Elliot Says

I want to compile some of the things Elliot is saying these days so I can remember them and because some of them are pretty funny :)


When Brent or myself sneezes
Elliot-"Bwess You"

A man on the sidewalk sneezed
Elliot " Bwess you Man"

Brent's phone vibrates on the table
Elliot "Bwess you Phone"

Can you tell he likes saying bless you?

Mindy " Elliot, time to stand up"
Elliot "opstaan mama" (opstaan is stand up in Dutch)

At Elliot's 18 month well child check
Elliot walks over to the Doctor with a toy that had something on it and says,"Ish, Rinse"

Whenever he has a poopy diaper
Elliot "peyew, diaper!"


Whenever he drops anything
" oh nee" (nee is no in Dutch)


We live right across from the recycling drop off. The truck comes twice a week and Elliot loves watching it
Elliot "Cycle truck mama"

Anytime he see garbage
"Bage, ick mama"



As you can see he keeps us pretty entertained! It is do much fun listening to him put words and phrases together. It's so awesome how many words he understands in both Dutch and English.

Elliot Lately

Wow it has been awhile since I've written anything on here! After being in Minnesota for 3 weeks and adjusting to being back here, time just got away from me.

I thought I would share some of the things Elliot has been up to and things he's been saying. the kid seriously cracks us up.

Whenever he wants you to sit by him, he looks at us and says "by you" which comes out more like "by ya." It is impossible to not go and snuggle or sit by him.

Whenever he wants our attention he will grab our hand and say "come on mama/papa"

He loves pushing the button on the coffee maker in the morning to make my coffee. Now in the morning he walks over to the coffee maker and says "mama cupa?" As in cup of :)

He loves helping me cook. Here he is making sure the cheese sauce for the gnocchi tasted okay ;)

And baking cookies with Bente 

He also loves doing yoga with me, or as he says "oga" This is his best down dog. Which he calls dow dog

And here is a cute picture just because

I promise it won't be so long before I post again! 

Happy Monday!

Elliot's 1 year pictures

I realized that I never shared any of Elliot's 1 year pictures. And since he is 15 months I figured it was time! We had the pictures taken while we were in Minnesota on his birthday at a barn in Eden Prairie. Our wedding photographer took the photos and did a wonderful job! I intentionally waited to cut his hair until after his pictures so I would always remember his baby mullet :)  

Elliot is never serious in pictures and for some reason I just love this one

My Favorites 

Baby Mullet is on full display here!

One of my favorite pictures of the 3 of us

Of course he is eating, this little one is always snacking!

I can't believe how much Elliot has changed in the 3 months since these were taken! 

Elliot Lately

Instead of my usual Favorites post(which admittedly I have been awful at doing lately) I am going to do a little Elliot update.

- He is still an awesome little eater. He really will try anything and most of the time loves it. People keep telling me to prepare for a change in his eating around 15 months but I am really hoping that doesn't happen to him!

He loves using his fork and spoon. And of course his hands :) 

- He waves to everyone any opportunity he can. I love how outgoing and friendly this little man is. When he is in his stroller or riding on the bike everyone gets a wave and a smile. It is always fun to see people as we approach them and they are usually smiling or laughing at Elliot.

- He is obsessed with any truck or machine. He LOVES watching the recycling truck come and pick up all of the recycling from across the street. Every time we see one he puts and starts babbling and will strain his neck trying to keep looking at it. Most of the drivers get a big wave from Elliot :)  

Like father like son. Watching the trucks 

We had some work being done on the sidewalk outside of our place. He sat and watched for 20 minutes!

- Anything that opens and closes will keep Elliot occupied for long periods of time.

- He loves dogs or as he calls them "Gogs". If we see a dog he starts saying, "woof woof" and it is one of the cutest things ever!

We have so much fun with him and are loving this stage so much! Looking forward to what the next stage brings!

Elliot's 1st Birthday

We had so much time celebrating Elliot's birthday when we were in Minnesota! Even though I still can't believe he is already one! On his birthday we had his 1 year photos taken, we had lunch out and he had his first taste of cupcake. The Saturday after his birthday we had both of our families over to celebrate. We had food, some drinks and some awesome cake and presents. We are so lucky that so many people love our sweet little boy. 

Family pic from his photo shoot

I'm 1!!!

Birthday lunch with Mama

I love cupcakes!!!

Elliot's awesome birthday cake! It was chocolate with a cookies and creme filling

Family

Opening presents, so many presents!

Best picture we got and E's eyes are closed

Smash cake time

This is for ME??

So good

I Love Birthdays!!

Elliot 10 months

This little guy is non stop!! This past month he has picked the pace of everything he does and amazes us with his speed. These pictures have become quite challenging!

I had about 2 seconds to get this shot

and then the moving started

Are we done mom?

He eats anything you put in front of him and rivals his papa in the amount he can eat. I look at him and seriously wonder where all of this food in going, and then I realize he never stops moving and he is using it all up! He eats 3 meals a day, normally 2 snacks and nurses as well. This kid never goes hungry!

He loves frozen fruit in his teether, of course its SUPER messy!

Elliot has 3 teeth now(2 on bottom, 1 on top) and loves brushing them right along with us. We let him "brush" and then he lets us brush. Hoping he stays this cooperative!

You can kind of see his bottom teeth

New this month
*Points to his hair when asked where it is
*Kicks a soccer ball when we walk with him(Brent is a proud papa :))
*Takes his zebra lovie everywhere with him. I don't let him take it out of the house, but he just loves it and really gets a lot of comfort from it
*Gives high fives
*Claps whenever he is excited
*Signs more, he is always asking for more :) It's not perfect but we know what he is asking for when he does it
*Starting to sign all done
*Walks/runs behind his push toy
*When you say bye Elliot, he waves and smiles at you
*Flirts with the check girls at the grocery store, never fails, every time :)

Elliot every month you are just more and more fun! We love you buddy!

Elliot 9 Months

9 months! That means only 3 more months until 1!!

The only picture I could get before he took off!

This past month has brought us a little mover! Elliot is go-go all the time now. I swear, the speed he crawls at gets faster every day. Within days of learning how to crawl on all fours, Elliot began pulling himself up on everything.  He loves standing and is completely comfortable holding onto just one of our fingers while he is standing. At his last appointment they told me they think he will be walking before his next appointment(at 11 months). Let me tell you I am not ready for that!!

After his nap when he pulled up in the crib for the first time. He was so proud! 

He is still a great eater and since getting over being sick his appetite has tripled. He prefers to eat whole or cut up foods over purees and want to always feed himself.

Sleeping has not been the greatest this month for Elliot. With him getting sick and not eating much during the day he was waking at night. The doctor had me nurse him at night for about a week during and after being sick to help get his weight back up. So then we had to re-break that habit. Thankfully, he is getting back on schedule. I am still enjoying anytime he will fall asleep on me :)

Enjoying the nice weather with a sleepy baby

Starbucks is exhausting :) 

He does a really great job of entertaining himself. But of course has to have a constant eye on him because he quickly can get into EVERYTHING! We got him a small ball pit a few weeks ago that we bring out a few times a week. If I am lucky I can get 5-10 minutes of him playing before he remembers he knows how to crawl out. 

He even lets his papa in to play with him

New this month

*He waves "bye-bye" 

*Does so big. He used need our hands to do it but now brings them over his head whenever you ask      how big he is 

*He is really close to clapping. He brings his hands together softly or misses completely but he's trying :) 

*Like I said before pulls up on everything, especially if it is not stable

*Gives kisses-he loves giving kisses! They are a bit slobbery but it is so sweet and i take all I can get!

*He loves turning the pages in books when we are reading and loves "reading" by himself

*Talking all of the time. There are days he will talk in his stroller the whole way him from the grocery store. I wonder where he gets that from :) 

Every month just seems to be more and more fun with Elliot! Looking forward to seeing what month 10 brings us!

Elliot 8 Months

Happy 8 Months little man!!

These pictures get harder to take every month! 

This month has been great for all of us! Elliot is army crawling EVERYWHERE and gets pretty fast when he sees something he wants, which of course is everything he is not supposed to have :) He loves crawling under things and peeking out at us. Makes us laugh every time. He pushes himself into sitting from his crawling position and is starting to get more adventurous and trying to climb up and over things.

Little tables are perfect for crawling under

Why would I go IN my exersaucer when I can go UNDER

Eating is still going great. He loves feeding himself anything he can. He usually has more luck getting food in his mouth when he uses his left hand. As you can see it takes a lot of concentration :)

Some of his favorites right now are mango, quinoa, avocado, banana, rice cakes, chickpeas, lentils, chicken, green beans(he squeals every time he gets them!) and peas. Really we haven't found anything that he won't eat. Hoping that continues!

He has been a great little sleeper lately taking a 1.5 hour nap in the morning and a 2-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. He typically goes to bed between 7-7:30 and sleeps until around 6:30. 

He is growing like crazy and it almost out of his 9 month clothes. He has out grown some of his 6-12 month stuff in length. I can't keep up with how quickly he is going through clothes! He is such a big boy now, but the other day he humored me and let me swaddle him, I thought it would be funny and I was right! It only last a couple seconds but it was great!

Elliot is such a happy baby and the past month has been so fun and memorable! 

Elliot 7 Months

Another month older, another month that has just flown by!

Such a big boy!

Elliot's eating this month has increased a ton! He is loving having grains with his fruits and veggies. He has either oatmeal or mashed up rice(cooked in chicken broth) and he loves both. I am looking forward to adding some quinoa into the rotation this month. A new food he loves is chickpeas. I mash them into his food or just give him little bites and he goes crazy. He loves having little chunks of mango and whenever I have a banana for myself I let him take some "bites" out of it. This past week we have started giving chicken and so far it is going great! Keeping our fingers crossed he keeps eating so well. We go in next week to check his weight so we'll see what all of this increased eating has done for him.

Loves mama's banana

Elliot is moving all over the place! He uses a combination of log rolling and scooting on his stomach/side. Watching him and his determination is just awesome. He gets something in his line of vision and he doesn't give up until he gets it. I can't turn around for even a second any more as evidenced by the picture below.

I think we have some baby proofing to do!

He has learned how to screech the past few weeks whenever he wants something. We call him a pterodactyl because man he can get loud! Usually it means he is hungry or tired so as long a we stay ahead of those things we can avoid it :) 

In addition to getting his first cold this month it looks like his 2 front bottom teeth are going to be making an appearance soon. His gums are pretty white and he is biting down on anything and everything he can. Hoping they pop through soon and it is an easy process on him!

and an outtake, this was just as he was starting to reach for me. One of my favorite new developments :)  

Elliot's Baptism

** Apparently I do recaps 3+ weeks after events happen! I need to get better at this!

The Sunday before we came back to the Netherlands we had Elliot's baptism. We had him baptized at the same church Brent and I were married at. It was so nice to have our family there to celebrate this special day for Elliot with us. After the baptism we had both our families over to our house for a small celebration. It was such a nice day!

Such a great moment. 

Elliot kept making Fr. Magner smile/laugh during his blessing

Smiley boy sucking/chewing on his thumb

With my parents

With Brent's parents

                                      

Big boy!

Love that he is smiling in this one

Us with Elliot's god parents

Elliot and his godparents, Missy and Ross

At our house we had to get Elliot and his sweet cousin Hugh in their matching outfits :) 

Mamas and their boys- Thank you to Katie for taking all of the pictures at baptism for us!!

Happy Thursday!!