Shoulder Sleep

Is there anything better?

First Trim!!

E's hair has been pretty uncontrollable since Day#1 ... so by the ripe age of 4 months, he was needing his first trim!

Grandma got out her haircutting supplies and E did great!

Under the cutting cape (in his bumbo):




First snips!


Final result ... such a big boy!


All we did was take a little off his awkwardly long sideburns, but I think he'll be ready for a full haircut before too long! Thanks Grandma!

Johnny Jump-Up

When we were in Nashville in March, Grandma got out the Johnny Jump-Up! Elliott didn't quite get the jumping concept but he loved spinning around!

2 New Videos

A few weeks ago we went to Nashville to shoot our first wedding of the year ~ it's great to be back in the swing of things!

We loved seeing family, of course, and it's fun to share E with all of the people who love him!

He was SO excited to see everyone, and particularly GrandGreg and Aunt Anne this first night in Nashville. Caroline did her best to be patient with sharing the spotlight:

Untitled from adam r on Vimeo.

One more random video from our time there ... is there anything better than a baby's laugh?

Untitled from adam r on Vimeo.

Go Dodgers!

The Latest ...

Monthly Photo ~ 5 months!

1 week:

1 month:

2 months:

3 months:

4 months:

5 months:

Grocery Run!

When the parents are away ...

... the baby will play!!

Last weekend, Adam and I had a little get away to Las Vegas (see my old/public blog for pics of our adventures) and our amazing, wonderful, generous, sweet, gracious, loving (what am I leaving out?) friends Courtney and Kyle kept Elliott for us for 2 nights.

It was really great for the two of us to have some time away and we didn't worry about Elliott for 1 minute ~ he was in the best hands!

Of course we missed him tremendously ... not sure if he would say the same! I think RaeRae kept him plenty busy!

Starting him young

That's right ... I like to start them young. A couple of weeks ago, me and Elliott met our favorite cupcake companion Lindsey for an impromptu cupcake date at none other than Sprinkles.

Linds introduced us to the Passover special, flourless chocolate cake ... yes, please!


Elliott loved it! Thanks for a fun date, Lindsey!

A little present

You may need to click on the image to enlarge it and get the full effect:

Blocks

I know we talk about the exersaucer a lot, but it's a pretty big part of our world! One of his favorite parts is these green and white blocks that are attached by ribbon. See ... he can even find them when he's NOT in his exersaucer!



So, we finally clued in after watching him obsess over them that he might be ready to get out his real blocks.

And we were right! He loves them, and is super cute playing with them!

Thumbsucker

So ... it's official. We have a thumbsucker. I'll be honest ... it's really cute ... but is this a mistake? I've heard it argued both ways ... Pro: They can always reach their thumb. Con: You can't just take their thumb away like you can a paci when it's time to outgrow it.

E has never really been a paci baby ... we offer it to him but have never forced or even strongly encouraged it. I really like that he doesn't like it or get upset if he doesn't have one.

For now, he seems to go for his hand mostly when he's really tired or hungry ... not all the time.

So what should we do?:
a) Let the thumbsucking go and cross the taking-it-away bridge when we get to it.
b) Start trying harder to do paci rather than thumb.
c) You're too late, Mar. The damage is already done.
d) No big deal either way ~ just let him do whatever he wants.

Baby Love Mania

So, at one of our showers, we got this awesome book called Baby Love (I think from Syd and Taylor, if I'm remembering correctly?). It's one of those great fabric-y books with different panels so it can stand up on it's own. We have used it from almost day #1 with Elliott ... he has spent many hours staring at it but has recently developed a new affinity for it that I can only think of one word to describe .... manic.

Yes, he's totally crazy about it and sometimes I think he might explode from excitement over it.

It always starts off tame ... here he his kissing the elephant.

But soon it turns to all-out body involvement and he starts violently flailing his arms and legs while holding the book:




Then flailing turns to rolling, so by this point, he has fully wrapped himself IN the book and is flailing AND rolling all at the same time. Basically it looks like he clothes himself in the book and then just basks in the glory of it. We need to clear off our video camera to make room for some video of it because it's really crazy.

Here are a few photos to describe what we mean:


Can you even stand the excitement?!?

I know I'm a little biased ...

...but this little face melts my heart!

On the move

Well, Elliott has been on the move for a couple of weeks now. He's not quite up on all 4's yet, but he can definitely work his way forward if he really wants something. He is starting to work on his army crawl, and practicing tucking his legs up and pushing. A couple of photos ... how long do you think it will take from here?

Sad monkey.

Elliott is one of the happiest babies I know, but of course he has his moments. And it's no secret when the tears are about to show up:


Yep. The bottom lip is a dead giveaway every time.

One of the first things Adam said to me after Elliott was born was "oh, I've seen that look before."

Apparently his mom does the same thing.

Bathtime Fun

Last night we had our first bath playtime ... we got out our cups and rubber duckies and got to play in addition to getting clean!

He loved it (even more than it shows in these photos ... he just wasn't into the camera)!

Some things.

Here are some things you might want to know:

~ We had Elliott's 4-month check-up. It was great! Here are his new stats:

Head: 16.5 (45%)
Height: 25.5 (80%)
Weight: 14 lb, 7 oz. (50%)

~ Guess who has slept 8 hours straight for TWO NIGHTS in a row!?!?

~ This is such a fun age. Elliott is super curious to explore his world ... wanting to reach and touch and hold everything. But not old enough to get mad when he can't have something. It's wonderful.

~ The doctor told us we could start cereal/food whenever we are ready, between now and 6 months. We are in no hurry ... check back at probably the last possible day.

~Elliott has officially become a thumb-sucker. It's actually adorable ... but is this a mistake? This will probably get it's own post soon.

~ I'll spare you the details, but it's been 6 days. We're resorting to mixing prune juice into his bottle today, and waiting for the onslaught. Good times.

~ We've had some yucky sickness at our house this week but Elliott seems to have escaped. He and dad had a couple of days of bonding while I was totally out of commission. Adam is such a great dad, and gets an extra gold star for taking care of both of us completely this week!

Here are some things you might want to see:

Raegan and Elliott ... Raeliott? Elligan?

Elliott's favorite position ... one hand in his mouth, one hand in his hair:

Love this:

Big boy in overalls!


Elliott is still LOVING his exersaucer. We can't imagine life without it.