Pic-"NIC"

We had a great time seeing all of Eli's old pals from the NICU. Joining us this time were (front row, left to right) Martin and Colin (Michael and Stefanie's twins...hope I got that right; they are looking so much alike these days!), the other Eli (with dad and mom Craig and Deena), (back row) Maya, (one of Eli's first buddies with her parents, Aaron and Alicia), and (not present at the time of the group photo) Clementine (with mommy, Nikki and daddy, Jason).Little Maya made a big play for Eli's heart...
...but fortunately for Clementine, she showed up just in time to claim her man. Don't worry Eli, she won't hurt you! :-)

Still Life

Eli took Grandma Cam and Grandpa Bill on a great picnic at Wave Hill. He broke out his best picnic attire (he brought his own ants) but then fell asleep while all the fun was happening. Grandma Cam and Mommy still managed to carry him around and show him all the beautiful plants while Grandpa Bill and Daddy caught a few z's.

Moody

Happy Father's Day!

It has been wonderful to watch Paul embrace the roll of fatherhood. He cares for Eli with great love and impressive ease, and I love how he is already starting to teach him about many of his favorite things (golf, New York City and brick oven pizza for starters). I am truly impressed. Eli's lucky to have such a great daddy!

So am I for that matter; this week brought a visit from my parents who got to see Eli for the first time outside of the hospital. What a proud grandpa!

Eli, Up Close and Personal

Free at Last

Our friend Abi came last night to lend her watchful eye to our alternately sleeping and non-sleeping baby and give us a full night's rest. I don't know what we did to deserve this special treatment but we SO appreciated being able to just sleep. It's amazing how much I took sleep for granted before and now it is one of the things I savor most in life. :-)

We were so glad that Abi was still here to celebrate with us when we got the wonderful news: Eli's pulmonologist emailed to say that, after reviewing the oxygen saturation readings we'd been sending him, he thought Eli was ready to give life without the nasal cannula a go! We immediately peeled off the tape holding the cannula in place and started taking in the look of Eli's clean, unadorned face. We love it! How about you?

Storm King

Paul and I took Eli to one of our favorite places over the weekend. Storm King Art Center is a 500 acre outdoor sculpture museum; they have over 100 pieces and feature gigantic steel structures like the one you see here. We like it so much because of the emphasis the curators place on compatibility of the sculpture with the landscape; the combination makes for some pretty spectacular hiking! This time around, Eli slept most of the way, but we are certain that he will grow to appreciate Storm King as much as we do.

Preemie Picnic

Paul, Eli and I met up with some of our NICU friends in Central Park today. Stefanie and Michael brought their twins, Colin and Martin (30 weekers); Nikki and Jason brought Clementine (a 25 weeker). It was amazing and a bit surreal to be sitting out in the sunshine on this gorgeous spring day with these wonderful people who we'd mostly seen only under the glow of fluorescent hospital lighting. The babies had all grown so much; Clementine, like Eli, was under two pounds when she was born and now she tops eleven! Colin is the big bad bruiser weighing in at twelve pounds and his brother Martin is about ten. Eli remains the tiny one, but even he is closing in on six pounds. Quite an accomplishment all around. I'm sure these little fighters will be lifelong friends. We can't wait for the next reunion!

Week Two

Our second week at home with Eli was full of adventures including a trip to the park to meet Koren and Jacob, a visit from Andrew and Nini (thanks for the hat guys; it's the only one we have seen with a visor that we can make to fit our little guy...well, sort of...), and a visit from Danny and Elizabeth who brought some pretty darn cool toys from, where else, Brooklyn (note the giraffe Eli has his arm around and the very cool walking hedgehog—yay, no batteries!! I still say it's a porcupine though). I would be remiss not to mention the incredible help Sara gave us by coming over after a full day's work to pull an all-nighter caring for Eli while we got some desperately needed sleep. I feel like a new person! Happy parents=happy baby.