Taking a Stand

Elliot, Brian and I enjoyed a very relaxing weekend at home. We went to the farmer's market, ran errands, played, and ate some very tasty meals (Brian made an excellent pasta dish Saturday and gumbo Sunday night). Elliot tried several new finger foods this weekend and discovered that he likes steamed carrots, broccoli, potatoes, and pasta. I think Elliot had almost as much fun playing with his food on Saturday as he did eating it. He was easily the messiest baby on the planet and it took some serious scrubbing in the bath to remove all of the food particles.

Elliot continued to work on his standing skills over the weekend, and he is now standing for long enough periods of time for Mommy to take a picture. The black thing he is holding in the photo is a piece of his Thomas the Train push toy. He continues to cruise everywhere and can even stand up with out pulling-up on something. I won't be surprised if he is running by his birthday!

Fun and Games

Hooray for play group! Play group resumed this weekend - thanks to Elizabeth (mommy) and Henry (baby) for hosting! Elliot and I had a lot of fun with all of the babies and mommies (6 babies were in attendance). It was cool to see how much every one's grown and changed. Elliot loved playing with all of Henry's toys and exploring his play room.

The fun and games continued at home where Elliot and Daddy played with Elliot's new (gently used) Sit n' Spin. A friend of mine from work gave us the Sit n' Spin and it has been a big hit. Elliot thinks spinning is okay, but he'd rather sit next to the Sit n' Spin and spin it around with his hands or site on it and use it as a drum.

Today Elliot and I got to spend lots of quality time together while Daddy golfed. It has been a very relaxing weekend and it has been nice to spend it at home.

NY State or Bust

Our BIG road trip to NY State went very well. I think it's success was due in part to our extreme organization skills - in fact, I don't think the Farnums of Richmond have ever been more organized. I spent about three nights packing to make sure that we had everything that we would need for our big adventure and nothing more. We had a lot of luggage, most of which belonged to Elliot (pack-n-play, diapers, toys, clothes, food, stroller etc.), and no room to spare.

We set off for NY at 4:30 AM on 8/7 and 10 1/2 hours later we arrived in Rochester. We spent about 26 hours of the trip on the road - Elliot was a trooper! There was a lot to see and do - so I'll just give you Elliot's top 10 trip highlights:

1. Meeting his Great Grandmother (Farnum side) and Great Great Uncle and Aunt. Elliot even showed off by standing ON HIS OWN for them.
2. Seeing all of our friends from Brian's grad school days in California. Elliot loved meeting Anthony, Nisha, Karen, Don, Steve, Elsa, Cooper, Monica, Dave, Loida and Keith.
3. Eating at Denny's twice! This really wasn't a highlight of the trip for Mommy but Elliot seemed to really enjoy the Denny's scene.
4. Getting cool little toys from the nice ladies at the Great Clips in Albany. Elliot tagged along while Brian got his hair cut and apparently was quite the hit with the stylists.
5. Attending his first wedding and managing to keep his cute outfit clean all day long.
6. Exploring new hotel rooms and getting to take a bath in the tub at the Westin in Philadelphia.
7. Watching golf with Daddy while Mommy got a massage at a spa in Philadelphia.
8. Dinner at Morimoto's. This was more of a highlight for Mommy and Daddy - what a meal! Elliot was so good and impressed all of the wait staff.
9. Daddy picking out and buying him a new fall outfit at Macy's - a little Puma track suit.
10. Playing with Daddy and a formula can during the last hour of the drive back to Richmond.

Finishing Touches and Other Odds & Ends

Last night I received a package that I've been anxiously awaiting, custom golf cart decals from Elephannie for the golf course mural in Elliot's room. I never managed to paint golf carts and without them the cart path seemed less like a path, and more like a big white wavy line around his room. Elliot responded to the carts as soon as he noticed them by banging on the red one and pointing to others.

In addition to my quest to design the perfect nursery, I have also been busy packing for our trip to NY. Elliot has a lot of stuff! We plan to hit the road tomorrow at 4:30 AM - hopefully Elliot will sleep in the car until about 7:00. I plan to spend a good portion of the trip in the back seat with him. He has started making kiss sounds so maybe after some quality Mommy-baby car time he'll be able to blow kisses. That and we'll also work on saying "bye-bye". Tonight he did say "book", or something that sounded like "book", when were picking out a bed time story. His Aunt Stacey (the aunt with a Masters in Library Science) would be very proud if "book" turns out to be his first word. We'll see if he repeats the trick. I won't be posting from NY so check back Tuesday for pics and tales from our big trip.

A Weekend in Richmond

I feel like we haven't spent an entire weekend at home in Richmond in ages! It has been so nice and relaxing, but still filled with fun and new experience's for Elliot. On Sunday morning we hit the neighborhood farmers market and bought all sorts of yummy food. We ran into a few of Elliot's little friends and enjoyed being outside.

Later that afternoon, Allie and her mom, Audrey, came over to party plan. Elliot and Allie were born three days apart so we are having a joint birthday party. Elliot and Allie were very busy while the mommies planned. Elliot showed Allie all of the cool stuff to pull up on in his room and let her play with his toys (actually he wasn't to keen on sharing, but did anyway with no tears shed). Allie is such a cutie and we always have fun when we get together for play dates.



This morning Elliot, Brian and I (and Zsi-Zsi) took advantage of the cool temps and low humidity and went on a little hike along the James River. We are so lucky to live with in walking distance of a great park system. It was our first time taking Bumble Ride "off roading" and Elliot seemed to enjoy the adventure. He was busy pointing at everything and when he had the chance he got to feel everything too - ferns, flowers, rocks, and water. He also really liked watching Zsi-Zsi take a swim in the river.

Next weekend we will be in NY visiting friends and family. We are driving so later today we will start packing and preparing for the trip. See you later Alligator!