My name is Mischief...

Today is my first official day as a summer stay at home mom. It's been a funfilled day so far. E and I took a stroll around the neighborhood and spent some time at the pool. The mischief started early today when going into Elliott's room and discovering that he was standing up in his crib. This is a new development and one I was figuring would happen soon. That discovery this morning should have made it apparent that today would be a day of mischief!

Elliott has been into everything today! His new crawling skills have been put to the test and he has realized that he can actually crawl out of the living room. I'm not

so sure that I'm liking this discovery. Baby gates are sure to be going up in our future. So, today Elliott has made numerous attempts to dismantle the DVD player as well as the Wii, pulled the tubing out of mommy's pump, playing with the air pump that was used to blow up his pool toy, pulled the wall hanging over his crib half way down, and it's only 3:00! I think in baby language Elliott is giving me a direct challenge--"Welcome to summer time mama. Just try and keep up with me!"

Catching up...

So, I have been a horrible blogger lately. I think it's been over two months! I don't really have any excuses, well except an almost 9 month old little guy who keeps me hopping. Things have been busy around the Hamby house, so here are some of the highlights...

-Crawling--Elliott is very close to being a crawling baby. Regardless of the fact that he is close, he is still very mobile--getting into every little thing and getting to the off limits items by rolling, inching, sitting up, falling, or any combination of the above. He is a busy boy!

-Swimming--We started Elliott in a little baby swim class at the YMCA two weeks ago and let me tell you the first class did not go as planned. It never even crossed my mind that E would not like the water. He loves bath time, but something about a gigantic pool (which admittedly was a little bit cold, not his warm bath water) did not suit my son. We lasted maybe 10 minutes the first lesson. Lesson 2 last week went better but he mostly did the "mommy cling" through the whole lesson. Today is lesson 3, so we're hoping that "third time's a charm".

-Teething--Elliott has been teething off and on for a while, but on Thursday finally his first little tooth broke the skin. It's there but still coming up.

-Diapering--So, for all of Elliott's life we've done disposable diapers and that's been fine. In the last month, I've been test driving some new cloth diapers to see if cloth diapering is something that we want to delve into. I've thought about it for awhile but Gabe has always thought I was crazy. So far it's going pretty well and I think I'm going to give it a shot full time. I have spent many hours researching--who knew this whole process could be so complicated??!! So far we've used Flip Diapers and BumGenius diapers. I'll update later on our status.

-Planning--I have about six more days of school until summer and I'm excited to have my little sidekick with me this summer. We've got a beach trip planned in June with our friends the Whites, then we'll see what else the summer holds. I'm so looking forward to being home, enjoying Elliott, and catching up with friends!

6...months...old!!!

So, the baby boy is 6 months old as of last week. Time sure does fly! I took him today for his well baby check up and the dreaded vaccinations. The little chunker now weighs 15 pounds, 13 ounces and is 25 inches long. The doctor's comment upon seeing him: "Wow, he is pretty pale". To that I have to say one thing--he is his father's son. Elliott is definitely looking more and more like a little Gabe and I think has his father's sunny disposition too. He is a happy little guy if I've ever seen one!

So what does 6 month old Elliott like to do?

- eat! He is quite enthusiastic about his solid foods and drinking

his breastmilk! Elliott's latest foods include peaches as well as avocado.

- look at books. At night Gabe always reads, "I Love You, Goodnight" and Elliott watches intently and helps turn the pages.

-play with his toy bar (as pictured below).

- smile and laugh. Like Buddy the Elf, smiling is definitely his favorite!

We are so blessed to have our happy baby. Happy 6 months Elliott!

Fun times and new food...

So much activity in our house lately. Last night we had a surprise visit from Uncle A. Elliott had a great time with him! They played lots and Elliott smiled lots. I'm telling you this baby loves to smile. He especially smiles while grabbing his mother's lips when she's talking. This is a new thing. Maybe he's trying to tell me something.

Elliott continues to expand his food repertoire although he has decided that green beans are not for him. Mommy and Daddy have also gotten to enjoy some tasty dinners since starting an online subscription to E-Mealz. It is a great service that gives you set recipes and shopping lists for each week. We get 5 meal plans per week that are meant for 2 people. As someone who loves to cook it has satisfied my desire to try new, healthy recipes that aren't too complicated. Also I don't have to go searching the internet to find these great recipes or take the time to make up a shopping list for the meals. It is all there waiting for me on my log in page. I definitely think it has made this working mom's life a little bit easier.

Snowed in...

We've enjoyed the reprieve from everyday life this week with the Snowpocalypse here in north Georgia. Gabe worked from home Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and I've been out all week. It's very strange not to leave the house for 5 days and counting! I definitely have the cabin fever going on but our road is still somewhat icy and honestly it's just too cold to take the baby out.

It has been neat to be home again and to have Gabe here as well. Elliott is continuing to wow us with many new skills. He now shrieks with happiness and his favorite sound to make is "ghee". Yesterday while playing on the floor, Elliott hit another big milestone. He flipped from his back to his belly! When he did it, his face was priceless. He was so proud of himself. A not so good development is the return of night waking for Elliott. It hasn't been so bad this week since I have not had to go to work, but the 2:30 waking to eat is making this Mama very tired! If he had never slept thro

ugh the night it wouldn't be so bad, but I had a beautiful taste of the good life with 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep in the past. Hopefully soon we'll be back there.

Elliott has had a bit of the sniffles this week again so I've gotten to break out the saline spray again and my new favorite baby product. It's called the Baby Comfy Nose and is the supremely superior alternative to the bulb syringe. Gabe calls it the "booger sucker" which technically, well, it is. I always hated the bulb syringes that they gave us at the hospital, so I started doing what I always do and researching online. I found the Baby Comfy Nose on Amazon and although the description of it sounded disgusting, the feedback from other moms sealed the deal for me. We got it and I was amazed! So all you moms out there that have to suction a tiny nose now or in the near future--go online and get one NOW. You won't be sorry.

Baby food success!

Last weekend we got to try out our new Beaba Babycook that we got for Christmas (thanks James and Peggy). This device makes it really easy and convenient to make your own babyfood. In one little appliance you can steam and puree the food that you want to use. We decided to try Butternut Squash first and it was a success! Out of one Butternut Squash, we ended up with about 20 ounces of food for Elliott. After steaming and pureeing, the squash went into ice cubes to freeze and use later. The whole process was very easy and well worth the time considering Elliott took to the Butternut Squash much better than the oatmeal we tried last week. He has eaten it several times and actually would open his mouth for the squash--a definite improvement over the oatmeal!

Christmas, giggles, and milestones

It has been an eventful last two weeks in the Hamby household. It seems like Elliott is getting to an age where each day there is something new to report. In the last two w

eeks we've survived a bout with bronchiolitis, 4 months vaccinations, and beginning on Thursday--teething. Oh yeah, and Christmas! Yes, faithful readers, my initiation into the motherhood club is complete! Despite all of the sickness, etc, Elliott has been such a trooper and mostly happy. We are so blessed! His first Christmas was quite the success and he racked up many exciting gifts. He was the best behaved grandchild in Knoxville on Christmas morning--looking intently at his gifts and even smiling like a good baby should! He wowed the extended family with toothless grins and his winning personality. We had a great time showing him off and enjoying his first Christmas--a white one even.

Elliott's 4 month appointment was on Wednesday and he now weighs a whopping 13 pounds! We got the go ahead to start some solid foods. Saturday morning we attempted some oatmeal and it was pretty much a failed attempt. My child, who has NEVER turned down food, took one bite and spit it all out. What a face! On the next couple attempts to put the spoon in his mouth, he clamped his lips shut and swatted the spoon away. So, maybe we're not ready for solids. We'll keep trying slowly. His mother is super excited to make some baby food in her new Beaba Babycook, thanks to the in laws! Maybe Elliott will appreciate my efforts eventually!

In the last month, Elliott figured out how to laugh. He is extremely ticklish under his arms and chin. The first time he laughed was while I was changing him into his pajamas (or jammers as Gabe and I call them). I pulled a sleeve off and a little giggle slipped out. I pulled the other off and he giggled some more. It is quite possibly the cutest thing ever! He now laughs other times too, mostly when provoked by his father or myself. During our car trip to Knoxville, he thought "This Little Piggy" was pretty entertaining!

It's back to work for me tomorrow. It's always hard going back after Christmas but this year it is going to be hard for a different reason. I've loved being home with the little guy and will miss getting to spend the days with him. Daddy is on duty tomorrow with E all day while I'm at work. He says they're going to have "guy time"--I'm sure there will be some good material for another blog post!!