Music

A quick note about today so I don't forget - it was ward conference and the choir sang I Need Thee Every Hour.  It was the best we have sung since I got the calling last year and it was just amazing!  We probably had about 26 people sing today and it was our first time with our new black binders.  After sacrament meeting the piano player, a VERY accomplished musician whom I have been trying to "win over," came up to me, grabbed my face, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.  He didn't really say much, just kind of clasped his hands together and gave me this look of "wow."  It was cool.  

At choir we started off by talking about comments we had heard from the ward members.  I passed along that the bishop said the stake president was very impressed and a woman said that her husband, though he's not musically inclined, is very particular about music and he said it was the best ward choir number he had heard.  The piano player raised his hand and said that he is a very musically inclined person (in a non-bragging way) and has sung in and played for dozens of ward choirs and stake choirs in our area and our in Salt Lake and everything.  He said that it was the best he has ever heard a ward choir sing and possibly even on the stake level.  How cool is that!!  He got a bit emotional while he was sharing his thought, which of course made me get emotional.  It was so nice to hear something like that.  It makes me so happy that people enjoy being in the choir and also that people enjoy listening to us.  It truly is a highlight of my Sunday and I'm happy when I hear others say the same thing.

A friend heard a few comments through the grapevine and called to relay them to me - said that the stake presidency was brainstorming about ways to get other wards in the stake as jazzed about ward choir as our ward is.  The bishop told them each ward would need a Sister Scheer!  One of the points of frustration when taking over the choir last year was it was held on a week night and it was hard for most people to make it - there were 6 regular attendees when I took over last year and it quickly doubled as soon as we moved it to Sundays.  As we have gotten better our numbers have grown - just today we had two new people join!  I have learned so much about directing and places to find music and ways to express music since getting into this calling - it's been awesome to learn so much.  It is just fun.  I practice a lot during the week and I don't even feel like it's practicing!  One thing that my friend mentioned to me that I thought was cool - our choir isn't made up of a bunch of amazing singers.  There are probably 3 or 4 standouts that would be great soloists.  I don't even like standing up and singing by myself in front of everyone - I know that I'm much better in a group setting.  But when we combine all of these things together - the amazing piano accompaniment, a director who (sort of) knows what she's doing, average voices that follow directions well, and then of course we have the spirit and are truly trying to relay the message of the hymn we are singing - it is perfect.  I'm so blessed to be a part of such an amazing group when we have those moments.

8 Months/9 Months/10 Months/Happy New Year?

I didn't realize it had been SO long since I did an update!  I will refer back to my journal and post updates for his official months and record stats from his 9 month visit but for now here's the 10 month update:

Elliot is so smart!  He understands the following words: wave, no, come here, give that to me (if I hold my hand out), dance, bounce, jump, walk, milk, peek-a-boo, and stand.  He can point at things and will wag his finger as well, and he can wave both with just his hand and recently added waving side to side with his whole arm to his routine.  El will throw or roll a ball back and forth to you and has really started to copy our movements.  When he and Derek roll the ball Derek will celebrate when he gets it (pick the ball up into the air, wave his arms, and yell in celebration) and then roll it back to Elliot - when Elliot gets it he will pick his arms up and yell.  It is SO CUTE.  When we were home for Christmas he was the center of attention, of course, and loved being around everyone.  He can "say" ball (bah), Jesus (sus sus), Luke (gook), Jake (dake), Mama, and Dada.  In case anyone's keeping track, he said Mama first!  He loves playing peek-a-boo and he will initiate it sometimes.  The day before we came home from Illinois Jake taught Elliot how to high five!  He LOVES to play with empty bottles and will go for hours doing that if you'll let him.  Elliot got his first haircut on December 23rd, right before his 10 month birthday.  I wanted to wait for the year mark but his hair was so long it would get in his eyes constantly.  He looks much more like a little boy now instead of a baby and no one has called him a girl since the cut!

The last several days Elliot has really amped up his enthusiasm for walking with the stroller-walker.  He will do it all by himself and just push it all the way down the hall!  He will let go and balance for a few seconds before he either grabs on again or falls.  We don't think it will be long before he's trying to walk on his own!  Such an exciting time for him.

Elliot stopped nursing at 8 and a half months and I was dried up by 9 and a half, so he's been on mostly formula since 9 months.  It was very sad for me because it was very sudden that he stopped and I wasn't ready for it, but my sadness has mostly passed on that subject now.  He is a VERY good eater and eats everything we eat.  He is still a Cheerio-aholic and starts most of his meals with them, but he loves vegetables and fruits and even spicy food!  He has had peanut butter twice now (mixed with yogurt or oatmeal to thin it out) and he can't get enough of it.  Elliot will let you know that he wants another bite by smacking his lips very loudly and giving you a super intense look.  He is such a funny boy.

Over Christmas Derek and I went with Brian and Ashley to Chicago for an overnight trip (we surprised Derek and Ashley) and Elliot stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  I'm happy to say that we all survived that trip and we (Elliot and myself) both did a great job!

Elliot and I are still going to the gym a lot and he is doing great at the day care.  I think that he got a lot better once he started crawling and can now hang with the big kids.  I'm feeling good and healthy and enjoy getting an hour to myself on the days we go.

Elliot sleeps great again!  Most nights he goes for 11 hours and he still usually takes three naps a day, depending on what time he wakes up.  Sometimes it seems like he's trying to get rid of the third nap but I don't think he's quite ready for it.  El has 6 teeth and is working on 4 more, though I'm not sure if they're moving at all anymore.  Once in a while they will flare up and bother him and you can tell that they're working their way down but it's been a VERY slow process with these four.

We love having Elliot in our family and he is such a joy to be around.  He is so full of personality and makes us laugh constantly.  I can't believe next month he will be 1 already!!!

7 Months

A quick note to remember all about Elliot as he turned 7 months yesterday!

Elliot is an expert at:

• sitting and rocking
• rolling - he is the rolling KING
• rotating around in circles all day
• teething - still working on 4 but 1 of those is finally almost through!  The two that he already has are huge!
• laughing - he LOVES to laugh; definitely my child
• jumping - this is fairly new but he mastered it quickly.  His specialty is jumping in the exersaucer.
• mama, dada, baba, gaga, geegee and numerous indiscernible cute baby noises
• shots - he got a flu booster shot yesterday and totally knew it was coming but took it like a pro
• nursing - about 5 or 6 times a day, 3-4 hours in between and 8-10 hours overnight.  Usually takes less than 15 minutes now, hallelujah!
• bath time - this kid LOVES water.  He has recently started plunging after toys that get away from him, so bath time is covered always by two hawk-like adults.  So fun to watch.
• Skyping - he knows the ring tone and what it means when I set the computer up in front of him.  It is awesome, he is so smart!
• Eating his toes - I thought we were over this stage, but he is back to eating his toes constantly.

Elliot is good at:

• sleeping - vacation was hard on us and it has taken a long time to recover from it.  He is now back to sleeping 8-9 hours most nights but it took about 6 weeks of waking up once or twice a night to get back (teething hasn't helped!).
• napping - again, vacation hurt!  Then when painting his room we moved him to the pack and play for a week, so it took a while but he is now starting to fall asleep by himself for naps again
• smacking himself in the face with toys - he is getting violent with those toys!
• solid food - Elliot likes "big people" food more than baby food, it seems.  He LOVES oatmeal and some of the foods we've introduced, and has a special new interest in drinking water from a straw (the only way I can get him to take water currently).
• Rocking out to the music - we have regular jam sessions and will sit Elliot on the floor and just watch him rock out to the music.  It is hilarious.  Every time a new song comes on he starts to rock again!

Elliot is beginning:

• the army crawl - he is starting to learn he can pull himself around if he isn't up on his knees.
• to crawl!  He is now regularly getting up on his knees by himself and rocking and has started moving backwards here and there.
• to pull himself up on things - he has done it a few times in the crib and the couch and coffee table, but hasn't made it all the way up to his knees or feet.  Most often I catch him still holding on to whatever he's grabbing with a death grip!

Life is very exciting with a 7 month old and we couldn't be happier.  We love having Elliot in our family!

Six Months=Half A Year

It is hard to believe that Elliot is already six months old.  Time has flown so fast and doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon.  We have had a great month and he is just growing and learning so much all the time!

Here are the things that Elliot is very into right now:

Scooting - backwards for a while and forwards started yesterday!

Sitting - he is solid as a rock and loves to bounce while he's sitting.  He is starting to try to get to a sitting position by himself but still has a ways to go with that.

Reaching, grabbing for everything.

His feet.

Screaming - Elliot is very into his voice right now.  He will do a happy scream/shriek every few minutes.

Babbling - 10 days ago Elliot started using syllables more and his "vocabulary" has exploded.  High on his list of favorites are ga, ba, da, ma, goo, ka, ya, and his most favorite - mmmm (SO CUTE).

First Word - HI!  A few days ago Derek and I were talking and he shrieked for our attention and I said hi and he said it back!  We were completely taken aback so Derek said hi again and he did it again!  Yesterday he said it to us again (when prompted), so I think we can count this as his first word!  Did I mention how cute his voice is??

Sippy Cup - the thing that has saved my life.  Did I mention I'm GOING ON A DATE TONIGHT?!?!  Here's to you, Nuk Learners Sippy Cup - Elliot (and I) love you dearly.

Solid Food - we have introduced several things to Elliot so far.  Of the baby food variety: split peas (liked), sweet peas (no way), green beans (eh), sweet potatoes (liked), carrots (love love loved).  Waiting to try still are bananas, peaches, apples, prunes - maybe pears too.  Of the real food variety: white rice, plain potato, avocado, bananas, grapes (no peel), peas (out of pod).  He loves ALL of it.  He is very into our food and has really not been digging this whole baby food thing.  Last night we fed him carrots and he hardly ate them!  He wanted my potato more!  So we'll see how that goes.  We also have started giving him water in a sippy cup once a day.  The doctor said a little every day is a good idea to help his teeth.

Teeth - the bottom front two are both out almost all the way.  The teeth surrounding the bottom front on both sides are coming up.  One of them I noticed a whole month ago and it still isn't out!  The other one has been trying to come up for about 3 weeks.  They are very slow movers.  Earlier this week I noticed Elliot has been playing with the roof of his mouth more and so I looked up there and he has two other teeth (I'm pretty sure) coming in up there too.  Instead of being the front two like I expected, they are the teeth that surround the front two!  He's going to look like a vampire!  We will have to see how fast they come up.  In the meantime, he has been coping very well with all of these weird things popping out of his mouth!

Sleep - he is averaging about 10.5 hours a night.  Sometimes he wakes up after 8 or 9 hours to eat and sometimes he doesn't.  We moved his bedtime up so now he goes to sleep between 830 and 900.  He has dropped his evening nap, so his three naps during the day get him about 4-5 more hours of sleep (1.5-2/1.5-2/1).

Health - at his 6 month check up Elliot weighed 16lbs 2.5 oz (with a new diaper on), was 27" long, and had a 44cm head (25/70/70%).  I was a little concerned that he had only gained 1.5 pounds in 2 months but his doctor wasn't worried about it since he is much more mobile now.  While we were on vacation Elliot got an ear infection and we took him to the E.R. in Tennessee since we were traveling.  He also got a cold, which thankfully went away without turning into something bad like last time.  He had antibiotics for the ear infection and we dealt with bad diaper rash because of the drugs, and we are grateful that that is over!  One thing he liked about that week is he got to hang out naked on a blanket a lot to help with his rash.  Nothing cuter than a naked baby!

Water - Elliot LOVES water.  We took him swimming a few times while on vacation and he loved to just splash and splash, even when the water was pretty cold.  He has started sitting up in the bathtub and loves to get us wet while he splashes.

Elliot is a very happy baby and we feel very blessed that he is part of our family.  We love you, buddy!

Give Thanks

I have been dwelling on some negative things lately and I feel like I'm in a rut.  I'm not skinny enough, people don't like me, I don't have any friends, I can never sleep, I feel isolated much of the time, I can't go on dates with my husband because my baby won't take a bottle, I can't leave the house because it's too hot......the list goes on.  I am a wimp sometimes and here is my signal to myself that I need to suck it up and move on.

I have a wonderful, amazing, respectful, kind, hot, funny, supportive husband who is my world.  He means everything to me.  He is an incredible companion and is a great father.  He worries about me and always has my best interest in mind.  He goes out of his way to do special things for me and to make me feel good about myself.  He encourages me to do things by myself or with friends and makes sure to tell me that he loves me.  He is the best and only friend I ever will need.

I have a handsome little son who is so fun to be around.  Yes, things can be hard, but I knew that going in.  I am very blessed to be able to stay at home with him to watch him grow and help him as much as I can.

I can now go on dates with my husband because my son miraculously started taking a sippy cup this past week.  This is a huge blessing because we had been really stressing about leaving Elliot with my brothers for about 4-5 hours on vacation when Brian gets married, and now we won't worry nearly as much.  He's almost 6 months old and we would be more okay with leaving him with a babysitter now that he's older.

I have a relationship with my Savior and I know that He lives.  Not many people can say that they have had the true gospel in their lives always, and I am blessed to be in that number.  Even when I feel alone and isolated, I know that Heavenly Father is just a prayer away and that He is waiting to help me.

It has been cooler the past several days!  We are going on walks and getting outside more often and I don't feel so cooped up in the house all the time.

I am skinny!  And it is okay that I still have a couple of pounds left.  They're supposed to be there until I'm done nursing.  Being a little more curvy isn't a bad thing.  The stretch marks are fading and I'm feeling healthier all the time.  I can workout now without feeling like I have died afterwards, so this is promising.

I do have friends.  Many of them are far away, but I have friends in my new area as well.  I just need to continue trying to meet people and I will eventually feel more like I have a place here.

I am going on vacation next week and it is much needed.  It will still be a lot of work since it will be Mr. Elliot's first big trip, but we are going to celebrate the start of the marriage of my little brother Brian.  I'm so excited to gain a sister and for Brian to experience the joys of marriage.  Our family has been so blessed to add two members to it this year.

I am incredibly blessed.  These are the things that I wish to dwell on.

5 Months

Elliot is 5 months today.  It is really hard to believe.  He is such a joy to be around.  He has made a lot of progress this month.  He has mastered grabbing at things and is finally starting to bring a pacifier and teething rings to his mouth.  We gave him a bottle the other day and he did okay with it, too, so here's to hoping this new found skill of bringing things to his mouth will encourage him to take a bottle.  

We give him rice cereal or oatmeal every few days but don't have a set routine for it yet.  It is still just a fun time to experiment, though he seems to really like it.  Last night at dinner he started reaching for our plates for the first time, which was cute.  He eats every 3-4 hours during the day and the past two weeks he has been going for 7-8 hours at night, waking up to eat, then going right back down for another 2-3 hours.  Twice in the past two weeks we have gotten 10 hour stretches, which was awesome!  Elliot's general routine during the day now is to wake up, eat, then play for a while, then will get tired 1.5-2 hours after he woke up.  Once I see the tired signs start (rubbing eyes or whining), I grab him, change his diaper, and down he goes.  The mobile in his crib has been a life saver, and a few weeks ago I put in a mirror - he loves the mirror.  Every time he starts to get upset, he turns his head to the right towards the door and sees himself, so he just stares at his reflection and it usually calms him down.  He will sleep anywhere from 1-2 hours (usually 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 hours) and then will wake up and start the routine over.  Elliot has gotten very good at putting himself to sleep for the first two naps of the day.  We are still working on the third nap, and then he usually takes a cat nap in the evening for about 30 minutes.

Elliot has been rolling over from his back to tummy for about two weeks now and it is so fun to watch!  He likes rolling this direction much better than from tummy to back for some reason.  The past two days he had started scooting backwards and getting sort of up on his knees.  He is definitely ready to start moving all over the place - I keep reminding him that once he starts there's no going back, so enjoy his non-mobile time now! Maybe that's more so a reminder for me than for him.

He's doing better at sitting, though we're not pushing him much to do it yet.  He likes to sit up every once in a while and just needs more balance and then he'll be there.  Elliot popped his first tooth out last week and I think he's working on the other bottom one.  I'm not positive, though, because the cute guy won't let me see in his mouth long enough to be able to tell!  He has done okay with the teething and has been a trooper.  Sometimes I can really tell that his mouth bothers him, but most of the time he's just fine.  Luckily it hasn't had any effect on his nighttime sleep, but he has been harder to put down for naps this week.

Elliot is quite the social little guy and loves to have conversations with people.  He will still "talk" himself to sleep sometimes, which is the cutest thing ever, and he now knows our routine for naps well enough that he knows once I pull the blinds shut and turn on the humidifier and mobile it is time for a nap.  He will rub his eyes more and then burrow his head in my neck while he grabs each side of my neck, like he's giving me a big hug.  It is the sweetest thing (until he twists the neck on my skin)!  We sure love our little man!

Tooth!

Today I worked out at a friends home gym and in the middle Elliot started fussing.  He had a dirty diaper - which happens EVERY time I go to work out there, I swear - so I changed it.  I put him back down where he had been staring googly eyes at this beautiful 4 year old girl and he continued to fuss.  I got up in his face to stare at him and asked him what was wrong.  This morning he had been holding his mouth a bit different and so I checked his bottom gums to see if they were swollen.  Not only are they swollen, my big boy has a little tooth coming up!!  It is his front bottom right tooth where you can actually see a little slit where the tooth will come up. The left one looks like it could be getting close too, but you can't see the slit yet on that one.

So far he's done pretty okay in the fussiness department, so I'm hoping we somehow get off with not having a lot of tooth issues, but I'm not holding my breath.  My baby is getting so big!  Elliot will be 5 months next week!  Last week he started rolling from his back to his tummy and is now the rolling champion of the world.  He LOVES to roll!  Such a fun guy.