Eli's very first, very own bedroom!

Before...

During...

After!

By now you've gathered that our first home improvement project involved green paint and wainscoting. Faux wainscoting, that is! Doesn't look half bad though, does it? It was far more complicated than we had anticipated, as is typical of all home improvement projects, but we are quite pleased with the result! 

It seemed easy enough... just paint the top part green, paint the bottom part white, hang chair rail and make squares on the wall out of trim pieces. HA! Not so simple. First you have to figure out how many squares would look good on each wall, how far apart they should be, how far from the chair rail and baseboard they should be... then use that information to calculate measurements for all of the squares. Then you have to cut all the trim pieces and the chair rail. Ask my husband about that. Actually, don't... don't bring it up. Oye. Then you start painting all those little trim pieces, only to decide you'd rather paint them on the wall. Then you hang all the trim, all the while finding out that your 45-degree angles (cut with a compound mitre saw, mind you) don't actually make 90-degree corners so you have to force the trim into squares. Then you caulk over all of the nail marks in the trim (and decide that you probably should've used wood putty instead). Then you finally start painting and cutting in around all of it, paint the baseboard, paint the wall itself with a small roller trying not to leave any roller marks or drips... and toward the end of all that God forsaken painting you think to yourself "Ya know, we could have spray painted all that trim... dang." Not to mention all the prep work that goes on ahead of time (taping, spackling, calculating). GAH! We figured it would take two or three days, but it took five!

At any rate, bebe boy's room is finally DONE and lookin' pretty fly, if you ask me ;-) All that remains is to build his furniture and decorate! We got lots of the decor items that go with his bedding set for Christmas, so we're all set to work on that next week. I really can't wait to see how it comes together! 

Speaking of Christmas... stay tuned for a Christmas post coming soon!

Adventures in Amateur Photography

I LOVE taking pictures. Especially now that I have decent equipment (a Canon T1i digital SLR, to be more specific). Adding to my enjoyment is the kick-butt editing software that I use (Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3). It's a killer combo. I'm always learning more about my equipment, and I know that I've only barely scratched the surface of what I could do if I really put my mind to it. That's not to say that I think I'm some sort of incredible untapped talent - I just know that I haven't yet tapped the full potential of my camera!

Take Joe & Tiffany's engagement session, for example. These two, our dear friends, are getting married in August 2012.

We went out to their wedding venue one weekend and shot some engagement photos for their save-the-date cards. I went a little nuts with the opportunity to do some shooting in a pretty setting with willing subjects ;-) Now, note that my subjects are currently standing in direct sunlight. I HATE doing this to people. But my limited knowledge of fill light and of my own external flash forced me to do this in many situations. Otherwise, you end up with photos like this...

...an otherwise lovely shot, foiled by harsh shadows across the subjects' faces. This is the curse of a lovely, sunny day (when you don't know what you're doing with your own equipment and don't have the time to figure it out on the fly).

As I hinted above, I do have a nice flash set-up that I'm quite sure could have eliminated these shadows with appropriate fill light. But (a) I didn't even think of that while we were there (bright sunny days don't exactly scream "bust out the flash!" to an amateur such as myself), and (b) I wouldn't know exactly how to set up my flash to make it happen even if I had thought of it. I have got to work on that. My dad is an excellent photographer with a very in-depth understanding of these sorts of mechanics, so he and I busted out the user manual for my fancy schmancy flash yesterday and made some headway toward setting me straight.

ANYWAY, now that I've sufficiently explained myself and my lighting issues, I'll share a few more of my favorites.

I like sepia. Had you noticed? Haha! Anyway Joe, Tiff and their families were very happy with the photos, so that's all I really need to be concerned with at the end of the day. I'm so glad that I was able to give them a nice set of photos to commemorate this special time, without them having to pay for a professional session. I have quite a bit of work to do as far as my own skills are concerned, but I'm obviously sorta proud of these (since I'm now blasting them onto the internet)! I hope to have the opportunity to do this sort of thing more often - it's so much fun!

A Bonner Family Christmas

I almost forgot that I had promised cute family Christmas photos in a previous post! Two weeks ago, we got together at my in-laws' for a now-annual Christmas Cookie Bake with Ben's mom and sisters. Before we got ourselves all covered in dough and flour, my sister-in-law Emily and I dressed up our hubbies and littles and ventured into the backyard for an amateur family portrait session. The results were pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself! Below are some of my favorites, taken by my sister-in-law... 

If you're on my Christmas card list, you may recognize a few of these! Obviously, they're too cute not to share with everyone we know ;-)

What's Up at 8 Weeks?

What are we up to these days?

Smiling...

...Stretching...

 ...Snoozing...

 ...Smooching...

...lots of general cuteness!

It's hard to believe that my teeny weeny beeeebee boy is 8 weeks old! He's sleeping very well - sometimes as long as 7 hours at a time overnight - and seems to have a good grasp on bedtime. He's always willing to lay down and go to sleep for the night around 10:30, even for Daddy (with a bottle of pumped milk)! As an aside, I will confess that I've felt very guilty the few times that he has gone to bed with a bottle :'( It really works out well - I get to enjoy a glass of wine, Daddy gets to enjoy partaking in the bedtime ritual, and baby boy takes no issue with this - yet I feel guilty nonetheless. I guess I must think that he secretly wishes he could nurse with Mommy at bedtime, but wants to be cooperative or doesn't want to hurt Daddy's feelings or something so he doesn't protest. Clearly this is silliness... I need to get over it and relish the fact that he feels so comfortable with his Daddy and is such an easy-going little guy! Maybe part of me wants him to only want Mommy at bedtime... yeah, that's probably it. Also silliness. I should be thrilled that he's so flexible! I'm sure it will come in handy! It's very possible that he will develop more of an attachment to a particular bedtime routine (like nursing, for example) as he becomes more aware of the routine - he's still a little young for that. I should just enjoy this while it lasts!

He seems to be outgrowing the digestive troubles that made him a little extra fussy after feedings, so we've been able to discontinue use of the Mylicon drops that we were giving him at just about every feeding. They're supposed to be safe enough to use up to 12 times a day, but I hate to give him any medication that he doesn't absolutely need so I'm thrilled to be done with that. 

His heinous diaper rash has also cleared up, thanks to the miracle of simple A&D ointment! We were using the old stand-by Desitin - thick, pasty white crap that gets on everything and never ever wipes off completely until bathtime! I'm obviously not the biggest fan, but it seemed necessary so I used it. It's a zinc oxide ointment and is supposed to repel moisture and create a barrier over the baby's skin to prevent further irritation to allow the skin to heal. When I noticed the breaking skin I figured that some A&D ointment - much like Neosporin, sans antibacterial ingredient - would help to heal the skin while the Desitin helped to protect it from further damage, so I was doubling up with both ointments. I noticed a marked improvement in the redness within two or three applications, so I stuck with that combo for a few days. It says right on the tube that A&D works both to heal and protect, so at some point I decided to try and see if we could drop the Desitin altogether since the A&D really should be able to handle the job that I had assumed would require something pastier like Desitin. Sure enough, that did it. I think that the A&D alone did a better job than doubling up! Maybe the Desitin itself was irritating his skin, or maybe the extra wiping I was having to do to clean up the paste at every changing was slowing the healing, but in any case, I'm an A&D convert. I've been using it regularly to prevent any reoccurances, and his cute lil tushy is looking healthy as ever!

Anyway, back to the sleeping... this is really a double-edged sword. I should be thrilled to have such a good little sleeper on my hands, but as these long stints are becoming more than just every-now-and-then occurances, I'm getting more and more paranoid about my cycle resuming. I know that it's terribly unlikely at this stage (particularly with my first baby), but I also know that if I'm serious about preventing another pregnancy, I can't rely on breastfeeding as long as he's going longer than 6 hours between feedings at night. Should I set an alarm and get him up to nurse? Or should I enjoy my sleep and start charting again? I really don't want to end up in an "Irish twins" kind of situation! I'm getting excited to resume my medical studies in the Fall (though not at all excited to have to put Eli into some sort of daycare... but that's another issue for another post!), and I would really prefer not to have a wrench thrown into that. I'm committed to becoming a doctor, and I really want to get this training chapter over with so that I can move on with my career. Plus my husband would go through the roof. Or jump off of it. ANYWAY, I'm leaning toward starting up the charting again, because I really like sleep. And who am I to disturb a sleeping baby?! I was just hoping to be able to rely on breastfeeding for a while. Oh well. Boo.

In other news... the big move is upon us! This time next week, we'll be in our new home unpacking to Christmas tunes :-) We're SURROUNDED by boxes...

...but the packing is almost complete thanks to a kick-start from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law last week. I did A LOT of work during the week and Ben and I packed like fiends this past weekend. My mom is coming to help wrap things up (pun intended!) this Thursday and Friday, and then on Saturday morning our massive crew of 15 or so friends and family will arrive to make quick work of this big job. We're so blessed to have so many willing volunteers! I bet they'll have the truck loaded by the time I get back from dropping off the cats and the baby at the new house (with my mother-in-law). It's only a one-bedroom apartment! I certainly won't complain - the truck loading part sorta overwhelms me, and no one is going to let me do much anyway (apparently almost 9 weeks of c-section recovery isn't enough!). I guess next time I write, it'll be with photos of our new digs! Stay tuned... 

The Best News I Ever Got, and Other Updates

First things first... the official word is in, and Eli DOES NOT have Cystic Fibrosis! While we suspected as much, given his above-average weight gain and general good health, it was still a huge relief to know for sure. It feels great to have all of the question marks put to rest, at long last. It's been quite a journey, from 8 weeks along when we found out that I was a CF carrier to 20 weeks when the multicystic dysplastic kidney was diagnosed to 6 weeks post-partum when we finally got the last test result that we were waiting on. GAH! So many tears and so many prayers. But here were are - we made it through to the other side and we have a beautiful, happy, healthy baby to show for it :-)

Speaking of a happy baby...

...our little one is SMILING! These photos of course don't capture the full range of his mad smiling skillz - God forbid we give Mommy any BIG grins while the camera is out - but they're pretty cute, nonetheless. He has also slept "through the night" (as defined by sleeping uninterrupted for 6 hours) a few times, which is fabulous! He will usually lay back down for another 2-3 hours after that early morning feeding as well, so I'm getting to sleep from around midnight til 8 or 9 with just ONE feeding in between. I feel like a new woman. And I'm probably jinxing myself.

In other news, he's got a pretty nasty diaper rash right now which has me on the verge of taking the plunge into cloth diapering a little sooner than I had originally planned (one of the major benefits of using Fuzzibunz cloth diapers is that, for many babies, they completely cure diaper rash). I feel like he has had some degree of diaper rash - ranging from mild redness to flaming redness with spots of broken skin - for weeks now. The severity rises and falls with the Desitin use, but right now it's definitely at its worst and it just breaks my heart to see his poor little butt looking like that! It doesn't cover a large area, but where there is a rash it's a nasty one. I was trying to put off cloth diapering until he was going through fewer diapers per day, but it's getting bad enough that I just might go ahead and start using them. Let's face it - if I have a potential solution to a problem (a problem that is causing harm to my baby!) and I don't at least try it... well, some might call that downright neglectful. At least that's how I'm starting to feel! Of course I just bought 168 disposables yesterday, so perhaps we'll burn through some of those first. It won't take long! And I'll certainly need to keep disposables on hand anyway, for times when the Fuzzibunz just aren't practical or I run out of clean ones before I get a chance to do a load of laundry.

Entirely unrelated to cloth diapering, but also a pretty big deal, is the fact that we're moving in TWO WEEKS. Oye. Ask me how much packing we've done! Actually, please don't. It makes me want to curl up in a ball in the floor. I'd really like to go through things and pare down the "stuff" - I know that there's a good deal of crap in here that does not need to be re-located to our new home, in which I hope to start fresh with a more minimalist approach - but at this point I may not have time for all that. I suppose I can always go through things as we unpack, but it seems silly to move things that we don't even want. While it's true that I am home all day, I usually only get about 2 good naps out of him during the hours before Ben gets home (the rest is feeding, diapering, playing in the floor, and calming fussiness, with a few cat naps thrown in there for good measure). In those longer stints of sleep, I have to find time to put myself together (this helps me feel more human), wash a few dishes, maybe run a load of laundry, make and eat lunch, get some studying done... and if we need to go out and run any errands, that easily takes up one nap. There's just not a lot of time to get into something as involved as packing, especially since it's something that tends to make a mess (so if it gets interrupted by a crying baby, I have to leave said mess as it sits. Which irks me. A lot.). I just prefer to do something like that when we're both around. Anyway, the moral of the story is... we have GOT to get on that. STAT.

Alright, my sleeping baby is stirring, so this incredibly random post must draw to a rather abrupt close. Hope to have some cute family Christmas photos to share soon...

4am

As much as I thought I treasured sleep, now I treasure these dark, sleepy moments with you. One day you won't need me like this anymore. I won't get to listen to your sweet, breathy baby sounds and feel your little fists and fingers happily squirming against my chest. I won't watch your sleepy head bobble around while I burp you and steal countless little kisses on your cheeks and your temples. You won't snuggle up belly-down against my chest to fall asleep with a full belly and a contented sigh. When I (sometimes grudgingly) awaken from a deep sleep to engage in this little ritual of ours, I hope that I never take it for granted. I am so blessed to be able to give you this gift, and to receive such sweet little gifts from you in return. And though you'll never remember them, our quiet moments together in these dark hours are forging a special bond between you and I. I'd never trade that for all the sleep in the world.

Giving Thanks

I try to make sure that every day is like a mini-Thanksgiving in my life. I make a conscious effort to be truly grateful for the blessings that God has chosen to bestow upon me, and to let Him know about it. Even if, in my end-of-the-day exhaustion, I only make it 30 seconds into my nightly prayer, I always start with the 'thank you for...' part (though lately, I'll admit, I sometimes start with 'Please please please let him stay asleep!'). I try to remember to give thanks throughout the day as I find myself appreciating something, whether it be a beautiful day outside, pretty scenery on a long drive, or the weight of my baby boy asleep on my chest.

The bottom line is, even in the worst of circumstances, we always have something to be thankful for each and every second of the day - the breath in our lungs and the beating of our hearts. Our lives here on Earth. I know in my logical mind that Heaven is our true home and that it will make this life look like pretty small potatoes in comparison, but it's still an unknown. I can't imagine anything feeling better than the best moments I've had here on Earth, because God's design for this life really wasn't too shabby and it's all I know. Sure, terrible things happen down here. But the tragedies make the sweet moments all the sweeter. They give us true perspective and allow us to better appreciate even the smallest of blessings, which in turn makes our lives so much richer. So while I know that the best is yet to come, I'm so thankful for this experience that God has chosen to give us - the experience of an Earthly life. And so every breath and every beat is a blessing in my eyes, even though I know that what awaits me at the end of that road is going to be indescribably wonderful. I'm thankful to have experienced the love of family and my true love's kiss and my baby's coos and giggles in his sleep and all the sunny Fall days and the smell of fresh cut grass... all these uniquely human experiences that we only get to enjoy in our brief time here on Earth.

I haven't had much personal tragedy in my life, and perhaps that would change my feelings on just how wonderful (or not so wonderful) I perceive this life to be. But for now, I'm drinking it all in with the biggest gulps I can manage, and with a very thankful heart. As my baby boy snoozes here on my chest and my husband sleeps peacefully next to me in our cozy bed, I know that love alone is worth all the tough stuff that life sometimes throws our way. The experience of love is enough to make me stop and count my blessings, today and every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!