The Peanut Tracker

Elliot is 7 months old today! Mr. Stinky Toes is getting so big!

Happy 7 months, Elliot!

Here are some photos of him taken over the last month.

(Click the photos for bigger versions in the Gallery.

Chowing on the rice cereal! (08/16/08)

Elliot after his first taste of squash. Yeah, not so much. And this only captured a small fraction of the fun. (He and squash get along now, though.) (08/19/08)

Elliot and Daddy celebrating a bowl of squash in the tummy, using our new high-five technique. (08/24/08)

The duck is unhappy. (07/02/08)

Our little bookworm. Just like Mommy and Daddy. (08/08/08)

Yo, yo, yo. (08/01/08)

Tania and Elliot... and the rings of power. (07/28/08)

Elliot thinking inside the box. (07/24/08)

-T

Thank you all for the thoughts and support!

We’re all still battling with sleep problems… Elliot still seems to be waking up in pain, though he usually does get at least a four to five hour chunk of sleep each night between wakings. Still, we’re not quite racking up enough sleep for him daily. And, of course, Mommy and Daddy are tired, too (though Tania obviously gets hit harder).

Anyway, we’re surviving. It’s not as bad as before–at least, we think–but it’s still not peaches and cream!

-T

P.s. Yes, yes, pictures, pictures, I know.

So here’s the latest on our family sleep situation: we’re all getting a bit now, thank God.

Turns out, as we had been beginning to suspect, Elliot’s arch-nemesis from his early weeks, though we’d thought vanquished by the muscles of maturity, has “lived to fight another day”–yes, the evil Infant Reflux.

However, thankfully, Elliot’s new pediatrician, who we’d selected pretty much at random from the pediatricians in our vicinity, just so happens to be concerned about and studied up on reflux in babies (which isn’t as common among doctors as you might think). She even knows the pediatrician who wrote the book about reflux we’d bought months ago, Colic Solved. What are the chances of that? Of getting a pediatrician, in our (very close) vicinity, who is both concerned about and studied up on infant reflux? And who even knows the author of the book about infant reflux we’d purchased? Weird. And cool.

Anyhow, she was concerned about Elliot from our very first appointment with her, having heard a few of the more subtle symptoms of reflux. After a week of monitoring the symptoms, and those symtpoms continuing–including his sleeping worsening–she had us start him on some medicine to help fight his reflux. And a day or two later, whaddya know, Elliot was sleeping straight through the night. (Not to mention his parents getting some much-needed rest!) Since then it’s been sort of two steps forward, one step back, so we do think it’s improving. In several months, the damage done to his little esophagus should be fully healed, and by then we hope he’ll have outgrown his reflux.

So, as of now, our little guy is much more rested, lively, much happier, and much healthier now!

-T

It ain’t a pot ‘o’ gold, I’ll tell ya’ that.

It’s sleep. Sweet, elusive, never-enough, sleep.

Elliot’s been having a hard time sleeping well lately. Or, rather, we’ve been having a hard time helping him into a good sleep pattern. So, we’re currently working on helping him get to sleep all by himself. We’re confident! Tired as boot-beaten cart-horses, but confident.

So, of course, that means that mommy and daddy are running on fumes most of the time, doping it up on coffee, sleeping on the floor in the nursery, or whatever other acts of despair we have to resort to. Oddly enough, it’s sort of reminiscent of bachelordom, except add a little boy you love more than the universe, and throw in a bunch of actual meaning and purpose.

Hmm. You know what? Now that I think about it–seriously, just now, as I’m writing this–that’s not just worth it–which it totally is–that’s pretty darn cool, too. Waking up a hundred times a night, droning around the apartment in circles, walking and rocking our tired and crying son; it’s mind-numbing, yes, but I’m actually glad to do it; we’re privileged to be able to do this for Elliot.

Wow. I need a moment to soak that in.

…

So anyway, this has reminded me once again of how many, and how conflicting, the views are among the “experts” about how to care for babies. Not just mere difference of opinions, mind you. Oh no, no, no. Because rarely do you hear, “To the best of our knowledge, based on the limited research we’ve done, this is how you should do <insert advice here>.” No, of course not. Instead, it’s always, “You absolutely must do <insert advice here>. Anything else will destroy your baby. In fact, even thinking about doing anything other than <insert advice here> will cause your baby to spontaneously combust into a thousand flaming fragments of poisoned confetti.”

This, of course, leaves the first-time parents who are earnestly seeking to do above all else what’s best for their baby–the worrying, researching, and sleep-deprived mothers and fathers–only frustrated and emotionally spent, falling back on the reciting of resigned old phrases like, “Well, we’ll just do our best; that’s all we can do.”

So, what action will we take? In the midst of the cacauphony of conflicting and advice-giving experts, what will we do?

We’ll just do our best; that’s all we can do.

-T

Elliot is 6 months old today! Time flies!

-T

- Elliot’s been talking a lot lately. Lots of mah-mah-mah’s, muh-muh-muh’s, and even a couple buh-buh-buh’s. No dah-dah-dah’s yet…

- The little man is almost crawling, but not quite yet. He’s pretty much got all the mechanics down separately, and he’s got the strength, but putting them all together isn’t happening yet. Sometimes he’ll get really excited while on his tummy, kicking his legs in the air repeatedly, holding his arms up above the ground, and squealing with excitement–all while going nowhere. Sorta like a turtle on its back, but inverted.

- Elliot is, however, rolling all over the place. He can mostly stay sitting upright, too, though we aren’t leaving him there for very long just yet.

- Profound statement of the week: It’s hot in Texas.

- Elliot finds sneezing to be absolutely hilarious.

- Here’s something just to freak you out: Tania and I are considering making our living room televisionless. (Gasp!)

- I still haven’t learned to stop saying “the” when referring to numbered freeways. For example, “Take the 10 to the 1604…”

- Why don’t I have any Texas-wear yet?

- My new favorite place to visit at lunch: Half Price Books.

-T

As part of our transition into our home here in San Antonio, we planned and took the opportunity to move Elliot into his own room. (Applause!) And, much to his daddy’s displeasure, he’d already began to outgrow his Amby bed–about six months ahead of schedule–so out came the tools, up sprang his crib, and into his crib we moved him as well. Right smack in that 4-6 month window they tell you to aim for. It’s been pretty awesome; a process, of course, but one that’s gone fairly successfully.

Nerves? Oh yeah. Lots of nerves, at first anyway. It’s better now, though. Probably the best thing that’s happened so far is the breaking of our video baby monitor. (Thank you, Michelle and Jonathan! We used it until it croaked!) We loved it (despite it’s Rice Krispies-quality reception), but it was a great time to part with it.

We didn’t buy another for a couple reasons: 1) they’re expensive; 2) they’re insecure–all the models I’ve seen have no defense against anyone nearby tuning in on their frequencies. The same is true of audio-only baby monitors (although there seem to be more channels on audio-only), but, obviously, broadcasting both audio and video is more unsettling than just the audio. And if there is a video baby monitor with some kind of security, I’m sure it’d make problem one, the expense, much worse. I spent a few hours researching a video camera via computer network solution, and ran face-first into problem one. So, in the end, we picked up an under $50 audio-only baby monitor, and it’s been great. Clearer reception, better sound quality, less screen-watching, etc.

And now, pictures having nothing whatsoever to do with that story…

(As always, click ‘em to see the Gallery.)

Listening intently to the wisdom of his parents. Sure. (But he did do this all on his own!)

Our little acrobat.

“Please, mommy? Please can I stay up some more? I’ll be good!”

Tania and Elliot, my whole world.

Elliot hanging out and working with his Daddy.

-T

Whew, glad that’s over. The internet is the hood, I tell ya!

So, I’ve vanquished the baddies, upgraded the blog software, and (finally) been removed from Google’s list of bad sites.

Thanks to Andrew and the other folks at Dreamhost for verifying things and being responsive!

-T

We spent last weekend with our good friends, the Crawfords, who came out from Houston to relax near the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. It was great to be with them! See their blog post here, which includes several photos.

-T

Elliot is five months old today!

Sorry it’s been a while since we posted pictures. We’ve finally unpacked all our boxes, though we’re still trying to situate everything. These are several photos of Elliot during the last month.

(Click on the photos for a bigger version.)

The little man laughing during tummy time. (6/4/08)

I love his expression here. This is probably my current favorite photo of Elliot, but the previous picture is pretty tough competition. (6/4/08)

Unpacking Elliot after the move. Just kidding. Put down the phone. (6/8/08)

Teething is Elliot’s new occupation. His fingers are his favorite. (5/23/08)

He figured out how to grab his toes about a month ago. They’ve since offered him untold hours of entertainment. (5/23/08)

Ain’t no sissy-teething ’round these parts. The whole fist is where it’s at. (5/13/08)

Our little Spurs fan watching the game with us in San Antonio. It’s the one show we let him slide on right now. (5/11/08)

-T