7 Quick Takes

one

Does anyone else dread the development questions at the pediatrician?  Seriously, I always go in there a nervous wreck that he is going to tell me Elijah is way behind or having a problem or something.  Yes he's a year old and not walking or talking (beyond 'Mama' and 'Dada') or pointing.  We're working on clapping.  But he is an adorable, funny, rambunctious baby who loves to give kisses and wave hi.  Why are these not on the question list?

two

The day before his first birthday, Elijah got his first pair of real shoes.  This picture cracks me up.  I put the shoes on him to wear around the house and get used to today.  He acted like I was holding his feet to the fire.  I tried explaining that they were not, in fact, a torture device, but he didn't seem to care.

He looks so much like a little boy now!

three

We bought my laptop in 2008 because we had tried sharing a computer for the first year or two of marriage.  This experience taught us we need separate computers to function as a happily married couple.  Slowly, over the last year and a half, the laptop has been falling to pieces.  For Christmas this year, I asked for a new lower-end desk top.  I told Nathan exactly what I wanted and picked it out.  

The thing about Nathan is, if he is going to buy something like a computer, he's not going buy lower-end.  He has friends who mess around with computers and components as a hobby and a brother-in-law who works in IT.  So for Christmas I got: a wireless keyboard and mouse, a new monitor, and the promise that at some point in the future his former desktop tower would be cleaned up with a new hard drive and ready for my use.  That day has come, my friends!  I can't wait to finally have a computer I can use without fear of it falling apart on me.

four

A little while ago, my dad started a blog.  He has been hearing from several sources for a long time that he needs to write.  I will always remember when his parents used to go to Texas for the winter; my parents would sit us all down every month or so with a piece of paper and have us write them, what I'm sure were painfully difficult to read letters about the ups and downs of life in an elementary school family of six.  My dad would write two to four page letters.  It's a gift he has.

His most recent post is about my nephew Brian and it's adorable.  Pop over to prairiecurmudgeon.blogspot.com  

five

Please know that I am neither complaining nor bragging, I'm just curious.  Elijah still takes three naps a day.  Is that normal?

six

Today is my last day of vacation.  *tear*  Apart from Elijah teething and getting shots and running a fever these last few days, it's been pretty great.  I even got to extend it two days.  I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to next vacation at the end of June.  I finally managed to arrange vacation around one of my absolute favorite days of the year, Ribfest.  My sisters will be in town, we will go to the best party, and eat all kinds of foods.  I am so excited!

seven 

Who else is scarred by last week's Downton Abbey?  I mean really!  If they had to kill someone why couldn't it have been Thomas or O'Brien?  And why can poor Daisy not catch a romantic break to save her life? 

 For more Seven Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary!

Elijah turns one!

It's entirely possible that at this time last year, I was sleeping.  I had been awake for at least 24 hours you see.  Nathan and I had driven 7 hours and stood in a hospital room in awe as our son Elijah was born.

Yep, Little Guy is one year old.  It's still surprising to me.  We spent the day in high fashion with a party with friends and family at our house.  We felt very blessed that so many people came to help us celebrate Elijah.

So, I made this.  I wanted to do a lot more crafting for the party.  I even attempted to make my own invitations, but it did not go well and I gave up.  I was going to give the party a "farm" theme, but decided that themes didn't really matter that much to me this year since he won't remember.  Though, I did find a bunch of farm themed items at Party City later.  Instead we just went with a blue/green color scheme.  The cake was delicious and made by a friend of mine from high school.

My grandmother was one of the first people to arrive.  She is also one of Elijah's biggest fans.  They had so much fun playing together in the relative quiet before people really started arriving. They played peek-a-boo across the room and he loved it.

 But, I like this picture better!

Oh, the smash cake.  Wait for it....

He was a VERY big fan of the smash cake.

He even got down to the cake part.  It may look a little extreme, but I am very glad we decided to strip him to his diaper before the smash cake.

This is what the living room looked like before we settled in to eat and talk and enjoy each others' company.  That's my dad in the chair.

This picture looks hilarious to me with Scout in the high chair.

By the time everyone arrived, more children were at our house than ever before.  Counting Elijah there were six little ones here ranging from 9 months to six years.  It was so neat!

They mostly hung out in the sun room where we had toys and crayons and paper for coloring.  They also spent time in the kitchen where the food was.  We had Casey's pizza.  Elijah got many lovely presents which of course I don't have pictures of because I was opening them.  It was such a fun day!

January 1

January 1, 2004
Nathan and I went on our unofficial, official first date.  We were friends in high school and went on a bunch of individual dates in the past, but this is when we really started dating.  My brother had just gotten back from Italy so he wanted to cook for everyone (a contagious condition over there).  Nathan came over and ate with us and then we went out to see Mona Lisa Smile.

January 1, 2005
I just got back from studying in England and was having a lot of fun getting to spend time with Nathan again before being sent off to Macomb to finish my junior year at Western Illinois University.

January 1, 2006
Our very first full day of being engaged.  My mother woke me up by coming to my room and asking to look at my ring and then thrusting the phone at me with the command "Call your grandmothers."  After a wonderful few days of preliminary wedding planning, I returned to Macomb again to finish my senior year.

Skip forward six years

January 1, 2012
I honestly don't remember what happened last year on this day.  I was probably at work.  It is remarkable only because we had no idea that in 17 days we would get a phone call about a woman who chose us to raise the baby boy she was carrying.

January 1, 2013
Nathan and I and our little guy, who will be one in a couple weeks, drove to Iowa to visit Elizabeth and Eric and watch some college football.  I'm almost never off work when everyone else is, so we took advantage of this rare day.  Everyone but me goes back to work tomorrow...I've manage to finagle a 3 day weekend for myself.

Nathan and I have been together nine years we've traveled quite a bit, gotten married, moved twice, had six jobs total, become an aunt and uncle-twice, and began raising a beautiful and hilarious baby boy!

7 Quick Takes

one

 I have been waiting for this since I heard it was coming out months ago.  We had a false start on the 9th when it was released selectively, but now it's out even in our little backwater and one of the goals of my vacation is to go see it.

two

We hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving.  We were blessed enough to host our parents and Nathan's sister and her family.  We had turkey, ham, stuffing, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit yogurt salad, 7 layer salad, rolls, and cherry, pumpkin, and chocolate peanut butter pies.  It was all delicious and we had some much fun visiting with everyone.

Sophie and Elijah matched!

three

Mom and I didn't wake up nearly as early for Black Friday shopping this year as we have in the past.  But we still spent a ton of money and got some really good deals.  I finished up shopping for Elijah, Nate (brother), Brian, and Nathan (except for some stocking stuffers).  I feel like that was a good morning's work.

Lines at Kohl's were ridiculous especially for 1 pm, but moved reasonably quickly.  Hats off to Walmart, who had a price on something that had to have been accidentally changed by someone (because it was way cheaper than it should have been) but they honored it for us before fixing it.

And there were still a few stores unopened when we got up there and the only one that had a line outside was Barnes & Noble.  I so wanted to get in line, just so I could say I door-busted at the bookstore.

four

I've given a lot of thought lately to how we are going to do Christmas with Elijah.  I really want to focus on Advent and help him (and myself) understand that this time is for preparing for the approaching birth of Christ.  So, I considered not putting up the tree and most of the decorations until the second or third week of December.  I thought about how we can make the lighting of the Advent wreath more special in the house.

Then I realized that I actually have time off this week.  There will be time during the day when I'm not pushing little hands away from the  tree or the angels or the candles, in which I can get this accomplished.  

So, in the end, as far as decorating goes, convenience is going to win out.  But we can still highlight the Advent wreath and make a big deal of St. Nicholas Day.

And, like my mom said, one year doesn't make a tradition.  But I don't think we'll go to any malls or stores to see Santa this year.  Elijah's just a little too young.

five

Allie, if you're reading this, it was great to Skype with you this week.  And again, I'm sorry I accidentally unplugged the monitor when I was trying to unplug the keyboard and killed our video feed.  Your little guy is adorable!

six

I absolutely meant to have a post in between last Quick Takes and this one, but I've discovered the joy of napping while the baby naps, so, I didn't get around to it.  Sorry.

seven

After three days of on my feet: first cleaning, then cooking, last shopping, I am very looking forward tomorrow to spending time relaxing and visiting with Nathan's mother's family, who actually haven't met the baby yet.

For more Quick Takes, head over to Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes

one

I have less than a week left before vacation!!  Wa-hoo!

two

Since I will be off for Thanksgiving this year, Nathan and I are hosting our families.  I'm starting to think this was a lot of work to take on while I'm supposed to be relaxing, but I'm excited.  Menu: turkey, ham (because I hate turkey), pie haven't decided what kinds yet, cheesy potatoes, supplied by my mom, and other sides I haven't come up with yet.

three

Elijah has really changed a lot this month.  He is crawling properly now and can say 'Mama.'  He is trying very hard to pull himself up on things and the other day I heard him say 'baba' while looking at his bottle.  He's getting to be such a big boy!

We had his 9-month follow up appointment with the pediatrician on Monday and were given the green light to feed him basically anything but honey.  So we started with real food on Tuesday by putting some plain white rice on his tray.  He didn't take to it at first, but was all about it on Wednesday.

Now that he's trying to pull himself up, I've been trying to give him more play time by himself.  I usually sit with him on the floor all day, but he just comes to me to be helped up.  

four

Does anyone have ideas for baby stocking-stuffers?  I have a beautiful little book about Christmas for St. Nicholas Day and I also bought non-slip socks since he is trying to stand and we have hard wood floors.  Other than that I'm kind of stumped.

five

Please pray for Nathan and his coworkers today.  They are getting a tiny visitor for a few hours.  My father-in-law is busy this afternoon and my parents are setting off for Iowa.  I know the ladies in Nathan's office will be perfectly happy to play with Elijah, I just think it might stress Nathan out.  

six

Apparently this is what happens when you have four kids and they all live in different states.  My poor dad spent this week in Pittsburgh watching my nephew while my Nate's family moved into a new house.  He got back yesterday, I think, and today they are heading out to Iowa City to visit Elizabeth and her husband.  

seven

There aren't too many pictures of Elijah and me, but I think this one is my favorite.

For more quick takes, check out Jen's blog.

We are NOT the Partridge Family!

I know this is a little late, but Anne hasn't had power in a while and this is for her.



Aunt Anne, can I be your personal penguin?

Little Penguin's Halloween

Elijah woke up and stretched.  He rubbed his little eyes and looked around.  He was in his same crib, in his same room with  the happy piggy on the wall, but he could tell something was different.

He called for his Mama and she came in, her nightgown brushing  the tops of her socks and reached over the crib railing with a big smile.  “Happy Halloween, Elijah!” she said softly as she picked him up and carried him to the changing table. 

Hallo-what? Elijah wondered.  Mama changed his diaper and dressed him in an orange onesie with a black face on it, with black pants.  Daddy came in to say goodbye and gave Elijah as kiss before going off to work.

All day Mama and Elijah played and Mama told him, “In a few hours we are going to dress you up as a penguin!”  He didn’t know what a penguin was, but it must be something important to dress up like it.  He got more and more excited as the day went on. 

So excited, in fact, that he didn’t even want to take his nap.  He laid in his crib and talked to himself about being a penguin, and what a penguin might be all through napping hour.  When Mama came to get him, she shook her head and said with a smile, “You’ll be tired later for Trick-or-Treating.”

He was hearing so many new words today.  What’s Trick-or-Treating­? he wondered.  He tried to stay up all afternoon to see what all the fuss was about, but he just couldn’t make it, and around 2 pm he passed out. 

An hour and a half later, when he woke up, Mama was all activity.  She settled him in his jumpy and packed his diaper bag.  Then, as Elijah was jumping, she looked at him and said.

“Okay, time to be a penguin!”  She picked him up out of the jumpy and laid him down on the floor, pulling the costume over his head.  Then she pulled yellow shoes over his socks and secured a hat on his head.

“You look adorable!” she exclaimed, as she handed him a little metal bucket to carry.  “Let’s go see all the ladies at the library.  Grandma will be there, too.”  Sure enough, as they went through the library door, the book ladies all looked around and said, “What a cute little penguin!”  There were other characters there too.  Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat were just saying goodbye.

Grandma kissed him and told him what a cute penguin he was.  From there it was off to see Elijah’s Nonna and Grandpa.  While he was there he got to see his cousin Batman Brian over the computer.  Daddy even turned up there, too!   

As they drove through the town where Grandpa and Nonna live, Elijah saw all kinds of characters.  It seems like everyone was out and about: there were princesses, and brides, and firemen, and even zombies.  

For two towns Mama and Daddy drove Elijah to friends’ houses so people could see the cutest little penguin.  And people put candy in his little metal bucket.  Finally, when he was all tired out and didn’t think he could go to one more house, they went home.   

And just before bed, Elijah’s Uncle Jamie and Aunt Mandy showed up to see the little penguin too!  Then, Mama and Daddy took Elijah upstairs, settled him in his crib and said, “We love you, little penguin.  Sleep well.”  And he knew that he was right, there was something special about today. 

Happy Halloween!

7 Quick Takes

-one-

I am ridiculously excited for the upcoming holiday season.  I always think of "The Holidays" as starting with Halloween.  I have all three of them off work, and I just cannot wait.  We tried Elijah's Halloween costume on him today to make sure it fits still.  It's a hand-me-down from Sophie, but it's just what I've always wanted for my first child's first Halloween.  Stay tuned and I'll post a picture after Wednesday.

-two-

In keeping with the ridiculous excitement, I already  have Elijah's first Christmas present.

I think he'll probably get mostly clothes because he is already wearing 12 month outfits and we don't have a lot of 18 monthers.  But the Toyland at the Farm and Fleet near our house opened recently!  Nathan tried to ban me from going in there.  Silly husband!

-three-

Up until now, Elijah has taken a morning nap, just about everyday.  Usually between nine and ten, he passes out and sleeps for a half hour to an hour.  But it is his late morning nap at 11:30 that I really count on to get things done or take a nap myself before going to work.  I've noticed that if he takes a long morning nap, his other one is much shorter.  So, I have been trying to abolish the morning nap.  It hasn't been easy, and it's still not everyday, but we're definitely working on it.  

I've been told to just let him nap when he wants to, but he wakes up happier from his later nap if he sleeps longer.  Any thoughts?

-four-

Today is Elijah's nine month birthday!  I still find myself seeking out other moms, mostly those with kids around his age, or my own mother, for advice.  I feel like I should have a better grasp of things at this point, and for the most part I do.  But when he's not feeling well, or if we're getting close to some milestone or talking about changing his routine a little, I start feeling very insecure.

-five-

Love this face!

-six-

I realize this is only going to matter to a few people, but, very exciting news around our house recently.  We have found the blue ring!  The rock-a-stack has been minus it's blue ring for the last couple months or so because we had no idea where it was.  We have an old-style one, so the blue ring is actually the smallest.  I was walking through the living room the other day and looked up at the shade of our floor lamp and noticed something blue in it.  Sure enough, there it was.  There has been much speculation about how it got there.

-seven-

Yesterday we had shift-bid at work for next year.  In case anyone is interested I will be working 2nd shift 3-11 pm for the first eight months of the year with Tuesday-Wednesday weekends.  I will then move to 3rd shift 11 pm to 7 am for the last four months with the same weekends.  I also took my two weeks vacation one week being for Elijah's first birthday and the other, the last full week in June, so hopefully I can be at Ribfest this year.  

It didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but I'm sure it'll be just fine!   

For more 7 Quick Takes, check out Jen's blog!

The Bluest Blue

A couple weeks ago, my husband declared my car, a 2000 Ford Taurus that used to belong to my grandparents, unfit to drive.  Apparently the head gasket has problems (I have no idea what this means); and I'm sure the transmission is about 20 miles from saying "No, not any more!"

So, I started driving Nathan's car, which is manual and I hate it, and occasionally, my parent's car while we looked for a replacement for me.

What I really wanted was a brand new Ford Fiesta.  But adoption turned out to be so expensive and we are contemplating it again, (not any time soon, don't get excited.)  So we looked around at used cars.  We checked out a 2006 Ford Focus hatchback, which I liked; a 2008 Dodge Caliber, and a 2004 Toyota Corolla, which Nathan liked.

My hatred of driving is so strong, that I refused to be the one going to the test drives.  I was fairly certain that as soon as I got behind the wheel of something I don't own, there was going to be an accident.  So Nathan went.  The first place he went was to the Corolla.  It was also the last place he went.  Three days later, he bought it.

At first, I was less than pleased.  It is an 04 after all and with 81,000 miles, was more used than I was hoping for.  But everyone said Corollas are good, dependable cars.  And this car had one thing going for it in my mind...it's blue, my favorite color.  But this isn't just any blue...

You may remember that I am a fan of Doctor Who.

This is the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), Doctor Who's ship, which can travel anywhere in time and space.

The moment I got truly excited about my new car for the first time, was the moment I realized, it's TARDIS blue. 

Then, I drove it for the first time.  I actually, genuinely like it.  Tauruses, for being sedans, are actually big cars, they're long and wide and I always felt it was too much car for me.  The Corolla is nice, it's little but big enough for Elijah's car seat, and it drives very well.  It also has almost all the little things I wanted like power locks and doors and a CD player and remote unlock.  The only things it's lacking are an auxiliary audio jack for my iPod, and remote start, which I really want.

The first couple times I drove the Corolla, I had so much fun.  That was before I realized it doesn't change anything about driving...driving is the same...

And, when I said the Taurus used to belong to my grandparents what I meant was I purchased it from my uncles after my grandmother passed away.  When I opened it's trunk the first time, I found two pairs of shoes tied together.  I don't know which one of my grandparents they belonged to; I like to think one was his and one was hers, but they were probably both his.  And for the next four years, I drove around old shoes in the trunk because I couldn't bear to get rid of them.

 This is what I saw the first time I popped the trunk on the Corolla:

Nathan moved them to the new car.

What a week

This last week and a half, starting on Monday 8/13, has been kind of a rough one for just about every member of our little family, including the four-legged variety.

Hyperion
On Saturday we noticed Hyperion wasn't feeling too well.  He tried to go to the litter box, then came out and laid under the end table yowling loudly.  He's done this before and it usually passes after an hour or so.  This time, not so much.  I looked up the name and information of an emergency vet in our area and then I had to go to work.  Nathan felt that if we watched Hyperion on Saturday and he wasn't better the next day, we could take him to the vet. 

I wasn't at work an hour when a co-worker told me Nathan was on the phone.  He was at the e-vet in Aurora with Hyperion (having dropped Elijah off at his parents' house).  He told me he had watched Hyperion try to use the litter box again, and the poor little guy fell over.  We found out Hyperion had a blocked urinary system, which apparently is common in male cats.  Unfortunately, the sure-fire fix cost much more than we were comfortable spending on the cat.  Instead, they catheterized him and sent Nathan home with a bunch of medications for this week including an IV bag for subcutaneous fluid injections.

It's been kind of dicey on whether or not we thought he was going to make it through the week. On Monday night, Nathan even made the comment "If he makes it to tomorrow..."  But today he seems much better.  He's been walking around with his tail up and eating and even got into a little trouble.


Hecate
One of the only family members having a good week is Hecate.  Hyperion's illness means we've been leaving canned food out for him to try to get some fluid into him.  They have also been accessible to her.  Also, we felt bad that we've been keeping them closed downstairs for the summer so we could keep the nursery door open.  So on Saturday night, we closed the nursery door and opened the stair door.  She has been enjoying the opportunity to sleep on our bed again.


Me
Last Monday Nathan and I woke up bright and early and drove down to Chicago.  Unfortunately, we were not going there to enjoy ourselves.  I was scheduled to have a cardiac catheterization.   Basically, the doctors make small incisions in the femoral artery and slip a tube in and run it up to the heart so they can watch the blood flow around and measure pressures and things.  I've had this procedure many, many times before and it is probably my least favorite.

To make it worse, everyone at the hospital seemed confused about what kind of cath I was having.  They kept saying "right heart cath" but all my paperwork said "bilateral," meaning they were going in on both sides and not just the right.  After the procedure I had to stay flat for six hours so I didn't rupture the closures over the incision sites.


We got home around 9 pm Monday night.  Thankfully Tuesday my mother and in-laws were all free.  I was so sick I had to spend the whole day in bed.  And someone had to look after Elijah.  Poor Elijah, I was not allowed to pick him up for three days after the procedure.  It was fine on Tuesday, because the grandparents were there.  Wednesday and Thursday were not so fun...


Elijah
Really, he was kind of a lucky little guy because he got to spend a lot of time with his grandparents.  My dad and mom watched him while we were in Chicago, and then of course he had everyone's attention on Tuesday.  Wednesday I took the day off work, and since wasn't allowed to carry him around we spent the whole day playing on the floor in the nursery.  Eventually, he got very bored.  Thursday he was having teething pain from his second tooth.  All he wants when his gums hurt is for Mama to hold him and walk around, but of course, I couldn't do that.  It was the most heart-breaking thing ever to stand up and have him reach up his little arms, screaming to be picked up and cuddled, and know I couldn't do it.  Friday, and every day since then have been better.

Nathan
Probably the busiest of all of us has been Nathan.  First he had to sit with me in that boring cath lab waiting/recovery room, then he had to take care of me.  Then he was the one home when Hyperion got sick.  On Monday he had to come home at lunch and help me give Hyperion his medications, because medicating a cat is not easy.

Hopefully this coming week will be easier/less stressful/healthier.
 

7 Quick Takes

one

One of the reasons I haven't posted much lately, apart from work and a baby who doesn't like napping, is because I've been trying hard to come up with a post topic that isn't baby-centric.  And I honestly haven't been able to.  I promise, I'm still my own person, but it seems like everything I do, with the exception of going to work, centers around Elijah.  Not that that's a bad thing.

two

 Earlier this week, my laptop's hard drive crashed, taking all of our pictures and all of my writing with it.  Nathan rushed it to his good friend A., who is very handy with things like that, and I was told the information is still there, it is just inaccessible at this point.  For a day or two Nathan and I shared his computer, which is never a good idea, trust me, there's a reason we have two computers.  A. took the bad hard drive out and installed a fresh clean one and sent the computer back.  So, we have to look into finding a data recovery service that isn't horribly expensive.

three

  I'm never any good at cooking in the summer time.  I like heavy rich foods, and I'm not overly fond of vegetables.  I can never come up with any light recipes that sound good.  I usually just resort to making the heavier foods in the crock pot so I don't overheat the house.

four

Elijah's first real baby food was carrots.  He was undecided about them at first, but eventually got to the point where I couldn't get the spoon to his mouth fast enough.  Today we started him on peas.  He had no problems with peas, which was surprising to me, I have always thought of peas as an acquired taste.

five

My brother and sisters and their families are coming home this weekend!  Unfortunately, I won't get to see Elizabeth because she's only going to be at the big family gathering tomorrow, which I have to miss.  But Nate and his family and Anne are both going to be in town for several days!  I'm very excited about this.  Mom even has some free passes to the Shedd Aquarium so Anne and I are going to take Elijah downtown on one of my days off.

Six

    We only have one month left to go before the adoption should be finalized!  I'm sure we'll have some kind of party.

Seven

I know I talk about Elijah not napping, but I took this picture earlier this week during one of our morning naps, which have been getting shorter and shorter. It's one of my new favorite pictures.

Check out more 7 Quick Takes here!

One month old

Yay!  Happy one month, Elijah!

And so we begin the early-year-birthday onslaught.  Really, it started yesterday with our niece Sophie's second birthday.  We continue tomorrow when Craig, my father-in-law, celebrates his.  Looking ahead to next Thursday is my mother's birthday and a little further down the road we see Nathan's 31st on the 9th.  Just beyond that, we celebrate the first birthday of our Ides of March baby, our nephew Brian.

It's going to be a fun month!

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 3)

-one-

I haven't figured out how to live in more than one room with an infant.  We set his swing up in our sun room, so that is where Elijah and I live during the day.  I set my laptop up in there and we literally don't leave that room until Nathan comes home unless we are running errands or Elijah is sleeping and I'm doing some small chores.

-two-

The laptop sits on the coffee table and I have actually gotten really good at maneuvering around the Internet with my foot.  Not kidding.  I can't type or anything crazy like that, but the mouse is a touch pad and while I sit on the couch and hold Elijah, I can move the cursor around with my foot and click on things.  Usually it's just to change the Pandora station.

-three-

The season finale of Downton Abbey broke my heart.  Poor Bates!  I hope it all blows over early next season.

-four-

Elijah absolutely refuses to nap in the pack and play that we use for a bassinet.  He will nap just fine if I hold him for a while and then put him down in the swing.  But if I try to put him down in the pack and play, he will wake up within 5 to 10 minutes screaming.  He's too little yet for me to feel comfortable letting him cry it out.  At least he's napping somewhere.

-five-

This week I have discovered two blogs I really enjoy.  One is brand new.  It's called Dough Boy, and is run by my brilliant sister and brother-in-law.  Yes, this is a shameless plug.  Eric and Elizabeth are foodie extraordinaires, in that they make a lot of what they eat from scratch.  They make their own sandwich bread (without a bread maker), crackers, and pizza dough.  Eric has also tried his hand at curing  bacon, and making cheese (against Elizabeth's wishes).  He brews beer and she has made dog biscuits for their beloved French Bulldog, Buddah.  I'd just like to mention that I wouldn't mind being a guinea pig for a test batch of homemade marshmallows, or more bacon.

The other blog is called Catholic Cuisine.  It's filled with ideas for recipes and meals to make to celebrate or honor feast days and specific liturgical seasons.  There are some really neat ideas that I want to try when Elijah gets older.

-six-

We have quite a collection of Disney movies.   And lately, I have come into more respect for Hunchback of Notre Dame, previously one of my least favorites.  It's a very dark story and must have been hard to adapt.  I love that they let it  be a little darker than their other movies.  They didn't try to take away all its character.  Plus, the music is great.  Observe:

-seven-

 At four weeks, Elijah is following objects with his head and focusing more clearly.  He can hold his head up for longer periods of time and is pushing with his legs.  His eyes are very slowly getting lighter and his hair is a very pretty gold-red color.  He eats 3-4 oz at a time and has started staying awake longer.  He is wonderful!

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Elijah Nathan

I was asleep, to begin with.  It was mid-afternoon on Wednesday, January 18 and I still had about an hour to sleep.  But, the phone rang.  In my sleepy haze, I answered the phone and heard Nathan talking about our adoption agency calling him.  They said a birthmother in a neighboring state really liked our profile and wanted to talk to us.  He kept saying I needed to call the agency because she wanted to talk to us that night.  Finally, my mind started working and all I could say was, "Nathan, did she pick us?"  He responded with "Yeah, that's why they want you to call them."  I hung up right away and called our adoption agency.  Our adoption coordinator answered the phone and said "talk about things happening for a reason."  Then, she told me about a birthmother who had one or two conditions we initially hadn't said we would accept.

"I didn't mean to send her your profile," the coordinator said.  "But I must have accidentally put it in the pile of profiles I sent because she picked you guys and wants to talk to you tonight."  She went on to tell me a few things about the birthmother, and that she was having a boy in one week. Then the coordinator gave me Birthmother's name and phone number.  I was in shock.  We hadn't even heard of this situation before hand.  She just liked our profile enough to think we would be good parents to her little boy.  Suddenly those few conditions didn't seem so daunting and we were so excited.

Nathan came home that night and we called her.  We were all very nervous, but it was a wonderful conversation which lasted about an hour.  She told us she wanted us to be in the delivery room when the baby was born.  She explained why she picked us and we told her about our lives at home and how we plan to handle day care after I go back to work.  She said she expected to need to be induced.

The minute we hung up the phone, I pulled out our big black duffel bag and started packing it.  I made sure the diaper bag was still packed from the last time we got called.  We told our parents and siblings.  We told our bosses.  Things went on pretty much as they had before.  I spoke with the birthmother one other time as we waited.  But, really, things were different.  I bought a car seat.

I put together the swing we bought and the bouncy seat we received as a present from my brother and sister-in-law.

We had to get all our paperwork updated and retained lawyers in both our state and Birthmother's state.  Birthmother was due on Friday, January 27 and we were ready to head to her state when she was induced. 

Nathan responded to all this stress by not sleeping.  He wasn't going to bed until 3 am most nights.  Finally on Wednesday the 25th, his body said "no more" and he was in bed at 7 pm.  That was my Sunday, so I stayed up, sitting at my computer reading articles about newborn care and playing an on-line game with a friend from work.  (We all keep strange hours.)  At 4 am Thursday, January 26, Nathan's alarm went off.  He didn't move and I shut if off.

Fifteen minutes later the phone rang, it was Birthmother.  "Margaret, I'm in labor," she said.  "Okay, we'll be there as fast as we can," was all I could say.  I shook Nathan's shoulder and woke him.  "Birthmother is in labor, we have to leave now."  "What?" he responded.  I finished packing our big duffel bag, I double checked both of the baby's bags.  An hour later, after Nathan had checked the car over carefully and we installed the car seat for the first time, we left.  We drove for seven hours, had one near miss with a semi and arrived safely at the hospital.

We made it, Birthmother was still in labor.  Her parents were both in the room and a friend of hers arrived.   Everyone was wonderful and even the hospital staff referred to us as "the parents."  She started pushing about 2 hours after we got there.  I stood on her left side and helped brace her while she pushed.  Nathan sat in the corner.

Baby boy arrived at 4:46 pm Thursday, January 26, 2012.  He was 8.09 lbs and 20 1/2 in.  We named him Elijah Nathan.  He was perfect and pink and healthy.

When the doctor pulled him out and placed him on Birthmother's chest, she reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling it up to the baby's stomach.  I could feel tears running down my cheeks.  I glanced over and Nathan was standing up, smiling with a look of complete awe and happiness.  Then they took Elijah off and cleaned him up, wrapped him and handed him to me.  I couldn't help it, I started singing to him.  The first song that came to my mind, which, I think is called "The Spinning Wheel."  After that, I handed him to Nathan.

The hospital gave us an empty room to stay in so that Elijah could be with us and we could feed and change him.  We were there for two days before moving to a hotel.  The next day we traveled to a bigger city where the lawyer's office is and stayed in a hotel there.  It was another five days before we finally received clearance from our state and Birthmother's state and were told we could leave. 

It has been so nice to be home.  Elijah is such a good baby, he sleeps well and eats well.  He doesn't fuss unless he is wet or hungry or wants his pacifier.

We thank God for Birthmother and for everyone who has supported us and cheered for us all along the way.