walk it out

One of my new favorite things to do with Elijah is go on walks. He loves being outdoors and looking around and it's a great way for me to lose the last bit of baby weight! We go just the two of us a few times a week and occasionally get to go with Rob and the pups and Steph, Emmett and Zoey! Here are a few favs from last weeks walks.

the power of three

As a new mom I am still exploring the what works and what doesn't of babyland. I have been blessed with a baby that sleeps wonderfully almost every night but, we do have one little challenge: Elijah's overly active hands. Eli waves his hands in the air ("waive'em like you just don't care!") all day and even into some nights! Each mom I have talked to and most online forums all suggested swaddling him. It definitely kept Eli from waiving his arms but provided the new issue of Elijah spending the night fighting to get out of the swaddle. I tried rocking to soothe him but, then he just waived his hands while being rocked, like on some kind of roller coaster! Each night we had the arms waiving I tried new things and new combos. When finally... I found the lethal three. The combo has Eli out in less than 60 seconds on those frantic busy arm nights.

One: The Soothie
This pacifier, made by Philips Avent, fits perfectly into babies mouths without interfering with normal development of teeth and gums. And, as a bonus, it is the only pacifier that Elijah can keep in his mouth! You can find these here, and for cheap!

Two: The Woombie
Thank goodness for Pinterest! This was something I stumbled across during a 2am feeding and caught my eye just because of it's cuteness! But, after reading more about this unique swaddle, I knew it was made for babies just like my little windmill boy! The Woombie is a swaddle that allows for natural movement of a babies arms, legs and hips with their signature fabric that softly cocoons a baby in a way that recreates the womb environment  The Woombie has been shown to create a more natural sleep environment for infants resulting in longer sleep periods with less restlessness. It also helps to prevent face scratching and overheating for our little ones. Peaceful sleep, no frantic arms, no scratches... Can I get an amen?! Woombies can be purchased at select Babies R Us locations (I had a hard time finding availability near me) or online, here.

Three: Sleep Pillow Baby Lullaby App
We have soothed our babies natural need to suck and our babies restless arms (or just our babies natural need for snuggles) so, next up, ears! I had heard that most babies like white noise while they sleep. Well, Eli was not that way, initially. When Eli was first born he slept fine but never deep. My wonderful mother-in-law suggested a noise machine, and specifically white noise. I tried Homedics noise machine, and would put it near Eli's bassinet while he slept. He never seemed to keen on the white noise and the machine's battery would die every 5 days or so. Next I tried the same machine on heartbeat. Bingo. Eli was out! But, the same issue with the battery - and batteries are not cheap!  I finally downloaded the Sleep Pillow Baby Lullaby App on my iPhone. Eli's bassinet is near my outlet so I would plug in my phone to charge, turn the app on, and we were good to go for a full night of white noise, or heart beat, or 30 other sounds! And bonus, if I wanted to have it on a timer, that was available as well. Download the app here.

The Power of Three... these three have saved me on those wild armed nights and I am so thankful I had to share!

firsts

With the arrival of mine and Rob's first son, Elijah, I have had people continuously ask me if I will be keeping a baby book. Although I do plan on creating one for him eventually, I wanted to find a way to document our life together for him rather than just his firsts (which we have had plenty of already!). So, I am creating my first blog to document our life together as a family - keeping track of Eli's firsts, our firsts together as a family, and just regular day to day life. The parts of life that you, unfortunately, forget about as time goes by but wish you could remember for always. So, that being said... here are the firsts of our firsts:

First labor: Christmas day, 2012
First surgery: Cesarean on December 26, 2012
First child: Elijah Robert, December 26, 2012 (two weeks early, comin' in at 6lbs, 13oz, 21inchs)
First coo: January 23, 2013 (saw the boob for dinner and got so excited we got some happy baby coo's!)
First roll over: January 27, 2013 (day after his 1 month birthday - He-Man!)
First smile at dad: January 30, 2013 (Mom wasn't jealous he got the first smile, swear...)
First smile at mom: February 1, 2013 (so excited to wake up and see momma's face!)
First blog post: February 4, 2013 (this life is too good to not share it)