a journey in motherhood

He’s walking! Yep, took his first steps 2 thurs days ago & is doing so good now! It is so much fun to see him move - amazing at how excited we get! I’m so relieved not to have to be holding his fingers leading him around constantly - now he can go where he wants - seeing as he never really wanted to crawl (and actually didn’t until AFTER his first steps) silly boy! He is also into basketball - he loves to put the ball in the basket and wants to play with daddy whenever he can. Of course we are thrilled about that.

I am still enjoying life being at home…though when he’s not napping I try to get out as much as possible and am on the computer less & less (obviously)

I can’t believe he’s going to be one in just a month from now - boy time has flown! I’m planning his party - it’s going to be Curious George themed…should be fun. I also found postage stamps w/ little curious george on them for the invites!

I kiss his little head as often as I can … knowing a day will come when he won’t let me do it anymore - he has such a sweet calm personality - is almost always at ease and not easily riled up.

I wish I had more time to write…time seems to slip away somehow and I just don’t sit down to record it.

Easter was wonderful - we gave him a basket with some bath toy, bubbles, a new outfit, a laker basketbal, a book on the Easter Story, and some peeps (he only got to eat one). He also got plastic eggs filled with animal crackers.

 

Tuesdays I often hang out with my friend Breanne and her son Timothy who is just 12 days older than Elliot. Today was a lot of fun. We took them to a local park and it was the first time he’s been old enough to enjoy the activities. We put them in the baby swings and they both really enjoyed it. We took them down the slides and it was cute to see their reactions. Then we walked the whole park for about an hour while they napped in their strollers. Finally, we picked up Arby’s for lunch. It was so nice to get out in the sunshine. I’m looking forward to when Elliot will be old enough to run around on the playground by himself. Being at the park with other moms and their kids made me feel more adult if that makes sense. It’s so interesting being a mom because all the sudden you are not the child anymore, you’re the mother and it makes you feel older in a way that you haven’t felt before. It’s not bad, it’s just different, all of the sudden you begin to realize that you’re becoming what your parents were to you. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but it’s the best I can think of how to describe it.

It is amazing to watch each day as Elliot’s hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills improve. He eats cheerios now (though still no teeth) and his pincer grasp is quite good. He learned how to make a basket about a week ago and daddy is so proud! He now will put an item in my hand if I ask for it and he helps me “clean up” his toys by putting them into their container. It seems each day he understands more about this world he lives in and how things work.
He is still not crawling, he’s content to sit and play most of the time, though he gets frusterated on his tummy when he can’t go anywhere but in circles. It will be interesting to see if he learns to crawl or moves strait to walking.
I love to see him grow and learn, it is such a reminder of God’s awesome power and design. I don’t know why, but I was impressed to see how he naturally knows to chew his cheerios, you don’t have to teach it, it is instinct. We’re still waiting for that first tooth, but seeing as I’m still nursing him, I’m really in no hurry for it to appear. He can chew small pieces of most food with his gums.

I love New Years! Not the big celebration (well, that too) but more than that the great feeling of a new fresh start - a clean slate - a blank page - it really excites and motivates me! I love to come up with New Years resolutions and themes for the year etc. This year I am focusing on commitments and faith. I have commited to reading thru the whole Bible (I’ve tried before and failed). I have joined Women’s missionary fellowship at my church and plan to remain commited to that. I have some other personal commitments that I’ll be faithful to also. I can tend to be someone who doesn’t always finish the task, I can  get bored and talk myself out of it, so this will be a challenge for me.

And faith, because since having Elliot - the depth of the responsibility on my shoulders to raise Godly children has been overwhelming and I’ve realised that I need to really rest in God and have faith in Him to take care of my Son. (of course I have my own responsibility in it) As well as our church is concentrating on faith this year and I can always use growth in that area!

Christmas night I came down with a fever and was feeling awful. I hardly got up or did anything but nurse Elliot for the next four days. It was awful. Fortunetly Charlie was off from work so he was able to keep up with everything that had to be done, but the poor guy didn’t get much of a vacation.

While sick I got to watch Pride & Predjudice (A&E version) with my grandma - it’s such a great film, and we had so much fun watching it together.

I was so relieved when my fever finally broke. Elliot also got sick, but never ran much of a fever  - i think the antibodies from nursing must’ve helped him.

All three of us have come down w/ a cold. Elliot has a runny nose, I have a very sore throat, and Charlie’s hit everywhere. It’s no fun being sick - but hopefully we’ll all be better by Christmas. Poor Elliot has a hard time breathing thru his nose so the pacifier doesn’t work so well…and he hates to have us wipe it. We have to do it quickly before he cries and makes it all worse! I’m glad he’s still not crawling b/c it’s nice to just pull him in bed w/ me in the mornings and lay there for a while longer since we’re not feeling well.

Three Wednesdays a month I go to a group called Mom to Mom. Elliot gets babysat by my mom and it’s a time where moms just get together and fellowship. Some weeks we have a speaker, sometimes we do a craft, and other times we meet with our table group offsite for a playdate. It’s been a great time getting to know other moms better, as well as learning about myself. We’re reading a book called “Fresh Brewed Life” and it’s really been good for me to read - It’s about being a Godly woman and ‘awake’ to life. One thing it inspired (hopefully not the only thing) is that I now have a cup of decaf each morning while I read my bible.  Each week we eat breakfast together and we each bring a part of the breakfast - I was pretty proud of myself - when it was my turn to bring an egg dish I basically made one up and it was yummy!

For halloween we dressed Elliot up as Tigger. He was super cute - but for fun during the day I threw together a Charlie Brown costume for him too - and I think it was adorable. In the morning I met my mom2mom group downtown Glendora and went trickertreating from shop to shop - of course mom and dad get to eat all the candy! In the evening we had dinner at my moms house with my brother, SIL and cousing Natania - afterwards we went to grandparents and great grandparents homes to show of the costumes - next year it will be more fun when he understands what is going on - but it was fun for us this year to see him all dressed up.

I went to Whole Foods Market in Pasadena and bought tons of food to make for Elliot

Prunes, green beans, peas, butternut squash, acorn squash, yellow squash, carrots, sweet potato, yams, mango, appricots, bananas, spinach, and apples. It took a few days and help from my mom and my aunt to get it all cooked and pureed - but my food processor worked wonders and now I have a freezer full of homemade babyfood.

While that saves me lots of money - I made so much we had to buy a bigger refrigerator to fit it all in! I love it though - it’s a side by side and it makes me feel like a millionaire

Elliot is not super into eating - he doesn’t really open his mouth and eat a whole lot - but it’s just learning right now - I’m sure that will come. His favorite food so far seems to be butternut squash and he hates oatmeal and rice cereal - though that has to do w/ the texture of them - lumpy since they were homemade.

here he is after his thanksgiving meal:

but here he is after his first taste of oatmeal:

I read some great books on sleep - NOT on parenting styles and I feel so much more educated on Elliot’s sleep needs.  It took some time to get him to nap longer than 30 minutes, but most days he takes 2 to 3 naps that last at least 1.5 hours or more. It’s nice for me to get things done around the house while he sleeps so I can play with him while he’s awake. He goes down to bed at 7:00 p.m. Charlie and I both participate in his bedtime routine - giving him a bath, then Charlie puts his jammies on while I clean up the bath then Charlie reads a bible story, finally I feed him and into bed he goes. Most nights he wakes up once to nurse then wakes again at 7:00 a.m.

What I hate about sleep is the outside pressure. It feels like the whole world judges your parenting on how your child sleeps thru the night - it’s probably the most common question I get “is he sleeping thru the night?” and I feel like I have to justify his one waking and i hate it. It’s perfectly normal for a breastfed baby to wake once at night and need to eat - even more than once is normal. But the social pressure to have them sleep thru w/out waking is a nag.