11 months

My ornery little man….where to begin.  I am a couple weeks late in posting this, but Elliot’s 11 month is worthy of posting! At 11 months, I have a very independent boy.  He likes to feed himself (and Elsie), play with his toys,and  pull things off the table only to drop them on the floor.  I don’t have a hugger, kisser, cuddler, but that’s ok because I do have a smiler and laugher.  Elliot is in the habit of, one by one, pulling his food off his tray and dropping it on the floor (this drives me crazy). Elliot is starting to crawl with his hands and knees more, but prefers his faster method of army crawling.  He is walking (holding on to things) around furniture all day long. We read many books and laugh at the silly pictures (I wonder what’s going on in his head). 

  

Really?!

Some conversations around our house lately:

J: Want to watch a movie?

S: Really?!

J: Let’s go for a walk.

S: Really?!

J: Want to hangout and watch t.v.?

S: Really?!

J: What should we do?

S: Really?!

J: Sure I’ll run errands with you.

S: Really?!

We have had a lot more family time lately.  Although Jared still puts in 10 hour days, when he gets home he is all ours! We haven’t experienced this much free time in a really long time! We don’t get to talk to or see Jared all day, so school is still busy, but we are really enjoying the evenings and days off.  Jared has just finished his first week at Santa Fe Indian Hospital. He says it’s tough, but has already seen some diseases he hadn’t experienced in the school’s clinic.

I made my first drive today here in Santa Fe.  I know, we have been here a week and I have only just driven?! I was in no rush.  But today Elliot and I wanted the car, so we took Jared to work this morning. It wasn’t too bad.  We did a dry run last night

Yesterday Jared didn’t have to work, so we took Elliot to the library and attended a “babies and books” program.  We sang songs, read books, and smiled at other little babies.  I now have a glimpse at the kind of child Elliot is going to be…he is not shy. He was screaming, laughing, trying to crawl away while all the other babies sat quietly.  This program is for kids 6 months-3years, so there were other kidos walking/running around, but Elliot was the youngest active one.  As we held on to him to keep him off of other’s babies and toys, Elliot would jump none stop.  We got a lot of laughs and stares….oh my.  It'll be interesting when I do this class by myself next week! While at the library Elliot checked out his first set of books.  We brought a few, but I’m tired of reading the same 5 everyday.  We will be joining the summer reading program and will be working towards the ultimate raffle prize…a bike! I know, he is a little young, but he will grow!

As I was taking the pics look who appeared and destroyed my pile! He loves his books.  Also, pardon the mismatched pjs…I put a long sleeve shirt on Elliot because his poor arms are becoming rug burned from his slithering.

 

Elliot is taking on my liking for Mexican food.  We tried a place last night, El Parasol rated highly on yelp and mentioned in GQ magazine…it’s a Santa Fe staple. Elliot ate 3/4 of a cheese/tomato quesadilla.  Not sure he was even done eating, but daddy decided  he needed to be.  I tried to capture the bigness of his belly, but the camera wouldn’t do it justice.

Before making the move I prepped a box of sewing projects for the summer.  I just completed a birthday banner (inspired by here).  I made it double sided; one boy and one girl.  Putting up the banner will become a family tradition…just in time for Elliot’s birthday!

Santa Fe: the house, the outside, and the trails

We have made yet another move, this time to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I can already say we love it! Elsie is in heaven having a closed in backyard….no grass, but still freedom.  We are living in a 3 bedroom house, quiet neighborhood, with beautiful trails all around. The weather has been nice, sunny and 70’s with a lot of wind.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The ride.

This hall leads to two additional bedrooms, a bathroom, and laundry room.

The scenery

The park.  Our new addition to the daily routine

End of the Year Banquet and Mothers Day

We recently went to Jared’s end of the year banquet.  This year it was held on a YACHT in Newport!  We got dressed up, ate good food, and (Jared) danced the night away!We had a great time!  And true to form, my man won an award voted on by his classmates…”Most likely to be naked under their graduation gown”!  I’m so proud   Just to make it clear, Jared will be fully clothed on graduation day.

My Mother’s Day was amazing this year.  Jared made sure to make me feel so special.  He started out by getting up with Elliot so I could sleep in.  Then, he treated me to homemade pancakes…Elliot enjoyed his first.  I was taken to a delicious lunch at Bucca Di Beppo by my two wonderful men.  From there, we went to a “paint your own pottery shop” and together painted a plate that Elliot signed with a handprint.  I had an amazing day and am blessed to be mother to my wonderful little man.  Thank you Jar for making this day special!

Our Celebrate plate.  This is the finished plate from Mother’s Day

Mother to this amazing little guy:

Can you tell he is being loud and ornery?

My Cuteness

It hasn’t even been a month and already I feel the need to update on my ever changing, growing, learning little man.  He is clapping regularly and will say ‘yeah’ as he does, but his ‘yeah’ is more of an “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”.  He is standing on his own more and more and is extremely proud when he does an especially long stand.  Elliot has also conquered the stairs.  He made his way up them for the first time yesterday!  He is also using his walking toy to cruse around the apartment…he is very unsteady and looks like he has had one too many drinks, it’s cute .  Elliot has also decided he HATES getting his diaper changed, or anything involving being put on his back when he can’t roll immediately over.  This boy has got ‘the world is ending’ cry down.  He is also becoming very opinionated, and what he thinks hasn’t quite matched up with what Mom and Dad want, so we have had many tears (Elliot tears)! Enjoy some videos and recent pics!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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Easter and a Laguna hike

A couple weeks ago Jared, Elliot, and I loaded up and went on a hike in the Laguna Hills.  I will admit, it didn’t last long, but it was very beautiful and Elliot seemed to enjoy it! After our hike we went into Laguna for some dinner and ice cream on the beach.  This was a spontaneous fun family date. 

The Easter bunny returned!  After many years of being away the Easter Bunny finally returned to our house! Although Jared and I didn’t get our own baskets, we still enjoyed nibbling on candy (thanks Elliot for sharing ).  Elliot loved shaking the easter eggs and throwing around the fake grass.  He received a packet of bubbles that Elsie seems to enjoy more than he does.  We spent the day as a family dying eggs and cooking a chicken.  This was my first time cooking a whole chicken.  I also haven’t eaten meat in a long time, so this was tasty (purchased at Whole Foods and with a lot of consideration).