Month 2

Our little boy is growing up so fast.

Introducing The Daily Eli

After Eli was born I started sending out a daily photo to a small group of family and friends. As the word got out more and more people asked to be put on the list. It got to be too big of a chore to send it out, so I made a Google group to help me manage the list. This way people could choose to be on the list or could unsubscribe if they no longer wanted adorable photos of my baby.

I am now making The Daily Eli public. Join if you like. If you are already receiving The Daily Eli you don't have to do anything.

You can subscribe by clicking the link here: http://groups.google.com/group/daily-eli/subscribe

You will also see I added a subscribe link to the right hand column of the blog.

Good Morning Son

Eli is waking up more and more everyday. Warning: watching this video may melt your heart.


Good Morning Son from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

Who knew you could love an ear this much?

Daddies have to work harder to master some aspects of baby care. We don't posses the big guns (boobs). Although I can't feed the baby, I have developed my specialty–soothing. Changing, burping and swaddling are my tools.

Emily has gone back to work part time and has been working from home. Other than feeding I have been trying to take care of Eli's needs as much as I can. She needs time to focus and work but this has proved to be quite the challenge. Apparently babies reach the height of general fustiness around six to eight weeks. Eli is definitely in the throws of this developmental phase.

To make things even more awesome, Eli got his first six vaccinations this week. I can only compare the experience to throwing gasoline on a fire. Our little boy has not been a happy camper and one of the few things that we have found that soothes him is long walks outsides.

Yesterday I took Eli on seven walks! We took the dogs out three times, went to Walgreen's, Family Dollar, the bank, Borders and the doctor.

Today we went our four times, including a massive two plus mile walk and a nice after dinner family walkabout. The rest of the day Eli just kinda screamed bloody murder or ate.

Now, the bloody murder has been pushing me over the edge. It's hard to watch your child in discomfort and not be able to fix the problem. Sometimes all I can do is hold him close and pace back and forth. He may be crying, and I may be at my wits end, but one thing always brings me comfort. I tell him its going to be OK and then pull his ear to my lips. Eli is so small and needs so much from us. We are more than happy to give, but his little ear on my lips puts everything in to perspective for me. Maybe its because hes is so helpless and this one little thing reminds me of this. All I know is I love him a lot and when he is close I can whisper that in his ear.

Someone found his hand today

Eli may just have a new favorite thing.

This hand is wonderful! from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

50 Days: How time does fly.

Today is Eli's 50th day on the outside. We celebrated by taking a walk to Aldi's.

He is becoming very attached to his Bjorn and it is often one of the few things that will make him stop crying.

Eli loves to be in his Bjorn in a house.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn with a mouse.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn with a fox.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn in a box.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn here or there.
Eli loves to be in his Bjorn on a Bus!

Tears

So it looks like Eli's tear ducts have formed. He now has little tears that drip down his face when he is very upset. We have been extra fussy the last few days so we get to see this all the time.  

What happend to all the jelly beans?

I think we all know what happen to them. I'm looking at you Brown.

In other news: Someone loves him some tummy time.

7th Inning Stretch

Baseball is back! This is very exciting as it will be Eli's first! We got lucky and ESPN had the Cards game on. We were very happy and Mommy did not put up a fight about watching. Tradition is a big part about loving baseball. Eli started to learn them today...

Take me out to the ball game... from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

Eli Loves Escher

In our living room we have a graphic poster of a french bicyclist.  When Eli is crying we sometimes walk him over to it and he stops crying. Babies like things that are high contrast. Tonight Eli was starting to stir and Emily decided it was time to look at a book of M.C. Escher's work. He was crying when we started. That did not last long...


Eli loves Escher from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

Eli Sleepy Time

Do you know what a good boy Eli is?

Our good friend Lindsey came from DC to meet Eli. As all miracles would have it her flight in to Chicago on United was 30 minutes early! Most of the time she never makes it or is four hours late. She is staying with another good friend of ours, but we will be hanging out most of the weekend.

We went out to a wine bar to have some light food and drinks. (Yes we take Eli to go get drinks. This was his second bar!) The food was good, the service kinda sucked, but most importantly Eli napped the whole time. He had been cranky for the last hour and I was literally walking up and down the street with him, but the moment we walked in to the bar he fell asleep.

He did not wake up until 3 1/2 hours later. We had been home for close to an hour already. He needed to be change before bed so I sent Emily to bed and I watched the lit' man snore.


Eli Sleepy time from Kenton Kodner on Vimeo.

A Perfect Day?

Eli got to go out yesterday for the first time without being bundled.