I recognize that some people really only come to JedFonner.com for the posts about baby Eli. I totally understand – he’s a cutie. So here is some quick Eli info and if you scroll down you can find all the posts about Eli without any other stuff.
For photos of Eli, check out Nicole’s Smugmug photo site. But as a sneak preview, here’s how Eli has grown over the months:
Just like his daddy, Eli is very active on Twitter and you can see his latest tweets below.
Eli has slowly been taking his first steps towards being able to walk (pun intended). This past weekend he took his first two steps by himself (and then promptly fell into my arms), and just recently he’s begun walking around while holding our hands. We thought this was so cool we had to share:
This update is a little belated, but we wanted to wait until Eli had his 1 year doctor visit and the Snowpocolypse delayed the appointment by a few weeks and then my computer crashed. But I’m hobbling along on a borrowed laptop and we’ve got good stats from the doctor to make this an informative update.
Our pediatrician was very pleased with how well Eli is doing. Eli has stayed fairly consistent in terms of growth: tall and thin. He weighs 23.5 lbs (55th percentile) and is just about 32 inches tall (90th percentile). Apparently the other babies’ heads didn’t grow quite as quickly as Eli’s though as he is now in the 97th percentile. This probably helps explain why he’s such an excellent linguist. The doctor called him a precocious child and we had to agree. About a month ago he started actually talking and he now says about 10-12 words (the amount of your average 18-month old). He says the basics, like “mama”, “dada”, and “hi” but also “ba” (for sheep), “cheese” (his favorite food), “ball”, “mail” (we have two toy mailboxes), “belly button” (sounds like “bebo”), “down”, “vroom” (for his toy cars), “balloon” (sounds like “boon”) and he says and signs “done” and waves and says “bye”. It seems like every day he learns a new word. And when he’s not saying words we recognize he’s still constantly babbling away. He’s quite the happy, chatty little boy.
As this past month was the month of snow, we weren’t able to get out much but we’ve been having a blast at home with Eli. Unfortunately due to the snow, we had to have a scaled-down version of Eli’s first birthday party. Eli continues to cruise all over the place and has even begun trying to climb up the couch and his large toys. He is not walking independently yet, but he loves to use his lion push-toy to walk around the house. This week he’s started taking steps while holding our hands and for the first time today he took two steps completely on his own (from the couch to me).
This month Eli has also decided to expand his palette. He suddenly loves whole blueberries and grapes and bananas (he only barely tolerated them before) and will eat pretty much anything he sees us eating. Soon we’ll be introducing Eli to peanut butter but the doctor said no shellfish for a while, so no crab cakes for Eli for some time. We started weaning Eli from breastfeeding and began transitioning to whole milk on his first birthday. It’s gone pretty smoothly and he now nurses just once in the morning and the rest of the day he gets regular, whole milk from a sippy cup with one bottle before bed.
We were afraid that we’d have to report that Eli still only had two teeth, but his third tooth finally popped through last weekend. There seem to be a whole slew of teeth ready to break out, which should make this a fun teething-month.
Sleep has continued to go well. Eli continues to go to bed between 7 and 7:30pm and wakes up around 7am. Some days he takes two 1.5 hour naps and others he skips his morning nap and sleeps for 2-2.5 hours in the afternoon.
This will be the last monthly update and elephant pictures we’ll be doing – we’re switching to quarterly updates so we’ll update again at 15-months. As usual, Nicole’s SmugMug site has all the January pictures and his 12-month elephant pictures and February photos, but here are three great shots of little Eli (click to see bigger):
Snowmageddon tried to ruin Eli’s first birthday party but Nicole’s family from Rochester wasn’t about to let a *little* snow stop them from coming down. Most made it into town before the storm and Nicole’s dad and aunt were able to navigate the un-plowed roads using his 4wd truck. Eli had a great time with everyone and he’s looking forward to celebrating again with my parents and Nicole’s extended family as soon as we can.
Yesterday Eli turned 1 year old. We’re having a celebration with our family this weekend, but we took some time last night to snap pictures with the Elephant and treat Eli to a birthday cupcake. He enjoyed some of it:
This is a little late, but in case you haven’t been counting, Eli turned 11-months old this month. It’s been a pretty great month for all of us. Eli practically learned something new every day and we were able to spend a lot of quality family time together over the holidays. We survived being trapped in the house for a few days by the Snowpocolypse and we even got outside to enjoy some of fluffy white stuff.
Eli has been cruising all over the place (standing and walking sideways while holding on to things) and he has even started climbing and standing on things (like toys, boxes, etc.). Last month he would play peekaboo or hide and seek if we hid from him, but now he now will hide and wait for us to find him (usually behind a toy or ducking behind the coffee table). He recently started waving, “giving five”, and he can push his train around the floor. He climbed up stairs for the first time this month and he’s also started dancing and bouncing to music or when we sing or clap. He has so much energy, at least until nap time.
Eli is starting to eat more table foods now. Cheese is still his favorite by far, in fact we give it to him as dessert. He also eats ham and turkey lunch meat as well as a little bit of meatballs and chicken. He isn’t too keen on feeding himself fruit and veggies but loves them as a puree. He will feed himself sweet potato fries, banana, prunes, and small pieces of dried fruits. Just yesterday he started eating cheddar pasta with veggies, but if the veggie pieces are too big or not stuck to the pasta he’ll spit them out (baby steps, baby steps). We’re still trying to teach him how to use a sippy cup on his own but he’s getting better at it every day.
I don’t want to jinx us, but Eli was a great sleeper last month. He has been sleeping through the night again (for the last 5-6 weeks) and the week before Christmas he started sleeping even longer. He now goes to bed between 7p and 7:30p and he sleeps until around 7am. And best of all, he puts himself to sleep at bedtime and for naps with minimal fussing. While we’re a little sad that he doesn’t want to be rocked to sleep anymore, it’s made a world of difference stress-wise.
Nicole and I have also recently been abandoning entrusting Eli to a babysitter which has allowed us to get some adult time in with our friends. We put Eli to bed and go out after he is asleep while paying the babysitter to basically just listen to the monitor. At some point soon we’d like to try leaving him with a sitter (non-relative) when he’s awake but I’m not sure if he or we are ready for that yet.
Eli now has two sharp little teeth! Seriously, they’re like razor blades, and only slightly crooked.
You can find our pictures from December and more elephant pictures on Nicole’s SmugMug site
Eli has developed an odd new habit of yelling when he crawls. He’s either angry that we’re making him crawl to us or he’s just making sure that the cats know where he is at all times. Anyway, here’s a quick video of him being loud and cute, take a look:
In case you need a pick-me-up, whether because you’ve spent the past 2 days shoveling snow or because you had to go into work knowing that, were you a kid, you’d have 3 extra days off, here’s a video of Eli laughing that should put a smile on your face.
It’s been a big month developmentally for Eli. He’s now 10-months old and is quickly leaving his baby days behind. We’ve done some baby-proofing this month as Eli is really starting to roam around the house . One of his favorite activities is to play hide and seek- Nicole or I will crawl out of his sight and he loves to come find us. Soon after he figured out how to crawl he also began pulling up onto his knees, and then slowly to standing. Now he pulls up to stand on everything, including his crib. He’s still having a little trouble climbing back down. So far spreading his legs into a split and slowly dropping to land on his bottom seems to be his preferred method. This weekend he started slowing cruising (walking while holding on) on the coffee table and the couch.
This month we enjoyed a visit to Rochester to see Nicole’s family. Unfortunately Eli was a little out of sorts and didn’t sleep well. The doctor reported that his congestion had turned into his first ear infection. 10 days of an antibiotic helped greatly. We had a busy Thanksgiving – we traveled to see my family in Silver Spring and Nicole’s family and friends in Baltimore and Luray, VA respectively.
Eli’s appetite came back in full force this month. He still breastfeeds and now eats three full meals of solid s- about half purees and half finger food. He can’t get enough cheese and likes yogurt and waffles for breakfast. We’re slowly trying to introduce more finger foods as feeding him purees is becoming a bit of a challenge. Eli likes to steal the spoon and seems to prefer finger food off of our plate.
I am hoping that some day soon we won’t have to keep talking about sleep. With his ear-infection Eli was up several times during the night. Once that cleared up, he went back to sleeping through the night most days. He’s got a little bit of a cold right now, but it is still sleeping about 10 hours straight. He does wake up once in the early AM hours most nights but puts himself back to sleep pretty quickly. Going to sleep at night and at nap-time is another story. He really doesn’t want to be away from us right now (separation anxiety) so with his cold we’d been rocking him to sleep more since he was so congested. Now that he is getting better we’re trying to get him to put himself to sleep again but he likes to pull up to stand in the crib and scream for us. Going in and comforting him only seems to upset him more. So this morning he napped sitting up with his head up against the end of the crib. We’re hoping this too will pass soon.
On a more positive note, we now have a tooth!! We discovered one of Eli’s front bottom teeth had finally popped through last weekend. Boy is it sharp!
You can find pictures from November and Eli’s 10-month Elephant photos on Nicole’s Smugmug site. It’s a lot harder to take posed pictures now that Eli can move around! He does smile at the camera more though!
November is Prematurity Awareness Month. This is especially important to our family because our son, Eli, was born prematurely. He spent 12 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) but thanks to the hard work of all of his doctors and nurses, he prospered and is now a happy healthy baby boy.
The March of Dimes is working to reduce premature births and their website is an amazing resource. Take a few minutes to read more about premature birth. And if you’re expecting, learn what you can do while you’re pregnant and before pregnancy to help you have a healthy full-term baby. And for new families, learn more about parenting a baby in the NICU.
And of course, consider donating to the March of Dimes when you do your end of year charitable giving.
Also, I’ve tweeted about her in the past, but we wouldn’t be where we are now in terms of neonatology if it wasn’t for the amazing Dr. Apgar who effectively founded the field. Read more about her in this WSJ article.
Sorry this post is a week late: Eli has just been keeping us so busy. Eli turned 9-months old this past week. With that achievement came a visit to the pediatrician. Eli has slimmed down just a bit relative to his peers, weighing in at 21 lbs (50th percentile), but he continues to get taller and taller, topping the charts at 30 inches (90th percentile).
Eli spent much of the past month up on all fours, rocking, and crawling backward. Yes, backwards. This would be quite impressive except that he was actually trying to go forward. We could imagine the frustration of trying to get to your favorite toy/person only to find yourself further away each time? Luckily, a few days ago he figured out how to put in drive and successfully crawled a few steps forward (captured on video below). Now he’s crawling all over the place! He’s also able to get himself into a seated position from laying down.
Eli continues to babble up a storm. He often says things that sound like words but don’t yet have meaning like “mum”, “hey”, “hed”. He really enjoys it when we repeat what he says and will go back and forth having a “conversation” for a few minutes.
Feeding Eli has been interesting this month. He’s not really that into breakfast yet, but for the first part of the month was eating quite a bit of pureed fruits and veggies for lunch and dinner. Within the past two weeks, however, he’s started only eating about half as much as before and then he will try to wrestle the spoon from us after a bit. But he’s started eating more finger foods (puffs, cheerios, cheese, carrots, string beans, etc.) and on Halloween we discovered he’s a big fan of garlic bread.
We thought our sleep troubles from last month had resolved themselves but Eli again started waking up 1-3 times a night and getting up earlier and earlier. Daylight Savings did nothing to help the problem (whoever invented time changes clearly didn’t have a baby). We’ve recently started some sleep training which is having good results. Eli can put himself to sleep at bedtime and naps with only a modicum of crying. He’s slept through the night the past couple of nights from about 8-5:45 (one morning til 6:55!) so now we’re just hoping to move the wake up time to a little later each day. It’s been suggested that, while counter-intuitive, an earlier bedtime will actually cause babies his age to sleep longer so we’re going to slowly try that too.
Eli is currently drooling like a waterfall. We can see two bottom teeth below the gum line and the pediatrician said they should both pop through any day now.
You can find Eli’s Halloween pictures below and see all the pictures from this month on Nicole’s Smugmug site. And I hope to shortly have some videos of Eli up.
It’s hard to believe that another month has gone by! Eli turned 8-months old last week and he continues to be a joy to be around. He recently hit the 20lb mark and has moved into size 12-month clothing. Now that he is able to roll all over and get from a seated position onto his tummy he is much happier playing with toys on the floor. He is trying to inch-worm his way towards people and toys and every now and then he even manages to get up on all fours (a predecessor to crawling). While we don’t think he’ll be full-on crawling for a little while longer, he’s making progress! We’re not complaining – we need the time to baby-proof! Eli also continues to improve his ability to manipulate objects with his fingers and we are starting to work on teaching him the pincer grasp instead of just raking.
Eli continues to babble up a storm. He started with “mamama” (see previous post) and quickly moved to “dadada”, “rarara”, “lalala”, and “bababa” and other forms of reduplicative babbling. Now he is using variegated babbling (a mix of syllables). It’s getting harder for us to get him to smile for pictures as he is becoming more discriminating in what he likes and really makes us work for it! On the other hand, he’s been laughing a lot more (see previous post).
Eli is now eating solids (purees) three meals a day, although breastmilk is still a major part of his diet. He’s added squash, green beans, and mangoes to the list of things he likes. He does not like peaches. This month, we’ll be introducing more fruits as well as some finger foods (puffs, possibly cheese, chunks of banana, etc.) and a sippy cup.
Eli went through a brief period where he was waking up once or twice a night and didn’t always go right back to sleep after some comforting. It seems to have been just a stage he was going through as it has already passed. His third nap has disappeared so most days he now takes two 1-2 hour naps which means a lot more awake time! Luckily he still loves his doorway jumper and going for walks.
And still no teeth…
After Eli was born, my friend Charles from work offered to take professional photos of Eli and us once Eli was old enough. We knew that Charles, owner of the design services company CodeModern, does great work and takes awesome photos, but we’d been waiting until Eli was old enough to sit up on his own. Well Eli has become a master-sitter recently, so this past month we took Charles up on his offer. We met him at a nearby park and he proceeded to click away with an assortment of cameras. The results really show the benefit of a photographer’s eye and a good camera.
Eli has always been a happy baby, but recently he’s just been completely full of smiles and giggles. We’ve discovered that it’s often the silliest things that get him to laugh. In this case, just dropping a ball in front of him caused him to chuckle in the amazingly cute way that only babies can. I can’t help but laugh myself every time I hear him laugh.
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Eli has gotten very talkative lately and there’s one thing he loves to say most:
Eli is slowly starting to enjoy solid food although he’s only eating solids at dinner time. So far he likes pears, carrots, and apples the best. He’ll also eat sweet potatoes and prunes but we suspect prunes cause him to puke so he won’t be those again for a while. He’ll eat peas only when mixed with carrots and he wanted nothing to do with bananas and won’t eat plain cereal or oatmeal now that he’s had food with flavor.
No teeth have poked through yet, but Eli’s teething seems to be getting more intense so were anticipating a tooth or two any time now. He’s also started babbling! Before he was cooing and then vocalizing Oohs and Aahs, but now there are definitely consonant vowel combinations, especially when he’s upset. It’s almost as amusing as his laugh.
Eli continues to sleep about 10-10.5 hours uninterrupted each night for which we’re very grateful! His occasional off night reminds how far we’ve come. Until this week he was also doing well with naps – taking two 1.5 hour naps and a third short catnap before dinner. We’re not sure if he’s trying to drop down to two naps or if teething is just throwing him off recently but even when he’s “off” he still takes at least one 1.5 hour nap each day, so we can’t complain too much.
You can find all of the pictures from August as well as this months elephant pictures on Nicole’s Smugmug site but here are some of our favorites:
We introduced “solid” foods to Eli when he turned 6 months old. Personally I think it’s ridiculous to call what we gave him “solid” food since there’s nothing solid about it. To be accurate we introduced “mush” to Eli when he turned 6 months old. But I digress.
We started Eli on rice cereal and then oatmeal and then carrots, peas and sweet potato. He seemed to enjoy the rice cereal and oatmeal until he got his first taste of carrots. Now that he knows food can actually have flavor he is no longer a fan of rice cereal and oatmeal. We’ve had moderate success mixing veges with the oatmeal. Eli also doesn’t care much for the peas and, having tried them myself, I can’t say I blame him. But much like his mom Eli continues to be a big fan of the carrots and the sweet potato. And last night we gave him apples for the first time and he ate the entire container, so I’m pretty sure he likes those too.
Eli got the hang of eating pretty quickly. Every now and then he will attack the spoon, spreading food all over his face. When he is feeling really mischievous he then sticks his hands in his mouth and then bangs his food-covered hands on the table, spreading food everywhere. But aside from these times, he is generally a good, fast, relatively neat eater. Introducing solid foods has done amazingly awful things to his diapers but I’ll leave the poop discussion for another day.
Here are some shots of Eli’s first meals:
Eli turned 6-months old this week! He’s changing so quickly it’s hard to remember all the things he wasn’t able to do just last month. He enjoys spending more time in his doorway jumper and exersaucer, watching the cats, as well as joining Jed and I for meals in his bumbo seat on the table. Eli now weighs 18 lbs 9 oz (65th percentile) and is 27 inches long (73rd percentile). Apparently his head grew too over the last 2 months as his head circumference is now at the 74th percentile.
This month we had visits from family members, college friends, and even Eli’s first non-relative babysitter. In terms of new skills, Eli is now able to roll over in both directions but does so rather reluctantly. His favorite place to do so is in his crib, particularly in the middle of the night where one of us has to go flip him back over so he can get back to sleep. He is also sitting up all by himself! We weren’t expecting him to be able to sit up alone so soon, but he seemed to have skipped the tripod stage (where they put their hands out in front for support).
To help celebrate his 6-month birthday, we started him on solid foods. So far he’s only had rice cereal and oatmeal, but he’s eating them like a champ! We’re looking forward to feeding him fruits and veggies this month. Eli also seems to be teething as he is now biting down on everything. Fingers and shoulders seem to be him favorite things to chew on. And, sleep, glorious sleep; he has been sleeping through the night – 10 hours straight – for almost a month now! Now if only Jed and I could go to bed on time we’d easily be able to get 8 hours in ourselves…
Here are Eli’s 6 month elephant pictures:
For more Eli action, check out Nicole’s smugmug site for pictures from July and pictures from the beginning of August.
Last week, Eli turned 5-months old. It’s been amazing to watch him grow this past month. He has learned how to blow raspberries and has started laughing! There is nothing more giggle-inspiring than hearing your own baby laugh. It is probably our favorite skill that he’s learned. Per the pediatrician’s recommendation, we’ve been having Eli spend more time on his tummy. Thanks to this, he has finally mastered head-control and he’s been able to try out some new adventures and toys. For example, he faces out in the Bjorn baby carrier which makes taking walks and running errands more pleasant for everyone.
As you’ll see in the pictures, we spent a lot of time visiting with our families this month. Nicole’s family, Poppy G., Aunt Jill, and Grandma, all made trips down to see us and we visited with the Fonners for Father’s Day. My mom has also been able to come and watch Eli for a few hours each week while she is off of work for the summer. We spent the last week of June at Outer Banks with Nicole’s Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bob and Bob’s daughters’ families. Eli very much enjoyed spending time with his Aunt Cathy as well as getting to play with cousin Rhys. Nicole and I appreciated being able to get some time to ourselves. Eli especially loved jumping in Rhys’ doorway jumper. You can watch him jump around on this post: Jumping Eli. We bought him one of his own this past weekend. Additionally, Eli watched Rhys roll and is determined to master that soon. He has rolled once from stomach to back, but he did it in his crib during the night so we weren’t able to catch it.
At home, Eli is grabbing at toys and his toes, and starting to sit-up. He is also experimenting with vocalizations. His latest screech sounds like a cross between a dinosaur and a dying bird.
There isn’t a doctor’s appt at 5-months so we don’t know exactly what he weighs or how long he is but we estimate he’s around 18 lbs now! He’s wearing size 6-9 month or 9-month clothing. Not too much has changed in his sleep schedule since last month. We get either a 7-8 hour stretch followed immediately by a 2-3 hour nap or one long 10-11 hour stretch (i.e., he still goes down around 9-9:30 but either wakes up around 6am, eats quickly and go back to sleep until around 9 or he will sleep through until 7:30 or 8 and be up for the day). We’re hoping that he’ll start choosing the second option more and more! We’ve struggled with naps a bit this month but they seem to be getting a bit more organized these days.
Birthday Photos:
More Photos:
You can find even more pictures from June and our beach trip on Nicole’s Smugmug site.
This past week at the beach Eli was able to try out a bunch of his cousin Rhys’ toys. The most enjoyable by far was the Jumparoo. Eli already loves to kick and to stand up and so it made perfect sense that he loved the Jumparoo which let him do both. He had a great time jumping around and Nicole and I found it quite amusing as well.
Well see for yourself:
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Last Monday, June 1st, Eli turned 4 months old! May was a busy month for Eli. We spent a lot of time visiting with family, attending a Bat Mitzvah, going to a graduation party in WV, hosting a BBQ with our Mommies group friends and their parents, having a few friends over for dinner, and even meeting a new cousin. We also survived Eli’s first cold.
Eli continues to move up the growth charts nicely. He now weighs 15 lbs 13ozs and is 26 inches long. He has moved from the 50th percentile for weight and 40th for height to the 75th and 80th, respectively and that doesn’t take into account that he was 5 weeks early! It’s hard to believe he was barely on the charts just 3 months ago. And, surprisingly to some, his head size is actually average coming in at the 55th percentile.
Eli’s personality is beginning to shine through. We are happy to report that he is an easy-going happy baby most of the time. He’s starting to really interact with us and the environment. He smiles, “talks” up a storm, loves to kick, and has started batting at toys. He clearly differentiates between his parents and everyone else. Good luck trying to get Eli’s attention when his Mommy is the room! Instead of sleeping most of the day, Eli is now awake significantly more than he is asleep. This could be due to his great nighttime sleeping skills.
Pictures from May can be found on Nicole’s Smugmug site.
Over the next few weeks Eli will be learning some exciting new skills. We can’t wait to hear him laugh, hold his head completely steady, and begin to roll over.
Tomorrow is Eli’s 4 month birthday (elephant pictures coming later). Our baby continues to amuse us with his personality and impress us and others with his chubbiness. We’re very happy to see that he is growing well and he has become a very calm, laid-back baby. He sleeps almost 12 hours a night with just one feeding during that time, usually after around 7 hours. That’s much nicer for his parents than when he needed feedings every 3-4 hours. During the day he naps about every 2 hours and eats even more often. His head control is improving and he’s become quite the chatty baby (watch the video from this earlier post). Every day he makes new funny faces and he is definitely able to differentiate Nicole and me from other people. In fact if Nicole is in the room it’s hard to get him to look at anything or anyone else – he’s kind of a mamma’s boy right now. He isn’t grasping at toys yet but that might just be because his mom does such a good job of entertaining him. Overall we feel very lucky to have such an adorable and well behaved baby.
As usual, you can find even more pictures on Nicole’s Smugmug photo site.
Right around Mother’s Day Eli decided that he had a lot to say to us. Ever since then he hasn’t stopped chatting. He’s not always in a talkative frame of mind, but when the mood is just right, he talks up a storm. It’s really quite hilarious. Nicole and I really enjoy our conversations with the little guy. If only we knew what he was saying!
View the video larger and in HD on Vimeo.
In other Eli news, our baby continues to grow and he’s now full of smiles. And to our delight he is slowly sleeping longer and longer at night. Amazingly he slept 10 hours straight on Friday and Saturday nights but we’re not sure that is typical. Usually he gives us one good night (defined as about 6 hrs straight) and one rough night of sleep. When he’s not sleeping, he and Nicole have fun all day playing and doing exercises. I give him a bottle in the morning when he wakes up around 6am and then again when I get home from work, followed most days by some singing. Eli hates going to bed at night and will fight sleep but we are able to eventually lull him to sleep by around 930pm.
This was a busy weekend with Eli. On Friday he turned 3 months old. We took some more Eli-with-the-elephant pictures (see months one and two) but he pretty much looks the same as he did at two months except chubbier! On Saturday we went to Nicole’s cousin’s Bat Mitzvah. That meant getting dressed up and eating delicious food Eli while tons of Nicole’s relatives got to hold Eli. And Eli got to enjoy a bottle and take a nap in a new place. We dialed it down a notch on Sunday and had some nice nap time, although Eli and the cats did more napping than I did.
Over the past month Eli has grown tremendously, both physically and developmentally. At his two-month doctor’s appointment we discovered that Eli had gained 4 lbs in just one month! He now weighs 12 lbs – double his birth weight. Just for reference, most doctors want to see a 2 lb increase per month.
Eli went from the 10th percentile at one month to the 50th percentile at two months! We’re happy about his growth but we’re hoping he slows down just a bit soon! Eli is now able to make eye contact and focus on people’s faces. He is also smiling! Much to our relief he no longer cries during diaper changes or baths and, most importantly, he’ll now sleep up to 4.5 hours at night instead of the 2-3 hours we had been getting.
Nicole has posted a whole bunch of pictures here and here.
Yesterday was Eli’s two month birthday. As is our tradition (now 2 months old), we are posing him next to the awesome stuffed elephant that his grandma got him in order to show how much he’s grown (see last month’s pictures here).
Eli definitely likes to challenge us. Yesterday he wasn’t really interested in eating at all, but then last night he ate voraciously. Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night for hours and sometimes he barely wakes up long enough to eat. He stopped crying and throwing a fit when we change him but now he dirties his diaper way more often, so those kind of balance out. And if you’re lucky he’ll even smile at you when he’s content (i.e., not too hungry, sleepy or dirty). Overall he is definitely getting bigger (and fatter!) and even though he refuses to settle into a routine he’s still a lot of fun (and hard work of course).
This month Eli has grown by leaps and bounds. He eats voraciously now and even though we feed him 2-3 times a night, he usually is a good baby and goes right back to sleep. Although recently he’s been staying up between 1 and 3am which is pretty exhausting for us parents. But he’s moved from the bassinet into his own crib and he even has a cool new toy: a motorized swing with music. He’s not quite smiling at us yet but we can tell he’s almost there. The cats also seem to have adjusted to his presence and they often try to take advantage of all his new stuff when they think we’re not looking.
Eli would totally grab a green beer with you except he’s massively under-age.
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It’s been one month since little Eli surprised us all and decided he wanted to be born 5 weeks early. It’s been an exciting, hectic, emotional, and at times frightening month. It’s been two weeks since we got to bring Eli home from the hospital and he is now doing great and hasn’t been causing his parents too many problems. As crazy as this past month has been, we can’t imagine our life without him.
I’m heading back to work full-time this week but we’re lucky to have Nicole’s mom in town with us for a week to help out. And at least for the next two months I’ll be able to come home at lunch to help out (my company unfortunately is moving farther away in May). I’m going to miss spending so much time with Nicole and Eli but I’ll still have all the middle of the night feedings and changings to look forward to!
It’s been a week now since they let us bring little Eli home from the NICU. And what a week. I can honestly say I’ve never taken so many naps before. Granted I’ve also never got so few consecutive hours of sleep per night before either.
Eli seems to be adjusting well to being home. He’s gained 9oz in 7 days which is actually a little more than the average of 1oz per day. He no longer has any trouble with his bottle feeds and we’ve even had to increase the amount we give him because he is so hungry! His hair seems to be getting more and more red each day – he’s definitely Nicole’s baby. His eyes are still dark so it’s too soon to tell what color they will be.
So far we’ve only ventured out of the house with him twice, once to the doctor and the other to the lactation consultants (he’s still learning to breastfeed). But he’s had a bunch of visitors and Nicole and I are eager to show him off. If Uncle Brian is lucky we might even stop by and see him on his birthday!
Nicole and I are doing as well as can be expected. We’re both a little sleep-deprived but it’s not terrible. Nicole is recovering well from the c-section and IMO she looks fantastic (and other people have said the same). I have persistent back-ache which I’ve had for 3 weeks (my GP referred me to a spinal orthopedist who I am seeing next week) but otherwise we are in high spirits (not having to go to work for 2 weeks helps – thanks Bob!).
Thanks again to everyone for their support and well-wishes. Here are some pictures of the bouncing baby boy:
Last night we got to take little Eli home from the hospital finally (exactly two weeks after we first were admitted). We had an uneventful ride home while Eli slept the whole way. Eli is definitely a night person: he takes his bottles very well at night but he sleeps only about 60-90 minutes at a stretch. So Nicole and I didn’t get too much sleep last night between feeding and changing diapers and pumping. But this morning he’s been sleeping close to 3 hours at a time which is his feeding cycle, so we’ve been able to relax a little between feedings. We even had time to shower!
Overall he seems very happy to be home and we hope he is enjoying his new surroundings and all his new outfits.
The cats have sensed that they are no longer the focus of our attention and have been a little extra whiny today. But they seem to slowly be accepting their new reduced importance in the house.
Yesterday the nurses in the NICU moved Eli out of the incubator and into an open crib. He’s gotten healthy enough to regulate his own temperature. Now his main challenge is to get strong enough to be able to handle 45mL of milk by bottle every 3 hours.
In the span of a few days they had increased his feedings from 5mL to 45mL but he had problems above ~35mL – he would basically fall asleep towards the end of his feeding. So currently he has a “gavage tube” through his nose into his stomach which the nurses use to give him his full amount of milk if he gets too tired sucking on the bottle to get it all. But this is very normal for his gestational age (almost 36 weeks) and the doctor says that he’s doing very well.
His bilirubin levels have gone back up so he’s also under the blue light but the doctors hope they can discontinue that after 24-48 hrs. He doesn’t like it too much because he has to wear little baby sunglasses to protect his eyes from the light. Also, his skin must be exposed to the light so he can’t be swaddled, which makes him a little more fussy than normal. But hopefully by mid-week he’ll be back to his normal baby-burrito self.
I’ve gone back to work full time but I usually go home for lunch and drive Nicole to the NICU where she spends the afternoon with Eli. Then I meet her there after work and we spend a little more time with our baby. I miss getting to see him as much as before and I’m very much looking forward to bringing him home.
Life is good after being moved to the crib:
Eli’s last day in the incubator:
Video of Eli in the crib:
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Little Eli is getting a little better each day. He got the CPAP machine out on Wednesday and yesterday they removed the nasal cannula which was giving him just a little bit of extra breathing help. So now he’s breathing totally on his own. He still has the IV but they’ve also started giving him ~10ml of breastmilk every 3 hours. The goal is to get him up to ~25ml every 3 hours, but that could take a while. But we’re just really excited that all tubes are off his face and he’s only connected to an IV now. He’s also been given a BiliBlanket on which to sleep which is the source of the blue light behind him in the pics and video. It helps him break down the bilirubin in his blood, preventing Jaundice.
On a related note, Nicole is also doing a little better after the doctors finally diagnosed her with a spinal headache as a side effect of the spinal tap or epidural used before the Caesarean. We’re a little annoyed how long it took them to recognize the signs and the rinky-dink manner in which they handled the procedure to resolve it. And awesomely enough, the procedure to remedy the problem itself causes a few days of back pain. But hopefully Nicole will feel better soon.
We’re home from the hospital now and I am doing my best to keep Nicole comfortable and well nourished and get the house in order. Appian has been very understanding and lots of people from work even stopped by the hospital on the last night to say hi and see Eli.
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Video:
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Baby Eli has been in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) since he was born Sunday morning. Since he was 3 weeks premature (6 weeks early), his lungs weren’t fully matured and he needed help keeping them fully inflated. He was on a Constant Positive Applied Pressure (CPAP) machine until noon on Tuesday when he had gotten strong enough to no longer need it (in the pictures the CPAP is the big tube connected to his nose). He is still getting additional oxygen through his nose but that’s much more comfortable for him than the CPAP.
And the best part is that since he doesn’t need the CPAP or the arterial line (for checking blood gas levels), we can hold him now! Both Nicole and I were able to hold little Eli and he seemed to love it – he was quiet and peaceful and he opened his eyes for the first time and was looking all around. Check out the pictures.
After a crazy few days, little Eli Fonner has arrived! He and mom are doing great. He’s 3 weeks premature, so he has to spend some time in the NICU, but we’re all optimistic he’ll be at full strength very soon.
We went into the hospital on Friday night with some minor complications. When we got to the hospital we discovered that Nicole was actually having mild, pre-term contractions (fake labor). The doctors gave her some drugs to stop the contracts and we were very close to being able to go home when the doctors detected an unexplained drop in Eli’s heartbeat. So they decided to keep us for another day. During the day and night on Saturday Eli showed mostly very strong stats but continued to every few hours have a dramatic drop in his heartrate. After the fourth time, the doctors did not to risk waiting and they decided that the best thing to do was to deliver our son!
Little Eli was born at 2:50am Sunday morning and, despite being only 34 1/2 weeks old, he weighed almost 6 lbs and measured almost 19 inches. His lungs are a little under developed so he’s being given some breathing assistance via a CPAP but hopefully within a few days he should be all back to normal. The doctors predict we’ll be able to bring him home in 1-3 weeks.
Nicole is recovering well and will be at the hospital until Thursday morning. If you want to stop by and see Nicole or Eli, visiting hours are from 11am to 8pm – just give us a call to let us know you’re coming.
Thanks to everyone for their well wishes already! More updates to come as things change.
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T minus 100 days and counting until little Eli’s due date. Over the last few weeks both Nicole’s belly (see pics) and baby Eli have grown quite a bit – Eli is around 14 inches long and weighs just under 2lbs! With this growth spurt has come lots of movement. I (and other folks brave enough to ask) can feel the baby when he kicks and even sometimes when he moves around. Nicole’s been enjoying this second trimester much more than the first since she’s been feeling much better and things have gotten more exciting. We’re a bit apprehensive about the third trimester which starts in a few days since sleeping is supposed to get more difficult and the baby gets much bigger.
Since moving into our new house, we’ve started working on the nursery (pictures to come). So far we’ve painted, hung a border, bought bedding, and assembled a crib and a changing table (sometimes more than once). Our bedding is “Snug as a Bug” by Kidsline. We still have a lot left to do, but it’s starting to feel more real by the day!
Also, for those who have been asking, here’s where we’re registered. But these lists are a work in progress:
