Honestly, the only things I miss about "Life Before Eli," are more writing time and reading before bed. It's challenging to carve out time to write and I have a giant goal that I am working on right now. Something I am so excited about. Something I feel called to do, but creating space to make this happen has been tricky to say the least. You see it's winter and Rob is working so much (snow plowing, snow removal in the middle of the night, ice ponds...). So, life for me is hanging with my baby (which I of course love) and working. When he does nap, it's time to "get er done" - hurry and clean bathrooms, transfer and fold laundry, wash bottles! And, reading at night? Those days are long gone! I am SO tired at night. I can rockstar it all day long...but, at night I am an old, old woman who is dead tired by 8PM.
The good news is that Eli has been officially kicked out of our bedroom. It only took me 7 months to become comfortable with this idea. My cousin Sara has two children. Two girls. One 7, one 2. She told me that with Emily (age 7) she never did any sleep training and Emily continues to wake in the night and has trouble falling back to sleep on her own (needs water, etc.). So, when Shelby came along she knew she had to do something different. So, she did the Ferber (known as, "cry it out") Method. If you've never actually read the method, it sounds mean. But, basically it's this...you put your baby where you want baby to sleep BEFORE baby is sleeping. That way baby doesn't wake up and wonder where the heck he is! Let baby cry for a designated amount of minutes (the amount of minutes changes each day). If baby cries past designated number of minutes then you go in, and make your presence known. You're not allowed to pick the baby up or "help" baby go back to sleep. You can only stay one minute. Long story short...THIS METHOD WORKS! First night, Eli cried for 20 straight minutes. Rob and I were watching the new James Bond Movie, Skyfall, and had it turned up loud (hey, we had to do what we had to do!). He woke up once in the night and cried for less minutes than the designated check in time, so we didn't have to go in. That's not to say I wasn't waking up throughout the night and peeking in on him (this was a big step for me to move him in his own room). Fast forward a week later and he is sleeping through the night...ten hours straight?! What?! How could this be?! I'm still on the tired side because our day starts quite early (5 to 5:30a.m). Some nights he does wake and cries, but is able to put himself back to sleep without us coming to the rescue! His crying doesn't bother me because in my heart I know that this is good for him. Crying all by himself in his own room? Yes, people...YES. I do still check on him, mainly because I am so used to waking up several times in the night. But, I know that will become fewer and farther between. It's a new day in our household.
Eli is sitting up, rolling all over the place, and can plank (hold the whole weight of his body). When he planks, he is starting to put one knee down...he's getting in position for crawling - he just doesn't know it yet. This age is fantastic! He says da da da (not associating this with his actual Dad, it's just what he can say - and I love reminding Rob of that, ha!). He's eating solids, likes all the vegetables (his favorite is squash). So far he likes mangos, applesauce and pears. I can't get him to like peaches and bananas, but I will try again...because he didn't like peas right away and now he tears them up! So, it's true that you need to introduce a food multiple times. I continue to love how expressive Eli is. He smiles so much and laughs. His dog, Molly (a 2yr old Rott), and his Daddy make him laugh the most. He just starts laughing when he sees either one of them. I wonder what he's thinking. He's a good baby and I know that the Lord has blessed us greatly with this particular baby. He is pure joy. He is all things good. I will never forget my journey to becoming a Mother. I will thank my Great Big God, daily.
