See You In St. Louis!

We took a short trip to St. Louis last week for Justin to go to a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank there. (See picture at right.) It was for university educators to talk about the current financial situation, and Justin had an awesome time. You can read his thoughts about it here.

While he was in the conference, Elias and I hit the town! I had never been to St. Louis before, so although we only had a little bit of time, we tried to hit the major sights. The most obvious of these, of course, is the Gateway Arch.It was actually more impressive than I expected it to be - According to the sign, it is the tallest man-made monument in the US. Gleaming in the sun, it was quite a beautiful sight. Elias was also very impressed:
In case you can't tell in the picture, he's sleeping. We didn't go to the museum underneath because I would've had to take him out of his carseat in order to pass security, and I didn't want to wake him up!

We also went to Union Station, but we didn't get any good pictures there. Here is Elias eating his lunch in the food court there one day:We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, and I was very impressed at what we got for what we paid. The full breakfast bar was great, and the room was much bigger than expected. Turns out we needed that much room because we looked like we were packing for a cross-country move for our little 2-night stay in St. Louis. But we had everything we needed! Elias did awesome sleeping in the pack & play and being so cooperative with all the running around and sightseeing. I am so thankful for my precious, good-natured baby boy!

The only other notable thing about the trip was that Elias sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time at a Steak N Shake on our way home. What a big boy!So we had a very successful first trip with our baby boy, and we had some fun while we were at it!

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa!

My parents came down for a short visit this week, and we had so much fun! None of us are good at taking pictures, but we did manage to capture a few good moments. Here's the cutest boy in the world:On Saturday, we went into Springfield and ate at Lambert's Restaurant, "Home of Throwed Rolls." If any of you have never been to or heard of Lambert's, they really do have a waiter walking around with a cart of rolls. You wave at him that you want one, and he seriously throws it at you from across the restaurant. Hilarious. He was an excellent thrower, though, and I didn't see anybody not catch their roll, which is a testament to his throwing, not our catching. They also have a waitress walking around behind him with a jug of sorghum for your roll, and other waitresses with giant bowls of sides like fried potatoes, fried okra, macaroni, and black-eyed peas. This is all in addition to the meal you order. Yeah, we were pretty full at the end. But it was fun and delicious, and the price was EXCELLENT considering all you got. It's definitely worth the wait.

While we were in Springfield, we also went to the Bass Pro Shop. My dad ran a half marathon sponsored by the Bass Pro Shop on Sunday morning, so we went there on Saturday for him to pick up his race packet and check out the Race Expo. We had also never been to this Bass Pro Shop, which is actually the original one, so we wanted to check it out! It was very cool, except it was full of some pretty weird characters. I don't know if there were just weirder people than normal there because of the special race weekend, or whether it's always like that... I don't plan to go back to find out soon...

For some random reason, Miss Missouri USA and Miss Missouri Teen USA were at the Bass Pro Shop with a camera crew filming something, so we got our picture with Miss Missouri. That's pretty cool. So I don't know when the Miss USA pageant is, but I hope she wins. She was really nice. What I really like about the picture is the gigantic stuffed bear in the background looking like he's about to maul Justin.

But Elias had a great time with his Grandma and Grandpa, and he is such a ham! He doesn't show off like that for us, so we were surprised when he was clearly putting on a show for them! Rolling around, blowing rasperries, "talking" to get their attention. It was hilarious! He's going to be sitting up on his own really soon! Such a big boy, I'm so proud of him!

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree...

...when the apple tree looks like this!
This is the tree in our front yard, some kind of crab apple. The problem is that it got so heavy with fruit that the branches started breaking! We lost three branches at different times in the year, and of course they're all the ones that face the street so anybody coming down sees how pathetic our tree is. Justin has been eating the fruit ever since we moved in, but it took me several months to get up the courage to try it. I'm just not the outdoorsy type that knows how to forage for food... But he eventually convinced me that they were yummy and the branches were NOT going to break on my head if I pulled on them. So I tried them and they were indeed yummy - sweet with a burst of tartness.

So then he had the bright idea that I could make an apple pie with them! I'm not a huge fan of pies, but I do like cobblers, so I decided that it might be fun to make a homegrown apple crisp. So I harvested a bowl full of the apples.They were pretty annoying to try to get the seeds out, since I'm spoiled by being used to the corer/wedger that will core and slice them for you. Even just cutting them in quarters would leave a piece too small to be worth anything. So I cut them in half and then used my Pampered Chef Core 'N More, which worked pretty well. Then I made an Apple Oat Crisp. We ate it with some No Sugar Added vanilla ice cream. YUM!!I must say I'm pretty proud of myself. Unfortunately, we had our first hard frost last night, so the apples won't be good much longer. But how many people can say they made a cobbler with apples off the tree in their front yard?! :)

$1.84!!!

Yes, the title of this post is what you think it is. Today I paid $1.84 a gallon for gas. Let me say it again.

One dollar and eighty-four cents.
Per gallon.
Of gasoline.
The kind you put in your car.
Regular unleaded.
Oh, yeah!

The actual price at the pump here is $2.06, but our grocery store gives a cents-per-gallon discount that you accumulate by shopping there. So I used my 22 cent discount for the month of October to buy 10.5 gallons of gas for less than $20 total! I'm not really excited about the general financial situation in our country, but the low gas prices are something I can get REALLY happy about.

5 Months!

My baby boy is 5 months old today! I can't believe it! He's so big, strong, handsome, smart, talented, and happy - he just lights up our lives! I'm so thankful for my beautiful baby man. Here are a few new things he's doing:

He's a rollin' fool! I think he has finally discovered that rolling will get him from one place to another, and that is slightly alarming for me. Time to babyproof! This morning after his breakfast, I put him down on his blanket to play with his toys while I cleaned up a little bit. I never left the room, but I did turn my back. And when I turned back around, this is what I saw!Seriously, he managed to get that far in just like 30 seconds! Oh man. I'm in deep trouble now. He also is really wanting to crawl, and I think it'll be pretty soon. He's got the "swimming" down where he lays on his belly and flails his arms and legs.

Now that he rolls, he is all over the place in his crib. No way we're ever going to be able to get rid of the bumper. I just have to pray that God protects him from any dangers related to the bumper! He seems to prefer sleeping snuggled right up against it, and usually he even works his way all the way to one end. Something about being enclosed on 3 sides? I don't know, but it makes me laugh. He is such a good sleeper, though, and we're so thankful! He rarely fusses when we put him down - he just rolls onto his belly and goes right to sleep.

He has also discovered his feet, which are a source of endless entertainment for him. I had posted a while ago that I was afraid his diapers were hindering him being able to get to his feet, but he's pretty much overcome that now. He still does better with his diaper off, but he can still reach them even with it on. In this picture, I was trying to get a picture of him in the new outfit that his Nana sent him, but he was more interested in playing with his feet than posing for a picture. Thanks anyway, Nana!

He also thinks the word "foot" is absolutely hilarious! He just laughs and laughs when I say "foot foot foot foot" over and over again! I tried to capture it on video for you, but it was right before naptime and he was a little too tired to be so funny. I'll try again, so stay tuned!

He is also doing great with the solids - he really seems to have gotten the hang of opening his mouth for the spoon. He had sweet potatoes today, which he liked better than the avocado, of course. It was really easy to make it too, so that's encouraging for me.

So things are just going great here, and we look forward to what the next month will bring!

Um, Yeah! Totally Clean Face!

I just wanted to post these pics of Elias eating his cereal this morning. After I posted the pics of his first cereal experience, a friend commented about how clean I was able to keep his face. The reason for this was that it was so liquidy there was nothing much to stick to his face! But now that we're eating cereal at the normal consistency, you can see how much of a disaster he is. He's enjoying cereal now, though, and eats it every day with breakfast. We're also starting vegetables now! He had his first taste of avocado yesterday! Definitely didn't know what to do with that, but he did eat some, which is our end goal. After this I think I'll do sweet potatoes, then winter squash, and then we'll head for the fruits! Yum!

Our House

When we moved in more than 3 months ago, I said I would get pictures of our house to post on here for you! Well, I FINALLY got myself organized enough to do it. So here's our house! If you hold your mouse over the pictures, you can click the little stop button at the bottom right and then hit the arrow to look at each picture individually.

New links

In the past couple of weeks, I've found a whole bunch of blogs and websites that are informative or entertaining, and I thought I'd share them with you all. I hope you find something useful or interesting!

Money Saving Mom - "An upbeat and encouraging blog dedicated to helping you find great deals, stretch your hard-earned dollars, and live on less than you make so you can save more and give more."

A Frugal Friend - Tips on saving money with coupons, rebates, freebies, and deals.

Penny Pinching Parent - Tips on how to save money on baby and kid stuff, including coupons and deals.

Leaving Excess - A blogger who quit her life as a CPA to become a stay-at-home mom and is now trying to come up with creative ways to live simpler with "less clutter, less stress, less money and fewer headaches."

Wholesome Baby Food - Now that Elias is starting solids, I'm planning on making his baby food, and this is an awesome reference to get me going. Includes recipes and tips on age-appropriate foods.

A Year of Crockpotting - This lady made a New Year's Resolution to use her crockpot every day in 2008, so she posts her recipe and a review of it every day! I've found and used some awesome recipes off this site! Gotta love the crockpot.

$5 Dinners - A blogger who decided to try to make dinner for her family every night for $5 or less - total! I can't believe the stuff she can make for that little!

Gottadeal - This is just an ongoing list of current online deals, some of which are really good. There are also forums, but I've never looked at them.

Right@Home - Recipes, household tips, coupons and online deals.

Eat Better America - Tips and recipes for eating better. What I like most about this site is that they have traditional recipes that they have "healthified" to make them better for you.

Food Reference - A wealth of information about food! I use this site to find neat trivia facts to use at a Cooking Show about the foods I'm going to be using that evening. For example, did you know that pickles are good for diabetics because the vinegar that they're pickled with helps regulate blood sugar?! Now you know...

Consumer Product Safety Commission - Updates about current product recalls and seasonal safety tips. You can also sign up for their email alerts, which let you know when a product is recalled - very helpful, especially with all the baby stuff that gets recalled these days.

LOLCats - I had seen some of these pictures in other places before, but I just recently found the website where they originate. They take pictures of cats (or occasionally other animals) and add HILARIOUS captions. They're not kidding when they call it LOL - I laugh so hard I cry.LOLDogs - Same as LOLCats, but with dogs, obviously.

Letting Go

I posted this blog a couple weeks ago telling about how I totaled the amount of time I had spent pumping in the month of September, and it was outrageous. I had posted at the end of it that it was worth it, but the more Justin and I thought about it and talked about it, we realized that it wasn't. Women who are able to nurse their babies don't spend near that amount of time in getting their babies' food. And even the majority of women who exclusively pump don't spend that much time. I am a low-volume producer, which means that I'm not able to pump enough for Elias' full demand, so we are supplementing with formula. (In any given day, about 80% of Elias' intake is breastmilk.) I have been pumping excessively in the hopes that my supply would increase and we'd eventually be able to get him off the formula supplements.

I didn't realize, though, how hard it was on me to do that and how much freedom I could have to enjoy my son and enjoy life more if I let go of that. So I have decided to cut back on the pumping. My supply will probably decrease, but at this point we feel like a happy and healthy mommy is more important for Elias than ever being able to get 100% breastmilk. This is a relief in a way, and I'm already enjoying having more sleep and more time to get things done during the day. But it's also a very difficult decision, and emotionally feels just as bad as it did when I had to give up nursing in the first place. It feels like I'm admitting defeat, acknowledging my failure at being able to provide what's best for my son. It also makes me feel guilty that I'm choosing to give Elias less breastmilk and more formula, since I believe that breastmilk is actually better for him. I feel selfish that my time and convenience is more important than his optimal health. Now, I don't need any lectures. I know that formula is a perfectly good option and that many babies grow up to be happy and healthy without ever having had a drop of breastmilk. I myself am a formula baby, and look how awesome I turned out! ;) I'm not saying my feelings are entirely rational - I'm just getting them out there. This is how I feel and I'd appreciate your prayers as I persevere in slowly dropping pumps and we adjust to the new way things will be around here.

When I made that previous post, I was pumping 6 times a day for about 40 minutes each time. I then dropped to 5x a day for 45 minutes for a week, then to 4x for 45-50 minutes for another week. Tomorrow I will be dropping to 3 pumps a day. I am thrilled and relieved to have not lost any supply yet, but I feel like there's no way I can decrease my pumping so much and not lose some milk in the process. So please pray for me as I see the ounces decreasing and the guilt and sorrow increasing. Depending on how well the 3-a-day schedule goes and how much I'm still producing, I may stay there for a while. I still want to be able to give him a good amount of milk, especially for the immune properties as flu season is upon us. I had intended to pump for Elias for a full year so he could be weaned straight to cow's milk, and depending on how it goes, I may still be able to pump twice a day or so and give him a little bit for that full year. I'm not calling it quits entirely. But my health and sanity require me to let go of all that I had been hoping for with regards to providing breastmilk for my son, and just trust God to keep my supply where He wants it to be for however long He wants it to remain.

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!!