Eli - Months 1 & 2

I'm trying to write things down before I forget them.  It's so weird having Eli's firsts also be my lasts since we aren't going to have any more kids.

Eli's first two months have been a whirlwind.  Having a baby arrive 3 weeks early was really unexpected.  It shouldn't have been such a surprise, but I was basing most of my expectations from Piper who arrived right on schedule and fairly big (8lbs 14oz).  Thus we didn't have any newborn sized clothing or diapers, and I was super unprepared at work.  I mean a late baby was really the only way I was going to be done with all the work but an early baby really threw us for a loop.  Our deposit deadline was May 1 so a baby on April 30 was a little crazy.  Neighbors donated clothing and we outfitted Eli quite well, but emotionally I was a bit lost.  There were a couple of work tasks that pulled me back in the first month and then my mom was here for two weeks.  Upside was that Pip was still in school until early June, so Eli got some time & I got to wait for Piper on the bus at the end of our road.  Waiting for her was super fun, and having my mom around helped immensely.

Let me get back to talking about Eli though.  He was was barely over 5lbs upon leaving the hospital, and thank heaven since our car seat was only rated down to 5lbs.  If he had been any smaller we would have had to stay in the hospital or gone to Albany for a special premmie car seat.  (What a difference from the Twin Cities)  My milk had come in much quicker, I think just a day after birth.  Eli was one of those babies that can fling himself around to try to find a nipple.  From the get go, he was ready & wanting to nurse every few hours.  Being so small though, his latch was a bit shallow, and breathing could be a challenge.  It's really striking the second time around how little newborns do.  Eat, sleep, pee/poop, and repeat.  I can't remember what we were so worried about with Piper because although they are small & wobbly, they don't need  that much.  I guess we are used to a kid-centric routine now.

Eli was jaundiced, just like Piper, although his was a bit more of a concern.  We ended up going back to the hospital for rechecks during his first week of life.  He also decided to go the long route for pooping, taking up to six days.  This stressed us out at first, but there was lots of nursing, lots of wet diapers and decent weight gain, so we adjusted to his schedule.   Because he was so small too, we didn't realize that we should keep a hat on him for the first few weeks.  So that he could use all the milk to grow and not to stay warm.  The weather in May was super erratic, with some super cool times & then some crazy hot/humid days.  Even June has been really hot & humid or very pleasant.  Side affect of the hats was that he lost the hair on his forehead, but it's growing back.  His eyelashes & eyebrows are light blond.  His eyes are staying a gray blue.  It's so different from Pip, but I think he has her nose & lips.  No dimple though.

Other random things: his umbilical stump fell off super fast & I think he's going to have an outty.  He's had some colicky afternoons/evenings, so we started him on a probiotic.  I'm not sure if it's helping with the colic, but it's definitely helping him poop more frequently.  He loves his baths, just like Piper did.  He hasn't peed once during a diaper change, but he has peed through his clothes.  You really have to pay attention when doing diaper changes to make sure the penis is pointing down.  He's had more spit up than I remember Piper having, but that could been my holey memory.  He also loves the binky more than Piper did & really needs the swaddle when he's overtired.  He took to the bottle right away, like even when I was in the same room.  He's way more practical about it all.

Piper has become a great big sister.  There were a few moments of hoping we could send him back, but otherwise she's been full of kisses & wanting to smother him with love.  There was a moment recently when watching a show that asked viewers to think of something that makes them happy and Pip easily said Eli and I melted a bit.  He's getting bigger according to our bathroom scale, at least 9.5 lbs.  I think he'll be double digits by his 2 month appointment next week.