Elliot: 7 months

 Oh man how did a month go by? I feel like it went so quickly, yet so much happened!
Your personality is changing so much everyday, and I have to admit that you are getting a bit of an attitude...sorry buddy, but that one comes form momma's Irish/French Canadian side ;)

 You are all about the sitting now (though you may wobble a bit still and tend to launch yourself forward into full face-plant...then you get mad. You would also rather stand and jump than lay down.

I feel we have also moved up to big guy status with the stroller, you now love to sit in the seat instead of the baby car seat part! It's so stinkin cute I can hardly stand it!

If we prop you up on your knees you get all happy and rock back and forth...not sure if I'm ready for the crawling yet (in other words SLOW DOWN!).

 7 month stats

Weight:  no clue...if I had a working scale maybe we would know ;)

Length:  yep don't know either...maybe I'll get out a tape measure

Head: please see above...gee I'm lazy!

Diapers:  Disposable: size 2 { the tabs still overlap ya skinny little dude}

                Cloth: middle rise and two snaps between tabs.

Clothes: same as last month: 6-9 months, 6 months, and you still fit into some 3 months shirts

Although I think you may have gotten a bit taller, because some of your jammies are too snug {shoulder to foot} and I think it may soon be time to move up to the 9month size for jammies...but the onesies are still long enough to make it for hopefully months.

 

 

 You are still a snuggle monkey, and are turning into one little momma's boy. I officially think that you have hit the cling-to-momma-and-all-other-people-are-not-cool stage. Momma's not a fan of this stage...her arms get tired {she really would like a ring sling for Easter}

Tons happened this month!

Mommy and Daddy had their first night out without you {for Valentines Day}, you stayed home with Gramma and Grampa. We payed them in wine...true story ;)

We went on our first vacation!
Just a car trip up to The Dells to stay at Kalahari.
But first we had to leave a day early...to avoid the snow {by going north...?!?!} so we decided to stop and stay in Madison. Dinner and an evening with friends who live there {and their new baby!}
Then in the morning it was off for 3days with Daddy's family! It was so nice and fun to get away!
Plus you love water, so you were in high heaven!

You were baptized last weekend, and we had a big party to celebrate!
You were so good during church, you didn't fuss once and just watched pastor when he poured water over your head! It also helped to flirt with the little girl {also 7months} that was being baptized at the same time...you have turned into one heck of a flirt these days!
The house was full after to celebrate, mostly family but a few friends too! 

 But the biggest of all firsts this month is your new TOOTH!!!
Momma found it a week or so ago, popped right up on us! {bottom left} We believe it's neighbor is not far off.
You constantly have your tongue out now, and I think it's because you like the feel of your tooth when it rubs against the bottom of your tongue.

You also have picked up the baby babble! I love it!
You have the sweetest little jibber jabber, and it makes me smile...which then makes you smile.

Oh little man, I'm so happy you are mine! I can't imagine my life without you!
I can't wait for spring to finally get here so we can explore the world outside together!

love
Momma

on the occurrence of freckles

via

Now when Andy and I started dating we would joke that if we ever had kids they would most likely pop out short little freckly hobbit children.
Andy is 5'3" and I'm 5'2.5" on a good day.
On a summer day you could play connect the dots for hours on either our noses and our backs would take weeks...needless to say we have freckles.

I tried to find you photo proof...but sadly freckles are hard to photograph and I could only find one of me...with baaaaad 90's hair....so no, I don't have photo proof. You'll just have to take my word for it!

Last week when Elliot was at the doctor for his 6 month check up I noticed a little brown spot on his sleeve.
Me, thinking it's chocolate....because ya I eat candy bars in the car...don't judge, tries the mom lick your finger and wipe technique.
It doesn't budge...
OMG it's a freckle!

Que me getting super excited about his first freckle and the nurse looking at me like "who let this crazy woman have a kid".
Clearly she's not Irish!
I on the other hand am Irish...

I took a photo of his little first freckle, told my family and you better believe they were as excited as me. I can't wait till he is covered in them! Call me crazy, I don't care. It's the little things in life! Don't even get me started on the fact that his hair is getting lighter and in the sun it looks reddish...

so here I leave you with photo proof. I may be the only mother to get this excited about a first freckle, but who cares! Freckles for everyone!!!!

Oh Avocado

 I swear one of these days I'll take a photo of my kitchen clean so you guys believe me that I clean it!

We started Elliot on solids just after he turned 6months, he had been getting a nightly snack of rice cereal in prep for real food for about a month and had been going strong! He'd lean way in, mouth all open and just nom away...So we figured it was time. We got the green light from the Doc and thought what the hay...let's jump in feet first.
I did tons of research and decided that avocado would be the smartest and best way for us to go. The mild taste and creamy texture is easy for them to transition to solids from cereal, not to mention how good for you those yummy little green things are for you! Win win!
So I picked up one at the grocery store and mashed, measured, and froze when I got home. I figured we would start off little, so I measured them out in one tablespoon cubes.

Now I did prepair myself for the chance he wouldn't like it, that he would spit it back at me, and even the chance that he would in fact up chuck!....I didn't however prepare myself for the range of emotions that the child went through!

I bust up every time I look at this one!

Side note: when we gave El rice cereal for the first time I gave Andy my phone to video...I won't even share that one...it makes me sea sick. The man can't hold still! So this time I held my phone with one hand and fed with the other...this resulted in a less than good video, a bit blurry but great non the less!
Enjoy!




We have since tried mixing with rice cereal and it's a hit! I just think the flavors are a bit too strong for him.
We have added butternut squash (again mixed with cereal) to his diet. He gets avocado for brunch and squash for dinner.
We tried peas...peas=puke. (just like his momma) I didn't video that one...your welcome!

I'm are not sure where to go from squash, I'm thinking sweet potatoes or green beans.

Elliot: 6 months

Oh Elliot, my little man. How is it that half a year has passed already? I feel as if time is just going too fast, that I want to slow it down and sometimes rewind it and have my little newborn back. And then, as if all at once, you do something new and awesome and I can't imagine you at any other age!
If I'm being totally honest, I'm in love with the 6 month old you.

You are getting more wiggly and pictures in your rocker are getting much harder....but thanks to gramma we can keep you from falling out and getting all fussy (and the sock monkey behind the camera helps too).

 6 month stats

Weight:  15 pounds {5th-10th percentile}

Length:  26 inches {25th percentile}

Head: 17 inches {25th percentile}

Diapers:  Disposable: size 2 {although the tabs overlap and you could probably still fit into a size 1} Cloth: middle rise and two snaps between tabs.

Clothes: 6-9 months, 6 months, and you still fit into some 3 months shirts

You're a snuggler, and sleeping is no different! You must have one hand on your momma at all times! You love to sleep on your side with your arm up over your head. You still wake up once to eat, but usually after a 4-6hr stretch and then you fall right back to sleep for another 2-4hrs.

You also love to eat, nursing every 2ish hours {still} and momma is hoping that solids will hep us stretch out our nursings.
So far you like avocado, but only if it's mixed with rice cereal. It's currently your brunch and we are trying veggies for dinner. Peas, to our dismay, result in some spewage! oh what fun!  So far that is all we have tried, but plan to add green beans, butternut squash and carrots in the near future.

 {oh this smirk!}

Tummy time is a toughie! You refuse to stay there, flippin yourself over and momma flips you back...it's an endless battle.  You also show NO desire to roll from back to front, even though you totally can...you little booger!

Sitting is slow going...I figured you would have had it by now, but you still wobble over after only a second or two...and if momma tries to outsmart your wobble by propping you up you get lazy and wiggle your way down into an incline.

You absolutely love to be sung to and you almost always "sing back", which is the sweetest little hum. To date your favorite tunes are "You are My Sunshine", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Edelweiss", "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra", and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" which I think is your absolute favorite...it can calm you down before I get out the first line.

Your teeth can't be too far off, the drool and chewing is non stop. Your amber necklace and Sophie the Giraffe are the two biggest helpers next to teething tabs. Your top lip is always chapped thanks to your little fingers taking up permanent residence in your mouth, but momma found out that Lansino nipple cream {of all things} is the best to treat that little problem! It stays on so much longer than any chapstick, because it's nice and thick!

Your favorite toys are Sophie and your blue sock monkey. Either one will make you instantly happy in different ways. Sophie will help you chew out the teeth pain and the monkey is your new cuddle buddy...his tail makes for good munching sometimes too ;)

So half a year has passed and you have changed so much. I can't wait to see how much you will change in the coming month and the rest of the year!

love
Momma

This boy of mine so far

Oh this little man of mine, I couldn't be in more love with him. I know every single mother feels this way, but oh man I just can't help it!

I wake up each morning to him smiling at me, and it melts all my grief...you know the ones from the bedtime struggle. But more on that another time.

The last I showed you of him he looked like this

 

and oh do I miss him that little!

Warning: Picture Overload Ahead!

 his first time in Church...sweater vest and all!

 uncle Jake naps are the best naps!

 pretending to be a joey and letting mommy get things done.

 and then there's just times when you need to be Batman.

 we started to smile

 and cop some tude!

 we had fancy dinners for mommy and daddy's anniversary.

 we snuggled papa a lot

 and we cheered on our favorite team!

 we met our cousins!

 they are just five weeks apart

 we finally put our bum in some cloth diapers! 

and we love it!

 we took a trip to a pumpkin patch

 and we dressed like a robot for Halloween!

 mommy made me a monster hat and everyone fell in love with me at a tailgate party.

 I got better at the smiling thing

 we had a lot of firsts!

First snow!

 and first Doctor Who!

 If you can't eat the mashed taters ya might as well play with them!

 First Turkey Day!

 First time meeting mommy's cousins

 we discovered I look like uncle Jake's baby pictures!

 First Baby Mohawk!

 FaceTime with GG (great grandma) "not so close GG"

 

 opening our first Christmas present on Christmas eve...Jammies from mommy and daddy! a Christmas tradition.

We had Christmas breakfast with mommy's family

 and opened some presents

Then off to Daddy's family

 

 With the cousins!

 

 mmmm bow!

 Daddy's old Superman Sweatshirt!

 Elliot and his ET "Ell-E-Ut"

 jump jump jump...I love to jump!

 Dressing up as Mike Ditka...and being annoyed with the Bears.

 Baby Selfies!

 more Mohawks

 more giggles

 Beard hair!

 watching the Muppets

chillin in church.

So as you can see he has grown quite a bit!

 and to think we are just days away from the half birthday...I can't believe I've had him for half a year now. It seems impossible. I miss the little baby so much it hurts sometimes, but then he "talks" at me and laughs at me and reaches out grabs my face and kisses me and I'm totally ok with how big he's gotten.