Flashback -- the baby Bjorn rules

I can't even imagine trying to carry our big boy (over 9 kg/20 lbs now) in the baby Bjorn any more, but it was his favorite place for a snooze for at least the first 3 months. He liked to be on the move too, which was quite exhausting but I'm sure resulted in good overall core muscle strength for me, Wade and my mom. Here are photos from April 13th and 18th with Eli blissfully asleep.

Flashback -- April 4, 2007 Eli is born

Most of you probably know a bit about Eli's birth, but just for completeness, I'll make a post. Eli was due April 15th, and so I set my last day of work for March 28th. This should have been plenty of time to get the car seat, do some shopping, and generally hang out and relax for a while. My mom flew in on March 30th to help with shopping and make sure she was here for his birth. I think Eli knew that once my mom got here, it was all systems go, because at about 4 am on Tuesday April 3rd, I started having contractions. I'll leave out the details in deference to the faint of heart (if anyone wants to know, feel free to ask) but Eli was born about 33 hrs later, just after 1 pm on the 4th of April. This is a great birthday for a half American/half Australian baby, because there is no need to remember if the day or month goes first -- its 4/4. He was 3.08 kg (6 lbs 12 oz) and had lots of dark hair. Here are two photos from when he was 1 day old.

Rough-housing!

Eli has been sitting pretty well for a couple of weeks now. This is immensely more entertaining for him that lying flat on his back because he can reach toys and have a look around. Where we have him set up on a blanket in the living room, I can wave from the sink and laundry, which is useful for running around and trying to get some things clean. However, no sooner than he mastered sitting, he has deciding that trying to crawl and climb is now the goal. He periodically gets stuck in some position he doesn't like and can't get out of, and then calls whoever will listen over to prop him back up again. But this is part of the trap -- as soon as you get close enough to help him sit up, he lunges to climb you, and then you are committed to the game. Wade's hair is short enough that he doesn't mind being climbed from any orientation, but I have to keep my head out of reach.

First teeth have been spotted

Wade has been ascribing every little whimper, grumpy moment, restlessness at night, etc. to teeth coming through for probably the past 3 months. I have remained completely skeptical to the subtle changes in gum appearance that Wade has been tracking. However, last Sunday, Wade insisted I check out Eli's lower gum, and there were actually two little teeth poking through. Very cute, but very sharp! His reflexes are very quick, and he can have them embedded in your finger before you even realised he had your finger in his strong little grip. If you look very closely, you can spot the little nubs.

Hello everyone and welcome to the first post on Eli's blog! Okay, so I am a totally slack parent, seeing as how Eli is now over 7 months old, and several friends have been encouraging us to do this since before he was due. However, better late than never. I'll start with some recent photos and try to get a collection from the last 7 months up soon. This photo is from October 22 when we were up at the beach house. Eli had just really started being able to sit on his own, but even now he still tumbles over when he forgets what he's doing or reaches too far for a toy (I'm just outside the frame on the picture, on standby, to sit him back up).