A Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone.  I hope you are thoroughly enjoying the Christmas season (and not letting it's potential stress catch up with you).  Elliott is walking up a storm these days, so I figured I should post our Thanksgiving pictures before the holidays are over, and before he changes too much more.  So here you go - a small slice of our Thanksgiving week festivities...

We started off the week by driving down to see Grandma Claire and Grandpa Harry in Newbury Park. They are such joyful people, and Elliott adores them.

My parents and Steve's parents showed up Wednesday night, and we celebrated Steve's parents 44th wedding anniversary at The Palace.  Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the two of them at dinner, but I did manage to capture Elliott and Grandpa Wayne holding a drum circle in Cost Plus after dinner.

Congratulations Sandy and Wayne!  Thank you for sharing your wonderful son with me.

Thanksgiving morning we got down to the business of cooking a tasty dinner.  Even though there were only 6 of us and Elliott, we still felt the need to cook all of the traditional dishes, plus some (about 8 total).  And to top off the meal, my dad baked his famous apple cranberry pie.  It was delicious as usual.

No day spent at home is complete without a project or two going on in the background, and Thanksgiving was no different. Steve's dad built an amazing bar for our new kitchen/dining room border, and helped us to install it.  More on that in a later post.

And of course no day is complete for Reese with out a bit of ball chasing (Elliott gets pretty antsy also if he doesn't get his outdoor time.)

After his afternoon nap Elliott got all dressed up in his Thanksgiving best, and entertained the grandmas with his impressive toy collection and shaky walking skills while we put the finishing touches on dinner.

After 8 hours of cooking we were ready to eat, and it was quite a spread.  The turkey Steve cooked was amazing, but my kale-brussel sprout salad got quite a few compliments as well.  Check out the mostly finished kitchen in the background, and a sneak peek of our new bar behind my mom to the right.

We passed on the black Friday sales, and opted to enjoy lunch at the beach instead.  Here are my guys  looking cool while waiting for a table at the Shoreline.

And our awesome table in the sand.  Does life get better than this?

After lunch we walked down to State St.  - Elliott included!  On a side note, our family walks with Reese take forever these days because Elliott insists on walking and not being carried, but he is still pretty darn slow.

When he got tired of walking Elliott did let Grandpa Wayne carry him on his shoulders while we were passing through the harbor.

Our ultimate destination was actually the waterfront shuttle - Elliott's favorite thing ever.  Here's the giddy grin he flashed while we cruised up State St.

We hopped off the shuttle for coffee and snacks before turning around and hopping the shuttle back down State St.  Elliott loves his Grandmas!  He wanted to sit directly between them.

It was a very happy Thanksgiving/Black Friday, and our little guy was wiped out as we made our way back to the car.

Just for fun - here is Elliott last Thanksgiving.  What a difference a year makes!  

Hope your Thanksgiving was as great as Elliott's, and that you were able to take a moment to reflect on the things in your life that you are thankful for. Top of my Thankful list is definitely the time I get to spend with my family, and our beautiful (and ever improving) home in Santa Barbara.  I do my best to soak up the moments of our daily life - big and small.  Elliott is changing on a daily basis, and each new phase is more fun and exciting than the one before. 

Elliott is walking!

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family.  Some day I will get around to posting  pictures of our T-day  with the Grandparents (they kindly drove to us this year so we only have to make one big roadtrip this holiday season).  But today I wanted to give you the exciting (and slightly scary) news that Elliott is walking!

Papa's 60th Birthday

We hit the road again a few weeks ago to meet up with the rest of my family in Livermore for my Dad's 60th birthday.  As a surprise (which turned out not to be a surprise since Mom spilled the beans) my sister Jessica flew out from Austin with Boaz, her youngest kid, who was born 6 weeks after Elliott.

Since we all got in late on Friday night, Bo and Elliott had to wait until Saturday morning for a good play session.  They were both rather mellow and snuggly at the start of the morning.  Here's a textbook example of a sweet Bo grin.  He turns one today!

Elliott enjoyed the variety of new (to him) toys to explore.  That was actually my blue and red shape sorter in the pic below from when I was his age!

Elliott goes back to the Doctor

This may not be the most upbeat post I have written, but in the spirit of documenting stories of Elliott as he grows up, I wanted to share what he has been going through over the last month.  

We had a glorious reprieve from doctor visits during the months of July and August.  The ear tubes Elliott got in June put a stop to the recurring ear infections he had since January.  Everything was going great, and when he would get a cold I didn't feel like I needed to rush him to the doctor since his body was finally able to fight them off without the assistance of antibiotics.  And then, mid-September, he woke up on a Monday morning with a runny nose and a slight cough, which I didn't think much of because I am no longer worried about ear infections.  Throughout the day at daycare he was fine, until he woke up from his afternoon nap at 4:30.  By the time I picked him up after work at 5:00, his lungs were very congested, he was running a fever, and he was struggling to breath.  He continued to worsen after getting home, and we were concerned about how we would get through the night. Thankfully urgent care was open until 7pm, and as soon as we arrived the nurses and doctors flocked to us.  They were concerned about the way his ribs were flaring out as he was trying to draw in air, and his low blood oxygen levels.

The doctor and nurses were fantastic, and we were quickly rushed down the hall for a chest X-ray.  It was a very scary moment, and at the same time I was so fascinated by the process that I paused to oblige the little voice in the back of my mind telling me to document the moment for the blog, and future memory.

The single greatest word ever, and other milestones

As I mentioned previously,  Elliott is developing quite a vocabulary.  His first words were "Daddy" and "dog", which he now consistently uses at the appropriate time.  Like when waking up and pointing to show he wants to go see Steve in the other room, or when there is a dog walking by down the street.  By far his favorite word is "uh-oh", which he says in a sing song manner (often right before he drops something).  Other words he picked up are "wow", and "stuck", which he says right after he rams his walker into the kitchen cabinets, and then continues to repeat until we turn him around so he can take off in the other direction.  He also says "woof" in response to the question "Hey Elliott, what does a dog say?"  "Hi" may be the word he says most frequently, and is always charming strangers with it.

Elliott Turns 1!

Yikes!  How is it October already?  I barely got a chance to post in September, and I'm still trying to figure out what happened to August.  We have been so completely caught up in living in the moment - for good reasons (enjoying every minute we get with our awesome kid), and not so good reasons (super stressful time at work), that I haven't had a chance to document to the special moments in our lives.

The most special and exciting moment in September was Elliott's first birthday!  I can't believe we have been riding the crazy roller coaster of parenthood through all 4 seasons (ok, who am I kidding, we don't really have seasons in SB).   The other morning at breakfast Steve commented on how crazy it is that we have  another person in our family.  Elliott has definitely made the transition from helpless baby to an independent and unique kid full of personality.  We are more in love with his sweet gentle nature, and quirky silly sense of humor every day.  He's not walking yet, although he can get anywhere he wants to quickly, and his vocabulary has expanded to "Daddy", "hi", "dog", and "woof".  Yes, my kid can bark, on command, but still seems to have trouble saying "Mommy" consistently.

Papa's Blessing

My dad is affectionately known as "Papa" to his 5 grandchildren.  In addition to being a loving and caring grandfather, and the world's best rambunctious playmate to all of them, he also writes a very special blessing for each one when they are born that he gives when they are dedicated in church.  Since we don't attend church regularly (although I would like to find a church home when Elliott is old enough to go to Sunday school), my dad chose to give Elliott's blessing while we were in Livermore, during a picnic at Murrietta's Well, the winery where Steve and I were married.

Flashback Livermore

How is it September all ready?  I've been meaning to compile and post the pics from our Livermore trip for awhile, and all the sudden realized that it was a month ago already.  A lot can happen in a month for a guy who hasn't even lived through 12 of them yet, so I think this qualifies as flashback post... don't you?

 If you will remember from my teaser post a few weeks ago, Steve's parents, and Steve's brother Jason's family all joined us at my parents house for a weekend get together.  Here's a whirlwind recap of the time we spent with them...

Friday evening we all went to play bocce ball at a nearby restaurant/bocce court.  Elliott enjoyed the snuggle time and walking practice with Uncle Jason and Aunt Lori.

Friday Happy Hour

Wohoo!  We made it to the weekend.  To celebrate we all cut out of work (and daycare) early to hit the beach for an evening happy hour.  It's been a busy week for Steve and I, between hectic projects at work, and bit by bit trying to finish up the dining room in the evenings after Elliott goes to bed.  A quick get away to the beach was just what we needed.

Elliott enjoyed both his plastic cup of goldfish crackers,

Our Little Helper

I had a whole blog post planned for you tonight, complete with the recap of our time in Livermore I promised a few weeks ago.  Here's my recurring blog dilemna - we download and save the pictures to our desktop computer in Elliott's room.  The time that I have for blogging coincides with the time that Elliott is sleeping.  And as I have learned, when there is a conflict of interest, the sleeping baby always wins (it's much better than a not sleeping baby).  

So until I can get into the computer to grab more pics, you will just have to settle for today's cute Elliott moments captured on my iPhone, like this...

Weekend Shenanigans

It was another beautiful weekend in Santa Barbara.  Elliott and I threw in the towel early on Friday, and took the afternoon off to drive to Santa Clarita to visit my sister Janine.  I'm embarassed to say how long it has been since I've been down to visit her, so let's just say it was a bit before my little guy came into the world.

We had a lovely afternoon hanging out with Janine.  I enjoyed the girly bonding time (we both got haircuts with her awesome stylist who specializes in fine hair), but Elliott definitely enjoyed playing with her kitty Hannah the most.  He pets her like he does Reese - with an open hand and light smack.

A Much Needed Break

 Let me start by saying that Steve and I love our life together - an awesome kid, a beautiful (albeit work in progress) home in a great neighborhood, good jobs.  Of course, Santa Barbara isn't too shabby either.  So please don't judge me when I share that over the past few weeks we have been feeling increasingly burnt out.  The daily demands of housework, improvement projects, and full time jobs, combined with not enough sleep, had worn us down to the point where managing the basic daily tasks was a chore.  There was no energy left for the things we enjoy (you may have noticed I was suddenly absent from the blog world).   We realized we needed to get away from it all, even if only for a night, and our 4 year anniversary was the perfect excuse.  Our requirements were pretty low - all we wanted was a comfortable bed and a full night's sleep so we could start enjoying the small silly moments in our lives again - like this one this morning. (Yes, that is Elliott playing ON TOP of his toy basket.  He got there himself!)

Elliott takes another road trip

It's been over a week since I last posted, and I'm missing my blog already!! We had a great mini vacation in Livermore with my parents and Steve's family last week, and I am anxious to share all of Elliott's adventures and stories with you. But, since it is late and I am very protective of my sleep these days, I will just give you a teaser to get you through until tomorrow, when I hope to give a detailed account of the last week.

Flashback Saturday: Elliott starts solids, and other mischief

I'm back with another flashback post for you.  This one I actually wrote and uploaded most of the pictures for back in April, and then got sidetracked before posting.  So don't get confused - he's not pulling a Benjamin Button on you, and getting younger as the months go by.  Today, he is 10.5 months old, but the pictures and stories you are about to enjoy took place when he was a young little whippersnapper of only 6 months...

Yikes! Where does the time go?  I have a backlog of cute Elliott pics to share with you.  He is now 6 months old, and so much fun!  He's rolling over, babbling up a storm, and always smiling and giggling.

The beginning of the year was challenging.  Elliott had ear infections pretty much every other week from January 1 through the beginning of March.  He's a trooper, and was still generally happy during the days, but all of us were lacking in the sleep department as nights seemed to be more painful for him.

A Typical Weekend in Paradise

Not to make all of you jealous, but we had an amazing weekend on the beach, and we barely even left home!  Saturday we met our friends the Quinn's at Ledbetter beach for an afternoon BBQ.  I would love to say that Elliott was the life of the party, but he was super content to play by himself, and peacefully gaze at the ocean.  Here he is enjoying a chew toy with Genevieve and McKenna.

And Camryn sweetly sharing her toys with him.

Flashback Saturday: Elliott's Firsts

As I was looking through my blog files I found pictures for a post on Elliott's firsts that I had started awhile back, but never finished or published.  As I sat trying to convince myself to wait until next Friday to share these in a "Flashback Friday" post, my impatience got the better of me (many of you know, patience has never been one of my strengths).  So here you go - pics and stories of my baby from way back when he really was a baby, in no specific order...

First Hipster Moment: We met my parents in San Luis Obispo mid-October to help my dad celebrate his birthday.  Before dinner we grabbed a cup of coffee at a local hipster hangout.  Look at him rocking the beanie with Grandma Starla.

Flashback Friday: Elliott's Ear Surgery

Since there are so many great stories from the past 10 months of Elliott's life that haven't made it on to the blog yet, I am starting "Flashback Fridays" to share some of those moments in Elliott's life to date that are too precious (or too momentous) to leave behind.  So, since I mentioned last week that Elliot got tubes in his ears, I though that would be a good place to start.

To give you a bit of background - Elliott got his first cold back at the beginning of January.  He was still incredibly happy while sick, but since he was super congested (and I was a nervous momma), I decided to take him to the doctor.  We discovered that he had not one, but two ear infections.  Between then and the end of May we were at the doctor almost every other week.  Any time he got a cold, and even when I thought he was fine but was just taking him for a check-up, the doctor would say he had an ear infection.  She was concerned since continued fluid on the ear can impair auditory development, and each time she put him on antibiotics to clear up the infection.

She's back! Aunt Janine visits again

Aunt Janine came to the rescue again this week to watch Elliott for a few days during another gap in daycare coverage.  Elliott loves hanging out with her, and they are great buddies.  Case and point - a text conversation between us on Tuesday:

Me: How's my kid?  I wish I were hanging out with you guys...

Janine:  We had fun.  He's sleeping now.  He liked kissing/eating my nose.  It seemed to be a fun game we both enjoyed:)

Crazy kids, both of them.  In a good way.

Elliott's Big Day

Elliott has been getting more and more active over the last weeks, doing lots of lots of yoga moves like downward facing dog, and practicing pulling up on all sorts of low items, like this chair at the beach a few weeks ago.  The weather may not have been wonderful, but he was happy to be begging for grapes from Steve (strikingly similar to the way Reese has acted on many occasions).

Yesterday was the day it all clicked.  Elliott figured out how to pull himself up to standing position, and he started doing it everywhere.  Like on the dining room chairs...

Elliott's First Concert

Since Elliott loves music so much (and since we're looking for sources of free, family friendly entertainment these days), we decided to head out to Chase Palm Park Thursday evening to check out the Concerts in the Park series.

Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries were playing "oldies but goodies", but Elliott didn't seem to notice the music.  Perhaps it is because we decided to stay at the very back of the 3,000(!) people crowd, so it was difficult for him to discern the music over the noise of the crowd.  Regardless, Elliott had a great time watching all of the people, eating graham crackers, and crawling all over our blanket.

See Elliott Swim!

Elliott continues to love bath time, and beach time, so at the beginning of June we decided to enroll our water baby in baby swim class.  The first time we got in the pool his eyes got wide with excitement when he realized what a big bathtub we got to play in.  

Unfortunately we had to miss quite a few classes in the middle of the "swimmester" when Elliott got tubes in his ears.  Notice the fancy ear plugs he's wearing?  They are a happy alternative to visiting the doctor every other week for ear infections. 

Elliott says "Thank You Aunt Janine!"

Aunt Janine came to the rescue this week when our beloved day care provider, Anita, needed to take a few days off.  I thought I was asking too much when I mentioned to Janine that we needed help two days this week AND next week, but she agreed right away in her nonchalant, it's no big deal kind of way.  So she drove out from Santa Clarita early Monday morning to get here well before I had to leave for work.  Elliott loves Aunt Janine, and they had a great time together.  

Elliott's Saturday Adventures

Here's the thing I love about being a parent - everyday is an adventure.  Granted they aren't obvious or big adventures, like living in Africa, or working on an Abalone Farm, but exciting none the less.  

This morning started off slower than normal at 7:30am (ugh, when did 7:30 become sleeping in?).  I recently came to the conclusion that Elliott needs to start sleeping through the night. Even though he has been doing so sporadically, he has been sick so often that even at almost 10 months we aren't on a good sleep schedule yet.  So starting last night I decided that I am not going to feed him in the middle of the night to reduce the incentive for mid-night waking.  Being a guy that knows what he likes, he cried for almost 2 hrs straight.  So sleeping in until 7:30 this morning was much needed for everyone in our family. 

 To let Daddy sleep a bit longer, we decided to visit my work friend Roane's garage sale where he scored a new pony (stuffed pony that is).

Elliott says Happy Friday!

Well, it may have been a short week for us, but we still felt like celebrating the fact that it's (finally) Friday.  Since Elliott goes to bed around 7:30, we have to cram in all of our celebrating early.  We decided to hit up McConnell's for some of their amazing ice cream (if you're not a SB local you are missing out on the best ice cream in the world!)

Elliott goes camping

As many of you know, the annual 4th of July camping trip is one of the biggest traditions in my family. We have been camping with my cousins for longer than I can remember - maybe 33 or 34 years (does that make me old?).  I have many fond memories of these trips growing up, and now that we are all grown up with our own families the fun (and number of participants) has grown.  This year it came full circle as we initiated Elliott, and a few of his cousins, to the joys of camping at El Capitan State Beach, just outside of Santa Barbara.

The weather was beautiful for the first part of our camping trip, so everyone hit the beach.  Elliott absolutely loved the ocean, and playing in the wetsuit that my parents brought for him. My Dad already had him in the breakers on a boogie board, and is looking forward to getting him on a surfboard next year.

The Race is On! Elliott vs. the Kitchen Floor

And we're back!  The Elliott show was on hiatus while I adjusted to the very full life of a full-time working mom and weekend DIYer.  I've been striving to find that elusive place called "balance".  While I'm not quite there yet, I am finally at a point where I feel that I can start adding back in the things I enjoy doing -- like sharing my awesome kid with his adoring fans.  

Throughout the kitchen remodel one of our main goals has been to get the house put back together before Elliott becomes mobile.  We've made huge progress, and while we will be doing minor improvements for months to come (like molding and backsplash tile), we are so close to being fully functional.  There is just one final (pretty important) piece - the kitchen floor.

 VS.

Elliott Moves on to the 2nds

One of the greatest joys of being a parent is introducing your child to the world around him.  The amazement, wonder, and awe are contagious, and you remember how special life is, and how exciting even the most mundane details are.  I remember very specifically the moment that Elliott first noticed his hand.  He was sitting on my Dad's lap a few weeks after he was born when his hand caught his attention. His eyes got really big as they travelled from his hand up his arm, and back down again as if thinking, "No way - that thing is connected to ME?".  

Elliott's 1st Cold

Well, I knew it had to happen sooner or later - Elliott had to get sick at some point.  Of course my vote was for later, but at 3.5 months, and right after New Years, Elliott came down with his first cold.  I held off taking him to the doctor for a few days hoping it would clear up, but when eye goop began dripping out of his eye like our bathroom faucet before Steve fixed it, I decided to take him in.  (It's hard to see, but if you look closely you can see the liquid running down his cheek)

Elliott's 1st (and 2nd) Christmas

I know, I know, I'm long overdue for the big Christmas post.  My goal of posting weekly seems to be more difficult than I first thought.  The New Year started off a bit rocky between trying to get back into a routine after being away for a week and a half, working at 80% time, and all of us being sick - all of the sudden two weeks have passed.  But I'm nothing if not persistent, so I'll keep trying to please Elliott's adoring fans by woking toward my New Year's goal of weekly updates.

On to the matter at hand.  Elliott had a wonderful first (and second) Christmas.  We started out the whirlwind Holiday adventure at Steve's parent's for Christmas.  My parents were also included, so Elliott got to spend his first Christmas with both sets of grandparents.  We feel so fortunate that our families get along so well, and there is no tension over who we visit and when.

We have started a routine of reading Elliott a story before bed every night, so both the grandmas were happy to participate on Christmas Eve.  Here are Grandma Sandy (aka Lully), Elliott, and Grandma Starla reading Goodnight Moon.