elliot weekly: week 13

What we've been up to this week:

Bubbles, Bubbles: Elliot has been quite the drooling little lady lately. She's been making tons of bubbles and dribbling down every outfit. We used to have to change her outfits due to spit-up, now we have to change them because she's soaking them through!

Taking A Stand: Elliot loves testing out her legs. She likes to be held upright, putting weight on her little legs. She's got some strong little quads! Josh and I can't wait until she's old enough to test out a jumper/exersaucer, it should be quite entertaining!

Head Held High: Elliot is getting better and better at holding up her head. When she's full of energy (just after waking up and just after eating) she can hold her head up high. It usually only lasts a few minutes, but she looks so cute craning her little neck. She stretches out her neck, raises her eyebrows and wrinkles her forehead....it leaves her looking very curious (and a bit like a wrinkled old lady!)

So Much To Say: Elliot has been talking/cooing more and more! She gets so animated, wiggling her eyebrows and undulating her voice. It makes me laugh and I usually end up distracting her by smiling too much. If I can keep a straight face she will usually "talk" a bit more.

Growing Like A Weed: Well, we've had to retire some of Elliot's clothes. She was so little when we brought her home from the hospital (5 pounds 10 ounces) that we actually had to go out and buy some newborn clothes. I finally had to take those newborn outfits out of her armoir and pack them away. It was so sad! I know she's still our little baby, but she seems like she's getting bigger by the minute.

cuddle time with con queso
she's loving to snuggle lately


you talking to me?!
i love some of the stares that she gives me
i was actually trying pretty hard to get her to smile for this picture...
clearly, she wasn't interested!

csa

I'm not quite sure what CSA stands for. I know it has something to do with farming. And everyone in big cities seems really into their CSA. So, its a noun. Aaaand, that's about all I've got on that.

So, here's what I hope has something remotely to do with CSA: our contraban garden! No, we're not growing contraban....its just that having a garden is against our homeowner's association. Yes, I'm a rebel!! (We've also got two pink flamingos standing guard on our back deck---take that HOA!)

We've hidden our garden on the backside of our house. Can you spot it??

Its just over there, on the left side of the deck stairs:

Here's what we've got growing:

zuchinni, jalapenos, tomatos, squash, basil

and my favorite plant:

the rogue tomato plant!

Josh and I had a sad little cherry tomato plant in a planter on the deck last summer. To say the plant was fruitless is polite.....it was just an awful shrivled up shell of a plant. We only got one or two nearly sun-dried looking tomatoes out of the whole plant. Then low-and-behold, the garden fairies smiled upon us! Our rogue tomato plant is one of the volunteers that sprouted up from the seeds of the long forgotten plant from last year. I say "one of" the volunteers because we had about a zillion sprout up in the area. We have about 6 good ones growing (in addition to this beauty). We dont really have the room for the additions and would love to see them in a good home. Any takers???

born to run

Running. We were born to do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you. But seriously, I think we were designed to be runners; we've lost our connection to basics and I think its about time we got back to the fundamentals.

Why am I on a running rampage? Simple; I just finished reading Born to Run for the fifth time. Its written by Christopher McDougall, regular contributor to Runner's World, and is what

started the minimalist running shoe craze (those weirdos wearing rubberized gloves as shoes.) Born to Run is exciting, engaging, informative and adventurous. The first time I read the book (about a year ago) I could feel the heat from the Copper Canyons and hear the cheers at the Leadville 100. It made me want to skip out of work and literally run for the hills (yes, I was reading while I work, shhhhhh!)

So why am I all jacked up about this book? Because this mama just went for her first trail run (up at the US National White Water Center). It was exilherating! I felt like an indian, running quickly and lightly over rough terrain. I'm sure I didn't look as smooth as I felt, but I didn't care. It was the most fun I've had running in months! I starting thinking back to McDougall's book and his stories about the Tarahumara. I felt like I finally understood what he meant about the joy of running.

So, this mama is changing her running form! McDougall writes about how the modern running shoe, with its over indulgent cushioning, actually prevents proper running form and increases our likelihood to "heel strike." When training for my half-marathons last year I focused a lot on running form and posture (lean back, shoulders relaxed, smile), but I could never quite maintain any semblance of proper foot strike. That season is over!

I've been day-dreaming about the races that Elliot and I could run together (or rather, me running while pushing her in the jogger!) I found several jogger-friendly races, but they were all under 5 miles. I wanted something bigger, possibly even a half-marathon, to run with my baby girl. I realized that here I was, basically re-starting my running, and I was focusing more on distance than form. If ever there was a time to re-train myself, its now! So, I'm now committed to landing lightly and gently on the balls of my feet. Sounds easy, right? Uhm, not so much!

I ran my 5k route (without Elliot) focusing on proper form, mainly my feet. As soon as I'd get my feet landing good, then I'd realize that my shoulders were incredibly tense. Then I'd relax my shoulders only to find out that my feet were back to pounding. It was maybe the longest and slowest 3.1 miles I've run in six months! I don't know how long its going to take to train myself to run properly, like I was designed to do as McDougall would say, but I'm pretty sure its going to take a lot of focus.

So, if you see me running and I look like a sloth...well, I'm trying! I'd rather run slow with proper form than burn myself out. And let me know if you hear of any races I can run with Elliot!

elliot weekly: week 12

holla for the 12 week old baby!

What we've been up to this week:

Attempting to sit up: Elliot is doing these funny little "sit ups" when she's laying on our laps. We'll lay her on our lap and she starts nodding her head like she's doing a little mini ab crunch/sit-up. We then pick her up to a "standing" position and the girl is all smiles! I guess she's just tired of staring up my nostrils ;)

Sleeping through the night: Hallelujah! Elliot is on a three night rampage! She's been going to be between 8:15-8:45pm and sleeping until 6:45-7am (with a 'dream feed' at 11pm). Mama is a new woman! I don't think I can quite communicate how amazing this is. Its so hard to believe that I've been not sleeping through the night for the past 12 weeks---even more amazing that I haven't actually turned into a zombie or something. I think Elliot is sleeping longer because her stomach is getting a little bit bigger and can now hold more milk, which equals sleeping longer (because she's not waking up hungry earlier.)

Sweet smiles: Elliot is still giving us some sweet smiles and she's getting more animated. Instead of her normal wide open-mouthed smile, she's now scrunching up her nose and raising her eyebrows too. When its combined with some coos and goos, its pretty funny looking. She looks like she's trying so hard to communicate. I end up mimicking her, which is pretty funny looking too....yes, I've turned into that mom that does just about anything to get a smile out of my baby.

Celebrating in Charlotte: We met up with Auntie Chelsea in Charlotte for a little Dean & Deluca celebration for Elliot's 12 week birthday. We had some giggles, snuggles, sweets and treats and then headed over to South Park for a little shopping excursion. We also had to hit up Trader Joe's and restock the pantry while we were in town. What can I say, these small town ladies had to take advantage of our trip to the big city!

hanging out with auntie chelsea

The days and weeks are passing by too quickly! I'm trying to soak up every minute with this sweet little babe:

check out that stare!
and those cheeks!!

craft it: antropologie inspired chandelier

I have had so much fun decorating Elliot's room. I let Josh voice the occasional opinion, but for the most part it has been a girls-only endeavor. And from the vintage prints to the pink and green accents its certainly a girly room!

I was going through a vintage/anthropologie-ish feel for Elliot's room. And one thing that was not going to fly was the builder grade light fixture:

Don't get me wrong; we built our house and picked out all the lights (and everything other dang detail---seriously, who cares about switch plate covers?!) The light worked perfect when this room was an office and then when it was my crafting room. But it didn't scream "cutest-girl-in-the-entire-world-sleeps-here." We needed an Elliot-worthy upgrade!

The hunt for a sweet chandelier ensued. But not just any old chandelier would do. I needed a cheap one (for my sanity) with lots of character (for my sweet baby girl.) I searched all over the Charlotte area, riffling through flea markets, thrift stores and Ikea. No luck.

Then I hit the Amaya Jackpot! My friends (and bosses) had an extra chandelier they weren't using and decided to let me use it while we're in our house. Score!!!

All it needed was a little TLC and an Elliot-worthy crafting upgrade! My creative juices went wild! The glass was beautiful and the vertical pieces had an almost mercury-glass type look. Be still my heart!

I knew I wanted to add some natural elements into the room (I already had plans for the wood crates and the moss covered letters) so I added some twigs and flowers to the arms of chandelier. I think it really hid the brassy-ness of the fixture and hit the spot for the nature theme too. After realizing that the chain was entirely too long, Dicky came over to help me trim it down to size.

All that was left was the installation and hanging some crystals.
Ready for a little before and after???

now that is some lighting perfection!
check out the details:

yep, we had to put a bird on it ;)

elliot speaks

what can i say?
with us as parents we knew she'd be talking early
here's a peak at what elliot's got to say:

elliot weekly: week 11

what we've been up to this week:

Work! Elliot has been a great assistant this week. She's mostly polite when she answers the phone and her typing skills are seriously advanced. She has been sleeping well at the office and I've been able to get everything done well and on time. I think I'm actually more efficient with her at the office, because I've got more pressure to get everything done. Funny how that works sometimes, huh?

Two Month Check-Up: Baby Girl is growing up. Elliot is gaining weight at the 50th percentile and getting taller at the 75th percentile. She had to get her first big series of immunizations this week. She handled the shots very well, only crying for a little over two minutes. She came back to work with me and slept the rest of the day. Josh watched her while I went for a run after work, and that's when the post-immunization-fussiness really kicked in. Elliot was nearly inconsolable for around three hours. We were all in tears. She wouldn't nurse, she just kept crying---nothing more sad than a little lip quiver! She ended up eating later and slept for a long time. She was back to her normal self the next day at work. Whew! I can't imagine what it would be like to have a fussy baby. We are spoiled with our sweet girl!

10 pounds 14 ounces
23 inches