The Smith Family Adventures

Nathan and Elias in the snow

Nathan and I thought it would be fun to take Elias on his first vacation over the three day weekend. We packed up lots of diapers, baby clothes and burp rags (along with a few things for ourselves and the kitties) and headed over the mountain to Sunriver. We are lucky enough to have a free place to stay thanks to my parents, so it was a gas only vacation cost-wise. We were ready to relax and have fun on our first vacation with our son!

This picture is mainly for Janet R. Proof that Nathan changes diapers. 🙂 He changed many diapers at this make shift diaper changing station over the weekend.

We made it to Sunriver on Friday night with relatively little problem. The normally 4 hour trip over the mountain took us 5 and a half instead. We had to stop to feed and change Elias in Sandy. We also had to stop somewhere on the mountain because Elias got lonely with only the crated kitties to keep him company in the back seat. Poor little guy. He got quite upset, but was instantly comforted when he saw us. For his first time in the car for an extended period of time, it went pretty well.

On Saturday morning we hoped to be able to play in the snow a bit. There was a good amount of snow on the deck, but unfortunately it was raining. When it was only misting we dressed Elias in his little snowsuit and took him out. He didn’t enjoy it much when we tried to sit him in the snow because he was getting rain on his face. He did enjoy it when we held him. After only about 5 minutes it started raining pretty hard so we had to go inside. Oh well.

Mommy and Elias in the snow

Most of the weekend we just relaxed and played, but we also went out to the Sunriver mall. We really wanted to go on a walk, but couldn’t really find a break in the rain. On Sunday, a sufficient break arrived and we bundled up Elias to go out. While we were out, we got stopped by some people on a scavenger hunt. They needed to take a picture of a baby. They said they would get bonus points if they were holding the baby in the picture but we denied them. We thought it was pretty funny and let them take their picture with him in the stroller. I hope they won.

Toes!

Another fun event of the weekend was Elias finding his toes. He never had really noticed his feet or toes to our knowledge. On Sunday night he was playing with us and grabbed his foot. I took his socks off and he looked very intently at his toes for a long time. He also was grasping them. Babies are so flexible! Pretty soon he’ll be able to count his toes. That will be lots of fun.

Tummy Time

Elias has pretty much hated tummy time his whole 3 months of life. It has been one of those tough love kind of activities. We do it because it is good for him. Normally he cries almost immediately when he is set on his tummy. By talking to other mothers, I have gathered that this has been pretty common since the “back to sleep” movement in the 90’s.

This morning I got an idea to put Elias on his tummy, but propped up on the boppy pillow. That way his face isn’t planted into the carpet. His neck muscles are strong enough that I thought he could handle it.

I wouldn’t say Elias loved the tummy time on the boppy….but he was definitely happier. He lasted about five minutes without getting fussy. That is a huge difference from like two seconds. He was really cute looking at his pooh bear and touching his rattles. He couldn’t quite pick anything up to play with, but he’ll get there.

Uncle Greg got Elias a onesie for his “welcome to the world” gift. It has the old tow truck from the Disney/Pixar movie Cars on it saying “Who Backfired.” Nate and I think it is hilarious, and very cute on him. Since Greg is coming over for dinner tonight we thought we’d have Elias wear it today.

Here I present what happened in a short story of words and pictures:

Page 1

Who Backfired?

Page 2

Elias did!

This one actually was not bad at all….but still enough to need to change his clothes. Poor Uuncle Greg doesn’t get to see his new outfit in action.

Nathan just figured out….Elias is 100 days old today. I could get out one of those 100 day hats that they use in kindergarten classrooms…but I think I’ll refrain.

Nathan and I wanted to go on a walk today. We saw an opportunity with a break in the weather so we started to get on all of our coats and things. By the time we made it outside it had started raining again. Oh well. It’s Oregon.

Nathan and Elias in the rain.

Elias all bundled up

Hermione....the happy kitty.

Before Elias was born, our cats liked to sleep in our room. Sometimes they slept under our bed or under the sewing machine. Sometimes they slept on our feet. The point is, they liked being near us at night. When Elias was sleeping in our room, we didn’t trust the cats so we shut them out. I wondered what they did all night, but they seemed to do fine.

Now that Elias is in his own room, our door is open again for the cats. They were in kitty heaven when they discovered they could come in again! The picture shows Hermione lounging around on our floor.

Now that Elias is 3 months old and the holidays are over, Nathan and I decided that it was time for Elias to move out…..to his own room.

Here is Elias....happy as ever. I snapped this picture to mark his first night in his own room.

He has been sleeping in a bassinet in our bedroom since we brought him home from the hospital. He has a very nice crib and mattress which are far away from Nate’s snoring…so we hoped he would get even better sleep in his own room. We were wondering if he would be bothered by the new sleeping space or the fact that he was not an arms reach from me.

Last night we put him down for sleep just as normal…except in the crib instead of the bassinet. He was really tired so he didn’t even open his eyes as we put him down. I have to admit I cried a little. It was very nerve wracking for me to let him sleep so far away. Plus our little boy is growing so fast! But I knew that it was the right time to move him.

Everything went great! Elias slept until 6:15 or so in the morning, then went back down after I fed him until 8:15 or so. He was as happy as ever when I went in to greet him in the morning. I love my little boy…and here is one more milestone to check off the list.

Our baby boy is exactly 3 months old today! He is also exactly 13 weeks today. He is such a joy!

3 months old