Saturday, September 26, 2009

Settled in

Well, we have just about gotten everything settled in the new apartment, and i think we finally got all the kinks worked out with our internet, which comes and goes every few days. Elliott is super busy lately trying to coordinate his arms and legs in order to crawl over to things he should not have and taste them. Of course, this is VERY hard work and he wears himself out pretty quickly, and then resorts to much shouting and mumbling and frustration. I've been trying to coax a "ma ma" or "da da" sound from him as well, but this has only resulted in what looks like a poorly dubbed kung fu movie, where Elliott says "AAAAAHHHH" but moves his mouth afterwards without making any sounds. I guess it's a start.

We took him to a "infant swimming class", which was really an infant sing-a-long in water, ending with me towing Elliott from one side of the pool to the other while saying "kick kick kick!" or "scoop your arms!" or "blow bubbles like Momma!" and him looking at me blankly and then staring at whoever was in the next lane.
I don't have any pictures, but I've been taking him to the library with me a lot since I discovered that the library is way cheaper than blockbuster for movies. The branch downtown has a pretty awesome children's library, so I took Elliott in to pick out some books for bedtime stories. They have a pretty big aquarium with a couple of puffer fish and some other really colorful ones so I stood him at the table surrounding the fish tank to see if he would notice them. He stood there following fish swimming around the tank for several minutes, and would tense up and get mad when they disappeared from his view and got still and followed them across the glass when they appeared again. I thought for a millisecond that maybe we should get him some fish, but then reconsidered when I remembered who would be responsible for cleaning the bowl. I don't think David wants any more chores.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

This post brought to you from my rooftop

Attention world:

After a week of settling into a new apartment and one really cranky weekend, my baby has officially slept from 8:30 to 8 am twice now. Which means, I have slept for 7 hours, uninterrupted, for two nights in a row. I haven't had that much sleep since about this time last year. I have been feeding him a bowl of cereal before bed, and then nursing him again before I go to bed, and miraculous things have happened. Both mornings I have woken up thinking "YES!" and then "ohmygosh I need to go make sure he's still breathing". But he is. I love that kid.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Home sweet home

Well, we are finally officially out of our old apartment, thanks to our amazing friends and David's hard work. We aren't remotely close to being unpacked yet, but we have it set up so that we can get around in our new place with only a few obstacle courses, take showers, and wash laundry. And speaking of, I have done so much laundry. I've become obsessive, and have probably done ten loads or so thinking all the while how much I would have spent at our other place to do the same amount of laundry in the coin operated machines. I've washed our clothes and towels, sheets, comforters, couch pillow cases, Jack's bed- you name it. David also got those handy Purex sheets that have the laundry soap and dryer sheets in one, and although they are sort of pricey, I love them. My house smells like laundry and has clean pillow cases. I can die happy now.

The second day we were here David spotted a yard sale a couple of blocks from the house so I loaded up Elliott in the stroller and we walked down there. The only downside to the new place is that there isn't a sidewalk on our block, so I have to stroll in the street, but once I got out I realized all the lovely things that make up for it. For example, our neighborhood is crawling with kids. Almost every house we passed has a stroller, bike, or plastic picnic table in the front yard. We are less than a block from two really nice parks. I'm excited to take Elliott to try out the baby swings, but as he's still a bit wobbly when I try to sit him up I haven't done it yet.

The second bedroom is working out very nicely too. Bedtime is at 7:30, and although the first few nights didn't go as planned due to the loud bumps of us moving furniture and Elliott knowing this was NOT the place he went to sleep, he is settling into the new surroundings. I feed him before I go to bed, and he has been waking up once (last night was at 5 am) and continues to sleep until 9 am or so.

Jack is slowly adjusting, but for a while he kept getting in the car once all of the boxes were cleared out. It was like he was telling us, "That was fun. Let's go home now." He is trying to sleep on the furniture too, and David thinks Jack is guessing that with a new house comes new rules. But what Jack doesn't realize is that I just washed those couch cushions, buddy, and I didn't do it so he could have a fresh palette to stink up.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I find the cables to the camera.