1 year - Mama's first birthday

It'll be a couple days before we get Augie's first birthday pics ready to post, but digging through old boxes of photos here in Kalamazoo I found pictures from my first birthday. 

This is me and my mother, when I was about 1-2 weeks old:

My first birthday party:

1 year old

One year ago today, James, Augie and I were resting in a hospital, recovering from Augie's arrival, snuggling in the bed together, and getting to know each other (James was probably also eating).

This was taken the moment after Augie arrived:

As soon as he was born, I reached down and helped guide him onto my bare belly. He was warm and wet and gooey and wriggly; I'll never forget the feeling of his little naked body squirming on my chest and tummy, then slowly coming to a rest and suckling on my nipple. We rested there for about ninety minutes, warming each other, smelling each other, loving each other. Eventually they took him away to wash him, weigh him, and do whatever else it is they do with newborns, but those ninety minutes with the three of us together for the first time were dreamlike in their intimacy and utter foreignness.

The three of us snuggled in for a nap together today after going for a long walk in the very cold Michigan weather. It seems impossible that one day we won't be able to do that, to all snuggle in together - he'll outgrow us and the need for closeness and intimacy that we share now. So we'll have to revel in every moment we get.

(Because today was Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate Augie's first birthday tomorrow, when we could take time for a proper celebration and pause from the Thanksgiving madness. We aren't doing anything grand, just a bit of cake and presents and family time.)

11 months - Sleeping beauty

Did you know that Augie will turn one on Thursday? That's just three days away! I've been getting all nostalgic lately in preparation.

Sleep around our house is still a fleeting endeavor. Augie was doing so well for both nighttime and naps until a few days ago, when it all kinda went to s*&t again. We still see a general upward trend, and hope this little lapse takes care of itself soon enough. But with travel and cousins in our very near future, I'm not holding my breath.

Even with the difficulties we've had, we've had some major achievements and improvements and we continue to stand by our decision to not use any cry-it-out techniques. We let him cry sometimes, but we certainly don't abandon him to cry until he exhausts himself. The world is going to kick him in the balls enough, he doesn't need mom and dad to start it for him.

Luckily for all of us, he's still an angel when he sleeps.

11 months - Just readin'

This is Augie's old infant seat. We stopped using it months ago, well before we went to Sweden as he surpassed the weight limit. We brought it into the living room because we didn't have anywhere else to put it, and Augie's been climbing all over it ever since. Which, of course, is totally safe.

11 months - Wee boy

11 months - My little reader

Augie loves reading now. Even more than having us read to him, he likes to read to himself. He just picks up a book, sits down, and turns the pages. The book doesn't even have to be right-side-up for him to enjoy it.

 

11 months - Augie at the playground

I'm too tired to use words.

11 months - Little man on campus

We spent some time on campus today. And that's about it for the excitement over here.

11 months - Lazy, sick days at home

Last night James got the bug that Augie and I had over the weekend and spent much of the night in the bathroom. It was not an easy or pretty couple of days in the Watson/Elliott household; one of us even pooped his/her pants, but I'll leave you wondering who. 

While Augie actually pulled through better than either of his parents, these two pictures pretty much epitomize Saturday-Tuesday in our house:

11 months - Sexy boy

From Saturday - I like the top-button-undone look for an 11-month old baby:

Hiatus

I'm sorry for our recent blog hiatus. I came down with a nasty bug Saturday night that had me violently ill overnight. I'm feeling better today but utterly exhausted and hardly able to move from the couch. Augie also threw up a few times overnight, but was in good spirits today and seems fine. 

Here's hoping we all wake up tomorrow feeling well and rested. 

11 months - The sound of Augie laughing

Due to technical difficulties, I couldn't post this last night. But here it is:

11 months - My baby

I've been delinquent about taking pictures of Augie lately. We haven't been going anywhere new or doing anything particularly exciting, so I guess I just forget to take pictures. I've snapped a couple, but they're just okay.

But that isn't to say that it's just boring and ho-hum around here. I have to confess that I'm falling more in love with Augie every day, as trite as that may be. He's just the most beautiful, dreamy baby I've ever had (oh, wait, he's the only baby I've ever had). I said to James yesterday morning, "I'm so lucky to get to spend my days with him." I am. Sure, we're making something of a financial sacrifice for me to be home with Augie, but I can't imagine anything it's more worth making a sacrifice for: spending the first year of my son's life with him.

Through no particular tutelage or training of ours, Augie has figured out how to dribble a soccer ball. No lie. I've been coaching 6-year old kids for six weeks and they still can't dribble like Augie can. Today he dribbled from the living room into the bedroom - and then turned around to come back (he lost interest before returning to the living room). James and I are both sort of amazed; I think it might be a fluke, like he and the ball just happen to be headed in the same direction at the same time. We'll try to get video.

And I think he's learning to sign! I'll spare you the details, but I'm fairly certain that twice today he signed to me that he was pooping. We have NOT tried to potty train him or been crazy about teaching him sign language - we just do the sign for potty anytime that we notice him pooping and say things like, "Augie, you're going potty!" And twice today he made a new hand motion, very like waving but with a subtle difference, after which he had a stinky bum. Considering he doesn't regularly use any words, this is very exciting.

For those of you who just come for the pictures:

I always hear Vanilla Ice when I see pictures of him with his hands up like this: "All right stop, collaborate and listen..."

11 months - A look back one year

As Augie's first birthday approaches (did you read that? Augie's first birthday!), I'm getting all nostalgic and sentimental about him as a wee baby fresh from the womb - even about him when he was still an inside baby. What blessings have befallen us since this time last year! (Our best friends from Santa Barbara are in labor this very second with their first baby - go team Pelle & Davenport!).

Here we were almost exactly a year ago, with no idea of what was to come:

11 months - Are these two related?

Many thanks to Bridget for passing this photo along of cousin Grace (when Grace was much younger). I guess it's the Elliott in them both that makes them scream with such joy.

11 months - Little sleeper

Not much to report this weekend; we had a quiet, calm couple of days hanging out at home. Augie continues to not notice his mouth injury, and it looks much, much better. Since he doesn't have any toys to put in his mouth, his thumb is almost permanently there. We've noticed in the last couple of days that he's starting to pay close attention when we do certain things - anytime we're working in the kitchen, he watches intently to see what's going on. I enjoy this; in the past, Augie has always been so busy doing that he has seemed utterly uninterested in watching - but maybe now that's changing and he's becoming more observant and receptive. We'll see about that.

We had a week of really great (for Augie) sleep, but then last night it all went to hell again. Here's hoping tonight's better.

Wishing him hours and hours of this tonight:

We put him in his new winter suit to see how it fit; it's a bit big, and he's a bit clumsy in it, but it'll do:

11 months - Outtakes

We had a fantastically uneventful day. He slept better than we thought he would given the difficult day he'd had. Augie and I hung out at home, and I followed him around making sure he didn't put anything in his mouth. He didn't seem at all bothered by yesterday's injury, thank goodness. James came up with some inventive ways to feed him without a spoon and I let him condition his hair with peanut butter oil (no, that was not on purpose).

Now, lest you think we have a baby who only takes fantastic pictures, I give you some outtakes.

Don't ask:

Continue not asking:

Tai chi arms:

Tracking a squirrel:

Shooting into the sun (and, apparently, a Land Rover):

11 months - Augie's first owie

Augie fell today while carrying a wooden toy in his teeth. His teeth jammed into the toy and somehow his gums were cut. He cried sharply at first and bled from his mouth.  As I held him he calmed down fairly quickly, but he was still a little fussy and uncomfortable after a few minutes. I called the pediatrician, who referred us to the urgent care center; I went to the urgent care center, who referred us to a dentist; I called our family dentist, who referred us to a pediatric dentist. The pediatric dentist saw us immediately.

He said that the gums were cut but had clotted just fine and that two of his teeth were a little bit loose. We're supposed to keep him from putting any toys in his mouth and give him no hard foods for 2-3 weeks, at which point we're supposed to see the dentist again to check Augie's healing. He wasn't too concerned and it sounds like Augie will make a complete recovery, assuming we can keep things out of his mouth. He bit into a soft plastic spoon at dinner and started screaming, so we're finger feeding him soft foods and purees for a while.

Luckily, he's acting totally normal and up to his old tricks, and he's nursing just fine, so we aren't too worried about him. Mama, however, is exhausted from today and needs a good night's sleep to recover...

11 months - The boy in the red sweater

We went to New York this morning, which was quite an adventure on the train. Augie managed to give me a nosebleed and to charm the gruff conductor into making him a little paper man out of ticket stubs and a hole punch, which was pretty cool. Augie promptly dropped it on the floor.

It's neat, though, how traveling with a baby can bond you to other people; several other passengers talked with me about their kids and grandkids, offered to help us off the train, showed us the secret path to New Jersey Transit's Track 13 at Penn Station. One Chinese man in business attire kept making silly faces and gave us a huge smile when he got off the train. Traveling with a baby - especially a happy baby - can bring out the kid in others. Obviously, it's something I'd never seen before having a kid; now, it's like a glimpse into a secret world, a world where people take themselves a little less seriously and let a bit of the joy they hide find some light in the world.

After we got home and took a short nap, we headed to campus to walk around and take some photos. While we're still having focus issues (on so many levels), I got some great shots.

 I wish I could tell you what he was so excited about...

 

It seems silly, but we never take pictures of the back of his head. But it's so beautiful, and it's such a place of happiness for us (nuzzling in there with kisses and cuddles):