Eli's Newborn Pictures

We have the most amazing photographer that lives here in Idaho. Tyra has done out engagement, one year, and now Eli's newborn pictures. Thank you SOOO much Tyra for helping us document our life! Now get ready for tons and tons of pictures of our cute little boy!

We love our baby! He is the best baby in the world and lives life with a little bit of sass! I absolutely love it and love watching him grow up everyday! Life is the best!

Do You Trust Me?

Even though we still have a child, Alex and I try to get out with each other as much as possible. We are so grateful to have so many great friends in town that are willing to babysit so that we are able to go out and still have fun. Eli loves hanging out with other people and yesterday he was able to hang out with one of his best buddies Claire. He loves to go play with Auntie Claire and he also met her roommate Lacey and loved her! He just hung out with them and she took the cutest pictures of him. Here is one that is just adorable!

Isn't he just the cutest? She did such a great job! So since we had such great babysitters watching him, we went on a date to the Ropes Course on campus. I have wanted to do the Ropes Course for the longest time but you normally have to get a bis group to go, but last night they had a married couples night. I wanted to go while I was pregnant, but Alex said that probably would not be the best idea. So now I am not pregnant and I can climb whatever I want! We had to take the opportunity to do the Ropes Course so we did! It was so much fun! They said that this exercise would teach you to trust each other. Alex and I were the first ones to climb and once you got to the top, the view is AMAZING! The sun was shining, the skies were blue, the clouds were pure white, you could see the rolling green hills in Idaho, the little town, oh it was just amazing! We could not have asked for a better time! I am grateful to have such a wonderful husband who I have so much fun with on our many life adventures.

Many Faces Stuck in an Elevator

I have to say that having a baby is way too much fun. My favorite part is his facial expressions. He keeps Alex and I laughing forever! We definitely had to make sure that we had evidence of these wonderful expressions that he makes! Hope you all enjoy them as well!

 We call this the many of faces of Eli! How can you not just love his little face!

On Tuesday evening I kept getting really weird phone calls from Alex. He would call and then I could not hear anything, like the connection had been cut out. This happened for about 30 minutes and I didn't know what was going on. Finally one time he called I could hear him talking. His call kept cutting out though and I let him know that I had no idea what he was saying. All I could hear him say was elevator, so I asked him why he didn't just call me when he got off the elevator. He kept saying no no. I was so confused. This went on for a couple of minutes and then I could finally hear every word he was saying. He said that he was in the elevator. I told him to call me when he got out of the elevator. He said that he couldn't. And I asked him why he couldn't. And he told me that he was stuck and had been stuck in there for the past 30 minutes!!!!!!!! This definitely would be something that would happen to Alex. He always has such fun stories and now he has something to add to his list. He did call for help, but he was still just waiting for someone to help him out. We chatted for a little bit and then the phone cut out again. Of course this worried me because sometimes I just worry about things. The last time I talked to him was 5:15 at night and I told myself that if I didn't hear from him by 6:00 I would go the school and get him out myself. 6:00 rolled around and I still had not gotten a hold of him. So I got Eli all bundled up and we went to the school. By the time I was almost there, Alex called and let me know that he was out. He was in the elevator for almost an hour and a half!!!! That is a super long time and I would have freaked out if I was in there for that long that is for sure. I am just glad that he got out safe. He was grateful that he was able to get a lot of homework done while he was stuck in there.

Life is Good!

Alex and I have completely loved having Eli in our lives. He is just too cute and such a good little baby. I still cannot believe how fast he is growing up. He is only two and half weeks old and he is growing up so fast. He is almost growing out of his preemie clothes but is still a little too small for newborn clothes. Next thing you know he will be getting his drivers license or going off to college. We have so many pictures of him from these past two weeks that just need to be shared.

His back was so hairy when he was born. Look how small he is compared to Alex's hand.

He loves this blanket. I had to wash it one time and he did not sleep the same.

This was his second bath at home. He loves it when his hair is washed, but any other part of his body is off limits.

His attempt at his first newborn outfit.

I always feel so bad for the kid. It looks like he is always trying to rip his eyes out, but that is how he likes to sleep.

Another picture from the hospital that we found.

Again with his binkie. He never lets it out of his sight. We have three around at all times.

This is how he spends time with his dad. Dad does homework at the desk and Eli hangs out with him. And of course his binkie is there too.

He is kind of smiling here.

Baby Eli Has Arrived!!!!

Baby Hallam, now called Eli was born at 10:01 pm on Friday May 11th and here is his story! We left for the hospital around 6:55 am and arrived at the hospital in the Labor and Delivery Unit around 7:11 am. When there, we told them we had an appointment and had to answer questions forever it seemed like which did not make the induction process go any faster. After that we went into the hospital room and I had to change into the most attractive gown ever and once I sat in the hospital bed that is where all the fun began.

I felt like I was being strapped down to the bed because they had to put monitors around my belly to monitor my skin tightness during contractions and the baby's heart beat. Then they put the lovely IV in my arm. Actually, that was not lovely at all, it was the worse experience of my entire life and it hurt so bad, but I guess it did help keep me hydrated and to make Baby Eli come faster.

 

 They put a drug through my IV that they would increase every hour or so to have the contractions come faster and to make the baby come faster. So basically it was supposed to put me in labor. At around 9 I was still only dialated one centimeter. Then the doctor came around again at 2 pm and I was only dialated another centimeter. At that point I knew it was going to be a long day. I was dialated enough that he was able to break my water. Once he did that, the contractions slowly started intensifying. I went as natural as I thought I could and did not ask for an epidural around 5 pm. That is when I decided that the pain was way too much. The nurse anesthetist came in around 5:30 and had the epidural in me around 6pm. Alex was not too sure about the epidural, but I knew that once I had it, the pain was definitely more tolerable and I was hoping that I would dialate more than I had. I was able to relax and hang out with my husband and then they came in and checked me again around 7 pm and I had dialated to about 5 or 6 centimeters. So I hung out a little bit longer because I felt like it had took me all day to get to a 5 or 6 centimeter dialation and I didn't even know how long it would take me to get to 10 centimeters. So then they checked me an hour later at around 8 and the nurse said that I was fully dialated and ready to push. So they called the doctor and I started pushing at 8:01 and Eli Hallam was born at 10:01. It was a crazy experience.

We both love him so much and am so excited to have him around. He is just the cutest thing alive. He was born at 5 pounds 4 ounces and was 18 inches long. Alex loves him to death and loves having him around. We both can't get over how small he is and how strong he is and how good looking he is. I know I am biased but he is one good looking boy. We could not have asked for a better baby in the world. He is the best.

Now here are a ton of pictures. I know some people want to know the story but I know that pictures are the best part of this whole birthing experience. So here are the pictures and I hope that you enjoy him just as much as we do.