Three weeks

From August 25

Eli (AKA "Little E" or "Eli G" or "Snurf Monster") is three weeks old tomorrow morning. Brian's been home now since Eli's birth, and he'll be heading back to work almost full time on Monday. I think his plan is to work for four days out of five, with some of those hours being work from home, too.

This week has been a special week for Maia, too--she's been at a cottage on a little lake with Nana and Papa since Monday afternoon, and she'll be coming home today around dinnertime. Our family had been talking about and planning on an August cottage visit since last summer, but when we found out Eli's due date, we suspected that we might mot be able to make it. We thought the change in scenery and new activities would do Maia some good this week, though, and so she went up with my parents at the beginning of the week. Brian and I both miss her enormously by this point, and so we've very excited to have her home. We'd not be telling the truth, though, if we didn't admit that it's been really nice to go at a slightly slower pace and to be able to sleep in in the mornings.

So, what's Mr. Eli like at this three week point?

• He probably weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of eleven pounds or so (he was ten a full week ago ...), and so he's got some weight and heft to him when you're carrying him around.
  
• We're seeing open eyes and quiet, alert attentiveness from him for longer periods of time, although he still sleeps a lot both night and day.
• His eyes really look like they're going to be quite blue, just like the rest of our family's. They're still the navy blue newborn color for the most part, but they appear to be lightening up a bit, particularly in the center around his pupils.
• He craves human body contact almost continuously. He doesn't sleep particularly well in his swing or bassinet; we can sometimes get him to sleep for an hour or so in either place, but not with any regularity. At the moment, he's just gone down for a nap, but he's doing so in the Moby wrap that Brian is wearing as he sits at the computer desk and gets some work done.
• He'll sleep for three hour stretches at night, which is about what I'd expect and hope for at three weeks of age. :) He's co-sleeping with me, which I'm absolutely loving this time around; he snuggles up in the crook of my arm and sleeps deeply and well, and so I'm getting some quality sleep, too.
  
• Nursing has been a breeze. Plenty of milk, no pain, and a baby gaining lots of weight. All is well in that department, too!
• He doesn't seem to mind the car when it's moving, but he is not happy to be in the carseat when the car stops. You'll hear him voice his opinion pretty decisively at each and every stoplight!
• Our health insurance covered the full cost of a brand new breast pump for me, and so I've started pumping occasionally. Brian's given him one bottle at this point in order to allow me to have a longer nap than usual a couple of days ago, but there's no need for us to use bottles frequently, so we haven't done so.
• Eli laughs and smiles like crazy during his REM sleep! He just did it a few seconds ago. It's quite hilarious and it's given us an inkling both of what his smile will look like and what his giggle might sound like. :)