ADDENDUM!

I stand corrected, my child is not only great in Nana's hands - he is FABULOUS in Dad's hands as well. (There Mike is that good?)

Actually, he does an awesome job with him (except for that one time, when he left his penis poking out of his diaper - hee hee) - and I am lucky to have such an involved, amazing husband....even if I do give him a hard time.

Love you Mike! Mean it! ;)

and see.......in good Daddy's hands!

Homemade Baby Food

Schools out for a month and this little guy will soon be starting to eat solids and after pricing a jar of baby food (seriously some are a buck a piece!) I thought it would be better to make them homemade. I was prepared for a huge mess (like when I got a wild hair 2 summers ago to can tomato's and green beans.....there is a reason people don't can anymore, it's a real pain in the ass and SO much work!), luckily this was nothing like that experiment.
I cooked a big bag of Costco carrots - put them in the food processor with a little water and then filled up ice cube trays with little individual portions - voila! Instant baby food! This morning I popped all the carrots into one gigantic Ziploc and tossed them in the freezer - today - Apples and butternut squash. Mike and I did the math this morning and we got 28 servings of baby carrots for the $1.15 I paid for them......28 little ice cube things and I think 2 are equal to one jar of baby food. SO, 14 jars of baby food for 1.15 - that works for me! And it really was no big deal to do it.
I have to be this thrifty if I want to keep my awesome new van! I love it - but it does use more gas than my other car so we are cutting all the corners. But I do feel better knowing my baby will eat organic baby food and I know everything that went into it!
He's slept through the night (well 8-4am - nothing like getting up at 4:00am on the weekend!) for 2 days in a row!
Here's Erik and his Papa chatting

on the move!

Uh oh......he can roll over!!! We're in trouble now! At least he can only go one way - hasn't figured out how to go from the back to the tummy yet. He hates tummy time- guess this is his way of protesting it.

Belly Laughs

I love those very first belly laughs that babies make. Erik is just starting to do it - here's a couple! Thanks to my cousin Laura for cluing me in on how to upload video, it didn't work with this one though because it is too long. But follow this link to You tube and you'll see it there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYmol6AsBew

Last days at home

My maternity leave is ending....it's sad. I don't want to leave this guy all day! I'll miss something, I just know it, he's beginning to do things like laugh - from the belly, and it looks like he could roll over any day now. I don't want to miss those things. I do want to miss the spit up. A couple days ago Erik spit up on my shoulder - no big deal I cleaned it up. But in the moment I remember thinking that it sounded much worse then what I cleaned up. Fast forward a few hours later and I found the rest of it. I thought I hadn't cleaned up much, and I was right because the rest of it had gone IN MY HAIR! and it was HOURS before I noticed it, when I finally had time to run a brush through my hair and it got caught in a mess.....and when I smelled the ball of mess in my hair I knew exactly what it was. Soured milk......yep, I won't miss anymore of that!

But I am grateful that I have been able to stay home for the last 4 months. It's been so nice to watch him change and grow. I have been missing that paycheck though so it will be nice to have that back again.

I came home from an errand today and found Mike and the baby like this. Please notice what is on the TV. Stanford vs. USC. Mike SWEARS Erik was watching the game.

Erik is beginning to hold his head up now (when he's not arching his back so far backwards you have to catch him when you're holding him). He also has an affinity for things that make a crinkling noise like the ears on the elephant his Papa and Grandma Liz gave him, he LOVES that elephant. He sits with it and just touches the ears. Here is a picture of him.

He also LOVES his crib!! Hurrah!!! He sleeps very well in it!

I'll check in next week after I've had to leave him all day and we'll see how many days I cry on my way into work.

Mom Van

We now have a van. A 2007 Honda Odyssey. It's lovely. I never thought I'd say that about a van - I don't like vans, they always felt like small school buses to me and I swore if I ever needed to go bigger then I would go with something more like a large SUV. But....I drove the van, and loved it. Now there is room for everything! I can actually have the stroller and groceries in the car at the same time, which was nearly impossible before.
I changed Erik's diaper in the back yesterday and didn't have to unload everything to do that! I told Mike this is the last car I plan on having for many many years - now if I can just figure out how to make the Satellite radio work then I'll be good to go!
I do feel a large urge to go to a soccer game.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

The baby slept through the night, the baby slept through the night - Hi Ho Hi Ho the baby slept through the night! (Sung gleefully)

Which means Mama did too! This is the first time he has slept ALL the way through the night. He went to bed at 9:00 and didn't get up until 5:00! He almost slept through the night once before, and may have had I not shaken him awake at 3:00am, this time restrained myself and he slept until 5!! Then he drank a bottle and went back to sleep until 6:30. WHEEE!!! Just in time for me to go back to work in a couple of weeks. Now.....to get him in the crib.

Titty Coasters

I bet that title got your attention didn't it? It got mine when Mike said it to me last night as he was pulling laundry out of the dryer and asked where I wanted him to put the "Titty Coasters"......the what? I thought I had no idea what he was talking about and I was in the other room feeding Erik when a flying disk came flying in.......these "Titty Coasters" he says again. I realize that they are the leak pads that I put in my bra to keep my boobs from showing the world the work they are doing. Mike comes up with some funny names for things. He combines "Buddy" and "Son" and calls Erik his little "Budson" which I think sounds like a mini Budweiser Beer. He also calls breast milk "Freshly Squeezed Boobie Juice" as he's talking to Erik about. But in the end all his quirky names make perfect sense.....and see for yourself......they do look like coasters.

Here's Erik in is "Official" Halloween Costume - He was a San Francisco Giant.

Hope everyone had a geat Halloween and welcome to November!