Infant Room

Eli recently graduated from the infant room to the toddler room at preschool. Ms Ayse (Eli's favorite teacher) gave me a CD with pictures from his time in Infant room B. Here are a few of the great ones. Enjoy!


The fish face:

Playing in the snow ... he wasn't too sure about snow

This is the wonderful Ms Ayse:





Here's one from when he first started at 5 or 6 mo old - just before crawling. So precious!

A face lift - and pictures!

I decided to finally give the blog a little face lift. I love the colors in this background.

And finally, a picture...


This one is for Grammy. Thank you, Grammy!

Eli is...

WALKING!!!

Our little guy took his first solo steps at 11 months and 1 day and he’s been unstoppable ever sense. Well, sort of unstoppable – he’s up to about seven steps before he either falls down or grabs hold of something. He LOVES to practice walking. I think that's because Pete and I do a big cheer for him each time, so he wants to do it again and again and again and again, but we love it too. The more we cheer the more he gets really excited, and the more he gets really excited the faster he tries to go, which usually ends up in two steps and then a crash landing – but we cheer regardless and he really seems to be catching on.

He has also learned to throw. Many times when we try to change Eli’s diaper, he tries to crawl or back flip off of the changing table, and many times it take both Pete and I to hold him still long enough to get a diaper even half way on him. This boy is all over the place! When I’m by myself I hand him something to play with in hopes of distracting him from the fact that he is being still and getting a clean diaper. Well this smart little guy has figured out my plan, and the last time I handed him something he threw it across the room!! I couldn’t help but be a little proud because he had learned the concept of throwing. Anyway, now instead of handing him something to distract him I sing silly songs and make a fool of myself - that seems to work – for now. And Eli enjoys throwing his toys occasionally when he plays, but thankfully he's not throwing very hard. Anyone got any tips on how to teach an 11 month old boy when, where and how hard it is appropriate to throw?? (...que crickets...)

Eli at 7 months

We celebrated Eli's seventh month and a beautiful Fall season by going to a pumpkin patch with our friends Jenny and Sam. J&S brought their two nephews, and it was so much fun despite the freezing cold weather. Next year J&S will be able to bring their new baby girl!!

Pete and Eli on Eli's first corn maze. Eli was very interested in the corn.

Pete, Eli, Sam and the two boys ... lots of boys in this one.

My precious baby boy









It is so hard to get a good family photo with three smiling faces all looking the same direction! At least this one came close.

Once again, Eli is partied out.


Seven months was also a big month for us because Eli started crawling. He was practicing at 6 months, but at 7 months he was really on the move. Now the boy is unstoppable!

Eli at 6 months - catching up

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's...

This post in embarrassingly late, but here is our little Superman on Halloween.
(I love this picture of Eli, but I don't so much love the feet in the corner.)

Superman showing off his super human strength.

Superman flying with one of the coolest gals on earth.

Superman was partied out.

Vann tips for healthier babies.

Progress!!

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2008/08/product-safety.html

If you are too lazy to read the article (and I usually am) I will sum it up to say products intended for children under 12 are required to be free of pthalates.

I'm going to get on my soapbox for a minute and say mothers should PAY ATTENTION to what we give our babies...pay attention to what they are exposed to in their environment whether it be plastics, cleaning products, lotions. Read the ingredients, and not just on their food. Read the ingredients on their soap. Find out what their sippy cup is made from. There are safe alternatives out there, you just have to find them.

A great resource.

A long overdue Eli update - for anyone who might still check this blog

Santa came to Eli's Christmas party at school. Eli was not too sure about Santa.




This boy is constantly on the move, and he is fast. Eli is 9 months old, 20lbs 4ozs, and 27.5 inches tall. He will not be wanting his two front teeth for Christmas because he has them! He has four teeth now - two on top and two on bottom. He has just started clapping, and this makes him very proud. We've introduced some table food, and he seems to be on board with it. He loves to feed himself...it just takes him awhile. We also introduced the sippy cup, but I think he considers it more of a toy than a means of hydration. So far we've managed to completely avoid formula, which has been a goal of mine from the beginning.

Eli loves school, which makes me feel better about taking him. He has started a tiny bit of separation anxiety, but so far it hasn't been too bad - which is good because I still have separation anxiety. No sense in BOTH of us crying :-)

He is so funny, and he totally knows how to work a crowd. Pete and I can totally see it! We've taken him to a few gatherings, and whenever he becomes the center of attention (which is frequent), he does the cutest things and always gets a great crowd response. And whatever he did for the response is generally something he doesn't usually do. He is definitely his father's son.

Anyway, he is the second love of my life, and we are having a blast. ...except at night. Nightime parenting is still VERY exhausting. Eli has been through several ear infections since starting school, so all of our nighttime progress flew out the window. We have historically gone the attachment parenting route - but I just bought the Ferber book. We're going to try to find some balance between loving/attentive and Ferber. As a side note, for any of you interested in avoiding antibiotics, I found a natural remedy for ear infections that works very quickly. At least it works on Eli - but that should probably be a separate post.

We've also recently introduced the word "no". Eli has started spitting his food at mealtime. Our plan is to respond by firmly stating "No. We do NOT spit our food." while giving him our serious face. This plan has not worked for me. I will give my serious face and state my line. Then Eli looks at me curiously. I'm using an unusual tone, and he's trying to decide how to react. Then he gives me this sweet adorable laugh, and I laugh back EVERY time. I can't help it!! He thinks I'm playing a game. I have GOT be stronger if I'm going to teach this child anything - but I've been praying about this.

Thank you, Nashville!!

Pete was just named Best Local Actor!!

(*I can't make the link work right, but after you click the link - click "Best of Nashville" then "readers poll" and "more" and you'll see all readers poll results.)

This confused me at first, so I thought I would explain for any of you who might get thrown off by this ... there are actually two actors that get 'best of', one is picked by the theatre critic for the Scene and one is picked by everyone else in the readers poll. Pete was picked in the readers poll. Way to go, Pete!! He has really had an amazing year. Three of his plays this year are now my favorites ever - Hamlet, Marisol, and Go, Dog! Go! (Favorites from prior years include Jack's Tales, Wind in the Willows, Merry Wives of Windsor, Tom Sawyer, Jacob Marley's Xmas Carol and so on) Also, the Scene's critic named Go, Dog! Go! as "Best Stage Show Suitable for Children and Adults". This is the show where I went into labor on opening day, so it has a special place in my heart. It was also Eli's first play. The show ran for several months, so Eli was able to see it (even though he slept through most of it).

I am SO SORRY I haven't updated in a month. Please don't leave me, blog friends...I will post some wonderful Eli updates very soon.

Eli's First Solids

As a working mother - my time to update the blog is limited. So this is kind of old news, but I want to get it on here as I think you all will enjoy it. We've started Eli on solid foods. His diet is still primarily breastmilk, but he gets solids at dinner and starting tomorrow we're going to do solids at breakfast as well. He's really not a big fan of solids, but we're working on it. Probably 98% of the one tablespoon I prepare ends up in his hair, all over his face, in his nose, on the tray, and on the bib. I'm really not even sure he's ingesting 2% - that may be wishful thinking.

First food: organic brown rice cereal on August 23.
Anxiously awaiting the tasty fare (with very tired eyes - naptime quickly followed).

not too sure about this...

seems to be getting the hang of it...

but he just wanted to play with that spoon...


Second food: avocado.
We picked avocado for a few reasons, one being its nutrient density. Supposedly the avocado is so nutritionally complete it is one of the few foods humans could survive on exclusively. The fat in an avocado is great for little baby's brain development. Also, when we start him on tart fruits a little later, like kiwi, I want to be able to cut the sweetness with avocado to create a sweet/creamy taste. So we needed to make sure he's okay with avocado as far as allergies and things like that. So there's the story behind avocado. However, when it comes to tiny palates, it doesn't matter that avocado is healthy - as you can see, it wasn't a winner.
After his first bite:






We've done avocado several times now, and he does okay with it. But he doesn't seem overly excited about it.

Third food: sweet potato.
I thought pureed sweet potato would be a real winner because it's sweet. But sweet potato got a response similar to avocado. This is a little side story, but Eli's preschool wanted a family picture to post in the room. It was after this request that we realized we don't really have any family pictures. Pete and I are always the ones taking pictures, so naturally one of us is always absent from the photo. So we took this during a dinner when we all ate sweet potatoes.

This is another one we took for preschool. They wanted pictures of Pete and I to show Eli during the day. We took this one for them to show Eli if he gets in trouble.


Anyway - back to first foods. We've also tried some pureed patty pan squash, and he did okay with that. After pureeing it, it had the look, taste and texture of applesauce - but he wasn't really impressed. Again, he's not thrilled about any solids. Next is peas and then maybe bananas.

Smoky Mountain Getaway

For our anniversary in August we spent a long weekend in the Smoky Mountains. We love the great outdoors, and this turned out to be a wonderful and peaceful getaway. Here are a few pictures of our cabin. The cabin was great - complete with hot tub, pool table, gorgeous view of the moutains, sauna (which was not necessary because it was basically a sauna outside).


If you can't tell - that's Eli watching Michael Phelps swim on TV.

Eli got his first jacuzzi bath.

yes, this is a naked baby picture - but if you look closely, I censored it. i've got lots of naked baby pictures, but i feel a little weird about posting them on the internet. so this one is censored with a little airbrushing.

We took Eli on his first hike to Grotto Falls. He loved the hike, but when he's too big to carry - he may feel a little different.






Here is a section of the trail we hiked - it was so beautiful!


We also got to see the lovely Pop and Ruth who are wonderful. They live just a short distance from the cabin.

Eli's 5 month update

Recent developments - singing and teething. Eli loves to sing especially at night. He has been making some interesting noises for weeks, but just recently he has started singing softly to himself. He sang himself to sleep last night. He was still barely awake when I put him in his crib. He sang softly, off and on, for about ten minutes before he was totally asleep. It is so precious - adorable - hilarious. Eli has also officially started teething. It hasn't been too bad, but there are times when the little guy is obviously uncomfortable. So far we've made due on cold wet washclothes and Haynes teething tablets. Night time is still a bit of a challenge. We're still getting 6 and 7 hours sleep stretches, but it's been awhile since we've seen an 8 hour stretch. I'm probably partially to blame because I don't really push the issue.

Eli weighs 17lbs 7oz and he is 25.25" tall - amazing - you just want to squeeze him. Here are some of his 5 month photos.

Playtime pictures:

Eli has really taken an interest in Hugo and Cecil lately. Here are a couple of Eli/Hugo moments.






More fun five month photos.

My favorite.


Pete's favorite.