Thursday, December 25, 2008

Ooh...don't eat the duck sauce...

I have what I think is food poisoning. Possibly from some 6 year old duck sauce. It is quite miserable.

At least I don't have a cold anymore.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Sore throat.

I have a sore throat. My nose is running and I'm sneezing. I've been up since 5:30 this morning. It's raining outside too. Tonight is Ele, Will and Finn's chili and beer party. We were all going to go, but I decided it would be better if I go alone, Andy stays home and watches Elliott and I come home when I start feeling too rotten. That way we don't go to all the trouble of packing everyone in the car just for me to decide an hour later that I've had enough.

I'm pretty upset about it though. I really wanted Andy to meet Will because I think they'd get along well. I really wanted to eat some chili, drink a little too much beer and have a fun evening. How is it I stay healthy for over a year and a half and only get sick right before something I've been looking forward to?

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Ferberized.

Last night we began our 'Ferberization' of Elliott. I love this baby, and he's so warm and snuggly, but I simply cannot sleep with him in my bed another night!

Things actually went surprisingly well! First off, Andy bought a sound screen for the room, and I think that helped immensely. I put E down at 10:30, and he whimpered and cried for about an hour off and on. With the Ferber method you go in after 3 minutes to let them know you are there, and to also assure yourself that they are okay - but you do not pick them up! You stay in the room for no more than 2 minutes. I stay in there long enough to replace his woobie and pat his hands, but then leave him again after a few sweet words. The next time he starts to fuss you give it 5 minutes before going in the room. After that it's 10 minutes for the rest of the night.

What's hard in the middle of the night is if he wakes up determining if you should start the process over again, or let him have the opportunity to self-soothe. I learned this the hard way - but as long as they're awake it's a good idea to at least peak in on them. At one point Elliott was laying on one end of the crib and was now perpendicular to it. So the alarm on our sensor pad went off. This began a whole series of rolling over and getting fussy about it. The first time I rolled him back over and repositioned him in the center of his crib. The second time I could just tell his cries seemed muffled. Sure enough, he was on his tummy, but this time he was up against the side of the crib with one arm between the bars outside the crib, the other underneath his body and face down. This really freaked me out. Since both of his arms were indisposed he couldn't get the leverage he needed to get off his face. I rolled him over again, gave him his woobie and he promptly relaxed, rolled to his side and fell back asleep. At this point he slept for a solid two hours and woke us all up at 7:15. This is way earlier than we normally wake up, but according to the book when they wake after 6 am it's time to get up. So we did! Elliott woke up happy and smiling. I gave him a bath, he ate and he's taken a couple of cat naps this morning.

I am really excited by this. I will start putting him to bed a little earlier every night until his bedtime is around 9. This will leave me with a couple of hours to have some me time, or for Andy and me to have some us time! The Ferber method isn't nearly as harsh as previously thought, I think it will really work for us. Of course, I'll update you tomorrow!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Mmm..

Today Elliott and I went to the post office at Crabtree Mall. Big mistake. It was so congested with holiday shoppers, and for some reason everyone was going in reverse. I literally got behind THREE different people who backed up in front of me. One person even had the gall to wave their hand out of their window for ME to back up. What the heck? I'm not the one who missed the parking space because I was on my cell phone! (Mom and dad - no comments about how I have road rage!)

Later Elliott and I went to the park where we watched a 4 year old little boy being chased and caught by his mother (against his will) and a 7 year old boy who kept jumping from the swings. All I could think about is how rambunctious the little boys were, and how OH MY GOD I have one of those little things and that's going to be me chasing my son in a couple of years!

Tonight we went to get Chinese food. I had forgotten to eat all day, and Andy only had a muffin so we were both starved. Elliott is SO good when we take him out. I take him places without fear that he's going to freak out and pitch a fit. I let him taste my pineapple, and he made a series of funny faces, none of which looked too disgusted. When we got home Elliott ate an entire bowl of cereal.

My fortune: "It is better to have a hen tomorrow than an egg today." My thoughts exactly.

Friday, December 12, 2008

First trip to the playground.

Yes, I know it's sideways. If anyone (Mom?) can tell me how to turn it around I'd be eternally grateful!

Elliott actually didn't seem to think this was that fun - but he was very relaxed. He did giggle and laugh though when we met a five year old boy named Matthew and when we sat on the big kid swing together and I tickled his belly. It was really nice outside, a balmy 72 degrees and overcast. I can't wait to go again!

Rolly Poley.



Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thanksgiving.


Elliott reading.


Michele (SIL) and Aisling.


Elliott and Grampa.


David (BIL).


Debi (Gramma).

First food (take two).


We're trying again...


So far so good...


"Do I want to get mad again?"

The second time around went MUCH better. The first time he was already hungry, so trying something new, coupled with being in a hard and uncomfortable chair put him over the edge! Now he eats really well, opens his mouth when the spoon comes near, and hardly spits any out at all!

First food.


"Hm...what's this?"



"Buhhh..."


"Why did you DO that to me?"

Sunday, December 7, 2008

How I wanted to spend the afternoon...

After bead shopping with Susannah for gifts for her coworkers and Sebastian's assistants I wanted to spend the afternoon doing laundry, cleaning the library spic and span, getting all the food from Sam's Club put away and then possibly starting making jewelry.

How I did NOT want to spend the afternoon: cleaning frozen dried egg and egg shells off Andy's car and my car in gusty 40 degree weather.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

He rolled over!

That's right! He rolled over from back to tummy. I laid him on his play mat on his back, he rolled over to his side and was reaching down to grab his feet (his new favorite thing of interest besides daddy's hair) and I literally stepped away for ONE minute and when I came back in he was on his tummy. I was so upset that I missed it! I was also in shock about it, Susannah had come over and I pretty much yelled in her face, "HE ROLLED OVER! AND I MISSED IT!" I was so rambunctious about it that Andy came running downstairs thinking that the commotion was that someone had gotten hurt. I was a little over-zealous in my excitement, but I think it was also partially trying to not be upset in front of company that I missed this first.

Pictures really are to follow (a whole lot!), I just need to upload them. Look for: thanksgiving, playgroup, sleeping and first cereal!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Okay, okay.

Yes. I know it's been almost a month since I've last posted. To be honest, I have sat in front of the laptop with the 'new post' page up several times, and just haven't been able to figure out what to type. A bit of writer's block, if you will. I can no longer put it off. So, what has been going on lately? Let's see, first, Elliott is getting a tooth, despite what our 130 year old pediatrician says ("Teething gets blamed for anything and everything.") It's small and white, and he's drooling and chewing like crazy. He also can officially hold is head up and loves playing airplane with daddy, and bouncing in his doorway chair thing. He also is giggling a LOT. Mostly with daddy, especially when he rubs daddy's hair (which is apparently very funny looking/feeling), or when daddy tickles his neck with his beard. It is so funny - we love it! We had his four month appointment yesterday and while his percentile for weight dropped to the 50th from 75th, he is still up there for height at 26" and has a big old noggin in the 90th percentile. Wonder who he gets all this from? (Have you met Andy?) Daddy's new favorite thing to call him is squirt, while I've started calling him string bean or punkin head.

What else? We have a new washer and dryer! I am so terribly excited by this, I can't stand it. It was delivered last night, and I think I've done 4 loads of wash, including washing some things that were already clean. I can't help myself. It also plays a chipper song for you when it's done and that only validates the fact that, WEE, laundry is FUN! Elliott wore his first fluffed diaper today - which was a huge improvement from the air-dried, stiff things he had been wearing before. I got to dry off with a towel that wasn't hard and scratchy and covered in dog fur. How have we gotten by this far without a dryer? It's crazy.

My Etsy is being featured in a blog online. I have gotten TONS of views from the feature, but not a single sale. It is very frustrating and disheartening when you put so much work into something and it feels like you are the only one who appreciates the efforts. My mom pointed out that my jewelry is very personal, and people aren't shopping for themselves right now. I hope that's the case.

Friday we go to Ele and Finn's house for our first play date with multiple babies. I can't wait to see how Elliott responds to all this. Last time he was very interested by Finn, and is showing a lot more interest in his surroundings in general. This includes stuffing toys in his mouth, actually bouncing and spinning in the doorway chair, watching the dogs eat, trying to grab my glass when I take a drink, playing with his 'boy parts' in the bathtub, staring out the window when he's in the car and smiling and laughing when we interact with him. I hope he isn't too overwhelmed and that we'll get the chance to enjoy some company, and maybe meet some new people!

Speaking of that, we also joined a meetup.com group called 'Parenting Beyond Belief'. This is a group of people who have chosen to have and raise their kids without any sort of religious dogma. This doesn't mean that our kids won't be exposed to it, but hopefully they will have the opportunity to decide what's right for themselves without any sort of indoctrination. We can't attend the December event because it's on a Sunday night and I'm working, but hopefully we'll be able to get together and meet everyone soon!

New pics to follow...

Friday, November 7, 2008

Goings-on

Okay, so I'm excited. Over the course of the next few days, I'm doing stuff. Not just, laundry, dishes, baby-stuff. Stuff OUTSIDE the house. With PEOPLE. On Saturday I begin working a part-time job at Tookie's Toys. This might seem kinda lame to some people, but first off, I love Tookie's. The owners are super, nice people who support the local community. I love toys! Who doesn't? It's like being able to be a kid again. I love kids - it's so funny to see all the things they do while in a toy store. I'm kind of (read: very) excited to have a few hours of 'me' time. I know, I know, it'll be consumed by insane customers and wild kids, but I'm still counting it as me time. Also - I'm excited for Andy to spend time with Elliott, without me. He's only spent 2 maybe 3 hours (once) alone with him. It should be interesting to see how it goes. Also, it'll be good for Andy to not be thinking about work for a few hours.

Saturday is The Handmade Market in downtown Raleigh. I won't be able to stay for very long, but I just want to go check it out. This is the first year that I've been able to make plans to go to things like this, and actually get to go without having to ask off from work. I can't wait.

Next Wednesday Ele and I made plans to go out together. I think we both have a tendency to get a little down when we're on a stint of being home-bodies (correct me if I'm wrong!). It'll be nice for both of us to get out, have a glass of wine and just socialize. Lately I feel like days are just flying by. I seem to be getting bored with the daily in-and-out of my life. My Etsy is a nice distraction from boredom, but I have a bad habit of letting my chores be the last thing I do in the day, instead of the first. Then I spend most of the day thinking, "Oh, I really should be hanging laundry...". It kind of keeps me in a state muted anxiety. It's something I have to work on. So, I better stop blogging and go hang that laundry!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Milestones

Elliott did two (almost three) things today that surprised me and made me so excited!

First off, he fell asleep on his own at about midnight and slept until 2:45. This is a 45 minute improvement over the last time, when I found him upside down in his crib. Also - it didn't require much intervention from me.

Second, he rolled over from tummy to back on his own! We've been having a lot more tummy time lately and he's been rolling back and forth with a little help. Usually being on his tummy makes him so cranky and he ends up crying and drooling all over the place until I flip him on his back. This time he just sort of got it in his head that he was tired of tummy time, and rolled over on his own. I was so excited I was clapping and laughing and he was grinning ear to ear!

Third, today while on his play mat, I looked over and Elliott was laying on his side and throwing his hand on top forward and was pushing with the foot that was on top - trying to roll over on his tummy! Over the course of about half an hour he managed to spin his whole body around almost completely 360 degrees. Any day now he'll be rolling over on his own! How exciting!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

New prez

Okay, so we elected Obama into office yesterday. I'll spare you a lot of what I'm thinking, and just say that I'm really happy with the outcome of the election.

Today Andy went to Sam's Club and bought a ton of food. Mostly meat and bread products. We're really going to have to eat a lot of buns, rolls and bread over the course of the next couple of weeks. I'm not really sure what he thinks when he goes there. I think he just walks through and thinks, "Mmm, that sounds good, I'll get that!", but he does it to everything in the store. Sometimes he comes back with really strange things too. One time it was a wipe board and assorted dry erase markers. Today it was hamburger meat in a long tube.

I made two new necklaces today and a new pair of earrings. I really love them. I feel like my shop looks great, and is really coming together nicely. Now all I need is a spot in a treasury that makes it to the front page and I'll be golden!

As promised, a pic of my bead store loot. Click on the picture and enlarge it to see what everything is.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Frenzy!

Okay, I have a TON to say. Let's see if I can keep it somewhat short and sweet.

First - we're trying to teach Elliott to sleep in his crib at night. The results so far range from okay to a complete fiasco. The first night was him screaming from 11pm-4am. The next night he slept from 10-12, but when he started to stir and I went in to get him he was completely upside-down from how I put him in his crib, crammed in the corner and on his side. This had me in a complete tizzy. I called mom and dad both and basically proceeded to deliver a sleep-deprived frantic rant. This also included each of my parents mentioning 1) a ghost 2) 'someone else' in the house, which lead to me breaking down into tears, then maniacal laughter. (Sorry dad!)

Last nights results weren't as traumatizing for me, but did involve me going into his room about 6 or 7 times between 10:30 and 12:30. Finally Elliott fell asleep and slept until 2:30, but again, when I went in to calm him he had scooted all the way to the top of his crib. He ended up coming back to bed with me both nights, but slept until 6am, which was great!

Yesterday was so much fun. Pretty much the most fun day I've had in a long time! First we went to Tookie's Toys (www.tookiestoys.com) and I looked over the POS system to make sure I remembered how to use it, which was pretty easy. We spent about 45 minutes visiting and looking around the store. After that we went to Ornamentea (www.ornamentea.com) and I filled my bead card and bought a little over $70 worth of beads and paid a little over $20 for them all. It was fantastic. Nevermind the fact that I had to spend $500 to get $50 free, it was still exciting! I'm going to take a picture of all the stuff I got and post it later!

I'm hoping to start making some things for Etsy, but it depends on how calm Elliott can be for how long. Also - I really need to do some chores and figure out dinner. The exciting life of being a grown-up!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Halloween!

Susannah invited me to come along with her to a Halloween party at a co-worker's house. The boys were invited too, but they were both party poopers and stayed behind. I guess it worked out okay, though because Elliott probably would have had a meltdown. There were quite a few people there. Also, a baby bjorn doesn't really go with a witch's costume. I realize I don't look very witchy in this picture, but I promise the bottom half of my costume really pulled everything together. Complete with a spider web skirt, purple and black striped tights and pointy black boots. When we got home the boys had been barbequing and were watching "The Ring". We only caught the end of it, but I'm still expecting that little girl around every corner of the house!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Wow.

I'm officially sleep deprived. Last night was the first night of trying to get Elliott to sleep in his crib. He went down a few minutes after 11, and he was already asleep - which is not really the way I wanted it to happen, but alas. At 4 am I finally decided that we had all had enough and brought him to bed with me. This is of course after trying the "Ferber method" and checking on him in increasing intervals of time. So. Going into this I've had three bad nights sleep because he was sleeping with me, and now a fourth because he wasn't. We slept in til 11:30 today (before I remembered to set the clocks back) but the sleep was terrible after a traumatic 5 hours of listening to the wee one so upset.

On a more fun note, Susannah and I went to a Halloween party last night and we both dressed as witches. I had a costume that I wore a few years ago that I made from this awesome sparkly fabric with iridescent spider webs on it, so we split it, and I wore the skirt and she wore the vest. The vest actually didn't come anywhere near closing on me, and fit Susannah perfectly - we looked quite awesome. Once Susannah sends pictures I'll post one.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

YAY!


Okay, so I woke up this morning to a sale! It was of a replica of my favorite necklace - the whale(n) necklace. I spent a LONG time last night on the forums in etsy and also posted on craigslist for the first time. I got about 60 views in an hour and a half!

We woke up really early this morning after a night of very fitful sleep on Elliott's part. So we went to bed around 10 - fell asleep around 10:30 and we were up again at 6:30. I am one tired mama. Elliott had no problem taking a 2 hour nap, but I couldn't because I had had a big latte!

I got a few chores done and am going to make bread today. We finished off the rest of the jalapeno cheddar bread last night with habenero meatloaf. That was one spicy meal, even for me!

I'll be posting some new jewels today - keep your eyes peeled!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Elliott is three months old!


Elliott is three months old today! This morning we started out the day like everyday - with baby bath time, aka - tubby. Elliott did some extra kicking, splashing and smiling at daddy to celebrate. When he got out of tubby he shared some new words with me. They were precious. It's so incredible to watch him grow. Every day he reaches new milestones and amazes us with how clever he is. This is a picture of a new face he's been trying out to get his way. It makes me laugh, so I don't think that's the desired effect.