Back to the Grind

It has been a very busy and somewhat stressful week in the barrel. Daddy has less than 2 weeks before he sits for the Indiana Bar, so he has been studying every moment he gets. Mama returned to work this week and Elias went off to daycare. It was difficult for Mama to be away from Elias for so long, but luckily the daycare is very close to her work so she can visit (and nurse) Elias on her lunch break. The daycare is very nice and we like teachers Cindy and LeAnn. They will also allow us to continue cloth diaper. Elias has a new friend, a 6 month old boy named Uriyah. Elias has learned to talk to the baby and the baby talks back, so needless to say Elias has been very chatty this week. Also, Elias has not been napping during the day at daycare, so by the time he gets home, he's worn out. We got our first 6 hour stretch of sleep this week. Unfortunately, we didn't "sleep when the baby sleeps," so did not really reep the benefits of our official "first through the night." Who does that? How do those people get anything done (pay bills, catch up on the news, email, catch up with your spouse, cook, clean, laundry, blog...shall I go on?) But we can't complain, Elias only wakes up once at night and having him right in bed with us in the Snuggle Nest makes it not so bad.

In other news, Mama went out and bought a camera so that we can Skype with Oma, Opa and Uncle T (all in California) and Grandad and Gram (when they escape Indiana's cold weathers.) Here's Mama and Elias testing out our camera and exploring the internets:


We love that you can talk to your far away love ones for free!

Well, it's off to bathtime here in the barrel. Elias loves to kick the water with his feet and splash now. We have some video, but unfortunately we do not want to expose parts of Elias all over the internets. Next time.

Week six and still growin'...

So we are quickly approaching doubling of birth weight. Elias is getting denser now and weighed in at our last visit to the lactation consultants at breastfeeding support group since Mama goes back to work this Monday at 11 lbs 4 oz prior to eating. Add his morning snack of 5 oz and we are halfway to 12#.

Over the weekend, we took our first trip out of town to Daddy's hometown. Luckily all car rides put Elias to sleep so we were able to make it up there without much event since he is eating every 1-3 hours still. (Coming home was a different story.) When we arrived, Elias decided he was going to have an hour lunch and make everyone wait on him. He met many new people and had quite the exciting day! He even got to show off his gross motor skills to his grandparents.

This week Elias also got to meet his new teachers at daycare. We attended an inservice provided by Nurse Lisa for the center to teach everyone about hemophilia and what to expect/look out for when caring for him. Monday should be an interesting first day for all...

Favorites and Firsts

Hello again from the barrel. Week 5 has been a week of favorites and firsts. Elias continues to thrive. He gained 12 more ounces from last week (10# 12 oz). We got our first 5 hour stretch of sleep, only to be interrupted by Mama's aching breasts since they were not used to that length of time as well as making sure he was still breathing since he was sleeping so long. We also got what Mama thinks was a first social smile. Luckily, she had her mobile next to her to catch the series of smiles...

Elias is starting to show some likes including the ceiling fan (discovered this week), light bulbs, his crib mobile, mirrors, and of course So You Think You Can Dance (check him out doing a dance move in his baby leg warmers)...

This weekend we get to take our first "trip" out of Indy to Daddy's hometown of Wabash for the Fourth of July. Reports to follow...

One Month Birthday

Elias is one month old today. We have really enjoyed our new addition to the barrel. Although it has been challenging raising a newborn, it has been rewarding. Oma left the barrel last Friday and now Mama and Daddy are on their own. Elias took his first bottle at 4 weeks and downed it like a champ. Although it was 4 oz, he still managed to nurse for an additional 45 minutes. He has put on another pound and weighed in at 10 lbs last Thursday when he went to visit the Brilliant Pediatrician and Dr. Shapiro (hemophilia hematologist). He also grew one inch, putting all his measurements in the 75 percentile. Here's Elias wearing one of Daddy's old outfits:


He has more "good" sleeping nights than "rough" ones, which consists of waking up once between 2 and 3 am from 11 am to 5 am. However, cluster feeding nights still occur every few nights and we are trying to figure out if it's growth spurts or something Mama ate (we have cut out dairy, chocolate, and wine much to Mama's disappointment.) Elias is "talking" a lot more with hilarious goos and gurgles. He also has figured out how to spin the shape on his Ikea gym.

We think he is brilliant, but then again, we are his parents. Happy Birthday Elias from the barrel!

Father's Day

Daddy got to celebrate his first Father's Day. After an 8 hour study session in preparation for taking the Indiana Bar, we all met Daddy down by the law school at the canal. Here's some pictures taken by Oma of the proud Pappa:

Growing boy!

Elias continues to grow more and more each day. This week at breastfeeding support group, he weighed in at 9 pounds! That's over two pounds since birth! Elias has shown his new weight mostly in his limbs and face. The excited thing about being at 9 lbs, is that he is now big enough for his cloth diapers! We have chosen to try the cloth diaper route for a couple of reasons.
1. Economical. Although up front cost of building the cloth diaper stash can be a bit expensive, especially if you want the nicer brands, the cost over the first year of a babies life is half for cloth diapering. One can expect to spend over $2200 on disposables for the year. With cloth diapering, one can easily do it from $700 to $1000 over the year. We also have a new HE washer and dryer that makes doing dirty diapers much easier and not as expensive energy wise. These days, we can all save a dollar or two!
2. Environment. We all know that disposables do not biodegrade, or do VERY slowly. Hundreds of years from now when archaeologists are digging up our trash, what will they find? Diapers! Disposable diapers make up the 3rd largest item of trash, following newspapers and beverage containers. I wonder what our descendants will think--we are a society of babies who read the paper and drink Coke?
3. Health. There are less chemical irritants in cloth diapers as compared to the "super absorbent" disposables. Babies bottoms are able to breathe better, leading to less diaper rash. Babies who are cloth diapered are on average able to potty trained sooner, so they say. We can only hope.
Now we are slowly transitioning into cloth and still use disposables, especially for going out on the town as he is still a champion pooper and wetter.

Here's Elias modeling his new cloth diapers (thank you to those who helped us build our stash!!!).

We are big fans of two methods. Bumkins covers with a chinese prefold (unbleached for more absorbency) and Bumgenius 3.0.

Elias' favorite activity still remains to be bath time.

"You are baptized!"

We still continue to exercise daily and he is getting to be a very strong little man!

Kisses for Daddy...

Lastly, this week Daddy went to the Phish show here in Indy. Elias wore his new tie-dyed onsie in hopes that Daddy would bring him along, but alas he was too sleepy to go.

Happy third week everyone!

Woche Zwei

It's been a busy week here in the barrel. Elias continues to grow and fill out from his Mama's good nourishment. By Tuesday he was up to 7 lbs and 13 oz at breastfeeding support group. He also has been working on his exercising with daily tummy time. He's able to hold his head up longer, prop up on his elbows on mommy's chest, do a froggy jump off Mama's belly and rolled over from his tummy to his back! All in a weeks time. Mama (being the physical therapist she is) is very proud of her little monkey!


Elias was able to meet another family member, his uncle D. Uncle D is in town to see Phish shows and visit friends and family in Indiana. Elias is jealous that he cannot go to the famed Deer Creek (now known as Verizon Wireless Music Center) to see the Phish show in a week. He very much enjoyed his time in Virginia. Hopefully someone will stream the concert online and we can watch it on the internets.


Also this week, Elias' cord fell off to reveal a most perfect "innie." This event also signaled a "First" of getting a real bath. We were all prepared for him to scream bloody murder and did all the necessary preparations like feeding and getting his bowels all emptied. However, after the initial shock of being lowered naked into the warm liquid, he loved the bath! We think we have a little water baby in our hands...look out Michael Phelps. Since swimming is a recommended sport for those with hemophilia because it is a non-contact sport and can keep his muscles strong to protect his joints, we hope that the love of water continues. His uncle T was a swimmer growing up and still uses it when completing triathlons.


Tomorrow we celebrate Father's day with the Flora clan, so many more pictures will be taken. Elias is a very good model as shown here by his "strike a pose" picture: