Eli: 7 Years Old

Dear Eli,

My, dear, sweet firstborn.... I can hardly believe you're 7 years old today! I tear up every time I think about the moment you came into this world and made me a mom. It was a sacred, surreal moment that is right towards the top of my "favorite moments in life" list. I will never forget it.

You are an extremely persistent little boy. When you want something, you will not drop it until it happens. This can be both a strength and a weakness. Your dad and I always laugh about how we pray that you'll use this character trait for good in the future! I'm not going to lie.... I've had a pretty hard summer with you so far. You're my whiniest child and you always want me to be entertaining you, which has been hard with a new baby in the family and trying to get our house ready to put on the market. You love watching TV and playing computer games. You beg from them all day and throw tantrums when I try to limit them. Hopefully you'll calm down a little or this is going to be a looooooong summer!

You are bright, curious, and fun. You love to be silly and laugh. You're very social and love to have friends over, play outside, and go new places. You are creative and have a great imagination. I love seeing what you can create. Your favorite thing in the whole world is "snuggling." Every night before bed, you beg to snuggle as a family on the rug in your bedroom. You frequently come out of your room after we've put you in bed and beg to snuggle with us in our bed. It's frustrating, but snuggle time is when we have the best talks with you, so we can't complain too much. It clearly means a lot to you to have our undivided attention coupled with physical touch.

You hate when there is tension and are very sensitive when we're not happy with you. It makes disciplining you quite difficult because there's a fine line between letting you get away with bad behavior and coming down too hard on you. You usually act mad at me for hours whenever I scold you about something, like I'm the one that did something wrong. You love to tell me what a mean mom I am. It hurts my feelings but I know you're just taking your frustration out on me.

You're a great big brother and "leader of the pack." All of your little brothers worship you and will do anything you tell them. I've heard from various people that you're a little shy at school and don't like talking to adults. Your dad and I were both a little like this when we were young, so I'm not surprised. Hopefully you'll gain more confidence in yourself over the years and grow up to be outgoing and brave.

You're still a very picky eater. You're extremely resistant to trying new foods. When we force you to, you act like we're trying to kill you, even if it's a totally safe, normal food like rice or beans. Your favorite foods are pretty much any bread product or sweet. You'll do anything to get chips, candy, cookies, or ice cream. The fruits I can manage to get you to eat are grapes, apples, and strawberries, and the only vegetable you'll eat is raw carrots. It's better than nothing, but I still need to work with you a lot!

Eli, I love you with every fiber of my being and love having you in our family! You are a wonderful little boy with a sensitive spirit. You ask serious and inquisitive questions,  I worry that I'm not doing a good job with you and am not mothering you in the right ways. Hopefully I don't screw you up too much!

I love you,
Mama

Height: 49.5 in (76th percentile)
Weight: 58.6 lbs (79th percentile)

Moses: 1 Month Old

Dear Moses,

It's been a whole month since you joined us on this earth! This month has dragged and flown by at the same time. Is that possible? For your first three weeks of life, you were chill as a cucumber. You slept anywhere and everywhere, hardly ever fussed or cried, and were a little dream boat. But as soon as you turned three weeks old, you "woke up" and things have been really hard since. You sleep pretty well at night, but getting you to take a nap during the day is near impossible. Most days, I feel like I spend the entire day getting you to sleep. I nurse you, rock you, bounce you, wear you, sing to you, and do everything I can think of to get you to nap, but it rarely works. The second I lay you down, you wake up crying. I feel like I've tried everything but none of it works!

It's crazy to me how short the period is between you waking up from a nap and you wanting to go back to sleep. You can usually only last 45 minutes before you're clamping your eyes shut and crying, your classic sign for needing another nap. By the time I get you up, nurse you, and change your diaper, you usually only have about 15-20 minutes of play time before you want to sleep again.

You have given us a few little smiles, and let me tell you, they have completely melted my heart. I'm constantly in your face, trying to get you to smile. I have to work pretty hard for them, but when I'm successful, it's the greatest thing ever. I can't wait for you to give them to me more regularly. I could be totally off, but I get the feeling you're going to be a serious little guy. You always have a look of deep concentration on your face. I know for a fact you're going to be really smart. You're unusually alert and aware of everything going on around you for a baby your age.

I'm happy to report that you take a bottle! We gave you your first when you were five days old and we've given you one nearly every day since. I try to pump a bottle of milk every day for you to drink and your daddy loves to give it to you every night. Your big brothers are also fans of feeding you a bottle. They all want a turn, so I pass you around and you lay on each of their laps and even drink it from them. You're not picky, as long as it's mama's milk. You'll take it any way you can get it!

When you vocalize, you sound like a kitty. You make these adorable little yelps and meows. They seriously could not be any cuter. Your brothers think they're hilarious and laugh their heads off whenever you make these sounds. One of my very favorite things you do is your big stretches when you wake up and I take you out of your swaddle. Just like all of your brothers did, you tip your head back, push your lips out, bring your tiny arms up and stretch with all of your might. It's hilarious. I keep trying to capture a video of it, but every time I pull my phone out to record, you're already done.

I'm always so proud to show you off to everyone. I think you're such a handsome baby. I can't believe that you gained 3.5 lbs in less than a month. You went from being 7 lbs even when we left the hospital to 10.6 lbs today! That makes me so happy! It makes all of those middle of the night feeding sessions seem worth it.

Moses, I am completely smitten by you. I have loved all of the snuggle time I've had with you this month. My mom was kind enough to stay with us for 16 days after you were born and I had lots of undivided time with you while she was here because she was taking care of your brothers. I can't count how many little naps you have taken on my chest where I got to drink in the scent of your fluffy hair and feel the weight of your tiny chest on my body. Mmmmm. It's been heaven. I know the days are numbered where you do that, so I'm soaking up every moment I have with you, especially since you're probably my last baby.

I can't wait for the future with you! I can't wait to get to know your little personality more and fall even more in love with you. Thank you for coming into our family and bringing us so much joy!

I'll love you forever,
Mama

1 Month Stats
Height: 21.5 inches (70th percentile)
Weight: 10.6 lbs (82nd percentile)