Introducing… Elliot and Winston!

Update Blog, check!

by kate

It has been on my to do list, but this month has been kind of a blur. I just finished two weeks of night float and then another week of evening shift in the ER. Time has been rather a precious commodity. We did manage to go to the zoo during the morning of my night off. Elliot liked the Lego room! They had a neat exhibit where you go into a netted room with over 300 budgies. They also had an Elliot sized nest!

Anyways, Logan and Elliot have been working on some things while I have been away. Yesterday, to my surprise, Elliot could actually put the pieces of his board puzzle back in the right spots with only a little help with positioning. He even said “Kitty!” when he was holding the cat piece. Also, although he still doesn’t like to nap or go to bed, I can’t really remember the last time he has woken up in the middle of the night. So that’s pretty awesome!

Yesterday, Logan got out Rockband and gave Elliot a mircophone, which he help in his mouth for the most part but occasionally he would sing along! It was adorable! Elliot also gave Logan a black eye, which isn’t really funny but it seems like a memory worth recording. On the other hand, Logan got Elliot some fun T-shirts!

Last weekend we went to my parent’s house for Marm’s birthday and to give me an opportunity to adjust my circadian rhythm.

Elliot helped Marm blow out her candles!

He also really enjoyed her birthday card from Betty Lynn which had a Hawaiian girl who actually spun in a grass shirt! Seriously, after swimming at Craig and Suzanne’s Saturday evening, Elliot and I came back and watched this girl in the card spin for like 15 minutes while he settled down for bed. It was pretty mesmerizing. And speaking of the pool, Elliot went off the diving board… well, more like was handed to me swimming with a floaty by Logan or Tom from the diving board. He thought it was pretty neat, shooting “Two go!” as he was handed off! He was also pretty impressed by Tom and Logan’s diving skills.

We stopped by to visit Nell and Mosley. Elliot and I played with the yard sticks. Daddy is so tall, it took two yard sticks to measure him!

We also played with a neat bell.

Then we made a stop at the Tullahoma caboose. Elliot was enthralled! We are going to have to book that boy a train ride someday soon!

Day to Day Happenings Events

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Happy 15 months!

by kate

You are really doing some amazing things these days! You dive onto the giant bean bag, grab other people’s noses and say “nose!”, and you say “Bye bye” to LOL Elmo when he says bye. I’m sure you are saying a lot of things that you don’t get full credit for too.You even quit the bottle last month, which might have been harder for mommy than it was for you. You also brush your own teeth quite well!

You really like all the blackberries growing around our house, and you are really into Thomas the Tank engine these days. You also like to swim, but you do not like life jackets or other wearable floatation devices. You would prefer to swim holding on to mommy!

Milestones

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Happy 4th of July!

by kate

Today we celebrate our freedom to do family gymnastics!
http://youtu.be/oKlth5lHduU

Here’s Eliot at a nap in!

Events Milestones Videos

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B is for Bonaroo

by kate

and L is for Lessons Learned…

We learned that Bonaroo is a very warm and crowded place, and not really suitable for babies. Logan kept Elliot at home while Gingy, Grandpa, Art, and I discovered this for ourselves.

We saw the amazing Paul McCartney (B is for Beatle), but little else. The next day, Logan and I went back and saw The Tallest Man on Earth, who incidentally had the Tallest Audience on Earth. Then we were pretty much done with the Bonaroo experience. Next time, mega RV with AC and bathrooms and VIP passes…

Elliot and me in our souvenir Beatles shirts.

On Sunday, Elliot taught me another lesson. We were washing the cars and Elliot was playing around in the driver’s seat. We soon discovered that he had locked us out… and the keys were of course in the cup holder! I attempted to coach Elliot on how to open the car door while Grandpa went to try to find a spare key. Neither effort was a success. Fortunately, I remembered a secret spare key. I extracted Elliot from the car and told him that he was banned from the driver’s seat until he turns 15. He was soooooo mad.

Also, tomorrow I will be 353 months old. So yay!

Day to Day Happenings Events Funny Stories Trips to Gingy's

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Happy belated 14 months!

by kate

Elliot had is first GI bug for his 14 month b-day. So, I didn’t get any pictures of him. He is on the upswing now (as well as Gingy, Logan, and me). Here he is doing some tire shopping for mommy!

Day to Day Happenings

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Adventures in Nashville

by kate

Elliot and I are spending some time in Nashville. I am doing some work at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and Elliot is enjoying the company of his Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe! We got here on Sunday and Mary and I took him to their neighborhood pool, where he ran around in the kiddie pool and played on the steps of the big pool. He would even put his face in the water, but I think he was trying to drink it. He especially liked me to swing him around in the water of the kiddie pool. He also liked climbing on the chairs around the pool…

Monday afternoon, my mom came up. We all went to a playground that Mary had taken him to earlier in the day. She wanted to show off all of the equipment that he could already play on quite well. She encouraged me not to help him, so I just spotted.

Slide!

More playground equipment!

A bug built for two!

Gingy took care of Elliot on Tuesday during the day.

That evening, my friend Jessica came up and finally got to meet the boy! Unfortunately, he was not at his best as he was bringing in a brand new tooth (I think his right upper premolar although he won’t let me get a great look at it…) Nevertheless, when we took him back to the playground, he was willing to ignore the discomfort and do some playing!

The next day, Gingy and Mary took him to Belk…

They also got him some chicken nuggets and ketchup for lunch (yum yum!)

Today, he hung out with Gingy. They took a quick trip to Murfreesboro and later came back and horsed around on Mary’s couch.

Here’s a cute story. This evening when I was giving him a bath, I was hiding by the tub saying “Where’s Mommy?” so that I could jump out and say “Here she is! Peekaboo!” and make him laugh. He was playing with some cups, and somehow I was totally surprised when he splashed water on me from the cup as I jumped out to surprise him!

Also, he can say “Bye Joe” on request, which is quite adorable!

Day to Day Happenings

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It’s a girl!

by kate

Congratulations to Linzy and Ian! We found out today that Elliot’s first first cousin is going to be a girl!

Elliot and Hunter thought Linzy would have a boy…

Also, Elliot and Hunter took a quick nap on the way to Gatlinburg.

Elliot got to play with some ba-oons

Events

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Memorial Day Weekend in Ohio

by kate

We took Elliot to visit Gam Gam’s family in Greenfield, OH for Memorial Day Weekend. We left Saturday morning with Gam Gam and Slappy. We took the 5 hour drive and stretched it to nine, making stops at McDonald’s with an awesome playplace and a diner in Ripley. Elliot got a tiny “translucent” pie. We got to Pappy and Juanita’s shortly before Lisa and her kids. Pappy and Juanita showed us their swinging area and we had a cook-out with burgers.

Here are Pappy and Eliot playing “Ba!”

We went for and after dinner walk and Elliot rode in his stroller, in a wagon, on people’s heads, and walked.

Elliot helped some…

We shouted “1, 2, 3, Go!” and lifted him off the ground or spun around and shouted. Eventually, Elliot was saying “2, Go!” Later, we put Elliot to bed and I kicked some booty at Monopoly!

The next day, Elliot and I had some Cheerios.

After a mid morning nap, Lisa fixed Elliot’s hair and Pappy tried to teach Elliot ow to whistle with his hands.

Then we headed over to Aunt Kelly’s for a cook out and pool party!

Here is Elliot saying “2… Go!” for the camera!

We went back to Pappy’s and played more croquet. Elliot went on a car ride to look at some tents with Gam Gam, Slappy, et. al. Logan and I followed with Patrick and Heather to see a very large campground with at least one round permanent tent.

We left early the next day and stopped at the original KFC in Corbin Kentucky for lunch.

Events

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Per Request, an update!

by kate

Elliot got his seventh tooth today, which goes a long way to explain some fussiness over the past few days! He will let you say it if you smile really big at him and say “Cheese!”

Elliot has gotten to spend a lot of time with his Aunt Lisa and Cousins Hunter and Kyra recently.

(We are having a debate about whether or not his outfit is, in fact, pajamas.)

He got to go to field day last week,

Hunter’s award’s day Monday,

and to Kyra’s class party yesterday!

http://youtu.be/Tg86MowL0uA

Recently, Elliot likes Thomas the Tank Engine and Cars, the Pixar movie. He has switched from saying “Good” to “Go Go!” He will also say “Choo Choo!”

Here he is watching TV in his new nap mat!

Last Friday we surprised Gingy! Tom was going to meet her in Crossville, so Logan, Elliot, and I tagged along too! She was so excited! We all went to Cracker Barrel to eat and play around the gift shop.

On Saturday, Elliot, Logan, and I went out for Hibachi. Elliot tried sushi and, with his mommy holding his shoulder, he didn’t even cry when the chef made a big fire!

On Sunday we went to a cook-out at Logan’s parent’s house. Elliot’s Gam Gam and Slappy got him a new slide! So exciting! We are looking forward to staying at their new Camp Ground soon!

On Mother’s Day, we went to the Apple Barn restaurant with Logan’s family. Lisa took this picture of us eating some delicious apple pie ice cream! Yummy!

I got a bead on my bracelet for Elliot’s birthday (a dump truck, his favorite present) and Logan and I ordered a few more beads for holidays that we had missed (a tooth, for Christmas, and a stethoscope, for Valentine’s Day). I also had these made for me, Gam Gam, and Gingy.

My mother had silhouettes made of me and my brothers when we were babies. I contacted the same artist and she made his likeness from the above picture. Outstanding!

Day to Day Happenings Events

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