I like to watch him sleep...

Sweet dreams from Nicki Ingram on Vimeo.

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I love when Elliott wakes up from his naps. That is when I get the most smiles, usually as he is being placed on the changing table. Well- the smiles are usually directed at the toys over his head, but sometimes I get a smile if I sing him songs or bicycle his chubby legs. Anyway, this morning I got something even better- he laughed for the first time today. I tried very hard to capture it on video, but it didn't work out so well. Instead I got these, only seconds apart. Hopefully this will allow you to appreciate how fast I have to act to get video.

Still a coward

I went to a friend's house tonight for a get together where they were going to play Nintendo Wii (which I really wanted to try out), grill, and end the night watching a movie on their projection screen. Elliott and I hung out and met another baby his age, I tried my hand at Wii tennis and bowling, and then they started the 80's classic, the Labyrinth (with David Bowie) as the sun started to set.

Can I just say that aside from the awful makeup that Bowie sports during the movie, that movie is enough to make me wonder if I'm having a nightmare or if someone slipped me some strange hallucinogenic drug. I'm pretty sure I'll have dreams about the little goblins in the first few scenes.

It got a little chilly and pretty late, so I decided to take Elliott home. We got halfway to the car and I realized there were no streetlights where I had parked. I turned around and made someone walk me to my car. I made it sound like I was trying to protect myself from a potential mugger, but I'm really afraid that a creepy muppet will jump out of the shadows any minute now. The worst part is that I realized that when Elliott starts hiding under the covers from monsters in the closet, I'll be huddled under there with him while David investigates.

Flying Solo

The computer is still refusing to cooperate. I promise I'm trying.

I think I mentioned that David left for Raleigh yesterday around noon. So far Elliott has gone easy on me, sleeping pretty well last night and most of the morning at preschool. We came home and I intended to nap, but instead I tried to get the computer to upload new pictures. Obviously that was a fruitless few hours.

Ann Arbor has a summer festival called Top of the Park that started tonight, so Elliott and I met up with a few friends for some free entertainment and overpriced food. It was really nice to meet up with our friends, even though it took about two hours to get us out the door and I accidentally parked 1/2 a mile away from our destination. We stayed until about 10, when Elliott started to get a little fussy. I woke him up once we got there (no need for him to sleep through the whole ordeal only to wake up once I got ready to try to get some rest) and he happily stayed awake for the rest of the concert. He seemed very interested in the trees and people around him- and hopefully he will sleep well tonight after so much fresh air and evening activity (*fingers crossed*). Tomorrow we are going on a "play date" with a friend of mine with a son who is a year older than Elliott. Again, I doubt Elliott will get much from the outing, but I'm looking forward to reconnecting with my friend now that I'm a mom too.

So, I guess the point is we're doing alright solo so far. But we miss Daddy.

Sympathy

Last night was pretty rough- it was one of the first nights that I can actually say we struggled getting Elliott to sleep. I've heard of parents walking the halls, shushing and bouncing their screaming babies, but I hadn't had to do it with Elliott. We could just swaddle him, turn on the sleep sheep (we like the rain sounds, too) and as long as he was fed and changed he was out. Not so last night. I finally gave up and let him sleep beside me at around 12:45? 1a.m? I can't remember. He didn't sleep soundly after that either. Kicking and grunting and arching his back reminded me of maybe what it would be like to stuff, say, a rabid racoon into a drawstring sack and try to snuggle with it. Needless to say we got little rest.

We also had our mother's group today, and although it was tempting to just go home and try to nap, the topic of discussion was to be sleeping and crying- so it seemed wise to go. Unfortunately, the consensus was either A) Things are great but we don't know what we are doing to make them that way and please God don't let me jinx us by saying that or B) OHMYGOSHIHAVEN'TSLEPTSINCETHESECONDTRIMESTER, I watched mommies trickle in from the rain, straining under the weight of the infant carrier with their sleeping babies and looking either half dead or manic with sleep deprivation. One such mom was greeted as she sat down and in response to "How are you and Kadin doing?" promptly started crying. I passed the plate of brownies that another lady had brought because, sister, I feel you. I was doing the same thing on Monday.

Luckily, Elliott is sleeping in his bassinet now, so we are already doing better than we were at this time last night. And hopefully he goes easy on me, as this is my first night flying solo since David is gone for the weekend to visit his friend Prachi in North Carolina.

Oh you want to sleep? That's cute.

Computer goes on strike

I realize that this is the time when you want to type in the address to this website and see adorable pictures of Elliott. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen just yet because Picasa, the program I use for those pictures, is protesting for some reason. Too many pictures? Poor photography, perhaps? I don't know, but here is where you can imagine three pictures of Elliott crying because I have forced him to wear a hat that he hates.

*Picture of Elliott crying in the green funny hat*
*Picture of Elliott crying in the adorable baseball cap I bought him*
*Picture of Elliott crying in his bathing suit and denim bucket hat*
Theme: Elliott hates hats. Or the hats I pick out, anyway.

This weekend has been awesome. Friday David went out with the guys, and I was going to join them but instead stayed at home with Elliott and knitted and watched Arrested Development and ate cake instead. It was a much needed low-key evening.

Yesterday was especially exciting. I woke up at 9:55 to realize that I had planned on going to another Mom's group at 10. Luckily it was being held across the hallway from our apartment by a neighbor and some of her church friends so I was able to get us dressed and be there in 30 seconds. We had coffee and bagels from the local farmer's market and then went over to our community pool for swimming. Well, we didn't swim. I would have gotten in with Elliott but for some reason it wasn't heated and Elliott screamed when I put his toes in the chilly water. His cute little wetsuit stayed quite dry, and he slept on a beach towel while I visited with some of the other moms. That afternoon David and I drove to Lansing. I got a pretty sweet "push present", but I'll show you as soon as the computer stops being rebellious. Then we went to dinner at Cheddar's, a restaurant we had in college station with LEGENDARY spinach dip. David seemed unimpressed, but I would drive an hour to Lansing again for that dip. YUM.

Today we went to church for the first time as a family of three (I know, we took our time), and Elliott slept through the whole service (Thank you Jesus! Seriously). This was wonderful since I didn't really feel comfortable feeding him in the church pew and I didn't know where the "crying room" was in this church, and in the rush to make it there on time I didn't have a thawed bottle ready for him. Turns out that it was no big deal anyway.

I'll try to work on pictures tomorrow.

Sorry for the silence

Me and Elliott on the first day of school/work

This week has been super busy. Elliott and I both went back to preschool this week, and I have been working with the mobile infant group while carrying Elliott in a carrier. Thank goodness it is only part-time, because I can't say multitasking this way is easy. Luckily when he is snuggled in the carrier he sleeps almost the whole time, but in the brief moments that he is awake, he seems very interested in his surroundings. I also am still able to continue breastfeeding him without having to bother with pumping every day, but this has been slightly awkward at times. Today we went to the far corner of the playground to let him eat, and 4 two-year-olds followed me, curious about the baby.

"What are you doing?" Easy enough to answer. "Feeding my baby."
"What is he eating?" Also easy. "Milk. I make it for him."
"He eat it from your tummy?" Close enough. "Yep."

Then a new kid wandered up.
"Why is he EATING YOU?" I had to work really hard at not laughing at this innocent question. Really hard.

It's also been pretty tiring, since I can't really set him down the whole morning, because since he isn't officially enrolled in the school the rest of the staff can't help to care for him due to insurance issues or something. However, another mom started her son at Peachtree on Monday too, and I can tell it has both been a pretty hard transition for both of them. I couldn't ask for a better situation, even if I do need some motrin in the afternoon.

Cooing to the baby in the rearview mirror on the way home from school

Waiting for the Pediatrician before he got his shots

We also checked out a Mom's group through the Ann Arbor Lamaze Center today. For the first half, Ell was happy and cooing at the lights and other babies in the group. Towards the end he got a little fussy, but in a room of nine other new moms with wailing babies we didn't really stick out. It was nice to ask questions about local restaurants, compare where to buy diapers, talk about breastfeeding, and share tips with other local moms. Some of the babies were a little older than Ell and some were eensie tiny ones, but I've decided to join the group.

Enjoying the company at our Mom's group

After such a long day though, Elliott and I both need a serious nap, so I'm going to get on that.