Eli 4 Months

And just like that another month has gone by!!  Today I have wanted to hold Eli all day.  I really don't want this baby phase to end.  Don't get me wrong, I am tired and have no time to myself, but I love this time of life I am in right now.  I love cuddling with Eli as often as I can.  I wish I could bottle up his smell, chubby cheeks, and little coos he makes when he sees me.  He is such a sweet baby!!  Lucas and Andrew still love him like crazy!  They always want to kiss him and touch him.  Which probably led to Eli's first sickness.  We all got some type of virus that gave us a fever and some congestion.

I had to share this behind the scenes picture!!  The boys were tickling Eli and trying to get him to smile for me and then they would duck down behind the couch so I could take his picture.  Love these boys!!! 

Best big brothers ever!!

At this months Dr appointment Eli weighed 16lbs 5oz 65th percentile and he was 26in long 85th percentile.  The funniest part about the appointment is that the nurse actually came back in the room to remeasure his head.  She thought she got the measurement wrong because it was so big.  She clearly doesn't have much experience with the Creason boys!!!  I looked back at Andrew and Lucas and they all had the exact same head measurement at 4 months! Eli's head isn't super off the charts but is over the 98th percentile.  Eli is the smallest of the three as far as weight and height go.  He is wearing size 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.

Eli is still breastfeeding great!  He still eats about 6 times a day.  The Dr gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal.  We are in no hurry to start rice cereal.  I feel like once you start rice cereal and baby food there is no turning back.  I am sure we will start it in the next couple weeks.  It is has been so nice breastfeeding compared to bottle feeding because I never have to worry about food for Eli when I am leaving the house.  I got the high chair out and all cleaned up for Eli so I am sure the next post will have some food updates :)

Sleepy smiles

Eli is still loving his activity mat.  He has learned how to hit and grab the little toys hanging down.  He has mastered rolling belly to back but still no back to belly.  He doesn't mind tummy time now.  He loves holding something in his hand!!  When he eats he always has my shirt or tank top in his little hand.  I bought him a new little lovey blanket and he LOVES it!!!  He has started laughing more.  He laughs when he gets tickled and when you play peek a boo with him.  He is all smiles and is usually a very happy baby. He is still sleeping great!!  He sleeps from about 10:00pm to 8:00am.  He usually naps about three times a day.  He will nap in the car, his swing, or his bed.  He really will nap anywhere.  The hard part is just getting him to fall asleep.  He is very interested in what's going on around him.  There are not many quite moments in this house anymore.  Pretty soon this little guy is going to be running around with his brothers, but for now I will fully enjoy the cuddles!!

So peaceful

His favorite toy!

Tummy time 

All smiles!

Fell asleep while Mommy was getting ready for church

Eli got to meet a few of my best friends from Cincy this past month!!  He loved all of the cuddles and kisses!!

I have a feeling these two are going to become partners in crime once big brother goes to Kindergarten

Story Time with Lucas

The last couple months I have been taking Lucas to story time at the library.  It is something that Andrew enjoyed when he was this age so I thought I would give it a try with Lucas.  It happens to be on a Monday, so it is something that I get to do with Lucas.  Eli comes along but he is usually sleeping.  Lucas's best buddy, Patrick, comes along too.  He loves the class!  He loves to sing and dance along to the music. He also loves the play time after class with Patrick.  I love having individual time with Lucas!!  I feel like I have to make it a priority to have that time with him because he is in the middle. I love to watch Lucas and Patrick together.  I hope they are buddies for a long time!!  

Lucas and his creepy bear he always finds after story time. 

Here is a little video of the boys shaking it :)

Easter as a Family of 5

Happy Easter!!!  Crazy that last Easter we were celebrating our first Easter as a family of 4 and had no idea that another boy was in our future!! It is such blessing spending Easter with these 3 amazing boys!!  Don't let this first picture fool you, there were a lot of out takes including this one...

Yikes!!! 

We started out Easter weekend with coloring eggs.  I just have to be honest here and say coloring eggs is overrated.  Who had the bright idea to give the kids something very fragile and then have them dye it??  The parents end up doing all of the work.  After one broken egg and no spilled dye (thank God) I think the boys still enjoyed it.  It did make for some cute pictures!!  

Andrew and Lucas were pretty excited to see that the Easter Bunny made a stop here!!  

Checking out the goodies 

After a quick look through our baskets we got ready and went to church.  This is the first year Andrew seems to fully understand the Easter story.  I love listening to him talk about Jesus.  It is so fun to see things through their eyes.  After church we went to our neighbors house for an Easter egg hunt.  The boys had a blast finding the eggs.

Quick family pic

The boys!

Eli 3 Months

So...I am only 12 days late this time!!  It is so hard to find time to update the blog.  Eli turned 3 months and he was a busy boy this past month!!  He did not have a doctors appointment this month so I weighed and measured him myself.  He was 15 pounds and 25 inches exactly.  He seems to have caught up with Andrew's measurements.  He is wearing 3-6 month clothes and is using the last of size 1 diapers.  He is ready for size 2 but I am not going to let these size 1's go to waste.  Eli is now in one of my favorite stages.  He has started smiling and cooing!!!  I love it when they can respond to your face but they still can't move :)  I feel like Eli is such a smiley and happy baby!!

The biggest milestone from this past month was that Eli decided to sleep through the night starting in mid March!!!  I put him to bed around 11:00 and he sleeps until about 7:30.  It is amazing!!!  When he wakes up he is ready to eat.  After he eats he is up for a little bit and then goes back to sleep for his morning nap.  He usually sleeps a lot in the morning and then is up more in the afternoon and evening.  He is definitely awake more now than he was last month.

So peaceful in his bunny pjs

Love me some Eli cuddles!!

Hanging out at church

Trying to start a new bad habit...

Another highlight in the last month was that he got to meet his Papa!!  Papa came out to visit for a few days.  That is actually when Eli decided to start sleeping through the night!  It was so fun having Papa here and watching him interact with Eli.  There were lots of Papa/Eli snuggles.  Papa also got to join Eli on his first trip to the zoo!!  Eli spent the majority of the trip to the zoo sleeping.  I forgot to take a picture of Eli at the zoo!!  I guess that is the first sign of him being the 3rd baby.  I did take a lot of pictures but none of Eli :(  

Three generations of Creason boys!! 

Watching some basketball with Daddy

Eli is still a breastfed baby!!!  Happy 3 months to us!  He still hasn't had any formula.  I have heard a few people say that breastfeeding starts going well around 3 months.  I think I agree because after pain, weight checks, breastfeeding groups, 1000 questions to my breastfeeding friends, tongue tie, and thrush here we are!!  I am happy to report everything is going great!  I am so lucky to be able to breastfeed Eli.  He eats 6 times a day about every 3 hours.  He usually eats about 10-20 minutes each time.  It is nice not to have to deal with preparing bottles before going out.  I have become pretty comfortable feeding anywhere...with a cover.  I am not embarrassed to feed him in public, but I am worried about making others feel uncomfortable.  I do hope that I can continue to breastfeed him as long as it works for him.

Lucas and Andrew still adore him!

Love these boys so much!!

Sick Spring Break

Andrew has been on spring break the last two weeks. On his last day of school before spring break he was sent home with this...

I was a little worried because we aren't traveling anywhere but when I looked at the calendar I noticed we DID have a few fun things on the calendar!  I went into spring break thinking about our fun activities we had planned and maybe a few other things we could do.

We started spring break with a trip to the treehouse at church.  We met a few friends there and the boys ran off a little energy because the weather was no good!!

Their faces crack me up!!
It's almost like they are thinking, "that Mom better not have just brought her sick kid to the treehouse!!"

After that we went to the local cupcake store for a little tour and some cupcake decorating.  The kids had a lot of fun.  We went with our friends that are from our original playgroup.  The older ones were so excited to see each other.

Reflecting on the experience...

Attempt to get a picture

Lucas is a lover!!
This may be his first official kiss because both parties went for the kiss.

The next day our exciting spring break came to an end!!  Andrew started with a high fever, was achy, and looked awful.  I knew something was wrong and it was more than just a virus or cold.  On Friday he tested positive for the flu.  He got his first hospital bracelet because he had to go to the hospital lab to be tested.  It kind of made me laugh because they still had him in the system as "Boy" Creason.  He hasn't been to the hospital for anything since he was born.  Lucas on the other hand has a frequent flyer card between a trip to the ER and swallow studies/chest xrays.  When I got home from the Dr with Andrew, Lucas had a fever!!  The flu claimed 2 victims!!  The boys have been miserable and I have been guarding Eli like I'm a Navy Seal.

After one whole week Andrew seems back to normal with a cough here and there.  We were able to get tamiflu for Lucas.  Not sure it did much, but he is getting better.  He still has a cough and runny nose.

My Mom did come to town this weekend.  Just in time for the flu!  So far Andrew and Lucas are the only unfortunate ones.  Hopefully she didn't catch it while she was here.  I guess our spring break resumes tomorrow.  We do have Easter still and a couple other fun things we can do before it is over.  Hopefully we are past all the sickness!!

Eli was his happy self through it all :)