Froggie Crawling and Wet Kisses

My baby crawls just like a froggy. Its so funny, he is so off balance and he moves his back legs together instead of staggering his stride. But it is the cutest thing. I'm taking invetory of the things on the floor and deciding where its all gonna go.  Our house is not exactly kid proofed yet. I mean we have the outlet protectors and all that, but we still have our pre-kid decorations which are probably all dangerous to him in one way or another.  And Snickers...well things are about to change in Snickers's world, even more so.  She's already getting up in our faces (like ooh you are joining me on the floor yay!!!) when we spend time with E on the floor. She may have some jealousy issues.

Next topic: kisses.  We are getting very wet kisses. We ask Eliseo for a kiss and we get the wet, sloppy stick the tongue out kiss. So gross yet so endearing. Just be careful when requesting a kiss...you will get more than you bargained for!

I have a video of him crawling, but we all know I still haven't figured videos out. It's all just so confusing. So instead I will give you pictures of E cracking me up, fishing for toys in his bin.

WE HAVE A CRAWLER!!!!!! and Other Random Thoughts

Everyone put up your breakables, because as promised...and all capsy announcement....HE CRAWLED!!!!!  WAHOO!!!! Am I a little overly excited?  Yeah.  Maybe.  He has been teasing us with that rocking back and forth for so long now, I thought he would never actually crawl.  At first, it was just little scoots and then he'd collapse on his belly.  Then it was being up on all fours and moving his butt side to side which gave his legs a little momentum.  But tonight, he went a little distance at my mom's place.  The cheering really egged him on.  Then later, Glenn and I were in his room getting him ready for bed and we put him on one side of the room.  With our clapping and cheering, Snickers was getting very excited and was barking which I think was scaring the pants off of him.  So between the clapping and the barking, he moved quick crying all the way...LOL.  Poor E!  But he did it...and he looked like a little frog because it was more of a "move the hands then hop with the legs" motion.  I guess it's time to clean the carpets around here!  Yay E!!!!!

Next up is the intro to broccoli.  He LOVES it.  My kid is weird!  Glenn fed him a big bowl of it yesterday while I was getting my hair done and he practically licked the bowl.  I gave him an even bigger serving tonight with some rice and he just couldn't stop eating it.  He looked like he really had to put some effort into those last bites, but down the hatch they went until the bowl was completely empty.  So some of his favorites now are sweet potatoes (normal), bananas (normal), asparagus (not normal), cauliflower (not normal) and broccoli (not normal).  Dislikes:  peas.  Definitely dislikes peas.  I haven't decided what to feed him next.  At this rate I might go for brussel sprouts.  Yuck.

Did I mention how I'm never shopping at Babies R Us again?  Just to illustrate my point, I got a coupon in the mail and posted it for your viewing pleasure.  On the front:  20% off coupon for one regular-priced baby item (in big white circle, choose from thousands of items!).  On the back:  Exclusions.  If you have a half an hour, feel free to read all of them.  If you've ever been able to use a coupon at Babies R Us, you MUST tell me about it.  I commend you.

Eliseo is starting to take more of an interest in toys.  Before, he had his choice favorites and the rest he didn't care too much about.  Now he plays with anything and everything.  Admittedly, he likes to play with shoes, boxes, cords, bags, papers and the strings to the hood of our hoodie sweatshirts the most.  But toys are finally starting to catch his eye.  Random thought.  Good.

I could probably go on with the randomness, but I will spare you.  I hope my going on and on has entertained you.  I'm really going to figure out how to post a video one of these days.  Maybe I just need to be on the big computer.  I'll give it another shot.

Too tired to write so here are pictures!!

It's Been that Long?

I haven't made an entry since Monday?  That doesn't seem right.  It's been a busy work week, so I guess I just lost track. 

Lets see....what has happened in the last 4 days?  Well, we talked about the clapping, which is just too stinkin cute....E and I were watching Family Feud and the crowd would clap and Eliseo would clap.  I just get this feeling inside, I think it's pride but so much more than that.  Yes, I'm proud of him for his accomplishment, but there is so much love and admiration and infatuation...I guess I just can't explain it very well, I just fall in love more and more with him.  All this from clapping.

Introducing:  eggs and yogurt!  I got him organic whole milk yogurt with peaches; day 1 he ate half of the cup, day 2 he ate 3/4 of the cup, and the last 2 days he ate the whole thing. I'm confused as to why he can eat whole milk yogurt but they don't recommend whole milk until after a year.  I'm sure there is a reason, maybe it's the quantity?  I don't know, but Dr. Oswald told me he can start eating anything except hold off on nuts, strawberries and honey until after 1 yr.  She said I only really need to wait 2 days in between new introductions, so we are gonna try more stuff.  I bought some broccoli for  him, so I'm trying one more day of the egg then I'll make that.  So, maybe I didn't do the egg very well, I hard boiled them and mashed up/pureed the yolk with water and a pinch of salt.  Egg yolk is so dry, but I think I made the texture a little too runny.  I'm thinking I might scramble the yolk and feed it to him that way.  He is doing well with the more chunky textures so we'll give that a go.  Eggs, eggs, eggs.  Done with the eggs?  Yeah, me too.

A couple of other minor things, we have a routine at night that's really cute.  After I put E in his jammies, I turn on a lamp in his room and shut off the overhead light.  HE turns the light off.  We've been doing this for a long time.  I tell him, "Turn the light off" and he does, but now after he flips the switch, we high five.  He finds this very amusing.  And something else that he's been doing, helping me put his toys away when we are done playing.  I don't know why I think this is so cute, other than he's just mimicking me and he picks up the toys and drops them in the box...well, he drops them and intends to put them in the box, but he misses a lot. 

Last but not least, I got a crawl out of him today.  I say this quietly, without caps because I'm still not really sure it happened.  But I swear, he went for about 3 strides before reaching his destination.  I couldn't get him to do it again, so I will wait to make the official all capsy announcement until I am more confident that it really happened. 

Oh yeah, and one more thing...a second tooth! Its coming in along side the first so he has cut both 2 bottom teeth.  Ok, that's really it this time!

Boycotting Babies R Us!

Ugh I am done with this store!  I would recommend shopping elsewhere to all of the people I care about.  Why? Let me tell you my first reason.  Have you ever tried using a "coupon" from Babies R Us? I've tried on mutiple occasions but I've yet to succeed!  I've brought a cart full of stuff with a 20% coupon to use on 1 item....and gone home with the coupon.  They inundate my email, phone and mail with coupons but they need a whole booklet to list the exclusions. Its a joke.  But here's what happened today:

My mom bought Eliseo this super cute monkey to hang on his door. If you know my mom, she finishes her Christmas shopping by August every year. Heck, I think she's done the August the year before the year that she gives you the gift. Suffice it to say, she's done early. I was about to hang the monkey on the door when I noticed it has a chip on its head.  I thought that they would gladly allow me to exchange my damaged item for an undamaged one...HA. I don't know why I thought this based on the service I have received in the past. I drove 20 miles with Mr. Monkey and when I got to the store, I brought the new monkey to the cashier to do a like for like exchange.  She said "Oh sorry, this is the newest version so I can't do an even exchange."  I looked at the monkeys. They were exactly the same. The only difference was the dang cardboard that he was hanging on.  She said " I can return this one for $4 and the new one rings in at $16 ."  Are you F-ing kidding me???  I tried to talk sense into this cashier for 10 minutes...but she said there was nothing she could do. Sure. Nothing. Lame. I mean, I guess Babies R Us doesn't believe in doing the right thing for their customers.  I'm just done walking out of there all pissed off. So I sent an email to their corporate office explaining my grievance and how I will never shop there again, and how I will encourage ALL of my friends not to shop there.  So....DON'T SHOP THERE!! I think it irritates me the most because I registered there and brought them plenty of business. Ok rant over.

Want to hear something cute? I went to the gym today, I like to go to classes and they have child care, so I dropped E off so I could go do my class.  When I came back to get him, he was sitting up and all the babysitters and kids were sitting in a circle around him, he was cracking them all up.  They gave him a matchbox car and he just loved it. He loved eating it. Then he would laugh at it. I had hoped he wasn't going to be cranky cuz he didn't get a very long afternoon nap today, but they told me  he was just so good the whole time. Him and his charm!! I wad reading him his bedtime book "Bear's Birthday" and there is a part at the end where you count the balloons. I was counting them and I looked at his hand, he was making his fingers "point" when I would count them.  He is so smart!

I feel like there's more I want to say but it's time to wrap up and get ready for bed. Nite peeps!

My Romantic Valentine's Dinner Date

Happy Valentine's!  I had the most amazing dinner date tonight, with my little monkey. He had the mashed potatoes with butter and I had the salmon leftovers with cauliflower. He ate sitting atop the table, his feet at my plate. It was something special.

As you might have guessed, Glenn had to work tonight. So Eliseo and I had the whole night to ourselves. We took a little nap when I finished work, had our dinner then made a trip to Target. I know, can you handle the excitement? We are going to do something as a family tomorrow night, although we have no idea what yet.

E's tooth is still making its way through, bothering him but not stealing his spirit. He has been in a fantastic mood this week. The highlight was learning how to clap. He's so happy about it, he squeals in delight. So cute. I started organizing his 12 month clothes and pulling the small stuff out of the closet. There are a few things I am so attached to, I haven't been able to take those out yet. I didn't think I'd be the type to get emotionally attached to a onesie, but it happens, people.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, whether it was quiet like mine, or full of adventure. Until next time!

Cereal yummmmmmmm

9 Month Checkup

So he's been out as long as he was in :).

Today was Eliseo's 9 month checkup. It kind of made me worry when the nurse came back and took his head circumference measurement again and asked to weigh him again. Apparently the first measurement she wrote down made out look like his head had shrunk. What can I say he has a peanut head.

So here are the new stats:

Head: 16 3/4" 3rd %
Weight: 15 lb 2 oz <3rd %
Height: 26 3/4" 10th %

He was supposed to get 2 shots today but we switched insurance and we don't have our cards yet, which I guess determines which shot he is supposed to get. So when we get our cards, we get to go back for those.  I don't think he minded.

She wasn't too concerned with his low weight since he eats well and pees and poops regularly. She encouraged me to start trying lots of new foods and to add some butter and even a pinch of salt. I think I might make him an egg tomorrow.

So that's about it! Other than going back for the vaccines, his next checkup is his 1 year on May 2 (holy cow he is almost 1!!!).

E's First Turtlehead Tooth

I was woken up quite early this morning by a certain little baby crying for me: Maaaaaaa, Maaaaaaaaa. Normally I wouldn't get up, it was around 5am, but I could hear the hurt in his little voice.  I headed upstairs and cuddled my little man. He fell back to sleep but I brought him down to sleep with me. He didn't really settle too much, and after we woke up for the day around 9, he was just really fussy and not happy. So I did the old Mom gum test and sure enough, I felt a little jagged hard spot protruding from his bottom gums. It's just barely poking through but it sure is giving him some pain. He got a lot of cuddles as I put my to do list aside to hang out with my little 2 foot bestie all day. Today was lots of Orajel and freezing teething rings. I just hope as each tooth comes in, it doesn't cause him so much discomfort. I hate it when he hurts.

Proud Mama!

What a great day!

Today was non-stop for me. I didn't get much sleep last night (no good reason, just stupid tv sucked me in). We had a birthday party at the Magic House children's museum to go to this morning. Even though I had gone to bed late, Eliseo still went to bed on time, so it surprised me when he slept in til 830. When he finally woke up, he was still so tired! He slept in the car on the 45 minute drive, and when we went inside he looked like he would conk out again...but he didn't. Actually he stayed awake for our entire time at the museum and he was all smiles. The extra sleep made him a very happy boy! We had so much fun hanging out with family again...just can't get enough of them lately!

After the museum, we went to Schlafly brewery in St. Louis for lunch. Eliseo got a good nap in the car and stayed asleep for about another 20 minutes inside, but again when he woke up he was so happy. He was flirting big time with the ladies at the next table over.  When leaving, they told me how adorable he was and what a good baby I had. Then...off to church.

Strategic nursing session, and my little man sat patiently in my lap and was looking around, checking people out. He smiles a lot at people and he always gets a reaction from them. After the service was over, I had 2 more ladies approach me and tell me what a good baby I had.  This happens often. Last week he summoned over 3 waitresses at a diner and they told me how cute and good he was...if I had a nickel for everytime someone told me he was good or cute...well I'd have like a dollar, which I guess doesn't really seem to have the impact I was looking for.

So, after church, we took a ride down to North County to have dinner with Daddy since he didn't see him all day and Daddy had to work tonight.  Just more smiles and laughs while he was trying to play with Glenn's radio.

I am so proud of my sweet guy today. After we got home we played for a few minutes, then bath and bedtime.  No cries, and he has been sleeping ever since. Honestly, I don't even like putting him to bed because I have so much fun with him, but he needs his beauty sleep. Well rested baby is a happy baby.  Tomorrow is another day...

We're back!!!

Is there some rule that says you can't blog while out of town? Too much going on, it's hard to focus I guess.

So we are home from NJ.  Eliseo did great on his plane rides again. He's going to be a regular jet setter. I got some personal satisfaction when he was being his sweet, happy baby self and other babies were crying...high five little man.

I have the greatest family. First in the STL airport early Sat morning, we ran into my cousin and his family at a different gate in the terminal we were flying out of. Then, we get into the Newark airport and my sister landed at the same time and we were in the rental car area at the simultaneously. We decided to go to lunch together then found my aunt, uncle and cousins eating in the diner we chose. Walking in the hotel we saw more aunts, uncles, cousins. We basically took over the place. The next day at my grandmother's wake, my cousins and aunts from my dad's side of the family showed up.  It's a very comforting feeling to see so many familiar faces.  It was an emotional day for me, the way they styled my grandma's hair reminded me so much of the former "Grammy." The funeral mass was in the same church where all of her children were married, where I was baptized with my "triplet" cousins, where my grandfather's funeral mass was held, and I'm sure much more. It brought back memories of going to church when I was younger when Grammy always had mints in her purse that she would give us kids. So many happy memories with her.

Eliseo did pretty well all week. As long as he had his spoon he was pretty happy. He got overwhelmed a few times and just wanted this mommy, but that was after being passed around quite a bit. I can definitely feel some teeth finally trying too break their way through his gums. This made him a little fussier than usual. He just chewed on his spoon. We brought the Pack n Play but he mostly slept with us. I was afraid this would mess him up when he got home, but he went right back in his crib, thank goodness. He started having some sleepy problems at the end of the trip, but I think he was just ready to get back into his routine.  With all the babysitters around, Glenn and I were able to sneak a trip to NYC with my nephew and his girlfriend, which was fun. I always love to visit the city.

That's pretty much it. We are back home and E seems to have already adjusted back. I have until Monday to make sure he is all straightened out. 

As for me, bedtime! I powered through this post but my eyes are heavy....goodnight peeps!

Don't worry readers...

I shall return soon.