Turkey Day With the Ellis Clan!

Auntie Liz came to Vegas with her family for Thanksgiving. We had a blast! Here are some pics of the kids. The Ellis' loved the time-out cage at our friends house! Crazy kids! Grace and Hank Chill in the pack n' play in our crouded apartment. They loved playing together.

Scott plays tag with his dad in the park. Yes it really was t-shirt weather over Thanksgiving. Thanks for visiting. We miss you already!

Something Funny Happened on the Way to the (baby) Forum

Hank is doing just fine, we haven't posted for a few months because things got very hectic with Hank's surgery and the new semester.

Hank has begun pulling himself up on furniture and cruising around the living room. this has required a whole new level of baby proofing at our house! The other day at day care he was pulling himself up on an exersaucer and ended up pulling it over onto himself. This would have been eventful enough by itself, but another, larger baby was in the exersaucer at the time. I got there right after it happened and Hank was sitting on the floor with a self-satisfied smile on his face and the day care staff standing around him in a circle staring at the scene. The other baby was ticked off but unhurt and Hank got some extra attention.

Tomorrow is Hank's last day at the daycare, then his daddy will be taking care of him at home. We've been talking about something like this for the last few months as our schedules were getting very over-crowded and neither of us were spending as much time as we wanted with the baby. We've also been dissatisfied with Hank's current child care setting but better options are either prohibitively expensive, have very long waiting lists that give priority to families with multiple children or both. I could go on about the problems with child care in this area, but we'll save that for another blog.

I'll post some pictures when I get home tonight.

Hank's First Halloween

Hank dressed up as a dinosaur for his first Halloween, like his cousins before him. This picture was taken at the Halloween Carnival at my library. Mama had a good time showing off her very own "Hankasaurus!"

Nevada Day: The Holiday We Celebrate By Getting out of Nevada!

We drove 10 hours straight to Grandma and Grandpa Great's place in Mexico for a little vacation over Nevada Day weekend. Hank slept like a champ most of the way. w00t! Here's Hank with his daddy just after sunrise on the beach.

Grandma Great dries Hank off after his first dip in the icy Pacific Ocean. Brrr.

Chillin' at the beach house.

Grandma Great gave Hank this doll. His name is Joe and Hank loves his baby.

Visiting the Fam in Seattle

We flew to Seattle for a short visit with friends and family over Mama's brithday. Jeff Introduces Hank to the wonder that is the TiVo remote.

Lookin shifty with Uncle Austin

Hangin' on the UW Campus (Greig Glade) with the Sarah and Simon.

Dinner with Uncle Ben. Be afraid Hank, be very afraid.

Gettin' surly with Uncle Chuck.

Toothless No More!

Hank cut his first tooth after 2 days of fussy fury. We are all relieved and waiting for the next one to strike!

Goin' to the Dr.

Hank had his 6-month check up nearly 3 weeks ago now. He's still long and very skinny with a relatively normal head :) He loves the paper on the exam table!

Here's our little guy at home. He's started crawling on his belly commando style and rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. He'll be crawling properly any day now!

And now the pictures

Sorry these took so long. Here are some pics from that trip to visit the cousins!
Here he is with Laura, Simon and Scott. The older kids came in and woke us up earl-y in the morning, what fun!

Little Sarah is all done with her breakfast!

After Auntie Liz's 80s (NOT 80th!) Birthday party, Hank tries to solve his first Rubik's cube.

Laura is getting so mature! Here she is helping out with Hank at the mall.

Not to be out-done, Simon gets in on the action.

I got my ears pierced for the first time, thanks to peer pressure and an Orange Julius (thanks ladies!) Laura held my hand the whole time and got to hand out suckers to all the kids (except Hank, he just got his bottle, poor guy) If I look sweaty and disheveled, it's because I am.

Here's a slightly blurry, but very cute cousin Grace the first (Hank has 2 cousins named Grace)

Meeting the Cousins

Well, we (Hank and Mama) went to visit aunties and cousins (and 1 uncle) in Utah. We had a good time, but not much sleep. Hank had his pacifier stolen something like 50 times in 4 days! He is getting more coordinated by the day. Pics to come.

I'd be so delicious!

If you were a dingo snack, would you eat yourself? I know I would. Hank would too. That's a meek dingo on his shirt - and where are its legs? Maybe it ate itself.

In unrelated news, fatherhood is wonderful.

What a cute boy!

I don't know how we stand it.

Lets Do Lunch

On Hank's daycare days (T-R) I pick him up on my lunch break and we walk over to the coffee shop on the other side of the parking lot. The staff there are all very familiar with our little routine. I buy a bagel and a drink and we sit down in the most comfortable chair available and nurse. I cover up with a blanket and no one seems to mind.

This week Hank has learned a new trick. When we sit down, we usually have a little play time if he isn't too hungry. Big smiles and kisses and all that. Well, this week he has taken to laughing, trilling and shrieking maniacally when we play. So the coffee shop regulars who were used to a quiet cooing newborn are now treated to a relatively loud bouncing baby! This doesn't last long as Hank settles down to eat after a couple minutes of this and I haven't gotten any disdainful looks just yet. It's such a nice, convenient, air conditioned little place, hopefully we won't wear out our welcome!

Food and Visitors

Hank has got a pretty firm handle on eating mush now. So far his diet includes:
1. Breastmilk
2. Rice Cereal with Breastmilk
3. Mashed Bananas
4. Mashed Sweet Potatoes

His Uncle Drew and Aunt Mandy came to visit for the weekend and got to see Hank for the first time. We had a wild time and now we're all tired and getting back into our routine.

He's a baby of many faces.

He Eats!

We took Hank to the Pediatrician's office for his 4 month check up. He's in the 75th percentile for height (daddy is very proud of this for some reason) 25th for weight, 50th for head circumference and he did not have an ear infection. W00t! His Dr. gave the go-ahead to start solids so here he is, not too sure about all this "food" business.



Here's the happy (and messy) result!

Hey you, the one with the kid(s)!

Okay, so maybe you've already found this site but I've just discovered Easy Kids Recipes. Check it out!

Poor Baby!!!

Our Hank is feelin' poorly lately. He seems to have a cold and possibly an ear infection (again!) We're going to the Pediatrician's office tonight so we should find out what's going on with him. Sad, sad baby!

LOLBABY!!!!!!!

And Then There Were Pictures

Hank and Papa at the Bellagio. Deluxe!

Fast Times

It's hard to believe that Hank is already four months old (tomorrow). He's rolling around a fair bit and gumming anything he can cram into his little mouth, including both hands!

Papa (my dad) came to visit this last weekend and enjoyed the baby very much. Papa had a great time and got to "see the sin" just like he wanted. Apparently Nana (my mom) is quite jealous. We were not fit for public consumption when she came right after Hank was born, so she mostly got to see the white walls of our apartment and her book.

We'll have vital statistics when Hank has his Dr. appointment next week.