Eli Richard

Yet again, I've succeeded in neglecting this blog! I've recently started to get involved in the March for Babies, as well as some online message boards supporting women who also had pProm (preterm premature rupture of membranes), and it made me realize that it's time for an update!

Eli is now 21 months old. It's hard to believe that he'll be two in 2 1/2 months. I'm so proud of him, and I love to tell his story to those struggling with pProm. Eli started taking steps back in October. He was about 16 months. He now runs and walks well, and loves to push the stroller instead of riding in it.

Speaking of pushing a stroller, Eli will be getting a little sister! I'm 19 weeks pregnant now, due 8/13. Actually, today I'm 19 weeks 3 days, and that's exactly 4 weeks farther along than I was when my water broke with Eli. My new OB and her team are amazing! They tested my cervix at 9 weeks for a bacteria that has been associated with pProm. I tested positive for it, and received antibiotics to kill it. They retested me last week, to make sure it was gone and ease my paranoia a bit, but I don't have the results yet. There is another new baby around, too. Two actually! My best friend had a baby boy, Braxton David on March 9, and Seth's sister had a baby girl, Chloe RaeLynn on March 13. Chloe was also premature--4 weeks--but thanks to God, had no complications! Eli seems to like her, but doesn't really know what to think just yet. He calls her "baby Toey."

Back to Eli! He says so many words! I'm going to estimate that he says somewhere near 75 words (this includes people's names) that he uses well, without prompting, or with little prompting (like for thank you, I usually have to say "what do you say?"). There are other things that he will repeat, but doesn't use frequently. His newest language improvement is 2-word phrases/compound words. He most often uses this skill to show posession, i.e. Brandon's truck, Daddy's drink, Mommy's phone. He also says big truck, firetruck, Peek! I see you!, thank you, baby cows, and baby duckies, but no "baby sister!"

His favorite things right now are rubber ducks, dogs, cows, and fire trucks. He has loved dogs and duckies for quite some time. He often sleeps with several rubber ducks, and carries them around all the time. He also has some of those zhu zhu pets (hamsters) that are popular right now, and loves them. He got two for Christmas and we named them Rosey and Hammy. He called them by name and took good care of them. When we got two knew ones, they also became Rosey and Hammy, so now there are two Roseys and two Hammys. He is absolutely obsessed with cows! He takes about cows morning, noon, and night. My Mom and her husband have a dozen or so cows that Eli loves to feed when he visits. We feed them produce when it starts to go bad, as well as leftovers and kitchen scraps (as long as it's not meat or onions!). Eli then goes and tells people "Cows, eat, apples, Brutus, hay." He also loves to visit the new babies, aka "baby tows."

At Eli's 18-month visit, which was actually just last week due to weather and other scheduling issues, he was on the charts for size. He weighed 23.4 lbs, which was down a little from the last visit, but he had also just gotten over being sick. That put in him between the 20th and 25th percentile for his weight. He is only 31 inches tall, which puts him at the bottom of the chart, but Seth was always short for his age as a young kids, and is now 6-feet, so I'm not worried by that.

Here are some pictures that have been taken since the last update. I don't have many recent ones on the computer, though.