elliot weekly: week 37

elliot helping me wrap presents

what we've been up to this week:

Anticipating Family Time: We're celebrating Christmas with my family this weekend, which means my sisters are coming to town!!  I love having two sisters and I love Elliot getting to spend time with them.  This Christmas celebration is especially exciting because my older sister Lauren (the doctor) is moving out to Portland this summer.  I hope to burn up the skyways with Elliot while she's under two years old (they still fly babies for free, right??) but I still hate the idea of the Rollins Sisters being so spread out.  Boo.

Reach-Scoot-Fall-Roll:  Elliot has been more and more interested in items that are more than an arm's length away.  She'll reach and reach for it (toy, book, bug, etc) and then kind of scoot her bottom, fall over (either head first, sideways or on her back) and then roll over.  She'll them get distracted by her new vantage point and play with whatever toy/book/bug/etc is closest.  It's like watching ADD in action.

Real Baby Food, Almost:  Elliot is about to start real baby food this weekend.  We're going to make her baby food (it's cheap and organic/no preservatives) but I went ahead and picked up some pre-packaged stuff at the grocery store so we'd know how "runny" to make ours.  Dr. Mark (our pediatrician) said to start her out on yellow vegetables first.  Well, the only vegetable I could think of was squash, which isn't exactly in season down here in the Carolinas.  So, Josh and I think that orange is pretty dang close to yellow, so we're starting Elliot out on carrots.  We'll let you know how it goes.  

Dream Feed: We're still giving Elliot a full bottle around 10:30pm.  She's asleep and we're not sure if she totally needs it to sleep through the night.  BUT, Elliot is only weighing in at the 25% mark, so we're going to keep giving her this full bottle until she's up to two baby food meals per day (which is another week or so.)

Stats:  I work right across the street from our Children's Clinic, so I took Elliot over there to get weighed.  She weighed in at 15 pounds 12 ounces.  One more reason I love living in a small town: the clinic's front door is a little less that 75 yards from my desk at work.  Yes, I am spoiled by small-town convenience!       

elliot weekly: week 36

helping with laundry

what we've been up to this week:

Hungry Lady:  Elliot is doing great with her rice cereal!  Last week she was doing 1/2 a serving and wasn't too interested.  This week she's up to a full serving and is practically slurping it down.  

Flapping her wings:  Elliot does this funny arm-flapping-thing when she gets really excited or sees something that she really likes.  She flaps her arms up and down like she's trying to fly away....or conduct an orchestra.  Trust me, it's funny.

Family Time:  This past weekend we were able to drive down to Columbia, SC and visit Grandmother (my grandmother, Elliot's great-grandmother.)  It was a sweet time with the family, lots of playing, giggling and baby-cuddling.

 

snuggle time with grandmother

 

four generations.  love :)

Creepy Old Men:  Elliot met Santa today.  We aren't so sure that we're going to do the whole "Santa" thing at our house, but we took Elliot to visit Santa with Merrin (Elliot's bff.)  Merrin was digging the whole experience, Elliot....not so much.

elliot weekly: week 35

what we've been up to:

Wallow:  Elliot isn't crawling, but she sure is into wallowing.  She'll sit in my lap and wiggle and roll all over the place.  She just reaches and grabs for everything in sight, always trusting that we won't let her fall off our laps or off the couch/chair.  She loves looking at things sideways or upside-down, but she likes to that mostly while you're holding her.

Peek-a-Boo: Elliot has finally gotten the hang of peek-a-boo.  We play it mostly with her blanket, because it's small enough for her to grab.  She likes it when we hold it in front of her, completely hiding ourselves, and she smiles hugely when we say "where's the baby? where's elliot?" and then promptly rips the blanket away.  She's even gotten into holding the blanket up herself when she's ready to play (she even did it in the grocery store the other day!)  It is SO cute.

Outdoor Babe: Baby Girl is still loving the outdoors.  Only problem?  Yeah, the fact that it was 34 degrees and Elliot was crying to play outside.  How exactly do I know she wanted to play outside?  Because we were at work and she was so very fussy until I walked her over to the glass door leading to the backyard and she started panting.  Like a dog.  I'm pretty sure she would've wagged her tail if she had one.  So, like any brave mama, I strapped her into the stroller and bundled her up with a hat and blanket and we walked the 1.2 miles to the post office.  Why the post office?  Well, duh, I was at work and needed an excuse to take the babe on a walk.  Multitasking folks, it's what being a working mama is all about!

Xylophone: My friend Sherry gave Elliot a wooden toy set at a baby shower last fall.  The set is meant for babes 18 months and older, but Elliot loves the xylophone!  We've played with it enough now that she knows how to hammer the keys.  Or she just spazes out and the note-playing is just a byproduct of flailing arms.

Not So Yummy:  We started Elliot on rice cereal yesterday.  She took a few spoon fulls and was interested in the whole deal at first.  She wanted to play with the spoon more than anything, but she quickly got the hang of the whole keep-you-arms-down-while-we-feed-you routine.  After a few minutes thought Elliot seemed to lose interest in the whole project and was getting more down her face and on her bib than in her mouth.  My last resort was to let her sip it out of the side.  Turns out she loved that method.  I know we're supposed to be teaching her how to use a spoon, but I just didn't want to waste the breast-milk that we'd mixed in with the cereal.  Yep, I'm cheap, even with breast-milk.

happy 8 months elliot!  we love you baby girl!!

elliot weekly: week 34

at the Washburn General Store
trying to convince us to buy her this little rocking chair

what we've been up to:

To the Park: Elliot went to the park for the first time!  Josh and I both had Wednesday afternoon off and we took Elliot to the park.  She's obviously not old enough to run around yet, but she seemed to enjoy the swings and the carousel.  We are so lucky to have such a gem of a park only minutes from our house...its actually walking distance from my office and uptown so we'll have to keep it in the running destination rotation.  

Winner, Winner: Elliot is a winner!  Elliot and I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving this past week.  Ok, Elliot actually fell asleep around mile 2.  BUT, Elliot won the costume contest!  I'm pretty sure she won by default, but she was the CUTEST little indian ever.  I made her costume out of felt and ribbon and managed to whip it up during her nap on Wednesday afternoon.  Its all sew-free and made by knotting and hot-glue that I learned how to do by watching this video from Joann's.  (You can't really see in this picture, but she had a little papoose on the back of her costume to hold her stuffed animal like a mama!)

Elliot and I post-race waiting for the results 

cutest little baby ever?
yep.
and we have the trophy to prove it.

Thankful:  We are so thankful for so many things; the Lord is so very good and so good to us.  It was nice to have a day set aside to remember that this week.  I pray that we keep that mindset as we enter into these next holiday weeks!

elliot weekly: week 33

what we've been up to:

Never Met a Stranger:  Elliot continues to enjoy meeting new people...although, you'd never know they were "new" by the way she coos and smiles at everyone.  When I was pregnant with Elliot I prayed that she would be warm towards others, because I knew how many people the Lord had us in contact with through ministry.  I know she's little and could certainly develop a shy streak later on, but we're just going to enjoy our little social butterfly for now.

Huge Smiles: Elliot has a huge smile, complete with drool and giggles.  Noticeably absent: teeth.  Elliot doesn't have any teeth yet.  And, according to Aunt Joy (dental hygienist extraordinaire) it doesn't look like she has any teeth coming any time soon.  Oh well, we'll just enjoy our little gums-only girl for now :)

Bath Baby:  Elliot is still loving her bath time.  She'd probably play in the bathtub all day if we let her.  And, she loves to tote around her bath toys and play with them around the house.  We get quite the strange looks when we're out and about and Elliot is swinging around a rubber ducky!

elliot weekly: week 32

holding her water bottle at 32 weeks

What we've been up to:

Roll Over: Elliot is a rolling over champ!  She's been great with her tummy time and regularly rolls front to back (she definitely favors rolling to the right.)  She's not showing any interest in crawling yet and prefers to play with what's around her than crawling for a toy farther away.

Sing a Song: Elliot has been really into music lately.  If she's fussy in the car, turning on the radio (or plugging in the iPod) really seems to calm her down.  I don't think she has any real favorites so far, but I'm thinking she'll be a 'top 40s' girl.  Josh and Elliot rock out to the guitar while I'm running in the mornings.  It's fun to sneak into the house and hear them singing Vida la Vida or Mr. Jones (ok, let's be honest, Josh does the singing and Elliot just kind of lays on her back, grabs her feet in the air, smiles and does a sweet little baby scream.)

Elliot and Josh having a little sing-a-long/chew-toy time

elliot weekly: week 31

loving outdoor time at 31 weeks

What we've been up to this week:

Reach For It:  Elliot is getting so much better at reaching for toys (or my cell phone, keys, silverware or anything else she shouldn't be putting in her mouth!)  She will be sitting up, lean to one side to grab a toy, sit back up and pass the toy between her hands.  It's so wild to watch her....I just hear her think "I want what's over there....so I'm going to get it myself."  It is amazing to see her independence grow each day!

Arms Open Wide:  When Elliot is getting fussy/tired/bored and she starts to cry, she doesn't really hold her arms "up", she holds them out (like she's making a giant "T" shape.)  She holds her arms like this often and most of the time isn't trying to communicate "pick me up."  I feel like a bit of a mind-reader these days---trying to decipher what she wants, with one motion/gesture meaning multiple things.

In Its Place: Everything has a place....and Elliot believes that place is in her mouth.  Car keys, make-up, remote controls, towels and tabletops are all fair game for our little girl.  Yes, she did try to chew on the edge of a table at Early Girl in Asheville.  And yes, I did laugh while pulling her away.  What can I say, I guess our daughter is part beaver.

elliot weekly: week 30

loving the outdoors at 30 weeks

What we've been up to:

Bath Time: Elliot is still loving her baths.  She's getting better at sitting up (in general) and it's fun to watch her sit up in the tub.  She doesn't quite get the whole sitting-up-while-not-falling-face-first-thing and still likes to lay down on her bath sling.

Sleeping Champ: Elliot is still sleeping through the night.  We are so thankful to have solid sleep in our lives!  Elliot usually goes down around 7:30pm and it leaves lots of time for me and Josh to spend time together.

Backpack Baby: Josh and I did a little hike at South Mountain and some yard work this week.  Elliot was both great help and great company.  We were given this baby pack by Elizabeth and John and we love it!  We hang a few toys on there and Elliot is set.  She loves the outdoors and this pack is the perfect combination of baby-containment/baby-entertainment center :)

Elliot directing te mulch placement

Josh and Elliot at South Mountain

elliot weekly: week 29

wearing socks at week 29....and kicking them off right away!

what we've been up to this week:

Sleeping Beauty: Elliot has been sleeping great this week.  We've even had a few nights where she slept until 7am!  We know that teething is probably right around the corner, so we are soaking up these good nights while we can.

Banquet:  We had our fundraising banquet for Young Life on Tuesday.  Elliot was a great gift-bag stuffer.  Consider yourself blessed if you got a little baby slobber on your baggie :)  Did you miss the banquet?  Check out a video clip here.

Just Me and Bottles:  Elliot is still nursing exclusively.  Breastfeeding has been such a gift and I'm glad that she's taken so well to it.  It was a huge prayer of mine during my pregnancy and I'm so thankful for the time with her.  Our pediatrician has advised us to start moving her towards baby food at 8 months.  The plan is to start her with rice cereal at 8 months and then transition to baby food after that.  It makes me kind of sad because I really enjoy the time with her and let's be honest here: its free!  Momma loves a deal y'all.

elliot weekly: week 28

so happy at 28 weeks

What we've been up to this week:

Outdoor Lady: Elliot has really been loving her outdoor time this week.  We had a few rainy spells, but other than that we've been spending a lot of time outside at work and home.  I'm fortunate to have a yard at work where we can sneak out for play breaks.  We have to keep an eye out for the rogue chicken or two (I always take a broom outside with me for protection---makes me feel like I'm on Little House on the Prairie).  Elliot loves looking at everything, feeling the breeze, pulling up all the grass around here and promptly trying to eat it.

Raspberry Central: Elliot is all about blowing raspberries these days.  She'll take a huge breath and just blow/dribble away.  Her face turns so red that I feel like she might pass out or something!  I have to say "Breath Elliot!"  The distraction makes her stop; she'll look up at me and laugh---its so sweet.  We caught a clip on our friend's video camera---we hope to share it soon!

Ears: Elliot has found her ears!  She been "playing" with her ears, flicking the cartilage back and forth.  At first I was nervous that she might be pulling on her ears and was worried about an ear infection (rumor has it that I had a ton of those as a baby). But, she is often smiling when she's doing it, so I'm not too worried.  She's also discovered my ears.  I haven't been wearing dangly earring for a while, fearing that she'd pull them out with her incredible baby strength (sidenote: babies are seriously strong, can I get an "Amen!" on that??)  But even on the days were I'm wearing small post earrings Elliot just wants to flick/tug/poke my upper cartilage.  We may have a future ENT doctor on our hands.

Growing Like a Weed: Elliot had a little growth spurt this week.  Over a span of three days she took a full extra feeding, was a little more fussy and slept a little more poorly.  We are entirely too spoiled with our sweet girl, because when we have something as totally normal as a growth spurt I totally freak out like "why is she wanting so much milk?  why did she wake up at 1am? why is she fussy?  is she getting teeth?"

Toothless Wonder:  Elliot is officially 6.5 months old with no teeth in sight.  She keeps her fingers in her mouth a lot these days, but I'm pretty sure she's just playing with her tongue (also a recent discovery!)  I'm not rushing her into teething, but every time she's fussy I think "oh! maybe she's teething??"

elliot weekly: week 27

Elliot loves Con Queso---she smiles SO big when she sees him!

What we've been up to this week:

Smack Those Lips: Elliot has been making this funny lip-sucking-but-smacking sound this week.  Its been funny to see her learn to do something new.  She'll learn a new skill (like smacking her lips) and not do an old skill (like making funny noises, grabbing her ears, etc).  It is really wild to watch her learn all of this stuff.

Back to Front:  Elliot has finally been rolling over!  She's rolled over several times this week and even got stuck on her belly during a nap.  The whole stuck-on-her-stomach fiasco wasn't so exciting, but I'm glad that she seems a little more interested in rolling around.  She'd still rather have you pick her up or grab a toy for her--and honestly, who am I to complain, I pretty much love holding her. 

Outdoor Girl:  Elliot has been loving her outside play time lately.  I took an old quilt to work with me and we've been having a blast playing outside.  I have to keep an eye out for the wandering chickens, but other than that we're having a great time.  Elliot seems to really enjoy all the noises (birds, breeze, cars and trains) as well as watching the chipmunks and squirrels run around.

Sitting Pretty:  The bumbo has been quite handy!  I really think its helped Elliot do a better job of sitting up.  She needs to kind of have her legs in a "v" shape and have some toys in between, but she's doing ok.  If she sees/hears something interesting to her left or right, she'll face-plant for sure! 

Sound Asleep:  I'd like to say our little babe is officially sleeping through the night....although, I'm not going to say that....because as soon as I do, she'll be up all night!  But it seems that the combination of quitting the pacifier and the Ferber method of falling asleep have worked great!  A friend asked me if I'll use a pacifier for our next babe.  Truth is, I'm not sure!  The pacifier was great and horrible....I'm just glad she kicked the habit quickly! 

Fair Life:  This week the fair was in town....and we took full advantage.  I love people-watching at the fair.  I make up names for people and create full dialogue.  Its kind of amazing.  Here are some family pictures:

elliot....not so interested

elliot was MUCH more excited once she got her overalls on
thanks hef for the sweet outfit! elliot totally loved it :)

!

love my sweet baby girl!

elliot weekly: week 26

worn out at week 26

What we've been up to this week:

Windy Gap: Last weekend we tagged along to Windy Gap with some of our high school friends.  I love this weekend....because we go with my old high school group, because it kicks off fall, because the place is holy ground, because my family was there:

elliot with aunt lauren (camp doctor)

us with shannon (my young life leader from shs!)

Chupo-less: Yep, we stole Elliot's pacifier.  Actually, we stole all 9 of them from her.  I thought I was out of the whole "frenemy" stage of life...you know, because I'm not 12 anymore.  Turns out Chupo was the biggest frenemy of all....best friend by day, torturer by night.  Elliot loved her pacifier during the day but just couldn't get back to sleep in the middle of the night unless she had it.  Weaning her from Chupo is a story we'll get into next week.  I can just hear how excited you are!

Sleeping Beauty: Elliot is sleeping at night much better!  Most of this week was focused on sleep training.  It occupied most of my time, mentally energy and sanity for the past seven days.  I'll give y'all more details in the Chupo post, because I'm pretty sure they're directly related.

Baggies: Elliot loves bags. Paper bags. Plastic bags.  Clean bags.  Dirty bags.  The girl just loves her choking hazards.  I can't tell if she likes the sound, texture, flavor or just freaking me out.  One thing is for sure--you've got to keep an eye on this girl!

elliot weekly: week 25

large and in charge at 25 weeks

What we've been up to this week:

Fat Booth: Ok, the picture above is a little lot deceiving.  It was made using the "Fat Booth" app.  You take a regular picture on an iphone, line up the eyes and mouth and voila!  You're a fatty.  (side note: while you're waiting for the "fat" picture to load, it shows a picture of a dancing hamburger saying "yummy yummy", hahahahaha)  Elliot was giving lots of no-lips smiles and with the drool running down her face we knew we had the perfect fat-booth opportunity.  

And the little one did not roll over: Do y'all remember that song?  There were 10 in the bed and the little one said "roll over, roll over!"  Anyone?  Bueller?  Well, Elliot is not really all that interested in rolling over.  She does great with her tummy time, even doing these funny little baby push ups.  But put that girl on her back and she's happy to just grab her feet (and put them in her mouth of course) and coo and goo away.  I've heard that if a baby crawls longer its directly correlated to the child being more athletic.  So, maybe if it takes her a while to roll over, she'll be extra athletic?

Happy Baby: Elliot is happy to meet anyone.  As soon as someone else is holder her, she turns on the charm; reaching for their face and smiling (with at least two chins.)  Its probably all the local election campaigns getting to me, but I swear she thinks she's running for office with the way she's trying to woo everyone.  It doesn't matter if its me, Josh or a person she's never met before--the girl just turns on the charm.  It makes me really excited because with Young Life we're always traveling and around tons of people.  We hoped that Elliot would be a good travel and social baby.  She's excelling in both departments so far!  I know there may be a time, when she's older, that she gets a bit more shy---but we're just soaking up our happy-baby time for now!

elliot weekly: week 24

happy at week 24

What we've been up to this week:

Jumping Bean: Elliot has been really jumping a lot in the exersaucer at work.  Its a hand me down, so I'm sure the bunjee cords are a little work out.  Regardless, we had to raise her up to leverl 2.  She was just jumping so much on level one that I thought she might jump out of the exersaucer.

Grabby Grabby: Elliot is getting better and better at grabbing and reaching for what she wants.  Unfortunately, she's gotten equally good at tossing what she wants...which usually means I'm picking things up from the ground (or across the room--girl has got an arm!) all day long.  I don't think she's really doing the whole hey-i've-got-you-wrapped-around-my-finger-i-can-make-you-pick-things-up-when-i-drop-them-because-you're-my-servant, but I don't think we're very far off from that either!

Good Night's Sleep: Elliot has been sleeping better at night this week!  We've had several nights where she has slept until 6am(ish).  Its still a bit early for this mama, but we'll take it for now!

Here are a few outtakes from our photo shoot this morning:

elliot weekly: week 23

looking large at 23 weeks!

what we've been up to this week

Beach Time: We spent is past weekend at our favorite beach: Sullivan's Island.  Its just north of Charleston, SC and is the perfect family beach spot.  We love it there.  It was Elliot's second trip to the beach (the first was when I was on my last week of maternity leave.)  I figured that she'd like the sand and water more this time because she's gotten into grabbing things more and splashing during her baths.  She smiled when the breeze blew across her face and she patted the water when we were sitting in a shallow portion.  I hope that we get to visit the beach more as she grows up.  We always went every summer when I was growing up and I have such fond memories!

Laughing: We've had a few laughing spells with Elliot, but she is becoming a regular giggler.  She's always been a big smiley baby, but lately we've gotten more and more laughs out of her.  They are just about the cutest thing (I think only a pink baby unicorn could be cuter).  I've been trying to get her on camera, but I get so wrapped up in her sweet giggles that I forget to run and find the camera.  Josh and I were laughing with her as we were putting her down for her 5pm catnap yesterday and managed to get a few giggles on camera:

Friends: Ryan Clark, one of our best friends, was in town for a quick flyfishing trip with Josh. Ok, so he was actually in town to visit his family, but we managed to snag some time with him.  We all ate dinner together last night and he's flyfishing with Josh today.  He's having a third baby soon--he's such a natural with the babes:

i promise elliot loved it

Hugs: Elliot has been giving some really good snuggles lately.  She'll put her head on your shoulder and even wrap her arms around your neck a little bit.  When she does it to me she gets a bit tempted to pull out my hair or at least give my ponytail a good yank--the girl is strong, let me tell you!  Here's the hug in action: 

Reach For It: Elliot has been reaching for me and Josh, and it is SO cute.  It melts my heart every time.  I'll be holding Elliot and when Josh walks up to us, she reaches her arms out to him and leans toward him.  It is SO SWEET!  I'll have to try and get it on film soon.

Sleep, Sweet Sleep: I've been trying to recreate the "windy gap amazing sleep environment" at home.  Since it was basically just a pack-n-play in a closet, I haven't had to be that creative!  I crank the AC down to 72 degrees (hey, that's cranked down for us--y'all know I'm a penny pincher!), we took the night-light out of her room (it was really just for us to see her anyways) and we traded her super-soft-potterybarn sheet out for a super-thin-target sheet.  Its been great!  She has slept the past three nights until 6:30ish am!  Hallelujah!  Josh is enjoying the cooler night-time temperatures, Elliot is sleeping better and I'm one happy momma---sounds like a good recipe we've got going...I just pray Elliot stay on board :)

It just seems like Elliot is growing by leaps and bounds--I'm trying so hard to soak up every minute with her.  I am SO glad that I get to have her at work with me and I that I'm available for so many milestones.  I love that I get to see her face so much during the day!

elliot weekly: week 22

all smiles at week 22

What we've been up to this week

Young Life's Windy Gap: Elliot took her very first trip to Young Life camp this week.  We stayed at Windy Gap for Josh's Young Life conference Sunday-Tuesday.  It was so good to spend some time with the other staff (and staff families!) at one of our favorite places.  I was so happy to take Elliot to Windy Gap and tell her about how kids will come with their YL leaders to share in an amazing time and hear the Good News of Jesus.  I cannot believe that our leaders will be there with our high school friends in three short weeks!

Teeth: Ok, I know its supposed to be too early to Elliot to be teething....but I swear she is.  The girl is drooling all.over.the.place. and putting every.single.thing. in her mouth.  She really gnaws on the side of her chupo more than she sucks on it.  The fussy and irritability factor has definitely been up as well!

Sleep, such sweet Sleep: Elliot got three nights in a row of sleeping until 6+am!  Unfortunately, it was all at Windy Gap and not in her nursery here at her own house.  We've been trying to recreate the environment here in her room.  At Windy Gap she was in her pack-n-play (what she naps in at work) and was in a huge walk-in closet in our room.  We've put a plain sheet in her crib (took out the super soft and fuzzy sheet), took out the night-light (that closet was DARK) and put diffusers over the ceiling vents (certainly weren't any vents in that closet!)  I'm about this.close to putting her in a pack-n-play in our walk-in closet at home and seeing how she does ;)

we've been traveling a lot and elliot does great in the carseat

elliot weekly: week 21

happy at 21 weeks!

What we've been up to this week:

Mouthful: Elliot has been putting her toes in her mouth.  It is really cute until she chokes herself.  Yep, she's been trying to get her whole foot in her mouth and choking on her big toe in the process.  Its one part cute, one part alarming.

Missing Bottom Lip: Elliot has really gotten into sucking her bottom lip.  She hums and makes all kinds of noises while sucking her bottom lip up and under her top lip.  It makes for a very funny, and very drooly, baby face.

Rocking and Rolling: Elliot is going craaaazy in her exersaucer.  My boss is letting us use his grandson's exersaucer while we're at work.  Its very similar to the one we have at home.  Its like a combination of a johnny jump-up and a traditional exersaucer.  Here she is going at it:

Party Like its 4am: Yep, she's still waking up.  All.the.time.  Josh and I are doing everything we can think of.  We're feeding her a big bottle at 10pm (or 10:30pm) and she wakes up at 4am.  As soon as she gets her chupa in, she immediately calms down and falls back to sleep....only to wake up and repeat the process at 5am, 6am and 7am (if not more frequently!)  She's still nursing and doing great.  Our pediatrician isn't in a hurry to move her to solids, and neither am I.  She's great at 50th% for weight, so I know she's getting enough food.  I wonder if there is just something weird going on in our house during the night that we don't know about?  Maybe the air conditioning hits her crib?  Any suggestions??

elliot weekly: week 20

such a happy baby!

What we've been up to this week:

4 month check up: The big news this week was Elliot's four month check up.  She'll be 5 months old in about 10 days, so its weird to have just had her 4 month appointment.  I still haven't figured out how they calculate ages for appointments at the children's clinic here!  The good news is that our little babe is really healthy.  Her measurements and skills are measuring normal, even though I swear she's above average ;)  The only thing Dr. Mark said she needed to work on was her hair.  Well, if she takes after me she won't get much until around her 2nd birthday!  Oh how we love our little follicularly challenged baby girl hahahahaha.

All giggles: Elliot has had several more laughs and I still haven't been able to capture any on camera!  Josh and I are usually dancing around (or high-fiving) and trying to get her to repeat her performance.  She just looks at us like we're morons (which we most certainly look like at the moment!)

Grabby Grabby: Elliot has been grabbing lots lately.  She'll reach for a pacifier, a toy or your hair (she's slowly ripping out all the little hairs behind my ears--ouch!)  Case and  point:

this photo shoot is over!

Why the face: Elliot is making some funny faces.  I like to give her a voice (and words!) to her faces.  She looks so hilarious when she raises an eyebrow or furrows her forehead.  She only holds the face for a second or two, because as soon as I see it I bust out laughing and then she does her pull-back-her-head-and-give-a-triple-chin smile.  Every once and a while I can get a picture of one....

i am NOT liking this outfit

Because everyone needs just one for picture of E:

happy weekend y'all!

elliot weekly: 19 weeks

19 weeks

Roll On Over: Elliot rolled over for the first time this week!  Well, she rolled over from her back to her stomach.  So, I guess she technically rolled half-way over.  She did it twice on Wednesday afternoon.  I wish that I could have captured it on camera, but I was too giddy to think of it at the time.  Yep, the transformation to dorky-mom has commenced!

Sleeveless in Sleep: Elliot is no longer in the swaddle for sleep.  She's "free" as Josh liked to think of it (he never loved the idea of her all strapped in like that.)  We've got her in a sleeveless sleep sack.  The transition has been much easier than we thought.  We were running on over two weeks of Elliot waking up all night and breaking out of her swaddle.  Last Saturday, during the middle of the night and at our wits end, we tried out the sleep sack.  I had no idea that we were supposed to slowly transition her out of the swaddle (one arm, then both arms, then fully un-swaddled).  Bottom line---she's been napping just as good as with the swaddle and sleeping just as poorly at night ;)

Grab the Chupa: Josh and I aren't huge fans of the word "paci." My boss is from Colombia and his family uses the word chupete or chupa.  We've been trying to teach Elliot how to grab the chupa and put it in her mouth by herself (mostly in the hopes that she'll be able to put it in during the middle of the night and not wake us up, hahahaha!)  Josh and I were up at the neighborhood pool on Wednesday afternoon and Elliot just took the chupa out of my hand and put it in her mouth.  She can regularly put it in her mouth by herself if you hand it to her facing the right direction----and most of the time she can keep it in her mouth without knocking it out with her hands :)

Sleep, or rather the lack thereof: Yep, Elliot is still not sleeping through the night.  She'll wake up several times during the night.  She's pretty quick to settle down and get back to sleep, but still.....Josh and I are ready to get some consistent sleep.  Speaking of, Josh has been a lifesaver.  We've been trading off night duty; he'll have two nights on to take care of Elliot while I sleep and then the next two nights we switch off.  I don't think I could have asked for a more supportive husband!

elliot weekly: week 18

18 weeks and trying to push con queso out of the picture
already wants the spotlight for herself!

What we've been up to this week:

Braves Game! We met up with my sister Lauren and her husband Jon in Atlanta for a Braves baseball game. It was so fun to meet up with them and share Elliot's first game with them! We met up at Flying Biscuit for lunch and then headed over to the game. Lauren has a bunch of pictures on her camera, but I've only got this one of E (while we were waiting outside for our table):

Something to Chew on: Elliot has been putting everything into her mouth lately. She's usually content with her hands, but she's been pretty keen on Sophie too. Sophie is her new giraffe.

She sounds and looks like a dog chew toy. But hey, our little girl loves her!

Fort Time: Elliot built her first fort this week. Somehow I thought she'd build it with Amy, Kate or Kay. But she said she was ready:

Sleep...or rather, No Sleep: Well, it seems like we need more prayers for sleep around here! Elliot had a 12 day streak of sleeping from 8pm-6:30am (with a dream feed at 10:30pm.) Elliot has now been on a 10 day streak of sleeping from 7:30pm-3:30am and then waking every 30-45 minutes until 6:30am. It is making for a very tired set of parents! Elliot doesn't seem to be minding all that much. She'll cry, I (or Josh) walk in and give her a pacifier and she back to sleep immediately. She'll sleep for about 30-45 minutes (maybe an hour!) and then the process repeats itself. I've heard that babies have a "progress spiral" when developing. In that, they take two steps forward, and then one step back. I knew it was too good to think that E was just going to sleep through the night for good....but, man--I'm ready for a break! This is what we've been feeling around our house: