Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Fathers Day!

We spent Saturday evening and Sunday in Houston visiting Josh's Dad's side of the family this Fathers Day weekend.  Here are a few pictures:

Andrew hanging out with Great Grandpa Doc

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Fathers Day brunch with Daddy, Grandpa Terry,
Great Uncles Vance and Steve, and Great Grandpa Doc

Friday, June 15, 2012

He is growing up so fast!

We have been working repeatedly on getting Andrew to sit up over the past week. No worries… no bumps or bruises despite taking a rather big nose dive into the carpet. This incident was caught on camera, however I will not be posting this picture as it may come back to haunt me… I don't want CPS to come knocking on my door!


Until last night we have had absolutely no success with Andrew sitting on his own… none, zilch, zip, nada, null. All of a sudden last night he sat with a toy in front of him. Yay Andrew, Mommy is so proud!!!! I would guess he lasted about 10-15 seconds on his own before drifting to the side and falling over.


Next week Andrew will be six months old… I can’t believe! That is HALF A YEAR!!!! I better start planning his first birthday party because it will be here before I know it.










Sunday, June 3, 2012

Happy Birthday & Father's Day Josh

Josh and I have never owned a grill.  We have always lived in an apartment where grills are allowed to be kept on your porch, but not allowed to be used.  Silly I know!
We have been trying to budget some money to purchase a grill.  Josh received a very genereous monetary gift from Mom and Dad to put towards the grill.  And Josh also received an equal as generous gift from his Grandpa Doc (he did have to work for that money, but not very hard - he picked them up at the airport and took them to their home in Pasadena, TX).  With a little money out of pocket we bought a grill today - Happy Birthday & Happy Father's Day Josh!

The grill Josh decided on is a Kenmore 4 burner, propane gas grill.

Assembly required... don't ask how long! 
He blames the directions... I thought boys didn't use directions.

Jackie's Bridal Shower

Saturday, June 2nd was Jackie's second bridal shower. Her church family in Conroe hosted the event. Of course there were tons of lady bugs to be found... my favorite were the ladybug balloon bracelets. 




Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Memorial Day!

This year we spent Memorial Day weekend in Grapeland, TX visiting Josh's family.  Today we remembered all the men and women who have served our country but are no longer with us today.  We visited Augusta Cemetary where a long line of Josh's family is buried.  We lost Leroy Eugene Frederick back in November 2006.  Papa Honey or Lee was Josh's grandfather. 

We miss you Papa!  Happy Memorial Day!
Josh was devastated when Papa Honey passed; I have never seen or heard him so upset in our time together. Papa Honey certaintly made an impact on Josh's life. Though he was not technically his biological grandfather, you would not know the difference. They loved each other immensely.
Josh proudly introducing
 Andrew to the most influential man in his life.

Andrew Lee Elliott meets Papa Honey
If you did not know already, Andrew is named after Papa Honey.

Moose likes Peas... what about Andrew?

Andrew has eaten many vegetables... green beans, squash, carrots and sweet potatoes. He has eaten all of them with excitement. Today we tried our final vegetable, peas. Mommy and Daddy do not like peas so we almost felt like we were punishing him by feeding him peas. But Mimi likes peas so we gave it a shot. To prepare for this veggie adventure we decided to dress appropriately - Andrew was wearing a moose bib. We got a pack of bibs among other baby clothes at Mom's neighbor's garage sale last weekend. Two of the bibs happened to have a Moose on them. Why is the moose significant? Well, for those that do not know... Mom got the nickname "Moose" many years ago when she and Debbie, her sister, were teamed up playing "Who Knows You Best?" When asked, "What was your siblings nickname as a kid?" Debbie answered, "Moose". Ha Ha Ha! Well, it certainly was not Mom's nickname back then... but it is NOW! Ha Ha Ha!
Anyways... we were eating peas with Mimi AKA "Moose" in our thoughts! 
M is for Moose and I am ready to try some peas!!!
M is for Mmmmmmmm... I like peas!!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Weekend in Dallas

The Elliott Family took a trip to Dallas last week. It was a mini vacation for Mommy and Andrew… not so much for Daddy. Josh was scheduled to take his final Chiropractic Board Exams at Parker Chiropractic College that weekend. We traveled up Thursday so Josh would have some time to study and get acclimated. He had part 1 of the exam on Friday morning, Diagnostic Imaging. Josh was scheduled to be back at the facility at 2:00pm on Saturday for part 2, Case Management and Technique. He was relieved to be finished at 7:30pm. **Exam results expected early July** Andrew and I were holding down the fort because Mom and Dad drove to Austin to celebrate Audrey’s graduation at UT Austin – They left Friday AM and returned Saturday PM.


Since we didn’t know if Josh was going to be testing on Saturday or Sunday for Part 2 I went ahead and took Monday off to ensure travel time back to The Woodlands. As a result, Sunday was filled with a lot of play time. My friend, Jessie, came over for a visit… it is always nice to see her! We spent the afternoon by the pool. The neighbor boys came over to swim while dad and Josh worked on trimming the bushes. When the sun finally set past the house we brought Andrew out for his first swim! The pool wasn’t quite warm enough for him so we heated up the spa closer to body temperature. He was not ecstatic about being in the pool but he wasn’t upset either… I would classify his demeanor as curious.

Hopefully next month when we are visiting for the Kiefer wedding he will be more active in the pool.




Saturday, May 12, 2012

Andrew Loves Green Beans!


He ate the whole pack with very little mess and no icky faces. 
I think it is safe to say Andrew loves green beans!


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Weigh In

Tuesday, we had a follow up appointment to Andrew’s four month check-up. As we stated before, his weight growth had digressed from his two to four month check-ups, 20% to 1% respectively. She gave us a few suggestions on feedings and asked that we come back in three weeks.


I know the Doctor is just doing their job, but it was a little silly to me. Besides being a “Skinny Minny”, Andrew is developing well. He is right on track… laughing, rolling, eating cereal, etc.


At the appointment, the Doctor was pleased to see that Andrew had gained a pound. He is now 12 lbs, 12 oz. As a result, this shows him steadily increasing his weight and back on track. She gave us the go to feed him rice cereal (we cheated and already gave him some), and then baby food. Keeping in mind not to introduce a food no earlier than four days to rule out any allergies he might have.


We can’t wait to see what “packages” we may receive when he starts eating food! Stay tuned for pictures or video… I think we will introduce some green beans to his diet this weekend. Love to all!



Saturday, April 28, 2012

March of Dimes Walk - The Woodlands, TX


McKesson Corporation, Conroe Distribution Center, participated in the March for Babies today in The Woodlands, TX.  The mission of the March of Dimes is to help moms have full-term pregnancies and research the problems that threaten the health of babies.

Meeting the McKesson Family
Since Josh is in his training class this week, Mom and I went to the walk with Andrew.  It was a three mile walk and Andrew didn't make it!  He was upset before we even got to one mile.  Mommy had to carry him for for at least one mile.  We took a break at the McKesson rest stop to feed Andrew then he was a little better.  Immediately after the walk we drove home had a little play time, got cooled off, finished his bottle and layed down for a nap.

Mommy is marching for babies... Andrew is riding with babies

Andrew Rolleeeeeeng Elliott

Friday, April 27, 2012

Great Grandaddy's visit


We recently had a visit from Josh's Grandaddy.  C.W. is Josh's mom's dad and he lives in Colorado.  He was in the area for a family reunion.  Unfortunately we were not able to make the trip to Louisiana for the reunion, but Grandaddy did stop by the house as they drove their way back to Colorado. Grandaddy and Ruth were able to stay for dinner, meet Andrew for the first time and spend some time visiting.  It was a short stay, but we were so glad we got to see them!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

4 Month Check-up


Andrew is currently 25 1/2 inches long and weighs 11 lbs 14 oz.

The Doctor is kind of concerned with Andrew's weight since he is only in the 1 percentile for his age when it comes to his weight.  He should be weighing in closer to 14 lbs.  Since he was born he has been spitting up frequently until we changed his formula a couple weeks ago.  Since then he has been a much happier baby and able to keep down his formula. Because Andrew isn't at an ideal weight she doesn't want us to introduce solids yet.  But she did suggest that we give him cereal in his bottle a couple times a day, not just at night like we had been doing and increase from 4 to 5 ounces per feeding.

Normally his next check-up would be at six months, but we need to follow up with the Doctor in three weeks because of his weight.  If we haven't had much progress then he may be put on some type of prescription.

Today he is recovering from his three shots.  We have been giving him Tylenol, but still sitting at 99.6 temperature.  Hopefully it will come down tomorrow.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

Andrew's first Easter

Andrew with all of his Easter gifts:
 Cars bucket with lots of goodies from Mimi andPoppi,
 First Easter basket with stuffed animals from Great Aunt Jenny, Great Uncle Dwight and Makayla,
and a personalized basket from the Easter Bunny with some Summer wear.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Spring in Texas

Elliott Family - March 2012
Conroe, Texas
In spring the wild flowers are blooming in Texas!  It is so beautiful!  I had always wanted to take pictures in Bluebonnets. I definitely thought about it this year with Andrew, but still wasn't convinced until I got a text from Audrey Ray (Karl's girlfriend) suggesting we take some pictures in the bluebonnets.  So I called Jackie up to see if she knew of any good patches around town and if she would be free one day after work/school this week.  Thankfully we were able to meet up Tuesday afternoon to take these pictures.  I think they turned out great considering all things... little planning, amateur photography (Jacklyn the photographer and Jonathan her assistant), a 3 month old in all the pictures and only snapping pictures for about 15 minutes.

After snapping about 32 pictures we headed back to Jackie's apartment and she made us a delicious dinner: Grilled chicken, rice, green beans and brownies for dessert.

We are so thankful that we could get these cute pictures taken on a budget of zero dollars!  And we are looking forward to June when Great Aunt Jenny will be in Texas and she can get some pictures of Andrew at six months old.



Monday, March 5, 2012

Weekend Activities

Grandma and Grandpa came for a quick visit this weekend.  Arrived about 2:00pm on Saturday, played with Andrew for a few hours, had some dinner and then headed to Huntsville to watch Jackie's choir performance.  Spent Sunday morning with Andrew, ate lunch and left about 1:30pm.
Jackie, Jonathan and Karl were also over for lunch on Sunday.  Aunt Jackie came bearing gifts for Andrew... no special occasion.  Andrew received a very cute bib, SHSU t-shirt, and a hat with matching sneaker socks (pictured below).

After everyone left, Daddy and Andrew watched Nascar and Mommy took a nap... Win/Win for all!

It's been a month... getting reaquainted.

Reading with Grandma

Talking to Aunt Jackie
  
SHSU T-shirt - perfect size for Football season!

Bib "This is not a bib... It's my super hero cape on backwards"

Sneaker socks and cap