First Smiles...

Eliot has started smiling at us when he's happy (full tummy, clean diaper, well rested...) and it's so beautiful. His face absolutely lights up and we both melt! He was NOT a happy baby during his photo session but this didn't matter - we ended up with great photos anyway thanks to our very patient and talented photographers. Here's some for you to see:

Already Growing & Changing

Mom, Dad & Baby...

Just a little over two weeks in, and we've seen quite a few changes.

Eliot is much more animated, to say the least. He's added quite a few facial expressions - he shows us a dimple on one cheek (just like dad's), scrunching of the nose, flailing of his arms and legs, the pleasure-look of finding his thumb to soothe, a furrowed brow (kind of like mom's), dreaming smiles...he's perfect. He's working through an upset tummy after many feedings, but is coming out OK after a few burps and an occasional spit-up.

Mom has seen an awful lot of changes in her sleeping patterns, and she's doing a fantastic job rolling with the changes. It's amazing that she is the sole sustainance-giving force for our new baby. I think she looks beautiful as a wife and mother. Thank you so much for bringing Eliot into the world the way you did. While watching the birth yesterday (for the first time since the real thing), I again realized how tremendous of an event it was and you were driving the whole thing. I love you!

Me? Well, I love being a dad. And, again, I think Eliot is perfect. There's nothing better than when he looks into my eyes and he's perfectly content with me holding him on my chest. I do feel like I've been on the wrong end of one of the Bodily Function Superheroes (shout out to Toots and Boogerman). I have been the latter-half feeding partner and champion of all-things burping. This has also meant that I have often been the champion catcher of spit-up - and Eliot has had some good one's in his first two weeks. I guess he's taking after his dad's alter-ego...

Thanks for all of the cards, packages, and visitors so far. We can't wait for Eliot to meet everyone else out there! Drop us a line and drop-in when you get a chance! We've got our first photos for Eliot tonight (Goos Photography link to the right), so we'll update the blog with some more photos soon!

A Week in the Life

We have had a crazy week. We meant to update the blog last weekend but we ended up being a bit more tired than we had expected. Then on Tuesday, my dad had a major heart attack, his second. This was a huge shock and very, very scary for our family. Thankfully, my mom had an opportunity to speak with the emergency responders while they were at my parents house. She was able to provide his heart history and requested that they bring him directly to the Heart Center at St. Joe's in St. Paul, rather than Hudson hospital. This is where Eliot was born last week. They complied and when they arrived at St. Joe's, he was taken directly into the cath lab, bypassing the emergency department. The cardiologist later told us that this decision saved at least 25% of my dad's heart muscle as Hudson hospital does not have a cath lab and the extra time it would have taken to get treatment could have been disastrous. A major artery on the left side of his heart (LAD) was 100% blocked and the cardiologist placed a stent which cleared the blockage. Luckily, he did not have to have open heart surgery. He was discharged this afternoon and is now at home recovering. We are so thankful and blessed that everything worked out the way it did! It could have been so much worse... and Eliot really wants to get to know his grandpa!

Danny, Aymee & Charlie and Sandy & Miah drove up on Tuesday and spent a couple of days with us. It was great to see them and have them meet Eliot, but we wish it could have been under different circumstances. If we thought we were tired last weekend, we're twice as tired now after spending our week going back and forth from the hospital. I think we will spend this very cold weekend getting some sleep and hibernating in our cozy house.

Eliot is doing great and we can't imagine life without him...it's truly amazing how much your life can change in just one week.

It's a Boy!!!

Eliot Emmanuel arrived on Tuesday, January 29th at 11:49 a.m. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 2 oz. and was 22 inches long! Eliot was born in the tub just like we had hoped in what ended up being a completely natural, unmedicated birth. He was very alert and attentive immediately when meeting mom and dad. So far, he has been extremely happy and mellow and we are completely in love with him. We just got home from the hospital today and we are a little bit tired, so this post will be short. We will both follow up with more detailed posts over the weekend. Here are a couple of pictures of Eliot!

Today is D Day...Due Date, that is!

Well, today's the due date and no baby as of 4 pm. I'm pretty tired and pretty crabby - sorry Jason! If you could, please send good birthing vibes my way, pray, light a candle, anything that might help this baby decide it's time to enter the world. We're so ready! However, it is possible that I could go another 2 weeks, so I'm trying very hard NOT to be impatient... And don't worry -- we'll definitely call as soon as something happens and try to post pictures out here asap.

Keep warm!