Elliot is 9 Months!

That's right - my beautiful little smooshy baby turned 9 months this past Saturday.

These pictures are getting harder and harder to capture. Kid won't sit still!

Size: His well check is this afternoon so I will update after that. I'm going to guess 20 lbs and 28".

Update: He is 18 lbs 14.6 oz (35th percentile) and they had his length at 27.5" (15th percentile) but that can't be right.  That was his exact measurement at 6 months and I refuse to believe he hasn't grown in three months. We measured him at home and had him at 28". Clearly the 6 month measurement was off. Head was 17.5" (51st percentile).

Wearing He's still in size three diapers and wearing mostly 9 month clothes. 12 month ones are still really big on him and I can occasionally fit him in a 6 or 6-9 month size outfit.

Milestones:  We definitely have a crawler.  He was mostly army crawling but in the last couple days he's been getting up on his knees and really crawling. I watched him do it when I dropped him off at daycare this morning and couldn't stop smiling. He's also started pulling up to standing in the last week or so and he loves playing at the activity table:

He has six teeth now and has been a fussy mess the last couple days so I think another couple might be coming.

Eating: He's still EBF and we may be in the midst of another bottle strike (cue tears from me).  He had been refusing the bedtime bottle last week, but still taking them fine at daycare. After the three day weekend where he was only getting it straight from the tap he refused to take bottles at daycare yesterday. We did get one in him at the farmers market yesterday and he took one this morning, so maybe there's hope.  I believe that he hates baby food purees so I'm going with the BLW approach.  When we went to dinner on Saturday and I got him some steamed broccoli and he loved it:

He seems to have some sort of sensitivity to fruits and I'm wondering if it's the acid. I also think he might have a strawberry allergy. I gave him some mixed berry yogurt on Monday morning and after a few minutes he had hives all over his face. I'm used to him getting red and blotchy, but the hives freaked me out. I'll be asking his pedi about it today.

Sleep: He's doing pretty well with sleeping at night, but the naps haven't been great.  He took a two hour one on Monday, but that was benedryl induced.  Most nights he sleeps 8:00 - 6:30 so I'll take it. I just wish he could figure out that weekends are for sleeping in!

Personality: We are definitely starting to see his little personality taking shape and if what he's been doing lately is any indication he is going to be a pistol.  The other day Andrew was on the floor playing with him and leaned on him. Elliot didn't cry, he yelled!  It was almost like "Hey! Get off!".  Also, when he's in his high chair and tired of being there he starts yelling and shaking his head.  We're going to have our hands full with this one!

Loves: The rugs in the kitchen, getting into anything and everything, trying to get our phones, taking baths, swings at the park and playing with his brother.

Hates: Being left by himself, eating food, sitting still and being strapped in to anything (car seat, stroller, high chair).

The little guy drives me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade him for the world. I love that little smoosh more than I can say.

Grow Garden, Grow!

We were a little late getting our garden planted this year, but it's finally starting to produce some stuff for us:

Andrew is very excited about the produce that's growing and can't wait to start picking stuff.  He saw the tomatoes and wanted to pick them right then and there. I had to convince him that we have to wait until they turn red:

We're having some trouble with the squash and zucchini. The squash blossoms have been falling off and some of the ones that have actually grown have rotted before they are mature.  We seem to have this problem every other year or so:

The spinach is doing awesome.  We've already used some of it (it's great in smoothies) and Andrew decided it's fun to run through the back yard flinging spinach leaves like confetti. Luckily we have more than enough to go around:

The bell peppers are starting to take off and there is actually one that looks like it's almost ready to be picked. I'll be so glad when they really start coming in so I can stop spending money on them at the store or the farmer's market:

We're also trying sweet potatoes this year. I really hope they work because I love sweet potatoes (and I'm hoping I can get Elliot to start eating some).  There's also some basil and I think some rosemary in there.

We also have some blueberry bushes in pots (that we need to plant somewhere) and there is the blackberry bush that kind of died off. I'm bummed about that one since I loved the blackberries for my oatmeal and/or smoothies.  Somehow the raspberry bush that I cut down last year when we moved the garden made a reappearance so we'll probably have some of those starting next year.

Here's hoping that over the next months we will have a plethora of fresh produce coming in from our garden - it's always best when you grow it yourself  :)

More Professional Pictures

Last weekend we went back to our photographer to get some more professional photos done during her Spring mini-sessions.  The last family ones we'd had done were back in November when Elliot was only three months old.  He wasn't overly cooperative and Andrew was still in the "I don't want to sit by him" phase.  I was optimistic that this time would go more smoothly and we would get some good ones of the boys.

Andrew sat right down on the little bench thing that she had set up and we got some great shots:

Then we set Elliot down to get some individual shots of him.  Unfortunately he was tired and ready for a nap so he wasn't too smiley:

After that we tore Andrew away from playing with Selena's cat to sit with Elliot so we could get some pics of the two of them. I was so happy that Andrew cooperated:

After that we headed outside to get some family pictures:

At the very end she got this shot when we were messing around tickling Elliot:

All in all I think it was a very successfully photoshoot and I love that we got some great family pics.  We'll go back in 3 months for Elliot's one year photos and hopefully he'll be a little more smiley for those ones. I just need to plan the timing of that one better so he's not ready for a nap.

Teeth. Teeth, and More Teeth

That's it, this kid is teething like crazy.

A month ago he still had a completely gummy smile.  Then over the course of less than a week he cut four teeth.  He wasn't the happiest baby on the block, but we made it through.  There was a fifth tooth that I thought was going to pop through right after the other four, but it waited a couple weeks.  This past weekend I got a look in Elliot's mouth and saw that it had finally cut through.

Yesterday I got a text from Andrea that she thought Elliot was teething again because he was pooping a lot and his little bum was red.  I told her I noticed it the night before and had been slathering him with Desitin.  When I got there to pick them up yesterday he was gnawing on the top of a closed bottle of water.  He was perfectly happy and I didn't mind that he was using an unconventional teether since I let him do the same thing.  She said she hadn't been able to see in his mouth and didn't want to stick a finger in there for fear of being bit.

His poor little bottom was still red when I changed his diaper at home so after his bath I let him have about 30 minutes of naked baby time in his room.  He likes being naked and it let his bum air out so it was a win-win.

While he was rolling around and laughing I was able to grab him and get a look in his mouth. There it was, tooth number six has officially cut through.  So now he has the top and bottom middle ones as well as the next one on the left of both top and bottom.

You can't see the most recent two in this picture,  but you can see his top teeth.

I miss his gummy little smile, but his toothy grin is still pretty damn cute.  Now if only I can get him to not bite me with those little chompers.

Mother's Day 2014

Yeah, I realize it's already Wednesday and Mother's Day was three days ago, but I just haven't gotten around to documenting things.

Sunday started out with me attempting to get ready with Elliot playing in the exersaucer in the bathroom.  I could hear Andrew coming up the steps to see me.  All of a sudden he appeared in the bathroom holding some flowers and a card and said "Happy Mother's Day, mommy!".  I really wish I could have gotten it on video, because it was seriously the sweetest thing ever.  I gave him a huge hug and kiss and I couldn't stop smiling.

My flowers and card

We ate breakfast and got ready to get on the road to my parents' house.  I hesitated when Elliot threw up as I was getting him ready.  I coughed and threw up, which made me think that maybe he was getting sick. I didn't want to be the person that takes a sick baby to someone's house.  J said he'd probably be fine and if he started to get really fussy we could come home.  So we packed up our stuff and hit the road at 9:30.

We got to their house around 11:15 with a fussy baby.  I wanted to show my mom Elliot's new tricks of sitting up and kind of crawling, but when I set him on the floor he just laid face down and cried. Damn.  I apologized to my mom about him being sick, but she said it was fine.  We hung out at their house for a little bit waiting for my sister and nieces to get there. We went out back so Andrew could run around and feed the ducks:

Elliot wasn't amused:

My sister and the girls showed up (but not my probably soon-to-be-ex brother-in-law) so we got a family picture.  Getting four kids to look at the camera is no easy feat:

We headed to lunch at a mexican restaurant since we figured it wouldn't be crowded and we wouldn't have to wait for a table.  While we were waiting for our food my  mom and I ran next door to the store to get some infant tylenol because Elliot was warm and very cranky.  We all ate our lunches (Andrew did amazingly well and actually ate his quesadilla) and Elliot fussed.  I tried my best to keep him entertained, but the kid wasn't happy.  After lunch we had to head home anyway because my in-laws were en route to Charleston so we needed to get back.  Elliot was ready to go:

He alternately slept and cried for the whole ride home.  When we got back he threw up a couple times while we waited for J's parents to get there.  He was content to sit and play while everyone was at our house (his aunts and uncle were also here) and after they left I got him down for a late nap.  I was really afraid that it was going to be a miserable night and that I would be keeping him home the next day, but I was pleasantly surprised when he slept all night and woke up happy.

So that was Mother's Day this year.  Not the relaxing day that I would have liked, but it was a nice day nonetheless.

Elliot's New Tricks

For the past couple days Elliot has been getting so close to going from laying down to sitting. There have been multiple times where I've walked into the room to find him almost there.  He'd be propped up on one elbow while playing with a toy, grunting as he tried to push himself up, but not quite getting there.

Last night after his bath we were playing on the floor in his room.  He would scooch around the room lunging after toys.  Before too long he did this:

He was so proud of himself for sitting up. Every time I would say "Yay!" he would look at me with this giant grin on his face.  It was so cute and I couldn't stop smiling.

I looked back to see when Andrew did it for the first time and it was on J's birthday, nine days before he turned nine months.  So Elliot is slightly ahead on this one (I know, I know - stop comparing!).

He is getting SO close to actually crawling, but as of right now he is still army crawling:

He just started doing that last Friday and it's so funny to see him dragging himself around to get what he wants. I love watching him learn and grow and I have to say I am one proud mommy  :)

Five Years

This past Friday (May 2nd) marked five years of wedded bliss for us.  It's crazy how fast time has gone. I guess that's what happens when you're busy chasing kids around - time flies.

We both took Friday off of work to celebrate. The boys went to daycare and Andrea was also going to keep them in the evening so we could go out to dinner to have one of those elusive date nights.  During the day we went and dropped off Andrew's application for his (hopeful) new school in the fall and then headed for the outlets to do a little shopping.  We got some outfits for the boys for their pictures this coming Saturday and bought ourselves some new duds as well.

We headed home so I could pump and we could get ready for whatever we were doing that evening. He wouldn't tell me what we were doing, though, which made it a little difficult to get ready.  We left home around 4:45 and I thought maybe we were doing a harbor cruise since he said it depended on the weather. I realized I was wrong as soon as we headed the opposite direction.  Then I thought maybe we were headed out on our friend's boat, but we drove past where we would go for that, too. After ten minutes or so we made a turn into the Mt Pleasant Regional Airport. I was thinking helicopter tour until I saw J's friend, Robert, messing around with this little plane:

It's his plane and he has been flying for 20+ years.  So this was my anniversary surprise - we were going to take a little air tour around Charleston.  I was a little bit nervous about the tiny plane, but I trusted Robert so off we went.

We flew over Sullivan's Island and down the coast past Kiawah (where the rich people live and stay):

Intercoastal Waterway

The Sanctuary at Kiawah

We landed at the airport down on Johns Island to refuel (gas is cheaper there) and for a little photo op:

Once we were back up in the air J actually took a turn at the controls:

We flew back up the coast and up over Bulls Bay and over the Francis Marion forest.  We looped back around and headed back to the airport. I got nervous when it was time to land:

But we made it safely back down on to the ground.  Robert said next time we'll actually go somewhere - maybe down to Orlando or something for dinner.  After we got back we headed out to dinner at The Boathouse (where we had our first date almost 9 years ago) and hung out on the top deck at the bar while we waited on our table. It was a nice relaxing dinner and the perfect end to a pretty awesome anniversary.  Five years, two kids and a thousand great memories. I can't wait to see what the next five years hold for us.