Sunday Six - 1/10/10

i can't believe i'm blogging right now...i'm exhausted and have what feels like a torn muscle in my back (no doubt a kink from nursing since i can't take my eyes off of my cute boy).

i should be in bed.

but i decided to put some more pics of cute little eli on the blog and well, now i'm feeling a little blog-motivation.

1. here are a few of eli's smiles. the kid seriously makes my day.





2. some mothers really bond with their babies in the womb - others seem to connect with their infants right away. for the first few weeks of eli's life i felt as if i'd birthed a total stranger. he was unfamiliar and strange to me. being the third in this crazy family has forced him to just kind of go with the flow. but also being the third (and probably our last) baby, i have tried to spend more time following his ques and not getting so filled up with new mom anxiety. now i feel like we really have a connection. i can finally interpret his cries and i feel like we just sort of get each other. it's really nice and i can't wait to get to know him better.
here's what i know:
*he loves baths.
*he only cries if he's poopy, tired or hungry. imagine that!
*he's a total momma's boy already. if he wants mom, he doesn't last two seconds in someone else's arms.
*he practically burps himself - it's awesome.
*he has the longest baby toes i've ever seen.
*i think he might be an olympic swimmer...he loves baths that much!

3. i've become that woman. that woman who complains about how hard it is to lose the weight from her third baby and how she doesn't bounce back like she did before. i'm aware of how hard one has to work to get baby weight off, since i've done it successfully twice, but at this point it feels like i have SO FAR TO GO. so tonight it's easier to just complain about it...and be that woman.

4. today i want to express my gratitude to my husband. he's a really hard working guy. next weekend he will start the executive MBA program at wake forest. the man will have no spare time in his schedule between work, school, his calling, and leading this family. yet somehow in the last couple of weeks he's managed to eke out a new schedule...one that includes getting up an hour earlier to exercise and make his own lunch, leading our family in scripture study, spending time working in the basement, and still managing to make it home in time for dinner. he's kind of turned into superman lately and man, i'm thankful i married him.

5. here are a couple more kids that make my day.


tonight at church we had our "eight is great" fireside. marissa will baptized this year. i can't believe how fast the time has flown. i know she'll be ready to make that decision for herself this year, but she still seems so young to me. she talks non-stop about activity days and how much fun it will be. i can't wait to see her in there.

speaking of talking non-stop...dylan wakes up and it's like a switch is flipped. the kid has no warm-up period. he just wakes up and starts talking. he'll say your name over and over until he has your attention and then proceed to talk OVER you to get his message across. we're really trying to practice "inside voice" or "library voice" with him. most of the time it's not a big deal, but the child wakes up at 5:30 or 6am every morning....without "inside voice". the other day i threatened to make a rule that he can't talk until 8am. but he's trying really hard and the truth is, the kid just has a lot to say.

6. i hope you are all enjoying your winter weather. we are not. north carolinians are not used to temps much below freezing. it's been COLD here but fortunately we've escaped much of the snow and ice that other areas of the southeast have had. this week we should be back comfortably in the mid 50s. and thank heaven's for that!

happy new year!