Major kudos to Babies R Us

Must send out major kudos to Babies R Us for the way they're handling the BPA bottles. Today I took back 17 Avent bottles and an Avent sterilizer and they gave me store credit for FULL PRICE of all of it. There was no question, no hard time, nothing - didn't even need a receipt. Just gave them my bottles, they scanned in the packages of new bottles and boom, I had almost $120 in store credit. I used that to buy new Born Free bottles and a Born Free sterilizer. Sometimes you think specialty stores are a racket (I used to think that about BRU before Eli came along) but this is how specialty stores can really help out. If you are concerned and have lots of bottles that are BPA, be sure to take them back. Granted, they're having a hard time keeping non-BPA on the shelves but better to get the store credit while you can. And for those of you out of bottles already, think about it for the next baby (or hand me downs to a friend if you're done!). Just wanted to let you all know how great they're doing and also, thanks to my friend Amy for telling me about it.

Tub bumpers

Tonight we got to try out Eli's new tub bumpers. He loved being free in the bathtub. These bumpers are about 12" high and go all around the tub. Tim gave him a bath and Eli just had so much fun splashing and moving around. He's tough to keep hold of these days!

Where's my duck?

Splish splash, this is fun

Full monty - standing up holding on to the soap dish

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A little splish splash video to enjoy

Helmet update and other stuff

Lots of stuff to write.....

First, helmet update. Today we had an appointment at UNC to have his head / helmet checked. Yesterday was the 7 week mark that he's been wearing it. Well, when we started his head was 5/8th inch "out of square". Now it's only 1/8th inch - a 1/2 inch improvement!! All of our friends and family can tell a big difference when we take the helmet off. I did ask today if they thought he'd be in it 4 months or possibly less / more. They thought he'd be 4 months or a little less depending on how fast he grows. His head (and his whole body!) has been growing very well so we're hoping for the "little less" part. Because of his growth, we are still on two week checks so we'll go back on June 9th to see more progress. It's so great to see the changes and know we made the right decision.

Now, on to other stuff. Got an email from my friend Amy (Stella Dot's mom) about Babies R Us taking back BPA bottles for store credit so you can replace them. I called the BRU at Southpoint today and sure enough, that store is taking them back. On the way home from Chapel Hill tonight, we stopped and bought a package of 'Born Free' bottles to see how Eli likes them. He did well so we're going to gather up all our old Avent bottles and I'll take them on Friday to get new ones. Such great info Amy, thanks!

Also, in case you haven't seen, Munchkin recalled their bottle warmers. Well, the recalled one was our exact model. Munchkin has a 1-800 number to call so I called and left a message. I was surprised when about an hour later, they called me back to confirm that mine was indeed one recalled and tell me how to get it replaced. They're sending us a prepaid envelope to send it back.

Eli seems to be getting rid of his icky-ness. He finished his antibiotics last night and the ear infection is gone. He has some sort of rash now on his back that we're trying to figure out. It doesn't really seem to bother him so we're just treating it with cortisone to see how that helps - it just showed up really yesterday. I'm still on the mend as well. Starting to feel better but still have a stuffy nose and now really starting to cough like a seal. Hopefully I can finish getting rid of it this week. Being a sick Mommy is no fun!!

Last to report, there was a little incident at school today. Eli, according to the incident report, took a toy away from someone. In turn, that kid bit Eli on the arm...pretty hard. It left some pretty serious teeth marks on Eli's arm. Didn't break the skin thankfully but they cold compressed it and gave him lots of TLC at school. I took a picture tonight at home - keep in mind that the incident happened at 8:30 this morning.

That's all for now. Hope you're having a great week!

Looks like human teeth marks, no sharks here

Picnic, movie, cookout - oh my

We've had lots of family fun this weekend. Saturday we met 5 other families at Pullen Park for a picnic. All of the babies are within a few months of each other and are moms I've met over the past year or so. It was a lot of fun to hang out on our blankets under the trees and watch the babies play. Everyone also went on a train ride at the park. I've been here 16 years and never done that so it was a lot of fun. Eli also got to ride the swings for the first time. That was the sweetest thing. He laughed and laughed while he was swinging. I think we've got ourselves an adrenalin junkie! After the picnic, Eli was pooped out and took a nice long nap. I've been trying to fight off sickness so I ended up sleeping as well. Dinner was a lot of fun - Eli had rotini with a little bit of spaghetti sauce. He loved them!

Today has been fun a fun day too. We ran some errands early this morning and then Eli took another long nap - 2 hours! On Daddy's orders, I also took another nap. I have been so exhausted and this cold or whatever is kicking my butt. After nap and lunch, Eli went to our neighbor Amy's house while Tim & I went to the movies. That was a really nice treat. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was entertaining. I wouldn't call it the best thing I've ever seen but it did keep me entertained. This afternoon, our friends Kara & Brian came over with their son Owen for a cookout at our house. Eli had his first taste of baked beans and he absolutely loved them. They were the only thing he wanted to eat! The boys played and played until Eli just started falling apart. He didn't take a very good afternoon nap so he was pretty worn out. We're hoping that he will sleep well tonight.

We have very much enjoyed our family weekend. We hope that everyone else has had a good holiday weekend as well. The best part for us....there's still one more day to the weekend - woo hoo!!

Picnic under the trees

Ready to ride on the train

Hey there cute boy!

Eli's first swing ride

This is SO fun

Happy swinging boy

Yummy rotini dinner

Can't resist that cute messy face

Saturday morning message

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Love, Eli

Treat for Mommy and 9 month stats

Today has been a very busy day. After taking care of some work stuff first thing this morning, I was finally able to cash in on a special treat - a massage that Tim & Eli gave me for Christmas. My selection - a one hour hot stone massage. I have never had a hot stone massage before and oh my, it was great! I called Tim when I finished and told him that I felt all "rubber bandy". I was so relaxed. Such a treat!! After that, I picked up Eli from school to go to his 9 month check up. Everything looks great. Eli is developing as he should and his ear infection from last week is cleared up.

The stats:
Weight - 23 pounds, 4 ounces (75th percentile)
Length - 29-1/5" (75th percentile - I'm skeptical on this one, I think he's over 30")
Head - 47cm (90th percentile - big ole noggin')

No shots today but they did do a prick on his big toe to run his blood. No issues with his hemoglobin levels or iron. All looked great! Eli did so great when they took blood, he didn't even cry. But to make up for it, he & I went to Chic-Fil-A when we were finished and shared an ice cream cone. At first, Eli wasn't sure what to make of the ice cream but then he loved it.

Tonight, we went out for family dinner at Boston Market. Eli did real well eating and enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and cornbread. He napped on the way home and went to sleep around 7:45pm. Hopefully he got a full belly and will sleep all night.

Tomorrow, we're looking forward to our picnic at Pullen Park and seeing some friends. Not sure what else the weekend will hold but I know we'll keep ourselves busy!!

Catnap after dinner - snuggling with Mommy

Earlier this week, Daddy teaching Eli to play the drum

9 months old

Eli is 9 months old today - happy 9 month birthday sweetie!

We are having a much better time compared to 8 or 9 months ago. We love that Eli's personality is developing and showing, even though it's sometimes stubborn like his Momma!! Every day it seems he gets bigger and has something new to show. Just a week since he started crawling, he's everywhere and has picked up some speed. He LOVES to stand up and wants to walk so bad. The girls at school mentioned to me that we'll be in trouble soon because he is ready to go. We hold his hands and let him march in place. He has even taken a few steps on his own going from Tim to me or vice versa. Tonight he stood on his own in one place for almost 10 seconds. He's figuring out the balance thing and is so proud of himself. He also discovered the stairs tonight, crawling over to them and promptly pulling himself up. Such a big boy. At last Friday's sick dr appt, he weighed 23 pounds 2 ounces. This Friday is his 9 month check up so we'll get all the stats then (and of course update everyone!).

He's still not 100% from being sick but he did at least sleep a little better last night - fulfilling his promise to Tim for a decent night's sleep. He was fussy for the girls at school today but overall he's getting better and based on his school chart, his appetite is starting to come back. We worry when he doesn't eat at night but as long as he eats throughout the day, we're just following his cues. So all good news on this front!

Ready to start climbing

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Today is Tim's birthday and Eli & I wanted to make it a special day for him. I grew up where birthdays are special and certain rules apply. The number one rule is that you MUST have cake ON your birthday. So, to make that happen, I make some awesome 'Sprinkle' cupcakes last night (William Sonoma sells the mix). They're chocolate and tonight I'll make the chocolate icing. I also decided to give Tim the "day off" (sort of) from Daddy-hood. I wanted to try to do as much as possible so he could relax. This morning I tried to get up with Eli when he decided 4am was wake up time again. Eli & I also talked Tim into going to Umstead for a birthday bike ride after work. While he was gone, Eli did some painting for him - custom artwork just for Daddy. It was pretty fun for me too!

Daddy, we hope that you have had a great birthday and Eli promised he'd let us get some sleep tonight. We'll see if he had his little fingers crossed or if he meant it!!

I know I'm buff baby!

Starting his masterpiece

Painter boy

Super E!!

Present time for Daddy

PS - my favorite card that Tim received came from our neighbors. On the front - "Learn from yesterday, Live for today, hope for tomorrow." Inside they wrote "At your age, what else can you do?" LOVE IT!!!

Tag team champions of the world

That's the nickname that Tim & I gave ourselves a long time ago and we find that it's also a requirement of parenthood. When I am about to reach my limit, Tim steps in and takes over before I lose my cool. When Tim is frustrated (which doesn't happen often, he has the patience of Job), my patience kicks up and I take over. We completely fill in the other one's gaps. I could not ask for a better partner in this parenting thing.

We survived today. Eli took his short nap this morning and we, at my insistence, kept our picture appointment. Eli wasn't too thrilled with pictures today but, as they say on America's Next Top Model, we were able to get a few frames that we could work with. I think it's actually kind of good that the pictures weren't perfect because not every picture can be that way and we all know that not every day is that way either. After pictures, we made a quick stop by Babies 'R Us and Eli enjoyed rolling around in the shopping cart. He fell asleep in the car right before we got home so Tim & I sat in the driveway for a few minutes just enjoying the quiet.

Now, even though Tim & I are tag team champions, that doesn't mean we don't need to "tag out" to others for help from time to time. This afternoon our next door neighbor (and angel) Amy took Eli from 3:30 to 5:30 so that Tim & I could have a break. Now as you would expect, Eli slept quite a bit of that time over at her house but we were happy with that. He needed a decent nap today. Tim & I took a trip to Barnes & Noble and just enjoyed some quiet time out of the house. When we got back, Eli was in a much better mood as were we. =)

Dinner time wasn't nearly as bad as the past few nights. Eli managed to eat a little bit of cereal so he's got something solid in his tummy. Tried a banana smoothie but he wasn't too interested in it. Bed time took a while. I think I just (at 8pm) got him to sleep. We started the process an hour ago but I think he just enjoys seeing everything that is going on. He's not screaming right now and has his antibiotics and a little bit of Motrin in him so hopefully he will get some good rest. We're still holding out hope that we might as well. If he wakes up, we'll take turns again getting out of bed and taking care of him until the sun comes up.

Busy (and exhausting) weekend ...... so far

So far this weekend has been kinda tough on us. We have had a lot of fun but also a lot of frustrations as Eli is on such a roller coaster. Friday night, he was up screaming for over an hour (same as Thursday night). Tim & I were both up with him and it was very trying. Nothing we did helped at all. Then Saturday when he woke up, he was happy as could be. Now he didn't really eat much breakfast but he seemed to be in better trim. We went on a family outing to Lowe's to look at a swingset for Eli and price out a few other projects. Decided to go early while it was cool outside and before too many people were out. That was up the coaster, then we hit the bottom trying to get tired boy down for a nap. After naptime was another try at eating - he really wants nothing to do with that right now - and then to Clayton for a 2 year birthday party for Sarah. Eli did really well at the party (up the coaster again) and even on the way home. He didn't eat much for dinner but bath and bed went surprisingly well. That was the peak of the roller coaster. It has been all downhill from there. At 10:54pm, Eli was screaming uncontrollably once again. Tim & I both got up and nothing seemed to work and we just could not get him calmed down. All of us went into Tim's den and lay down on the futon and, finally, we got a few minutes of quiet and Eli drifted off to sleep. For the first time since he was born, Tim & I let Eli sleep in the bed with us. We're so exhausted from night #3 of this that we didn't really care. Eli woke up many more times throughout the night and now that he can sit up by himself, he would just do that and either start crying or babbling. Before 6am, Eli was awake and seemingly refreshed. How is it possible that he can be so chipper on so little sleep and Tim & I look like zombies? Anyway, gave breakfast a go - not too interested in that. Then he proceeded to throw another screaming fit in the high chair. We tried to get him to get eat but after a half hour of intense frustrations and lots of screaming, we all went upstairs to his room to try to change the mood. Happy again - this roller coaster ride changes direction pretty fast - Eli played with some toys and then stood at the ottoman jabbering away. Whew, no crying or screaming.....yet. A little after 8, Eli looked so exhausted that we tried the nap thing again. Put him in his crib and the screaming started again. He has screamed more in the past 3 days than the past 3 months. Got him out of his crib, rocked and snuggled in the glider for a few minutes and he finally gave it up and fell asleep. Tim & I aren't quite sure what to do with our small quiet time right now. For now, the coaster is sitting in the train station and we'll have to see what the rest of the day holds. We have Eli's 9 month pictures at noon so keep your fingers crossed for us. Tim & I will probably have major bags under our eyes but we hope Eli is at least happy and cooperative. We foolishly thought that when we started him on the antibiotics that he would feel better and sleep better. If we have another bad night tonight, it may be back to the doc's office to see if anything else is going on. More to come.....

Stepping in the kiddie pool

Sarah the birthday girl

Party head

this twizzler is interesting

Pitiful little Eli

Our little man is under the weather. Last night was a pretty restless night (and rough for Mommy & Daddy!). Today he was sent home from school with a fever. A trip to the doc's office revealed a 102.1 fever and an ear infection in his right ear. He hasn't quite been himself the last day or so so it must have been coming on. He's on antibiotics and had the first dose tonight. We hope he'll start feeling better and that we'll all get some decent sleep tonight. He's so pitiful and tries to smile at you even though he feels bad. Such a little trooper!

Thursday night pizza night

Thursday night is typically Pizza Night for Tim & I. Tonight we had our first Family Pizza Night. Tim & I sat with Eli at the table and we all ate our pizza. Eli started eating pizza at school last week so we thought it was time to introduce him to our Thursday night, almost the weekend, ritual. Pretty cool, we'll start doing more family dinner times now that Eli is eating more non-baby food.

Fun pictures

Tried to take a few pictures of Eli in his cute bicycle shirt this morning and the "photo shoot" got pretty funny. Thought I'd share.

Osh Kosh bicycle boy

Eli preferred a close up shot

And then an even closer shot!

Crawling through my tunnel - morning exercise

Almost through

Eli in Motion

Here's a quick video of Eli showing off his crawling ability today.

A Perfect Mother's Day

Today was a perfect Mother's Day for a not-so-perfect Mom.....ME! First off, Eli has been full of new tricks this weekend. He wanted to show off for me and make it a special weekend. Yesterday morning was standing up in his crib when he woke up. We could not believe it but sure enough, he had pulled up.

This morning started off with sleeping in - it was so nice. Tim got up with Eli and let me stay in bed until I decided to get up around 7:30am. I know that's not sleeping in for some but it sure is for us! Tim cooked me pancakes and eggs for breakfast and we ate breakfast as a family - Eli had his pancake as morning snack. Then after some serious playing, it was naptime for Eli. He slept over an hour and a half and allowed Tim & I some lounge time - I actually read some of a book that I had started. After nap was present time. Eli got me the sweetest card, it made me tear up. Then he had picked out a digital picture frame for me to take to work. I wanted one because there are just so many pictures that I love. Tim gave me flowers and some "time off". My boys are just too sweet to me. After nap and present time, lunch time and then family walk in between rain showers. It was so nice as we all stayed in our pajamas until 12:30pm. Would have probably been all day if we had not decided that we needed fresh air! We then did our Mother's Day arts and crafts project - a stepping stone for the flower bed with Eli's footprints. That was fun. It didn't go quite as well as we had hoped but it's cute and preserves our day. Another nap (and more rest time for Mommy), more serious playing and then dinner. Eli's big surprise of the day was crawling. I tried to upload a video but it didn't work for some reason. He is now mobile and ready to go. He crawled all over after the tv remote. He's still not super fast but I give him a few days and we'll be struggling to keep up. After dinner, more play time, bath and bed. It has been a busy day and we hope Eli will sleep well.

Today was also my 12 year anniversary with Belle. I was first a dog mom before becoming Eli's mom. Belle was a graduation present when I graduated from NC State. It's hard to believe that I've been out of college 12 years (I should be grown up by now) but also hard to believe that I've had a dog that long. She's been through a lot with me and has been such a great companion. She has had to adjust to being second fiddle to Eli but she will always be the #1 dog in my heart.

What's next for Mommy & Daddy? Fish sticks and french fries for dinner (my choice - I avoid stuff like that because I'm trying to lose weight) and then watching the finale of 'Survivor'. It may not seem like the perfect day to some, but it was sure a great day for us. I loved how I spent my first Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mommy friends out there. Hope yours was a great one!

Watch me....

Such a big boy

Eli and Puppy Jim

Mommy & Eli making the stepping stone

Time for footprints

So precious - almost finished (we did put his name and year on there)

Ugh, what's on my feet?

12 years - such a good dog

Eli's New Shoes

Today we took Eli to Mobley's Shoes to get his first pair of shoes. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the whole thing. We wanted to get him a sandal instead of sneaker because we thought socks would make him too hot (with the helmet you know). Tried on the cutest pair of Keens, that matched Mommy's, but decided they weren't very practical. We ended up with Stride Rite Baby Guppy. Mr. Eli is a 5-1/2 - WOW! Actually they're a little big to allow growth and they told us that since he isn't walking yet, the extra room wouldn't be a problem. We still plan to let him go barefoot as much as possible but needed the shoes for school. Check him out.

Measuring my feet

Save me Dad - what are they doing to me?

I'll take these please

Mother's Day tote

Eli has been working on an adorable Mother's Day tote for me all week. They gave it to me this morning at school. How cute is this?! I used it tonight to walk over to a neighbor's house with Eli (can't be caught without diapers, burp cloth, spare bottle, you know the drill). I never imagined myself getting handprint artwork - it's so fun!

Life at Daycare

I've written over and over about how much we love Eli's daycare (school as we call it). When he first started, on the recommendation of my friend Megan, I left a disposable camera for the teachers to catch fun moments for me. I finally developed the camera yesterday and it was so fun to look at all the pictures from his past 5 months there. It came at a neat time as he moves up to a new classroom starting Monday. He's going to be in the Older Infant Room now. He's bored with the babies and is exploring enough to move up. He has spent some time there this week and has been so tired every night. I think it will be an adjustment over there. So much new stuff to do and his friends from when he started. This weekend we have to buy him shoes as they have to have them when they move up. That should be fun to size those big ole feet! Enjoy the pictures of life at daycare.

Hanging in the "pond" with Colin

Asleep in the bouncey chair

Playing with Andrew

Ready to go on a walk with Ryan

Time to paint - how fun is this?!

Mini-Picasso

What a masterpiece - the painting AND Eli!!

Got to clean up before Mom gets here

Another day hanging in the pond with friends