The weekend before the Fourth. Jeff took Friday off so that we could start the holiday a bit early with a stroll through the gardens and grounds at Biltmore. That was the plan anyway. Wednesday prior to this I took Elijah to his doctor's appointment only to find out that he was not gaining weight. It took us by complete surprise since I had breastfeed all five of the other children until their first birthday. Several terrifying reasons went through my head as to what could be the cause and several days of guilt and worry ate at me as I thought back to what went wrong and how come I didn't figure this out sooner. But, through lots and lots and lots of prayer both from me and from countless others we found out that Elijah was a lazy and inefficient nurser. Basically, he only took enough milk to relieve me but not enough to gain weight. After 48 hours of formula (for which I was terribly disappointed) he gained 8 ounces (for which I now love formula). He is currently on track and gaining weight like a champ and I am mixing bottles and washing bottles and measuring out bottles...
We will call this the "before" picture at around 3 weeks old.
At 4 weeks old he is finally starting to look a little chubby:) Ahh, sweet victory!
Elijah's first bath and he loved it.
Brotherly love.
Deep in thought:) Oh but I digress, on Wednesday we went to the doctor (this is when she initially put him on formula) and she was adamant that Elijah come back on Friday afternoon to be weighed. Friday!?!? This was the day we were to be in Asheville, but of course the baby's health is paramount and all vacation plans were postponed until Saturday. Friday was a beautiful day, made even better by the fact that Daddy was home and Elijah's appointment was a total success. Then came the bad news, an engine light came on in the van, the BIG van, the new van, the only van that can fit our whole family, the van that was supposed to take us to the mountains the next day! After a diagnoses from Advanced Auto Parts, we were told it was the alternator, $$$. After some hurried calls to auto shops at 4pm on Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, we realized that getting our van back before Tuesday was going to be nearly impossible, enter more prayer and one AMAZING friend/mechanic. He was able to find us a reasonable alternator and install it all on Friday night!
Saturday morning we went and picked up our beloved van and while it was too late to make it to Biltmore, we did some fun things. Jeff finally got his new camera. If you know us, a camera to Jeff is a two year investment and we just hit two years in April on the last one. I am surprised he held out this long:) This time however, we bit the bullet and went for the DSLR so that from now on we can just invest in the lenses! After we picked up the camera, we went and got Calla her birthday gift, her ears pierced. Lastly, we finished up with Happy Meals for dinner. A good time had by all and a great start to the long weekend even if it had a rocky beginning.
Mommy holding her hand, even though she was SO brave!
2 comments:
Oh so glad everything worked out. I love Calla's ears. Joe and I were just discussing it for Olivia (down the road). She looks beautiful :)
LOVE the pics of little Elijah! SO glad that he is growing & gaining weight, praises to God!! Calla looks so lovely with her new pierced ears! And whoo-hoo on the new camera! I think you guys are going to love it!!!
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