A Current Update

So I thought I would start current before I do a blast from the past and give our account of our time in Ethiopia. Elias and Daddy are both sleeping. Brian and I are more or less taking turns with which night we get up with Elias and last night was Daddy's turn. I had to get up about 3:15am to rock the babe to sleep as he and Brian were up watching sports center and all he wanted to do with Dad was play. They certainly have fun playing together! Besides that it was Brian's duty so I am feeling well rested and ready to blog :) It also helps that my mom stopped by with a latte this morning on her way to work. It's amazing how good a latte tastes after a week and then some!Ok so my plan didn't work. The baby's should be 2 hour nap only lasted an hour but that's how things roll around here. My Mom asked today when he naps. It's hard to say because each day is different. Hopefully someday we will have a schedule. He takes somewhere between 2 and 3 naps a day and they last anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 and 1/2 hours.

When we got the update about Elias pre-travel we found out he ate 2-3 oz. every 2 hours. He now eats 6 oz. every 3-4 hours. It was a really easy transition. We started right away with 4 ozs. and knew after a couple days that wasn't enough because he was angry each time he finished. He always lets us know when he has had enough which is really nice too. We go to the doctor tomorrow and I will talk to him about getting this chunky monkey on some solids. His night time routine is a lot more structured than naps. He falls asleep between 6:15 and 6:30pm. He always wakes at 2:30am for a bottle and diaper change. Yes...that is a full 8 hours!!!! Since we have been home he has been waking up at 11:30pm for a bottle but in Ethiopia he would go straight from 6:30-2:30. He is up again at 5:30am and is awake for good. It's early but when he goes to sleep later he still wakes at 5:30 on the dot. I really have no complaints when I have a baby who is in bed more or less for 11 hours each night! I think this lends to the fact that overall I am really not as wiped as I was expecting. We have now been home a day and a half and things are great.

Elias is so much FUN!! He loves to laugh and play. He has the best back of the throat forced laugh. I will get some video footage soon. Also, this kid LOVES the bath. I think he will be a huge fan of Mimi and Papi's pool. We will be posting video of his bath soon too. He loves to kick his legs and splash everywhere! It is so funny. He has strong legs too because he will kick for as long as his bath lasts without tiring.
He can be a little fussy. It could be the teething or the fact that he is still sick to some extent...otherwise, Brian has it all figured out. As he put it, Elias is happy when a) his needs are met (i.e. he is full and not tired) and b) when he is being entertained. This kiddo always wants to be entertained. If he is not the center of attention he lets you know. Now if he was baby #2 that might be kind of annoying and unrealistic but so far it really hasn't been bad having a basically high maintenance baby. We love him being the center of attention and with 2 of us and 1 of him it isn't that difficult to always have someone playing with him. I completely understand though why Almaz was so happy to find out he was baby #1 for us.

*Please forgive the really cheesy Paint editing but I didn't want my blog to get blocked due to nudity.*