Happy 4 month birthday Eli!

He had a great checkup this morning.  He weights 13 lbs which is 25th percentile (about where he has been).  His height is 30th percentile...down a bit but the doctor wasn't concerned.  His head is 50th percentile which is where it has been.  The only health concern is his eczema.  It doesn't seem to bother him, but we're going to get a bit more aggressive in treating it.

Noisy baby!

Eli likes to talk himself to sleep.

Eli isn't a fan of the bumbo yet

Someone has a lot to say!

Be sure to turn your sound up

Eli is starting to hold onto toys

Trey the author

I found this in Trey's backpack.  I think he's working on a new story plot.  I can't wait to see how this story ends!

Yea!

Eli slept from 7-4 without waking up! I put in his binkie and he went back to sleep for another hour before I fed him.

getting closer to sleeping through the night!

Eli went to bed at 6:30, then I had to put his binkie in at 1am, but he didn't eat again until 4am.  That's 9.5 hours!  

Jonah took a selfie

Jonah making his brother smile

Epic fail

Well hiking with Eli this morning was an epic fail. He needed to eat then decided he hated the carrier. So we're chillin back at the car while Joe hikes with the older boys.

Happy 16 week birthday Eli!

On Thursday Eli turned 16 weeks.  Where has the time gone?

I finally got his favorite sound on video.  It's like a guttural noise or gurgle.  Hard to explain - just watch and listen!

This baby is so happy!

He's practicing to be a statue

Do you notice how he doesn't even blink?

 

My little school nerd

Trey: mommy can you get me a notebook that says math on the front? Because I want something to do when I get bored. Like write a bunch of equations and figure them out.

Jonah as a ninja

Trey as Poseidon

Cousins

Jonah eats limes like they are oranges!

In the car I asked Jonah if Eli was looking around and smiling in his carseat. He told me "no he is trying to make a fart sound with his mouth and his hand." Ha!

Jonah's 2nd Taekwondo lesson

This video cracks me up!

Eli's first non-family babysitter

Love this girl! She't got 6 younger brothers and sisters and is such a sweetheart.

Marriage wisdom

Trey: you can't marry mommy.

Jonah: why not?

Trey: because mommy is already married!

Jonah: I'm not going to get married

Trey: but then who will give you money??

Tummy time with a little help from big brother

This boy LOVES his bouncy seat!

Poseidon

Trey is really into Greek mythology these days. He's reading lots of books, cut out a bunch of lightening bolts from cardstock to be Zeus, and made this trident from markers to be Poseidon.

giants

I was reading a book to Trey tonight and the character was talking about his dad being a giant.  Trey said "what kind of giant do you think he means?"  I was trying to be funny and said "A giant like Mommy."  This apparently cleared it up for Trey because he said "Oh, so like a fat giant."

Day 2 (almost) down!

Yesterday after school we went to Mari's house to hang out, then the older boys went to parents night out at the gym. Trey got to the top of the rock climbing wall! Mari, Eli and I went to dinner at a wine & tapas place in town. Eli was a perfect angel! By the time I got everyone home and in bed it was 9 and Eli slept straight until 4am, had a bottle, then went back to sleep until 7:30 am.

Today we filled our morning with playing outside then a trip to a new (to us) library and wal-mart. Lunch, naps, and more outside play. Eli took a monster 3 hour nap! Now we're watching a movie and eating pizza.

Grades for the weekend so far:

Eli A+
Jonah A-
Trey B+

Bath time

Hopefully we're past the hump of this growth spurt!

Last night Eli slept from 7-2. An improvement! And just in time too
since today starts my 4 longggggg days with the kids by myself.

Snuggle time

Eli looking in the mirror

4 days as a single parent

Joe is leaving for a guys fishing trip Thursday night for 4 days. He comes back late Monday night. Yikes! Not sure I'm totally ready to be a single parent for 4 longgggg days. If I was sleeping at night I would have more energy to face the day, but with Eli getting up at night, well, lets just say my patience isn't at an all time high right now. Wish us luck!

Cuddle time

Sumo wrestler

Homework time

Trey is pretending to be camera shy.

Summertime photo book

I've wanted to make family photo books for years.  Yes, it's been on my to do list for several years.  I take a ton of photos but don't do anything with them.  I was paralyzed by all the different options and ways to make a family yearbook that I just didn't do anything.  I received a coupon for a free photo book from Shutterfly that has to be used by Wednesday, so I decided to just go for it. Perfection be dammed!  I decided to do a summertime book with photos from June - August.  That helps to make it not quite as daunting, and I take SOOO many pictures that a book that spans the whole year would be too big.

Right now I'm in the photo organization stage.  I made a list of all the things we did this summer, then I'm picking out a few photos from each event and flagging them in iPhoto.  When that's done I'll upload to shutterfly and make the pages.  Having a deadline really helps.

We did a lot this summer!  Here are what the pages are going to be in the book (not in order):

• Eli is born and comes home
• Jonah's birthday
• Heritage Hills amusement park x2
• Hanging around the house (writing stories, building forts, movie night, snuggling, play school, crafts, board games, artwork)
• Last day of school
• 1st day of school
• Trip to Gladewater
• Activities (lego camp, wildlife refuge, geocaching, safety fair, Trey's tri, Miss trip)
• Playing outside (neighborhood friends, veggie garden, mowing, playing with the jeep and other toys, hanging with cousins, swinging on the front porch)
• Estes Park/Winter Park trip - only a few photos in the summertime book as this will be it's own book as well
• Pool days
• Getting to know Eli
• Father's day

I'll post a link when the book is done.

more signs point to growth spurt...

4 nights now where baby has eaten every 4ish hours.  Googling 3 month growth spurt gets lots of articles.  This one (http://www.parents.com/baby/development/problems/growing-baby/) has:

Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly when and how these periods of growth occur. Some experts think that they last between two to seven days and happen at predictable ages—10 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. Others say there's no set schedule and that the timing varies from baby to baby. But moms recognize a growth spurt when they see one. "I've had mothers swear that their babies grew overnight," says Michelle Lampl, M.D., Ph.D., a growth researcher and associate professor of anthropology at Emory University, in Atlanta. "They tell me their child's legs were suddenly longer or the diaper or socks seemed much tighter." Dr. Lampl's own research backs them up: She's found that babies can gain a whopping one to three ounces and grow almost a centimeter in length in 24 hours, followed by days to weeks of almost no growth at all.

I totally agree with this!  It really does seem like Eli grew overnight.

Jonah tries taekwondo

Jonah's 1st basketball practice

Jonah started a 4 week basketball session last week.  I'm not sure basketball is "his" sport, but he had a good time and tried hard.  He's pretty fast and agile, but needs some help dribbling.

He's the one with the white hair and dark blue shirt in the video.

This is what Sundays look like in the Frankovitch house

Dress up and weapons.

String of babies?

Trey made a "string of babies" for some unspecified reason.

Outdoor patio

This patch of nothing is the future site of an outdoor patio. Can't you just see me sipping lemonaid here on a lounge chair?

Children's garden

This patch of nothing is the future site of a children's garden. Joe is going to get it started for the kids and teach them how to water, weed, and pick veggies. And maybe there will be a few flowers so we can have fresh cut flowers on the table. It will be their responsibility to take care of it and they can eat all the veggies from it their little hearts desire.

3 brothers

This bright eyed guy did just ok last night. 2 5-hour stretches. The only problem is that means I'm getting up at midnight and 5am after going to bed at 10pm. So either I need to go to bed earlier, or we should feed him in his sleep around 10 to try to get him to go until 3 then 8. Or he could just sleep all night - that would be acceptable too!

The good news is he stayed tightly swaddled all night!

growth spurt?

Eli has woken up more than "normal" the past 3 nights, and he looks especially chunky lately so I think he's going through a growth spurt.  He's also getting stronger and breaking out of his miracle blanket swaddle.  But I have a surprise in store for him - tonight I performed the double swaddle!  One blanket to keep his arms pinned down, then another one with velcro on top.  Keep your fingers crossed he doesn't break out of this one and sleeps all night!

Jonah: I'm ready for my Klondike bar! Klondike! Klondick. I'm going to call it dick. Cause I lovveeeee dicks!

(This is the downside of naming a sporting goods store Dicks).

Those cheeks!

Eli LOVES the bouncy seat!

They picked carrots right out of the garden

Holy big boy!

babysitters

2 recent developments on the babysitter front

Tonight for our anniversary, the super sweet next door neighbor boy (age 12) is babysitting Trey and Jonah and Aunt Mari is babysitting Eli.  The boys are SO excited!  It's Dawson's first babysitting gig, but his parents are home and we'll only be gone a few hours, so I'm ok with it.  He came over yesterday with a notebook to ask a bunch of questions about dinner, bedtime, etc. He even asked if we wanted him to wash the dishes, help with homework, and do laundry.  I asked him if he was excited and his face lit up and he said he was really excited.  What a nice kid!

In a few weeks Joe is going fishing, so our favorite babysitter Abbey is babysitting Eli while I am working.  It's for the whole day, but I'll be working from home. It's a long day for her, but she's the oldest of 7 kids so I figure she's a pro with babies.  Eli's first non-family babysitter! 

proof!

Trey told us he could PROVE that God was real.  If God was a fictional character, some author would be really famous for inventing that character.  Since there is no one that famous, God must be real.

Happy decade anniversary to us!

What a perfect wedding weekend.  And 10 years, 3 kids, 6 moves later...I still have the best husband in the world!