Sully of great empathy

This evening Sully and I were playing in his room and listening to music. Nina Simone's "nobody wants you when you're down and out" came on. Sully took notice of the lyrics and asked why the woman singing had no friends. So I explained that she didn't have very good friends because they only loved her during the good times and a good friend loves you during both good and bad times. Sully thought about this and then declared: "well, I love her, do you?

If that's not great what is?

A Lego creation by Sully

8 Weeks Old Today.

 

                                          1 Hour Old                                    8 Weeks Old!

For the record:  this has been a whirlwind.  Eli has been living amongst us for 8 unbelievably sweet, marvelous and tiring weeks.  It really is remarkable to watch babies grow in the first few weeks (and beyond of course).  They just grow and change and develop their personalities so rapidly. We're still adjusting to life as family of 4 and have accepted that this work in progress will progress until we're dead.  So be it,  we'll get some of it figured out!  

 

This is a pretty regular expression on Eli's face.

Eli is a great baby who is a lot of work.  Where Sully was mellow, easy going and happy, Eli is much more demanding and vocal about his annoyances.  We have to earn our smiles from Eli (and they are worth the effort) and we spend an awful lot of time trying to make him happy (also worth the effort).  The nice thing is that being our 2nd, we're much more relaxed about parenting him.  We know his needs are being met, we aren't completely flustered when he fusses.  Considering Sully literally only fussed a handful of times in his infancy (my goodness was he an easy going baby) I find it rather impressive that having a fussy, grumpy little man is not completely wigging me out.  

Speaking of Sully, can I mention again what a remarkable big brother he is?  We were expecting him to be good, but instead he's been amazing.  I know this will not last forever and there will come a day when I am asking myself what the hell went wrong but for now,  I'm just enjoying the love.  Sully earnestly tells strangers that his brother is "so cute" and constantly wants to kiss, hold or play with Eli.  We're still anticipating Sully's reaction when he gets his first laugh from Eli (so far smiles, but no laughter),  we know Sully is going to enjoy having an adoring audience who thinks his antics are as funny as he does.

 

 

Eli's latest favorite activity is standing up.  The exact thing happened when Sully was the same age.  He just hates laying down or being cradled-  he just wants to stand upright.  He's still working on his balance, but his strength is impressive.  He does a lot of squats with his massive, powerful lumberjack legs.  We're wondering if this means we will have another early walker?     

Being a member of Team Solis is a tiring experience for all involved

Well, that sums it up for now, life with two boys is even more amazing than we anticipated, even though we are most certainly tired beyond belief, every week being a sort of marathon to get it all done.  Of course, its all worth it.

A Moment With Eli

The Eyelashes!!!

Years and years ago when I first joined this family, my now almost 17 year old nephew was just a toddler. One of his most striking features were his thick dark eyelashes. Girls swooned over him everywhere he went and he seemed to use them to make ladies fall in love with him. Years later, another nephew came into the fold and again with the dark eyes and the lashes that would make a Hollywood starlet jealous. When Sully came along, I was hopeful this genetic trait would be passed along and he did not disappoint! So I've been waiting and watching Eli's eyes for any indication of how his will turn out. Today I notices an incredible amount of growth and it would seem that he too has inherited my favorite male Solis feature!