Dad and Elijah "Wrestling"

I really have no self control when Dave goes to bed earlier than me, should be sleeping now...so enjoy!

Notice Elijah's chubby thighs.

(Elijah, 7 months)

Toothbrush Scam

My electric toothbrush broke a few weeks ago. I was going to buy a new one at Target but then I saw a Groupon for a "Sonicare" toothbrush for $69. My quick internet search showed it had good reviews and the Amazon value of it was >$150. Looked like a great deal! Turns out I should have read the Groupon better because it's a knock-off brand that uses the same model as a Sonicare...lol. This is what I got in the mail:

"Bling Dental" sent me my new electric toothbrush with some whitening strip samples. He's a celebrity dentist and apparently likes cartoons too.

Instead of a Sonicare Diamond toothbrush, I have this Diamond one from Bling Dental. Haha!

This Kid Loves to Play

E-man loves to play!

We call this toy his spaceship and I think the 2nd picture is funny because he's playing with the tag.

Yummy.

Still loves being tickled by Dave's afro. Poor guy can't defend himself when the tickle monster comes. I'm too busy taking pictures.

We realized we don't take pictures of Elijah from behind. Still cute and you can really see his baldness.

(Elijah, 7 months)

Wow!

If you haven't heard this 17 year old's voice yet, you have to listen. Goosebumps!

7 Months Old!

Our big boy is already 7 months old! Elijah developed so much this past month (this picture is a month old but too cute not to share). Highlights of 6 months:

- Started solid foods and LOVED them. The kid loves to eat like his mom!
- Started to sit up on his own. Tipsy but doing better every day, especially towards the end of 6 months.
- Got super sick within two days - fever, pink eye, ear infection and runny nose.
- Started to develop stranger danger. Takes 45 minutes or so to warm up!
- Started to smile more.
- Talking more.
- Can laugh hysterically which is WAY cute.

After typing pink eye above, I thought it would be interesting to share how pink eye is really contagious. This is how it traveled through our family of three:

Elijah (right eye) --> Elijah (left eye) --> Missy (left eye) --> Missy (right eye) --> Dave (both eyes) --> Missy (right eye)

E-man was nice enough to share his medicine.

(Elijah, 6 months)

Galatians 2:19-21

I've been bad about reading the past month. I decided to start reading Galatians tonight and these verses seemed appropriate for any time, especially with Easter.

"For through the law I died to do the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" - Galatians 2:19 -21

I love these verses because the gospel is preached so well. Christ did not die for nothing, for the law cannot save us. God loves us and sent his son to save us. We pray for Elijah and the other "new babies" to believe this amazing message some day!

Baby Names

A couple of our friends came over last weekend and one of the conversations is funny to me. We got into the topic of baby names and Friend # 2 goes into a story about a baby named "Female" (pronounced with a tilde on the "e", like Femala). Apparently the parents thought in the US, the hospital named the baby for you - therefore, FEMALE. Pretty name but funny reason. And to make the story even funnier, the older sister is named "Queen of the Nile". (Maybe you had to be there...).

True story? Maybe. You know how rumors get started, especially from Friend # 2. We told her we got a new dining room table and she said, "Is that what's downstairs?" No, that's a toilet [we are currently remodeling the bathroom downstairs].

Visiting the Nile River in '10.

Baby Spinster

For the last couple of weeks, Elijah has been spinning around in his crib and sleeping in the short direction of the crib. He's pretty long so really should not sleep this way. So strange. Dave suggested that I do an 'evolution of Elijah sleeping' because it seems to change quite often...we'll see.

I picked up Elijah at daycare earlier this week and this is how I found him. This doesn't look comfortable to me.


Elijah sleeps as I blog. Picture of him within the last 10 minutes...

(Elijah, 6 and 7 months)

Tiger Mom or Tiger Wife?

I asked Dave if I'm more like a Tiger Mom or Tiger Wife. There was no hesitation, his reply was Tiger Wife.

"You make me change every piece of trim in the house. You don't care my smell [nose] doesn't work anymore [from staining all the trim]. You need to be tougher on Elijah..."

Love you for all you do for our family. You're a great husband and dad. And of course I care that your nose doesn't work so I don't have to change all of the poopy diapers.

Hair

Elijah's hair is growing! It really is, no joke. Love that bald little boy. :) Dad and mom and have lots of hair so he won't be bald forever.

(Elijah, 6 months)

Snack of the Week: Part XVII (I Heart Snacks)

Feeding Elijah solid foods has reminded me how good avocados are! He loves them and I love them too. I didn't know this until I was reading about food for babies but avocados are a fruit, not vegetable. This makes sense after thinking about it (see large pit).

He pretty much likes all the food he's tried but this is one of the foods where he makes the "mmm..." noise because he likes it so much. I thought that was a made up, commercialized sound but E-man showed me wrong! It's really cute, at least we think so. Last weekend when I went grocery shopping, I bought a couple extra avocados so we could enjoy them as well. Mmm...

Shades

E-man has a pair of sunglasses...what a cool guy. Actually, the receipt called them "sun goggles" because the strap is soft like goggles. He doesn't seem to mind them.

(Yes, that is me in the background wearing my HS Class of '00 Toga t-shirt. 12 years old!)

(Elijah, 6 months)

Callan and Elijah Baby Talking

Callan (9 Months) and Elijah (6 Months) got to play with each other for a bit on Sunday.

Here's a video of them talking back and forth to each other - too cute!

(Elijah, 6 months)

Anonymous Conversation Between a Husband and Wife...

Husband, talking in his sleep: Are those toaster shapes?!!!

Wife, not sleeping (laughs): Can I have one?

Husband, still sleeping : Stop making fun of me!!

Dad's Sick

We think Dave has strep throat so poor E-man gets denied play time with his partner in crime. There's no one that makes Elijah laugh more than Dad (is it the afro?). So we'll just have to remember the good times until he gets better!

So it's been single parenting for me since Friday night (bless those single parents out there)! So what happens when E-man and I play? He prefers independent play time and finds his hands interesting...again. He was really intrigued with them at 2 months and maybe wants to look like he's busy when it's time to play with me...haha.

I promise he does have fun with me too...

(Elijah, 6 months)

Ham

I've been calling Elijah, "ham" - you know...a chubby baby, like a pig, because it likes to eat. I've been calling him that for weeks. Dave kept telling me I'm using the word in the wrong context but he could not clearly define it for me. Then he finally looked up the definition: theatrical or melodramatic person; show off. For example, "Don’t be such a ham! Do you really need everyone to be focused on you all the time?". My bad, Elijah, Tiger Mom doesn't understand English slang.

We think this all started when we saw this episode of 30 Rock...

(Elijah, 6 months)

Engineers

"I know I'm biased but engineering is so cool." - Dave

Our Big Boi at 6 Months

We can't believe E-man is already 6 months old. Our little boy is growing up so fast. Here are his stats from the doctor's:

Length = 28" (90 percentile)
Head Diameter = 17 1/4" (50 percentile)
Weight = 19 lbs 10 oz (80 percentile) - little guy now! The doctor thinks he'll be in the 50-60 % at his next appointment.

Highlights of 5 Months:
- Learned to playfully scream.
- Started to suck his thumb.
- Noticed his first tooth at Weston's 2nd birthday (2/12).
- Ate rice and oats.
- Laughs and smiles more.
- Still no interest in rolling.

Here are some more pictures that I haven't shared from month 5.

Notice all of the scratches on his face - that's our boy! Super aggressive (we cut and file his nails every day).

Even at 6 months, he loves to sleep with one arm in. Every time we take his arm out, he wakes up early! Dave said his goals is to get Elijah un-swaddled by the age of 10.

(Elijah, 5 and 6 months)