After three weeks...

Today Elliott is three weeks old. For his birthday I got up the motivation to put all of our digital images in order and I uploaded them to photobucket.

Elliott.. also known as The Fart Machine (actually... we don't refer to him as that.. but maybe we should) is doing very well. He has been drinking both from a bottle and the breast.... so Papa is able to feed him, now. It seems that every day he is becoming more aware, and his personality is really starting to come through. Ugh... can he BE more cute?

So anyway.. here are some photos from his first three weeks of life. Click the thumbnail to see the full size photo. Enjoy.

Here is the birth announcement that Mom McClendon made for Elliott.


Elliott wearing the outfit that TJ wore home from the hospital when he was born.


Could you ever have enough sleeping baby pictures? No.












We love this photo.


Papa and Elliott sleeping.


Mama and Elliott.


First bath at home.


Great Uncle Bob and Elliott.


Great Grandma Sis and Elliott.


Grammy McClendon and Elliott.


Great Grandma Ann and Elliott.


Aunt Trisha and Elliott.


Cousin Wes and Elliott.


Uncle Kevin and Elliott.


Nana and Papa and Elliott.


Grammy Thorne and Elliott.


Elliott and his Cadillac of a bath tub.


Well.... there's three weeks in review. A far as Mama and Papa go... well.. we went to the dentist (everything is looking good there!), Mama was invited to join the National Honor Society as a result of her hard work in school, Papa still plays hockey once or twice a week.. and that's about it. We're just getting used to the mid-sleep awakenings and life with a little one.

So far so good. :)

A short update...

Well, it's been 11 days since our lives were changed.. and it couldn't be better. Elliott is eating, pooping, sleeping... all the things that babies do, and he is a very alert little boy. When his eyes are open it seems he is absorbing everything he sees and enjoys hearing the sound of Mama and Papa's voice. He's just the perfect little thing!

Emma was very cautious at first... almost scared. She hid under the coffee table for about an hour while I sat on the floor with Elliott. Slowly, she made he way over and sniffed his head. She then backed away. 11 days later her tail wags excitedly when she smells her brother's head and has even licked it a couple times. She lays on his rug watching to door when Mama is feeding him in his room and we have 100% trust in her when she is around him. She and I had a talk about how she's no longer the baby in the family and that it's time for her to grow up and be a big puppy and we can tell she's changed. She's only 1 1/2 yeards old so she still has some puppy rambunctiousness in her, so she gets a little excited when company comes over.. and we have to calm her down when this happens and Elliott is in the room. But all in all... she's doing great with him and we couldn't be more grateful. Because if she was having problems with this whole thing it would make it a million times harder.

Hil and I are both pretty beat.. with the feedings in the middle of the night.. which have become longer now that he is hitting his two week growth spurt. We are a good team. I change his pre-feeding diaper, Hil feeds, and I am the official burper. I would say I change most of the diapers, and obviously Hil does the feedings.. so I think we have a pretty good system.

Hil and I took six weeks off from work... and I might need to take and extra one depending on what happens with daycare, so we are having a great time bonding as a family.. something we never got to do to this extent before. We have always been busy with school and work or otherwise have something going on. So to take this much time off and spend every day together to focus on each other, Elliott, and the pup/kitties is really special and we are so grateful that we have jobs that allow us to do so.

We got some pictures taken of Elliott on his one week birthday.. here are a few.

Click to see the full size.












Hil's mom just left this morning, so in a couple days I will upload and post a ton of photo's from Elliott's first week and a half of life.

Well.. Elliott is starting to stir for a feeding, so I'll stop here.