New toy for Momma

Merry Christmas to ME!!! I used my Christmas money to upgrade my sewing machine this weekend. My first project: Our sad chair. We bought this chair right after we got married when we were living in Bay City, TX, and got it for twenty bucks. Having no children or foresight at the time, I made white cushion covers for it with black piping. I was pretty proud of my handiwork at the time, but after three moves, three Thanksgiving dinners with lots of red wine, and one lovable little boy, our chair was in seriously sad shape. So this weekend I bought thicker foam for the cushions and used some practical, beige fabric for the chair, and now it looks like this:instead of this:

Hooray for upgrades!

Month 9

Dear Elliott,

Okay, again with the late newsletter, but I've never been great with punctuality. You, however, seem to be one of those early people. You were born early, and crawled early, and are apparently trying to add walking to this list. And I am trying to thwart those efforts.

Okay, not really, but it is equal parts thrilling and TOTAL BUMMER to watch you pull up on the couch next to me, let go for a few seconds, and raise your hands in total victory. "I am big! You are heartbroken! Booyah!"

This month was a big one for our family, because we celebrated your first Christmas and you took your first trip to Arkansas. In fact, it was also your first trip to Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana, because we decided to tempt fate with a 16 hour car trip with a baby and a dog. You did pretty well, considering you were completely off of anything resembling a schedule and were trying hard to cut your top teeth, but there were a few incidents along the way. You woke approximately 32 times per night, leaving your father and me completely wrecked while I tried to keep you quiet. You managed not to catch the awful, awful stomach virus that Daddy and I caught on our anniversary and then passed around to everyone in Benton, but then we took you Granny's house for New Years Eve so we could recover and you apparently slept for 45 minutes the whole night. This was your Granny's idea- and while she says she did it so you would sleep for us, I know she really just wanted to squeeze every second out of the night that she could. I can't say I blame her.

You met all of your grandparents, Great-Grandparents, and your Great Great Grandmother, who unfortunately passed just after we left town. She was going to turn 109 this month, and she was a really lovely lady. I wish I would have been able to talk to her a little about all the things she's seen in the last century- about how different (or similar) a place the world has become, and how she is directly responsible for the two people I love more than anything in the world.

Now you have spent as much time on the outside as you did on the inside, and in this time have blossomed into this dancing, grinning, attention-magnet little boy with blondish hair and blue eyes and rosy chubby cheeks. I know I am going to turn around soon and you will walk over to me, ask me questions, and develop interests in things other than laptop cords and remote controls. Happy New Year, Ellybelly. You are adored.

Love,

Momma

Holiday Recap

We're Baaaack! I can officially say we survived a road trip with a 9 month old and dog, and it was a relatively smooth trip. Well, aside from teething, waking up eleventy billion times a night, and a wicked stomach virus. Those parts were pretty rocky.

We are now trying to find a place for all of Elliott's new toys and watching Elliott steady himself on two legs. Also, he has started dancing if music is on (even tv theme music), which is so cute. He hears a tune and smiles really big, then starts bouncing up and down. David says he dances like me, and I'm pretty sure that's a dig even though he wouldn't know since he's REFUSED to dance with me since high school prom. I guess that isn't fair, since he did sign up for a country dancing class with me at A&M before our wedding, and he put me to shame in the classes we went to. But whatever- he had an edge. I didn't get line dancing lessons in kindergarten.

Anyway, now my sweet, happy baby has developed rhythm, and also quite a temper. The first night we were home he screamed when I put him in his bed and stopped as soon as I picked him up, showing me that he didn't agree that it was bed time and PICK ME UP WOMAN PICK ME UP is his preferred method of communication. I came in yesterday from picking up groceries, since our freezer crapped out and thawed everything in the freezer, and then resumed working once it had ruined all the food we had. Elliott was screaming the same way as he had at bedtime, and I asked David how long he had been doing that. He had apparently been peachy until David took away the remote control from him, and he responded by alerting our neighbors to his apparent bloody murder.

I think he got this way right before he started crawling, too- just got super crabby and screamy when he couldn't get things to go his way- so I'm hoping these tantrums resolve with his ability to get around on two feet. However, when he does that, He'll be WALKING, and I'm not ready for him to look all big and walk around our place.

ANY