Four Month Update

Eli is four months now! I can hardly believe four months have passed.

I've been back at work for almost two weeks now. Last week I made it to wednesday evening before my Eli tank was running on fumes. This week I made it to thursday. So here's hoping I make it to friday next week. He's just so stinkin' wonderful!! He's not consistently sleeping through the night yet, but we're getting there. He'll have an eight hour night, and then the next night he'll wake every three hours...as if to make up for the eight hour night. But all in good time. We've kept up nursing, which requires a little extra effort with me back at work, but we're going to try to keep it up as long as we can - with 12 months being the goal. All the literature says it's the best thing for them - and I feel like it's the least I can do since I'm going back to work.

Eli has developed so much personality - just an amazing little creature all around. I could watch him for hours. He may be the most even-keeled baby I've seen - he's just so laid back...kind of like his daddy. He doesn't cry much, but when he does - oh. my. goodness. the boy can wail. He smiles a lot, but you kind of have to earn it. Also, his ticklish spots only last like three days. I will find a ticklish spot and get some really great giggles out of him for just a few days before he has developed some serious restraint. I'll go for the tickle spot in search of giggles, and he will look at me like "you've gotta get up pretty early in the morning if you want to get a giggle out of me, mom". (Pete and I like to pretend we know Eli's inner monologue.)

He has just recently discovered his feet (pictures to come), and I think his next goal is crawling. He spends most of our floor-play struggling to crawl/scoot. I get the feeling he is going to be a pretty independent little boy - but who knows. I wear him in a sling a lot, and he has recently shown a preference for facing out rather than facing in...he's tired of looking at mommy and he's ready to see the world. ...man they grow up fast! But as soon as he gets tired he's ready to cuddle to mommy and sleep - and i hope it's a long time before he outgrows that.

Several people have asked me what we're doing about child care, so here's our plan. Pete has rehearsal and shows at night right now, so fortunately he is able to hang out with Eli during the day (and he does such an awesome job! he's a natural). It is a lot easier to leave the house every morning when I'm leaving Eli in his own home with his daddy. When I get home we pass the baby and I kiss Pete goodbye as he walks out the door. Fortunately an actor's schedule changes frequently, so he's never working nights for very long. Anyway, this will last us until the end of September...at which time we're trying to get Eli enrolled in a preschool associated with my work. We've been on their waiting list since October, and we are next on the list. So here's hoping we get a spot. We toured the facility, and it is such a great program. Also, because it is so close to my office, I can go feed him at lunch. So that's plan A - enroll him at the end of September at which point he will be about 6.5 months.

However, September is getting really close and so far the school doesn't have a spot when we need it, so we have recently had to think about a plan B. Pete has daytime rehearsals/performances from September through sometime in November...at which point he'll hang out with Eli during the days again. So, if we don't get a September spot we only have about 1.5 months of plan B to come up with...and then we could even wait until January to enroll him...at which point he will be about 10 months...even better. We haven't officially decided on a plan B, but we've listed out several good options, so we're not too worried.

I've got lots of great 4 month pictures to post, but I'll have to come back and do that later.