The Smith Family Adventures

I can’t believe it has been three and a half weeks already since Elias was born. On Saturday he will be a month old! He seems to be developing quickly. He can hold his head up for a relatively long amount of time, and he is starting to smile at us with his eyes open!

I am still trying to get the hang of being a mom. Sometimes I still feel so inadequate, but things are slowly becoming more routine. I am trying to enjoy every minute of it.

3-month clothes

Elias is outgrowing his newborn clothes. They still fit, but look a little snug. He is sort of in-between sizes right now, but I have started dressing him in 3-month size!

Quiet alert time with grandpa Bartle

Elias is also starting to have more quiet alert time. He likes to stare at people’s faces and at his monkey rattle. He also likes to be sung to.

My two favorite boys

Here are my two favorite boys napping.

Today we decided to start using the baby carrier we were given as a gift for Elias. After reading the manual and fiddling a bit, we successfully loaded Elias in a dry run at home.

For our first real test, we chose to go to Costco. It is amazing how many smiles and contented sighs are directed at you when you have a small baby. It was super crowded, but it went well. Elias stayed asleep in the carrier, and we got in and out before my back could start aching. I think we’ll be trying it out more soon.

Today Elias got his first lesson in baseball from his Daddy. Nathan hasn’t gotten much of a chance to watch the playoffs this year, but tonight he took in his first game. (Giants vs. Phillies) He looked forward to watching the game with his son all day.

Lesson #1: Always cheer against the Giants. (Except in the unfortunate circumstance that they are playing the Yankees)

Elias pretty much slept through the whole thing, but that wasn’t the point. 🙂

Watching baseball with Daddy

Today was also a big day because it was the first time that I left home without him. I went to my future sister-in-law’s wedding shower. It was a lot of fun, and it felt good to get out of the house, but I missed him and worried most of the time. I was only gone about two hours, but his little tummy needs to be filled pretty often.

Elias also had fun interacting with the wall hanging near his changing table. He happily looked at it and cooed for quite some time this morning. Here are some cute pictures of him.

Looking at the wall hanging

Getting Tired

Time flies, but it also seems like a long time. Elias is two weeks old today.

Two weeks old

There is so much emphasis on having babies sleep on their backs because of SIDS that infants and toddlers are starting to get flat heads on the back side. Because of this, there is also a lot of emphasis on “Tummy Time.” We have read a lot about tummy time and heard about it in all of our classes before Elias was born. With more tummy time, their little heads can stay round.

Last night, Elias had his first tummy time. Nathan was really excited to try it out.  The little guy seemed a little surprised at first, like he didn’t know what was going on. We are excited for the time when he will be able to lift his head a little more so that he can look around. He is already very strong, but can’t quite lift his head enough yet. When he tried, he ended up face planting into the blanket and getting stuck. Poor guy. Here are a couple of pictures from the first tummy time.

Elias during his first tummy time.

Olive wants in on it, too.

Overall, things are going pretty well in the Smith household. At times we feel hugely unprepared to be parents, but we love our little “Makana” so much. He is truly a joy and a blessing. We think Elias is having a growth spurt because he wants to eat so much and so often. I feel like any time he is awake he is rooting. The internet says growth spurts are normal between 1 and 3 weeks, and last for a couple days. Hopefully things will slow down soon.

Today we took Elias out for his first walk. Actually I’ll need to back up a bit: first I assembled the stroller. Assembling baby stuff is always an adventure. After getting that put together, we bundled up Elias, and set out on the road.

Elias stayed awake during our entire outing. I’m not sure how much he was able to see, but I know he was exposed to a lot of new sounds, like birds singing.

We didn’t travel all that far. But when you think about it, almost any distance is monumental for a newborn! So we traversed the wooden bridge into the neighborhood behind our place and walked a short loop.

It was a great outing!

Elias at one week

Elias is now one week old. Time flies!