Family Life

Life is good. Dave went back to Pearson last week on Monday, so it's just been me and the boy during the day. This makes posting on the blog tough. Once I read through my email, a nap or quiet time is pretty much over.

But anyway, we've been busy. Busy learning to coo and goo and gaa. Elliott's conversation skills made me realize recently why the stereotypical baby sounds are "goo goo ga ga." Those are some of Elliott's favorite words.

Busy learning to eat from a bottle. I've been busy building up my milk supply and creating a cache of mommy milk in the freezer.

We have a very hungry baby boy, and luckily he isn't too picky about how he gets his mommy milk, as long as it is warm. Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Dave were the unlucky ones who discovered that a cold bottle is the devil. Dave and Carolyn were kind enough to come and watch Elliott while Dave and I both worked on Friday. I don't think we had to twist their arms too hard...

Busy wearing all of our adorable clothes. Elliott has started to spit up a bit now and then (Dr. Hoop says if he is a "happy spitter," there is no cause for concern), so he is wearing more outfits in a day. I also couldn't resist a supercute pair of baby tennis shoes. I love baby shoes, and Elliott looks cute in everything. :)

These khaki pants and blue sweater are my favorites...

Here are the cute shoes!

It hit me last week that because Elliott always gets dressed downstairs after his morning bath, I may be forgetting about some of his clothes in the drawers upstairs. And sure enough, he had to wear all of his 0-3 onesies that people painted at my shower because they were too small. Elliott really does love his aunties, he just hates having his chubby baby arms shoved through the arms of a too-small onesie.

Elliott is also just starting to wear bibs to save his outfits. This one is from Great Grandma Ebig. :)

Busy doing "tummy time." Dr. Hoop said as often as he would stand being put on his tummy, to do it. Luckily, Elliott likes it. He is getting really good at picking up his head!

Busy cheering for the Lions.

Busy learning how to smile. He is most likely to smile in the morning during his "awake alert" time between breakfast and bathtime. This morning, in particular, he was being so cute and just cooing away, I spent more than an hour taking his picture and talking to him.

I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of his room. I don't think I posted any pictures of the "finished product." I love how the custom vinyl we ordered turned out. Elliott likes it too, and I know I won't be able to walk away from the changing table much longer. He is wigglier every day!

Busy being on the go with Mommy... I get stir crazy in the house, so we have been to Coldwater to visit Mary Frog Toes and meet Eric and Mr. and Mrs. Frog Toes and of course participating in a little retail therapy with frequent trips to Target, the baby store, even the mall last week! :)

Hi Auntie Frog Toes!

Luckily, he likes his carseat.

Busy making faces.

Busy figuring out our daily schedule. My hypothesis is that Elliott is on a 48-hour schedule. I call the first 24 hours "napalicious." He'll nap in his pack and play in nice, long chunks and have calm, quiet alert times. Then the next day, you can't get enough food in him (although if you feed him when he's not hungry, he spits it all up on you, FYI) and can't put him down to save your life. I am lucky to get to pee and eat one-handed on the "second day." We may have outsmarted the baby though, because we bought a carrier that allows Elliott to sleep on my chest while I have my hands free to pick up the house, pay bills, heck, check email! It's awesome, and Dave is trying it out successfully as I type.

Busy playing. Elliott enjoys talking to Daddy and is just starting to figure out his play gym.

Everyone tells you that time flies, and I believed them, but wow, time flies! Elliott is six weeks old today. I go for my 6-week post-partum check-up on Wednesday and then we are hitting the road for Thanksgiving. I always knew that Halloween would come quickly, but Thanksgiving snuck up on me. There is holiday music playing in the stores and my Mom is patiently waiting for our Christmas lists! People keep asking what Elliott would like for Christmas... I've been telling people books. He looooves when people talk to him (especially yours truly, if I can be so bold) and as smart as David and I are, reading to your baby exposes them to something crazy like 4x as many words as your normal speech.

And in conclusion, I will steal a comment from my friend Lexi's baby blog for her little girl, Laynie. Apparently, babies have what is called the "fencer pose" reflex. Lexi and Rob coined the phrase... "Raise your hand if you're cute!!"

SMILE.

Baby Elliott smiled at me today! This evening it's just the two of us; Dave is bartending. I've been coaxing him to smile for a week or so now, but I was still so surprised and excited when his eyes lit up and he grinned at me. I had just fed him and was switching sides to give him more mommy milk, so his first smile was provoked by food. This is no surprise, he is my son.

Elliott is growing very fast. His newborn stuff is officially too small, including his "take me home" outfit that seemed so huge when we brought him home from the hospital. He is averaging about 2 ounces of growth every day and has gained 3 inches since he was born. Yesterday, he weighed in at 10 pounds, 14 ounces. To give you a sense of "average" babies, I had lunch with my friend Heather today. Her three-month old son, Parker, is in the upper 10 pound range as well.

Elliott also did a repeat performance of his last trip to the pediatrician and filled his pants twice while we were in the exam room. He also showered the nurses and the scale when Dave took off his diaper to have him weighed. He also did some spitting up and cooed at Dr. Hoop, so he pulled out all of the stops and showed off all of his baby tricks.

We don't have any plans this weekend, so Dave and I are looking forward to cleaning up the yard and playing with the baby. I hope there are some more smiles to share too! It made my day, my week, heck my LIFE. These moments make motherhood the greatest thing in the world.

He is quickly tiring of "tummy time," so I am going to cut this short and leave you hanging without any pictures today. More later!

The $11,000 Baby Cute

So we got the "bill" for our stay at the hospital. Just the hospital bill, not the bill for the doctor's time, was over $11,000. Thanks to our friends at MSU, all of our pregnancy, prenatal and postpartum care is covered 100%. So next time I complain about my job, smack me. Wow, huh?

Speaking of work, that's the big event for me in the last week. My current boss is retiring, so the national search for his replacement is going on while I am on leave. They have three finalists and each one is coming to campus for a day to give a seminar and have some one-on-one time with varies peeps, including my staff. So I put on my big girl clothes, pumped some mommy milk with my Medela Pump In Style Advanced and went to work for a few hours on Monday and Tuesday.

Elliott did very well with taking a bottle. Dr. Hoop said that if we introduced it early enough, it shouldn't be a problem. It's the babies who have had nothing but the boob until they are several months old that tend to have more problems. We are pretty well established now and Elliott has even been known to be pacified with the "suckie" now and again lately. It's a relief for me (and my boobs) to know that he can just be soothed by sucking on something other than me.

Halloween was a lot of fun! During the day we went to a potluck at my office. Elliott got to try his hand at eating in my office. It went well, which is great news considering we are hoping that he will be able to visit on my lunch hour to eat. Elliott wore his tiger costume from Grandpa Gary.

That was 100% polyester, so the little man got pretty hot. Fortunately, he was wearing a cute Halloween outfit underneath. Unfortunately, they don't make stylish nursing bras, so you get to see my grandma bra straps.

The day before Halloween we took an out of the house adventure. First, we hit the mall to pick up a few more nursing bras. We also couldn't pass up a onesie for Elliott that says "Little Version of Daddy." Heck, it wasn't even on sale! Very out of character for me, but it was too perfect to leave behind. :) Then we had lunch at Ruby Tuesday (mmm, salad bar). Elliott was a very good baby and slept the whole time. We went home to eat (Elliott, not us, we were full) and then Eli and I ventured out together, leaving Daddy Dave home to nap. We hit the baby store, the post office, TJ Maxx and Target. Whew! It was a lot of fun, and made me feel (semi) normal, always a good thing. Elliott wore his "Daddy's Little Pumpkin" onesie.

We took Elliott on his first road trip last weekend. It was a lot of fun, but also trying. Elliott is great in the car, but we definitely pay for it later with increased time in "Fussytown." We started in Saginaw and visited my grandmas. Elliott met my Aunt Cynthia and my Mom's staff at Guardianship Services. Elliott enjoyed visiting Grandma Joy at work. :)

Then we headed to Central Lake to visit Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Dave. Elliott went to his first football game--Central Lake High School versus Cedarville. CL won by one! Hooray! Elliott also got to meet Gavin, one of David's and my favorite little people. Gavin is exactly as old as David and I are as a couple. So it was so charming to discover that Gavin loves babies and kept telling us that Elliott was "so cute." Dave said he stopped counting the number of times Gavin kissed his head.

We ended our trip by heading to Gaylord so Elliott could meet Grandma Scott, David's paternal grandmother. She had many pictures to show us that further proved Elliott is a mini-Dave. Uncanny resemblance, people.

He does, however, seem to have my temper. Perhaps this is why I am alternately fascinated and frustrated by how quickly he turns from angel baby to tomato baby....

Elliott apparently also hates laundry like I do. What he LOVES, though, is himself. Or rather, his reflection. Screw the exciting ocean wonders bouncer with lights and sounds and vibration. He would much rather look at himself in the mirror.

David was thrilled to get last minute tickets to see the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Thanks Grandpa Joe. This also meant that I was left home alone with Elliott, so my Mom brought my Grandma Natali to visit and celebrate her 85th birthday with us. We had KFC and delicious cake. It was wonderful, and in my opinion, much better than any football game.

And finally, here are some random shots of our cutie.