10 Months

Oh Eli, I am not going to lie...I am sad to think in just two months we will be singing Happy Birthday to you.  You are my baby, you are my last baby, and I am trying to soak in all the "baby" things that are left.  I have no doubt that God gave you to your Daddy and I because it was all part of His great plan, but it doesn't stop amazing me how you are doing things at a nice and slow pace, I think that is His way of letting me take it all in and really appreciate each of your milestones.  So, its time to break it all down....

Nicknames: Eli, Monkey, Booga Bear

Likes: Food!  Dude, you have a belly that gets some serious attention and you like to fill that belly more than anything else.  You love being outside and cry when we come in.  You love your brother to "chase" you around (you stay in the same spot and he runs in circles around you....this makes you belly laugh big time).  You love to bathe and really like to kick and slap the water and make a mess!  I have no doubt you will love the pool. 

Dislikes: Being put into your carseat, especially if you have just been outside...as long as your brother is next to you, you usually calm down, but to start with you are not happy to be constrained.  You do not like getting eye drops put (had a little infection this past month).  You are starting to like veggies less and less, but I am determined to feed them to you.  And of course...being left alone in a room.  As long as someone is with you, you are a pretty happy little guy

Milestones: You are ARMY crawling, but hey, its a form of crawling.  I have been worried about your development and while I know you are behind a bit, your daddy, dr and I all agree as long as we continue to see progress then we will let you move at your pace for now, which is exactly what you are doing.  You also have started to work on pulling up, which is a big improvement!

Feeding: You are nursing/bottles 4 times a day, with nursing morning and night, one bottle of breastmilk and one of formula.  You are eating cereal for breakfast still, veggie and fruit for lunch, some small snacks and then veggie/fruit/yogurt or other fun stuff for dinner.  I am trying to introduce more things.  So far we have tried waffles, polenta, black beans, quesadilla, grilled cheese, turkey, chicken....and the only real HIT has been black beans, but even that wasnt welcomed without some resistance.  This will be a work in progress.

Sleeping: You are a catnapper still, but I can usually count on two naps during the day with one being at least an hour, the other usually under it.  At night though you are rocking!  I am not going to go overboard and say you are perfect, but in comparison to past experiences, I will take this any day.  You usually go down between 7-8 pm and will sleep until 5 or 6.  One or two nights a week you still will wake up somewhere btween 2-4.  I try to let you put yourself back to sleep but on occassion I will get you if I can tell you aren't going to soothe.

Clothing: 9 Months but soon to be 12.  You have a belly as mentioned before and some things are a bit SNUG on it.  You are still in size 3 diapers and when we were at the dr last week for an ear infection you were still around 19 lbs 12 oz so not quite hitting the 20lb mark yet...but we will blow past that soon I have no doubt with your appetite.

Firsts: First time to crawl which made me so happy!  You also have starting sucking your thumb...not sure if this is going to stick

Looking Forward to....Pulling Up!  I can see how much stronger you have gotten in this last month and each day I see more and more progress, I really think this month you will be pulling up because you already love someone to stand you up so you can play and grab things that way!

Eli you are so sweet and innocent.  You bring joy and happiness to every life you touch.  We love you so much!  Happy TEN MONTHS!