February 28

One month ago today, sweet Eli was born.

Four days from today, sweet Eli is due.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

It has not been the easiest month:

being completely unprepared for Eli's arrival

a hospital stay when we were planning a home birth

MASTITIS

breastfeeding issues

slow weight gain

BUT, God has abundantly showered us with His grace and mercy this month. He has met our every need, and has given us good outcomes in crummy circumstances.

Eli's birth may have been in the hospital, with lots of interventions, but I was attended by my midwife and avoided a c-section.

Despite being five weeks premature, Eli did not have to go to the NICU and seems to have no lasting issues (except for breastfeeding, but he is slowly figuring things out).

Friends have come from all corners to bless us with meals, clothes, prayer, and support.

No, this is not how we would have planned things, but God is good, and He has been with us, and with Eli. Eli's name means "to lift up, ascent, or offering". His birth showed us so clearly that all of our plans and all that we have are not really ours; they belong to God. God knew from the beginning when Eli would be born, and He provided that Eli would be healthy and strong. All of this serves to remind us that Eli is not really ours, and so he is our offering to God. Our prayer is that God will continue to bless and provide for this child as he grows, and that Eli will love and serve his heavenly father with his whole being.

At one month, Eli is not yet hitting many milestones. I think it's fair to at least wait until his due date before we expect anything of him. But he does have some impressive stats:

6 pounds, 13 ounces

14" head circumference

nurses every 3 hours, on both sides, then drinks a bottle of expressed milk 

takes a bottle like a champ

would sleep 6 hours straight if I let him, but I'm not allowed to let him

smiles occasionally, especially at Chris

prefers to lie/sleep on his side

loves to be worn, and is most content when he is wrapped on my chest

loves to sleep in his swing

just outgrew his preemie clothes and diapers, and is starting to fit into some newborn clothes

is awake for maybe 3 hours out of the day, which is a big improvement! He was so sleepy at first!

cheerfully tolerates all of the love his brother and sisters shower upon him

overall, a very easy, happy baby!

Since Eli's one-month birthday happened to fall on a Saturday, Caleb helped me plan Eli's birthday photo shoot. He was very happy with the results.

Do you remember back in August, when we announced our pregnancy? 

Luckily, the shirts still fit! 

It is so delightful to have a baby to fill that shirt! And can you believe how much Lily has changed in the past 6 months? Lily was feeling a bit apprehensive about the photo shoot, for some reason.

I think this one may be my favorite of the number shirt pictures. You can't see Daisy's number, and Eli is definitely being smooshed, but it accurately portrays what life is like right now. These kids love their baby brother! Lily isn't trying to hurt Eli, she's trying to pet his hair. Sweet, sweet, sweet!

And then Lily wandered off, but Caleb and Daisy still wanted to spend some time loving on their baby. It sure looks like Eli might be smiling, doesn't it? (Caleb told me yesterday that he wants to have two more babies: boy and girl twins. I'm not sure what to say about that.)

Sweet big sister, and sweet baby yawn!

*sigh* 

Some people think four children is too many. I certainly don't think so, especially when I see pictures like this.

Caleb's other idea for pictures involved Superman shirts. A few weeks ago, Caleb and Chris were wearing their matching Superman t-shirts when Caleb realized that Eli should have one, too. Amazingly, I found a newborn-sized one on clearance at Target last week.

My three Super men!

Daisy was sad that she couldn't be in the picture, so she put on her Wonder Woman costume. 

Wonder Woman definitely loves her baby brother!

Seriously - isn't she the sweetest?

Once the girls went down for their naps, I took a few pictures of just Eli. I am so in love with our new wrap, which is a Girasol Northern Lights, that I had to use it in the pictures.

This was one of the few pictures of awake Eli. He fell asleep pretty quickly.

Sweet sleeping baby.

Eli is definitely not chubby, but you can absolutely see how he has started to fill out. It's been a pretty dramatic change over the past week. His arms used to have loose, flapping skin, and now you can see the beginnings of rolls! It makes all of my lost sleep due to feeding him seem worthwhile

And this one is my favorite: 

That's my baby. He is totally worth all of the stress of the past month, and I am thankful for him and for God's plan for his life.