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Weight / Height: Probably close to 20 lbs.  and still super long.

Oh yeah... rocking the big chair all by myself!

Personality: Happy and Easy Going!!!  This boy cannot help but smile.  He goes with the flow – and doesn’t  yet mind that his sister demands a lot more attention.  He is just happy to be included in the mix.

Oh hey there... happy to see you too!

Favorite Toys/Games: Elliott loves to put things in his mouth, roll (more on that below) and smile.  The activity gym and musical box are still popular, but the bouncey gym tops the charts.  He also likes being sung to – “Elliott, Elliott Man…” to the tune of Mach Man / “Natalie Ann” is a fav. He likes silly games, like someone blowing on his neck to make him giggle or peak-a-boo (I swear he’s initiated that on his own a few times).

Here’s a comparison of Elliott and Natalie at the same age….

Now, if I could only figure out how to move forward......

Natalie

Hey, what’s that over there? If I could only move to go check it out….

Big Accomplishments: This boy can roll.  I put him on his back and he’s usually on his stomach within a minute.  And, he kicks like crazy in an attempt to crawl, but his big belly definitely weighs him down.  The constant rolling from back to stomach means we have a lot of spit up on the floor, a lot of spit up all over his face, and he gets frustrated on occasion with getting stuck on his tummy in the crib.  Yesterday, he rolled onto Natalie a little bit – e.g. touched her knee.  She pushed him away and then got in trouble, which resulted in an outburst of tears.  She clearly felt that it was unfair that she was being admonished when Elliott was the perpetrator.

Schedule: Elliott usually wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30 7 a.m.  She is awake 2-2.5 hours and then goes down for her first of 3 naps.   Bedtime is usually around 6:30 or 7 p.m., which is later than his sister’s was but there’s just so much going on.  He wakes up 1-2 times a night to eat.  1 times is clearly preferable.

What we Love about being Parents: This is what I wrote more than 2 years months ago when giving Natalie’s 5 month update…  “Jordan and I knew we’d love being parents, but I’m still surprised by how much we love it.  There are three main reasons why I love it even more than I thought I would: 1) She loves us so much, 2) She brings so much joy to other people (from the pub bartender or the random person walking down the street to her grandmas and Aunt Becky), and 3) She is already her own little person and has her own little personality.”  All of that applies for Elliott – and I just love to see the interactions between Natalie and Elliott.  And, I love that Elliott is still at the age where he likes to cuddle and doesn’t mind being kissed all over.

What's the deal, Nat? Don't you love holding all 20 lbs of this chunk a chunk of burning love?

Happy 5 months, Elliott!  We love you so much!

Jordan needed to go to Philly for work for 2 days. (Pretty much as short as someone can make a 4 day conference!) I showed Natalie on a map and we decided it was far away. The good thing for me is I still have two pint sized reminders with me! A day of smiles means a lot of squinty eyes and big cheeks. I love it!

A 6:45 am wake up means I get one-on-one time with Mom!

Higher!!!

My fav teacher is taking me to see my fav whale at the Shedd!!!!

(Clearly, Natalie is one of Ms. Jennie’s favorites too… when I drove up to pick them up, I saw Natalie dancing around with a Bella the Whale stuffed animal. The dancing turned into cuddling tonight.)

Right before lights out, Natalie asked if her Daddy could sing to her… so we called him on the phone and he sang his signature, “Daydream”. Twice. Natalie kept looking at me and grinning ear to ear.

Highly successful day without Dad – even though life is definitely easier with him here. Now, here’s prayers for a good night. (Hopefully God forgives me for not going to church today – I just couldn’t do two kids by myself at mass for an hour!) And prayers for single parents and parents whose spouse travels for work a lot.

PS Great news. Our cousin Clayton came home from the hospital yesterday! Will post pics once Uncle Al has a chance to share them with us.

(This cutie was turning heads… Back off DePaul soccer team!)

Dad, I think you have a crush on me

Brrr. This ice pack is super cold!

(LOVE that I am my little girls fav… When do kids stop adoring their moms. That will be a sad day)

Natalie LOVES visiting her Nana at the Edible Garden at the Farm Zoo, where she volunteers on Wednesdays.  Last week, Nana gave us kale.  And she frequently finds a yummy berry for Natalie to eat straight from the plant.  Nana likes Elliott’s and Natalie’s visit too… here is an email from Nana tonight:

It was awesome seeing Nat and Elliott at the zoo this morning.  I told Jordan this, but when she left she gave me 3 kisses.  I said I’d give one to Pop.  She said, OK, but only one.  The other two were only for me.  Gotta love it. 

So cute!

We often try to go to northern WI during the summer, as my family and I did while growing up.  However, the 6-hr trip didn’t seem quite worth it this year, so I convinced (okay, not a hard sell) Grandma that they should meet us in Lake Geneva!  (Thanks to Poppy for originally scouting out this resort last summer!)  Then, Becky, Rob and Trevor joined too!

This wasn’t quite vacation as my Dad would imagine (e.g. loud pools, tons of people, no real woods, no peace and quiet), but luckily, Grandma and Grandpa are highly flexible (and helpful!) when it comes to their 3 grandkids.

My godson, Trevor, is about 20 months old – roughly the same age Natalie was when we were up nort’ last year.  “Natalie and Trevor” wrote a book titled “Adventures in the Great Up Nort'” which we read a lot, so it was easy to remember exactly what Natalie was doing at that age.  And so fun to see Trevor too.

I did it!!!

Trevor is so brave / has no fear.  His method of swimming involves running into the water until his head goes under – and trusting that someone isn’t far behind.  He isn’t talking a lot – I mostly heard him say “eat,” “Mama,” “Grandpa,” and “stucks” (trucks).  He knows what he likes – those 4 words pretty much sum up some of his favorite things!  He understands a ton though.  He saw my sweatshirt on a chair and kindly picked it up (with a big “umph” b/c it was so heavy) to give to me.  I also asked him for a hug before he left and he kindly obliged.  Natalie and Trevor had so much fun playing together…

Trevor, you put the water in the moat, just like this…. 

Natalie “invented” a game of running up and down the hill.  Who doesn’t love an early Monday morning run in your PJs?

Yay - great run!

Grandpa is known for disappearing… to go check out a quieter area, to investigate, etc.  He is also a baby lover.  So, he frequently seemed to disappear with Elliott – I have never spent so much time not by Elliott, other than when at work!  He showed Elliott leaves moving in the wind, water lapping up on the shore, etc.  The two were best buddies this weekend… both men of few words. 🙂

Grandpa, I know this doesn’t seem like the great outdoors to you… but let me tell you, its definitely more peaceful than Chicago!

If Grandpa is Elliott’s best buddy, Grandma is Natalie’s best buddy.  There are few people that Natalie would prefer to play with over me… and my mom is often one of them.  She was sad on Sunday that she had to wait until after nap to see G&G.  Then, on Sunday night, she was up for more than 2 hours because she couldn’t take the anticipation of waking Grandma up the next morning. (I will say – vacation with the family is great, but sharing a hotel room is not conducive to all family members getting a lot of sleep.)

This morning, I overheard Phoebe ask Natalie about her trip.  Natalie’s response was something along the line of: “My head got wet.  Grandma.  A little bit scared.  My mom made me feel better.”  The full story is that Natalie was on a raft and she slipping off a little bit… and her head got a little bit wet.  Although she wasn’t even completely submerged (gosh, why would you do that when swimming?), her “accident” in the water was the most memorable part.  (Sorry Grandma – I know you won’t like reading that!)

We had a great trip.  We definitely needed the time away from work, and it was so fun to hang out with the family… and have 2 extra sets of hands to help out.  We are really so blessed.

4 peas in a pod

I hold the door for you Mommy

My sis is trusting me with her fav blue ball!

Where’s my dinner?!!

Hold on tight Pop. I am wiggly!

That blackberry was so sour<\em>