Christmas #2

Christmas #2 was on Sunday when Aunty Alison, Uncle James, Steve, Adel, and Joyce came to celebrate Christmas at our house. We did a BBQ and had some lovely salads to pick at (luckily the weather obliged and we were able to sit out the back and have a couple of beers as the meat cooked). Elliott was asleep when everyone arrived and slept until part way through dinner. He was such a good sleeper though all our Christmases! Kel and I ate together at most of the Christmas meals (not the usual when we go somewhere for a celebratory meal). Elliott wore his Santa's Little Helper T-shirt that his Aunty Lisa and co. gave him and was extremely cute (as usual). He was a very lucky boy and got some wonderful presents, including a Teddy Bear, Truck and Car, Ball, rotating light, and jingle-bells. Everything was a hit, but he particularly likes jingling and jangling the bells! We didn't get many photos (little more tricky when trying to be a good host), the few we got are below, so if anyone else got some please email your favorites and well post then too (Steve and Adel).

Steve, encouraging Elliott to Jangle away
and Adel checking out Elliott's Ball

Mummy taking Elliott's car for a spin... up and down his legs

Elliott showing his Aunty Alison how well he can stand
(still his favorite trick)!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandad's

Kel and Bianca

What a fantastic Christmas we have had ... it's pretty much over now after several Christmas get-togethers. Christmas #1 was at Grandma and Grandad's place at Vacy and was a great day. Elliott was very spoilt by everyone. He especially loved his Glo-worm that his Grandma and Grandad gave him (as you can see below from the great big smooch he gave it!).

Both B (Bianca) and Abi were so good with Elliott (as they always are) making sure he was having a good time and able to open his presents. Abi was particularly helpful and opened just about every present of Elliott's for him! (No, it really was good). She got so carried away that even when she was opening her own presents she thought they were for Elliott (and was happy to give them to him!). Such a generous cousin!

Abi helping Elliott open his presents

Grandad (Paul) liked his present so much he decided to use it straight away...

Grandad doing his own impression of a glo-worm

It was such a great day... the food was beautiful, and everyone was able to be there (at first we didn't think Kimberley (Aunty Bub) would be able to come but she managed to get the day off work). The day finished with Elliott having a bath with B and Abi. It was Elliott's first night sleeping away from home - not the best nights sleep but could have been worse ... if it wasn't for that rooster at 4:30am we might have got more than 4 hours sleep!

Some old posts added

Well, no doubt any visitors will have noticed the Blog has lay very dormant for some time now! Hopefully I can get it together and get some news up now that we've entered the holiday season. I've just published a couple of old posts that remained in draft mode for a little too long. I had uploaded the photos some time ago and intended to go back and fill in the details and post them but... a lesson to all Bloggers, don''t think you'll do it tomorrow! Anyhow they appear as posts on 17/11/07 for anyone who'd like a look.

As for what has been going down with Elliott over the last month... well a lot, and I'll try and fill in the gaps with photos over the next week or so. But some of the Biggies include: cutting his top 2 teeth (4 in total now and yet to learn that biting is not the done thing); first big stack... fell from our bed head first and banged up his forehead and chin, but on the bright side it has been amazing how quickly he's healed up (should be at his handsome best for Christmas photos over the next week or so); still swimming like a champion with mummy at the pool, ocean, wherever he gets the chance; no crawling yet, he's pretty good at shuffling backwards on his tummy, great at sitting up, and also loves to pull himself up and stand in front of furniture; eating continues to go up and down (he can be extremely easily distracted and loose interest in the food at times), but all in all things are moving along pretty well, he gets stuck into avocado, cheese stick, custard, vanilla yogurt and much to our surprise he prefers the jar (bland) food over mummy's delights.

Thats it for now, more as it makes it's way from the deep dark crannies of my memory.

Huggies Mark 2

Elliot''s old Huggies train has become a little too small for him so we have upgraded ... to "Huggies Mark 2". Notice there are a couple of improvements on the old model:

1. A larger carriage to fit a growing bottom, er, I mean boy.
2. A passenger carriage to fit one of Elliott's mates (admittedly only one of his stuffed mates, such as Kermit - I don't think Alfie or Ben or any of his other mates will fit ... perhaps Mark 3 will come up with the goods?)
3. A more efficient towing mechanism (i.e. a handle for Mum and Dad so that the string doesn't cut their hands to bits)

Swimming lessons

Last week Elliott and I went for the very first swiming lesson ... Elliott was so good and didn't cry (until I dunked him, and even then it was just from surprise) however, seemed determined not to show he was having a good time. He hardly smiled the whole time we were there - I think he was just unsure about the whole thing.

Elliott was wearing his brand new swimmers - little "Bright Bots", which all the cool babies seem to have (see below). Sure, they were miles too big, but at least he'll have room to grow.

Pool Party

We bought Elliot a wading pool (to coincide with the warmer weather) and he's really enjoyed it! You can see him below playing pool coits and just lounging around... chillin out. There's also an attempted family photo, we aren't usually all in shot. I only just made it and look like a bit of a dill, but hey that's what dad's do best isn't it???

Where the wild things go

Even though it was his mummy's birthday, Elliott got a present from his uncle Joe (sadly daddy missed out)! For the record he got the classic story book "Where wild things go" and was taken by it the first time he saw it, read by mummy. It was a real thoughtful gift and will be a fun story to read to Elliott for many years to come

Fashion Tips With Elliott

Elliott has certainly started developing his ow fashion senses, and we've got the photos to prove it! The one thing that characterises a lot of his looks is a good sensible hat (as you'll see below)

Just checking if Mummy won anything on the scratchy (you can't be too careful, she may have missed something)

Hats with straps are preferable since Elliott, like most little people, like to play the age old game of "take the hat off"

This is a jumper that Mummy bought Elliott for "next winter". Turns out he's grown a little more than we might have expected. It did come in handy though during our recent cold snap.

Everyone likes trying their parents clothes on... don't they? Here Elliott Models Mummies hat and thinks he looks pretty good in it!

Less traditional hats can also be a crowd pleaser. For example, here Elliott wears one of his toys (though you wouldn't tell... would you)

Every morning after the postman has been, Elliott gets to wear any envelopes as hats, which as you can see he really enjoys!

Lastly, this is one of Elliott's many outfits that almost slipped by untouched (due to him continually growing... go figure)! We managed to just get this fine shirt on him before his tummy wouldn't let us button it up anymore.

Mummy and Daddy's Bed

Elliott, like most babies, is usually a pretty early riser and consequently because mummy and daddy still like their sleep he often jumps in the big bed in the morning (just to ease them into the day). In all honesty it only buys us an extra 5-15 minutes of ... well you wouldn't call it sleep. He can be a little like a cold shower in his capacity to render you abruptly awake. Despite all that, it is lovely to have a little morning family time and occasionally Elliott is happy to hang in bed with us for a little longer and have some playtime.

Elliott's Huggies box train

Elliott's huggies box has appeared previously, and I'm glad to say that it is still going strong. It's amazing really, he doesn't get extra excited or smiley when he's in it, he just enjoys being dragged around the house (very contented). He also likes to take something to read on his trips (we all know how travel can get a little boring) as seen below. With this taste for being transported around with the minimum of effort we're starting to wonder if he has any royal blood? One concern is that, with the rate he's growing it won't be long and he will have outgrown his little chariot (we'll have to find a new (and improved) replacement.

Ball player in the making?

Elliott loves playing with the soccer ball, his toy balls with animals inside them, his soft crinkly ball ... pretty much any kind of ball! He loves kicking especially and goes a bit nuts (as you can see from one of these photos!). Both his gross and fine motor skills seem to be coming along quite nicely!
Finally, nothing to do with balls ... Elliott still likes getting in his huggies box ... oh, er, I mean, train!

Sitting up!!!

Over the past couple of weeks Elliott has become so good at sitting all by himself - he can pretty much sit for quite a while now by himself (with a little fall every now and then, especially if he tries to reach a long way or if he gets distracted).


We don't think it will be too much longer before Elliott starts to crawl, which will be fun for him (as for us there'll be quite a bit of work to do around the house to get it Elliott-proofed!) especially as he doesn't roll around very much so at the moment he's pretty stationary!

Daddy's birthday

Well, we're running a little behind schedule but thought we'd better post something about Brett's first birthday as a Daddy! It was on the 25th October ... yep a while ago now!

The day started with Elliott waking us up and giving his Daddy his presents and Elliott playing with the wrapping paper! As you can see Elliott thinks his Daddy rocks!

Unfortunately Kel had to work that day so Brett didn't get to sleep in. Then Nicole came over for a visit which was really nice.

First tooth!

It's been a bit over a week since our last post and my my thats a long time in the world of a 6 month old. We've alluded in a couple of posts now that feeding has been getting more and more problematic with Kel not having enough milk and then Elliott being periodically resistant to taking a bottle. So last weekend we made a clean break and went to the bottle. Initially there was some heartache and worry as to whether the little man was getting enough fluid, and looking back he really only took what would be considered the bare minimum for a couple of days, but he's warmed to the challenge and today he drank a massive 830 mls. It's been a pretty tough time and a tough decision (especially for Kel who has loved breastfeeding Elliott), however, looking at it now I think it has turned out to be a really good thing for all of us.
The switch to bottle is not the only big news either... This week Elliott cut his first tooth, hooray! I'm sorry to say that to date we've been unable to get a snap of the pearly white but you can certainly feel it if you run your finger over his lower gum. The second one is also extremely close and will probably be unveiled any day now. At this stage they're probably more like icebergs (90% still under water in the gum) but we figure the initial cutting through is probably the worst bit in terms of discomfort, so that is a relief!

Today, Kel and I went on our first date, since Elliott came along. It's the first time we've both left him for any significant time. Elliott's Grandma and Grandad came down and hung out with him from 11:30am to 3:30pm. It was their offer and suggestion and we are ever so grateful. It was a really nice day and we went into Queens Wharf Brewery and had lunch on the veranda (along with a couple of beers). By accounts Elliott was "good as gold" for them and had something to eat and even had a sleep (there was a midday bath in there for some reason but that probably just added to the adventure for him). As for Kel and I, it was really nice to eat a meal at our own pace... together. Although we were away, we agree that we probably spent about 80% of our time talking about Elliott, so we need to work on that. Oh, and the other thing about our date today was that on Wednesday we had the 9th anniversary of our actual first date, so it was nice to be able to mark the event with some time together... alone.

Other things we've noticed about this week include: sitting on his own for extended periods (for more than 5 or 10 minutes on his own); a lot of poking tongue out action ("frogger"); and mummy got him an outdoor shade for the backyard (on special at Kathmandu). Also, since the weather has been hot he's had much more time letting it all hang out in just his nappy. Sleeping has been going quite well too - he's usually waking once a night for a feed but going back to sleep straight away. This week, though, we actually had TWO nights where he slept through from 7pm to ~6am - WOWEE!


Elliott has started to enjoy playing "peek-a-boo" too. Usually we have to put the sheet/ paper/ hat over his face and he pulls it away but today he started covering his face by himself and then peeping out ... very cute! We bought him a little toy today which we were very chuffed with because we had been looking for something like it for ages - a little bunny that pops out of a box with a squeek. Turns out we think the bunny might be possessed! Elliott found it very frightening and was really quite scared by it. He wouldn't stop moaning until we totally took it away. Poor little guy, we'll try an exorcism tomorrow and give bunny another go.

Finally, many people have commented on Elliott's hair for some time now. In particular his "business at the front, party at the back" style has become a major trademark. Well it appears the spike at the back that has been incredibly resistant to being wet down is now subsiding. We fear that within a couple of weeks there will be no party left (without the assistance of serious product).

Time for an update

As our last post noted Elliott is now 6 months old and that means... da daaaaa... another round of immunisations! He had another two needles today (one in each thigh). This was the first time I couldn't make it to be there for support, just too much work on at the moment plus I've been working from home Thursday mornings and don't want to push things too far. Anyway, mummy reports that Elliott was very brave and wouldn't have cried for much more than 10 seconds, what a trooper! He's got 6 months off now before the next round of jabs and deserves every second of it.

I wonder if his tolerance for discomfort may have adapted a little recently, what with his ear infections, cold, red throat, not to mention the discomfort of mummy and daddy continually squirting horrible tasting medicines into his mouth. Speaking of which, I think the drug companies have a lot to answer for! The fact that they have not been able to develop a more palatable taste for baby medications is just criminal (surely they can come up with something better than 'cherry' flavour - it's STILL gross!). In my view baby panadol is the worst offender. If you feel this way too, write to your local member and see if we can get things moving on this issue.


Yep, we've been giving the old baby medications a bit of a working over this last 2 weeks. Missing from the above photo is a can of Medic spray and a bottle of amoxicillin antibiotic.

Something more positive now, last Monday (of the long weekend) we turned Elliott's car seat around! His first trip was to Nobby's for a walk and the grin on his face when we put him in the car was priceless. Whenever we looked around at him he gave us a big proud smiley grin, however, even with this novelty, he couldn't resist the temptation of a snooze by the time we got to the beach. The pictures below show the view of Elliott we used to have (peaking around at us) and the new view now that his seat has been turned around.



Other recent events of note include:

- Aunty Nicole gave Elliott a new Rubber Ducky. He thinks it's pretty alright (see photo below)
- Elliott has started chasing shadows (while staying still). He does this when he is on the change table, his legs make a shadow on the wall and he constantly tries to get it!
- Elliott still loves blowing raspberries (does it all day long - even tries to do it when he's half asleep!).