6 Random Things

As a rule, I don't do those blog tag things where a friend tags you and you have to answer questions on your blog. I'm just a party pooper in that respect. However, my friend Shauna tagged me about a million years ago, and this time the tag was just to write 6 random things about yourself on your blog. Seeing as all I do is blog random things, I figured it would be a good way for me to post the little random things that don't really fit in a full post. It has taken me several months to get around to writing the post, but here it is. I'm still pooping on the party in that I'm not actually following the rules of the tag. If you care, you'll have to check her blog to see what the rules actually were... :) In any case, here are 6 random things about me, in no particular order:

No Popsicles for This Girl
It's not that I don't like popsicles. It's that I cannot stand the wooden stick that they're on being in my mouth! I also can't stand licking a wooden spoon. Ugh. Even the very thought of putting anything wooden in my mouth literally makes me shudder, like fingernails on a chalkboard. I am, in fact, kind of freaking out by typing this, so let's move on.

Pet Names for Elias
The two most common endearments I use for Elias are Darlin' and Punkin (often lengthened to Punkinhead). Others that I use frequently are Sweetie Boy, Cutie, Baby Man, Precious, and Baby Fella. I will often string them together to make one long name for him, like "Mommy's Little Sweetie Precious Darlin' Baby Punkinheaded Boy." He likes it! Whenever he's fussy, he's Dr. Crankenstein, Cranky McCrankerson, or Mr. Fussypants. He doesn't like that as much.

Turkey, Ham, or Carrots?
When I was pregnant, I wrote a post about how my food tastes had changed during pregnancy. This is common and not at all unexpected. What I didn't expect, however, was for them to keep changing after he was born. Unfortunately, I no longer crave carrots and I still can't stand to eat fish (except salmon and canned tuna). But the strange thing is that I now like lunchmeat, which I never did before Elias was born. I would eat it if there was nothing else, but there was certainly no love lost when I couldn't eat it during pregnancy. But now I really like lunchmeat sandwiches! Turkey on whole wheat with cheddar cheese, mayo, mustard, and pickles... Mmmmmmmm.

Pronunciation Peeve
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people consistently mispronouce common words in the English language. The ones that come immediately to mind are nuclear, mischievous, and often. The vast majority of the population mispronounces these words, and that drives me crazy! Especially the first two, which you would pronounce correctly if you just said them the way they are spelled! Who started mispronouncing them in the first place, and how did it get to be so widespread? I have no idea.

Poor Simón
This kind of fits in with the previous point, but I think it's different enough that it deserves a point of its own. The town I live in is Bolivar, Missouri. It was named after Simón Bolivar, a South American liberator in the 1800s. There is a statue of him on our main strip (See photo at right.), and the mascot at the high school is the Liberators in his honor. And yet, the name of our town is not pronounced boh-lee-var, the way his name is. It's pronounced bah-lih-ver, like Oliver with a B. No one I have asked has been able to explain this to me. But I feel like it's a pretty poor way to honor someone by saying "We want to name our town after you, but we don't like the way it's pronounced, so we're going to pronounce it our own way." I don't get it.

Bugs and Dogs
I don't know if it has to do with getting older or with becoming a parent, but I have in the past year or two developed a real fear of bugs and dogs. Well, I'm not so much afraid of bugs as I just can't stand them in my house or on me. The house we live in now sat empty for a while before we moved in, and it had quite a colony of spiders that I think we have finally killed most of now that we've lived here over two months. But I just cannot stand them in my stuff, and I just get furious when I find them in the baby's room. I will not stand for some nasty spider crawling on and potentially biting my son! The fear of dogs is an actual fear, which I think began over a year ago when we were still living in Waco and I was chased by loose dogs while riding my bike. I don't think I ever blogged about that, but it was really scary and I don't think I've quite recovered. I guess my fear is actually loose dogs, not all dogs. I don't have any kind of problem with a pet dog in someone's home, but I definitely have a fight-or-flight reaction anytime I see a dog loose on the street, even if it does have a collar on.

So anyways, I guess that's enough randomness for one day! I hope you learned something of interest about me.

Healthy as He Can Be

I just wanted to pop in with a report from our doctor's appointment yesterday! Elias is officially as healthy as he can be! Here are his 4 month stats:

Weight: 16 lbs, 10 oz
Height: 26"
Head: 17"

It's funny because all three of his measurements are in the 75th percentile. The doctor said "He's perfectly symmetrical!" :) I am thrilled that he's growing so well - it definitely makes a mama feel good.

His height makes him now technically too tall for his infant carrier. Well, shoot - hadn't anticipated that. So we're going to have to start shopping for a carseat. He'll have to stay in the carrier, though, until he can sit up on his own because I need some way of being able to tote him around the grocery store! I'm sure the carrier won't immediately stop working just because my son is 26 inches tall.

Elias has also officially been labelled as "strong-willed." He earned this title for two things: screaming through burpings and fussing in the evenings. He has screamed through burpings since day 1, and for quite a long time we were afraid it might have something to do with reflux. He doesn't have any other symptoms of reflux, though, and his appetite and weight gain are good. So the doctor said he's "probably just impatient to keep eating." Well, ok. We have also struggled with him fussing in the evenings for at least the past 2 months, and a different pediatrician told us it was probably just colic and he'd grow out of it. However, babies generally outgrow colic by 3 months, and Elias' fussiness is still hanging strong at 4. His isn't near as bad or as long as colicky babies' usually are, so the doctor guessed "it's just his personality." So I asked her if we have any hope of him growing out of that anytime soon. She said give it a couple more months... I'm afraid, though, that this is probably just the beginning of his will exerting itself. Pray for us!

His cradle cap seems to be coming back, so we're going to resume our Head & Shoulders treatment in the hopes of nipping it in the bud before it gets bad. (Kristy, we just do it once a day followed by a moisturizer - we use a lotion called Cetaphil.)

But he's healthy, and the doctor gave us the ok to start solids! He got his immunizations yesterday, so we're going to wait a few days for any side effects from that to pass. But then we'll be starting rice cereal! I can't wait!

Sorry for the long post with no pictures... Good pics to come, I promise!

4 Months!

My precious baby boy is 4 months old today! In some ways I can't believe it's been 4 months already, and in other ways I can't believe it's only been 4 months. I guess that's how it will always be... He is precious and wonderful, though!
He's really enjoying spending more time on his tummy these days! So we do quite a bit of playing that way. He doesn't seem even close to crawling yet, but I'm in NO hurry for him to become mobile! He sure does do a lot of "swimming," though, with his arms and legs flailing. It is awesome. Maybe I can get a video of it one of these days. Please pay no attention to the nasty string of drool hanging off his chin. No matter how many times I wipe his chin, there is ALWAYS more slobber there.
He just yesterday started making the most hilarious face where he sucks in his bottom lip so his cheeks stick out! CUTE! He has also started making a smacking sound with his mouth, which I tried to capture on video, but our camera didn't get it well. He's making new discoveries, though! He has also started to discover his feet, which he loves to grab at when I have his diaper off on the changing table. (The bulky diaper seems to interfere with his ability to draw his knees up to his chest... Has anybody else who has used these diapers experienced this?!)
If he's not making the cute Cheeky face, he has his fingers in his mouth. All. The. Time. Sometimes we try putting his paci in his mouth to get him to stop sucking on the fingers, but then he just gets both his hand AND the paci in his mouth. Now that's funny.

He has his 4-month checkup on Tuesday, and we're hoping the pediatrician will give us the ok to go ahead and start rice cereal! My big boy on solid foods?! I think he's starting to get ready, and I sure am ready! So I'm sure there will be hilarious pictures and stories about solid foods coming up soon!

Let's Go Racin', Boys

I snapped this photo on Sunday afternoon, and it was too cute not to share. Both my boys were sitting together watching Jimmie Johnson, their favorite driver, almost win the NASCAR race. (Elias is, in fact, wearing his Jimmie Johnson onesie, but you can't see it because his bib is covering it up.) May this be only the first of many special NASCAR moments they share. ;)Disclaimer: We know that it's not recommended for small children to watch TV. He very rarely does, and so we don't think the small amount he sees is enough to be a problem. When we're both wanting to watch something, it's hard to make E look somewhere else!

Not Much to Report

I realized that it had been a week since I posted on here, so I wanted to just check in even though there's not much to report. My Pampered Chef show went GREAT, and I now have three Cooking Shows and a Catalog Show booked for the next 2 weeks. Yay! I'm thrilled that my business is off to a good start!

Elias is doing pretty well. He's still struggling with a stuffy nose and sneezing, and we're starting to wonder if maybe it isn't allergies instead of a cold. He has his 4 month checkup next week (4 months already?!), so we'll ask the doctor if he isn't better by then.

He went to the church nursery for the second time this morning, so we'll see how the rest of the day goes. We're a little nervous because he didn't sleep at ALL in the nursery, when usually he sleeps 2 or more hours at that naptime. Soooooo, that may be a disaster. I just wonder what happened because when I left him there, he was in a crib and almost asleep. But when I went back to check on him an hour later, he was playing on an activity mat and they said he didn't sleep at all. Hmm. They also, for some reason, only fed him half of his bottle, so we fed the rest to him when we got home. I'm trying to make myself be rational about the fact that these people are volunteers and they're helping me out of the kindness of their hearts. I cannot expect them to take care of him exactly the same way I would - if I want that, I should just stay home with him myself. They do a good job, especially with the large number of babies they have, and I need to be thankful for their help, not irritated about him not napping or whatever. The older he gets, the more he'll be used to going to nurseries, and the easier it will be to be flexible with our schedule.

On the other hand, we had a great time in Sunday School and church, and it was nice to not have to worry about him being taken care of. In church this morning, we had a guest harpist, who not only was amazingly skilled (The harp looks SO hard to play!) but had an awesome testimony.

So I guess I've rambled enough for now. Hopefully this week I'll put some more pictures up, which we all know is why anybody ever looks at my blog... :)

Pajama Party

When Elias was tiny, the weather was really hot, so he just slept in a t-shirt with a light blanket over him. Once he got active enough that he kicked the blanket off, he graduated to a t-shirt and pants. Now this week in Missouri we got the after-effects of Hurricane Gustav, which brought a lot of rain and much cooler nights. So Elias has started sleeping in bonafide pajamas, and he is SO CUTE!!! For his first night in pajamas, he slept in some St. Louis Cardinals pajamas that our friend Tanya brought him when she came to visit a couple weeks ago. (She said now that he's a Missouri boy, he had to root for the Cards!) I couldn't decide which of these pictures I thought was cuter, so I just posted them both!She gave him a cute set that had matching booties and a blanket, and they are all displayed here in the pictures. (I turned the blanket over so Elias wouldn't just blend in since it is the same material as his PJs.)

The change in the weather also had the unpleasant effect of giving Elias a little cold! He has had a stuffy nose and has been coughing a little bit, and the drainage has been upsetting his tummy a bit. My poor little guy! We kept him out of the nursery this morning just in case he was contagious, but he already seems better today than he did yesterday. Hopefully he's on the mend!

We Should Charge Admission...

...to this gun show!Elias was stylin' this week in the cute sleeveless romper (Thanks, Nana!) that shows off his guns. ("Guns" is a slang word for arm muscles, in case anyone is confused...) In fact, he wore it to WalMart and there were some college girls checking him out! :) Please don't mind the drool mark running down the front of it... This child slobbers more than I would've ever imagined possible. The doctor said it's just because he doesn't have any teeth to hold it in his mouth, which is also why old people drool. The things you learn...

In other news, I got my Pampered Chef New Consultant Kit in the mail today, and it's like Christmas! I am SO EXCITED about all the neat stuff in it! My Debut Cooking Show is going to be next Thursday, and I can't wait!

Church Nursery

Oh man, yesterday was HARD. In case you didn't guess from the title of this post, we put Elias in the church nursery for the first time yesterday. Neither of us really wanted to, but we had no reason NOT to, and we figured that no matter how long we wait it's not going to get any easier. So we arrived early and I went in with him for about 10 minutes. I was comforted by the security system they have in place to make sure nobody walks away with my child, and they in fact gave me a beeper to wear so they can buzz me if I'm needed. Awesome. That kept me from going back every 10 minutes to check and make sure he was ok. Something I'd never seen before that I really liked about this nursery is that they make anybody who goes into the baby rooms take their shoes off in an effort to keep the floors clean. I thought that was great and support it wholeheartedly. So I sat in there for a few minutes and there were plenty of workers in there and they were all kind and understanding of me being a nervous first-time mom. I have no idea how, but I managed to actually walk out of the room and leave him in the nursery while we went to Sunday School. I wasn't able to concentrate very well because I was worried about him, but I still think I concentrated better than I can when I have him with me...

Then between Sunday School and church I stopped by the nursery just to check and see if he was ok. Of course he was. He was in fact just finishing up his bottle, so he was happy as a clam. So we went to church and I was definitely able to focus on worship more than I ever have since he's been born. After the service I snuck out while they were introducing the new members because I couldn't wait to go pick him up! He did fine, and even managed to take a short nap, so all was well. Phew! Nursery success! It can only get better from here.

And now for... the rest of the story.

He was a DISASTER for the rest of the day! I attribute this to two things. First, I'm pretty sure the nice nursery workers held him the entire 2 hours he was in there. So when we got him home and put him in his crib to finish his nap, meltdown. WHY IS NOBODY HOLDING ME!?!?!?! Second, he was seriously sleep deprived. We woke him up from his nap in order to take him to church, and he didn't go back to sleep the way he needed to. Then, after his bottle at the church, he only napped for a half hour when he usually naps for two hours. He's on a pretty predictable routine that we just can't stick to on Sunday mornings. So he usually naps for a total of 4 hours between 7am and 1pm - yesterday, it was only 1 1/2. So that makes one tired baby boy. Too tired, in fact, to be able to go to sleep once we got home. He would nod off and then snap awake screaming. Didn't want to be held, didn't want to lay in his crib, didn't want to sit in his swing - very unusual for my easygoing baby. So it was a rough afternoon, but we did manage to get back on schedule for his normal naps in the afternoon and evening, then he slept great last night. So hopefully we'll get it figured out how to keep Sundays from being a disaster!

I do want to say, though, that I have a newfound appreciation for nursery workers. Having worked in a daycare, I already knew how much work it was to watch a whole roomful of small ones. But now I've experienced it from the parent's side too, and it was SO NICE to be able to leave my child in a safe place with trustworthy people so I could have the freedom to worship and study unhindered. Wow. I need to make sure to express that appreciation OFTEN to those who take care of Elias. For those of you who do volunteer in a church nursery - BRAVO!!!