Eli - 1 month old

Eli has been known as "the big boy with the little name" by daddy last night.  He's growing so much, and its evident by how much he eats and poops.  He's quickly exiting that "newborn" stage, going on 5 weeks.  His cry is louder, stronger, and he is awake much more.  He holds his head up much better, but is still a little floppy.  If on his stomach, he can lift his head and turn it to either side.  He prefers to sleep on his tummy.  I wouldn't say his life is a routine yet...but he's getting sort of predictable with his sleeping.  Sort of, I said. :)  He takes two or three long naps every day, and his awake time is full of nursing and filling his diapers.  He usually falls asleep at 10-11 pm and wakes up to eat around 3 or 4 am.  He goes back to sleep from that time he eats at 3-4 am usually until about 6-7 am...to eat again, and then sleeps a little longer.  He might do this 5 out of 7 nights.  The other two random nights means he's awake from 3-6 am and doesn't want to settle.  This means mommy doesn't sleep and is extra tired the next day.  But overall, he's doing pretty well and I am feeling somewhat rested.

He focuses better on objects in front of him and looks at people who walk past him for a few seconds.  He still loves to be held.  He occasionally naps while someone is holding him, but most of his sleeping is in the pack and play crib in the corner of the dining room.  He still sleeps through all the noise of the older 3 kids.

Eli takes a bottle.  I never thought I'd say this about a child of mine but he happily will suck on a bottle full of my pumped milk and Violet and Calvin get a kick out of feeding him.  This will be convenient in the future when I need to leave him for any longer than time between feedings.

He makes this little snort that sounds something like a horse would make.  I don't know exactly what the sound is but its through his nose and it makes me laugh.  :)  He also still loves sucking on his pacifier.  The kids love having something to give him when he starts fussing a little.  He also loves getting a bath.  Violet likes to help me scrub his head.  A bath seems to calm him down at night between the hours of 9-10 when he is getting cranky before bed.  He doesn't seem to like anything else.  I wrap him up to wear him in a Moby wrap carrier sometimes, he seems to like being snuggled up to me.  It gets a little hot though, and this 100 degree weather (despite us having the a/c on) makes it a bit sweaty.

Dave has gotten him to crack a little smile, but he's the only one so far.

He is quickly becoming "one of the bunch"!