Our little Elias is 4 months old! It’s crazy to think that there are already 4 NEW BABIES on campus who are younger than Baby Li-Li. We New Tribers like to have babies, apparently!
Here are some of Eli’s favorite things:
1. JUDAH — he loves his big brother already (and the love is quite mutual). Elias constantly wants to watch Judah and smiles at him all the time. He also cracks up whenever Judah jumps up and down… such precious moments as brothers!
2. PACIFIERS — Judah never was into his pacis that much, but Eli sure is. He’s also pretty particular about which ones he’ll take… so far I’ve found 2 kinds he likes, one of which being his Seattle Seahawks one! Eli was sporting it the week leading up to the Superbowl, of course :). GO SEAHAWKS!
3. HIS PLAY MAT — he likes laying there, grabbing his toys, and having Judah fall on him (well, I’m sure Elias doesn’t necessarily like that, but it’s happened a couple of times 🙂 )
4. HIS HANDS — he chews on them constantly. Constantly! Or on his blanket or his toys…
5. SLEEPING WITH BLANKETS OVER HIS FACE — He literally wants a blanket covering his whole face. If I ever rock him to sleep, I do that and he’s out within minutes. When he falls asleep on his own, he tries so hard to get his face buried in the mattress… my hope is that once he’s able to roll over and sleep on his belly he’ll be a much better sleeper. One can dream, right?!?
6. LAUGHING — He started laughing out loud when he was only 9 weeks old and has blessed us with his sweet laughter ever since :). He laughs when we tickle him, when he watches Judah, when we wave toys in front of his face…
7. BEING HELD — Elias likes being held upright and facing out, wanting to observe this whole new, exciting world around him!
Elias still takes 4 naps a day, nurses 6x a day and once at night. Our biggest struggle with him has been sleep training, which has been a rocky road of trial & error… a rocky but beneficial road that has refined John and me as a couple by forcing us to communicate in ways we didn’t before. I am grateful that now Judah and Elias take their afternoon nap at the same time, which gives me time to catch up on housework and homework. They also have the same bedtime and wake-up time (well, ideally 🙂 ), which has been such a blessing as well…time in the morning for coffee and devotions; time at night for John&me, homework and blogging :).
I am very thankful that the transition from one to two children has been a very smooth one (actually, John thinks it was harder than the transition to having the first one, but you can ask him about that if you want 🙂 ). Have there been days of exhaustion, tears, and frustration? Absolutely. And it’s only by the grace of God that those memories fade in light of the joy and amazement that a new life brings. Happy 4 months of life outside the womb, Baby Li-Li!