Eight Months Old

Today Elliot had his 8-month well-check. Dr. Hargrave said he is doing great. His weight is up to 19 lbs, 6 oz and he is 28½ inches tall. He is in the 50th-75th percentile for everything. He only had to have one shot today and cried for just a minute. Good news for Elliot… he can start eating baby yogurt and a lot of what we eat mashed into pieces he can handle. He is much more interested in our food now than his bland baby food so this should make him very happy. We are still trying the sippy cup with no luck yet, but Dr. H said to keep trying. He still only has his front two bottom teeth, but Dr. H said his top two are ready to come out any day now.

This past weekend we had a special treat when Grandee and Hoppa came to visit for five days. We loved having them here. They took Elliot for walks, to the park to swing, fed him, changed him, loved on him and played with him. He was thankfully over his cold by the time they arrived so he was his usual self during their visit. Drew often tells me that he misses his parents and wishes we could see them more, so it was really nice to have them here.

Drew and I were spoiled because Deedee cooked for us the entire time, and she and David both helped us pack. They must have packed half our house. Yes, we are finally moving… hooray! We found a house in a family neighborhood in Southwest Austin, and move December 2nd. We are happy to be leaving our campus house behind. Now we welcome the quiet burbs with room to move around. Our new place is within walking distance to parks, swimming pools, walking trails and a pond for Abby to swim. We couldn’t be moving at a better time because Elliot is just learning to crawl. It’s just a matter of time before he really takes off, and our new place is much more baby friendly.

We have no big plans for Thanksgiving. Our families were just here, and since our kitchen is mostly packed up we will try to find a Thanksgiving buffet at a downtown hotel. Not too homey for Elliot’s first turkey day, but it will be convenient and give us the holiday weekend to move boxes over to our new place. The real fun will be in about five weeks when we go to Ouray for Christmas. We are really looking forward to getting home to the mountains, snow and family. We can’t wait.

New things for Elliot these past few weeks:

• He is creeping quickly and gets up on his hands & knees to rock… crawling is coming very soon
• Talking a lot and very loud but no consonant sounds yet
• Likes to take Abby’s bone away from her
• After not wanting the binkie for many months, he’s into it again now
• Shy around new faces
• Laughs at puppets and talking stuffed animals
• Grins very big and gets really excited when dad comes home from work
• Has a designer wardrobe now thanks to YaYa and Buzza