Lots of travels for little man.

Lots of random pictures and thoughts in no particular order.  I am so tired today and little man has wanted to eat all day long, and snuggle mama all day long, I cherish days like this though.  Paul was able to go hunting with a friend and I was able to hang out with my friend Kirsten who had a baby on the 12th, but had the same due date as Eli. We sat around and talked, nursed a lot, walked to starbucks and took a walk around the neighborhood and then nursed a lot more.  The life of mama's with new babies, pretty chill but tiring. 

Last Friday my friend Ciara came for a visit and got to wear Eli in the carrier.  She loves kiddos as much as I do and we both nannied during nursing school and before.  We have always talked about "when we have our own kids" and it has finally happened.  She is a nurse practitioner now and has to work a few more years for a clinic before having kids because otherwise they wont pay off her loans, so in the meantime she gets to enjoy my munchkin. :) 

Eli rooted on the Seahawks and was super excited when they won! :)  Also we made it to church again on Sunday and little man lasted half the service in the wrap and then decided he was too hot and wanted to look at the lights while laying on mama's lap. 

We went to Salem Monday through Wednesday so Eli could meet all his great grandparents and two of his Great Aunts.  On the way down to Salem we stopped at a Motorcycle Coffee shop in Portland and had the most amazing coffees.  Oh and a few days previous Paul took this picture of Eli and I napping together and man do we look alike. 

My grandparents were entranced with Eli.  I knew they would like to meet him but I didn't know the love I would see shine through their faces as they looked at him, it was precious. Pop (grandpa on the top and bottom left) kept saying, "he is squirmy" "well isn't he cute" "he is a chunky guy", and would just grin and smile at him. Melt my heart.  Both of my grandpas have dementia now and can't enjoy life as much as they used to, so these were special moments. 

On the way home we stopped in Portland again and Eli got to meet his cousin (really my cousins kid) Eamon (said A-mon).  It was so fun to see Eamon interact with Eli, at first he wanted nothing to do with him but then he started smiling and pointing at him.  Also he kept pointing to his mom and dad and saying mama, dada just to make sure they remembered they were his mama and dada even though they held a different baby. :)

The many faces of Eli during exercise time.  We have Eli lay on a blanket and wiggle for about half an hour every evening and it helps him sleep better, which we found out on accident the other night.  A beautiful accident!  Eli is a champ sleeper.  The longest he has gone is 4 hours 45 minutes (and that felt sooooo wonderful for his mama) but usually its between 3-4 hours and I am awake for an hour feeding him and then he goes another 3-4 and we do this 2-3 times a night.  

Here are some of the pictures we had taken by Dana Dent, my educator at work and who is building his profile.  He did an amazing job!  We are thrilled.  I have a few more but I will post them later after I get birth announcements out. 

We just got back from two nights in Salem yesterday and are leaving to get Eli dedicated in Moses Lake tomorrow (dedication on sunday).  We have been so busy, but we had to do all these trips while Paul was on vacation. It has been soooo wonderful having Paul home this much, we are going to miss him like crazy when he goes back to work.