Elliott's new favorite way to shop

Elliott's new favorite way to shop... standing in his carseat! While we were at Target tonight, Elliott was strapped in his carseat that was sitting in the shopping cart. He started crying, so I got him out of the carseat. I was holding him and trying to push the cart and he started grabbing for the straps in the carseat. I let him crawl into the seat and he stood there squealing with joy. He rode around the store squealing at everyone and bouncing around in his carseat.

ApParent Privilege

In a few weeks we are going to a parenting seminar that is being held at our church called ApParent Privilege. I'm pretty excited about it and will hopefully have some things to write about after we've gone. This is what the email that we've received about it says:

"Parents, you have the greatest privilege of your lives in front of you every day: raising your children. Pointing your children to Christ, modeling the Gospel, and talking about God's grace shouldn't be a burden. It is a privilege. ApParent Privilege provides biblical understanding and the latest research to encourage you in the unparalleled opportunity you have to be the primary influencer of your children." (Back cover jacket of ApParent Privilege by Steve Wright)

“How can the Gospel be lived out in my home?”

“What is the value of a family devotion?”

“Are my kids ready to leave the nest?”

“How can my home be a mission field? An evangelistic tool? A sending agency?"

“What role does the church have in the life of my child?”

If you’ve asked these questions or ever thought about these issues, ApParent Privilege is for you. If you haven't asked these questions, IT'S DEFINITELY FOR YOU!

Steve Wright is the youth pastor of Providence Baptist Church and the author of ApParent Privilege and reThink. Steve has researched, studied and practiced biblical parenting and discipleship as a father and youth pastor and has great insights to share with us.

This is not a programmatic, one-size-fits-all package that you will be able to take home and “fix” any problems that you may be encountering. Steve will share biblical truths applied to the home and parenting, to children and the church, in a way that you will leave with practical steps toward head and heart changes to apply in your home.

We're really excited about it!

finding the door stopper

Today Elliott (army) crawled away from me for the first time. He came around the ottoman, looked up at me, and then kept on going. After all, he had things to explore. He somehow knew to crawl straight over to the door stopper and BOING! He found something that jumped when he touched it and made a loud noise! What could be better??? So, boing, boING, BOIOIOIOING went the door stopper... until mommy had enough and made him move on to other (less noisy) toys.

Elliott watches his favorite "show"

At some point each week we have the laundry going in the evening when we're trying to get dinner ready and the kitchen cleaned up a bit before we eat. Sometimes we'll put Elliott in his Bumbo seat in front of the washer and dryer and let him watch the clothes tumble around. Who knew three years ago when we were purchasing these appliances that they'd also double as a babysitter! :)

tooth #5

Elliott has another tooth... which means that he and mommy aren't getting much sleep. :(

He'll go to sleep, wake up an hour later crying... go back to sleep, wake up 3 hours later... then not want to sleep for the rest of the night. Soooo tiring.

This time it's the top tooth immediately right of the middle.

Elliott reads a book

Elliott was being SO talkative while reading this book... until I turned the camera on! He ended up 'reading' this book for about 15 minutes. I was so surprised it kept his attention for that long! He even put it down for 5 minutes then picked it back up and played with it for about 10 minutes more. Hopefully he is going to grow up to love books like his mommy and especially his daddy!

(He is wearing his sleepsack in this picture so he looks kind of silly. It's a wearable blanket that he wears when he sleeps and he had just gotten up from his nap!)

fun items babies shouldn't play with

Things in our home that are not toys:
wires, entertainment centers, shoes, dvds, hair, earrings, shower curtains, mommy's & daddy's books, cell phones, cameras, silverware, stairs, magazines, coasters, tv trays

Things in our home that Elliott sees as toys:

wires, entertainment centers, shoes, dvds, hair, earrings, shower curtains, mommy's & daddy's books, cell phones, cameras, silverware, stairs, magazines, coasters, tv trays

:)

The Things Kids Learn

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I am going to teach Elliott. I'm not talking about homeschooling. (We haven't ruled this out 100%, but I definitely am not leaning towards it. Luckily we have a few years before we have to make this decision.) I'm talking about teaching him life. How to love God, how to respect people, how to use his imagination, etc. I've been thinking about what discipline will look like in our home. I've thought about how to instill a love of books in Elliott. I've just been doing a lot of thinking.

My friend, Jen, stopped by our home today. She told me a funny story about her 15 month old son, Henry. Earlier this week, Jen handed Henry her eyelash curler to play with. She said she rarely does her makeup in front of Henry, and didn't think he had a clue what the small metal contraption actually was. She looked down to see him put the curler up to his eye and mimic curling his eyelashes.

What will I teach Elliott when I don't think he is paying attention? I'm sure there will be things that Elliott picks up from Matt and me that we don't necessarily teach him. And with the good will come the bad. He will see how selfish we are and how much pride we have. He will hear how we talk about others behind closed doors and how we treat the people we love. If having a child doesn't make me realize how much sin I have in my life, what will?? I pray that Matt and I will be good examples for Elliott of sinful people trying to live a life that honors Christ. I know I can say this: My son makes me want to be a better more holy person.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Ready... Set...

Any second now Elliott is going to take off crawling... Watch out world!

How long before...

When your baby is born you often ask the question "How long before..." The end of the question changes - before he sleeps through the night, rolls over, says 'mama', goes to kindergarten, graduates high school, etc. Well, when you have a little boy, there is an extra and very important "How long before..." thrown into the mix. It crossed my mind the first time I ever changed his diaper, and frequently with diapers since then... "How long before he sprays me??"

Tonight Elliott's bath/bedtime routine was in full swing. I started the bath water, handed Elliott a rubber ducky, went into the nursery, and set out a new diaper & clean onesie next to his crib. I laid Elliott down on his back and took off his onesie then his diaper. I swooped him up into my arms, grabbing the dirty onesie and turning toward the hamper where I was going to drop it before heading into the bathroom. Then it happened. The surprise of cool liquid. Mom jumps and screams. Baby's eyes widen in shock. Mom tries to calm baby while stepping into the view of a full-body mirror to assess the damage done. It seemed to all happen within a matter of milliseconds. While searching the mirror I thought, "How long did I last? Quick--what's the date? July 16th. I lasted 7 months 15 days before I got sprayed!" Almost immediately after calculating the amount of time I had remained "Pee Free", I began to realize that I wasn't that wet. In fact, I only had a tiny amount of liquid near my right shoulder, where Elliott's head was, and then on my left arm near my elbow, where Elliott's hand was. The hand that was holding the rubber ducky. He gave the ducky another shake. A trickle of water ran out of the whole in the bottom. I grabbed the ducky and waved it through the air. It sprayed me with water! I had been sprayed, but not at all by Elliott!! The green, blue, and white striped ducky was the culprit!! I quickly remembered that Elliott was diaper-less and whisked him away to the bathtub as to avoid a real spraying.

"How long before he sprays me?" So far - 7 months 15 days and counting!

Why don't friends with kids have time?

Here is a link to the web version of the article. I've only been a SAHM (stay at home mom) for 7 months, but I agree with this article 100%!!

This is what the article says:

Carolyn:

Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.

Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.

Or you're lying about having friends with kids.

Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.

Internet searches?

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.

tooth #4

Tooth #4 (the top right tooth) has joined our family with very little commotion. Thank goodness. We can only pray that the rest of his teeth come in without drawing much attention to themselves just like #4.

Thank you, #4, for setting such a good example for all future teeth!

Yummy Squash

Elliott's fourth solid food was squash from his greatgrandfather's garden! He gobbled it up! He had already eaten a bunch of it before we started filming and finished the whole bowl! Matt was feeding him, and he has a different (and funnier) technique than me... he waited until Elliott had his mouth open wide and shoved the spoon in from the side. Elliott didn't know what to think of it!

Sorry the video is really dark. I should have shut the blinds before him before started to record.

the beginner crawl

Elliott has figured out how to move forward! He still stays on his tummy, but he is going places (especially on smooth surfaces where he can just sliiiiiide). You'd never know this by looking at the video, but he is getting faster!

Innocent

I know that 'innocent' isn't a word that I'll use for very much longer when it comes to Elliott. But, for now at least, he is just that. I'm often reminded just how innocent he is during the times when he is nursing. He usually keeps his hands pretty busy while he eats. He likes to pull on my shirt, scratch the pillow that sticks out from behind my back... but the other day he did something new. He stuck his thumb up my nose. It really is just the perfect size to slide right in there, and for a few minutes he took turns poking it up the left side of my nose, then the right side, then the left side... you get the idea. I had to keep myself from laughing really hard at him (I didn't want him to stop eating) because he had the straightest face while putting his thumb up my nose! He doesn't know that it is bad manners to poke around in someone else's nose. He doesn't realize how silly it is for a baby to have his thumb up his mommy's nose. Innocent.

Two more things he doesn't find funny right now are burps and farts. I know one day that I'll probably be so angry at myself, but I can't help but laugh when Elliott burps or farts really loud. I just clap and cheer him on. But the little look on his face---he doesn't even know the loud sound has just escaped from his body! Sometimes he even looks around like "Who is that? Is someone else here?!" Innocent.

One day I'm sure Elliott will giggle about boogers and burps and I'm sure we have several "you can't pick your nose in public" conversations in our future. But for now, I'm happy that he is just my innocent little baby boy.

tooth #3

It has arrived! After a month of swollen gums and a week of the tooth staring at me from under his gums, Elliott cut his third tooth today! It is his top left tooth and the top right tooth doesn't look to be far behind. I haven't noticed Elliott being fussier than usual, so I'm hoping that cutting teeth at 7 months goes smoother than the ones he cut at 4 months did. 

With his first two teeth, he stuck his tongue out and did weird 'dance' type moves with it. I haven't seen him doing that too much lately, but he is doing this weird 'lips pinched sucking my gums' thing. Again, the gums sort of move in a dancing motion. What a strange little boy!! haha