reminiscing

then and now...

recent videos

bottles

Never let your baby forget how to feed from a bottle.

Never.

OY.

big boy!

He seems so much older and bigger now.  He has his 4 month appointment in a week; he will actually be almost 5 months by then but I'm looking forward to seeing what his weight is.  I'm guessing he is around 14 lbs right now?

I am very busy with transcribing interviews and I have another interview to perform tomorrow in downtown Detroit.  I worked on my last transcription for 3 hours this morning and I only got through 15 minutes of our conversation.  Horrible!  Head hurts already; I can't wait for April when I don't have to transcribe anymore of my "Um"s and "Yeah"s.  And I still have so many future interviews to do, which is the scary part.

Notice the spitup on Jared.  Good job Elliott!

I made this wreath this week and I am hopefully going to get around to making some salt dough tree ornaments next, for our real christmas tree that we have yet to purchase.  Maybe this weekend!

4 1/2 month videos

He has been holding things, grabbing them on his own, and transferring objects from one hand to another.

happy thanksgiving

We couldn't see all the family today but we had a good time in Grand Rapids with Jared's side of the family

As far as being thankful, we are thankful for sudden and very high head control!  haha.  At long last!

 

(Sorry Jared, I had to cut you out because you were making a weird face...but I like me and Elliott in it!)

ahhhhh

I could really get used to this whole arrangement of having an hour free time every few hours.

Same as yesterday, he gets fussy after an hour and a half and then takes an hour or so nap.  It is lovely, I should have done this sooner.  Plus, today he only cried for 6 minutes before conking out and I even put him in his crib wide awake!  Every now and then he'll give a little cry if he wakes himself but at the most he has only cried for  6 minutes max before going back to sleep again.

I should also mention that (I think) because of his regular naps he has been happier to just "be" during the day which is nice too.  Today there was no crying in his swing during my shower.  Then he played happily in his gym while I vacuumed the house.

I have a life again!  I foresee my days filling back up again with books in peace and quiet with a nice cup of coffee...

sleep again

started reading the Sleep Lady's book last night on sleep because I think we need a set schedule in this house during the day.  Last night I tried the Sleep Lady's advice to skip a feeding and he was not having it so that didn't work out as I hoped but we will continue to try again later.  I think he may be in the middle of a growth spurt or developmental change right now because he has been feeding more frequently so maybe when that starts to subside I will try to get rid of a feeding at night again.  As of right now he wakes up every 3-4 hours at night on average.  At one point he was going 6 hours at night and I'd like to get him back up to that, and more!

 (update : there has been quite a bit of whining/crying/screaming going on in this house today but I am feeling pretty determined.  So far he hasn't cried longer than 30 minutes at a time but it gets tiring listening to it.  He slept over an hour total for his first nap of the day.  We are working on his late afternoon nap now because he missed his early afternoon one.  He has cried for 10 min so far - here's hoping!)

Lastly, Elliott's thanksgiving artwork he made at daycare : )

growing!

He has definitely been showing us his budding personality lately.  He vocalizes his likes and dislikes much more often and he has become very social.  We no longer put him in his swing while we eat peacefully.  Instead we either hold him or put him in his carseat on top of a chair for as long as he'll tolerate not being the center of attention!  Doesn't usually last the whole meal but if we eat fast enough...

An early morning photo

He is so funny though.  When he is sad and cries because he wants us to hold him he will start smiling and laughing when he can tell we're about to pick him up.  I'd say there's definitely some mommy/daddy manipulation going on there but we are letting it slide, for now ; )

He is also getting noticeably bigger, to us at least.  Maybe it's because he likes standing/sitting pretty much all the time now, or I noticed he has filled out a little more lately, or he is acting so social, but he seems to be growing more

crib fun

He gets a little sad toward the end, which is the 2nd video.  Patience and endurance are not his strengths!

 

naked baby

Semi-naked baby photo bomb.  Sorry in advance for the excessive number of similar photos!

Also, here are some attempted shots of what may be eczema on him.  His back looks all splotchy and he has some dry patches.  He isn't irritated by them and they aren't bad at all but I may get something to soothe it just so it doesn't flare up, especially with the weather being so dry up here.  We currently have a humidifier turned on in his room too just in case it's simply a reaction to the cold dry Michigan air.

life lesson learned

lesson of the day is, never babysit more than one baby at a time, never have twins, and never have children one after another!

Elliott's girlfriend came over yesterday morning and it did not go so well haha

It is nearly impossible to hold 2 babies at once (i tried) and eventually I gave up.

 Videos

sophie

he is getting better at grabbing things (like my face when he's feeding) and he loves his sophie already even though he can't really chew on it yet.  he smiles when i squeak it and bring it to him.

Can't forget to include Daphne and her newly groomed coat!  It's amazing how much whiter she is now and her tail is about half as big as it was before.