Growing Adventures

Here we go again...

2010-10-12T11:53:00.000-05:00

David and I have been saying that Elliott needs a sibling for some time now, but we are finally as "ready" as we'll ever be and have been lucky enough to conceive again quickly.

I've been in to see the doctor twice. Once to make sure things were ok after some spotting and one "business as usual" check-up where I chatted with my OB about the strong chances that we were going to have a repeat C-section.

One thing, of many, that being Elliott's Mommy has taught me is that I'm not in charge. Being prepared and planning are two different things, so I will be prepared for both opportunities, but planning for one and not the other is short sighted.

We are really excited about baby #2. I'm doing my best to focus my efforts on not throwing up and continuing to function at work when really I want to be buying up everything pink possible to sway my fetus toward being the little girl I have been dreaming of raising my whole life.

Again, I'm not in charge. Baby's gender is determined and the old wives tale about a fast heartbeat being a girl weren't true for Elliott, so we'll wait patiently until December, when we'll have our ultrasound.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure. It is sure to be that. An adventure.

Photos copyright: Andrea Kerbuski

What Month Is It Again?

2010-01-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

Sometime after the two-year mark, parents stop reporting their children's ages in months. This is both a blessing and a curse. You see, Elliott is between two and two and a half. Given how much he changes month to month, it's easy to try and compare him to an "almost three-year-old two-year-old."

What I'm trying to say is that Elliott is growing fast in body and mind and keeping us eternally amused and frustrated. His latest feat has been his superhuman powers to stay up until 11pm and want to bounce around in his bed and play at all hours of the late evening. David and I are accustomed to some down time between 9 and 11pm, so we're both just about done playing "put Elliott back in his big boy bed" after three or four nights of this.

As compared to the beginning of his life, though, it's all relative. We're spoiled, David and I, expecting quiet time and more than 6 consecutive hours of sleep!

Things are really good for us. Our holidays were lovely and family-filled. There is never enough money in the bank account or hours in the day, but we're not alone in this phenomenon. Mostly, we're happy to have amazing friends and family on this journey with us.

Enjoy a few photos and videos.

Our Little Chatter Box.

2009-12-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

In a move that surprises no one, Elliott is a talker. I distinctly remember my personal horror when realizing that my mother could tune me out. I'm beginning to both understand the reasoning and hone the fine art of tuning out Elliott's constant chatter.

Here are a few videos I've finally gotten around to posting.

We were trying to get Elliott to say something else, but by the time I got the video rolling, he wouldn't say it again. But I still think it's funny telling Dave to "get up." :) It's not the first time he's said this. And I hope I always remember his signing of "please" well into his second year.

The video above demonstrates my propensity to have random dance parties at all times in our house. We need music. And we need Mommy's phone to plug into the dock in the kitchen that usually spills out some random hip hop mix that we dance to. I refuse to apologize.

I think my favorite part of Elliott's second year so far has been his interaction with toys and the beginnings of his imaginative play. With very little prompting, he sits his favorite stuffed animals on chairs and uses any available utensil to cook for him and feed them. It just about melts my heart when he tells Diego or his favorite stuffed animal, Froggy, to "take a rest" or "lay headie down." And of course I laugh when one of them gets put in time out for being naughty or "not listening."

Parenting Elliott is most definitely an adventure, and one that I'm so happy to be on with David and our family.

A Rainy Photo Shoot.

2009-10-06T13:29:00.000-05:00

I have some amazing connections in our adopted hometown of Lansing. From my college friend Becky making her high school friends our newest friends to the talented and innovative public relations and communications professionals that I've met through PRSA and Twitter, I'm just thrilled to be a member of this community.

Elliott gets to enjoy the fruits of those connections as well... Weekly playdates with Becky and her twins, a new swim class through Lansing Parks and Recreation, a weekly nature walk at Fenner Nature Center, outings at Jumpin Jax Bounce Arena and the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden through Lansing Moms Like Me, and this weekend, we got to put the talents of one of my fellow Lansing PR professionals to the test for our family pictures.

It wasn't the clear, cool, sunny fall day I had hoped for, but we had a good time with Andrea Kerbuski. She's more accustomed to photographing brides, who don't move nearly as fast as Elliott, but I think she did a great job. We'll get the full series of photos later this week, hopefully in time to have some developed for the big TWO birthday party on Sunday.

23 Months

2009-09-04T09:24:00.008-05:00

Dear Elliott,

You are almost two years old. How the heck did that happen?

We've had a really fun summer. And our adventures aren't likely to end anytime soon.

I love taking you new places and exposing you to different sights, sounds and smells. You are, however, still my child, so you don't hesitate to tell me, "I don't like it."

I could write a novel about being your Mommy, but I don't have the time right now. Instead, just know that I miss you. I can't wait until Grandma and Grandpa bring you home tonight on their way south. I'm so excited about showing you more of the world. And I love you more than I ever thought possible.

Always,

Mommy

With Grandma and Grandpa at the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden and the MSU Horitculture Demonstration Gardens.

At the Airshow with Gram and Pap. You like "quiet airplanes" and scream inconsolably in response to "loud airplanes."

Water fun. It didn't matter how cold the water was... you wanted to play in it.

Driving big trucks and seeing a helicopter at Touch a Truck Day in Lansing. Each truck you sat in you asked me "Keys?" Yeah, right Buddy.

Riding the "big bus" with Auntie M in Chicago. It might have been the highlight of our weekend trip for you.

I can't wait to see where we go next.

Elliott's Kitty

2009-09-04T09:15:00.005-05:00

I think our cat, Runa, would beg to differ, but here are a couple of videos of Elliott trying to convince Runa to let him pet her.

He's taken to asking me to "get her" and I have been known to wrangle her out from under the table to let him pet her. He does an excellent job of being gentle, she just refuses to trust the small creature that continues to turn her quiet kitty world on its head. The funny part is that he isn't sure how to get her loose fur off of his hands after he pets her, so I'll spend 10 minutes convincing Runa to let me hold her only to have Elliott get two small swipes of petting in before wandering off saying, "Hair."

I love these video because it shows a few of the things that amaze me about Elliott.

He picks up EVERYTHING these days. From his calling her "goo" [what I do when I call her] to wiggling his fingers and clicking his tongue, that is exactly what I do when I beckon Runa. It is amazing to watch him pick up these nuances of communication.
"Calling" her. This started during our bedtime routine when we would "call Daddy" when it was time to give goodnight hugs and kisses. Now Elliott is known to "call" anything he can't find. I'll say, "Where's your ball, Buddy?" and He'll call out "Baaaaaaaalllll." It never fails to crack David and I up.
Overall, he's a talker. His vocabulary has absolutely exploded over the last couple of months. There isn't a word that he won't at least TRY to say, and he usually does pretty well.

A toddler named Elliott.

2009-08-31T16:02:00.003-05:00

Yes, we're still alive. Yes, we're doing well. Yes, it's amazing that Elliott is almost 2.

A picture says a thousand words, so I'm hoping this video will help make up for the thousands of pictures we've missed posting these last few months. I promise Elliott was wearing pants earlier in the day, but close to bedtime when E gets his pants dirty, pantless is how we roll.

Translation: Sweetheart is what E calls my maternal grandma. Pap is my dad. Gram is my mom. Grandma is Dave's mom. Grandpa is Dave's stepdad. Oscar is their dog. Ming is their cat. Good luck translating the rest. We're still working on some of it.

17 months.

2009-03-29T19:46:00.005-05:00

Dear Elliott,

I did it. Or rather, we did it. We are no longer a breastfeeding team. You are weaned. Lots of people thought we were crazy or odd to continue our morning and evening ritual of mommy milk and cuddling this long, but I cherished every moment (other than those few times you bit me, those moments sucked).

I nourished your little body from the time you were an hour old until Saturday, March 21. Seventeen months and two weeks. Feeding you is the most important thing I've done in my entire life. I'm incredibly proud of us.

Perhaps it was a cowardly way to end our nursing journey, but I left. First, I went and stayed with my best friend, Mary, and her new baby Owen. You see, Mary is feeling like I did when you were just a few weeks old. Unsure about her changing role as a mommy/wife/teacher/friend/sister/daughter/professional. Tremendously in love with a creature that does nothing but take, take, take from her physically. And completely, utterly exhausted. She needed me, and I needed her, so I left you with your very capable Daddy and went to Indianapolis for a few days. Owen will smile socially soon, and my bet is it will be at his mama. She's pretty amazing.

I cuddled Owen and changed his cloth diapers and laughed when he got squirted in the face with milk like you did. You see, Mary is at the beginning of her feeding journey, and we are at the end.

Daddy says you will be Owen's older, bad influence friend. But I like to think you will teach him like his Mama taught me. About friendship, fun and mischief without breaking the rules.

I raced home on Wednesday to find you climbing the furniture at Brenda's house. I kissed and hugged you until you squirmed and took you home. We immediately went outside and picked up rocks and sticks and chased kitties. Whenever we went inside you stood by the gate at the bottom of the stairs and made your "milk" sign and told me "night night" despite the fact it was 5:30 and you hadn't had dinner. You found your Boppy pillow downstairs behind the chair and brought it to me. In short, you made it clear what you wanted and I did not give it to you. This was incredibly hard, (as were my boobs), but I was able to distract you and you did just fine when your Daddy put you to sleep.

And then I left again the next morning. I went to Chicago to see my sister, Meredith, your "Auntie M," with Gram. We took the train and met my favorite blogger, Dooce, shopped, saw the Millennium Park "bean," ate amazing food, introduced Gram to Ikea, went to the spa and talked, talked, talked. I got home on Saturday night to find you cuddling Pap, who took amazing care of you while I was gone and Daddy was enjoying his annual pilgrimage to the MHSAA boys basketball state finals. You smiled at me, ran around the house for a few minutes and then went to sleep without a peep and without asking for Mommy Milk.

I feel like singing "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone." Not because my boobs are no longer shared property, but because being away from you, Daddy and work for a week made me see clearly the path before me. It's amazing what eight hours alone in the car can bring to the surface. And your Gram? Three full days with her is like tonic for my soul. My head is clear and sharp and I'm ready to tackle my astounding workload tomorrow with a new vim and vigor.

I hope someday you feel about me the way I do about my mommy, your Gram.

Tomorrow you will go back to Brenda's house , no worse for the wear. You will climb her furniture, read books, stack blocks, take a walk, drink cow's milk, eat canned carrots like it's going out of style and continue to amaze us with your exploding vocabulary. We've stopped counting your new words, and I take advantage of your willingness to say "mommy" and "love you" perhaps a little too often.

You are doing more complex tasks and problem solving (or shall I say, problem creating?) like a little person. You really love opening containers and putting items inside. Rocks, blocks, books, puzzle pieces, anything you can find you carry around like precious cargo and find a container to squish it all into. And you narrate. You string together sounds into a cacophony that makes your Daddy and I stare at each other and smile. I've said before that when all of your sounds become words, I will be karma's bitch. You see, Mommy was rarely quiet when she was a small child, and it looks like I will be learning the art of tuning out someone you love. Never say never.

Other than the great outdoors and anything you can climb, I think books continue to be your favorite toy. When it's quiet in the living room I'll often peek around the corner from the kitchen to find you flipping the pages of your favorite board books. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes upside down and backwards, but you love books.

And climbing.

Just when I didn't think I could love you more, you love books! Let me tell you, it touches a place deep inside me, Elliott. I love books, too. I can't wait to share hundreds of thousands of pages of wonder, knowledge and imagination with you through books.

I'm so proud of the toddler you've become. You're strong-willed, vocal, tough, friendly, engaged, busy and loving. You would never come inside if we didn't lure you with "hot" (that's food to other people). You throw lots of things, but definitely throw anything round after calling it "ball" repeatedly. You love people; being in stores and restaurants gives you a chance to show off your skill of saying "HI!" to someone and then coyly grinning and looking away. You size up any new place and immediately find something to climb in, on or up. You give kisses and hugs freely and have learned to pet kitties and Gram and Pap's dog, Bella, very nicely.

You are my favorite person in the world, and I love watching you grow.

Love,

Mommy

16 Months.

2009-02-08T15:39:00.005-05:00

Elliott is 16 months old today.

We have so much to celebrate and be happy about as a family. We're so, so lucky.

I gave myself permission not to do Christmas cards this year and decided to try and start a new tradition of Valentine's Day cards instead. I still love receiving traditional mail, and sending it too, so I don't want to give up on the traditional altogether, but Christmas is just too busy of a time to justify turning something so pleasurable for me into a chore.

It's early February and I've had time to decompress from the holidays, set my goals for the year and I feel so much more prepared to send a brief message and photo to our loved ones.

As an added bonus, I GOT MY BRACES OFF!!!! So what better time to get our first official family photo taken? :)

Here's a sneak peek at what may be coming in your mail very soon.

And here's a link to more pictures on Facebook.

Things continue to be great with Elliott, although his new penchant appears to be climbing. Everything. Nothing is out of Elliott's reach now that he can climb onto our spare bed, onto the couch and from the couch to the side tables. When he can't reach something, he is figuring out how to move his seemingly harmless child-size rocking chair to give himself a boost.

Things are never boring around here, that is for sure.

Elliott's language and learning continues to explode. His jabber is started to turn into comprehensible words and he is happy to mimic anything we ask him to try saying. He just recently tried GRAM and PAP to the delight of my parents, and will meow and say "kitty" to just about anything that can be construed as a feline. His favorite word appears to be "hot" with a special emphasis on the "T." Lately, we've picked up ball, drink, cookie, please, mommy, daddy and play.

I continue to worry that we're not enriching Elliott's life with learning, but that's why Dave is a great partner for me and a great dad to Elliott, assuring me that we're doing just fine.

Our family dynamics have shifted a bit again as David went back to work at Pearson last week. He's serving as a scoring director on a science project until early May, so we're in the process of creating a new "normal" for us. So far, so good. Elliott is back at Brenda's home-based daycare and he is one of three in her care. The other two are Logan and Eric who are a little younger and a little older than Elliott. So far, they are having a great time playing together.

Elliott has been breaking Dave's heart daily by crying when he drops him off, but also making his heart melt by running to him after work every day. Things aren't that much different for my daily routine other than not being able to get a constant update and being shocked at coming home to the house basically the same as when I left in the morning.

Our lives have also been enriched lately with the addition of new friends. My college classmate Becky was born and raised here in Lansing and has two adorable twin girls, Mia and Kayla. What started as a weekly playdate for Elliott with Becky's girls has turned into invitations to lots of gatherings. Becky has a wonderful group of friends who have really welcomed us and that we really get along well with. Lots of the other couples also have children around Elliott's age, as well, so he's getting used to sleeping in a room with two other pack 'n play's while we socialize at Becky and Mike's house late in the evening.

I guess we didn't know how much we missed socializing with other folks until we kept gushing to each other about how much fun we've had at recent gatherings. We've shared some sighs wishing our college friends lived closer, but it's also been great to have a new circle of friends going through similar times in life.

Elliott is up from a monster nap and ready to "see stuff get stuff" as we say around here.

Happy February. Happy Valentine's Day. Happy Life.

Unimagined Territory

2009-01-11T13:14:00.002-05:00

Elliott is now 15 months old and I have to admit that I am entering unimagined territory. What does that mean? Well, let me tell you about myself. I'm a planner, and an observer. I'm the third of four children and carefully watched my older siblings live their lives and then made decisions about how to make my own path. I'm not a copycat, I just like to have LOTS of information about how others handle things, and then I make my own mixture, my own hybrid blend of life based on what I think is the best of what others have done.

This is how I write. This is how I work. And this, apparently, is how I parent. Except, I'm not a seasoned "toddler observer." I LOVE babies. Love their sweet, soft smell and their cooing and wide-eyed wonder at the world around them. At family gatherings, it was a sure bet that I was near to whatever baby was in the room. Now, kids and toddlers, not so much. They moved too fast, talked too loud, played too rough and didn't do nearly as good of a job at being bossed around as babies do.

So I find myself, as the parent of Elliott Milton Scott, 15 months old, at an impasse. And let me tell you, it is a really delightful place to be. As he is learning and growing into his own little person, I am learning and growing and deciding how to be the best mother of a toddler that I can be. A few huge revelations to date...

Elliott plays independently.
We're finally at a point where Elliott will sit down with his toys and look through a book, poke the buttons on his microphone or just get everything out of his toy bins and spread them around. He puts balls inside cups and uses a random spatula on the floor to stir an imaginary stew. I love watching Elliott play in his own little world. It's totally inspiring, and not something I looked forward to, because I just never went to "toddlerhood" in my mind.

Elliott is learning to communicate.
Perhaps one of the hardest things about caring for an infant is the whole "crying when you have no idea why" thing that happens to pretty much everyone. Diaper dry. Tummy full. Not too warm. Not too cold. Being held. Put down. Toy dangled. And the screaming continues. These days, Elliott is using some basic sign language like "eat, more, milk, drink and all done" and does a pretty gosh darn good job of pointing and leading you to what he wants. He tells us when he is hungry and when he's all done. He leads us to the gate upstairs when he is ready to go to bed at night (I know, what a luxury!).

The hardest part about this is learning how to tell him "no" while still encouraging him to communicate. For example, he REALLY wants to go outside. He has learned to say "door" and stands at the door and says "door" and we know he wants to go outside and play. But the realities of living in Michigan in January means it's dark by 5:30 or 6 and it's 10 degrees outside and the realities of being a working parent means I need to get things done inside on the weekend and putting Elliott into 10 layers of clothes is a pretty significant commitment.

I just did it today, housework and other tasks be damned. We suited up and went and played outside. It wasn't too cold and the snow is still fresh and gorgeous. He had a wonderful time, but threw a true temper tantrum when we came inside. I took a video of it (I know, I'm weird), but the chances of it uploading without freezing our home computer is slim to none.

Elliott loves me more than I thought was possible. And vice versa.
These days, Elliott shows a lot of affection. Hugs and kisses are a part of our daily routine and sometimes, he slows down just long enough to sit on my lap and cuddle or to read a book together. This touches something deep, deep inside of me. I knew that as a parent I would be needed. I never got to the place in my head where I would be someone's favorite person to read with. I guess I'm glad I didn't, because it feels so, so deliciously good to know how much Elliott loves me.

Naptime is goodtime.
Elliott will tell us around 7:30 or 8pm that he is ready to go to bed. It's pretty nifty. He is not nearly as good about napping. He fights the nap. But that's where being a good parent is so important. I have to search for his clues and make sure that he naps. If he doesn't he is a bear to live with and he just doesn't enjoy life as much. If I make sure he sleeps when he is tired, he enjoys playing and learning and growing so much more.

And frankly, weekend naptime is good for Mommy and Daddy too.

Ok, I could go on and on, but I think I've gotten most of it off of my mind. Elliott is amazing. I'm so proud to be his mommy. And just as I planned in my head for--baby in 2009/2010, girl, natural childbirth--and got--baby in 2007, boy, planned C-section--I'm learning that not being in control is a pretty cool thing. We're enjoying the adventure.

What will 2009 Bring?

2008-12-31T15:35:00.002-05:00

Just so you know we're still around, here is a link to Christmas photos on Facebook. I'm there much more often than I'm here (obviously).

Elliott is more and more amazing every single day. He is trying out new words and sounds, climbing EVERYTHING, gaining more personality by the minute and learning/playing/growing so fast it makes mine and Dave's head spin.

Happy Everything, everyone. It's been one hell of a year.

For my Pap

2008-10-30T08:13:00.010-05:00

I've been giving myself a guilt trip about not updating the blog, but I'm just going to get over it and try to do smaller posts more often rather than waiting until I have too much to say.

My Dad, Elliott's Pap, is in China and aching for punkin pictures, so here is our little pumpkin as a pumpkin.

Halloween is tomorrow! We've been so lucky to discover that one of my friends from college, Becky, has twin girls just a month or so older than Elliott. Becky is a great organizer, and thoughtful enough to invite us over often. She has friends over every Wednesday for "BabyFest." As you will see from the pictures, it is indeed a baby fest!

It's a lot of fun to watch Elliott interacting with other kids and continuing to become a little person, not a baby.

He is growing so, so fast.

That's all I have time for, so it will have to do.

The big ONE.

2008-10-03T09:23:00.007-05:00

Did you guys know that my birthday party is tomorrow?

I'm going to be ONE on Wednesday.

My Mommy has been very busy at work, but I think I've been busier.

Walking. I do that a lot. It's my primary mode of transportation.

Getting teeth. I have three now.

Climbing on stuff.

Getting into things.... Literally and figuratively.

Trying to get the kitty. I even learned to say "meow," but that does not make Runa want to hang out with me. I don't get it.
Being adorable, whatever that means.

Playing with my Daddy. He's my best buddy.

Drinking cold, cold water. I like ice in my sippy cup, please.

Talking. I say "hi. mommy. daddy. meow. yeah. and ooooh (for uh-oh)" My excited sound is 'da da da da da da.'

Sometimes, I am not so adorable. I like to get my way.

Last weekend, Mommy and Daddy were moving furniture in the spare room. They kept vacuuming and cleaning things and they wouldn't let me have the big yellow spray bottle. I was mad. After they fed me lunch, they left me in my high chair with some crunchies while they moved the bed back into place. This is how I looked when they came back.

Hey! I was tired!

I also pushed down the gate last weekend and climbed up the stairs all by myself. Luckily, I found my Mommy at the top of the stairs. She was taking a nap, so I just crawled into bed with her. I could tell Mommy and Daddy wanted to get mad at me, but they were just glad I was safe.

There are almost 30 people coming over to play tomorrow. Can you believe it? All three of my great grandmas will be there. My Mommy cried yesterday because my Great Grandma Ebig should be there, too. But she'll just be there in spirit. Aunt Meredith and Uncle Jerry are coming all the way from Chicago. Aunt Melanie and Uncle Rob can't come from Connecticut, but the mailman delivered a big box from them yesterday. Mommy told me I have to wait to open the red dinosaur paper until tomorrow.

My Uncle Nate got engaged to my Aunt Larry. That's pretty exciting. Mommy thinks I will be ready to dance next September, so there had better be some kickin' music.

Anyway, Mommy finished her BIG annual report project and is done delivering them to the legislators. That's cool. It means she's going to take some time off from work to party down with all of us tomorrow.

I just hope they'll be some mozzarella cheese. That's my favorite food.

Mommy's Useless Organ.

2008-08-01T12:04:00.007-05:00

I went back to work in January. A few times since then, I have awoken in the middle of the night puking and otherwise sick. Bad food choices, stress, a variety of things that I figured were the cause(s). When my Grandma Ebig passed away, the attack lasted for several days, so I finally bit the bullet and visited my doctor. It took one carefully placed push on the right side of my abdomen, just below my rib cage for him to nod and say, "Yep, it's your gall bladder."

My attacks have since moved from gastrointestinal mayhem to some really extreme pain in my belly. We celebrated Dave's 34th birthday on Tuesday and by 9pm I was REALLY regretting eating cheese sticks for lunch and putting full fat ranch dressing on my salad at dinner. Not to mention the big piece of birthday cake I had just eaten. The pain got worse and worse... by 4am I would have gone to the ER if it didn't require waking Elliott up and all of the craziness that would entail.

Long story short, I had a surgical consult yesterday and my gall bladder is set to come out on August 22. My new boss is amazing and agreed to let me work from home so I won't have to take too much unpaid leave. Surgery is on Friday, should be at least semi-functional by Monday and I'm planning to return to the office on Thursday, the 28th.

I could vent for PAGES and PAGES of blogosphere about the ignorance of doctors about breastfeeding. Let me just say this. It's OK if you don't know something, Dr. GallBladderRemover. Really, it's OK. Tell me to ask my pediatrician. Tell me to call my local La Leche League. Just don't suggest that I wean my 9-month-old because I'm going to be under anesthesia for a couple of hours and need to take it easy for a few days. Idiots.

Elliott will be 10 months old by the time I go under the laparoscopic knife, so perhaps we'll be done breastfeeding by then, but if we're not, then I'm not stopping because the nurses don't want to wait for me to pump in the recovery room.

On a happier note, I'll post some pictures from our adventures at Coldwater Lake last weekend. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend some more time with the radiant Mary Frog Toes, and frankly, the weather was perfect for a lakefront Michigan Saturday, so we had a great time. Elliott did, um, OK, for his first boat ride and swim in a big lake. Let me just say that a life vest is NOT his favorite thing to wear.

I'm just finishing up lunch here at work... A vegetable sub from Jimmy John's and a big pickle went down well. Not totally fat free, definitely better than a burger and fries. This weekend, I am hoping to make it to Ohio Day at the VFW National Home and then we are heading to Bangor on Sunday to celebrate David's birthday with the Wiacek's. Woo hoo for family fun!

See Buddy? This is fun! Just look at Mommy's crazy face!
Trying to calm Elliott down after he gets his face wet in the lake. Not an easy task.

This is supposed to be fun, Buddy!
Safely in our little yellow car, thanks to MFT.
Settling down. Elliott eventually stopped crying and would play "Splashy-Splashy" in the water. It's just like one big bathtub, Buddy!
Back in the cottage. Dry and warm. Good news: His adorable Old Navy jeans fit! Bad news: It's July. Putting jeans on Elliott isn't nice, no matter how adorarable they are.Mr. Nardon is the coolest and let Elliott drink water from his glass. This is one of Elliott's favorite things to do: drinking cold, cold water. I know, who knew?! He ended up with a lot of it on his clothes, but he enjoyed himself. And I think Mr. Nardon did too. He is going to be a FANTASTIC grandpa.

Here we are!

2008-07-23T11:47:00.006-05:00

We're still here, I promise. And as you can see above, we are cuter than ever!

Don't miss Elliott's post below about his new friend, Miss Michigan.

I'll take care of this post, though, because Elliott is too busy these days to tell me what to write in his blog. :)

Busy is the word of the day, month, heck, series of months! Elliott is BUSY! I'll share my favorite new pictures below, but here are some notes.

About Elliott and His Development

At his 9-month appointment on July 9, Elliott was 20 pounds and 29 and 7/8 inches long. He continues to be tall and skinny. 92nd percentile in height and 40th in weight.

He is eating well. Getting the hang of solids and at least tasting the table food we put in front of him before he spits it out. Loves Gerber puffs and eats a HUGE bowl of baby cereal, a whole container of vegetables and almost a whole container of fruit for dinner each night. He eats cereal and fruit for breakfast and will usually snack at lunchtime or have another bit of veg/fruit from Gerber. He still definitely prefers fruit to vegetables, but he is doing well eating both. His favorites are bananas, pear/pineapple and peaches.

Here he is with Aunt Larry's (and her boobs). He does really seem to like sucking on whole fruit.

We call rasberries "spitties"and despite all of our attempts otherwise, spitties are how Elliott tells us he is done eating. It sometimes takes some detective work, because spitties are also a fun way to communicate and get attention, so our litmus test for "done with eating" is when he'll spittie straight fruit.

Here he is doing "spitties" with Uncle Nate and Aunt Meredith at his baptism.

Elliott is babbling up a storm and is quite the talker. My Dad pointed out that he talks mostly to Dave and I, which I hadn't noticed until then. But it's definitely the case. Dadadadada seems to be his favorite sound. He has definitely made the "mamama" connection to yours truly, which just about melted my heart. His other word appears to be "yeah!" which makes a lot of sense considering we say it to him all the time. He's also "oooh" "aaah" "baa" and "oohaah" quite a bit. Overall, Elliott has lots of sounds in his baby repetoire, but is just now starting to connect the words to people and objects. Dave says you can literally see him learning things as he is exploring the world.

From the gesture standpoint, Elliott is doing ok. He will wave at "the baby in the mirror," but isn't likely to wave when you say "bye-bye" like a lot of babies. He will do "clappy-clappy" (our term for patty cake) when he is in the mood for it, but again, not on command. He raises his arms to be picked up and reaches out for someone to hold him, but he's not pointing to things or shaking his head no yet.

Physically, Elliott is definitely focused on cruising the furniture and getting into stuff. He could take his first steps tomorrow, or he could take them in 2 months, and I wouldn't be surprised. He is very adept at cruising and walking behind his scooter, Sasha. He will walk while you hold his hands, and has tried standing up on his own several times, but when you encourage him to take a step he definitely plops down onto his bottom.

Helping Daddy load the dishwasher.

The stairs are one of Elliott's favorite pasttimes, and I now encourage him to head upstairs when he is ready for bathtime and nighttime routine to start. We of course keep the gate up at all times and correct him if he starts up the stairs without one of us right behind him, but he has only faltered a couple of times in all his trips up the stairs. We haven't started working on "down the stairs" yet.

Elliott will also climb just about anything he can. On top of Dave, on top of milk crates, trying to put his foot up to climb up a gate, whatever is in his way, he wants to step up on it. It's very cute, and totally frightening at the same time.

He is definitely into his 12-month wardrobe in tops and one-piece outfits thanks to his monster torso, but the 6/9 month pants and shorts still fit best. We put him in a 9-month sleeper last night and he about busted out the bottom. So those will be packed away this weekend!

No teeth yet, but David didn't get his first until he was 14 months old... so nothing to worry about. Elliott is also biting me when nursing, so I'm in NO rush for him to get teeth.

Yes, biting me. Like, thanks for the perfect nutrition Mom. Thanks for not drinking your nightly margarita, thanks for planning your day around your pumping schedule, thanks for sitting in your office twice a day hooked up to a breastpump, thanks in general for the Mommy Milk, but now I will bite your nipple.

Along with not having any teeth and thus unable to do any real damage, Elliott is just too damn cute to make me truly mad. I thought he was a sweet little suckling when he was born. He got cuter when he smiled. But lately, there seems to be NO limit to how cute he can be.

About What We've Been Doing Lately!

Elliott was baptized at my Grandma Ebig's funeral on July 7. She would have been thrilled. Meredith and Nathan stood up as his godparents, and Melanie has been officially named his fairy godmother.

The summer seems to be flying by for us. Elliott loves to swing and go to the park. Dave likes to take him to Hawk Island to walk the trails and play, but those dates seem few and far between.
Elliott has gotten over his hatred for grass and now not only plays in the grass, he eats it. It's hilarious to watch as he uses his newly-developed pincer grasp to get a piece of grass and put it in his mouth.

Elliott had a playdate with my friend Heather's son, Parker, last weekend. It was so fun! The boys actually played together this time, even if that meant grabbing toys away from each other and Elliott trying to grab Parker's hair and poke him in the eye. It was progress.

Speaking of progress, we have been working hard on "NICE" with Elliott, Mr. Grabby Grabberson. Especially as it relates to our kitty, Runa. She has let him touch her a few times now, and seems to enjoy letting him chase her around the dining room table in the evenings. She has ways to get away from him, but seems to just let him chase her until she tires of it. Last night, specifically, Runa was letting me pet her and Elliott got close enough to get a few swipes of her fur. To my relief (and surprise) he used an open hand and did not "bang bang bang" on her like he likes to do to everything these days.

Dave is back at Pearson this week, sorting papers for a September project. He worked a couple of weeks in July and will work into early next week, but has otherwise been home with Elliott. We are very lucky that our daycare provider, Brenda, continues to be flexible with us and take Elliott on an as-needed basis. He LOVES playing with Logan at Brenda's. He won't eat very well for her, but he definitely isn't going hungry, so we're not worrying about it too much.

After some bloodwork, an ultrasound and a lot of sickness, I've been diagnosed as having gall stones. This means I'll need to have my gall bladder removed sometime in the next few years. Woo-hoo, right? My pancreas is functioning well, though, which means I can avoid surgery if I watch my fat and red meat intakes. My lack of sick or vacation time dictates that I take this under strict advisement.

I've been freelancing for the VFW National Home, which is taking up most of my free time after Elliott is down for the night. Things are also very busy here at work with a new boss and lots of new ideas and initiatives and strategic thinking and growth for me. It feels really good, but boy am I tired!

Pap (my dad) is in China, so we are looking forward to seeing my Mom more often for the next few weeks while she is home alone. Dave's birthday is next week, so we're looking forward to celebrating that with his family the weekend of August 1. We're taking a trip to Mackinac Island the weekend of August 9 with both sets of our parents for a girl scout reunion and recreation. I'm VERY excited about that!
Overall, life is really good. Elliott's laughter is truly music to my soul. Sometimes, Elliott will find his way into our bed during one of my sleep-deprived attempts at getting to rest while nursing him in the middle of the night. One of my favorite things is waking up and seeing "my two guys" sleeping in bed next to each other. I'm very, very lucky.

I hang out with hot chicks.

2008-07-23T11:39:00.002-05:00

Miss Michigan is pretty. I wanted to grab her crown. I met her at Ag Expo last week. She thought I was pretty cute and took my picture with her pink camera.

My Daddy is awesome. He brought me to see my Mommy at Ag Expo every day in my stroller. Boy, was it hot!

We weren't done yet.

2008-06-29T10:48:00.003-05:00

My Grandma Bertha Ebig passed away last night around 2am. My deep, mournful sobbing at 5am gave way to a hopeful, but somber morning. She lived 80 wonderful years. She raised four sons, including my father, who I love so much. I'm not shocked, I'm not asking the "why, God, why?" question, I'm just sad. Deeply, truly, mournfully sad.

I wasn't done. I wasn't done hearing her signature laughter/clapping mixture, being smacked on the arm three times, or seeing the joy on her face when she interacted with her first great grandchild, my son, Elliott Milton.

I just wasn't done having her in my life.

I feel regret that I did not go to see her in the hospital last week. I feel heartbroken about not physically seeing her ever again. The last time we were together, though, we played Scrabble with my Mom and Meredith (Meredith beat us all soundly...) and laughed and had a wonderful time. She was so full of life, love and laughter that day, I know it is best that that is my last memory of her face, her presence, her hug.

My Grandma's signature saying was "We're family." And her passing means we get to live out what she loved best about life in her honor. I get to see my sister Melanie who I ache to hug every day. I get to see my Uncle Brian and his family from California, who I want to meet Elliott so badly. We all get to be together again; it's a tribute to my Grandma and the strong family ties she has left behind.

I'm also going to take this opportunity to have Elliott baptized. It's something I've been meaning to arrange for for months now, but I wanted my siblings to be there, I wanted to have the ceremony at St. Thomas where we were married, where I was bapitzed and had my sacraments. I should have made arrangements around Christmas time, but no regrets now.

When I called my Grandma Natali to ask how she was doing, she was quick to mention it. She told me she prays for Elliott to be baptized every day. Well heck, Grandma! If I would have known that I would have had my butt in gear a long time ago.

Anyway, there will be joy and grief next week when we all come together.

I know I'm a bad blogger, but this crazy job of mine keeps getting in the way of my Web 2.0 time. Things are changing at work, I'm taking on more responsibility while still trying to get my previously assigned work done. I'm managing an amazing student intern, Laura, who I am so proud of and feel like I am making an impact on her professional skills.

Elliott is WONDERFUL. He is a rasberry-making, quick-crawling, stair-climbing, food-eating, trouble-seeking, super-babbling baby guy. I'll try and post some pictures soon. He is SO big. Crawling so quickly, and moving quickly from standing up to cruising around our living room furniture. He still hasn't caught kitty Runa, but lots of close calls. He loves being outside, loves his Daddy, and is so playful and fun. He is a blessing.

Lots more to say, but it's going to be a long (short) week.

My Grandma visited the blog a few times at my parents' house. She referred to the internet as "that dot com thing." Oh Grandma, I miss you already.

Climbing.

2008-06-05T07:36:00.002-05:00

It's 8:15 in the morning. Do you know what your 8-month-old is doing?

Mine is CLIMBING UP THE STAIRS in my house.

Dave called to tell me that he got up seven stairs before he got tired. Dave just sort of hung back to make sure he didn't hurt himself while Elliott ventured up and up and up and up.

In my head, this translates to him jumping off buildings at age 3, because that's when kids usually master the stairs, right?

Let me just mention that I don't have any gray hair right now. But that may end soon.

Indianapolis

2008-06-04T12:59:00.007-05:00

Mommy and I went to visit Mommy's best friend, Mary Frog Toes and her husband Eric this weekend in Indianapolis. We had WAAAAY too much fun.

First, we rode in the car for a loooong time. I slept. I played. I fussed a bit. I sucked on my suckie. We stopped at a rest area to eat and change my diaper. I freaked out just past Muncie and we stopped again. Then we got to Mary FT's house! We went to the Indianapolis Zoo!

Mommy and Frog Toes are silly. The Zoo is featuring koala bears right now. We saw them awake. This is apparently a big deal because koalas sleep between 19 and 22 hours a day. You didn't know I was so smart, did you?

I was much more interested in eating my toys in the stroller or grabbing things than watching the animals. Mommy thinks I may be more interested next summer.
It was hot and sunny, so the rhinoceroses were laying around sleeping.

Mommy thought I should sleep, too, but I didn't!
My Auntie Melanie sent me a new book called "Llama Llama Mad at Mama." It's Mommy's favorite book. We read it pretty often. There were llamas at the Zoo. Mommy got excited and Frog Toes took our picture.

Again, I was much more interested in grabbing the fence than I was in the large African creatures behind Mommy. Whatever, Dude, I'm only 8 months old!
We were going to go out to dinner after the Zoo, but I FREAKED OUT. I had been in my car seat long enough! I was tired! I was hungry! I was hot! I was mad! So I told Eric, Mary and Mommy. We went home and ordered pizza instead.

Frog Toes named my blue scooter Sasha. I love Sasha. Frog Toes' house is perfect for riding around on Sasha.

Frog Toes' couch is also the perfect height for me to pull myself up.
Frog Toes bought me a stuffed frog. You won't believe it! The frog had TOES! Frog Toes!

My yellow t-shirt is really cool. It's from my Aunt Melanie. It has a picture of a stroller on the front and its says "This is how I roll."

On Sunday, it was hot again, so we went for a dip in Frog Toes and Eric's neighborhood swimming pool. They have a pool just for babies. It's only one foot deep. Mommy stayed out of the water, but Frog Toes played with me!

There was a little girl at the pool. Her mommy thought I might enjoy her floatie seat. I DID! It was cool!

Sunday afternoon, we went to a cold room with a lot of seats to watch Frog Toes dance ballet. Mommy called the room an auditorium. Anyway, it was cold. I liked the music and the colors flashing on stage. Frog Toes was beautiful!
We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory after the recital. I tried to be good, but I was tired again. Then I whacked my head on the table. Ow! So we left shortly after that. Luckily, Mommy was done with her AMAZING food, including tiramisu cheesecake.

One of my favorite things about this weekend was playing with Eric. He's a cool guy. I liked his books a lot. He is in graduate school. Mommy tells me she is getting her master's degree in mommying right now instead of public relations like she had planned.

Silly Mommy! You can't make plans anymore! I'm here now!

Anyway, I want to learn like Eric does. He engineers the insulin that my Grandma Carolyn takes so she can watch me graduate with my master's degree someday. Eric got me started early.

Luckily, Eric let me play with some toys, too. You can only read so much about business statistics!

I slept through the night both nights in my pack and play in Frog Toes' spare room. It's a good room for babies. I hope Frog Toes and Eric have a baby soon so they get to sleep in the sunshine yellow room. It's pretty cool.

Bang Bang Bang!

2008-06-04T07:41:00.004-05:00

This is what we've spent most of our time doing the last few days. Watching Elliott push everything off the coffee table and bang on it and giggle.

Give the video about a minute. Then the giggling starts! :)

Growing Up, Standing Up, Looking Up

2008-05-23T11:34:00.009-05:00

Hey Dudes. You wouldn't believe all of the new tricks that I've figured out how to do in the last couple of weeks!

Mommy says I am cuter than ever. Whatever. I'm just doing my thing. Eating my food. Drinking my milk. Scootching, scootching, scootching. Trying to catch our kitty. Tasting everything I can get into my mouth before Mommy or Daddy take it away. Playing with my buddy Logan at Brenda's house. Splashing in the tub. Grabbing my feeties. Pooping and peeing my pants. Ya know, the basics.

My dearest Auntie Melanie sent me a package of fun stuff. There were some books, clothes, a piggy bank AND this cool crunchy paper in bright colors. I liked that stuff best, until Mommy took it away.
Mommy said I should be proud to have my own Fred and Ted book. According to Mommy, Gram and Auntie Melanie call each other Fred and Ted. Mommy cried a little bit when she read the book to me, but I didn't think it was sad. Mommy is weird sometimes.

Soon after Mommy took this picture she took my crunchy toys away.
And then I barfed on myself, so Mommy also took my other clothes off. It's cool. I don't really like clothes unless I am cold.

Last weekend, Mommy took me to the park. We met our friends Heather and Lydia there. It was pretty rainy when we got to the park, but then the sun came out! Lydia and I went on the swings. I liked it, but the wind was blowing on my face. I don't like that part.

This is Lydia. She's cool. She makes rasberries and squeals like I do.

Mommy said this picture is to keep it real. I don't ALWAYS look cute.

Lydia's toys were delicious.
On Sunday, I ate cereal and fruit and then helped Mommy read the paper.

It was cool. After we read the paper, I took a loooong nap. Then we went to the East Lansing Art Festival. There were so many pretty things to look at, Mommy forgot to take pictures!

Later that day, my Pap came over. Gram and Aunt Meredith and Uncle Jerry went to Seattle to visit our family there. Pap and Bella were lonely, so they came to play at our house.
Pap lets me play with scissors. He has also promised me a Rolex and a 4-wheeler and a pony and a car and my own country. I'm keeping track. Pap loves me a lot.

Just kidding! Pap doesn't let me play with them. But we thought it would make a funny picture.

Daddy made ribs on the grill, but Pap wanted to eat my biscuit. It made me smile. Pap is funny.
Mommy embarrasses me sometimes. See the picture below? That's how I look when I'm playing.
And this is how I look when I'm pooping.
I'm pretty busy playing all the time. I got some cool toys for Christmas and even before I was born that Mommy thought I would have more fun playing with now.

My new favorite toy is my Sesame Street play table. It sings and Elmo dances and I can stand up like a big boy in front of it. It's AWESOME!

Sometimes I try to pull Elmo off the table and we both end up on the floor.
When Daddy got home from work, I showed him how it works. There is even a cell phone on the table that tastes delicious!

I'm getting better at taking naps these days. Brenda helps Mommy and Daddy with that.

I crawl really well now, but I'm bored with that. Now I want to stand! I especially like the entertainment center, the closet door, the kitchen trash can and the coffee table. I really like knick knacks and things I can pull. Mommy says "No" a lot these days. I'm still figuring out what that means.

I also give kisses now. And clap my hands. And bang on things. And squeal and talk a lot.

Life is good.

Go bananas, the big blue ball, my trip to Chicago and other punny titles missed due to bad blogger etiquette.

2008-05-06T12:42:00.018-05:00

Hi everyone!

My mom's been really busy at work, so I'm sorry that you have been waiting so long for new pictures and news about me, Elliott Milton.

She's still really busy, but she told me that she is really good at pumping my mommy milk with one hand these days, so she got my pictures downloaded today. But there isn't a whole lot of time to type.

Here are LOTS of pictures. From the beginning of April until YESTERDAY! Yes, yesterday!

Mommy told me to tell you a few things:

Can you tell when Mommy got her new camera for work and started using me as her test subject to figure out how it works?
I got a big blue ball. It rocks my world. Almost as much as my kitty, Runa. Mommy says I never would have been motivated to move quickly if I wasn't trying to catch our kitty. Now I get where I want to go FAST.
Where I want to go is usually exactly where Mommy hopes I won't go trying to get the thing that I shouldn't get, or so Mommy says.
You'll notice Mommy has her hair pulled back in all of the pictures. This is because I love to pull hair. This may also be why the kitty won't let me catch her.
I got to go to Chicago and play with my Auntie Melanie and Uncle Rob and all the rest of my family. It was cool. My Pap put me in this cool carrier and we watched baseball, whatever that is.
There's a picture of my cool ride about mid-way down. It's a minivan, but Daddy says it's still cool because it's red.
I weigh 18 pounds now and am growing out of my 6/9 month tops. However, I have short legs, so my 6 month pants still fit some of the time. My Mommy says I should blame Daddy for that.
I'm 28 inches long, so just 2 more inches and I'll need to sit in my new carseat in my cool ride. No more sleeping in my carseat and being transported around while sleeping. Mommy says this stinks.
Mommy and Daddy got bikes for Christmas. They are cool. Pap and Gram bought me a seat for Mommy's bike and I sit in it while she makes things go by quickly. It's pretty cool. Except for that stupid plastic thing that falls off my head and almost makes Mommy crash into Daddy.
I love paper. I have some toys, but really, I want paper.
I L-O-V-E LOVE bananas. I make mmmm, mmmm and smacking sounds with my lips when Mommy gives them to me. Sometimes I think I'm getting something delicious like bananas or pears and instead there is green goo that tastes like. I don't know, but it's not sweet like mommy milk or applesauce.
No teeth yet, but lots of drooling and gnawing.
I'm a pretty happy dude these days. I know my name and love to play and splash in the bathtub and scootch around and try to catch the kitty and eat my food and sometimes spit it at Mommy.
I love what Mommy calls "Saturday." This means I get to play with Mommy AND Daddy all day. It rocks.

Mommy says she'll try to be a better blogger.

Goodbye, BRU.

2008-04-09T12:28:00.001-05:00

I just called and resigned from the baby store. It is silly really. I shouldn't be so emotional and upset about it, but I am. I loved working there.

Feeling Better, Thanks.

2008-04-03T14:52:00.009-05:00

Life was good and my toys were especially delicious. I had this cool new outfit that said "Mommy's Little Monster." The size 9-month Carter clothes fit perfectly, Mommy said. This was a reason to get some new clothes.

I enjoy putting everything in my mouth. The world, quite frankly, is delicious.

I was enjoying daycare with Brenda and my friends Logan and Eric. I ride in a van with them and play and take naps and drink mommy milk from a bottle. I like putting things in my mouth at Brenda's house, too.

One day after being at Brenda's house all day, Mommy was there! We got in the big red van with Aunt Meredith, Uncle Jerry and that big dog that likes to lick my head and drove to Gram and Pap's house. I slept most of the way. It was fine.

Pap was nice enough to read to me. I think Pap might like me. A lot.

I don't know what "What's wrong with his eye." or "Sick" or "Snot" means, but my Mommy sure keeps pissing me off by wiping my eyes and nose and squirting water up my nose and then suctioning it out with the evil blue thing.

Mommy still made me get dressed up in this outfit. She kissed me extra times, so I think I looked extra cute. Grandma Carolyn bought it for me.

We celebrated my runny nose and crusty eye with candy and a new ducky toy. Mommy called it "Easter." I'm not sure why you celebrate crustiness, but ok, Mommy, I'll smile for you.
What's that? I have RSV? I don't know what that means, but now Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Larry are squirting crap up my nose and suctioning me. It REALLY pisses me off.

I went to see Dr. Hoop. I weigh 17.5 pounds and I have an ear infection and a bad cough. My friend Eric from daycare went to the hospital. Mommy said I couldn't go there, I had to get better. I tried, but they kept pissing me off!

Then you know what? They made me drink COLD pink yucky stuff. It sucked, really and truly. I cried every time and brought out my old friend, the Tomato Baby.

Mommy tried to make up for it by giving me some sweet, white paste. I played along. It made her happy.

But really I felt like crap.

But I tried. Because I love my Mommy.

Daddy gave me some of the paste too.

I started to feel a lot better. Aunt Larry went away. It was sad; I love Aunt Larry.

Meanwhile, Daddy is delicious!

I love my Daddy.

Sometimes, when Mommy tries to do stupid things to me, Daddy doesn't let her. But he wasn't home one time, so she put this hood on my head and made me smile a lot.

Now that I'm feeling better, I can keep trying out new baby tricks. My latest trick is to be on my hands and knees and then half sit up. I don't quite make it... I fall over and mommy says "Uh oh, you knocked your melon!" I don't know what that means, but it makes her laugh.

Daddy says if I knew how close I was to crawling, I would do it. They keep putting toys just out of my reach. Jerks.

But I love them. A lot. It's a lot warmer outside lately. Mommy bought me this cute jacket.

Thanks for visiting my blog. It was cool to have you here, Dude.

Guess what? Mommy says Grandpa Dave and Grandma Carolyn are coming to visit tomorrow! I am very excited. They are super cool.

And then, you know what? I get to see Aunt Meredith, Uncle Jerry, the licking doggie, Gram, Pap, Uncle Nate, Aunt Larry and my dearest Auntie Melanie and Uncle Rob next weekend. Mommy makes me dance whenever she tells me about it. We are going to see a baseball game. Mommy says this was a reason for her to buy me some new clothes. I don't know why she needed an excuse. I've got a lot of clothes.

I like clothes. And shoes. (That's mommy talking, not me, by the way...)

You'll come back sometime, won't you?

Trial By Fire.

2008-03-25T07:34:00.002-05:00

Elliott's sick.
He has RSV.

From kidshealth.org:
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory illness in young children. RSV causes infection of the lungs and breathing passages. In adults, it may only produce symptoms of a common cold, such as a stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, mild headache, cough, fever, and a general feeling of being ill. But RSV infections can lead to other more serious illnesses in premature babies and kids with diseases that affect the lungs, heart, or immune system.

RSV is highly contagious, and can be spread through droplets containing the virus when a person coughs or sneezes. The virus can also live on surfaces such as countertops or doorknobs, and on hands and clothing. RSV can be easily spread when a person touches an object or surface contaminated with the virus. The infection can spread rapidly through schools and child-care centers. Infants often get it when older kids carry the virus home from school and pass it to them. Almost all kids are infected with RSV at least once by the time they are 2 years old.

So Elliott has a fever, super snotty nose, a barky cough deep in his chest, runny/crusty eyes and is generally not feeling well. He was coughing a bit last week, he got a runny/crusty eye on Friday afternoon and by Friday evening I thought he had his first cold. It progressed into a fountain of snot and a much more severe cough and fever on Sunday. All of the fluids running through his head also gave him an ear infection.

The six-week old at Elliott's daycare, Eric, has RSV and is actually in the hospital. Elliott's case is definitely not that bad. Eric's mother works at a daycare with 3 and 4 year olds, so it's no secret how they both got it. Considering that anything and everything goes into Elliott's mouth right now, it was bound to happen.

Thank goodness for Aunt LaRissa coming to help take care of Elliott. She is skilled with a ball syringe, good at cuddling and makes him smile... pretty much all he wants right now.

It is so odd to see my typically bouncy baby boy lethargic and zoned out. He still has lots of smiles, which is downright heartbreaking considering how sick he must feel.

Last night was rough. He was up many times full-on wailing and the 2am snot evacuation made all three of us cry.

I'm tired and would rather be cuddling Punky, but there is so much work to do here and I have very little sick leave. Elliott goes back to see Dr. Hoop again this afternoon. In the meantime, motrin for his fever, antibiotics for his ear infection, frequent saline drops/suction and cuddling from Aunt LaRissa and Mommy (when possible).

FOUR.

2008-03-20T07:16:00.007-05:00

My friend Anne tagged me to do this in her blog. I don't usually comply, but this morning I will...

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Noodles the Clown
2. Cashier at Chamberlin's Hallmark. I'm still bitter.
3. Mowing the lawn for Mr. and Mrs. Hensler down the street. I memorized all of the words to Simon and Garfunkel and James Taylor's Greatest Hits that summer.
4. Midnight to four a.m. desk clerk at Larzelere Hall. I checked in all of the drunkards.

Four movies I would watch over and over (or have watched over and over)
I don't like watching movies, so watching them over and over would be punishment.

Four TV shows that I watch:
1. America's Next Top Model
2. Prison Break (mmm, Michael Skofield...)
3. Paula's Home Cooking
4. Desperate Housewives

Four places I've been:
1. Disneyland (not world, land) in California
2. Temple Square in Salt Lake City
3. Tulum, Mexico (aaaaahhh)
4. Tahquamenon Falls, Paradise, Michigan

Four people who email [or call] me regularly:
1. My Mom
2. Anne
3. Dave (duh)
4. Meredith

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Salad with ranch dressing
2. Tomato sandwich on Spatz bread with my Mom's tomatoes and real Mayo
3. Spinach and Artichoke Dip
4. Tomato Basil soup

Four places I would like to be right now:
1. In bed with Dave.
2. Making Elliott laugh
3. Someplace with ALL of my siblings, my parents, Dave's parents, our grandparents (living and deceased), Elliott and lots of food and fun
4. Getting pedicures with my Mom and my sisters

Four things I am looking forward to this year:
1. March 31, when I get my first paycheck that reflects my raise.
2. Teaching Elliott to say "mama"
3. Riding my bike with Dave and Elliott
4. Paying off our debt to the 4-figure range.

Lots to say, but I'll just post pictures instead. We're doing great. Elliott is sleeping through the night again (thank goodness!) usually from 9pm to 6am. We're looking forward to going to Saginaw for Easter. Elliott is frustrating Brenda with his quirks like NOT napping and only eating enough to tide himself over until he sees me again, but we're dealing. Dave is enjoying working and being challenged and having adult conversation for more than a few hours a day. We're all ready for springtime... but who isn't, right?

Playing with Aunt Jo!

Great Grandma Natali is both comfortable and delicious!

I love my Pap!

I was a hit at Great Grandma Ebig's nursing home.

Why would I play ON the blankie when I can scootchie my way OFF?

I look like a little boy these days...
Tongue out means I'm excited and happy!

Long time no see.

2008-03-14T06:31:00.008-05:00

Warning: TMI post for those of you who don't care about my girly health and well-being.

It's been more than a year since I've had a period. Let me tell you, I didn't miss it. Never once did I think, "Boy, I wish my abdomen would cramp up painfully and I could live with various forms of cotton between my legs to catch a tidal wave of messy bloody fun. And the moods! Oh, how I wish I could get mad at Dave for no reason and think all glasses are half empty and should be smashed into little bits."

This morning I got my period. Shit.

Another benefit of exclusively breastfeeding is that you don't have periods for several months. It gives your body time to heal and keeps your iron levels up after the blood loss that comes along with giving birth. Pretty cool, but my body is ready to have another baby and it just wanted to let me know that it's ready whenever I am.

I AM NOT.

In other news, it was FINALLY warm enough to take Elliott for the after-dinner walk I've been daydreaming about all winter. He is adorable in the outdoors; taking everything in like a little sponge and sitting so still you wonder if he is sleeping! He just clutched his stuffed football and stared at his surroundings and smiled at me whenever I stopped to check and make sure he was with us. He also wanted nothing to do with reclining in any way, shape or form. He wanted to "sit 'em up like a big boy" (as we say) and once he was up and strapped in, he was all about it. The walk gave both of us rosy cheeks and chilly hands, but it was SO worth it.

I'm also excited for the rest of the snow to melt away so we can install Elliott's seat on my new bike and take longer adventures. So much to look forward to.

Elliott did great at Brenda's yesterday. He took two naps for her (more than he ever takes for us!) and ate well and played hard. I'm already ready to pick him up this afternoon and take him to Saginaw to play with Pap and Gram and Uncle Nate and Aunt Larry and Auntie Josephine and Great Grandma Ebig and Great Grandma Natali.

Dave is really excited about this weekend, but was also rather forlorn when I left this morning. It's hard to be away from us, I understand. I miss him already, too.

Ok, ok, I can't give you NOTHING to look at other than words, so here are some videos. Again, I refuse to apologize for my crazy "momspeak," but it also doesn't mean I'm not slightly embarrassed by it. :) ENJOY!

I'm a weiner, no, I'm a winner, no wait, I'm both!

2008-03-12T15:10:00.007-05:00

The newsletter that I write, publish and manage at work won the newsletter category of my local Public Relations Society of America chapter's annual awards. I am thrilled.

I am also thrilled to report that Elliott is doing great. I can't decide whether to call him "Scootchy Scootcherton" or "Grabby McGraberson." David and I are also trying hard to call him Elliott (I know, what a concept!) because he is learning his name more and more and right now he is more likely to respond to "Punky" than "Elliott." Oops. :)

Hey Punky! I mean, Elliott.

Elliott's latest tricks are getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. It provides hours of enjoyment for Dave and me. He was fun to play with before, but watching him work SO hard to get his toys and grab our hands (to stick them in his mouth) is so fabulous. I have some video of him being Scootchy, but next time.
We went to the beautiful town of South Haven a couple weekends ago to help celebrate Tayden's first birthday. Tayden is David's cousin's son. I'm not sure what that makes Elliott to Tayden, but we'll call them cousins. Anyway, we had fun. Elliott wore a birthday hat, Tayden enjoyed all of the clothes we bought him, but was much more excited about his miniature vacuum cleaner, David and I got to catch up with his family and his aunts' enjoyed taunting Carolyn about getting to see her adorable grandson. Overall, a good time was had by all. :)

Tayden was kind enough to lend Elliott his johnny jump up.

Grandma Boosia, Michelle, Tayden and Elliott.
Glad to see that Tayden is comfortable with Elliott... or on Elliott. Whatever. We are all excited for the Wiacek family reunion in September when all four boys can play together.
Aunt Patti loves me!

My friend Laura had the most gorgeous baby girl in January and Elliott and I went to meet little Lila Jean and visit with Laura last Sunday. It was very fun. Elliott was a good boy and let Laura's dog, Gus, lick his head. Laura and I were very "mommy chic" and nursed our babies on the same schedule and talked about breastpumping and being a working mom and the wife/mother balance and the joy of watching our parents become grandparents. Laura also made delicious salads with chicken, blue cheese, pears and other gourmet ingredients. Delish! I ate a lot of hot dogs when I was on leave, so seeing Laura successfully eat healthfully and manage a 7-week-old was pretty cool.

Elliott a.k.a. Grabby McGrabberson, was grabbing Laura's face.
And then was too good to pay attention.

Elliott starts daycare tomorrow. He is going a half day tomorrow and Friday and starting full time on Monday when Dave returns to Pearson. Dave and I are both feeling apprehensive about it, but we recognize that it's about us, not Elliott. We both know he is going to have a lot of fun with Brenda and the other kids. Dave visited Brenda yesterday to drop off paperwork and payment and had nothing but good things to report. Brenda's house feels like our house, Brenda and her daughter happily played with Elliott while Dave filled things out, Elliott smiled up a storm at Brenda and seemed happy there. We'll all be fine. And Dave took a two-week project to just test the waters and see how being a daycare family feels to us. I'm sure ya'll will hear more about the adventure as it happens.

It seems like everyone that I talk to ask if Elliott is eating solid foods yet. He's not, everyone! I think I am outraging my grandmothers with every passing day by not giving him rice cereal, but:

1. He doesn't appear hungry in any way, shape or form.
2. The research shows that exclusively breastfeeding for the first six months provides maximum health benefits to your child.
3. Babies' digestive systems don't properly synthesize food until they are nine months old, so the time before that is just about teaching them to eat.
4. Breastfeeding is free, portable and convenient.
5. We will start him soon, I promise.

In the meantime, Grabby McGrabberson really enjoys joining us at the dining room table at his high chair. We give him baby bowls, spoons and cups and he happily gums them all. He is fascinated by watching us eat and it makes him apart of the mealtime, which is a lot of fun and very rewarding for all three of us.

Elliott is also warming up his skills to be a giggler as well. I have been reading to him more and more and trying to work storytime into his bedtime routine. Lately, we have been reading "Falling Up" poems by Shel Silverstein. If I read them with expression and noises, he giggles away in his crib while I read. It is a magical sound, and makes my heart happy right before I put him down for the night. Plus babies that are read to have something ridiculous like 1,000 extra words in their vocabulary when they start talking. Don't quote me, but reading=good.

Speaking of bedtime, the time change really has us screwed up. Elliott was going down for the night between 8 and 9, closer to 8 most nights. Now it is well after 9 usually, which means he sleeps later in the morning which means I don't get to see him in the morning after his 6am feeding. BOO. We will be attempting to change that soon....

It was warm enough today for Dave to take the boy for a walk. I am eager to go home and hear about it. I'm eager to go home, period. Tonight is the ONLY night this week that all three of us will be home. Dave worked Monday and Tuesday and is spending Thursday night and Friday through Sunday with his other family, the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

It's cool because Elliott and I are going to roadtrip in our new red minivan to see Grandma Ebig in her rehab center and visit Pap and Gram and see Grandma Carolyn on Sunday. Hooray!

Delicious!

If you're happy and you know it...

2008-03-05T08:26:00.003-05:00

We're here, I promise.

All is well.

The best word to describe Elliott right now is BUSY. He is grabbing everything. Sucking on everything. Bouncing, bouncing, bouncing. Talking, babbling, oooh aaah'ing. Doing his best to get Dave's glasses off his face and doing all he can to grab my braces. This is especially fun when I'm trying to feed him. He spends a lot more time grabbing than eating, which is definitely frustrating.

It is a lot easier to make him laugh. The trick is to tickle his armpits and rub your face on his belly. I'll do whatever it takes to make him laugh. It is a magical sound.

The van is surprisingly fun to drive, and it has amazing features like:

Windows that roll down (my car's haven't for more than a year)
A functioning gas gauge (again, broken on Belinda the Bonneville)
Volume and radio station control on the steering wheel.

AND

This amazing little keychain that allows you to open up the sliding doors on your way out to the car while carrying a car seat, a diaper bag, and various other items.

I totally see why people buy minivans.

Anyway, things are busy at work. Perhaps most amusing is that a committee of my coworkers spent several hours meeting and putting together a proposal for space changes. They're logical. They make sense. They all require me to move. But really, I'm over it. Several of my coworkers are NOT over it and continue to obsess over it and spend their working hours complaining and suggesting illogical options and in general NOT getting their work done. It's equally amusing and annoying.

Dave has been busy with work and keeping our house in order and our baby entertained. It's March, so ya'll know what that means. BASKETBALL. He is going to a regional final tonight and anxiously counting down the days until the boys' state finals on the 14/15/16/17 weekend.

Elliott will be going to Brenda the delightful daycare lady starting on March 14 and for a couple of weeks while Dave supervises a Pearson project. It will be a nice way to get our feet wet and see how we function as a daycare family.

My Grandma was discharged from the hospital yesterday to a rehab facility and is as sassy and bossy as ever. Thank goodness! And thanks for all of your prayers.

I get my braces tightened today. BOO. I have a board meeting for my PR group. YEA!

This is my new favorite picture of Elliott. You know how pictures don't always look JUST like you see someone. This picture is very close to how I see Elliott right now in person.

Shut Up and Drive.

2008-02-28T11:06:00.004-05:00

What's that Mommy and Daddy?

We're getting a new car?
A minivan?!
A red one? That's ok, I guess.

What? I can't drive?! You have GOT to be kidding me.

Mommy and Daddy Rock.

2008-02-21T14:56:00.007-05:00

Dave is doing an outstanding job of taking care of Elliott, me and our household. He does not hesitate to get up in the morning with me, make me coffee, take me to work if he needs the car, have lunch ready when I come home to feed Elliott, do our laundry, keep the house picked up, etc. And I know how much Elliott loves his Daddy and playing with him all day long. The two of them are so bonded, it is amazing to watch and be a part of.

I remember my only pregnancy dream was of following Dave and a little boy down the sidewalk in front of our house and seeing Dave take the little boy's hand and call him his little buddy. It looks like dreams do come true.

I don't think I tell Dave often enough how much I appreciate him, but I really do.

This thought was brought on because I had my annual evaluation at work today. It made me realize that stay at home parents don't get "evaluations," but they also don't get consistent feedback and praise either. In my opinion, Dave would pass his Daddy evaluation with flying colors.

My evaluation went extraordinarily well. The plant peeps are excited to get me full time, the animal peeps are sad to lose me, and they both think I did a great job this year. No complaints. Really no negative feedback or even constructive criticism, just enthusiasm for seeing more of my work in action this year.

The head of the plant side of things made the comment that if you didn't know I was gone for three months this year, you could never tell from the amount of work I completed and my performance throughout the year. That meant a lot to me.

And while it is nice to feel like a rockstar, I can't help but think of a few important things:
--Being a non-traditional family is a good thing. It works for us and that's what's important.
--I would not be where I am today without the love and support of my soulmate, David.
--I would not be where I am today without the love and support of my family.
--I would not be looking at the raise and promotion coming down the pike without the help of my sister Meredith and my Dad, the ever-cheerleader.
--It is increasingly important that I bust ass at work so I can leave on time and go home to my baby and my husband. Elliott won't be a baby for long, but I will always work.

--I crave new challenges and like to take on big projects. I need to work hard to embrace the challenges once they are thrown my way and follow through on projects.

--It is very important that I keep up my momentum and continue to blaze new trails here. A few weeks ago I would have said I needed to do less of that, but my evaluation proved that the people that matter appreciate my frank honesty and ability to shake things up.

My Grandma Ebig is in the hospital. Please pray for her. I am anxiously waiting for news on her latest procedure, a defibrilator placement. I can't talk about it more because it makes me too emotional. She is 80 years old this year and about to be a great grandma again. My cousin Jason and his lovely wife Lindsay are expecting the first official EBIG grandbaby (meaning he/she will have the last name of Ebig).

Today, Dave was kind enough to bring Elliott to me for his lunch and go and get lunch for the two of us. What a guy! Anyway, the funny part of that story is that Elliott selected the 45 minutes he was at my office to FINALLY poop after about 3 days of poop-free diapers (Lots of farts, no poops). Thankfully he did not blow out of his diaper (and they were even the cheaper, baby store brand), but we did have to change him on my desk before Dave left. Three days worth was pretty overwhelming. And Elliott drooled all over my clothes. Like he knew I had my evaluation today and didn't need baby drool marks on my shoulders!

We've been kicking around whether or not to buy a new (to us) car now or later. It's looking more and more like now. My car continues to run, but is more and more quirky. And frankly, I love the early spring days of rolling down the car windows and breathing in the fresh, dewy air. We've been without a functioning driver side window for a LONG time now. I've about had it.

Ok, I'm done for now. Here are some Elliott videos. He is growing up so fast.

Getting the Bears in His Pack and Play

A Crowd Favorite... Jumperoo Time!

In the Swing of Things

My Favorite Things... Toys and Dropping Them

My Favorite Things Part Deuce

Milestone.

2008-02-19T14:26:00.003-05:00

Today is the first day I haven't been able to concentrate on anything at work other than Elliott. It's not a "good" milestone per se, but I felt like it was important enough to note for the future.

Perhaps it is the sheer enormity of work sitting before me, but I am counting down the minutes until I get to see and hold and feed and cuddle my little guy again. I can barely stand being away from him today.

What Happens at Grandma's, Stays at Grandma's

2008-02-11T09:15:00.000-05:00

Elliott did great this weekend. Dave and I missed him terribly, but it was refreshing and fun to be "just the two of us" again for a short time. I always say the best part about leaving Elliott is seeing his face light up when we return. He did not disappoint us! Even while he was sleeping on the way home, he would break into a smile just hearing our voices (I know this because I sat next to him in the backseat of the car because I needed to get my fill of looking at his face and holding his hand.)

Wine tasting was delicious and fun. We ate wonderful food and bought several bottles of Michigan wine and enjoyed uninterrupted quality time together. I got sick on Sunday morning around 5am and wanted to curl up into a little ball of misery until about 9am, when I felt amazingly better. Go figure. I have a cold and sore throat now, but I'm not puking anymore, a huge plus.

Dave and I spent a good portion of the drive home talking about how lucky we are and how content and satisfied we are with life in general.

Carolyn and Dave were kind enough to take lots of photos of Elliott while we were gone so we didn't miss anything. We were definitely ready to see Elliott again, but I think Dave and Carolyn would have liked to keep him for another day or more!

Overachiever.

2008-02-07T08:54:00.000-05:00

Elliott had his four-month checkup yesterday. He is 16 pounds, 6 ounces and 26.5 inches long. That's the 92nd percentile for height and weight and his head circumfrence is in the 75th percentile.

We are extraordinarily lucky. Elliott hasn't been sick at all to date other than a couple of boogery noses that passed in a day or two. Maybe I should worry more about germs and the flu bug going around, but I just don't.

We can start him on cereal whenever we want to, but I'm not in any hurry. When I asked Dr. Hoop if there are any benefits to starting solids sooner rather than later, his reply was that they help babies sleep through the night. Well, our little man is consisently doing that (Wow, huh?), so it's really just a matter of teaching him how to eat from a spoon and starting him on the road to eating something other than Mommy Milk. I think we'll know when the time is right, and honestly, I love feeding Elliott. I'm not ready, but I know we will be soon.

Elliott's disposition continues to be a lot like mine... when he's happy, he's thrilled about life. When he's uncomfortable, annoyed, frustrated or the like, he doesn't hesitate to complain up a storm. I was nursing Elliott to sleep last night and daydreaming about his future little brother or sister. Will they be more laid back like Dave? We're definitely not in a rush for #2, but it was one of the first times I thought about starting this adventure all over again and thought I would mention it.

A new phenomenon that I wanted to mention/document is what I call "mamaclinging." There have been times lately where Elliott will just cry until I am there. At first I thought it was just because I am the milk lady, but there have been several instances where he doesn't want to eat, just wants me. It's flattering, really, but also slightly disconcerting.

We will be putting mamaclinging to the test this weekend. For my birthday, Dave bought me tickets to a wine tasting on the Leelanau Peninsula. So we are heading to Frankenmuth tonight, I have a conference there tomorrow and then we are heading to Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Dave's house. Saturday morning after Elliott's mid-morning meal we are leaving and not planning to return until Sunday afternoon.... We have reservations to stay the night in Traverse City. It's very difficult for both Dave and me. We don't truly WANT to leave Elliott overnight, but we are becoming more and more aware that some time away for the two of us will be good for our marriage. And having a happy marriage will benefit Elliott in the longrun, so we're going to try it. Plus, we know Elliott will be spending many-a-night in Central Lake with Grandma and Grandpa, so it's a matter of when, not if he will have sleepovers there. It was also GrandmaCarolyn's birthday this week, so having Elliott all to herself for the better part of 36 hours is like a birthday gift in and of itself.

No pics today, sorry! Back to work for me!

Elliott Milton LIVE!

2008-01-30T11:49:00.000-05:00

I had so much great feedback about Elliott's video debut that I thought I would add a few more.

In the beginning, we thought we liked the jumperoo. His little feet didn't quite touch the ground, but he sure did smile a lot when he was in it.

Apparently the little guy grew his legs long enough to really get himself going AND his little brain grew to learn how to really play in it. It's a ton of fun to watch.

This one is simply titled: "This Is How I Roll, Guys."

I also love to watch Elliott play, so I thought I would share. He is learning so much from day to day, and starting to show favoritism for certain toys.

Finally, I will title this one "The Complainer."

Dave and I are both notorious in our families for overusing the phrase "It's not fair." I think Elliott may be warming up his complainer skills... This was right before bedtime and he was telling me "Enough playing Mom, put me in the tub, rub me down with that pink smelly stuff and give me some mommy milk!"

This is a different night, but I do put him in the tub, massage his growing baby muscles with Johnson's lotion and feed him before bedtime. Here are a few snapshots of that....

I didn't realize that Elliott's thighs had grown to be so Michelin Man-esque...

More random pictures of the cutest baby in the entire world.... Did you spot the little red mark in the corner of his right eye? Elliott decided to knock the pump bottle of Johnson's head to toe babywash off the corner of his bathtub. It fell right into his eye. Thankfully, his quick reflexes made him shut his eye and it just scratched the skin in the corner. However, it took me getting drenched by taking him out of the bathtub mid-bath and Elliott screaming bloody murder and me crying and Dave rushing up the stairs to help before we determined everything was ok and we didn't need to rush to the emergency room or buy a pirate patch for our one-eyed baby.

I am the king of Mount Daddy!
And the King of Drool!

A few of the pictures we've taken lately have reminded me of how quickly Elliott is growing. Here is an updated version of the "milk coma" that I blogged about when Elliott was just a week old.

Remember?And I don't know how much Elliott weighs, but I think he'll be out of this carseat sooner rather than later. *sigh* This was taken on Sunday. I just love those gosh darn Osh Kosh warm up pants!

Here is a photo from 6 weeks old...

In non-Elliott news, my friends Laura and Matt had their little girl, Lila Jean on January 19. She was 7 lbs, 5 oz's and 18.5 inches long. And the last preggo employee at the baby store had her baby yesterday. Parker Nathaniel, ironically also 7 lbs, 5oz's, but he was born 3 weeks early!

Here is baby Lila. I am really excited to meet her and for Lila and Elliott to play together in the future.My Mom a.k.a. GRAM is visiting for a conference in Lansing. I am very excited to spend the evening with her and Elliott and Dave. Grandma Carolyn is coming to visit this weekend on Sunday. Hooray! And next weekend we are heading to Traverse City for our Leelanau Peninsula wine tasting trip for my birthday. Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Dave are going to watch Elliott for us. I think all five of us are excited for next weekend!

Finally, if ya'll wouldn't mind, please comment now and again so that I know you are reading... I realize I wasn't the best at posting when Elliott was really little, so I wonder how many of you are still out there...

First Attempt at Video

2008-01-24T12:47:00.000-05:00

Well, if you can stand to hear me coaxing him on, here is a little video of the little man chatting with me and sticking his tongue out. I promise not to take up a career in film production.

I look great.

2008-01-23T22:23:00.000-05:00

So apparently I'm a hottie new mom. Went to my first PRSA meeting since the little man made his arrival and I got literally a handful of compliments about how great I look. I guess motherhood agrees with me. I've been comfortable in my own skin for quite some time now, so compliments surprise me.

I also highly recommend the first-trimester nausea-filled pregnancy plus post-partum breastfeeding diet.

HA.

One more side note, Elliott is now a roller extraordinaire! He rolled over several times for Dave and me today. I think he can tell how excited we get when he does it, so he was really showing off for us this evening. He passed out early tonight, before 9, so my sleeping through the night bragging may come back to haunt me in just a few hours.

The adventure continues!

That's How I Roll, Mom.

2008-01-23T08:13:00.000-05:00

Elliott has been "almost" rolling for about a week now. Last Friday I was convinced he was finally going to do it as an homage to it being my last official day of maternity leave. Have I not learned by now that I am not in charge anymore? And that while Elliott loves me a ton, he is not planning to do as I wish, now or perhaps ever.

So anyway, he is being kind to us by sleeping through the night these days. Life is so much clearer when you have 6-8 hours of sleep under your belt CONSECUTIVELY, not broken up into 2-3 hour chunks. Delish. Anyway, I went in to wake him up this morning to feed him to find him on his belly. I went back into our bedroom to ask Dave if he had flipped him at some point during the night, but alas no. Elliott did his first successful roll sometime between the hours of 9:30pm and 6:30am.

Let me talk for a moment about sleeping. A. Elliott is a great sleeper. B. We use blankets. Oh horror of horrors, we use blankets! But we do, we have since he was born and I plan to use them for future babies. There I said it. C. Occasionally, we flip the little guy over to sleep on his tummy. Dave and I are both stomach sleepers, and when it means we get an extra hour of sleep or when it's the only way he will nap, we're brazenly defying the "back to sleep, tummy to play" campaign.

Here is a re-creation of Elliott's nighttime habits. This is how he goes to sleep at night.

And this is how I find him in the morning. He has also been known to do a full 180.

Oh, play! What a great topic for right now. Elliott is a playing machine. Sometimes he'll even fuss because he wants to be left alone to grab at and mouth his toys. There was a period of about 3 weeks when he was almost constantly on his play gym, hanging on for dear life to his dangling friends Elephant, MonkeyMan, Mr. Parrot, ButterflyThing, Chiming Bunny and a host of others. These days, he is ALL about his Jumperoo. My fave baby product to date has been the Boppy. I am quickly becoming a devotee to the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo. Not only is it fun for Elliott, it makes me smile and laugh just a smidgen less than he does. He is adorable in it, and smiles his happiest gummy grins when playing. It has also been the reason Dave and I have been able to eat dinner together for the last week or so. It's a gift, truly.

Another few notes on play. Elliott had his first playdate a couple Saturdays ago with Sawyer, the 9-month-old, red-headed adorable son of my friend Jessica from the National Home. We swapped Mommy stories, Sawyer pillaged Elliott's toys and Elliott took a big long nap in his swing. Not the best playmate yet, but Sawyer didn't seem to mind.
We also watched some other folks play last week... The Michigan State University men's basketball team! Yes, we took Elliott to his first sporting event, and more importantly to his first Spartan sporting event. He was SO good! Watched the action, listened to the music, snoozed a bit during halftime and let us take lots of pictures of him. Toward the end of the game, he got a little fussy, but heck, I was getting antsy too as the other team was calling a timeout after each play to extend the game. Anyway, the woman sitting next to Dave says, "Oh, so he DOES cry!" I about died. Um, yes Ma'am, have you met my baby? The baby formerly known as Prince Tomato Face? HA. We have come a long way.

Hmm, other exciting and fun things in our life. We've been interviewing daycare providers because Dave got a call to return to work at the testing center. I don't think he's going to take this particular job that goes from Feb-April, but we definitely found someone we are comfortable leaving Elliott with. Her name is Brenda. She was referred to us by my friend Lexi, whose daughter Laynie stayed with Brenda before they moved to Pittsburgh. She is a home-based provider and a good $70 less per week than any of the big CAFO daycare centers in Lansing. She has a small home about a mile away from our house and is willing to be flexible as Dave is on again, off again from work. Best of all, Elliott smiled at her, cuddled right into her arms and chilled out while we talked about her 15 years of daycare experience. So I think everything is going to be ok.

Speaking of work, I'm doing well. I miss the little guy while I'm gone, but as I've said before, I'm just not cut out to be a stay at home parent. I like my job and love my profession. It feels so good to be back into a routine and it makes me appreciate my time with Elliott more and I feel like an even better Mommy. My job is going to transition to 100% plant initiative, which is also helping me stay busy and focus on work while I'm here and not just pine away for Elliott and Dave.

I have to say, though, that my favorite part about leaving for work is coming home. Elliott hears my voice and finds me with his eyes and breaks into just about the biggest smile ever. It's like his eyes are saying "Oh Mom! There you are! I've been looking for you! Got milk?"

Milk. Yes, that's going well too. I am staying several ounces ahead of what he is eating at home with Dave. We think he is taking the edge off with the bottle and then filling up his tank to F when he sees me. This is great because my daytime milk production is still high and my body has adapted to make more in the evenings too. I still feel like making milk is a superpower, but it's also downright convenient. All of the health and bonding benefits aside, breastfeeding is so much easier on all of us.

Elliott is also downright squirmy these days. My Mom says that boys have extra muscle, so they need to move their bodies more to oxygenate their little bodies. Whatever the reason, he is a squirmy worm. So nursing him is a nice time to cuddle him, cut his fingernails, pick his nose, sing to him, and do other things he definitely won't sit still for these days.

Aunt Meredith came to visit from Chicago last weekend. It was very fun. Elliott wore his Chicago Cubs outfit to celebrate her arrival.

My parents continue to visit regularly. I don't know what I'd do without their help and listening ears. Plus, they think Elliott is the greatest thing ever. I agree of course, but being a grandparent has a whole different twist to nurturing. It makes my soul feel warm watching them together.

Elliott is talking and cooing quite a bit. This morning, for instance, I fed him and put him back to bed a little drowsy, but not sleeping. He jabbered away for almost an hour before he fell back asleep. Dave almost went in to get him, but we agreed that he has a distinctive talking voice, a complaining voice and then, of course, crying.

That is my favorite complaining face.

He is also all about sticking his tongue out lately. It's hilarious and I keep thinking that some day we'll have to re-train him NOT to stick his tongue out. But for now, it's cute. He was talking up a storm to me on his changing table when I took this picture.

My friend Anne is coming to visit this weekend. Dave is bartending as usual. Otherwise, it's nice to have our time free to just play. The snow continues to fall, but I am already looking forward to springtime and taking Elliott outside to play.

There is so much to look forward to.

Like playing with Uncle Nate...

Being able to talk directly to Grandma Carolyn on the phone....

And playing football...

Slowing the flow of drool and being able to NOT wear a bib all the time...

Watching sports with Daddy. Oh wait, he's already doing that... Perhaps "yelling at the TV" is what he's looking forward to...
Playing with Daddy in general is always something to look forward to...

Getting more new shoes. That might be what I am looking forward to...
Walking...
Chewing on something other than our favorite treat, HAND...

Flying... Although right now we "superman that baby" quite often. It's one of his favorite things to do...
Traveling more... Although Elliott is quickly growing out of his carseat... His 4-month appointment is on February 6... I can't wait to see how much he weighs...
Getting into mischief...
Being the light of my Mommy's life...

Time Flies.

2008-01-06T21:38:00.001-05:00

Oh, where to begin?... There isn't a good place, so I'll just start with right now.

Elliott is doing amazingly well. He is a smiley, happy guy who loves to play and eat and stand up and wiggle and squirm and sleep on his daddy. I can't believe he will be three months old on Tuesday. I also can't believe it's already time for me to go back to work. Sure, I've been in a few times, but now that I HAVE to go back, it isn't nearly as fun. I will be able to work half time for a week or two, which is a decision I'm glad I made way back in preggo land.

A great practice for me was going back to work at Babies R Us on Sunday. I'm only going to work 4 hours every other Sunday, but I just don't want to quit. I love working there. I love helping expectant parents. I love so many of my co-workers. I don't know how I'll feel about it when I'm back up to 40 hours at MSU too, but Sunday felt really good.

I knew it would be hard to return to work, but it has to happen sometime. I know I wouldn't be happy as a stay at home parent. I trust Dave to take amazing care of Elliott. I have lots of friends whose children love daycare and leaving work every day is a reward for a job well done during the day. I think this is a time when it's all about attitude. Am I sad? Absolutely. Will I miss Elliott? Immeasurably. But do people do this everyday? Yes. Can I do it too? I can and I will.

Ok, enough self empowerment. If you didn't already know this, my baby is freaking adorable.

We had wonderful holidays. Hectic, but wonderful. Elliott did really well considering he traversed the greater state of Michigan for a more than a week. He had a minor meltdown one night in Saginaw where I think he had had enough of being passed around and held and just needed his Mommy. Heck, sometimes I just need my Mommy too, so he is certainly entitled. He is definitely over that whole "I'm crying but I have no idea why" thing, which also makes him a much more enjoyable houseguest.

This is one of my favorite Christmas decorations, and I think it will be funny to compare how big Elliott is to Santa next year...

Dave got a bike, a PlayStation and a shirt that says "ME" which we didn't understand until he pulled out a onesie for Elliott that is embroidered with "MINI-ME." We about died. I got a bike, fabulous rasberry luggage, new silverware, new shoes, a Lane Bryant giftcard that I immediately spent on new underwear, so much more. Dave's Dad and Pam got us a delicious box of Omaha Steaks. Mmmm. Elliott got a seat to ride on the back of my new bike, a ride-on dinosaur, wonderful, treasured books (my best friend Mary Frog Toes would call them 'literature'), a TON of clothes, baby sunglasses, two pairs of shoes (those were perhaps more for me than him, I love baby shoes), a case of diapers, a case of wipes, and a few very cool toys.

Remember, you can't spoil a baby... And let me send a shout out to Carolyn who wrapped Elliott's gifts from Santa Claus. It just didn't feel right wrapping gifts I would have to unwrap later... Carolyn saves the day again!

Even after two years at the baby store, I didn't know they made baby sunglasses. ADORABLE!

One of the best gifts I received this Christmas, though, was being able to introduce Elliott to my sister Melanie. We've been missing her so, so much and neither of us are very good on the phone, so getting to catch up in person and watch Elliott bond with her so quickly was one of my favorite memories.

Is it sad that Elliott has no pants on because I knew he was working on a big poop and I didn't want him to get it on his pants? He was wearing one of my favorite outfits...

"Dearest Auntie Melanie, can you show me how to get my hands into my mouth?"

My birthday was the 21st (I'm 27 now, woo hoo) and my wonderful parents in-law, Dave and Carolyn, were so kind to come early enough for Dave and I to go out for a delicious, grown-up dinner. There was wine, there was cheese fondue, there was smoked turkey and steak, there was adult conversation and there were no interruptions. It was wonderful! My gift continues in February when Dave and Carolyn have agreed to watch the little guy again while David and I go wine tasting on the Leelanau Peninsula. I am very excited!

Dave, Martha Stewart called. She wants to hire you as a cake decorator... Just kidding, I love you. And thank you for making time to make me a birthday cake complete with pink writing.

My amazing husband also "helped" Elliott pick out a card. The front was a picture of a baby sucking on a pacifier. Inside it said, "Mom, without you, life would really suck." It was cute, but what made me cry (see above) is that Dave traced Elliott's hand into the card and dated it. It was so thoughtful, and it is also hilarious to note that the trace was a little uneven. Our little guy still HATES to have his hands restrained or messed with in any way.

So every mother thinks their baby is the cutest and smartest baby ever, and I am no exception. Elliott is growing so much every day and continues to amaze Dave and I with how much he is learning. His new tricks include: sleeping 9 hours occasionally; clasping his hands together; putting anything and everything into his mouth; drooling; complaining and whining about being hungry, not flat out wailing as soon as he realizes he is hungry; new consonant sounds like ooooh, aaaaah, coooo; sitting up with very little assistance; playing in his swing or bouncer or Bumbo with his toys for 30-60 minutes at a time; splashing in the bathtub; sucking on his hand; tracking his hand with his eyes and bringing it to his mouth; grabbing toys from his playgym and hanging onto them for dear life; batting at toys; being distracted from crying with toys or talking; kicking his new crib gym to make it light up; wearing 6/9 month clothes; holding himself up on his hands; scooching across the floor if you put your hands behind his feet; wiggling his way to one end of his crib through the night; doing his darndest to roll over, but getting stuck by his big noggin; launching himself off of the Boppy pillow when he is on his tummy (Dave calls it vaulting); refusing to burp between the right and left boob; grabbing hair, clothes, burp clothes, etc.; and much more that I'm forgetting.

"I love my Bumbo seat now!" Thanks Cat and Mack!

Turtleman is one of Elliott's favorite toys. My sister made the frightening observation that Turtleman's snorkel looks, well.... Anyway, my Dad started calling him Dickhead if that helps paint the picture for you. I think Elliott finally noticed Turtleman's growth. He still loves him best though, so I'm not taking him away because of his Auntie Melanie's dirty mind.

Dave and I are also doing well. We are both nervous about the big, upcoming change in our routine, but we are relying on each other for support and trying to communicate as much as possible. This won't be easy, but if it was then everyone would do it, right?

Elliott and I also took a fun weekend trip to see Aunt Meredith and Uncle Jerry in Chicago. Other than toll booths, stop and go traffic and any other time when the car stopped moving, Elliott was a great traveler for me. I also discovered that people are decent and good and will hold the door for you when you're carrying a huge diaper bag and a baby in an infant carrier. I also discovered that Macy's in Chicago has a lovely "sitting area" in their third floor women's room that is a great place to feed a baby.

The bathroom is pink, but Elliott didn't mind. A funny story about our meal in the bathroom. There was already a woman nursing her baby when we entered, making me even more comfortable. When the woman's mother referred to the baby as Elliott we started chatting. Turns out that baby is Elliot with one T, he was wearing the "HO, HO, HO" onesie that my Elliott also owns from Old Navy, and he has the same Chicco travel system that my Elliott has. Weird, but kinda cool. Maybe we'll meet up in the third floor of Macy's again sometime.

Aunt Meredith is the coolest. She calls Elliott monster. :)

Uncle Jerry is also cool. He told Elliott he was going to teach him to grill steaks and shoot things. Jerry's first question to Elliott was "Do you want to watch Uncle Jerry play video games?" The answer was actually yes...

I knew this, but maybe you don't... my sister Meredith is buff. She got a great workout by carrying Elliott in the front carrier most of the day on Sunday. A huge snowstorm was kind of a blessing as it made Elliott and I stay an extra day in the Windy City and Meredith and I ventured out without the stroller and had a lot more fun. Elliott wanted to be held, and the front carrier pretty much takes care of that. Elliott wanted to sleep, and Aunt Meredith's chest was a great place to snooze. Elliott loves lights, and Chicago in December is the place to be for lights.

A random woman was kind enough to take our photo. She was obviously not a professional.

We rode the L home. It was cool. Elliott slept.

Jerry and Meredith's dog, Gem, also loves Elliott. She was kind enough not to steal his toys and sniffed him very nicely very often.

And now, because I am very tired, here is a random mishmash of pictures with some commentary. I don't have patience for moving them into chronological order, I hope you don't mind too terribly much.

Our attempt at a cute Christmas picture. We ended up using one we casually took when my good friend Mack visited.

Big boy sitting up. The Little Pumpkin socks from Grandma Carolyn finally fit. No, it's not Halloween anymore, but I call him Pumpkin Baby and they match his adorable Osh Kosh sweatsuit.

The pink Kitchen Aid stand mixer makes holiday cookies so much easier and so much more fun!

Christmas at Grandma Wiacek's.

We love Mom/Grandma Carolyn!

Grandpa Gary thinks I'm cute. I feel like a celebrity when I'm there with all of the flashes going off all the time. :)

Merry Christmas Mommy. Your gift from the Scott's... a NAP and a chance to read Oprah magazine. Delicious!

My Christmas outfit makes me hot, Mom.

Meeting Aunt Jo. She bought me my first pair of Levi's and was a very comfortable place to snooze.

Smiling at Gram (previously known as Grandma Joy.)

Some of my very favorite people in the entire world. Melanie, Grandma Natali, Mom and Elliott Milton.

I'm Wanted for Cuteness. Thanks Aunt Jo, great shirt.

Just a small sampling of Elliott's post-Christmas wardrobe! Thank goodness for big closets and Rubbermaid storage bins!

Mommy, have you tried this new treat called "HAND?" It's delicious!

Playing is so much fun! And I'm a big boy holding my head up!

When's lunch? I'm thinking of adding another chin....

Mooooom, this camera angle makes me look fat.

I've got my giraffe and I'm not letting go until he is good and drooled on.

All of the cool kids drool now. The "Your Baby's First Year" book says so.

Mommy thought it was time to play. Elliott agreed with his daddy that it was time to watch MSU basketball. It was downright WEIRD... he would not take his eyes off the television and kept "talking" to the TV like his daddy does. Nature? Nurture? Or just downright CREEPY?

I love you too, Baby Bub.

Chunky Punky.

2007-12-13T22:35:00.001-05:00

My family is a nickname family. I've had a variety of nicknames throughout my life, and most members of my family have one or another that has stuck. It's only natural that Elliott has a variety of nicknames as well. Unlike some families though, our nicknames tend to morph from their original form. Case in point, my brother Nathan, a.k.a. Uncle Nate.

Nathan became Nahum became Hum became Hummy.

Elliott began his life as my Pumpkin or my Pumpkin Baby. Partly because he was born in October, and partly because we fought with a mild case of jaundice during his first week of life and I told him I would call him Pumpkin so he didn't have to turn himself any more yellowish orange. Elliott has morphed as well.

Pumpkin Baby became Pumpkin/Pumpkin Boy became Punky became Chunky Punky.

I also call him Bub or Baby Bub. Anyway, he is chunky as all get-out these days. He has cute little roly poly thighs and a multitude of chins.

Our own Scott family Christmas miracle happened this week... Elliott slept through the night!!! My Mom kept telling me that it would just happen one night, but it's another one of those things that you just don't believe until it happens. Elliott went to sleep around 9pm after a good meal. Imagine my surprise when I woke up at 5AM!! My boobs hurt like hell, but my baby had slept for 8 hours! It was awesome. The next night, he did not eat well, so only slept from 9pm to 2:30, but still. Bedtime is a lovely concept. That's why I am blogging now, I fed Elliott and put him to bed at 9pm and I am reasonably sure that he won't wake up for several hours, so I don't feel the intense urgency to go to bed right away. I can do crazy things like check my email and blog. Hooray!

Dave and I made an excellent discovery this week. Both of our local malls have nursing rooms! Private areas with comfortable chairs and locked doors where I can feed the chunky punky. It is WONDERFUL and means that our holiday shopping got done in a hurry. Elliott is also getting better at being out and about. He can hang out in his carseat and stroll around the mall, staring at the lights and/or snoozing. He wants to be picked up now and again, but for the most part, he is a good shopper. However, he is also a good pooper. I knew when we went out today that he had not pooped in a while, but Dave and I were unprepared for the true poopfest that ensued today.

I fed him at home and we had lunch at Bennigan's (yum). We went to Toys R Us next, then to Target. During all of this time, he was a happy camper, but definitely started to get hungry at Target. Perhaps it was the popcorn smell... Anyway, so not knowing that the Meridian Mall had a "Nursing Lounge," I fed him in the car. He wasn't eating well, which usually means he is more focused on pooping than eating. Sure enough, two big poops. No big deal. Well, it was a big deal and he needed a new outfit once we got into the mall. Then, midway through our shopping he fussed, so I picked him up. I IMMEDIATELY put him back down when I touched/saw a HUGE poop stain on his back. Thank goodness we had two outfits in the diaper bag.

Speaking of poop, Elliott's last blowout had some expensive ramifications. Again, knew he had to poop, so when he finally went while I was holding him I made him dance around and tell Dave about how great he felt. Dave's face changed and he said calmly, "Um, honey, you have something on your shirt."

So yeah, I got pooped on. No big deal, but we've learned that baby poop stains quickly, so we put a load in the washer right away. I was smart enough to remember to take my chapstick out of my front pocket, but neglected to remember that my cell phone was in my back pocket. CRAP. So I washed my cell phone and had to buy a new one on ebay. It was craptacular.

Elliott is a ton of fun these days. He doesn't cry for the sake of crying anymore, which is a real treat. He smiles and coos and plays frequently throughout the day and is getting a pretty steady routine. He is VERY vocal and is "talking" quite a bit, especially to me. This could be because I talk to him all the time. :) He is much more interested in toys these days and is starting to enjoy sitting in his bouncer and playing or laying on the floor and cooing at his favorite toys, Mr. Turtle and Elephant.

If worrying were an Olympic sport, I would be a gold medalist. And I'm worrying a lot lately about going back to work. It's not like I have a lot of options, and I know that I will be able to worry a lot less with Elliott at home with Dave, but I love my little guy more every day. Elliott also likes our new couch. Hooray!

Dave is the yin to my yang, so he is working hard at reminding me how much I love my work and emphasizing the few weeks we have left together. They will go by quickly with the holidays fast approaching, but every day with Elliott is a real blessing.

We never should have gone to Baby Gap... That place is dangerous, and I am tempted to spend more on clothes for Elliott than I would ever pay for myself. And mine fit me for a lot longer!

We ventured out to get our first Christmas tree together on Monday. Dave put the lights on today. It's magical.

Dave always asks Elliott if he is calling Fiji when he holds his baby phone. I always ask him if he's calling Grandma.

Buff or fat? You make the call.

A pinch and a poke.

2007-12-10T18:15:00.001-05:00

I'll start with the basics and see if I have time to add any photos... Elliott is sleeping soundly after his visit to the pediatrician this morning.

Elliott weighs 13 pounds, 10 ozs. He has the chubby thighs and cheeks to prove it.
He is now 24.25 inches long, up an inch in a month.
He is in the 93rd percentile for his height and weight and the 75th for his head circumference.
He got three shots and did relatively well, considering his temper. A dose of tylenol and a few servings of mommy milk and other than being a little extra sleepy, he seems fine.
Elliott was doing so well, that we ventured out to get our Christmas tree today. It was a very memorable experience, as we had to wait for the owner to get back from the grain elevator to bale our tree and the little guy got hungry. Rather than feeding him in the car, the nice lady in the gift shop told us to take over the "Christmas Cafe'," a cute little cabin with coffee and donuts and a fireplace. Dave had a donut while I fed the baby. Then he pooped and we changed him there as well. I have a feeling when we go back next year (which we definitely will), we will not have the run of the place like we did this year. But I will always remember breastfeeding my baby in the Christmas Cafe.
Dave successfully put up the lovely tree we purchased. My living room smells lovely.
My living room also looks lovely with the new couch and chair in place. It looks like grown-ups live here.

The nap has ended... photos later.

Bad Blogger, Good Mommy.

2007-12-04T10:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry, everyone. The work laptop I use at home has a horrible habit of freezing up when I download pictures and I have given up on posting several times in the last few weeks.
But enough excuses, onto pictures!

Elliott has a "bad" habit of falling asleep during "tummytime." I don't think he is going to die of SIDS while laying on the living room floor, so I'm not stressing out about the "back to sleep, tummy to play" campaign. He sleeps on his back at night.

Plus he looks like his Daddy when he sleeps like this. How cute is that?!

His little jeans are getting a tad too small, but the little striped onesie is one of my favorite things he owns. SO Cute!

When we were in Saginaw for Thanksgiving, Elliott met Rebecca. My sister Meredith is holding her (she is delicate and petite and much quieter than Elliott). Rebecca is the first daughter of one of Meredith's childhood friends, Mary. Mary visited and we freaked Meredith out by sitting next to each other on the couch and breastfeeding. I can understand why... it's not everyday that two people you've known for decades are sitting in your mother's living room with their infants.

I also love how Elliott is smiling at my Mom is this picture.

Elliott continues to love his "Pap," my Dad. Pap introduced "jumpajumpa" which Elliott loves. Jumpajumpa is basically what you say while lifting the little guy over your head repeatedly. It works wonders and makes him quiet down and take in his surroundings. Elliott is not a huge fan of Pap's hunting beard, it's scratchy, but he looooves his Pap.

Elliott is also in love with his Grandma Carolyn. She hides kisses behind his ear and tells him that they are always there for him. It is adorable.

I call this the "my daddy did WHAT when he was little?" face.

Dave and I are learning to multi-task and have conversations with Elliott while we are doing stuff around the house. He's not a big fan of being put down yet. Unless he wants to be put down, then he gets mad. Hey, the kid knows what he wants! Speaking of which, he'll also tell you whether or not he wants his pacifier (Binky to some, plug to others, suckie to me). We discovered during our Thanksgiving travels that it we needed to find a pacifier shaped like our pinkie fingers to pacify Elliott. He did not want the "orthodontically correct" pacifier that I got for free. Luckily, the Gerber silicone soft center pacifier worked. Otherwise, our pinkies may have never stopped looking like we had been in the bathtub for too long.

Elliott is a morning baby. He likes to hang out and coo and gurgle and blow bubbles and smile in the a.m. hours. If you catch him at the right times, he is quite the little charmer.

I love these little baseball shoes, but I had to shove his little feet inside of them. They were a one-day only wear and then they got put in the "too small" pile.

Whoa, sorry Elliott. Mommy isn't too good at taking pictures one-handed.

Sometimes, Dave takes the occasional picture. Usually after I make some strong hints. Like this afternoon when Elliott was wearing his adorable "baby pirate" outfit and sitting up like a champ.

His latest trick is holding onto his toys. If you put it into his hand, he'll hang on. Only if he wants to, of course. So far, he loves the giraffe and elephant from his play gym and the little Baby Einstein turtle guy the best.

Luckily, I can make him smile and take a picture at the same time. I call him "guy smiley" when he gets all cooey and cute like this. Plus, Guy Smiley is one of the coolest guys on Sesame Street.

Raise your hand if you're cute!

Awww, sleeping babies. My Mom bought Elliott this adorable fleecey sleeper from Carter's. It has a snowman on the front and little pockets in the shape of mittens and little snowflakes on the bottom of the feet. I don't know what it is about Carter clothes, but they are always my favorite. The 3 month stuff fits him perfectly right now... but not for long I'm sure.

Elliott hasn't quiiiite figured out that he owns his hands, but he is much better at getting his hands to his mouth. This is quite helpful when he just wants to suck for the sake of sucking. He can't decide if he likes his thumb or his first two fingers better... Really, he would always rather be eating. Hands are only a delicious appetizer in Elliott's baby world.

End of photos and onto my random babbling...

Thanksgiving was marvelous. Elliott is getting better and better at traveling. He likes his carseat, sleeps well in the car, but wakes up raging mad about being tricked into sleeping somewhere other than in our arms. That, and I think he can't effectively fart or poop in his carseat, which makes him even madder. Intestinal difficulties are one of Elliott's biggest challenges. This is just one more reason why I am glad I am breastfeeding. That and the fact that my clothes all fit and I weigh less than I did before I was pregnant.

But I digress... Thanksgiving. Drove north on Wednesday, stopped in Gaylord to visit the Scott's, continued on to Central Lake, ate delicious food at the Newcomb's, drove to Saginaw, ate delicious leftovers at the Ebig's, shopped a little while my Dad monopolized Elliott, woke up Sunday morning to discover that our car wouldn't start. Taking apart the dashboard and wiggling some wires has it working again, but I'm sure you all understand why we are moving up our car shopping efforts. There can be no wire-wiggling when traveling with an infant.

We also bought a new couch and chair. Having spent lots of time sitting on our old, broken-down couch week after week, I finally cracked and just visited the pushy salesmen at Art Van. The couch arrives tomorrow, hooray! We celebrated by renting a Rug Doctor and cleaning the carpet, too. (actually, Dave cleaned the carpets. I fed and played with the baby.) It looks and smells lovely in our house. However, we moved everything out to clean the carpets, and don't want to move it back before the new furniture arrives, so we are camping out in the basement "manroom" if we want to watch television.

Aaaaah, television. Some of you may know that we have been without cable for almost four years. I never missed it, but Dave certainly did. I didn't think it was fair to coop him up in the house with an infant and no ESPN and it's downright handy to have the internet at home, too. Plus, I love Elliott a lot, but I can only stare at his cuteness for so long when I am nursing him. Eventually, I need in some distractions. The Food Network, The Price is Right (I'm loving Drew Carey), TLC's Baby Block, Ellen, Oprah, Wheel of Fortune and much, much more! TV is a lovely guilty pleasure of mine, and Dave has even MORE sports knowledge than he did before.

Elliott had his first official "babysitter" last week as well. My best friend Mary Frog Toes has a lovely sister, Teresa. She is a nursing student at MSU and was very happy to watch Elliott while we went and met Tyler the seemingly slimy car salesman who we eventually discovered speaks four languages and spent a large portion of his youth as a church missionary in Haiti. Go figure. Anyway, Teresa did a great job watching Elliott. He was smiling and cooing at her when we got back, only to start fussing when I took him from her. Hmmm, I tried not to be offended. :)

Dave picked up another bartending job at a bowling alley on the north end. He'll work some evenings and the occasional weekend as well. His Dad and Pam suggested we put a picture of our cutie on the tip jar and write "Elliott's College Fund" on it. HA.

In other big news, Elliott has officially moved out of our bedroom and into his big boy crib. So far, so good! We also moved my rocker upstairs, which has been awesome. The next step will be to stop bathing him in the kitchen sink and start using his infant tub upstairs. This will also mean I'll start dressing him upstairs as well. Time flies, everyone.

I promise, I'll try to be better at posting! But rest assured, I'm doing my best to be a good mommy, even if I'm a bad blogger.

Family Life

2007-11-19T17:57:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-11-09T17:24:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-07T12:38:00.000-05:00

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.

Pap and Grandma Joy

2007-10-28T13:02:00.000-05:00

My Mom doesn't like babies. She prefers kids, my Dad is the baby lover. Imagine our surprise when Elliott absolutely fell in love with my Mom. She LIKES it when he turns into a screaming tomato baby and she has a knack for calming Elliott down when the train pulls into "Fussytown" each evening. I always wondered about her claim that babies don't like her; heck, I love her!

While not quite as fervent as Carolyn, my Dad has been ready to be a grandpa for a long time. His father was my Papa. My siblings had pegged our Dad as Papa, but turns out my Dad would prefer that Elliott and his future grandchildren call him Pap. His grandpa was his Pap, so it feels better to him. As amazing as my Dad is at calming Elliott down, we will call him whatever he would like!

I've really looked forward to my parents visiting the past few Friday nights. Dave bartends on Fridays, so it's really nice to have company. Sure, I'm a Mom now, but sometimes, you just need your parents. I finally remembered to pick up the camera and take some photos when they were here on Friday.

Life is good. I won't lie, it's tough being new parents. Sleeping in two-hour blocks (sometimes more, sometimes less...) isn't easy. The hardest part for me is feeling confined to the house. I know that Elliott will eventually go longer between feedings and I'll get better at breastfeeding in public, but three weeks spent mostly in the house is pretty out of character for me. We got out to attend a friend's halloween party last night for a couple of hours so Elliott could show off his dragon costume and Dave and I could talk to adults other than each other. We've been trying to venture out every day for a walk in our neighborhood. And thank goodness we got cable, because Paula Dean is a regular visitor to our house as well.

I can't believe it's almost the end of October! I brought all of Elliott's halloween stuff downstairs so I'll remember that he has to wear it SOON! My office is having a halloween potluck, so we have at least one more reason to dress him up. Is it sad that I'm hoping he spits up at least once so we can change him mid-potluck?

I feel like Elliott gets bigger every day. He lays across my abdomen the better part of 10 times a day, so I get to study his little arms as they chub out and try and remember how far across my body he went the first time I fed him in the recovery room at Sparrow Hospital. His newborn sizes still fit, but more and more of the 0-3 month sizes are fitting too. We're almost out of newborn diapers and gave away a stack of Pampers newborn sizes to my friend Laura who is due in January. Laura and Matt are having a girl.

Elliott spends more time awake each day, and is starting to coo back at us when we talk to him. He likes his swing a lot, especially when I turn on the water sounds. This morning, he spent almost an hour laying in his pack 'n play, wide awake, staring at the little bears that hang off the canopy. I finally picked him up because I wanted to cuddle him, who knows how long he would have laid there! I also love to sit him in his Boppy on the couch. He's comfy and is the perfect angle to talk to (and take pictures of).

He is still a pooping champ, but Dave has gotten savvier and hasn't gotten sprayed lately. I got peed on yesterday, but blocked it with my hand and diverted the spray all over the pack 'n play. Hey, you gotta look out for yourself! Dave did bring Elliott to me in bed this morning after a rather explosive diaper change to say, "You know, I never quite appreciated the term 'craptacular' before, but what Elliott just did was craptacular."

He still loves to get a bath every day, hates to have his diaper changed (but also hates to have a dirty diaper... fickle baby) and gets amazingly excited each time he finds his baby hands. I haven't had time to read lately, but I need to find out when babies realize that their hands are their own and that they have control of them. That is sure to be a landmark day in Elliott's life.

More than anything, I'm in love. More in love with David than I have ever been, and completely smitten with my son. It's awesome to watch him grow and change every day.

What are you thinking about, little boy?

Cuteski.

2007-10-23T19:57:00.000-05:00

I'm usually in bed by this time, but Dave was not feeling swell and decided to go to bed. I'm awake and so is Elliott, so posting on the blog seemed like a good idea. Sorry for the lapse in posts, thanks for hanging in there!

We are doing very well. Baby Elliott is laying next to me on the couch, hiccuping happily after his late night dinner/snack/meal. Any concerns that we had about him losing weight short after birth were pretty much shot down at our pediatrician appointment on Friday. Elliott gained 13 ounces in 7 days. Babies SHOULD gain about an ounce a day, but our baby and his healthy appetite almost doubled that. He is otherwise healthy and we'll go back to see Dr. Hoop when Elliott is a month old. More about Dr. Hoop at a later date, although let me just say that I love our pediatrician. He is fabulous.

I had my first follow up appointment today. My incision is healing well and I am otherwise doing great. The farther I get away from the C-section, the better idea it was to skip that whole "labor" thing and move straight to delivery.

So much to say, but so little quiet time at this part of the evening. Elliott is a dream baby all day and then has a short fussy time from maybe 9pm-1am when staring at the kitchen lights and being walked around are about all that will soothe him. On a side note, me dictating this post is apparently another way to soothe Elliott, as he is now laying quietly beside me awake and listening intently. I tend to talk a lot, so having a little person who loves the sound of my voice seems oh so lovely.

Other highlights, as he is stirring more and spending more time chewing on his hands, which means my time here is short:

--Spending Friday through Tuesday under the adoring eyes of Grandma Carolyn. Elliott is still seeing stars from the flash on her camera. She was a big help and of course a great person to talk about how perfect/adorable/smart/amazing our baby is.

--Meeting Cat, Mark, Grace and Ally on Saturday. Grace is now in first grade and boys are chasing her on the playground. I remember when she was Elliott's age.

--Seeing Grandma Joy and Grandpa Joe on Friday night. Why aren't there more pictures of Elliott with Grandma Joy? Note to self, start taking more pictures!

--Crying for Uncle Nate again and meeting Aunt Larry (LaRissa) on Friday.

--Getting flowers from Auntie Melanie and Uncle Rob.

--Taking a few trips out of the house, including the MSU dairy store, Mom's work, Babies R Us and Target. Elliott seems to like his carseat and tends to sleep in the car and coo happily when he is awake. This bodes well for our plans to visit Aunt Melanie in Connecticut before my leave is over.

--Meeting lots of Daddy's family on Sunday at Breanne's birthday party. We surprised Great Grandma Wiacek (Busia) and got to wear Elliott's custom onesie that Melanie painted with the Polish flag that says "Cuteski." Grandma loved it, and Elliott looked like a little man in his Old Navy jeans and hooded sweatshirt. Aunt Patti was especially impressed at how cute Elliott is and agrees with me that he is a pretty baby.

--Having a few instances of 3-hour naps at night.

--Projectile pooping from his changing table to the door of his nursery (about 4.5 feet) this morning. Sorry, no pictures of that. Our son has amazing intestinal skills. He farts and poops like it is his job. Well, it sort of is...

Uncle Nate and I both have our braces on now. We are both looking forward to NOT having braces by the time Elliott's first birthday rolls around.

The very nice nurse at my appointment today said "Well Mom, looks like you lost out in the gene pool." when she saw Elliott and his Daddy. Elliott also crosses his feet at the ankles (a classic Dave pose) and sneezes in 2's like Dave as well. He is wide-eyed like I was as a baby, though, and he is definitely strong willed like yours truly.

But then, there are times like the one below... After a nice meal of "Mommy Milk" I have this beautiful little face looking up at me. *sigh* Who needs sleep, right?

Elliott with two T's.

2007-10-18T08:08:00.000-05:00

Elliott's Official "One Week" Picture.

We took our first adventure on Monday to take Aunt Meredith to the Battle Creek train station. Elliott slept the whole way there and also slept through a freight train going by (with Aunt Meredith covering his ears). So much for "sssssh, baby's sleeping!" Then the real adventure began because he got hungry and there was no quiet corner of the BC Amtrak parking lot for me to feed him, so we drove around downtown BC for a little while trying to find someplace where I could feed him. We ended up in someone's employee parking lot during shift change. Hopefully I didn't flash too many workers. Oops.

Elliott loves his swing, and eating his hands. It is usually cute, but when I am trying to feed him and he is crying and trying to put his hands in his mouth I have to tell him not to play defense!

There are a couple of hours every day that he is all wide awake and cute like this. :)

Mac, Ryanne and Zoe came to visit on Sunday with their parents and our good friends Petey and Corbie. They brought pizza. Mmmm. Elliott was kind enough to both fart and poop while Zoe was holding him. This was majorly funny for a 6-year-old.

The sun came out yesterday, so we ventured out and took a walk. Our stroller rocks, Dave hogged it and wouldn't let me push, but let me pose for a picture.

Elliott loves getting a bath now! Thank goodness, because it's one of my all-time favorite baby things to do.

We're doing pretty well without an extra set of hands, although we are both pretty excited to have Carolyn and Dave visit and for another set of weekend visitors. We ventured out to the baby store to buy another couple of hairbrushes (all of the crazy baby stuff we have, and only one hairbrush...) and exchange some Pampers for some Huggies. I prefer the Huggies and frankly, they're cheaper!

Elliott projectile pooped on David yesterday. It was freakin' HILARIOUS! He went through three outfits in one day, just like everyone said would happen. He's a gassy little dude, and I find myself being that mother who is cheering her baby on while he grunts and struggles to fart. Hey, when you have a newborn baby and he cries until he farts, you are EXCITED about farting in a way you never have been before.

And finally, I call this Elliott's "milk coma" face. When I know that freight trains can go by and he will sleep through because his tummy is full of "mommy milk."

One Week.

2007-10-15T18:33:00.001-05:00

Here we are! Elliott Milton is one week old today (the computer froze last night before I could hit "post"... sorry!) and I think I am finally feeling like myself again. There are lots and lots of words to write about the incredible emotional roller coaster the last week has been, but I know ya'll are much more interested in pictures.

I will say just a few things... I put on my pre-pregnancy jeans this morning and they FIT. And my Mom is the most amazing woman I have ever met in my entire life. She left today and while I know that we will be fine, I cried anyway. I seriously don't know how I would have made it through the last week without her. I knew my husband was going to be a great dad, but he is awesome. I feel like I have a superpower now that Elliott and I are breastfeeding successfully. Ladies and gentlemen, I make MILK. Whoa. I miss my sister Melanie terribly and a road trip to Connecticut is looking more and more like a great idea. My sister Meredith was here all weekend and I hope I haven't scared her away from motherhood permanently. Mary Frog Toes visited twice and it was SO good to see her. David's friends Petey and Corbie came by yesterday and brought DINNER--a mark of people who have done this crazy "new baby in the house" thing before. I love fall and I love cuddling my baby boy in a blanket and taking him for a walk in my neighborhood with crunchy leaves underfoot. Instincts are way more important than all of the reading I have done.... And all of those cliches about motherhood and loving something more than you ever thought possible. All true. I love Dave, I love my family, I am passionate about many things, but my son Elliott Milton is absolutely the most important thing I have done in my entire life.

Ok, now pictures. :)

We had this amazing resident who took pictures throughout the C-section. Although I was having contractions when we checked into the hospital, Elliott was definitely not coming out naturally. He was so high up in my abdomen that they had to use a vacuum to move him down so they could nab him out. He came out peeing a ton. The C-section was scary, but a week later I am really glad that things worked out this way. Other than an achy incision site, I am feeling like myself. Although Monday-Wednesday are pretty much a blur for me.

He still looks at us with just one eye when he is sleepy or just waking up. It's super cute.

We had this amazing nurse named Molly at the hospital that helped us console our inconsolable baby by swaddling and side-swaying. Tactics from the book "Happiest Baby on the Block." Since my milk came in, we have ditched the pacifier and have a whole new baby. I call him Elliott 2.0.

Elliott HAS to have his hands in his face. SO cute.

Mary Frog Toes was the first one to realize the three of us hadn't had our picture taken together! Thanks FT!

I'll post more pictures later... Promise!

B-Day Arrives!

2007-10-08T21:09:00.000-05:00

Elliott Milton Scott
9 lbs., 2 ozs.
20.7 inches
Born 2:34 P.M.
2007-October-08

- posted by Uncle Nate

Today.

2007-10-08T05:02:00.000-05:00

Our C-section is scheduled for 7 hours and 52 minutes from now. This means I am officially forbidden from drinking or eating anything. That's why I'm up at 6am writing in the blog instead of spending as much time as possible sleeping. I got up and had a bowl of cereal and some apple cider. Yeah, sure, I got up to eat... that, and I'm nervous as hell.

Runa Kitty is keeping me amused by chasing a moth around the dining room. She's not usually an active cat, but she is leaping and bounding like a kitten, making me smile, and feel a little bad for her. She's my favorite thing about coming home right now, and she has no idea how close she is to losing that status.

Everything sounds all poetic in my brain, but my fingers can't make it sound pretty as I type. I'm having a baby today. I'm all of those things I think I should be... nervous, scared, excited, emotional, anxious, happy, relieved... but there isn't a word for "whirlwind of emotions that change by the nanosecond."

I started my weekend off by getting a 5pm pedicure with my favorite co-worker Beth. So my toes are orange, my thought being that the next time I think about my toenails will likely be Halloween, and then I'll be all set. Beth bought me Cold Stone and we talked about just letting work go and leaving behind anything undone and any question marks about how things will look/feel/be when I return. Three months is a long time, and any work thoughts are now officially allowed to be far from my mind.

David and I woke up on Saturday and picked up the house, did some last minute cleaning and then got out of the house for the afternoon. It was freakin' HOT. Who would have thought that I'd still be wearing my preggo shorts and tank tops in October?! A good thing, I guess, because they are comfortable and I never did find a pair of preggo jeans that I liked. Anyway, we had breakfast at the Eagles, returned the big box of newborn diapers we'd purchased a while ago to the baby store and bought size 1's (up to 15 pounds...), and drove to the outlet mall about 25 minutes away to go to the Carter and Osh Kosh and Children's Place outlets. Carter's was a bust (the baby store prices are better, actually...) and the Children's Place was so crowded we put down the few things we'd picked up and left. Osh Kosh was good to us; you just can't beat classic Osh Kosh overalls for $7, that's ridiculously cheap.

Serendipity was bumping into our friends Jessica and Brian and their 6-month-old Sawyer in the Osh Kosh store! I didn't do a mass email when we found out about the C-section, so she was like, "I was just wondering if you were still pregnant!" Sawyer is a smiley, happy, red-headed, blue-eyed wonderbaby. Seriously, he is SO adorable, and makes me so excited to have a son. Jessica's advice? "Um, sleep ALL DAY tomorrow. Seriously. Even if you're not tired and want to get up, just sleep more."

Perhaps I should have taken her advice, but I had left quite a mess at my desk on Friday. I knew I'd feel better just coming in over the weekend and leaving things "done" without rushing. I ended up staying for far too long, and crying at the sheer reality of not working for three months as I was leaving, and repositioning my stapler and tape dispenser three times before I walked out, driving David insane. I had to leave one thing "undone" for my colleague, which makes me feel bad, but I just need to LET IT GO. I'm pretty sure it's not going to matter in a few hours.

Wow, this is getting long. Anyway, we're checking into Sparrow at noon. Our delivery is scheduled for 2pm, but we're fully aware that if someone needs an emergency procedure, we'll get bumped back. Hopefully that won't happen, I'm ready to meet my son. Dr. Tucker was very reassuring. Baby Cute will stay with us the entire time and David will get to hold him while I get sewn up and then I'll get to try my hand (or boob?...) at breastfeeding in the recovery room. We'll stay 2 or 3 days depending on how we're healing and other than having an incision instead of a sore girly region, I'm going to be fine. As "cheated" as I feel about not going into labor, the thought is growing on me. No one who has given birth has commiserated with me--they tell me NOT to feel bad. And there's a part of me that's glad we're just doing it rather than waiting for it to happen, laboring for 20 hours and then doing this anyway.

Here's the advice I've received that I'm keeping in mind:
--I'm probably going to throw up.
--It's going to hurt, just take the pain medication.
--Get up and walk as soon as possible. It's going to hurt, but do it anyway.
--Accept help. And pain medicine.
--Don't push it.
--Stay in the hospital and let the nurses take care of you for as long as possible.
--All of this is totally worth it, I get to be a Mommy today.

I'm designating Uncle Nate to be the official picture and news poster and he is planning to visit tonight, so there should be news today, just not uploaded by yours truly.

Thanks, everyone, for all of your thoughts and well wishes. We're going to play this by ear, but I know we'll be ready for visitors eventually, and we can't wait to introduce you to our son.

A Mommy on Monday.

2007-10-03T12:28:00.000-05:00

Baby Cute's Birthday will be Monday, October 8, 2007.

He has been doing a VERY good job of growing and now weighs 9 lbs, 13 ozs. That's 10 pounds to you and me. He's not dropping into my pelvis because he's too big. He's at a high risk of shoulder dystocia and the risks for me and my girly parts are scary and painful to even think about, much less experience.

So we're just going to drive to the hospital on Monday at noon, check in, have a baby around 2pm and go home a couple of days later.

I'll be a Mommy on Monday.

Someone stole our baby.... pumpkin!

2007-10-01T13:08:00.000-05:00

After many busy weekends, we woke up on Saturday morning and stared at each other. No rooms to paint, showers to attend, errands to run, floors to finish or places to travel. This is where David and I are different.

"Really?" David asked. "We can just hang out around the house?"

"Weeeeeel," I said. "I would like to go to the pumpkin patch to get some cider and donuts and apples." (I know my husband well enough to know that if there are baked goods, he is more likely to go along.)

So we went to the Country Mill in Char-latte'. It was fun. We drank cider and people-watched and picked out a Daddy, Mommy and Baby Pumpkin. Baby Pumpkin was especially cute.

SOMEONE is ready to be a Daddy....

We got home on Saturday afternoon to find our neighborhood brigade of children raking EVERYONE'S leaves. They asked if they could rake ours. Um, yes. Turns out they were collecting a street-full of leaves for a gigantic leaf pile. I was happy to have my front yard raked AND contribute to the fun going on outside. In fact, I even became "that neighbor-lady" again and gave them all apple cider. And they didn't drink and run. Nope. They sat down, 7 of them, on my front porch stairs and drank their cider and talked. They told me where their bedroom windows were, about class trips to Cider Mills and about who came to watch them when their respective Mommies went to the hospital to give birth to their siblings. Bailey (my favorite) looked me right in the eye and told me that the cider was so good, it tasted just like when you bite into an apple. It was sunny and breezy outside. The apple cider was extra delicious. It makes me smile just thinking about my Baby Cute growing up in our neighborhood.

I also met another neighbor! Anne lives around the corner from us and has a daughter Bailey's age. She also has a son in high school AND a 13-year-old daughter who would just LOVE to babysit. She's even taken the American Red Cross babysitting class (which I took myself around age 13). She's going to drop by so we can meet her daughter sometime. Hooray! Now, I know we have family members eager for quality Baby Cute time, but it will be nice to have someone who is just around the corner for the occasional date night with my husband that all of the parenting magazines and books tell you to make sure to plan for the health and well-being of your marriage. It was a fun, serendipity conversation and Anne's kids all attend local Catholic schools, too. Two of them were born in October. We have such nice neighbors!

Dave left in the early evening to bartend a party. I took a tour of the neighbor girls' new "house" they had laid out with leaves. I updated my Facebook profile. I did some Baby Cute laundry and got his cradle ready to go. I ate chips and dip (mmmm) and drank, like, 4 containers of water (mmmm). And then I talked to my Mack. My friend, Mack, is far away in Albany, New York, and I miss her madly. We caught up after a few months of being slacker phone friends until I started yawning and then I headed to bed.

Now, for the title of this post. Dave got home on Saturday night/Sunday morning and our pumpkins were happily lined up on our porch stairs. When he headed out to get the newspaper on Sunday morning... Baby Pumpkin was GONE! *sigh* I'm glad he's just GONE rather than smashed on my driveway or something, but David's belief that "an animal took it" just isn't cutting it with me. We're going to have to get another Baby Pumpkin; even though I was pretty attached to our original.

Yesterday was my last shift at the Baby Store. I start my official maternity leave today. It was bittersweet, because I love working there. BUT, I worked the service desk yesterday, which meant I was on my feet for 4 hours straight and doing much more physical activity than usual. I made Dave take my picture. It's not flattering, but hey. Pregnancy is limited in its glamour and fabulousness.

Speaking of that, I feel fine. Still pregnant. My secretary announced "You're having a baby this month!" when I came in this morning. Yep, I am! Took a nice, slow walk to lunch with my friend Beth for a chicken Caesar salad (mmmmm) and lemonade.

We have our growth ultrasound and 39-week check on Wednesday. The average first pregnancy is 41.5 weeks, so I'm not holding my breath until Baby Cute makes his appearance. Am I anxious? Yes. Am I ready... Hmmm, will I ever be? Does it matter?

My body just doesn't feel "ready" yet. I don't know if that will change, but for right now, no news is good news. I am really enjoying this quality time with my hubby.... It feels good to just BE. Hang tight, everyone. If we have news, you can be sure you'll find it here!

What will YOU be doing 2 weeks from today?

2007-09-26T13:39:00.000-05:00

Whoa. 13 days and counting. Everyone keeps asking:

"any day now, huh?" or

"is your bag packed?" and

"getting excited?" or

"are you nervous?"

My answers are:

"Maybe, but probably not. My body doesn't "feel" ready yet."

"Yes, mostly."

"Yes, I'm really looking forward to meeting him" and

"Eh, not really. He's gotta come out one way or another!"

My Mom was kind enough to bring my Grandmas and Aunt Cynthia to visit on Saturday afternoon. It was a good excuse to clean the house and get the nursery in order after the great baby stuff washing marathon of 2007. My grandmas oohed and aahed their way around the house and shared stories of their pregnancies, childbirth experiences and first homes. We ventured over to west Lansing for Red Robin hamburgers (delish!) and bottomless steak fries. It was very fun having them there, but when it was time for them to leave I wanted my Mom to stay! I forget that my Mom has introverted tendencies like my sister, Melanie, so she was quiet through a lot of the visit. I know we'll have time together after BBC arrives, but talking to my Mom always makes me feel better. More relaxed. And a little more prepared for all of this.

Me and my grandmas. :) My Mom also managed to stay out of the few pictures we took!

The car seat is installed, and David had installed it correctly! Way to go, Cute!

I feel good, but man am I PREGNANT. Rolling over in bed is quite a chore. I put a stepstool next to our super-fluffy mattress so it's easier for me to get in and out of bed at night. It really helps with my achy pelvis. I know things are spreading out and loosening and all of that jazz, but it still surprises me just how much my hips hurt these days. Pregnancy is a neverending journey of surprises, that's for sure.

I'm down to about 4 pairs of pants/shorts that are comfortable and I'm living in my black flip flops. On the few cooler days we've had, my brown sandals fit, too.

The "end of the road" fatigue has set in. I'm a pretty consistent napper after work every day. It's nice having David home. He drops me off at work (close to the door!), makes sure I have lunch and snacks (and iced tea!), encourages me to lay down after work for an hour, cooks dinner and rubs my back at night to help me get back to sleep after my achy runs to pee.

I'm a lucky, lucky gal. I know a lot of women handle pregnancy alone or with asshole husbands. It's nice to have a true partner in this journey. Hell, I know if David could trade places with me, he would. Not that I want to, but he would. He's that amazing.

The $1.59 bottles of Lipton iced tea were adding up, so we bought an iced tea maker for $19.99 at Meijer this weekend. I think it's already paid for itself. Mmmmm, iced tea.

Other than the fatigue and achiness, the surprising thing is that I'm not hungry. I have to remind myself to eat. I'm thirsty all the time and want to drink EVERYTHING. Yesterday, I brought a 32 oz. waterbottle full of iced tea, a travel mug of milk, a quart of apple cider and a bottle of Frappucino in with me to work. There's still some apple cider left in the fridge, but the rest was gone by 1 and I was already on my second 32 ounces of delicious Culligan water from the office cooler. I know! It's nuts! If I get a craving of any kind it's for something sweet.

Adding to my lack of appetite is the delightful addition of a rubberband to my orthodontic regimen. The whole right side of my face ACHES now. Right, because I need another part of my body aching right now. David assures me that like everything else, the pain will subside in a few days. For right now, it stinks. And "Dear Mr. Tylenol: Your product blows. Ibuprofen is a far superior product, thanks for subpar pain relief that is safe for my fetus."

I'm definitely more emotional and, I'll say it, a tad unpredictable in my moods. One moment I wish everyone and their brother would call me to see how I am and tell me about their lives and the next minute I don't want to talk to anyone. I finally caught up with my sister Meredith this week and that felt marvelous. But I'm already not a very good phone person, so these "eh" moods I've been in aren't improving that skill.

We finished up our childbirth class without incident. Our instructor was kind of a wet blanket and we didn't learn anything earth-shattering, but I am still glad we took the class. This final week we talked about postpartum recovery, newborn characteristics (they want us to be prepared for a cone-headed, puffy-faced, pock-marked, vernix-covered little old man baby, not the plump, perfect babies they show in the movies) and feeding. I took a whole breastfeeding class a couple of weeks ago, too. Now, it's time to "learn by doing" I guess.

The pack 'n play is set up in the spare room. No, it's not a Kolocraft, so it's not one of the recalled ones. This is daytime napping and changing central in my head. I had to take a doll to my breastfeeding class, so my two favorites are holding BBC's spot for him. I just can't stand to take them back downstairs and put them in the big yellow trash bags in the shelving unit...

My Mom leaves for Connecticut tomorrow to help my sister Melanie move into her new and non-University apartment! She's gone until Tuesday, so as much as my secretary keeps teasing me about going into labor BBC needs to stay put until at least next Wednesday. I think my Mom needs a respite day after travel. That and I have stories about switchgrass, the UP experiment station and manure slurry seeding to write before I say "Hasta" to work for a while. That reminds me, I need to get back to work.

Here are my 38 week updates! The updates now come with a link to change your "due date" to a "birth date" so they can start sending me baby information. Yeah. Whoa. And all those cute "developmental" pictures they used to send? Now, they just look like a crowded baby all stuffed into some poor woman's abdomen. BBC is as active as ever. More squirmy than kicky, but definitely making my belly move in some interesting patterns. It could be all of the iced tea, or he could be as excited as I am to meet face-to-face.

BabyCenter: Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs between 6 and 7 1/2 pounds (boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls), and she's nearly 20 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

BabyGaga: As you know, you've arrived at the final leg of your pregnancy journey, and if you're still carrying your little love around, they've just about reached their birth weight (somewhere between 6 to 8 pounds is average depending on whether they're a boy or girl). There really isn't a lot to report on baby this week, so lets do a quick recount of where we're at: all internal organ systems are pretty much ready for the outside world, they've got their meconium stockpile building up (their first black baby poo), lots of healthy baby fat, a rapidly developing brain (that'll keep growing with them for years to come), and they've more or less reached official baby status-- all they need to do is "head out" and say hello to the rest of the world and especially their ready-to-pop momma.

News from the homefront.

2007-09-25T09:22:00.000-05:00

David is done with his work at the testing center for a while, so he is chief cook and bottlewasher at home. He just called to report that he installed the car seat this morning. He is taking it to be inspected by the car seat experts at the hospital today. The national statistics are that 8 of 10 car seats are installed improperly. Fascinating, huh?

BBC had a super active night yesterday. He must love Prison Break's Michael Skofield (Wentworth Miller) as much as I do. And he must know that his Daddy's favorite show, Heroes, had its season premiere last night. There was some major baby booty squirming going on in my abdomen. And when I needed to just CRY and get some of this mommy-to-be anxiety off my chest before going to sleep last night, BBC was as active as ever. I'm his Mommy. Dave is his Daddy. We're going to be fine.

I feel much better today. Our last childbirth class is tonight. My to-do list at work is shrinking slowly, yet steadily. I find myself easily distracted by thoughts of sitting in my glider rocker with a baby on my lap singing him lullabies. I can practice by going here.

So much more to say, but not a lot of time for blogging today.

Changes in latitude, changes in attitude.

2007-09-24T08:57:00.001-05:00

Baby Cute needs to head south. That's pretty much what we walked away with this morning at our appointment. He's still up above my belly button and almost appears to be sideways. None of the other docs have seemed to be concerned that I haven't dropped, but Dr. Kelley was. We'll know more next week, unless I go into labor between now and then.

I gained a half of a pound, BBC's heart rate was 140, my blood pressure is high, but not spiking toward pre-eclampsia levels. My feet are swollen and my right hand is pretty consistently prickly, which is normal, but annoying. It's getting harder for me to sleep at night.

I had a great weekend, but more about that later. We go back next Wednesday for our growth ultrasound and check-in with Dr. Tucker. Perhaps she will wear her pink alligator shoes, that would make me happy.

I'm tired. I choose to believe that my body was made to push this baby out, no matter his size or position. I'm prepared for the possibility that that won't happen, but for now, let's think positive.

Boring is good...

2007-09-20T07:10:00.000-05:00

My appointment yesterday was lickity split. No weight gain, blood pressure "a little high" but lower than last time I was in, no protein in my pee and baby's heartrate strong in the 140's. BBC and I celebrated our successful 37-week appointment with two cheeseburgers with extra pickles from Burger King and a KING size iced tea. Yes, the iced tea addiction continues. Frappucino and iced tea. I can't get enough.

I hate admitting that I need to slow down, but I need to slow down. It's becoming almost necessary for me to lay down for a while after work. I remember the fatigue of first trimester feeling so oppressive, but this is different. My bones are so achy and I feel extra puffy by mid-afternoon and I am SO ready to go home at 5pm. At our childbirth class, a woman asked if she should plan on taking any time off before her due date. The woman sitting next to me replied that she is going on leave 2 weeks before her due date. Huh? I'd much rather have time with BBC than time waiting for BBC. That's just me, but the doctor assured the woman who asked that many people work up until they deliver. That's my plan, too.

I did figure out how to get my holiday pay. The Family Medical Leave Act is so confusing, but luckily the helpful folks here in human resources have dealt with many preggo ladies who don't want to lose holidays that they've earned. For Thanksgiving, I forgot to add my sick and vacation accruals for September and November to my estimates, so I should be safely still on paid leave until Thanksgiving, which means I qualify for my pay. For Christmas and New Year's, basically, I need to work on my birthday, Friday, December 21. If I work that day and come back before 10 additional unpaid days pass, I'll get Christmas and New Year's pay. Hooray! Four days is a lot of time, dudes! And my birthday is pretty easy to miss anyway with it being so close to Christmas, so we'll just celebrate outside of the 8am-5pm timeframe.

My Mom is planning to bring my Grandmas to come and visit on Saturday. Just thinking about seeing them makes me smile. Dave and I both work tonight (my last weeknight at the baby store!) and Dave works tomorrow and Saturday at the bar. So I'll be glad to be distracted by my fabulous Grandmas and Mom for a while on Saturday. :)

My to-do list is staring at me, but I am past a couple of projects that were really holding me up. Now, as I tick things off the list, additional things aren't being added. It's so weird.

Here are my 37-week updates. Pretty freakin' exciting.

BabyCenter: Congratulations — your baby is full term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away.Your baby weighs a little over 6 pounds and measures between 19 and 20 inches, head to heel. Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

BabyGaga: It’s the calm before the storm. Changes in your baby's weight have leveled off with only a few ounces of fat added this week. At this point your baby should weigh in at around 7 lbs and 20 inches (with boys somewhat heavier and longer than girls). Happily, as far as internal organs go, they are now developed enough to function in the outside world although the oh-so-important immune system is still developing and will continue to do so after birth. With a large boost of antibodies provided by breast milk when nursing begins. Fighting infection and staying healthy should be well within their physical capacity when your little fighter is born.

Happy, too.

2007-09-19T08:58:00.001-05:00

So as emotional as I am, let's not forget that I am happy most of the time. Hell, we're having a baby! :)

So here are some photos to combat my teary morning post. Including your one and only chance to see my bare belly on the INTAR-WEB. I was telling Dave last night that I don't even remember what my belly used to look like. And I certainly don't have any photos of my bare belly of yesteryear. Anyway, my stomach is this hybrid fat/pregnant/stretched out thing that is absolutely amazing to me. Perhaps the oddest thing is how hard it is. The uterus is an amzing muscle. BBC is about where my thumbs meet, and my belly button hasn't popped out yet, so I'm not officially "done" like a Thanksgiving turkey.

And see? I told you I was having a good morning today! Happy as a clam (and still on time at this point)!

And here are my laundry pictures from last week. BBC's coming home outfit is washed and packed in his diaper bag. It was still weird to wash it.

Auntie Melanie bought BBC this gown very early in my pregnancy. It says "BabySaurus" on the front and has little dinos all over it. It's my favorite and he will wear it the first night he is home from the hospital. Now, it's clean and folded neatly on the top of the "footless gown" pile in his dresser.

I don't have any room in his bottom "bedding" drawer for anything but blankets. Enough said.
I do love blankets...

My side profile last week... Grow big BBC! Oh, and let me also mention that if I could live in those khaki/pink shorts, I would.

Almost time to leave for my appointment. Updates and the customary 37-week update to come! A quick preview... the baby is officially "full term," his job is getting chubby.