I confess, I'm an addict. I can't stop taking pictures of my kid at bath time. I'm not sure what it is, the intoxicating smell of baby soap, those cute little hoodie towels, that squeaky-clean little bum... Whatever it is, I need to get over this urge before he hits the teen years as I think it will not be so well received then.

Baby in a bucket, anyone?

This month, Eli also had his first trip to the beach. We went to Amelia Island with a whole posse of friends that included Paul and Baikal, 15 months and 14 months, respectively. At 5 months old, Eli was defintel the runt of the litter but he was taking some serious mental notes: "Ahhhh... That's how to eat cheerios." and "Okay, this walking thing is really odd." We had a great time even thought it was really cold.

Oh no! Apparently I have set my camera too high so the blogger will not load the big photos. Sorry, Faithful readers, especially since the pictures on that last post are really cute. Here are some smaller files (I hope) and some bigger ones for those of you with fancy computers.

A couple of weeks ago, Eli was welcomed intot he Body of Christ. Baptism day! It was a wonderful day and Eli acted like a little angel. He looked pretty cute, too, in a gown that I made him. the recotr of the church did the baptism, but I presided over the Eucharist. We loved getting to see our friends John and Andie, Eli's godparents. We also had a great time visiting with Elis uncle David and Grandaddy all the way from North Carolina.

Not much is happening around our house these days. That's a good thing, actually. With all of the holidays and the travelling, we were getting a bit worn out.

Here are some updates on what has been happening in Eli's world:

In the last few weeks, Eli has become an expert eater. He seems to really dig the rice cereal (yuck) and chows down a whole serving and a half without any fussing. He even tries to help, grabbing for the spoon and the bowl with gusto. Yesterday, I held the bowl a little too close to his face, so he took advantage of the moment by putting his whole face right down in it. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair. He didn't get it at all and got very irritated with me. We've added the occasional blob of mashed banana which he eats politely but he's still not sure about it.

He is really learning to use his hands and grabs for everything in sight. Kevin has to be careful or his glasses will get flung across the room! His favorite game right now is to lie face-to-face on the bed with me or Kevin and pat our faces, tug our ears, grab our lips. It is really sweet!

He is figuring out how to roll over a little at a time. He still only does it mostly by accident and it makes him really mad when he does. As in, "Why the heck am I now on my stomach?!? How did I get here and will one of you idiots PLEASE flip me back over??"





And now for the big announcement:
We are all sleeping!! Hooray! The first few weeks of Eli's life there was no sleep in sight. Then we learned to swaddle and that worked for a little while and we'd get 3-4 hours of sleep at a time. But he outgrew that and sleep disappeared again. Last weekend, I moved Eli into his own room and his own crib. He took it like a champ and although we missed having him in our bedroom, we all slept a little better for the couple of hours a night that he slept.



Then the breakthrough occured. In a fit of desperation, we decided to let him cry a little bit at bedtime after putting him down. It worked like a charm and within three days, Eli was sleeping 10-12 hours a night. Some nights he wakes once to nurse, but otherwise, he sleeps through the night and takes good naps in the day. He is happier, I am happier and Kevin is happier. I have a couple of hours each night after he goes to bed to organize my life (like now) and even an hour in the morning to exercise!

I have no illusions that this will last forever. He'll cut teeth or have a growth spurt and we'll go through some rough times, but for now, I'm high as a kite on sleep!

Finally, Next Sunday, Eli's getting baptized! We are very excited.