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

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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...