Thursday, April 29, 2010

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Introducing The Daily Eli

After Eli was born I started sending out a daily photo to a small group of family and friends. As the word got out more and more people asked to be put on the list. It got to be too big of a chore to send it out, so I made a Google group to help me manage the list. This way people could choose to be on the list or could unsubscribe if they no longer wanted adorable photos of my baby.

I am now making The Daily Eli public. Join if you like. If you are already receiving The Daily Eli you don't have to do anything.

You can subscribe by clicking the link here: http://groups.google.com/group/daily-eli/subscribe

You will also see I added a subscribe link to the right hand column of the blog.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Good Morning Son

Eli is waking up more and more everyday. Warning: watching this video may melt your heart.


Good Morning Son from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

Six things

1. I am back at work half time mostly from home--but I have to go into the office one day a week. I went in for the first full day last Wednesday. Let's just say I have one more thing to add to the very short list of things that can make me cry.

2. Pumping at work is no picnic. Until I figure out a better system, I currently have to go get a key for the storage room, sit on the floor next to the door in the storage room, assemble the various parts of the pump, look at a picture of Eli and pump for 15 minutes, disassemble the pump, get dressed, return the key, put the milk in the fridge and remember what I was doing before I dropped everything. I do this three times a day.

3. We went to St. Louis this weekend. We can add 5-hour car rides to the very long list of things that can make Eli cry.

4. It's not so hard to fit 2 puppies, 2 adults, and a baby in the car after all.

5. We saw three other babies while we were at my in-laws' house this weekend. Turns out we have a fussy baby. We had no idea until we saw how chill the other babies were. Who knew? He sure is cute though.

6. Baby runs hot like his Daddy. He got overheated three times this weekend and had to be stripped down and covered in wet wash rags.

7. It might be easier to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes if I could stop eating cake. I made a very yummy cake though.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Who knew you could love an ear this much?

Daddies have to work harder to master some aspects of baby care. We don't posses the big guns (boobs). Although I can't feed the baby, I have developed my specialty–soothing. Changing, burping and swaddling are my tools.

Emily has gone back to work part time and has been working from home. Other than feeding I have been trying to take care of Eli's needs as much as I can. She needs time to focus and work but this has proved to be quite the challenge. Apparently babies reach the height of general fustiness around six to eight weeks. Eli is definitely in the throws of this developmental phase.

To make things even more awesome, Eli got his first six vaccinations this week. I can only compare the experience to throwing gasoline on a fire. Our little boy has not been a happy camper and one of the few things that we have found that soothes him is long walks outsides.

Yesterday I took Eli on seven walks! We took the dogs out three times, went to Walgreen's, Family Dollar, the bank, Borders and the doctor.

Today we went our four times, including a massive two plus mile walk and a nice after dinner family walkabout. The rest of the day Eli just kinda screamed bloody murder or ate.

Now, the bloody murder has been pushing me over the edge. It's hard to watch your child in discomfort and not be able to fix the problem. Sometimes all I can do is hold him close and pace back and forth. He may be crying, and I may be at my wits end, but one thing always brings me comfort. I tell him its going to be OK and then pull his ear to my lips. Eli is so small and needs so much from us. We are more than happy to give, but his little ear on my lips puts everything in to perspective for me. Maybe its because hes is so helpless and this one little thing reminds me of this. All I know is I love him a lot and when he is close I can whisper that in his ear.

Leroy--I mean Eli

I often confuse babies with puppies. I have to frequently remind myself that unlike Jack and Leroy, Eli will one day comprehend what we are saying and be able to talk himself. He won't always be small.



So far the puppies are still smarter than the baby. They know how to feed themselves and can easily recognize food. Eli, on the other hand was seen trying to locate some milk in his swing the other day. He will also cry for food and then push away from my body as he is trying to get to food. Leroy and Jack will respond to their names and make eye contact on command. Eli is still working on those things.



When Jack and Leroy have a suspected health problem, we usually wait a few days before calling the vet. Almost nothing is ever cured there and we usually walk away with a couple hundred dollar bill. Turns out our insurance covers Eli and baby problems are much better understood than puppy problems. Also, while dogs will generally look pathetic when they are ill, babies tend to scream. Eli's belly button had started looking suspicious last week and his eye was looking wonky this weekend. I called the doctor yesterday morning to see if we could get him in earlier than his scheduled 2-month appointment on Thursday. They had an opening in 20 minutes so we ran and got in the car--me with no makeup and wet hair.


His wonky eye is a blocked tear duct but she's going to give him until 1 year to work that out on his own. His busted belly button is an umbilical granuloma. She whipped out this stick of silver nitrate and rubbed it on the area to fix it. It's all gray and gnarly looking now, but I believe that is normal. He also got his first round of immunizations--3 shots in his thighs and some rotavirus in his mouth. He was most pissed off about the rotavirus and liquid Tylenol in his mouth.



He was 10 lb, 3 oz. and 21 and 7/8 inches. That puts him into the 20thish percentile for weight (up from 10th before), 25th percentile for length, and 50th percentile for noggin size. He's grown nearly an inch in less than 4 weeks, and I believe the growth happened on this one particular night. We put him to bed at one size and woke up to a much bigger baby in the morning. Fact.


He is feeling much better today. Is currently on a 2-mile hike with Daddy.



Wednesday, April 14, 2010

50 Days: How time does fly.

Today is Eli's 50th day on the outside. We celebrated by taking a walk to Aldi's.

He is becoming very attached to his Bjorn and it is often one of the few things that will make him stop crying.

Eli loves to be in his Bjorn in a house.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn with a mouse.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn with a fox.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn in a box.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn here or there.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn on a Bus!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tears

So it looks like Eli's tear ducts have formed. He now has little tears that drip down his face when he is very upset. We have been extra fussy the last few days so we get to see this all the time.  

We decided to pierce the baby's ear.

Now he looks like Mr. Clean.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Big brothers

People often ask how our first borns are handling the new addition to the family. Jack has been a big brother for quite some time now. When Leroy came into his life, however, it didn't mean less cuddling time for him (since Leroy isn't much of an affection demander). Eli has been a huge impediment to his cuddling time. Jack has had to take drastic measures to make sure his needs are met.


Who knew we just had to have a baby to get them to like each other?



Leroy has been mostly just interested interested in the new creature and the wonderful items that have come along with him. Like me, he too finds the Boppy pillow to be both supportive and versatile.


He's not afraid to try any of the new gear really.





But just like Jack, he sometimes has trouble figuring out where he fits into this new world order.


Waking up


When I first held Eli in my arms I thought he looked just like Kenny and Yoda. I had no idea how very strange newborns are. At first, it seemed like he couldn't really focus on anything. He was a bit of a robot. He had three states: sleeping, screaming, and the very briefest periods of calm and awake. Born on the small side, he seemed to devote all of his wakeful energy to eating. He would sleep for as long as he wasn't hungry and then wake up screaming--because of course he was hungry. He'd eat just long enough to not be hungry and fall asleep again--repeat cycle. It's funny how its possible to love somebody so much who really doesn't give much in return.

After weeks of 'round the clock eating, he's looking quite plump these days. He's been working on smiling and maybe, just maybe beginning to recognize us. He usually begins the night between us in his sleep positioner. When we got into bed the other night, he looked at me then at Kenny then back and forth. It was like he was taking a headcount and maybe putting the puzzle pieces together. Maybe he's beginning to figure out that we're his people. We've joked that basically he knows us as three people: the milk lady, the daytime diaper changing guy (Kenny with his glasses on) and nightime diaper changing guy (Kenny with his glasses off). Sometimes when Kenny hands him to me he seems to smile (because, yay food!) or maybe he's just opening his mouth to eat. The smiling thing has been much more gradual than I thought it would be. It started with some very quick flashes of smile where you couldn't really tell if he meant to do it or not. He's beginning to do it more frequently to the point where it seems like he's smiling because he's happy about something. We can't really make him smile at this point. Perhaps he just doesn't get our sense of humor.

He's become much more interested in his world. Usually, he just stares at lights. Lately, he's been quite demanding about being carried around to look at things. He can easily stare at this black, white, and red poster we have for several uninterrupted minutes. At around 7 or 8 in the morning, he will cry until given the opportunity to stare at the windows in our bedroom. During the last week he's gotten excited about his rattle (not shaking it for himself or anything, but at least momentarily distracted when we shake it for him).


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Friday, April 09, 2010

What happend to all the jelly beans?

I think we all know what happen to them. I'm looking at you Brown.

In other news: Someone loves him some tummy time.

Monday, April 05, 2010

Snippets


He's so funny when he sleeps.

Apparently tomorrow my child will be 6 weeks old. How did that happen already? He has had the nerve to grow 2.5 inches and gain about 3 pounds. His scrawniness has turned into squeezeableness. I almost woke him up last night because I could not resist the urge to pinch his chubby cheaks. They were just there and they needed to be pinched.

While it seems like he was just born, pregnancy seems like it was eons ago. There really must be some amnesia built into the whole process so that you'll do it again. Even two days after his birth pregnancy seemed like a distant memory.

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I wasn't sure what to expect with a newborn. I thought maybe I'd be dealing with a baby that wanted to stay up all night crying. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case (so far, knock on wood). If he cries, it's usually because he's hungry. He eats a million times more often than I expected. I think, without exaggeration, I've spent about 50% of these last 6 weeks with a baby attached to my boob. There are definitely worse things in the world. The constant nursing just forces me to slow down and enjoy this time with him. Plus, I had no idea what babies did when they were looking for a boob. He snorts and grunts and shakes his head back and forth with his mouth open and goes, "uh uh uh." Makes me laugh all the time.

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Today was a special day in the Kodkagel household. I got crapped on. Literally. I was holding Eli on my lap. I heard him poop. He has very audible, very loud poops. They usually come in 3 parts, so I was giving him some time to finish up. (Am I oversharing?) I shifted him to the other leg and uncovered the horror. This was not a little bit of seepage, but an all out pooping on mommy. It generated a full load of laundry. Not cool. I guess he was making up for all the times he's peed on his father.

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When we went to Easter brunch at a friend's house on Sunday we decided to dress him in his finest pastel polyester. This outfit belonged to my brother, making it at least 32 years old.

7th Inning Stretch

Baseball is back! This is very exciting as it will be Eli's first! We got lucky and ESPN had the Cards game on. We were very happy and Mommy did not put up a fight about watching. Tradition is a big part about loving baseball. Eli started to learn them today...

Take me out to the ball game... from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Eli Loves Escher

In our living room we have a graphic poster of a french bicyclist.  When Eli is crying we sometimes walk him over to it and he stops crying. Babies like things that are high contrast. Tonight Eli was starting to stir and Emily decided it was time to look at a book of M.C. Escher's work. He was crying when we started. That did not last long...


Eli loves Escher from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Eli Sleepy Time

Do you know what a good boy Eli is?

Our good friend Lindsey came from DC to meet Eli. As all miracles would have it her flight in to Chicago on United was 30 minutes early! Most of the time she never makes it or is four hours late. She is staying with another good friend of ours, but we will be hanging out most of the weekend.

We went out to a wine bar to have some light food and drinks. (Yes we take Eli to go get drinks. This was his second bar!) The food was good, the service kinda sucked, but most importantly Eli napped the whole time. He had been cranky for the last hour and I was literally walking up and down the street with him, but the moment we walked in to the bar he fell asleep.

He did not wake up until 3 1/2 hours later. We had been home for close to an hour already. He needed to be change before bed so I sent Emily to bed and I watched the lit' man snore.


Eli Sleepy time from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

A Perfect Day?

Eli got to go out yesterday for the first time without being bundled.