Eli turned two months old on Tuesday. Over the past week or so, he's changed a ton and suddenly he seems so much older, with lots of personality. He's more aware of his surroundings now - he  loves to make eye contact, make faces, and share big smiles with people. He's a big talker and babbles and coos constantly. We've had lots of pretty intense conversations that lasted several minutes and he kicks, waves his arms and smiles the whole time. Before, he'd kind of space out and stare at the ceiling or at the wall for several minutes at a time, to the point where it was almost creepy. Now he'll look at a toy or watch Pete and I as we move around the room. Just trying to imagine it from a newborn baby's point of view, I'm sure it would take several weeks to get used to being "outside" in the big world, and it feels like Eli is getting more comfortable with it and with us.

I read about something called the "six week peak" which claims babies are the fussiest and cry the most around six weeks of age. I believe it 100%. When he was six and seven weeks old Eli was a huge grouch, but over the past week or more he's seemed a lot happier and more content. He still has his whiny moments, but for the most part he's a happy, busy guy and really only gets fussy when he's hungry or tired.

He loves walks in his stroller, drives in the car, and hanging out in his gym or on his play mat. He likes when we read him stories or just hold him and talk to him. "Fais dodo" is his favourite jam and I sing it to him to calm him down. Shushing and swaddling also work wonders. He's a huge cuddlebug and often falls asleep on our chests. I know, bad habits, baby needs to learn to fall asleep in his crib! But I know it'll be about five seconds and he'll be a little terror running around the house not wanting to be hugged or cuddled so I let it slide for now. He just started to enjoy tummy time over the past few days and is still meh on baths. The entire time in the tub he has a super serious, borderline stressed out expression on his face but he seems a lot more mellow when he gets out. 


This month he's had plenty of firsts. We had his first medical issue last week with a little blocked tear duct action. We noticed his eye was extra watery and a bit goopy, so we wiped it clean. A while later it was goopy again. When it didn't go away after a day or two I brought him to the doctor, who reassured me this is very normal (it affects more than half of all babies) and that we should just continue wiping it out with warm water and it ought to clear up.

We also had our first family car accident - good times. We got rear-ended in the rotary in Halifax on our way to the farmer's market. I completely lost my mind with Eli in the backseat. Luckily everyone was OK and other than my back bumper getting a little scuffed and needing to be repainted, no harm done. The couple that hit us were really apologetic and you could tell they felt awful especially since we had a baby in the car - the woman kept saying how they just had their first grandchild. We're just lucky it wasn't a serious accident and that Eli was safely fastened in his seat. I didn't even think to check the car for damage so it's a good thing Pete was with me to make sure we got the other driver's insurance information. All I cared about was that Eli wasn't hurt.

Another big first this month: Eli is now sleeping in his own room. We started this on New Year's Day. We put him in his big boy crib, went to bed ourselves, and I laid there looking at his empty pack'n'play and sniffling. So pitiful - he's only across the hall! It's gone well so far. We're sleeping better because we don't hear when he flails his feet around and kicks his mattress (which is surprisingly loud and disruptive given how little he is!) And he seems to like his crib.

On the topic of sleep, he's been doing a little better. Eli isn't the world's best napper, and unless he's in his car seat or stroller or laying on somebody, he rarely naps for more than half an hour at a time during the day. He gets tired early in the evening so we've started putting him to bed around 7:00 and he usually sleeps until about 7:00 the next morning, up twice to eat (around midnight and again around 3 or 4). His longest stretch of sleep is always in the evening, sometimes five or more hours. While getting up twice in the night to feed him isn't the most fun in the world it's pretty good especially for a breastfed baby - some are up every two hours at this age! Of course there are setbacks, like Tuesday night when he was up at 12:15, 2:45 and 5:30. Luckily, during the night he eats and falls right back to sleep, and he eats quickly too, usually not more than 10-15 minutes at the most. I can't wait for him to start cutting out one of his night feedings but I know it'll just take time.

At his doctor's appointment yesterday he weighed 12lb 2oz, which is average for his age, and is 59.4cm long, so he's a little on the tall side. He favours turning his head to the left when he sleeps so we need to start putting a pillow or a head-hugger under him as a kind of wedge to keep him from turning left too much. He's like a reverse Zoolander. Again, it's a common issue for babies, one they generally grow out of with no problem. 

So that's the life of Eli right now. Eating, sleeping, playing and being adorable. Not a bad gig at all.