Kick & WHAT?!

You've seen plenty of pictures of Elias in his Kick & Play. He loves to kick and he loves to play, so this is a pretty appropriate toy for him! He has found yet another fun use for the Kick & Play, though - he loves to fill his diaper while sitting in it. Seriously. I'd say 18 of his last 20 dirty diapers were created while he was sitting in the Kick & Play. Because of this, it has earned the affectionate nickname of the "Kick & Poop." Justin says that he's practically potty trained already, since he mostly only fills his pants in this one place. I'm not going to go that far as to hope that he's aware of what he's doing, but I do think it's pretty funny.

Toot, toot, chugga, chugga

I use iGoogle as my home page because it all in one place displays my email, my Google reader with all the blogs I read, and the current news headlines. (I could have it display much more than that, but that's really all I want to see when I first open up the internet.) I've been using iGoogle for gosh, at least 2 years, and I just absolutely love it. In that time, I have always had it set on the same theme, so it always looked the same every time I opened it. But last week I decided it was time to have a little variety in my life, so I told it to just give me a new random theme every time I open iGoogle. This has been fun, and there have been some cute things, some strange things, and even some disturbing things. I laughed out loud, though, at the theme that popped up when I opened it today!
Yep, it's The Wiggles! I would imagine that most people using iGoogle would be a little too old to like The Wiggles, but apparently there was at least one person who wanted a Wiggles iGoogle theme and created it. On the right side is The Wiggles in their Big Red Car (hence the title of this post), but what I think is really funny is the other characters on the left side of the screen with their arms in the air swaying. Hahahahaha! As fun as The Wiggles are, I can't wait to see what pops up tomorrow! A stay-at-home mom has to get her excitement wherever she can. ;)

Little Buddies

We have a small group at church that has 6 couples in it, and 4 of these couples have babies under 1! (Of the other two couples, one is newlyweds who don't have kids yet, and the other has older girls - ages 2 & 4.) So it is quite a little zoo when we all get together, and so much fun to have friends who are in the exact same stage of life we are in. One of the mommies snapped a picture of all the babies "playing" together at last week's small group, and I couldn't resist sharing. SO CUTE!!! (Click on the picture to see a bigger version.)From left to right: Wyatt (3 months), Noah (6.5 months), Josie (9.5 months), and Elias (4.5 months)

I'm A Good Citizen!

I voted today!

When I went a couple weeks ago to register, the lady at the County Clerk's office saw that I had Elias with me. She said that our precinct is the largest in the county, and the lines to vote are usually hours long. So since I'd have the baby with me, she strongly recommended that I come in and do an absentee ballot beforehand so I wouldn't have to navigate the long wait with what would quickly become a very unhappy baby. So we went to the courthouse today and did an absentee vote, which was quick and easy, and now I have a good conscience because I voted!

There were quite a few others there to do absentee votes - one other family with small kids and several elderly people. They all just smiled and cooed at Elias, who charms people left and right everywhere he goes. One elderly lady was coming in as we were leaving, and she stopped to talk to Elias. She apologized to him that he was going to have to clean up the "hell of a mess our generation has left for you!" Oh my. I told her he'd do his best.

Rice Cereal!

My cutie boy got his first taste of rice cereal today! We've been changing his schedule (dropping the 10pm dream feed), so I decided to wait to start the cereal until we got that set. But he's been on the new schedule since Friday (Now he sleeps from 8:30pm to 7am!), so today we went for it! It was fun!! He did alright with it - wasn't sure exactly what was going on, and was impatient to just finish his meal already! But he did great opening his mouth for the spoon, and I think he swallowed most of what I put in his mouth. So I'll keep it up one meal a day for a little while and see how it goes! Here are a few pics of the occasion for your enjoyment.

5.3 Days Out of My Life!

I'm still pumping my milk for Elias, and we're doing great with that. I had a discovery today, though, that I thought was too funny not to share. I keep track of my pumping on a spreadsheet (Yep, major nerd!), and so I have a record of all my pumps since I started tracking in the middle of August. So September is the first month that I have the full data for. Out of curiosity, I totaled it up to see how long I spent pumping for the month. Oh my.

In the month of September, I pumped 7,672 minutes,
which equals 127.9 hours,
which equals 5.3 days!!!! DAYS!

I spent almost 18% of the month of September pumping! (If I had kept track of how many hours I slept, I would be able to figure out what percentage of my waking hours was spent pumping... That might be too depressing to know that, though...)

I pumped 727 ounces in those 5.3 days, though, so I think that's worth it. LOL! Just had to share.

Wiggle Worm

Elias is really starting to MOVE these days! A few days ago he started doing this wiggle wormy thing, and he manages to get himself all the way across the floor doing it! I captured it on video because it is just too funny! He doesn't cover much ground in this video, but you can at least see the way he moves. He cracks me up with a rattle in each hand! Please, I beg you, before watching the video, turn off your speakers so you don't hear my terribly annoying mommy voice!!

Can I Get An Amen?!

This was the headline of a post on the New York Times Well Blog today:

Dieters Gain More Weight During Pregnancy

Women who have a history of dieting are more likely to experience excessive weight gain during pregnancy, a new study shows.

All I have to say is that I am living proof of this fact!!! I never in my wildest dreams would've imagined that I would gain so much weight during pregnancy, after having worked so hard to lose it all! I'm not going to remark about all the dire risks the article presents for both me and Elias in the future because of my excessive weight gain. What I will comment about, though, is this:

Co-author Anna Maria Siega-Riz said the findings show that women with a history of unhealthy eating behaviors should be offered counseling and extra support to help them achieve a healthy weight during pregnancy.

I definitely think this would be an awesome idea. Nobody at my doctor's office offered any advice on how to keep weight gain on track, and in fact they never even commented on how high my weight was getting! In a way, I appreciated that because I already knew it was terrible and felt bad enough about it already. But having some help in keeping it from getting to that point would've been nice. Hopefully if we end up having a second, I'll be able to do better!

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!!!

Discovering My Inner Chef... And Salesperson!

Last night I took the plunge and did something I have thought about doing for years. I began my career as a Pampered Chef consultant!! I've been loving being able to be a stay-at-home mom, but I also wanted to be able to contribute to the family finances. So in an effort to be able to do both things, I decided the time was right to give this my best shot. I am SO EXCITED about getting started with this! I love to cook, I've always loved Pampered Chef products, and I really want to be able to get out of the house and meet people. So I think this is just the perfect thing for me right now. I'm a little nervous about trying to get started here where I don't know many people, but hopefully the few that I know will be willing to host parties and then we'll be off and running! I just ordered my kit last night, so next week I'll have a Kickoff Celebration cooking show at my house, and then hopefully some of the people that attend that will schedule shows of their own, and voila! We're in business!

Unfortunately, all of my blog readers live too far away for me to be able to come do cooking shows for any of you. (Unless you want to buy me a plane ticket! Ha!) But if any of you would like to help me get started, I will have a website soon where you can order products yourself! It is also possible to do catalog shows long-distance; I would just mail you some catalogs, which you would pass out to your friends and take orders, which I would then submit. So let me know if you're interested in that!

I am thrilled about this new venture, and I am just brimming with ideas on how to make my parties fun and profitable not only for me, but also for my hosts. CAN'T WAIT to get started!

Our First Visitor!

Last weekend we had our first visitor come to see us! (Besides my parents who helped us move in...) We have a friend, Tanya, who we met in Moldova. She was a missionary there, and has since moved to the St. Louis area to work in the stateside operations of her organization. So on Saturday she made the long drive to come visit us and spend the day! We had a LOT of fun catching up, cooking and eating together, and remembering the good times we had in Moldova! Plus, Tanya was excited to finally meet Elias now that he's OUTSIDE my tummy. :) We're so glad you came to visit, Tanya! Come again soon!

How Am I Not Completely Bald?!?!

Just posting a quick note... I didn't realize it had been so long since I've posted anything! I'd better get cracking on some more pictures for your viewing enjoyment! In the meantime, though, this post is about me, not the baby.

I had heard that women whose hair is thicker and healthier while pregnant can expect that it will change after giving birth, and that it will seem to dry up and all fall out at once. So I was prepared and expecting that to happen to me. It happened later than I expected - it didn't start until I was 10 weeks postpartum. Then it was just like my hair all decided to just start falling out! Seriously HANDFULS of it in the shower when I'm washing it! Sorry that's gross, but it's what happened! What I was not prepared for, though, is how long it's lasting! It has been 4 weeks now, and it shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Still just handfuls of it! And every time I brush it or even just run my hands through it, I get several strands! Poor Elias ALWAYS has some of my hair on him - I'm always pulling it out of his hands or picking it off his clothes. I'm afraid he's going to end up with it in his mouth and choke on it! I just can't believe that I have that much hair to lose... I mean, how am I not just completely bald? From what I can tell by looking in the mirror, it doesn't really even look thinner. So where is it coming from, and when will it stop?!?! Nasty!

Rollin'

Elias rolled from his tummy to his back today! That means he's rolling over both ways! I'm so proud of my big boy... :)

Photographic Evidence

My darling baby boy is THREE MONTHS old today! I seriously cannot believe it how much he has grown and developed in three short months! Since I did this post about the new developments E has made, I've been collecting photos to prove it!

Laughing
I still haven't managed to catch any video of him laughing, but I took several pictures of him in the car the other day (Justin was driving!), and a couple look like bonafide smiles! I made them into a little mini-collage of the many faces of Elias.
Grabbing
I have two different photos of this. The first one is Elias on his Activity Mat, which he still loves. There is a little plastic ring on it that rattles when you shake it. Well, instead of just shaking it, Elias likes to use brute strength to actually rip it off the overhead bar, and then he swings it at the duck! Absolutely hilarious. Poor duck. So here's little E slamming the duck with the ring.
And we did manage to get a pic of Elias trying to hold his own bottle. This is the first time he's ever gotten the left hand involved too, although it was more on top than on the correct side. He's done it several more times since then, and I even managed to let him hold it on his own for a few minutes once!

Rolling
Pretty much every time I go into his room at the end of a nap, this is how I find him even though I put him down on his back:He manages to get that arm out from under him every time now, so I consider him to be officially rolling over! He's actually enjoying tummy time a little more now that he can be the one who puts himself on his tummy... He's even sleeping better! I don't know if he just sleeps better on his tummy or if the antibiotics are helping his infection and that's what's making him rest better. Or maybe a combination of both. But either way, it's nice and peaceful around here these days!

Please also notice that now that he's sleeping on his stomach most of the time, he wakes up with this HUGE puddle of drool underneath him. You can see it pretty well in the picture below: Um, yuck! But I can't really stop him from rolling over, and I don't really want to. So, we'll just have to change his sheets more often! :)

I'm so proud of my big, strong, smart 3-month-old!!!

Prayers, Please!

We got a call from the doctor's office today with the results of Elias' urine analysis, and they think he DOES have a urinary tract infection! So we got a prescription antibiotic that we'll start this evening. I am thankful to have caught it this early before it gets bad or causes any damage, but I am pretty nervous about giving my 3-month-old antibiotics! Please, please pray for us that he won't have any reactions to the medicine, that God will heal him quickly, and that the infection won't come back!!

Nursery is DONE!!!

Yippeeeeee! The nursery is done! (Well, almost. I still have to sew on the extra ties for his crib bumper so the bottom ties to the crib as well as the top... I'm not going to make that tiny task keep me from saying the nursery is done!) You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Here is the view from the door of his room:On the left, there is the crib with the comforter hanging on the wall above it.You've already seen the inside of the crib and the bumper here. In the back corner is the changing table, diaper pail, and dresser. Then on the right is the table, glider, and closet.Finally, behind the door we squeezed in a little set of shelves for his toys and books!I am so thankful that the nursery is finished and so cute! Thank you to the MANY people who gave us things for the room! Especially to my parents for the furniture set and to Justin's parents for the glider. Seriously, though, looking around the room, I can only find like 3 things that we actually bought ourselves. The whole room is a testimony to all those who love Elias, and I remember that every time I walk in there!

Officially A Weirdo

I'm pretty sure I have now officially become one of those weird health food people... I have started making my own granola!! But it's easy and delicious! The stuff you buy at the store, besides being loaded with sugar, is also full of weird additives and preservatives. So I've started making my own sugar free granola, and it's good!
I thought I'd post the recipe in case anybody was interested. I adapted it from this recipe, found at cdkitchen.com. It makes loose granola, like cereal, not like granola bars.

Applesauce Granola
Ingredients
* 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
* 1/2 cup slivered almonds
* 1/4 cup milled flaxseed
* 1/4 cup oat bran
* 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4-1 cup Splenda (depending on how sweet you want it)
* 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
* 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 1 cup raisins or other dried or fresh fruit

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 275F.
2. Mix all dry ingredients except fruit. Add applesauce to dry mixture in 2 to 3 portions, thoroughly mixing before adding next portion to evenly distribute throughout.
3. Spread on nonstick half sheet pan or rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes total, stirring every 15-20 minutes.
4. Add fruit. Store in an airtight container.

Big AND Tall

We pulled out the yardstick and attempted to measure Elias' length... He's about 25 inches tall! That matches his weight to put him between the 75th and 90th percentiles for his age. Our big boy! He's developing so fast and making so many new discoveries every day!

He still loves to "stand" and "walk" with us holding him. Here's a picture of him walking with Daddy. He just loves it!Other new developments in his world:
Laughing
He's laughing! It is the sweetest thing I have ever heard in my life. I plan to try to capture it on video, but he tends to be so transfixed when he sees the camera that he won't do anything but stare at it. That's why we don't have good pictures of him smiling either. I promise, he really does smile!

Grabbing
He's getting so good with his hands! He can grab onto a toy and hold it for a few minutes before he drops it. He's even starting to try to hold his bottle when he's eating. He usually manages to get the right hand on it, but hasn't figured out that he needs to put the left hand up on the other side to hold it by himself.

Rolling
When I do my early morning pump, I like to turn on the video monitor and watch him as he's sleeping and waking up. Well, this morning when I turned it on, he was on his stomach in his crib! But I put him down on his back! It freaked me out so much that I went in and put him on his back again, but by the time I had gotten back out to the living room and looked at the monitor, he was flipping onto his stomach again! He just arches his back and flings his legs up, and the momentum just carries him right over! His arm is still trapped under him, so it won't count as officially rolling over until he can figure out how to get that arm out from underneath him, but I am very impressed. He's such a strong, smart boy!

Big Boy, Big Toys

We took Elias to the doctor today. We had been wanting to go ahead and find a good pediatrician anyways, but then yesterday he was fussy and had a low-grade fever, so we wanted to get him checked out just in case. We asked several friends for pediatrician recommendations and none of them use a pediatrician! Everybody we know takes their kids to the same family health clinic, where the same doctor sees the whole family. That kinda weirds me out. I mean, can one man know enough about health and medicine to be able to accurately care for both me and my infant son and the 85-year-old we saw leaving the clinic?! I sure hope so, because that's where we went. Anyways, turns out there's nothing wrong with him, probably just a little virus and he'll be better in a couple days, says the doc. He did give us this weird little baggie thing in which to collect a urine sample to take back just to make sure it's not a urinary tract infection, since in infants those usually don't have any other symptoms besides fever and fussiness. But I don't think that's it - I think E will be fine in a couple days.

But we were glad to go to the doctor because we got to see how much our big boy weighs now! 14 pounds, 8 ounces! That puts him between the 75th and 90th percentiles for his age. Perfect! They didn't measure his length, so we might try to do that here at home just out of curiosity. He sure looks like he's growing taller!!!

Since he's getting to be such a big boy now, we're starting to be able to pull out some of the fun toys that have been handed down to him by his cousins. Last week he tried out the Bumbo seat for the first time!He does well in it for a few minutes, but he's not quite confident enough with holding his head up to sit in it for long periods of time. He really enjoyed it, though! I'm afraid that by the time he's ready to really sit in it, he'll be too big to fit! :)

Then today we pulled out his new bigger bouncy seat, since he's kicking his way out of the little one. He kicks so hard that he bangs his heels on the plastic of the on/off switch, and although he doesn't act like it hurts him, we still don't like it. So the new big one is called a Kick & Play - designed for him to kick it! He REALLY likes it with the way it plays music, flashes lights, and has a mirror he can look in.

So he's getting to be such a big boy and playing with such big boy toys! Give us just a little longer and then we can pull out the exersaucer! Whoa!

Officially a Mommy

Well, I think I can say that I'm officially a Mommy now that I've gone and gotten a bonafide "mommy haircut." Here's the new me:
Sorry the picture is so bad - I took it of myself in the bathroom mirror! But it gives you an idea of what I've got going on now.

I went to the salon today not having a clue of what I wanted, just knowing that all the hair had to go. There were three reasons for this: 1- With a 2 1/2-month-old at home, I don't always have time to blow dry and/or fix it, and my old hairstyle looked TERRIBLE if I didn't blow it dry. 2- I've got the whole postpartum thing going on where my hair is drying up and falling out by the handful. I'm sure it won't last forever, but I hate having so much hair all over my house! Plus, it was so long that it just felt nasty and dry. 3- My child has now learned to grab onto things, and this includes my hair. That hurts. Since I don't always want to wear it in a ponytail, then I wanted something shorter that's less likely for him to rip out of my head.

So I just went in and told the stylist my situation, and she told me what she thought would look good. She showed me a picture of what she had in mind, and my hair ended up looking nothing like the picture she showed me. But I like it nonetheless, and I know it's going to be MUCH easier to take care of and try to look decent with. So I'm a REAL mommy now. :)

Mutant Giant Baby?!

Mothers worry about their children. That's just an unavoidable fact of motherhood. And apparently in the absence of anything legitimate to worry about, we worry about completely ridiculous things. For example, Elias is beautiful, perfect, healthy, and growing. So I worry that he's growing TOO fast and he's TOO big, and I don't know what that will mean as he gets older. (Anybody remember the movie "Jack"?!) Feel free to roll your eyes at me. But there are several reasons I think this:

1. Every time we meet someone new and they learn how old Elias is, they always respond with shock and ask things like "How big was he when he was born?" and "Did you have gestational diabetes when you were carrying him?" Most even just respond with disbelief. "No way. He's older than that." Nope, he's just big and that's OK, people!

2. I went to buy him some socks and the smallest size was 0-6 months. Well, Elias is 2 1/2 months old, so this is definitely his range. But when I got home and pulled one out of the package, I thought they looked pretty small. Then I noticed that on the back of the package, there is an outline showing you how big a foot will fit in these socks. So I hold it up to Elias' foot... Yep, his foot is bigger than what this sock company designates as a 6-month-old foot! I had to take them back and get the next size up, which was 6-18 months! My son is wearing socks made for an 18-month-old!

3. He's wearing 12 month onesies!! The picture below is him today, and that onesie is a 12-month.
Now admittedly, the only onesies he can wear the 12-month size in are Gerber, which are known to run small. In the Carter size, he can still wear a few of the 3 month things, and the 6 months are pretty roomy. But still! I about freaked out the day I put a 12 month onesie on my 2 1/2 month old son and it fit!

So those are a few things that make me nervous about how big my son is. But I'm just glad he's healthy and growing considering the rough start we got off to! So grow on, my son!

To completely change the subject, the pic above gives you a sneak peek at the beautiful furniture and adorable bedding in his room! :) I finished his tablecloth today and got started on the curtains, so we're rockin' and rollin'! Completed nursery pics coming soon! You'll notice that Elias has turned himself sideways in his crib - he does this almost every naptime. This is because the comforter from his bedding set is hanging on the wall above the crib and he absolutely loves to stare at it. I'm so glad he likes it! I do too!

A Fungus Among Us

I mentioned in a previous post that Elias' cradle cap is getting much better. It IS getting better, but it's being pretty resistant to completely going away. So, we decided to get really tough with it. The pediatrician had told us that Head & Shoulders would be the first thing to try, but if that didn't work he gave us a prescription for an antifungal cream that has proven to work on cradle cap. Cradle cap is not a fungus, but for some reason it has been known to respond to this particular cream. So, we filled the prescription and we've been using it on E for the past couple of days. I think I can see a real improvement! We've still got some flakes, but the rash is almost completely gone! Yay for that!

I also realized yesterday that I have thrush (a yeast infection of the breasts). Yippee. I had thought that the pain and redness were just a part of pumping, but thankfully another mama on my pumping mama's discussion board educated us rookies that it is NOT and we probably have thrush. I have all the classic symptoms. Although it's frustrating because from what I read, thrush is pretty hard to get rid of, I am thankful that this pain is not just something I have to live with, and there's actually something I can do about it. One good thing about pumping is that it is highly unlikely I'll pass the yeast to Elias through my milk from a bottle, so I will have an easier time getting rid of it than if I were actually breastfeeding and we had to treat both me AND the baby. So I have a different antifungal cream for that! I tell you what, our bathroom is starting to look like a science lab with all the different creams, cleaners, and sterilizing equipment! But hopefully before too long we'll all be healthy!

A Real Bonafide Nursery... Complete with Trauma!

Our nursery furniture arrived yesterday! Justin and I spent last night and today putting it together, and it is now in Elias' room! I do still have some sewing to do before the room is complete and ready for me to post pics on here, but I'm pretty excited about how much like a real room it looks for my precious boy. I am SHOCKED at how beautiful and sturdy this furniture is, considering it was the cheapest thing WalMart had. You won't believe the pictures. At least I don't believe how nice it is... :)

We did have a little bit of trauma with the crib, though. We put the crib together last night and went ahead and put it in Elias' room so he could sleep in it. I had the dust ruffle, mattress pad, and sheet all ready to go. I did not, however, put on the crib bumper because modern wisdom says not to - they say it's a suffocation hazard if baby gets his face trapped between the bumper and the mattress. So I had been planning on using the material from the bumper that came with our set to make valances for the windows instead. Man, am I glad I hadn't cut it yet! I was very relieved when Elias went down to sleep in the new crib with no problem - I was a little nervous because he's never slept in anything but the Pack N Play. He went down like a champ, though, and slept through the night. In the mornings, however, he wiggles around for about 30 minutes before he finally wakes himself up enough to want to eat his breakfast at 7:00ish. Wiggling didn't work out so well for him this morning, though, in a bumper-less crib. Justin and I were awakened at 6:30 to SCREAMS coming from the nursery. Yep, my poor baby had gotten his leg caught through one of the crib slats and couldn't get it back in. He calmed down fast when Mama rescued him, but Mom and Dad were pretty shaken up. So he took his next nap back in the Pack N Play, and by then I had gotten the bumper and figured out how to put it in his crib, and he has been fine in the crib for all of his naps today. Keeping our fingers crossed that the bumper can withstand the wiggling tomorrow morning!

It actually is pretty sweet because he LOVES the bumper! It has little cars and trucks going all around it, and for every nap today he has fallen asleep just staring at them! So it's a REALLY good thing I hadn't cut it up to make the valances yet. Maybe it's alright that it takes me ages to accomplish anything these days! I'll use something else to make the valances... eventually. :)

Sleeping is Niiiiiiiiiice

So when I went into Elias' room today to get him for his 4:00 feeding, this is how I found him:Um, I guess he was sleeping comfortably! Either that or I walked in on him preparing to take flight... Or maybe he was just trying to show us what a big boy he is now: I can ALMOST touch both sides of the Pack 'N Play! I tell you what, this kid does something that cracks me up at least once every day!!! My funny boy. :)

By the way, we have ordered our nursery furniture and it should be arriving next week! My sweetie won't have to sleep in the Pack 'N Play anymore. I've got some sewing to do in order to get the room finished, but hopefully I'll have completed nursery pics up sometime in the next couple of weeks! Yaaaaaaay!

Kickin'

If you'll remember, when Elias was in the womb, he was quite the kicker! Serious pains in the ribs from my active little guy. Well, kicking is STILL one of his favorite things to do! He has different styles of kicks depending on whether he's happy or mad... This is his happy kick:
Isn't he just the cutest?! It sure feels better watching it from afar than in my ribs! It cracks me up when he gets that left leg going at the end. We're sure he's going to be a swimmer or something...

By the way, I promise his mobile does not sound like a creepy carnival fun house in real life... The microphone on our camera must be a little pathetic.

I Love You, Granny

A long time ago, the telephone replaced letter writing as the main form of personal communication. Then email replaced the phone, and now in my life, blogging has replaced emails. I just have so many people that I want to tell the same stuff to, so I just post it on my blog because I know you all read it. However, there is a downfall to doing that, and that is that none of you ever actually hear from me personally. You don't know how often I think of you, and even though I very often have things I want to say to you or ask you personally, I rarely take the time to actually write that email or make that phone call. I just read your blogs and you read mine, and that's how we stay in touch even though we haven't actually communicated personally in months (or years?!).

But now I'm doubting whether I think that is such a good idea. You see, my Granny passed away last weekend. In fact, Dad got the news while he was riding in the U-Haul with Justin on the way from Kentucky to Missouri. Her health had been failing for quite some time, but it was still unexpected. Distance has kept me from being very close with any of my grandparents, but I certainly could have (and should have) done a better job of writing to them and making sure they knew I loved them and thought about them. Granny didn't read my blog, but my aunt who lived next door to her would print them out and take them over for Granny and Grandpa to read. (Thank you for doing that, Aunt Sara! I've never told you how much I appreciate that.) In fact, while we were in Moldova, Granny would take a magnifying glass and pore over every detail of the pictures I posted. She would ask such interesting questions, and I loved how much she took an interest in what we were doing. I never told her how much that meant to me, and now it's too late.

It's also too late for me to tell her how much I always appreciated the way she and Grandpa adopted my dad and raised him to be such a fine man. I can't even imagine where he might be today if he hadn't been taken in by such a loving family. I know I certainly wouldn't be here!

You always hear about the way people always have so many regrets when somebody they love passes away, and I've never experienced that before until now. I do regret not writing Granny & Grandpa more, or even just emailing Aunt Sara a note and asking her to pass it on to them. Now it's too late for me to say "I love you and appreciate you, Granny."

But the hard truth is that I just don't have the time to write all the emails, send all the cards, and make all the phone calls that I want to make, especially now that I'm a full-time mom. So I can say that I'll try to do better, but I really don't know how much better I can do. So I'm going to keep posting my pictures and stories on my blog, and I'll do as much personal correspondence as I can.

But something I doubt Granny knew is that when I write a blog, I'm not just writing to get it out there in cyberspace. I'm thinking of you all as I write it, just like I thought of her often and knew how much she would enjoy whatever I was posting. I write my blogs just like I would write a personal email. Just instead of sending the same thing to 50 different email addresses, I post it in one place and let you all come here instead. But I'm writing to you, Mom, Dad, & Jess. I'm writing to you, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. And you, Charity. And you, Corrie. And you, Kristy. And Jackie and Jill and Karen and Shelly and Nicki and Jessica and the many others who read this. Please know that even if you haven't heard from me in a while, I love you and think of you often. Maybe I'll start signing each blog "Love, Joni" as a way to remind you all that it was meant as a personal note to you.

And if you have someone special that you haven't said "I love you" to in a while, take a few minutes and do it now.

Love, Joni

2 Months Old!

We are finally online here at home, so you can expect to hear a lot more from me from now on! I am SOOOO glad to be back in contact with the outside world! I plan to post things about our move, our new house, our new town, etc. But I don't have pictures of those things yet, plus I have something more important to post about... My sweet Elias turned 2 months old yesterday!!!!!I never thought I would be saying this so soon (Remember my angst the first couple weeks that he just couldn't grow up fast enough?!), but he is growing up so fast! I'm not saying I wish he would slow down, but I do occasionally get nostalgic for my tiny little baby... He's so big now! In fact, pretty much everybody we meet says "There's no way that baby is only 2 months old... He's at least 3." I always assure them that I was there when he was born and I distinctly remember it being in MAY. :) I'm looking forward to our next doctor visit to find out how big he actually is! He has grown out of most of his 0-3 month clothes now, and he's fitting perfectly into the 3-6 month outfits I just pulled out of storage. I'll make sure to pull the 6-9 month clothes out sooner so he can wear them longer before he grows out of them! (This is the first time he wore the outfit in the picture below - It's 3-6 months and it fits now, but he'll probably grow out of it soon!)Our biggest milestone right now is that he has started sleeping through the night!!! Thank you, BabyWise! When he turned 8 weeks, like the book recommends, we stopped waking him up for a middle-of-the-night feeding. Instead, we just fed him at his usual 11pm feeding and saw how long he would sleep. The first night he slept til 5:30, and every night since then he has slept til 6:30 or 7, which is when his first morning feeding is. So he's sleeping 7 to 7 1/2 hours at night now! Yay for my big big boy! I'm slightly bitter because I still have to wake up once in the middle of the night to pump (Yes, we're still pumping and bottle-feeding. It's working well for us, and Elias is doing awesome, so that's worth it. I'll probably post more about that soon.), but I only plan to do that for a couple more weeks and then hopefully I'll get to sleep as long as he does!
Also in his second month he has started wanting to "stand" when we're holding him in our laps. We'll hold him under his shoulders and he'll push up with his legs and support his own weight. The funny part about it is that he is SO PROUD when he's "standing" like that - he'll just get the biggest grin on his face! I hope to capture that on photo soon.

His favorite thing to do is still to play on his activity mat, closely followed by reading "Pat the Bunny" with Daddy, staring at lights and ceiling fans, getting his head washed and oiled (His cradle cap is so much better!!!!), and sitting in his bouncer and watching his mobile. We think he's really going to like music a lot, and we try to encourage that as much as we can by playing music and singing to him often.We've also learned that he has a fussy time almost every evening from about 7:30 to 8. I figure with a baby as good as he is, I'll take just 30 minutes of fussing every day. He has a feeding at 8 and he's usually fine after that. For some reason he's just upset before then... Hopefully he'll grow out of that!

But we are doing awesome and I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and my beautiful son! Happy 2 months, Elias!

Whew!!!!

Whew!!! What a week it has been! We moved on Saturday with the kind help of my parents, and we've been busy unpacking ever since. We still don't have internet hooked up at the house yet (They're coming Monday!), so that's why I've been off the radar, but today we came up to Justin's office so I could try to catch up with the world a little bit.

I am LOVING our new house and our new town so far, and things are slowly settling into place. Once we get the house in order, I'll post some pictures - Justin did an AMAZING job finding this place for us. It's still kind of surreal that we're actually unpacking. We've been living out of our suitcases for a full year (I think it was actually a year to the day from when we left Waco to when we arrived in Bolivar.), so unpacking some of our boxes that have been in storage is almost like Christmas! "Ooooh, I forgot we had this!" I've managed to get the kitchen completely done, so that definitely makes things more liveable. We're still in search of some furniture to make the baby's room and the office complete, but we're managing alright now.

Elias is doing awesome and I'm so proud of him! He did SO WELL on our loooooooong car trips, for which I am very thankful. He's growing up so fast - it feels like every day he's doing something new or growing out of some outfit... I actually unpacked and washed some of his 3-6 month clothes today because he's too tall for his 0-3 months! My big fella is so sweet! We're getting into the swing of things in figuring out our daily routine, and I think we'll be just fine when Daddy goes to work next week.

I can't wait to start making friends and building a community. We are blessed that some neighbors from down the street (He teaches math at SBU and she's a stay-at-home mom.) have really been reaching out to try to help us feel welcome. They've invited us to a cookout tomorrow night where we'll get to meet some more friends. I'm also looking forward to finding a church home, which I know will be vital for us finding our niche here.

So things are good and I'm so thankful to be here! Once our internet gets hooked up at home, I should be able to be on more and post pictures! Thanks for your prayers for us, and please keep praying!

So Much Going On!

There is SO MUCH going on in our lives right now! Things are good, but they've got me running around like "a one-legged man in a butt-kickin' contest" to quote Dolly Parton in a movie that I can't remember the name of right now... Let me see if I can just give a quick rundown:

MOVING!
We are moving and now!!! Justin went to Missouri this week to find us a place to live, and he found it right away! So we'll be renting a house that I've never seen, but it sounds awesome and it has so much space for our price range! (I'll post pictures once we get there!) And the big news is that we're moving in on the 15th!! Yes, that is less than 2 weeks away. However, we're actually moving sooner than that because we're moving in 2 stages. First, we're moving everything we have here in Tennessee to Justin's parents' house in Kentucky where all the rest of our belongings are stored. We'll spend a few days there, and then load everything up in a U-Haul and move to Missouri. The Tennessee-to-Kentucky phase of our moving actually begins tomorrow when Justin's parents load up their pickup truck with most of our stuff and take it to Kentucky! We plan to stay in Tennessee for a couple more days with just the bare-bones of the stuff that we need, but then we'll follow them there. So I'm running around like crazy trying to get all our stuff packed up and ready for them to take tomorrow, and trying to decide what we need to keep here with us for those couple of days! The tricky part is that whatever we keep here has to be able to fit in the Camry with the three of us! I think we're in good shape, though, and I'm thrilled that the process is actually started.

CRADLE CAP
Elias has had baby acne for several weeks now, and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Then he developed a red rash on his ears that then turned scaly. (GROSS!) So the doctor finally said that it might be cradle cap, not baby acne, so we could treat it by rubbing baby oil on it and washing it with baby shampoo every day. So that did help the ears, but not before it showed up on his head and his whole face. So my poor baby has a flaky scalp, scaly ears, and a red rash on his face!!! It was looking so bad that I took him back to the doctor yesterday just to make sure it wasn't something else. The doctor said that it was definitely cradle cap and not an allergic reaction or something. But he did recommend we get a little more aggressive with it and start washing it with dandruff shampoo. So we started yesterday using Head and Shoulders to wash his scalp and ears! We don't use it on his face just in case it might get in his eyes, so we're still doing the baby oil/shampoo thing on his face. But we can already see a difference just since we started using the Head & Shoulders yesterday, so we're hopeful that he's on the mend. The bad thing about cradle cap is that there really isn't anything that causes it, and there's no way to prevent it or cure it. So we can treat the symptoms and help them to clear up quicker, but he could keep having recurrences for several months or even years.

SHOTS
While we were at the doctor yesterday, I mentioned to him that we're going to have about a one month window that we are without insurance, and I asked him if it would be a problem to delay Elias' 2-month shots. He said "Well, we can actually give them as early as 6 weeks. Do you want to go ahead and get them today?" So my poor baby, besides his flaky scalp, scaly ears, and red rash on his face, also got three shots and an oral vaccine yesterday! So he is definitely a little worse for the wear and requiring some extra lovin' today. I sure am glad that Daddy is back in town!

GROWING
At the doctor yesterday, Elias clocked in at 11 lbs, 7 oz and 23 1/4 inches tall. That's 11 ounces and 1 inch larger than he was last WEEK! He sure is our growing boy!!!! The doc said it's a good sign, though, that his appetite is good and he's healthy and vigorous. We hope, though, that he'll slow down soon on the eating and the weight gain! Take it easy, kid! I think you've made up for all the lost time!

GRANDMA
My mom came down for a couple of the days that Justin was out of town this week, and it was so good to see her and have her help! Thanks for coming, Mom! Here are a few pictures from her visit:He sure did like getting a bottle from Grandma!
He always sleeps with his hands up by his face - sometimes he even puts them way over his head! He's done that since he was born and would never stand to have his arms swaddled. I actually asked the doctor yesterday about him getting too hot when he sleeps, and he said it might be time to ditch the swaddle. He has been kicking out of it recently and it hasn't seemed to interrupt his sleep. So yesterday we stopped swaddling him to sleep! Now he just sleeps in a t-shirt, diaper, and socks with a light blanket overtop. He did great last night, and I'm so relieved he's already willing to sleep without being swaddled. I think the closeness of the sleep positioner helps with that...

Grandma also managed to capture a video of him having such fun on his playmat. He's such a charmer!

So I think that's about all at the moment. My computer will be moving to Kentucky tomorrow, so you may not hear much from me for the next week or two. I'll at least try to get on and post brief updates to let you know how it's going!