Gracefully Falling Down: July 2014

"I'm working on it" is something that Chris has heard from me often over the past few weeks.

Marriage is a tough thing sometimes. I can easily appear like my same chipper self to everyone else, but I can't hide from my husband. Chris knows me better than anyone else and he can pick up on the slight differences - how I can get annoyed easier, how I have trouble seeing the good in people (or even worse I start assuming the worst in them,) or how I get upset about the small things faster than normal.

A couple of months after Elliott was born Chris turned to me one day and asked me how my relationship with Jesus was doing. This isn't an odd question for us to ask one another, but it usually comes when we notice something is off. When things are going well - when we are both actively pursuing our relationship with God, it's something that comes up in regular conversation all the time. Whether it be over dinner, or on the drive to the grocery store, the topic of what God is doing in our lives is common. When one of us stops talking about it, that's when there's trouble.

And so he asked me how it was going... and that was when I realized it wasn't going so well.

Four whole months already. Sometimes it seems like the weirdest thing to think he's only been around for four months, then other times I wonder how each week passes so quickly. He grows and changes every single day- learning new sounds and doing new things. Him and I have so much fun together as I spend most of my day trying to make him laugh. He is just the happiest little boy - always smiling, and it doesn't take too much to get a giggle out of him.

Eating: He's still eating like a champ. During the day he eats on average every 3-4 hours. He's a pretty efficient eater- only nurses for 5-10 minutes, then either sits up and burps almost right away, or doesn't burp at all. He's never really had trouble with gas, so if 2-3 minutes of back patting doesn't do it, we just leave him be and he'll likely toot it out later!

Sleeping (Night Time): Elliott is still a great sleeper most nights. We've developed an approximate bedtime of 9 pm. Most nights it's right on target, but depending when he woke up from his last nap it can be a half hour earlier, or up to an hour later. It seems that if he sleeps past about 6:30 pm, he won't be tired enough for 9. He sleeps for an average of 6 hours, then wakes up for 15-20 minutes to eat (although I would hardly call it waking up!) There are some nights he wakes up a second time around 5, but most nights he goes back down until about 7 am. He's still sleeping happily on his tummy in his sleep sack. Probably the hardest part of bedtime for me is trying to figure out how to dress him for bed. He hates being even a little bit cold. Even on the hottest of nights he still wants to be in his sleep sack (with just a onesie on) and when he wakes up in the middle of the night if I don't throw a light blanket on him for his arms, he'll wake up less than an hour later fussing until I cover him up more. Thankfully I've learned when he wakes up after he just ate that he doesn't need to eat again, he just wants to be warmer, so it takes me just a minute to run in and put another blanket on him.

Sleeping (Nap Time): Hallelujah, we are finally sleeping all our naps in the crib! One day I just decided to do it, and not worry about if he woke up 30 minutes later (and wonder if he would have slept longer on the ottoman) I haven't looked back since. One thing I found that helped was making sure I keep his door open during naps - he was so used to the noise of being in the living room with the TV or music on right next to him while he slept. I think when I first tried to put him in his room he found it too quiet because I would close the door almost all the way.

A couple of weeks ago I started wondering if there was a routine to his naps and I just didn't know it, so I started keeping track of them all - writing down when he went down to sleep and for how long. The first week I noticed that there did seem to be a trend, but then the next week I think I spent too much time trying to stick to that "routine" that I was driving us both nuts. I'm still keeping track, but the truth is that he won't sleep well unless he's ready to nap, so there's no point in putting him down until he's good and ready. The last nap of the day is the only one I really care about, because as I mentioned above, if he sleeps past 6:30 he won't go down for bed at 9. I try my best to make sure he's had sufficient naps leading up to evening so he isn't so wiped that he sleeps from 6-8, but that's all I can really do at this point. Waking him up (which I have tried twice) is a big no no.

Play: So much has changed in the past month! He went from batting at the toys on his activity mat to slowly and intentionally bringing his hands up to grasp on to them. He can hold on to toys quite well now, and brings them all up to his mouth to gnaw on or lick. When he first started doing this he could only hold on to a toy for a short time if it was placed in his hands, then would let go. Now he can hold on to them for quite a long time, and if he drops it into his lap he can pick it up again. His jumparoo has a couple toys sitting right in front of him, and he will look at them intently and spin/move the toy slowly and with a surprising amount of focus. I think I've said this before, but I swear I can just see the wheels turning in his head as he's playing. It's so fun to watch! Speaking of his jumparoo (which is like an excersaucer, but the seat bounces up and down so he can jump like in a jolly jumper) man does this kid looooove his jumparoo. Move over activity mat, there's a new favourite in town. He spends at least 80% of his awake time in there because all he wants to do is jump. I can't even count the amount of times he's fallen asleep in there now because he just jumps and jumps until he's tired. It's completely adorable. When he's not in there if he ever gets fussy while sitting in someone's lap, all they have to do is let him stand and bounce him up and down and he'll give the biggest smile ever

Highlights/Lowlights: Teething. Yuck. It was a whole month ago when we first wondered of he was beginning to teeth, but it is only this past week that it is undeniable. It is so sad to watch him pull my finger into his mouth to bite down on it hard, and then to cry the saddest sounding cry I've ever heard. You can just see the pain in his face! So far we're having a lot of success with the Punkin Butt teething oil we have- 9 times out of 10 he calms right down as soon as we rub it on his gums.

As I mentioned above, he laughs all the time now. Daddy gets the most laughs out of him just by talking to him or laughing in a silly loud voice. Elliott jut thinks it's hilarious! We've also discovered that he's ticklish in his ribs. It's so adorable to watch him squirm and giggle when I tickle him

Likes:

JUMPING!!!
Sucking on his fingers and thumbs (He seems to prefer his index finger out of all of them)
When Mommy kisses him all over
Pretty much anything Daddy does
Being bounced in your lap
Putting anything in his hands into his mouth
His kangaroo-fox-bear stuffie/blanket(we can't decide what it looks like)
His fishy on the car seat handle
Having his head under a running warm water