I'll give you a hand.

I have to give all single mothers a standing ovation. Let me explain. So Brad threw out his back this weekend. It is so bad he really can't move. Today we're going to the doc to make sure he didn't slip a disk or anything, but back to the point of the post. Without his help it has been kind of crazy. Now staying home with Elias I know I do the majority of the baby rearing, however when Brad comes home from work it allows me the time to shower, change, do laundry, etc. Brad's back is so bad he can't even hold Elias. Well he can, he just can't move, and for an active baby that's no fun. So without anyone to hand the baby to he's been attached to my hip now for almost three days, which leads us to another issue.

Elias seems to be going through a major Mommy period. Now he's never been one to like to be put down, but for the last few days I can't for even a second. I don't know if this is a result of breastfeeding, me utterly spoiling him, or he's just a Momma's boy.

Also, Elias does not like to go to sleep. He fights taking a nap tooth and nail. First he'll cry and then when he's too tired to cry anymore, he'll still try and stay awake. Yesterday he only slept for approximately two hours during the day. He should be sleeping around six! This led to him waking up every three hours last night. Today he went into the sling. The sling is an automatic nap machine. Since he wouldn't nap again, I "slinged" him. He is now asleep on me, in the sling while I type.

I do have to give him a little credit. He did let me shower while he went into his bouncy chair. The monkey and the parrot kept him thoroughly entertained while I washed!

Has anyone else ever gone through this, either the Mommy issue or the sleep issue. If so please feel free to dole out advice. I could use it. -C

A little one on one

So for the first time, Elias and I got to spend time together in the house with nobody else around. Mommy was at a doctor's appointment - so it was just the two of us.

This long wait for 'alone time' wasn't intentional - just kind of worked out that way... Mommy was always around or when she happened to have an errand or appointment, there always seemed to be a grandparent or relative over.

Elias and I did pretty well - he cried for the first 20 minutes or so before I put on one of my all-time favorite underrated movies: Roman Polanski's 1980s Parisian thriller "Frantic" starring Harrison Ford.

Like it always does with mommy, the movie put Elias right to sleep - of course, I like to believe he was tired to begin with and that's why he cried so much beforehand.

- Dad

En Francais

I kind of like this...call me crazy.

Meet the G-Girls.

Yesterday Mom and I went out to Carrie, Matt, Anna and Katie's house. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet Anna and Katie. Boy are those girls cute. They have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen. Mom and Carrie had some lunch and so did I, a couple of times. Anna had a really cool balloon that she bought with her own money. She showed it to me and I thought it was great. I can't wait until I get older and I can run around with them. We didn't get to take a picture with Katie because she just got up from a nap. Next time. Peace out...Elias

The D Word.

Daycare. Gone are the days when Grandma lived blocks away and your child could be dropped off without worry of being shaken or left in a car. My Grandmother lived very close (four blocks) and watched me when my mom went back to work until I became a latch-key kid. It was great. She gave me lots of ice cream and cookies and we watched her Soaps together. We developed a bond that lasted until the day she passed away. I will never forget the time we had together and I wish Elias could have met her. She is and was very special to me.

Nowadays Grandparents are older, live far away and basically have lives. I would love for Elias' Grandparents to drop everything and take care of him but that's not only impossible but selfish.

That said, our parents are being very accomodating and watching Elias until he's six months old. Then when he goes to daycare he'll be a bit older, more aware and starting solid foods. However, that doesn't mean I'm at all more at ease with it. The idea of handing my son to a stranger kills me. I've seen too many of those hidden nanny cams were the nanny is shaking the child. I don't know what I would do to a person who did that to my child, but I'll tell you it wouldn't be pretty. When Elias finally does go to daycare I know that I'll have run extensive background checks, talked to about 500 references and spied on the facility.

Someday I'll have my own practice, hopefully with one of my best friends, and the daycare situation will be a lot easier. Until then I'm going to unclench my fists, stop grinding my teeth and try and find someone to watch Elias who lives up to my standards. As Brad would say, good luck with that.

-C

I'm two months old!

Well actually yesterday, but I was very busy yesterday. So yesterday was Easter. Mom and Dad put me in this ridiculous Bunny outfit. At first I wasn't' havin' it.

Then I accepted my fate.

And finally grew very tired of it.

Some things that I like now that I'm two months old. I love to dance. I especially like to get my groove on when getting my diaper changed as you can see from the video below. Bed dancing is also fun. There is nothing like bustin' a move first thing in the morning.

I also like anything that moves. My mobile is awesome, so are my Sassy Bugs. They're not exactly the same but you get the point.

Another thing, pooping. I pooped yesterday and today and you know what, it feels pretty good. I might just start pooping everyday. This makes Mommy and Daddy happy and sad at the same time. I don't get it but I'm sure someday I will.

Something I'm not liking. Right now I only like to be held my Mommy and Daddy. I know, I know I can't do that forever but right now I like it and I'm going with it.

Well I hope everyone had a good weekend and we'll talk again soon. Peace out...Elias

Uncle Craig

Uncle Craig is coming to visit tomorrow. That's him with my cousin Sophie. I can't wait to meet him, I heard I have better hair than he does!

Go Badgers!

Everyone root for the Badgers in the NCAA tournament. You know Elias and Daddy are!

The Motherload.

I know, I know, I'm talking about poop again but this stuff is fascinating. So as you know Elias has been having, or should I say lacking bowel movements lately. It had been over a week since his last one. I called the doc to make sure it was okay and they said as long as he wasn't uncomfortable, was passing gas (very, very stinky gas I might add) and was eating, all was good. Well today we hit the motherload.


First I smelled something. Like an idiot I stuck my finger in his diaper. Now I'll add for the past eight days I've been smelling something and nothing was there so I was actually glad when it came back poopy. I went to change his diaper and call Daddy to tell him we had a poop. When I finally opened the diaper I saw it was a small one. I thought something is better than nothing. As I wiped and put another diaper underneath it started. The poop flowed like a soft serve ice cream machine.





Needless to say, five diapers later he was done. Thankfully, I told Brad, I caught it before it all went in ONE diaper. We would have had a very messy baby on our hands.


Funny thing is I weighed myself this morning (five pounds lighter than when I got pregnant thank you very much) and then added him and the scaled said he weighed 11 pounds. After the poop, 10!

Little Man in action.

The co-sleeping debate.

So I did something I said I'd never do, put the baby in bed with us. It all started because he had a cold and wasn't feeling well. He would wake himself up coughing and was all around miserable. One night after waking up several times I put Elias in the crook of my arm and let him sleep in bed. Well that was the beginning of the end. Now anytime he makes a noise even resembling a cry, I take him out of the co-sleeper and put him in bed. For those of you who don't know what a co-sleeper is click here.

Of course, Mom also reminded me that I was only going to have Elias sleep in the co-sleeper for six weeks. Well that didn't work either. With all the scary talk of SIDS I'm just too nervous. However, since the 'rents will be watching Elias in several short weeks, he will soon have to transition to his crib (which Brad reminds me is only a few feet away in the nursery).

Co-sleeping is just so convenient, whether in the co-sleeper or bed. If you're breastfeeding you don't even have to leave the bed. Bonus for you and baby.

Elias did sleep six hours straight last night, from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., so he's getting there. I'm sure once he's sleeping through the night it will be nice for him to sleep in his crib, but I plan to be nervous about him for at least the next 18 years.

What are everyones opinions on co-sleeping. C

My name is N, Elias N

I like my shirt here - Dad picked it out, of course - but I'm not sure what it means.



Dad said I'd get caught up in no time - something about a guy named James Bond. I guess Dad has a couple of his movies. He's already read me some of "From Russia With Love" and he keeps calling our dog, 00Stinky... whatever that means.



Anyway, he told me to ask you all who your favorite Bond is - Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby (I know nobody but dad remembers him), Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig?




What about your favorite Bond movie?




I guess my favorite is "Casino Royale" (check out a cool scene) but I'm new-school!






- Peace out... Elias

Hold that thought

So for my first post, I thought I address a common fear many men without children - especially ones like myself (before Elias of course) who were the youngest sibling and/or have few nieces/nephews.

That fear - holding babies.

For some reason, many men are uncomfortable, nervous, fearful of holding relatives' and friends' babies. Is it we just don't know what we're doing? It's not built into are DNA like it is in women? Or we fear holding a baby comfortably (or uncomfortably), telegraphs to our significant other our deep down willingness (or hesitation) about having one of our own?

Well, I'm not the one in the family with a pysch degree - so I won't fathom a theory. All I know is it's common.

Some friends were over last night for dinner and we asked the husband if he wanted to hold Elias - his wife interjected that he's afraid to hold babies. Well, we quickly convinced him to go ahead and do it anyway. So he sat down on the floor - I guess minimizing the potential fall distance from 5 feet to 1 foot - and held Elias for a couple minutes. Our friend did just fine - he didn't drop Elias, who actually looked quite comfortable.

So don't be like I used to be - hold a baby... it's easy!

It can also be plenty smelly, but that's a whole other issue.

Any other baby-holding phobes (current or reformed) out there? Tell me your funniest baby-holding story.

- Brad

Sad...

Hey everybody, just pictures today. Grandpa left and I'm too sad to write. I'm going to miss him. I had to take a nap with Mommy and try out my Bumbo to take my mind off of things.

Also, I had to get gussied up because Carla and Ken are coming for dinner tonight. Peace out...Elias

Let's talk about poop, baby.

Okay, now that I'm a parent I talk about the weirdest things. A few weeks ago our friends Michelle, Gus and their daughter Liza came over. Now we talked about a lot of things but we also talked about poop. They told a funny story about being at a friend's house and dealing with an exploding diaper. A couple of days ago Erin and I were on the phone. We also talked about poop. How Elias was a little backed up because of his cold. It seems that parents are obsessed with poop. Several years ago Erin and I would be talking about who we saw at the bars and who's dating who, but now, poop.

What I want to know from other parents is are there any other weird things you find yourself talking about and from non-parents, how annoying do you find us? As Elias says, Peace out...C

P.S. I'll save you the disgust of posting a picture of poo!

Here comes sunshine!

Nothing really to say but, I am too cool. Oh and thanks Auntie Erin for the awesome shades. Peace out...Elias

New Things

Well my new things today are, first I'm losing my hair. Now I know it's normal and I expected it but it makes me worried. I mean have you seen my grandpas and uncles. There is not much going on up top with them. What gives me a little bit of hope is that Dad has got a great head of hair. Hopefully I take after him.

Second, I like to throw fits before I go to sleep at night. I no longer stay up all night, even though Daddy thinks that new Widespread Panic song is about me, but I don't like to go to bed either. Usually for about three to five minutes, yes only three to five minutes, I cry then I go to sleep. I guess Mom and Dad should be happy that it is only that short a time. I'm not really sure why I do it, but I do and they have to live with it. Anyway, I'm off to nap.

Oh, I almost forgot, I gained 6 oz. in five days so I'm packing on the pounds! Elias

BPA Free

I don't know about you but I'm kind of fanatical. Once I learned about the chemical BPA (thanks Michelle) I returned all my Dr. Brown's bottles and went BPA free. Elias only uses Born Free bottles, and pacifiers, teethers, etc. that do not have the chemical BPA. If you want to win a free BPA free starter bottle kit check out this Blog and leave a comment. Good luck.

Shout Out

Shout out to Heather, Mike & big brother Charlie! They welcomed Lucille "Lucy" Marjorie on Saturday, March 8, 2008. She weighed 8lbs., 3 oz. and was 19 inches long. Congratulations on your new little girl!

My Name is Elias

Hello everybody, my name is Elias. Now let's clear up a common misconception right away, I prefer to be called Elias, not Eli. I know Elias may be hard to say but it is no different than Elizabeth, Christopher, Katherine, Caroline, etc. It only has one more syllable than Eli and I like it.

Anyway, moving on. I was born January 23, 2008, at 11:18 a.m. My mom was in labor for 19 hours (I have a feeling she's going to remind me of that my whole life). Her water broke on Grandpa's birthday, January 22, and we went right to the hospital. Mom was trying to be strong and have me without an epidural. She lasted five hours.

The whole reason she wasn't going to have an epidural is because Gramma Bette said giving birth was easy. She always said, and I quote, "It hurt more getting my ears pierced than having Carly." Well that didn't work for Mom. However, when it came time to push, Mom's epidural had run out so she went through three hours of pushing without pain medication anyway. She's really tough!

Finally I arrived. I was 7 lbs 14 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long. Since than I've grown 3 1/2 inches and put on a little over a pound. I'm a little on the light side but gaining strong. Mom and I had a set back when she got mastitis but she's all better now. So here I am today, almost 7 weeks old. Some things I really love:

The blanket Auntie Erin got me;

My sling;

The song Row Jimmy by the Grateful Dead;

My Badger Mobile;

and of course Mommy & Daddy.

Well good-bye for now, it's my nap time. I'm going to go hang out in my sling so my mom can get some cleaning done. Grandpa Bill is coming tomorrow for a visit and I can't wait to see him. Talk to you all later...Elias

Little Man Blues

Before I get to more bragging about Elias I thought I'd let everyone know the origin of our blog name. Little Man Blues refers to a song Brad composed for Elias. It goes something like this:

"My dog is stinky,

My diaper's wet,

Mommy hid my binky,

All I do is fret,

I got the Little Man Blues"

Now I don't know why I hid the binky, but that's the way the song was written. The only problem we've had is coming up with additional verses. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Introducing the Fam...

My name is Carly and I'm a 33 year old new mom. My husband Brad and I had our first child, Elias, on January 23, 2008, after about a year of trying. Brad and I have been married for 7 years and been together about 14 (yes we started dating young). We met at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Go Badgers) our freshman year in Ogg Hall. After several years we ended up in the Chicagoland area where I attended law school. Currently I'm working at the Cook County Public Defender's Office and Brad is the Sports Editor at the Naperville Sun. I'm sure Brad will add more information, as well as correct my grammar, in later posts.





In 1995 Marbie became a member of our family. He would be considered our first baby. Since Elias has been born Marbie's been great, surprisingly. He took to older brotherhood like he'd been doing it his whole life. I'm very proud of him.





Just about six weeks ago Elias joined the fam and I'll tell you he is an amazing, wonderful, special, loving, addition (can you tell I think he's the best)! There will be a lot more on him later believe me. By the way, he smiled for the first time on March 5!





Well, that's it for now. I do have several thoughts, comments and ideas I want to blog about in the upcoming days. Also, I'll be looking for sage advice and opinions from those of you who are already parents, or just anybody. Brad will be posting as well. I'm sure you'll be able to tell his posts by his fantastic prose and etiquette. :)

Talk to you soon...C