One Day at a Time

A whole four weeks today. A WHOLE FOUR WEEKS. Where did it go? Four weeks ago today/Wednesday, at 6:04am, we welcomed Eli Timothy McEnaney into life outside the womb. After 40 cozy weeks, Eli arrived on one of the coldest days of the winter season. Silly devil. Hopefully this will only result in him being a hardy boy who enjoys the outdoors....even the cold.

I can recall taking our steps towards the exit the day we left the hospital. It was hard to leave our cocoon that we came to enjoy after three days in the hospital. I had a pretty good lump in my throat, mostly from complete fear of what we were about to start doing...being parents. It seemed as though the whole parent thing didn't really set in until we started our trek to our car and then to our house. After all, we had these great people looking after us and Eli while in the hospital.

A few days into this parenthood stuff, I remember thinking how AWESOME it was to give birth and to have this person in my life. I wouldn't change one thing about Eli's arrival. And I would do it all over again. What is hard to believe about all of this, is that it has been four weeks today that he was born.

Now the title of this entry is one day at a time and it isn't why you might think. Yes, we take each day as a new one and you don't really know what tricks he is going to pull on us today or tomorrow. Really what this is about is that Eli has taught me about one day at a time. I don't want to rush him and say "I can't wait for him to do this and that". In fact I don't even like to think of him growing even by an ounce.

Just last night Eli smiled at me. I really think he knew what he was doing too. It just brought be to tears. And all he had to do was Smile. Admittedly, this isn't the first time that he has smiled. Last week, Scott said good bye to the two of us and when he leaned over to kiss him good bye, Eli smiled at him. And this week...he smiled at me...a few times. What a joy.

Early on in this parenthood thing I questioned how parenthood was rewarding. Mostly because up until that point, Eli's day consisted of eating, sleeping, and soiling a diaper. It still consists of this, but each day a new bit of goodness comes out of him. Whether he makes an adorable noise (I even like it when he cries) or he follows my face and reacts to it, I love every minute of it.

So what I've learned so far is that a child kind of reminds me to take it each day and moment at a time. I will never have another first smile or first laugh because there is only one first.

Thank you to Eli for sharing his firsts with us.