Bumbo, Smiles, and Wild Hair

Elijah turned 3 months old on June 17th and we hauled out the Bumbo. At first he was a little leary, but now he is loving it. These are some wide angle shots - gotta love his hairdo!












We are so blessed to have a happy baby. He is such fun! When Mom or Dad do the dumbest things he laughs and laughs, or squeals at an ear-piercing level. The picture to the right is him pumping up for a squeal.

Loving Elijah at 3 months!

This is a photo of my close friend, Lorna Ramessar, who came from Kitchener to stay with us for a few days to help out. Her and Elijah got along well, and Lorna's help was so awesome!














Elijah has been gently touching my hair and face when I hold him. Check out his bald spot! He loves to rub his head back and forth across his flannel crib sheet.













This is a series of shots that I (Steph) took of Elijah sitting on our couch. He has been wanting to sit up and often does "crunches" in the bouncy chair as he strains to get up. The other day he put his big toe in his mouth for the first time! Now all he wants is those feet in his mouth...and he is persistent.

We will post more pictures of Elijah in his bumbo (a gift from Dave, Heather's boyfriend). We have some cute videos of him, but I don't know how to post videos? Any advice?

New Elijah pics

The first two pictures are of Cory's cousins, Lia (age 6) and Sam (age 3), with Elijah. He laughed out loud for the first time this morning!!! What a shocker to suddenly hear deep belly laughs from our guy! I am convinced that he is a morning person, unlike his Daddy. Elijah will be 10 weeks this coming Saturday. We are dedicating him at our church on Father's Day. All are welcome!

Important details we left out....

Elijah's weight at birth was 7 pounds, 11 ounces. He was 20.5 inches long. All the nurses remarked on how "perfect" that is. Another tidbit of info: from the very wrinkled hands and feet at birth, it appears that Elijah was at least one week overdue. He's 3 weeks old today and had his first bath yesterday. He seemed to enjoy the warm water - spit up twice and peed once in the process. :) Contending with his bodily fluids is a full-time job.

These are the days of Elijah

It all got started at 6:00 am on Saturday, March 17th. Steph whispers to me, "I think I'm in labour". Of course I responded with a question, "Really?" We called the midwife, Steph got into the tub and I fired up some coffee and waited. Thankfully once labour was underway, the midwife called over to St.Boniface hospital and they had a lot of room for us. We sped off to Winnipeg, with Steph lying down like a beached whale in the back of our wagon. Once we got there, we followed specific directions from a receptionist, just to find ourselves on a floor with a long empty corridor full of locked doors and no people. Needless to say, we eventually found our way to the labour and delivery ward.
After 15+ hours of the craziest thing I've ever seen a human do, out pops Elijah Cornelius Paul Loewen at 9:37 PM on St. Patrick's Day. Due to meconium (stool in the amniotic fluid) and the chord wrapped twice around his neck, he came out "flat"...meaning no movement and no breathing. I look at Steph and don't know what to say. I tell her it's a boy as he's whisked into the corner of the room where the doctors suction him and revive him. Thankfully the specialists were on hand due to the meconium in the water and Elijah was able to get immediate help. Praise God! His breathing started and he headed off to NICU. We got to see him about 3 hours later and had to wait until the morning to hold him for the first time. By the next morning, his breathing had stabilized and was in good shape. He had a rough start, but after a few days he was definitely moving and kicking lots. On Tuesday, we were discharged from St. Boniface Hospital and headed home to Steinbach.
Since being home, it's been all about working on very little sleep, trying to get to know this new person in our lives and what he needs, and finding time to shove food in our mouths. It's a lot tougher than we thought it would be, and thankfully I've taken off a month of work to adjust. Steph's mom came to stay with us for a week and what a HUGE blessing that was for us! We have seen so many of our small and big prayers answered and can only continue to praise God for His faithfulness in helping make this major change much more manageable.
Elijah is now 2 weeks old and is super cute, as well as becoming more animated. He has started making a "Weeee" sound when he seems happy. He smiles as he's drifting off to sleep and flashes us his sweet dimples (that he got from mom.) He loves being cuddled and held close to us, and often falls asleep within minutes. We're excited to be parents and to watch this little guy grow. Oh yeah, there's a bonus photo of Cory when he was a baby thrown in the mix here. Any similarities? So, call him what you want...Elijah, Nelius, ECP, Eli, or any other new names we haven't heard.
Ultra proud parents,

Cory and Steph