14 Months

Things have been crazy busy now that Elijah is one. He is crawling, standing, walking with the aid of furniture, and has taken a few steps before he falls on his bum. Elijah also loves music and dancing. Anytime he hears music he starts to dance. He is talking up a storm and recognizes things like balloons, books, dogs, cats, and balls and points them out. He is also learning some baby signs like more, hat, and baby.

Nick has been working in Midland for the last 5 weeks so it has just been Elijah and me at home during the week. Nick's first week away Elijah severly broke out in hives. They were all over his body. We think it was a combination of whole milk and the cereal he had that morning. The next two weeks he was sick with a cold. Both weren't too bad and didn't seem to bother Elijah too much. Shortly after Elijah turned one he was also sick and went to the doctor's office a couple of times. He was having acid stools and we originally thought he was just having a stomach bug but turns out he can't have whole milk. This thought was also confirmed by the hives. He has been a pretty healthy baby but it seems like since he turned one he has been to the doctors a lot. Must just be part of growing up. Elijah is out of the helmet though. He is still at a 4mm difference but we are happy with that. He didn't make any improvements the last month that he wore it so we decided we wouldn't continue to have him wear it. Hopefully his head will continue to improve as he grows.

We have found Elijah's favorite TV show ever. It is Yo Gabba Gabba and he will actually ask to watch it. We try to keep the TV watching to a minimum and limit it to two episodes of Yo a day. He usually watches before his nap and before bedtime. This is his cuddle time and this is usually when he requests Yo. When Nick is home we also try to go exploring. We went to the zoo in Battle Creek. Elijah loved this. We would like to go to the zoo in Grand Rapids soon. We also went to the airzoo in Kalamazoo. Elijah wasn't so excited about this but he liked it. We also went to the museum in Kalamazoo. They have a children's play area. When we went Elijah was sick so I didn't let him play with much but we will definitely go back there soon. He also loves playing the drums with Nick. Anytime he hears drums he says "boom boom".

Every week Elijah seems to get smarter and have a better understanding of his surroundings. It is amazing watching him grow.

1 Year Old!!!

It is almost impossible to believe that Elijah has been in our lives for a year already. The time has flown by yet it seems like forever ago that Nick and I were waking up every 2 hours through the night to feed Elijah and change his diaper. It has been a great year and before we know it we will be sending Elijah off to college. It seems like he is developing leaps and bounds every week. He is now proficient at crawling and standing with the aid of furniture. His vocabulary is pretty extensive. He loves to say "ball" and "bye". Grandpa Houvener taught Elijah to say "light" when he visited them in Midland for a weekend. He also loves to say "daddy" and "balloon". He also imitates the cats meowing and Delia barking. And he will imitate noises that we make like if we throw a ball and say "boom" he will do it too. He is also imitating motions, we are trying to teach him the sign for more so when he wants more food he signs instead of whining.

Elijah successfully made it through two birthday parties. His first was in Midland at Grandpa and Grandma Houvener's. His aunts and uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents attended. His Grandma Houvener made him a Backyardigans birthday cake that was really cute. He didn't really know what to do with it. Most of it ended up on the floor. Elijah was also more interested in playing with the birthday cards instead of opening presents. He got some cloths and books. Also, a kit to make his own stepping stone and artwork. And of course he got some toys too. He got a really cool baseball mit chair and baseball ottoman from Grandpa and Grandma Goodman. We are excited to get a new house where Elijah can have his own room to put his chair in.

The second party was at our house in Kalamazoo. Friends and some family that are in Kalamazoo attended. It was only a week later than the other party but Elijah improved a lot in his cake eating skills. He ate most of his piece and was covered in frosting. He loved it! He also improved in his present unwrapping skills. He got lots of toys and made the cutest face when he got a huge stuffed elephant from Benjamin.

On his actual birthday Elijah got to go to the doctors and get his vaccinations. He was not to happy about that. The doctor said he is looking good. He is in the 50th percentile for his weight at 23 pounds. I thought that was light but I guess not. I have always been really paranoid about his weight since our scare at 4 months when he hadn't gained any weight since 2 months. He is also 30 inches tall. Already 2 1/2 feet! That is the 67th percentile for his height. My prediction is he will be tall like the Burlews. We are also working on weaning him off the bottle and just giving him milk. We were having an issue with getting Elijah to drink out of a sippy cup so the pediatrician suggested we try a straw. So we bought some children cups with straws and Elijah started drinking from them right away, no issues. After the doctors appointment we went to Babies R Us and get a new big boy car seat. Elijah loves it and is so stinking adorable in it!!! Every time you look back at him when we are riding in the car he giggles and smiles.

The helmet is now only worn at nap time and bed time. When Elijah had his appointment in July his head had improved another 2mm. So now he is at a 4mm difference. We wanted to just stop the wearing of the helmet but we decided we would try to get a little more improvement with just having Elijah wear the helmet while sleeping. He has an appointment mid August. If there is a change, great, if not that is okay too. Either way we will have him stop wearing it after his next appointment. He has already made such a drastic improvement and 4mm is such a small difference that on an adult head it won't even be noticeable.

11 Months

We are starting to plan the one year birthday parties.  It is hard to believe that the next post will be one year.  The time has flown by.  Elijah will be having a party in Midland for the family and one in Kalamazoo for all our friends that live here.  He is a lucky boy that gets to eat cake twice.  He will probably enjoy a little ice cream too.  He has had some on Mother's Day and Father's Day when we decided to treat ourselves.  He makes a face at first like "why is this so cold?" then he realizes it is yummy and wants more.  He is also eating pancakes and some other misc. foods that we give him.

Elijah is still not truly crawling.  He gets up on his hands and knees to sit himself back up and gets around by pulling himself on his belly.  I guess that is the benefit of hardwood floors, he doesn't have to work very hard to get around.  He isn't pulling himself into a standing position, but if he is sitting and we grab his hands he is helping us pull him into a standing position.

Elijah is responding to and recognizing certain words like "no" and "clap".  He will also start clapping when we sing patty cake.  He has a baby einstein book that I point to items in and tell him what they are so now when we look at that book he points at the items.  His favorite words to speak are "Abby" and "baby".  I don't know if he knows that I am Abby but I try not to respond to him when he uses my name because I don't want him growing up calling me Abby.

Elijah's helmet will be hopefully coming off soon.  When he started wearing it he had a 14mm difference from one side of his head to the other.  Now he has a 6mm difference and his whole head has grown 1 1/2 cm.  He improved a mm in one week due to a growth spurt.  He has another appointment July 13th and we are hoping that is his last one.  I think he is over his growth spurt so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will still see an improvement.  His helmet only has a 2cm growth allowance so Elijah has almost grown out of his helmet.  If he gets down to 2 or 3mm difference we will just call it good because that much of a difference will hardly be noticeable.

10 Months

Elijah had his first week away this last month. Nick and I had to refinish the hardwood floors and the noise and dust would not be a good environment for a baby. He went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Goodman and Great Grandma Kramer. He had lots of fun. He got to go swimming and to Dow Gardens Children's Garden. Nick and I missed him tons and worked 14+ hours a day to get done so Elijah could come home.

Lots of teeth have come through. Elijah has four on the top and two on the bottom. We are still experimenting with solid foods. He gags a lot and Nick and I are such worry warts we would probably feed him baby food until he was four. But we know it is important for Elijah to start eating "real" food. He eats cereal puffs and macaroni.

Elijah still isn't crawling. He has gotten up on all fours a couple of times. Maybe now that the floors are refinished he will be able to spend more time on them and get a move on. He is developing greatly in other areas though. He uses his pointer finger a lot. He likes to pick crumbs and specks of dirt off the floor and put them in his mouth, not that putting them in his mouth is a development but more so the picking them up part. I guess while he was in Midland he learned to put shaped blocks in their correct hole. He also is waving bye (which is accompanied with a mimic of how I say "bye") and clapping. Sometimes they are combined which is adorable. I think he is learning that I am "mama" and Nick is "dada". He also knows that Delia is "dede". He laughed when I talked to him on the phone and asked him where "dede" was. He thinks she is a hoot. He is really starting to explore and wonder what things are.

Elijah has his favorite pass times and toys too. He loves to go on walks with me and giggles at all the stuff he sees. Right now his favorite toy is his busy block that he puts his shaped blocks into. He is also getting more interested in books. He doesn't like books with a lot of words though. He looses patience and wants to go to the next page. So I just buy him books with a couple of words on each page. He really likes the No David books.

He is developing quite the little personality. He is a social butterfly. He prefers to be out and about meeting new people. Elijah loves a crowd. As long as there are new people around Elijah is content. We are constantly getting comments about how happy and smily he is. It is really only at home when Nick and I are not giving him 100% of our attention that he gets fussy. He is content to play in his pack and play for a little bit but then he gets bored. Elijah is not a very good self entertainer. He always has to have something going on and new things to look at. My prediction is that when he is older he is going to be a total extrovert. He will be that little kid that walks up to a complete stranger and starts up a conversation. He has a little bit of the "stranger danger" going on but he warms up to people after a couple of minutes. He doesn't try to hide his face or anything. He wants to look at new people and interact with them. He just doesn't want them to hold him.

9 Months

We are experiencing our first really sick baby. Elijah has been diagnosed with bronchitis and an ear infection. His demenor has still been pretty pleasant. He has been to the doctors three times because he was breathing rapidly. They all say he is doing well and he should start improving now. We have to give him breathing treatments three times a day. He doesn't like them very much. This morning he was distracted by cartoons, he doesn't watch TV much so he was enthralled. Last night I read him the same three books for 15 minutes. We sing and dance around a lot to keep him content because if he is crying the majority of his breathing is exhaling and we need him to inhale as much medicine as possible.

Our little man finally has some teeth. They aren't all the way through yet but they are visible. He has two on the bottom and two on the top. He waited to grow them all at once. He has been a little cranky but not drooling too much. He is also still sleeping well (knock on wood). He hasn't started crawling yet. We haven't really been pushing it the last week because he is sick. He pretty much just wants to be held.

Nick and I had to do some summer clothing shopping this last weekend. Elijah is now wearing 12 month cloths. It has been warm in Kalamazoo and Elijah does not like the heat. He is like his mom. He cries if he is slightly warm. It will be a challange to get him to wear his helmet in the warm weather. He hasn't been wearing it for about a week due to fever and a warm house. Soon we will put an air conditioner in his room so he can be comfortable when he naps and sleeps at night. He is still progressing wearing his helmet. He started at a 14mm difference and is now at 10mm. The multiple days of not wearing the helmet has set him back a little.

8 Months

Elijah is close to being on the go. He is constantly wiggling and reaching for things when you hold him. It is getting pretty difficult to hold him because he is getting strong. When you put him down, so he will learn to crawl, he cries. I think he is just getting frustrated because he wants to be mobile and the only way he thinks he can be mobile is by being carried around. He does spend at least an hour a day in his pack and play sitting up or laying on his belly. He can pivot around on his belly. We try to spend time with him upstairs on the carpet everyday too. We tuck his legs under him but he just kicks them back out. He is getting pretty good at standing on our laps so maybe he will just skip crawling. Hopefully when it is nicer out we can put him outside on his blanket to encourage him to move around.

Elijah's vocabulary is increasing. He used to say dadadada, or hi dadada. Now he says ma. It is usually when he is whining and it more of a mmmmaaaaaaaaa, ma, mmmmmaaaaaa or mamama. He also yells at Delia and says a somewhat recognizable form of Delia. He doesn't have any teeth yet. He is getting pretty good at picking finger foods off his tray and putting them in his mouth and "chewing" them. They disolve so it doesn't really matter that he doesn't have any teeth. We are also trying to introduce him to the sippy cup. He mostly just plays with it or chews on the nipple.

Elijah is now wearing a "helmet" 23 hours a day to help his head form more symetrically. He doesn't seem to mind it. Nick and I are already noticing a difference. We are hoping he doesn't have to wear it for the 4 - 6 months that is the average time for a child to wear it. We get lots of comments from little kids and lots of stares from adults. I understand it is an unusual thing to see but some adults have no tact. Luckily we haven't gotten any mean comments. I probably wouldn't handle that to well. One little kid was so cute, he told his mom "that little boy looks like he is in outerspace". I miss the way Elijah looks without the helmet on. He gets lots of kisses and cuddles when it is off for the alotted 1 hour a day. It is hard to give him kisses when it is on. He will get his head measured again at the end of this week so we will be able to tell if the helmet truely is making a difference.

7 Months

Many new developments have occured in the last month. Elijah is now sitting up on his own. He likes to sit in his pack 'n' play and dance to the songs a little stuffed dog plays. Nick and I are going to be making a trip to babies r us and buying some baby song cd's. I am glad he enjoys music because Nick and I really do. He is also eating rice cereal two times a day. He has tried bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, and peaches. He is not to fond of the peaches or the sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes was the first one we tried and he gaged a lot. I am going to try them again since he is used to eating that kind of baby food now. If he still gags then I know he really does not like sweet potatoes. He will eat the peaches but he makes a sour face with every bite. I, personally, think the peaches are kind of bitter.

Everyone comments on how happy Elijah is. He is such a content baby. He smiles and talks all the time. His smile just lights up the whole room. He is now learning how to stick his tongue out and blow rasperries. It is cute unless he is doing it when you are trying to feed him. I have gotten a nice faceful of squash. I try not to smile but he is so proud of his new talent that I can't help it. I hope I am not encouraging him to spit his food out. He is also starting to scream to get us to look at him. He normally does this when he is in his highchair and we are trying to make dinner. Nick and I are trying to ignore this behaviour. He is just so ear piercing.

Elijah's new favorite pass time is swimming. He has only gone twice but he really had fun both times. I am just waiting for the time we put him in the water and he freaks out. We got him a very cute Speedo swim suit. It has a built in diaper so we don't have to buy those swimmer diapers. I am looking forward to the summer, he will be in the pool a lot. We have a little baby pool that we will set up in the backyard. Hopefully Delia will stay out of it. She has never been to fond of the water. We are hoping to get to Midland, The Ranch, and Traverse City this summer. That will provide lots of water time.

Elijah had a doctors appointment yesterday. He is almost 20 pounds. He is getting so big. They took x-rays of his skull to try to figure out why it is a little mishappen. The PA said the x-rays look normal and that is a good sign. We are taking him to Hangar, a prosthetics and orthotics place, today to get more extensive analysis. The PA said they may analyze his skull today and then have us come back in a couple weeks to see if it has changed any. They will also determine if Elijah is a candidate for a helmet. I will be so glad when his head is normal and this is all done. It really is a minor medical thing compared to what some families have to go through it will just be a relief to have it taken care of.

6 Months

As can be seen from the lack of months 3, 4, and 5 we have been very busy. Elijah is growing bigger every day and he is such a joy. He has mini conversations with us and spends much of the day laughing and smiling. The only time he is unhappy is if he is hungry or sleepy. We are finally into a "routine". Elijah is taking two naps a day. One around 10 and the other around 2. Sometimes he sleeps for 2-3 hours, other times only 30 minutes. We try to cram in as much housework and other misc. things as we can during these times. He is pretty contented to spend time in his baby einstein when he is awake making it easier for us to prepare his bottles and food for ourselves. He actually prefers to be in his baby einstein to being held. He is also an amazing sleeper at night. He goes to bed around 8 and sleeps til about 7:30. We have been so lucky because most babies his age sleep about 6 hours a night. He eats a lot during the day, about every two hours, where most babies eat about every 3 - 4 hours. We believe that is why he sleeps so well at night because he cluster eats all day.

As some of you know I had to give up breast feeding due to Elijah's low weight gain. When he went in for his 4 month check up and vacinations he was in the less than 3 percentile for weight. It was very hard for Nick and me to hear, especially me. He didn't act any differently then he had previously so we had no idea that he wasn't getting enough substanance. We switched him to formula and he has gained about 6 pounds in two months. He is already in 9 month old cloths(slightly big but they fit). He is back on track and is as happy as can be. We are happy that it was an easy fix.

Elijah is very active. He likes to be entertained every minute that he is awake. He has his favorite toys like the baby einstein as mentioned above. He also likes his sensory cube and his baby laptop. His favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see. He likes to "taste" everything. He loves studying faces and trying to put people's hands in his mouth (not so sanitary.) He has had one cold and handled it pretty well. Luckily it didn't travel into his chest or ears. He hasn't started teething yet. We are not looking forward to that but he will be so cute with little teeth. He does great when we go places because he likes all the action, noise, and people. That has been great because we don't have to be shut-ins. He pretty much goes everywhere with us. We feel so blessed every day.