Prayers

Last night Drew's brother Matt and his wife Christina had a baby boy. He was born 2 months early because Christina suddenly developed eclampsia. Little Boy Mayer is so small and helpless - only 3 pounds, 10 ounces. Needless to say Grandee has postponed her trip to visit us. Please keep them in your prayers, especially our new little nephew and his mom.

UPDATE -
Sunday, July 23, 2006

Christina is home from the hospital! Her blood pressure is still high, but her body is recovering. It may take up to three months because she was so sick. Meanwhile our nephew remains in the intensive care unit. He is doing well for having to come into the world so early. Christina is saving her colostrum and milk for him. Right now he eats 6 cc's around the clock... that's less than a teaspoon! We can't wait to see him when we come to Colorado at Christmas. He is a little miracle. His name is Alexander (Alex) Peter Mayer.

UPDATE -
Sunday, July 30, 2006

Alex is doing great! He is eating more and gaining weight. Christina is pumping so the nursing staff can feed him milk, and she is getting better herself. Here is a picture of our little nephew. He is still covered in lanugo and has the most beautiful head of blonde hair. As Christina said, "He is small, but perfect." We think so too.

Four Months Old

Elliot was four months old this past weekend on July 15th. Today he had his 4-month doctor's visit. Dr. Hargrave said he is doing great. He's responsive, he stands, grabs, pulls on toys, follows objects and best of all smiles, laughs and talks. He has good head control and a strong torso so he might be sitting up earlier than expected. He hasn't rolled over yet, but he is getting close and might do it in the next month.

He is also growing. His weight is up from 13 lbs, 4 oz at his 2-month appointment to 16 lbs, 10 oz today which puts him in the chubby 90th percentile. He has also grown 3 inches to 25-3/4 inches which puts him in the 75-90th percentile. His head circumference grew from 40.1 cm to 42.5 cm putting him in the 50th percentile.

Dr. Hargrave said we can start trying rice cereal now. If Elliot isn't interested, we should wait a few weeks and try again. Mainly we want to see if he is willing to take in solid food, move it to the back of his throat and swallow it. Something tells me he won't have a problem with this exercise. We will pick up some rice cereal next week when we go to Whole Foods and see how it goes. I am going to keep breastfeeding as long as he's interested. Right now we both love nursing so I really can't imagine giving it up. We enjoy each other's company during his mealtimes.

Dr. H also said we could get a swim diaper and see if Elliot likes the pool. He encouraged us to keep him out of the kiddie pool -- lots of kids, germs and splashing. So we might try the adult lap pool in our neighborhood. Or we might go buy a cheap plastic wading pool for the back deck. Elliot loves his bath so we'll see what he thinks of the swimming pool.

Poor Elliot also had to have his second round of 4 shots today. He was very brave and only cried for a little while. The nurse was quick, and when she finished the last stick I scooped him up for a rescue. He sobbed for a little while and shed some tears, but then ate and was all smiles. His chubby little thighs are a little sore this afternoon, but hopefully by tomorrow he will be feeling better. His Grandee (Drew's mom) arrives tomorrow night for 4 days and is very excited to see him. We are looking forward to her visit.

Growing Up

This weekend Elliot turned 4 months old and graduated from his cuddly bassinet to a big spacious crib. We were finding him in the morning with his feet sticking straight up in the air and his bum at the bottom of the basket, so we figured he needs more room. He doesn’t quite know what to think of his luxurious new digs yet. He likes playing in it and sleeping in it at night, but naptime is a little tough. But he will get used to it.

Anyone who has visited us here in Austin knows what a small house we have. In the last few months we have officially outgrown it. Elliot’s crib is a giant in his tiny nursery. We have swings and bouncy seats, baby gyms and Bumbo seats strewn all over the house. When Elliot moved in, other things had to be rearranged. So now we have books on the dining room floor, bedroom pillows stacked up in the living room, bicycles behind the couch and baskets of clothes everywhere. It’s getting claustrophobic, so we are looking for a house to buy. Hopefully one with some closet space and more than 1,000 square feet! With any luck we will be moving soon.

Elliot’s new discoveries this week:

• He sticks his tongue out and curls it up over his upper lip when he concentrates on something like grabbing a toy.
• At church, he laughs at the people in the pew behind us when everyone else is quiet. This cracks all of us up.
• He likes to suck his thumb or fingers and almost always has them in his mouth.
• He loves to be naked and giggles like crazy when we peel his clothes and diaper off of him.
• He thinks tickling his belly is hilarious.
• His baby talk is the best alarm clock every morning at 7am.
• He gets really excited when we put him in his carriage for our morning or evening walk.
• He loves, loves, loves television. We watch Noggin and Baby Einstein, but he is just as happy to watch anything.
• He grins big at his nanny Juli when she comes over.
• Every night he pees in his tub.

4th of July

Here are a few pictures from the past week. Drew came home for lunch on Thursday, so we walked a few blocks down to the deli for sammies. Elliot fell asleep in the carriage and I took these cute pictures. I love them; his hands look like little stars.

This weekend Drew’s brother Matt, Christina and our 5-year-old niece Sophia visited us in Austin while on a trip to Houston visiting Christina’s parents. We all went to The Salt Lick for dinner on Saturday, and then to the Austin Children’s Museum for the day on Sunday. Sophia played with the other 100 kids and all the hands-on exhibits. She was the check-out person at the grocery store, then worked in the diner serving her parents lunch. She was also the milk supply person, taking the milk from the dairy farm to the grocery store. It was crazy commotion everywhere. Of course, Elliot fell asleep.

Speaking of sleep, Elliot has slept through the night for the past 10 nights straight. Not only is mama happy, but so is baby. He wakes up in the kind of happy mood that only getting enough sleep can give you. I think part of his sleeping through the night now at 15 weeks is his easy temperament, but even more importantly I think he feels secure in knowing our routine. This is something we have really tried to give him – a way of knowing what’s coming at bedtime. Every night after his tub, massage, pj’s and feeding, we put him to bed and he usually zonks out within 15 minutes. Now if there is one thing we have learned in our short time as parents, it’s that things change. But for now this is what we do.

Some new things this week…

• It seems like he is getting a lot taller so we measured him as best we could. We think he is around 25 inches now. At the museum, there was a baby babbling and running around while Elliot slept in the stroller, and Elliot was definitely bigger than him. It was a funny sight.
• We went to a BBQ at a friend’s house and Elliot was tired, so we put him down in their baby’s pack-n-play. He was awake but entertained by the ceiling fan in the bedroom. I went in a few minutes later and he was asleep. We couldn’t believe that he took a nap in a strange bed in a strange house.
• He is getting better at grabbing objects. And just this weekend he found his thumb. He used to grab it with his mouth as it zoomed by. Now he can find it when he wants it. And he likes to grab onto his blanket wherever he goes. So now at only 3½ months we are pretty sure he is turning into my brother. (John couldn’t go anywhere without his thumb and his gangee. Once we were on a trip and midway he realized he left it at home. He cried for 100 miles until my parents found the closest JCPenney and bought him a new one.)
• Elliot recognizes three people now: Me, Drew and Juli. He smiles at all of us when we come into the room. Of course we all love that. And even though he doesn't recognize them, he likes to smile at strangers too.
• He loves to watch TV. We try to limit this to his Baby Einstein DVD, but he sometimes gets to see Food Network with mama and Sportscenter with dad.
  
• When he gets bored, he sighs.

P.S. Congrats to our dear friends Tricia and Mick in KC! They are now the proud parents of sweet baby boy Luke. We will get to meet him when we visit during Labor Day weekend.