Bad Blogger, Good Mommy.

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.