A very special Sunday

Dear Elijah Casey,
Last weekend you were baptized. It was a very special day for you and because you are so small, you didn't even know it. You did GREAT!!!! You sat on Uncle Matt's knee for most of the ceremony, just staring and drooling. You did get hungry right before it was your turn to go up in front and Aunt Sarah helped carry your bottle up to the alter. You cried a little bit before the water went on your forehead but then I think you thought it was bath time and then you enjoyed it!
Everyone came over to our house afterward to celebrate and you again were a really good and fun boy. Everyone got to hold you, except Daddy. He was very sick and may have caught his sickness from you! I did not let him near you because I want you to be a very healthy boy!
As everyone was eating their cake and cheesecake you had a big explosive poop that leaked through your diaper into your really cute white outfit! Don't worry-Grandma Barb to the rescue-she helped me wash it out and it didn't even stain.
We picked Aunt Sarah to be your Godmother and Uncle Matty to be your Godfather. There are many reasons we picked them (and just because we picked them for certain reasons doesn't mean that you're other special aunts and uncles don't have these qualities). Uncle Matt and Aunt Sarah both like to travel-they both get in the car and would be here in a jiffy if there was an emergency, birthday party, family picnic or baptism! I know they will make an effort to be a huge part of your life and teach you many different things. Uncle Matt will try to teach you and easier way to do everything and show you that you can make almost anything work if you just look at it in a different way. Aunt Sarah will teach you lessons in life on how to be polite, appropriate and trendy in a fun and exciting way (she's FULL of surprises). Aunt Sarah knows what it's like to be a big sister, a wife, a mom, a teacher and a friend. Uncle Matt knows what it's like to be an uncle, a big and little brother, a hard worker and a friend. Uncle Matt and Aunt Sarah are both fun, competitive game players (monopoly, clue, hearts, dice, etc etc etc) and both enjoy a nice cold beer, sun shining down or a cozy rainy afternoon and a buffet of food. Both your godparents have good taste in music and good choice in significant others (Ed and Erika). Both were raised by and respect their parents and have a great relationship with your dad and I. One main reason we picked them is because they both have a strong faith. It may be different from what is the expected faith or it might be exactly that. But your dad and I know these two people will guide you along the right path in all walks of life. They will be there to hold your hand when you need it and will watch from the sidelines when you need to learn on you're own. They will never let you down. This I know. And I love them both for agreeing to take this role seriously for you.
Below are some pictures of the very special day. We love you and we know that God loves you and so many others. You are a blessing to us each and every day!
Love,
Mom and Dad

Grace in the Small Things

Many of you who read my blog also read my sister's blog so you may know what the title of this entry is all about. I'm such a negative person that who would have ever thought I would be able to come up with things to be thankful for? Well- I really want to do this. In case you aren't sure what I'm talking about-check out this entry from my sister's blog which in turn will link you to this.
Grace in small things entry #1

1. I know we get a water bill but a HOT shower is a cheap luxury. The light in our shower does not work right now, so it's a dark, warm place to just relax. No baby crying. No smelly diapers. No phone ringing. No dog barking to go outside.

2. Normal platelet and hemoglobin counts for Eli this month!

3. A great dairy free peanut butter cookie recipe.

4. The Black Eyed Peas song "I Got A Feeling" cranked!!

5. The anticipation of a NEW meal co-op (yes another neat thing I copied from my awesome older sister) on Monday!

6. Missing family-that means we have a good relationship with both sides of the family when we want to see them more often.

7. A successful book club where the little boys got to hang out (Nolan and Eli) and three members taught each other how to knit.

8. All my pregnant co-workers and friends! Can't wait to share in your joy when you're new little ones arrive!

9. The show Brothers and Sister's. LOVE IT. My emotional escape for the week.

more to come

Thursday?

Ok, Andy and I are in need of your help. YES you! We both are working this weekend and have the day off on Thursday. What should we do as a family!?!?!?!?

Elijah Is 3 Months!

Ok so he is almost 4 months old now. But here are some of his 3 month pictures. The photographer captured some of his best emotions. Of course, he has a 100 more that any new mommy and daddy would want to show off but we were happy, love them and spent way to much on them.

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

Our yearly Survivor party has come and gone. This year it was all the way up in Minnesota at my sister's house. My Schneider cousins took a longer weekend and made an extended trip out of it.
Every year we have different challenges and a new winner each year too.
Man do we get competitive.

My favorite moments:
-The grasshopper hunt~
-Watching Mary and Lisa chug the worm cake
-The battery challenge in the dark (even tho we lost it)
-The log rolling, puzzle challenge
-When the song "All the single ladies" came on and Charley said "This is my favorite song"
-When my boat NEVER sank! haha
-Miwa White, Bud White, Code Bewa (ok I wasn't there, but everyone else got a kick out of that)
-The bonfire where we discussed memories, our favorite and least favorite moments in life, xmas name drawing etc. (would you rather-diapers or long hair)
-I took 2nd in spoons
-A little Uncle Greg and Liz cuddle
-Time with the boy cousins

Hard moments:
-I was the first to go to bed-a new mamma is tired
-I couldn't eat the gorgeous cupcakes, taco dip or dirt cake mmmmmmmmm....
-When I didn't share the glue with Mary and she spilled her drink and gave up on the challenge
-My t-shirt never UNFROZE
-Listening to my mom and sister bicker over who had more margarita and get mad over the "To go cup" of ~water~

This years winner: LORI!! Can't wait to see what she has in store for us next year.

Torment

Soooooooooo this last week has been pretty terrible as far as sleep goes in our house. Elijah has not been settled at night and has not been falling asleep as easily as he used to. Up until recently he had been going in his crib and falling sleeping anywhere between 7-8 pm. He was sleeping in 3 hour chunks. Andy and I were just waiting (patiently I might add) for him to start sleeping in 4-6 hour chunks. We were not being selfish and hoping for 8 hours. Starting on Monday night he started putting up a huge, loud and obnoxious fuss from 6:30-10:30 pm. It was and is testing every last nerve in our bodies. Andy and I sort of take turns trying new things to help soothe and settle the little E-bug but neither of us can really leave the other alone to get frustrated-so it feels as though we are both with him and his screaming for 3-4 hours every night. If we're not in the room with him, we are listening to the screaming over the monitor waiting for the other to call for the other to be on duty. My sleep (due to nursing, changing and soothing time) has been broken up into 4-5 hours/night (total) but broken up in 1-2 hour chunks-followed by a 8-10 hour working day. One of my coworkers says "sleep deprivation is a form of torture". I think it has been so hard because Eli never made it to the 6-8 hour chunks. Many friends and family have said that (a fluke really) their little one slept 6 hours for a few nights or even slept through the night a few times and then reverted back to the 3 hour chunks (or less!). We haven't been that lucky to have those few nights and I can't wait for that BLISS.

As a new parent I knew I would worry about everything.
Every.
Little.
Thing.
And so far, so good. I am right about myself. However these last few nights have taken it to the max. Last night Andy and I promised we would not stand in his room, rocking him and looking at each other with annoyed, tired, frustrated looks and say "what do you think it is?" "Why isn't he sleeping? He's sooo tired" and then follow that by a long list of things that it could be. But...we did it anyways. We even made a few phone calls to see if others could shed some light on the situation. It seems that Eli will fall asleep and 15 minutes later wake up screaming in his crib and will not settle down unless he is in the sitting position, facing out and watching mom and dad do something-anything. Last night it was fold laundry as we discussed what the issue is. The light has to be on too-or the wails just get louder. Here is a few examples of what we thought could possibly be wrong with Eli---we want a vote-who thinks they know what it is? Any OTHER ideas that aren't on the list? Leave a vote in the comment section so that we as parents know what to do the next few nights!?
-Could he be:
overtired?
under tired?
hitting a growth spurt?
hungry?
full/bloated?
hot?
cold?
a hair wrapped around his toe in his footie jammies?
Not like to be swaddled anymore?
have a headache?
be teething?
have a cold?
have an ear infection?
have a fever?
have gas? (toots or burps)
be confused b/c of all the time at daycare now?
is our daycare provider poisoning him?
is he afraid of the dark? should we leave a light on?
does he need music?
does he have a wet diaper?
does he want to play?
did he poke himself in the eye?
is it the caffeine in the 1 diet coke I drank?
have an upset tummy from the cabbage I ate LAST weekend?
Does he have a soy allergy (in addition to his milk protein allergy)?
Is bored?
Is just being a baby?

ahhhhh! We really did discuss all these options. My mind is CRAZY.
Tho-he is STILL cute and STILL lovable, STILL growing and STILL smiling.

My day off

10/1/09

Dear Elijah,

Last Sunday I worked an 8 hour day...yes on a weekend. I did that for you!! I wanted a full day with YOU to myself during the week. So today is that day. Today I got to wake up to your smiling face and not feel stressed about getting all the baby gear, you, daddy and me out the door. I'm still in my pajamas. I enjoyed my bagel (with dairy free cream cheese) and a diet coke (yee-haw!) and have already sifted through this weeks mail and tossed the junk mail. It's only 7:40 and guess what? I've already had my MOMENT I was hoping for. Unbelievable how you cooperate and give me that moment.
You were looking tired. So I took you out of your bouncy seat, put in your nook, put some little mitties on your hands (brr...it's getting fall-ish out) and held you in my arms. I sat down in a chair. A non-rocking chair even. You sat still and stared at me with your beautiful little baby-boy-blue eyes and fell asleep. No squirming, crying, fussing...just a whole lot of cuddle with a big (easy) drift off to dreamland. It was literally only 3 minutes of cuddle time and you were asleep. You DO love mommy!!! I almost cried. How can I go to work and miss these moments? I'm guessing if that happened every day-I would stop considering it "The Moment" and it would be the norm. I would (maybe) stop appreciating it. I have to look at it this way-because it was so special to me that I don't know how I will drag myself out the door tomorrow.
New things about you-you are starting to coo a lot! I can't believe how much you babble. Last night Dad and I talked about how all of a sudden you'll be pulling yourself up on the coffee table and walking around it. WOW. We hope the days at work go fast for us and the moments at home go slow until then-no rush for you to be a mover and a shaker. Instead of 8 poopy diapers a day you now only have 1 or 2! You went to your first friend birthday party and slept the majority of the time in your swaddle blanket with your Wisconsin Badger hat on. You ate 6 oz in one sitting!!! You can sit in the bumbo chair pretty darn good. You are wearing 3 month clothes now (a little big but yeah!!). You are definitely in the double digits for weight. You love your little toy that lights up and plays music and you're not so excited about the snuggle puppy rattle anymore. You like to face out instead of in when we carry you-you want to see the world! You kick a lot in the bath tub but remain serious faced. You silent laugh a lot and that makes dad and me soooo happy.
Take you're time growing up little man. We can't believe all the things you are doing, and it's always -all of a sudden! Even though we are excited for every inch of growth and every new accomplishment we also miss those moments where you would fall asleep with your mouth open in any position without a squirm and all your littleness that is now becoming oh so chubby (and yummy!). Every new phase is a transition for you and we are excited for the newness with you (we are so proud) but we want to keep cherishing every little thing about you. You are so special to us. A miracle....with brown hair that won't sit down, blue eyes that squint when you smile, a smile that melts our hearts, and feet that kick like the natural soccer player we know you'll be (haha sorry Andy!).
Ok, I have to end this now Eli, because I need to enjoy the rest of my day with you.
Love you,
Mommy
ps here are some new pictures of you!