In other baby news

Oh just had to share this, my half-sister Paulina, Elliot's Aunt!

Yummy Tummy

Balancing work and motherhood sure ain't easy, oh no. My mind is an endless to-do list, my body is still in recovery - actually that damn tailbone problem is not only NOT getting better but now I'm having serious back issues as well - and my home is a mess because there's too much stuff and not enough space and because I don't have nearly as much time to keep it as clean and organized as I'd like. But what can I say, que sera sera, I'm learning to ignore the chaos that surrounds me and expand the stillness of being present when I have those rare moments with Elliot when he's not crying, or trying to eat the computer wires, or pooping, or vomiting on me, those special moments when he just looks at me as if I am so incredibly interesting and laughs with a cackling gurgle like I just told the joke of the century.

I definitely have a lot of mommy guilt because of the whole working and leaving him every day thing, especially when Josh tells me some basic thing about taking care of him as if I'm some stranger. But I make up for it by making sure he has wholesome homemade baby food always at the ready to supplement my milk when I'm not there. He is about to turn 6 months this week (!!) and has already tried potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, rice cereal (that stuff in a box is awful compared to real rice grain), bananas, peas, and crackers. Tonight I made him a yummy batch of baked butternut squash with apple (in mush form of course) and I have to say it tastes freakin' delicious and I'm going to remember that recipe for the next time I go to a pot-luck!

He's getting better at eating real food too, most of it ends up in his belly instead of on his face, and he looks so cute when the spoon approaches and he opens his mouth with calm anticipation ready for the next bite.
Have I mentioned that we're teaching him sign language? Well, 'teaching' is not the right word, we just sign certain words to him at the appropriate times so that he learns them. So far we have been using the signs for mommy, daddy, up, change + diaper, drink, water, book, sleep, quiet, cat, and dirty. The idea is that with repetition he'll be able to start using the signs to communicate as soon as his hand coordination catches up with his brain, usually most babies start doing it by around 8 months.

             Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting Zora!

He's on the move!

Well, we knew it was only a matter of time, he's had belly time since he was a day old and has been shimmying and rotating for a while now. He even moves sideways if he's on a smooth surface... like a crab. But my little guy is crawling already! I admit it, I let loose a tear when I saw him really moving for the first time, it's really an amazing thing how it's the natural human sense of curiosity that propels our progress. I mean, he just wants to reach and touch (and put in his mouth) everything that he sees and there's only so many things that we bring to him so he decided 'well if I'm gonna get that remote control in my mouth I'd better go over there and get it myself!' I respect his independent spirit, but why does he have to grow up so darn fast?
It doesn't look like he's moving that quick in the video but let me tell ya, we have to watch him constantly now because if I turn away for just a second he's already at the shoerack reaching for daddy's muddy snow boots. Things just got a lot more fun (meaning exhausting for us of course, this kid just won't stay put!).

The Drools of Survival

Yeah I know it's been a while, sorry, I've been busy, so far 2011 is off to a hectic start. Baby Elliot is doing fantastic of course, but mama is struggling to keep her sanity because my job has been demanding lately and my body feels run down and lacking in energy beyond the basics of surviving until the next day. Lets talk Elliot updates. Well as I had predicted he's leveling out a little in terms of growing, he's 19lbs now so he's not growing as fast as he was before but that's ok because he was in the 99th freakin' percentile so now he still looks like an 8 month old at 5 months but maybe he'll stay looking like that more or less for the next few months.

 He's got two teeth now on the bottom and he's eating real food - meaning mushy versions of real food of course - and he's doing much better at the whole swallowing without getting it all over his face thing. And let me tell ya, he loves it! No matter how much he gets it's never enough. And he's really interested in what we are eating too, to the point of getting cranky and reaching out for our plates while sticking his tongue out. At this rate I don't think I'll be nursing him for nearly as long as I had expected. He's just a big growing boy and I gotta listen when he says 'mama, it's been real, but I need some serious hearty food now'. And making baby food is actually pretty easy: steam it, mash it, freeze it. Since we're still doing one food at a time he's only had potatoes, rice cereal, and zucchini for now but he's about to try carrots this week and then maybe we'll start doing some combinations. In a way, I wasn't prepared for this food transition to happen so fast but he wants it and his body needs it so I gotta go with the flow. The more he eats real food though, the less he'll be nursing so my milk production will begin to decrease. On the one hand it'll be great to not have the discomfort of engorgement and the inconvenience of pumping at work but I'll definitely miss the connection and closeness that it brings. My giant baby is all grown up!

He's also really grabby these days, he so wants to touch (and put in his mouth) anything that is within reach. Toys are nice but he wants the remote, the lotion tube, the candy box, your finger, the cat's tail, and the magazines. It's still too early for crawling but he's like a caterpillar, he can shimmy himself and rotate and really get pretty far these days so it's getting to be unadvisable to turn away lest he begins to nibble on the computer plugs and dirty footwear. We're going to get babyproofin' real soon.

Sleepwise, we're still trying to figure him out. He's sleeping through the night but it depends on when you consider the night to be over, he's basically waking up at 5:30-6 every morning. And he really doesn't like sleeping during the day. He'll sleep for an hour at the most but generally loves to fool us by taking very short snoozes. Just when we think 'ah, he's finally asleep' and start to do something that needs doing he'll wake up 10 or 20 minutes later ready for action. He's like the energizer baby!
As far as me, I'm pretty exhausted all the time I ain't gonna lie. I'm doing more and more work at home at night and on weekends, I'm spending as much time with Elliot as I can, doing house chores and shopping, making baby food, NOT doing the physical therapy exercises i'm supposed to be doing, basically i'm a to-do list that never ends. I'm like a robot that goes from one task to another all day long and at the end of the day I power down for a few precious hours of sleep before the cycle begins anew. But I tell myself that this is the way it's supposed to be when you have a baby and i'm just living my life as it is now, it's definitely tiring but i'm balancing a career and a baby and i even manage to see my friends once in a while so that's pretty good.

Happy New Year Elliot!

This was a pretty big year for me, getting married and having a baby and all. Here's a collection of our cellphone pics of Elliot :)

All I want for Christmas is my first tooth!

Ok look really close, do you see it on the bottom? That's right, Elliot's first tooth is growing out! Clearly he thinks he's over 6 months not just in size but in all developments in general so I should just get over the fact that there's two months of babyness that is lost to the wind.
Well at least that explains all the drooling, and he's drooling more than ever now, and loving his teethers. It's a sharp one too, if you let him nibble on your finger you'll definitely feel it. Luckily the bottom teeth come in first and his tongue goes over them in the sucking motion so I'm not quite feeling the sharpness when I'm feeding him yet although I have been feeling a little more general pain, as if he's just sucking harder, more aggressively, but I'm watching out for any biting so I can teach him not to do it before it becomes a habit.

Also, since he's been showing an interest in what the big people eat we've decided to start trying out real food. We started with plain ol' potato mush, mixed with some breastmilk. It'll take a little getting used to this whole new struggle with little hands reaching out, his tongue reflex spitting out the mush, and generally the game of getting food into the belly. But actually it's a little fun just because it's new for now and he seems to really be interested and taking to it well. We're going to give him the potato mush for one feeding every day for a week, then we'll try rice cereal every day for the following week, then move on to veggies. The idea is to introduce foods one at a time to see if he has a weird reaction to anything and I think this also helps his palette to develop. It's not wise to start with fruit because supposedly babies can get hooked on the sweet stuff and then not like to eat veggies so we'll save the fruits for dessert when he's used to the other foods.

 In other news, Elliot had a lovely first Christmas in New Hampshire where he was the main attraction of course and Josh and I got to relax a little what with plenty of other hands to keep the little guy happy and occupied. We enjoyed fun activities like finishing our meals, reading books, napping, and generally relaxing. Oh how we miss those extra hands since we've gotten back home!

Goo!

It's hard to believe that my little shnookums is already 4 months old. It's weird that after all that time anticipating his arrival while being pregnant and wondering what he will be like, these last 4 months have just flown by. We had a doctor's visit and saw a new doctor at our pediatrician's office who was questioning whether Elliot was sitting up and eating real food yet. I almost got defensive when I responded that he's starting to sit up with support and it's too early for him to eat real food when I realized she thought he was 6 months old, because that's just how he looks these days at 18lbs. And yes, he's officially in the 99th percentile for growth, woo-hoo! This doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be a big guy, his growth will even out at some point but if he's still looking older than he is by the time he's 2 years old then that's a better indicator that he'll probably be big forever and Josh can start training him to be a quarterback.

Although Josh and I still randomly come up to each other and say 'can you believe we have a baby?' things are really beginning to have a rhythm these days now that I've been back at work for over a month. We have a routine that works and our lives have settled into a new normal. Elliot is also becoming a little more independent these days and he can entertain himself for a little while either by being on his belly and trying to crawl, just chewing on his toys, sitting back and watching tv (he really likes cartoons - already showing a preference and reaching out for the remote... well to put it in his mouth), or sort of just watching us do things, and especially watching Josh play guitar and sing songs. This kid is going to be a musical prodigy for sure. That, coupled with less growth-spurty and constant nursing means I can do more for myself again, like clean up!

He's definitely begun the oral phase and just wants to put everything in his mouth. He can do that more and more now that he has a bit more coordination when it comes to grabbing things. And speaking of his mouth, he's drooling like a bulldog!! It's crazy, so much drool, and it gets on everything, he's like a snail leaving his trail of goo everywhere he goes.