he has right now. I can hardly believe he's going to be a month old this weekend. Wasn't I just pregnant yesterday?? Oh how time flies...

So here's to our new normal... and the next normal after that, and the one after that, and the many more we have to come. I can't say life is boring anymore!

Life is definitely different with two kids, but I feel like it was all "normal" the instant we came home from the hospital. But maybe that's because it hasn't been too hard with all the extra help.

Brent has been off work since Eli was born until yesterday. My mom & dad came up this past weekend and Mom is staying all this week to help out. It is SO nice to have extra hands around to keep Lydia occupied while I tend to Eli. I'm a little nervous about how things will work out when it's just me with the two of them! It has also been helpful to have someone else around so I can get a break and get some extra sleep if needed. Most nights have been pretty good and Eli has often only been up once in the middle of the night to eat. It is great to only feed him once between 11pm and 7am, but I admit I wish the process was a little faster. It seemed Lydia was always a very quick eater - we'd be done within 15 or 20 minutes. But Eli takes his time more than she did. He'll get through half his meal in 15 minutes or so, then we'll have to do a diaper change (because he poops like a madman), then it's another 15 or 20 minutes of eating, finishing up with possibly another diaper change, burping, and trying to get him settled in. The entire process can easily take a one hour chunk out of my night. But I'm not complaining! I know it could be much much worse and I also know that he will likely get faster as he gets older.

Last Friday we had Eli's one week checkup. If I recall correctly, they mostly aim for babies to be at or a little past their birth weight at this appointment. My boy? He was up 10 ounces... weighing in at 9lb 8oz! The doctor even commented that he didn't need to ask me how feeding was going, he could tell! He was measured at 21 inches long... actually less than they had him down for at birth, but they guess that's due to cone-head. Either way he landed in the 90th percentile for both weight and length. 50th %ile for head size. Everything looked great at the checkup and the doctor kept saying he looked perfect. He's strong and has good reflexes. So fun to see him grow!

I'll be taking him to MOPS with me this week. Looking forward to showing him off and thankful that my mom will be here to stay with Lydia. So far Lydia has not made it through an entire MOPS meeting for the year. I always have to go get her before we are done. So I'm looking forward to sitting in there the whole time with my little man this week!