Breaking all the Rules

I was a regular rule breaker today. Watch out world.

#1 Rule Breaking: I took Elliott to 2 stores. 

Our pediatrician told us to keep him home until the end of April, but we decided that to be extra safe we would tack on the month of May before we left the house with him.  We're having his picture taken at Sears tomorrow and to recreate the pictures of Spencer at 4 months we need a white diaper cover.  Target provided it for us for Spencer, but Sears has no such arrangement.  In order to make dinner, eat dinner, nurse Elliott twice during the evening hours and get the kids to bed at a decent time I had to run my 2 errands before Michael got home from work.  I would have never done this in February or March or even 3 weeks ago, but I convinced myself it was OK on April 25th. 

So, I took both kids to Carters and bought this:

because it came with this:

#2 Rule Breaking:  I'm going to return the entire ensemble as soon as the pictures are taken. 

The second store we went to was Macy's.  I FINALLY bought a new purse after mine was stolen 13 months ago.  I bought it over the weekend when Macy's was pre-selling stuff for their big sale, so I had to go back to get it today.

Um, I guess I only broke 2 rules today.  And one of them will technically be broken this weekend when I return the dress.  I'm still keeping the post title though.

Couple more things:

Erin asked if I could meet them at school, instead of her picking up Spencer from the house, because she was running really late today.  Elliott seems to have forgotten how to move into deep sleep during the night and past about 2 am sleeps lightly for the rest of the night.  He cries out, moves around and is generally obnoxious.  I'm breaking out my entire bag of tricks to get him to calm and settle down all night long.  Without deep sleep he's waking up pretty unrested.  This is what happened during the 1 mile trip to school today:

Spencer and I made airplanes out of clothespins and popsicle sticks.

Ginger got her sutures out and is finally out of the cone.  It's nice to have a normal dog back.  Can you see that little patch on her right leg where the hair is shorter?  That's where they put the IV during the surgery.  The idea of a dog with an IV is just ridiculous.  I like to think of her pushing her IV stand into the backyard so she can pee.

The type of tumor she had was called a cutaneous hemangiosarcoma.  It's very fun to say.  I told Michael that if I'm ever kidnapped that should be the question to establish proof of life.  But now I've gone and put it out there and ruined it.

Cuteaneous hemangiosarcoma.  Go ahead.  Say it.

Hopefully the next post will include adorable pictures from Sears and not the text of a strongly worded letter to Sears.  I have a coupon for a free 16 X 20 and I happen to have a frame that size so we're going to get a picture of the 2 boys just because it's free.  I wonder which one will ruin the shot and my plan.

Totally Random

I have a bunch of completely random stuff to share.  There is no common thread unless you want to say that the common thread is that there is no common thread.  Wrap your mind around that.

I made individual chicken pot pies last week.  Instead of crust I did cheese biscuit tops.  They were delightful.  During favorite parts before bed time (when we share our favorite parts of the day), Spencer picked his pot pie as one of his favorite parts.  Later in the week, when I served baked chicken and vegetables he said it was the most disgusting food he's ever had in his whole life.  Real nice talk son.  I did not point out that they were essentially the same meal, but I should have.

My cousin is getting married in Colorado in June.  We are not going to the wedding.  We blame Elliott.  More realistically, Elliott is saving us $1,000+ dollars by preventing us from leaving the state.  Caitlin's bridal shower was on Saturday.  Amongst other things I gave her this frame that I put together and some dry erase markers.  She and her new husband can leave each other sweet notes of love...until they've been married for a couple years (months?) and get tired of it.

My sweet blogging friend Jennifer (sister of my real life friend Maryellen) sent the boys these matching shirts.  I haven't managed to get them in them at the same time for a picture, but I promise, Jenn, that they have both worn them a lot.

These were the vegetables I made in Spencer's most disgusting food of his life dinner.  They look positively dreadful, huh?

Spencer woke up on Saturday morning and said, in his sweetest voice, "Mommy, can I please come to the party with you"?  So, we left daddy and Elliott at home and he attended his first ever bridal shower.  There were actually 2 other baby boys there, so he wasn't the only male.  This was about 1/3 of the backyard at the house where it was held.

The battery on my camera died about 2 seconds after I took this picture.  That might explain why it is so blurry.  This is my cousin Caitlin opening our gift to her.

Elliott's legs and feet look HUGE in this picture.

Spencer got a hair cut yesterday.  We went extra short.  He starts baseball on Saturday and baseball players should have short hair.

My Aunt Janis gave us this infant seat when Spencer was born.  We used it a lot when Elliott was first born, but since Jeannette lent us the rock n play, we kind of forgot about it.  I decided to put Elliott in it today because I had a hunch he might be interested in the rabbit and the mirror the rabbit hangs from.

I was correct!

I should have been writing a blog post about Elliott's uber cute photo shoot from yesterday.  That's a no go.  We got to the appointment only to be told that the studio was already closed.  How in the world were we able to make an appointment after they closed?  I wrote a strongly worded letter to the president of JCPenney.  I may share it on the blog in the future.  In the meantime I made an appointment at Sears for Thursday.

We hate you JCPenney.

Spencer was at school today.  I was rocking Elliott to sleep for his nap.  Once he was out, but before I put him down, I checked email on my phone.  There were 4 blog comments from Cathy.  I kept refreshing my email and she kept leaving comments.  14 total!  She's on spring break and was doing some blog catching up.  The first post she left a comment on was Veteran's Day Weekend.  I went back and reread (or at least skimmed) each post she left a comment about.  After Elliott's birth and his first 4 months I hardly remember what my life was like before he was born.  That's not actually true.  I do remember.  It involved leaving the house a lot more.  I guess I just can't picture my life as it was before with a baby now.  Spencer and I used to leave the house at 9 am and sometimes we didn't come home until 4 pm or later.  I shudder to think about doing that with Elliott now.  I do greatly look forward to doing that with him in 4 years though.

Thanks for all the comments Cathy.  Your dedication to the blog is commendable.  I should give you an award.

Hilarity Ensues

I have to tell you about something that happened recently.  It was funny.  No.  It was downright hilarious.  I am still laughing about it.  Multiple times a day.

It was Monday or Tuesday night. Bedtime. I was in the recliner nursing Elliott.  Michael and Spencer were sitting on our bed reading books.  Once the reading was done Spencer hopped off the bed and went to put the books away.  Michael was crawling across the bed to get down.  I was silently watching him.

All of a sudden he just disappeared with a whoosh.  He wasn't paying attention to his location and he crawled right off the edge of the bed.  The best part was that he quickly hopped up like nothing had happened in the hopes that nobody had seen and he didn't have to admit to what had just happened.

Unfortunately for him I did see.  And I laughed so hard I cried.  And the next day I laughed so hard I cried.  And the next day too.  And several times, in the middle of the night, I have thought about the image of him falling like a sack of potatoes and I have giggled.  And Spencer is reinacting daddy falling off the bed daily.

Good stuff.

I did get permission from Michael to tell that story, by the way. 

So, I mentioned earlier (I hope) that Elliott is outgrowing the swaddle.   He needs something, though, because he smacks himself in the face and kicks his legs like a mermaid if I lay him down asleep without the swaddle.

I ordered a Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit this week.  This is from the website: The Magic Sleepsuit is designed to be introduced at approximately three months of age when most babies are growing out of swaddling. The Magic Sleepsuit provides babies with the comfort they need by muffling those twitches and startle-type movements that can wake them prematurely, and by keeping them cozy and secure making it easier to go to sleep on their own or fall back asleep if woken.

We're giving it a try tonight. If it works we're going to have to install an extra air conditioner in our bedroom to get through the summer.  The parent reviews I have read have said that it is not too heavy and babies don't overheat in it, but none of the reviews came from Phoenix where July overnight temperatures dip into the 90's.

Here's the sumo baby in his magic sleepsuit:

We should have him wear this thing for his next weigh in.

He did go right to sleep in it and so far he hasn't cried out for us.  We have the air conditioner running, the ceiling fan and a floor fan going in there.

OK.  Hilariousness over.

We are taking Elliott into a store tomorrow.  I cannot believe it.  I feel like I should bring a bottle of bleach and a bottle of lysol with us. We're going to JC Penney to have his pictures taken.

 We also waited until Spencer was 4 months to do his first photo shoot.  I know 3 months is more common, but at 3 months Spencer was still crying all day.  It really worked out though because there is no way I would have taken Elliott into a portrait studio a month ago.

I'm really excited about trying to recreate the pictures for this collage so I can hang them side by side. 

My babies.

Sigh.

Hot

Elliott is at that age where he is going through about 4 outfits a day.  Mostly this is because of drool, but also his shoulders get soaked when he is nursing and falls asleep and the supplementer keeps dripping formula. 

I don't mind so much.  His clothes are adorable and it's fun to try new looks.  He also has enough clothes (through a combination of hand-me downs from Spencer, new stuff and donated stuff from friends whose boys have outgrown their clothes) that I could probably go a month without doing laundry and he wouldn't run out of clothes.  Most of his outfits would be onesies, but it would still be a new one each day.

He was wearing this darling little number yesterday.  I think this was donated by Erin after Will outgrew it.

The diaper cover is just too cute.

He started today in a onesie, then changed into the doggy outfit he got in his Easter basket.

I was changing his diaper when I heard some very vigorous sucking.  I looked down and he was going to town on the collar. It worried me because the collar was very close to a button.  I hope that string is strong.

It was 97 degrees today. Spencer came home from school sweaty and dirty.  I told him to put his clothes in the hamper and then he never got re-dressed until bed time.  Elliott was in just a diaper in a swaddle blanket for his nap and when he got up he was just in a diaper.

I predict this is how my kids will look 85% of the time until September.

4 months

Happy 4 months Elliott!

33% of the way to age 1!

Date

April 16, 2012

The official 4 month picture

What a happy baby!

Weight/Size

Elliott had his 4 month check up today.  He weighed in at 10 pounds 5.5 ounces.  That is a gain of 14 ounces in 11 days.  He's up 1 pound 9 ounces since the 16th of March and 4 pounds 3 ounces from his lowest weight at 5 days of age.  He weighs 6.5 ounces more than Spencer at 4 months (although Elliott was 14 ounces more at birth).  I hope there will be no more talk of feeding tubes with growth like this.

Elliott also gained an inch and is 23 inches long.  That's 4 inches grown since the day he was born.

He's wearing 0-3 month and 3 month clothes and has finally graduated from newborn diapers and is wearing a size 1-2.

Sleep

We finally felt comfortable with letting Elliott sleep on his own about the middle of March, right after he turned 3 months.  That doesn't mean that I don't check on him FREQUENTLY when he is asleep.  His bedtime routine is nurse, swaddle, rock and then we lay him down in the co-sleeper.  He sleeps 4-6 hours straight before waking.  He has been getting up 2 times during the night (between 12 and 2 and between 4 and 5) to nurse.  He cuddles with me in bed after he nurses the first time and the second time  He's up for the day between 7:30 and 8:30.  He takes a mini nap in the morning (usually while being held or in a baby carrier) and a longer (sometimes over 2 hours) nap in the afternoon.  He still needs to be swaddled for his afternoon nap and at night.  We just barely (like yesterday) started leaving his legs out of the swaddle.

Movement

Elliott is now bringing his hands together. He is holding toys. He'll try to swat them when we lay him on his lion gym. He's able to hold a toy and get it in his mouth- though he's not always successful. He spends most of the day sucking his fingers. When he is laying on his back he can twist his body around. If you picture a clock- he'll start with his head at 12 and within 5 minutes his head is at 3:00.

Communication

Elliott officially started laughing over the weekend.  I heard it once and Michael heard it once.  He squeals when he is happy.  He coos when he is happy.  He has quite the cry when he is upset.

Sweet Remembrances

1. The appointment with Dr. Williams where we were told that Elliott had never had any seizures and we could stop using his anti-seizure medication.

2. Finding out that Elliott's direct bilirubin is almost within the normal range (and his total bilirubin is officially within the normal range)

3. Elliott's first Easter.

4. Sleeping on his own and (mostly) doing a great job at it.

5. Taking two trips to Tucson in one month- for Easter and for Girl's memorial service.

6. I went back to work 8 hours a week and Elliott has done great being cared for by daddy and Megan.

Food
Nursing 8-9 times a day. Using a supplemental nurser to give 1.5-2 ounces of pregestimil formula during each nursing. Elliott got some jars of baby food in his Easter basket, but we're waiting until 6 months to start solids.

Mood

Happy!  He cries LOUDLY when he is hungry, but the only time I ever let him get hungry is during the night.  He fusses when he is tired.  He cries off and on in the car.  Other than those times he is a happy, smiley baby.  We call him Smiley Joe all the time.

Medicine

We are weaning him off the Keppra.  He'll take his last dose on Friday, April 27th.  He is taking 1 mL of ursodiol twice a day.  We found out that what we thought was vanilla flavoring is actually marshmallow.  Great.  We changed from SourceCF (cystic fibrosis) vitamins to over the counter infant vitamin drops called Poly-Vi-Sol.  He doesn't like them as much as the SourceCF.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes: looking at faces, smiling, being held, watching his brother play and be crazy, being swaddled for sleep.

Dislikes: driving in the car (most of the time), getting blood drawn (it gets harder every single time),  not being part of the action.

I wanted to get a cute picture of Elliott's sweet little bum in his chick outfit. 

This is what he did.

Step 1.  Move your head to the right.

Step 2.  Drop your head and right shoulder. Kick your legs.

Step 3.  Keep kicking.

Step 4.  Success!  Off that dang tummy. 

Total time in roll: about 5 seconds.

Ha Ha Elliott!  You can try, but I will still succeed in capturing my picture.

Picnik.com is closing in 3 days (Damn you Google!  Bad move!).  This may very well be one of the last ever picture collages.  Boo.

Memorial in Tucson

This is my dad's cousin Tony.  He is holding Spencer at Girl's 90th birthday party in November, 2007.  It was the last time he came for a visit.

Until now.  He came from Chicago for Girl's memorial service yesterday.  Elliott was not thrilled for his turn to be held.

I told Tony not to expect another baby the next time he visits because this baby maker is shut down for business. 

I don't actually have any pictures of the memorial service.  It didn't seem appropriate to take any in church and I spent half the luncheon at my parents house nursing and trying to get Elliott to go to sleep.  We think that weaning him from the keppra is messing with his sleep.  His naps are all messed up- he will not stay asleep- and he is waking frequently during the early morning hours, when he normally sleeps so peacefully.  Sleeping with him at 6 am is like sleeping with the cast of the Thriller video.   His arms and legs are all over the place.  

About 70 people came for the luncheon and once I finally made it out to socialize I had to keep reminding myself that Girl wasn't there.  I kept looking for her.  It was a great party.  She would have loved it.

Spencer and I went to Target in Tucson on Thursday night.  We needed more of Spencer's allergy medication and some socks for Elliott.  I had brought some short overalls for him to wear to the memorial but a little storm was moving in and I was afraid his feet would be cold.  We found some $1 socks, but then, of course, I checked out the clothes.  I had convinced myself that even though it was going to be cooler than I had anticipated it was just silly to buy him pants and/or long sleeves because it will soon be 90 and then 100 degrees.  We were walking out of the baby section and I was congratulating myself on my willpower when I saw this outfit.  In the cart it went.

He was so adorable in it.

Since it will be 89 by Tuesday, he'll most likely never wear it again.

I took lots of pictures to share to make the $9.99 price seem worth it.

These are the first pictures of Elliott where I feel like he looks like a real baby and not a newborn.

People sent lovely flowers to place at the altar during the mass.

I was looking at this particular bouquet and thinking that it was really nice and whoever ordered it was really generous. I looked at the card and it was from my family.  Damn.  We are really great people.

Spencer kind of got lost in there.

Ginger was a big hit in her cone during the luncheon.  Later that night we realized she is glow in the dark.

Good news about Ginger.  The tumor was cancerous, but it had not spread, they were able to remove all of it and no further treatment is needed.  They also overcharged us $180, so they will be refunding that on Monday.  The vet called with the results of the pathology while we were in Tucson and we listened to her message like 8 times but can not understand exactly what kind of tumor it is (not like we don't "get it".  Her voice is all muffled and we literally do not understand her).  Based on her description, though, it was caused by Ginger's love of sunbathing, she is likely to get more of these tumors and we need to start putting sunscreen on her or making her wear a shirt everyday.  I think we should get a sassy little designer piece.

We came home this afternoon because Spencer and Michael were going to Jacob's 2nd birthday party.  Elliott and I stayed home and took a teeny, tiny nap (like 20 minutes and then he was ready to go, even though I most definitely was not), took a shower together (his first shower) and took pictures in this outfit because it is the first and only time he'll wear it.  It was a shower gift from Grandma and it was too big until now and will now be too hot.

I'm just in love with this kid, despite the decline in sleeping ability of late.

I'm also in love with this batman face-painted kid,

despite his insistence that sticking one's tongue out makes for a good picture.