Seven Weeks Old

Elliot is seven weeks old today. Amazing to think that time has gone by so fast. He has developed two new things, one good and one not so good. Sad news first: unfortunately, Elliot gets colic every night from 7:00 to 9:00. He has been suffering with this for the past couple of weeks. We have found that having a bath in warm water has helped; and, thankfully, he seems to be getting over the colic as the past couple of nights have not been so intense.
Good news: Elliot smiles back! He has the most adorable smile and he smiles so easily.
These pictures were taken in the early morning sun this morning.

At The Park With Nanna and Grandad

Mum and dad finally made it out yesterday. They had to postpone their trip by one week due to the Iceland volcano. The weather is wonderful today so we decided to take a walk to the park to stretch our legs and tire out Hayden! Hayden had fun showing Nanna and Grandad all his favorite activities and making them participate with him...
Nanna and Hayden at the steering wheels.
Nanna helping Hayden.
Grandad helping Hayden across the chain course.
Smiling on the climbing frame.
Chillin' with Grandad at the top of the slides.

In The Back Garden

Hayden, Elliot and I went outside this morning. It was so warm out there! Hayden and I had a great time playing with the blue ball, trucks and trike. Elliot enjoyed laying in his bouncy chair - until he got tired and wanted to be fed and put in bed!
Green grass, mountains, blue sky...ahhh bliss! My soccer star! Eat your hearts out, Tour de France and Lance Armstrong! This one is for you, Grandad!

New Patio Set

On top of buying the new BBQ grill, Shane and I have also invested in some new patio furniture for the back garden. Our garden is really starting to look great and is turning into a place where we really want to hang out with the boys...so, we needed somewhere to sit and eat!
We could barely contain ourselves the night Shane put it all together...we had to grill pork chops on the BBQ and eat outside; but, as you can tell from the hats and coats, it wasn't the warmest of Spring evenings!! We didn't care! - It was fun anyway!

Then last night Tamara and Brooke came over. It was a great evening...sunny and warm. Boone got to run around on the green grass with Tamara's two dogs and the kids got to make as much mess as they wanted. Perfect!

Poor, Sick Elliot

Poor Elliot has been sick with a cold for about a week now. A normal cold would be somewhat OK; but, this bug has really played hardball with Elliot. On Tuesday night, I had to take Elliot to the local ER (which is more like an after hours doctor office as well as an ER) as his eyes were so gunky that he could barely open them. He was diagnosed with viral conjunctivitis caused by the congestion in his nose causing his eye ducts to also get blocked up. We were given some eye drops and told to go for a check up with his usual doctor on Thursday.
Then, in the middle of the night on Wednesday I had to make a trip to the same ER because he was so congested that he was unable to nurse no matter what I did to try and relieve the congestion. He was so hungry and could not eat. At the ER, they used the asthmatic mister on him which helped immediately and he was able to nurse. He promptly went to sleep! - But, unfortunately not for long. I only got two hours of sleep during Wednesday night due to Elliot's discomfort and strong need to be held upright to help his breathing. He was, however, able to get a couple of hours sleep at a time...so, my lack of sleep was worth his comfort.
During this whole ordeal, I had noticed that Elliot was forming dry, crusty boogers up his left nostril which were the main reason for his inability to breathe. I was unable to get these out; so, I mentioned this to his doctor at our appointment yesterday morning. Using a very neat looking, light up tool, the doctor was able to hook the booger and drag it out. Poor Elliot. He does not mind the bulb syringe; but, he hated this thing. He screamed and cried; but, after he was able to breathe much, much better after. We misted him again and the doctor let me bring a portable misting machine home with me. Unfortunately, I had to take Elliot back yesterday afternoon as another dry, crusty booger had made itself known. Again, we dragged it out and again, Elliot screamed and cried. The doctor let me bring the light up tool home citing that he not seen this amount of "dry crusties" in a kid as young as Elliot. If Elliot keeps getting these boogers, it's off to the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for him.
Last night was better. Every three hours, I would wake Elliot to clear his nose, nurse him and mist him. He loves the mist and tries to eat it. As a result of all this intervention, he has been able to sleep much better. The eye drops are clearing out the muck from his eyes and his eyes are returning their pretty white color rather than being pink. He is now taking medicine for the thrush he has on his tongue (trying everything we can to make nursing less uncomfortable for him) and I am still putting saline up his nose and using the bulb syringe. The poor kid - the only holes on his head that I am not putting something up or in are his ears!
Hopefully he will be back to normal in a few days and I can get back to getting more sleep!

Today's Adventure

So, there we were...Hayden and I were talking to my parents in England over the video camera. I wanted to take them outside to see the new grill and show them the flooring that Shane has put down in the shop - their bedroom when they get here on Saturday. I tried to get Hayden to put on his sweater so he could come outside too - but, he played hard to get - so, I told him he had to stay inside while I show Nanna and Grandad.
Everything went fine until I tried to get back into the house - Hayden had locked the door! This is the first time this had happened. I had no phone, no keys and I do not know where the hide-a-key is! But, I did have my parents on Skype (for a little while before the computer battery died)...I gave them Shane's cell and work number (to find out where the key is hidden) as well as Vanessa's home and cell numbers (as she has a spare key). Of course, there was no answer from Vanessa or Shane's truck and Shane's co-workers did not know where he was! After that, the computer died and I had to run across to my neighbor to use their phone...thankfully, he let me take his cell phone so I could continue to entertain Hayden through the glass in the door. Now, I should tell you this before I continue, Hayden was an angel. He stayed with me at the door and interacted with me the whole time. I tried not to show him my anxiety and he did not seem too troubled by the fact that he could not get to me.
I tried calling Vanessa again, no answer. Tried calling my friend Amanda (who also has a house key), no answer. Finally, I called my work and managed to get Vanessa that way...but, as she was coming over to let me in, my neighbor came across and broke into my house to let me in. This is when Hayden started to get really upset...he could see my neighbor at the glass door and ran the other way. He was crying hard which was making him snotty which made him cough which scared him even more which, of course, made him cry harder. Poor kid!
Lessons learned:
- Do not leave child in house, even for a second...without taking my keys with me, just in case!
- Learn where the hide-a-key is.
Elliot, thankfully, remained blissfully ignorant of the whole ordeal!

Our Gift To Ourselves....

As modelled by Hayden, Shane and I have treated ourselves to a new BBQ grill. She's a beauty and, honestly, I think far too pretty to be used to cook meat!
The grill comes with a storage area...
...for your propane tank...
...or child...
...or both!

First Hair Cut...Finally!

Shane took Hayden to Redding this past weekend and seized the moment to get Hayden his first haircut. The pictures do the talking...but, let's just say that Hayden was not too impressed by the whole haircut process. Poor kid!
Anyhoo, he looks even more handsome now than he did before and he does not seem to have suffered any long term negative, psychological damage as a result. And yes, we did save the first few curls!

Elliot Is One-Month Old

Today marks Elliot's one-month birthday. Happy Birthday, sweetie! We love you!

Helping Daddy

We had to get a new rocking chair as our rocker glider broke. It arrived in the mail the other night and Hayden helped Daddy put it together. A project that should have taken 15 minutes, actually ended up taking an hour and a half...but it was an adorable hour and a half!!

Easter Egg Hunt

We took both boys to an Easter Egg hunt yesterday. Elliot slept through the whole thing in his car seat in the double stroller. Hayden, on the other hand, enjoyed the morning to it's full advantage! Although nervous, and a little frightened, at first, he soon learned to enjoy the bouncy castle...especially when he could sit and hold my hand and let the other kids bounce him around with their jumping. He got to eat popcorn and watch other kids win great raffle prizes (read: bikes!). We, of course, kept our fingers and toes crossed that Hayden would win a bike; but, no such luck!
Of course, though, the highlight of the day was the Easter Egg hunt. You can see Hayden's friend, Brooke, in the background of the third picture. It took Hayden a while to understand the concept of gathering the eggs and putting them in his basket - but, he got it. He managed to collect six or so eggs before he became sidetracked with the knowledge that he can open the eggs to reveal prizes inside! After that, collecting more eggs seemed null and void!

New Bouncy Chair

Elliot is spending more and more time awake these days...and I feel bad that he spends his awake time lying on his back on our bed or the couch - so, Shane and I invested in a bouncy chair in hopes that Elliot will enjoy being more social with the family!! So far, so good! He really likes his chair and when he gets the painful bubbles through his system that cause him to scream and cry, we can turn on the vibrator and it soothes him to sleep!

Making PlayDoh

This morning's art and craft project!
Tamara and Brooke came over again this morning to make PlayDoh. It was much simpler to make than I thought it would be and the kids had fun mixing all the ingredients together and choosing their colo(u)rs.
Hayden was not sure about the feel of the PlayDoh at first; but, once he realized what he could do with the PlayDoh, he was game! He cut out stars and circles, using cookie cutters, and made pretty patterns using a fork. Good times, good times!

Decorating Eggs For Easter

Yesterday morning, Tamara and Brooke came over to decorate eggs for Easter. It was messy and crazy and a whole lot of fun! The sheet covering the dining room table came away with every color of egg dye on it and Hayden's fingers were purple by the time all was done! Hayden had a lot of fun using the plastic egg scoop to dip the eggs in the dye as well as putting the stickers on the finished products. Surprisingly, we only lost a few eggs on this project - I was convinced we would have a higher casualty loss; but, the kids actually did really well.

Decorating The Fort

On Monday night, Hayden and Shane set about decorating the fort. Armed with markers, they both set about creating the ultimate masterpiece in home decor; however, Hayden walked away from the project more decorated than the fort...but, that's how you know he had a good time!