Elijah's First Ski Trip

This weekend we took Elijah up to Copper Mountain on his very first ski adventure.  I'm sure he will have many more in his lifetime, but hopefully he'll actually get to ski for all of those!  This time, he hung out at our condo with me.  On the slopes was Daniel, his Dad, my Mom, Evan, and Kristy.  Elijah did so fantastic.  Being in a new environment with all of these new people didn't throw him at all.  In fact, it seemed like he turned on the charm just for the family!  He smiled and laughed and played with all of them.  Friday night started out a little rough in the car.  We left right around his bedtime so we thought he would just fall asleep in the car.  No such luck.  Elijah screamed for about an hour before finally falling asleep.  Traffic was horrible, and the weather made the roads a bit icy in places, so it took about twice as long as it should have.  When we arrived Elijah woke up and was ready to play.  So he didn't go to bed until about 11pm that night.  Yikes.  Fortunately, he made up for it on Saturday.  He napped for about 5 hours total, most of it between 8am and 4pm when I was with him by myself.  He went to bed easily, and slept fairly well.  At about 3am he wouldn't go back to sleep, so we laid him down in bed between us and he just stared at the ceiling until he slowly drifted off on his own.  It was very sweet.  My Mom was a huge help with Elijah the whole weekend. On Sunday morning she took him for about an hour so Daniel and I could sleep later.  She stayed back on Sunday while everyone else skiied to help me pack up and get ready to go.  And when we got back to Denver she found time to complete a load of laundry and start another load, watch and feed Elijah while we went grocery shopping, and make banana bread.  She is amazing.  I was really sad to see her go.  Everything is easier when you have an extra person who can help with the baby.  And yesterday we needed it!  Elijah had a really hard time napping.  The way he screamed sounded like he was in pain.  So Daniel and I think he may be teething.  He slept pretty well last night except that he went to bed late (8pm) and was up very early (5am).  But he only woke up once briefly at 11pm.  Before Daniel had a chance to go upstairs and rock him back to sleep, Robert decided to step in and "help."  When Daniel got up there, Elijah was unswaddled and Robert was attempting to change his diaper.  Which is exactly what not to do in the middle of the night.  It just woke him up more so it took longer to get him back to sleep.  We never change his diaper in the middle of the night.  It was nice that he tried to help though.  Too bad he didn't want to help at 5:00 this morning when we were trying to get ready for work and Elijah wouldn't let us put him down.

Elijah seemed to really like being up in the mountains.  I took him out in the stroller to meet everyone for lunch on Saturday.  And then on Sunday my mom went with us and we walked around the ski village.  He was quiet the whole time, watching all the people going by.  The weather was so beautiful, we just put him in a fleece jacket and a blanket on his lap.  He had an adorable ski suit that he wore on Saturday with matching hat and mittens.  He was pretty much the cutest kid on the mountain.  But I may be a little biased.

It was a busy weekend, and a lot of work, but so worth it.  I'm always proud of myself when I take Elijah on an overnight trip.  It takes a lot of planning and a lot of extra work.  But look at the memories we made.  I am so glad he got to spend time with a few of his grandparents, and his Uncle Evan and Aunt Kristy.  And now that he's been on his first winter ski trip, Elijah is a true Colorado boy.