What Happened?

Remember this?

Yes, just one year ago I had my third child. He was so cute and tiny! Now, he's grown and grown and grown some more (though he's still quite tiny for his age). I really can't believe he's a year old today. Yesterday I mourned the loss of my baby. Not that he's that different from yesterday to today, but reaching that year mark signifies a lot of changes that have occurred and will yet occur.

It's amazing how a person can grow and develop so much in only one year. We love you Eli.

Express Yourself!

So, I'll admit to being a bit harsh on women who "gave up" on nursing their children. Both of my children nursed for over a year and were great nursers from the very beginning. I'm beginning to think that some of their nursing talent may have come from the fact that neither one was born until 41 weeks. Then again, my children are geniuses, so you'll have to decide for yourself.

Along comes this baby who is so incredibly beautiful AND did I mention he has a dimple? Yes people, when we die scientists are going to ask for a sample of our genes to determine how my husband and I--both dimple-less--have created three consecutive offspring with beautiful dimples. I digress, but dimples are dang cute.

Like I was writing, Eli is cute, but the boy was tongue tied. His tongue is tiny anyway and his frenulum (that piece of skin that ties your tongue to the bottom of your mouth) attached all the way to the very front of his tongue. Luckily, the doctor clipped it. Snip, snap and we thought he'd be on to nursing glory.

It hasn't been nearly so simple. For whatever reason, it could be that he was born early, it could be that his jaw has a bit of an under bite, it could be something else I haven't figured out, but this boy has really struggled to nurse. I'm not talking about having him latch on and then fall asleep after a minute or two. I'm talking about how it can take me thirty minutes of coaxing, begging and encouraging to get him to latch on. And, that's only for one side. In other words, I can spend an hour to get him to nurse for 15 minutes. We both end up a little cranky about the whole thing.

What I'm saying is that once again I'm being given the opportunity to learn to be a little bit less judgmental. I have thought about quitting and just going to formula. Not just for myself, but for Eli's own level of comfort and relief. However, I do love the snugly closeness of nursing and when he latches on, it's such a sense of relief and accomplishment for both of us (even if some of the positions I have to contort myself to will probably put me in a chiropractor's office). Not to mention all of the wonderful health benefits associated with nursing.

So, I'm not going to quit, but it's certainly an uphill battle. We'll have one absolutely terrible nursing session where I'm ready to pull my hair out and the next time it only takes a few minutes and he's latched on and ready to eat. Be patient with us--we're both learning new skills here.

Eli

Here is Eli!

He was born on the evening of October 7 after four pushes.

He is a tiny guy weighing in at only 6 pounds 9 ounces.

Both Owen and Ryanna are super thrilled to have him home and want to hold and kiss on him all the time. Owen comforts Eli when he cries by chanting, "It's okay baby. It's okay." Ryanna is already planning the birth of the next baby which she assures me is a sister.

Eli was tongue tied at birth, but we had that cut yesterday and are happy to report his nursing has greatly improved.

He has a tiny cry that several nurses mentioned sounded like a recorded cry that you would hear from a doll.

He loves to sleep most of the day away and remind us how cute he is in the wee hours of the night.

All in all--we're all in love.