6 weeks (+)

Tuesday marked 6 weeks of life for Elliot...and it continues to amaze me that if I didn't have the job I have, I would have had to be back at work on Wednesday. Maternity leave (excuse me, it's not called that, it's medical leave) in the US is so crazy!  You are guaranteed your job for 6 weeks no matter where you work, and 12 weeks if you work for a large enough employer (I work for the state, so definitely a large enough employer).  My employer will also allow further parental leave for up to one year and still allow you to return to your job - but this is not mandated like the other leave, I just happen to work somewhere that allows it.  All of this leave is completely unpaid - the US is the only industrialized nation in the world, and one of only 4 nations total that have unpaid maternity leave.  Crazy.  I will be taking my full 12 weeks starting late August when the semester would be starting again for me, and then an additional 4 weeks of "parental leave" for the remainder of the fall semester (because nobody wants a new teacher taking over the class with only a few weeks left in the semester). Right now I'm just on my regular 3 months of non-paid, non-working summer time.  So, I feel lucky that I will end up getting 7 months of time with my baby before I return to work when most people only get between 1.5 and 3 months.  The academic schedule works out nicely for having babies!

Anyway, here's what we've been doing this week!

dreaming about pooping on our almost daily walk around the lake

naked play time with big brother

tummy time is so much better with a friend!

We also went to the garden store, and O was particularly excited about the skid steer that was parked in the back of the tree area.

Every summer, artists craft mini golf holes that are set up in the Sculpture Garden outside the Walker Art Center (which is quite close to our house!).  So we headed over this morning to play the front 9.

nice form!

rockin' the promotional sunglasses the museum was handing out to the kids.

One month old

I didn't get around to this last week when Elliot actually turned 1 month old, but here it is now!  He continues to be very mellow, and still only feeds once a night - too bad he decided this week that his 3ish am feeding should also be time to get up for the day, so he likes to only lightly snooze (read: grunt, kick, and fuss with intermittent bouts of sleep) until he eats again around 6 or 7am, at which point he plays for a bit and then falls soundly asleep again by 8 or 9am. And is practically comatose from the hours of 11am to 6pm. I guess he still has his days and nights a bit flip flopped...we'll get that sorted soon enough. I can't complain, this is leaps and bounds better than Owen slept and ate at this age!

Owen continues to be a great big brother - occasionally requesting I "put Elliot in the crib and come play with me Mama", but mostly being very patient when Elliot needs something and is very gentle with him.

This summer has been relatively cool so far (mid to high 20sC as opposed to mid 30sC) so it has been great for getting out and not sweltering.  We have continued our Friday night picnic tradition (and other nights as well for that matter...but always on Fridays), so here are a couple pics from our last couple picnics (Sculpture Garden and Minnehaha Falls, respectively).

Owen for scale

sleeping beauty in the stroller there...perhaps if he would ever be awake during the day he may not decide 3am is "morning"

we had water with us, but the water fountain is always way more fun!

We also had a play date with MJ, Greta, and Teddy earlier this week to run in the sprinkler and play in the sandbox (mostly the latter in Owen's case - that kid loves himself a sandbox!).  The only pictures I managed to take were when they were all preoccupied with the watermelon.

young primates gathered around their fruit

"you want melon, Mama?"

and of course Elliot was napping through all of it...

But here are some pics of him awake (it does happen...)

brothers 2

Owen continues to be a great big brother, bringing Elliot toys, and gently patting him saying "It's okay, Elliot" if E is ever fussing.  It's pretty darn sweet!

Minnie Pearl with his brother...

such a good (and insistent) helper of all things yard related!

it continues to amaze me how much E looks like O at this age.  Genetics = crazy weird stuff!

Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa came for an extended weekend visit this past weekend to meet little Elliot and have some solid play time with Owen.  Owen took full advantage, getting Grandpa to help him dig in the sandbox with all the new trucks Grandma and Grandpa toted down here in their bags (they are used to the weird looks from customs at this point), and we took full advantage of Grandma's superior weeding skillz to get our gardens back to looking decent...and sneak in a few naps of course!  It was a great visit and we are so happy they could make the trip down here!

Friday Family Picnic tradition continues with Grandparents in tow!

snuggled up with Grandpa reading

look at those new (30 year old) trucks!

getting some tips on weeding from Grandma

old man sleepy face for Grandma

Grandpa clearly didn't get the memo about wearing horizontal stripes for the photo shoot

And this afternoon, we took advantage of the sunshine to have a little run through the sprinkler!

Brothers

So far life with 2 has been going smoothly!  Owen continues to be a great big brother - alternately ignoring or wanting to help/hold/feed/play with Elliot.  He hasn't shown any signs in the way of jealousy yet, although he has been a bit more ornery, which could easily be chalked up to being 2 or the fact that he also has two more molars making their debut.  Elliot is showing himself to be the most chill baby on the planet.  We thought we had it pretty good with Owen when he was a baby (despite the crazy feeding issues in the early weeks), but Owen's chillness was nothing compared to this one...perhaps we are in for terrible teenage years.  Easy E has only been feeding once in the middle of the night (somewhere in the 2-3am range) then goes straight back to sleep until 7ish.  We'll see if this changes as he comes out of the sleepy newborn phase.  I should go knock on wood now, I've jinxed it all by putting this info out there in the world!

First family outing to the park on Saturday, where Owen, of course, only wanted to dig in the sand.

napping on Dad's lap

"who are you lookin' at?"

Owen made this nest of pillows and insisted Elliot join him

such a good big brother!

Welcome Elliot!

Elliot Alfred Iredale Fox arrived Tuesday, June 17 at 4:41pm.  He weighed in at 6lb 12oz (almost an entire pound bigger than Owen was!) and 20.5 in long.  Delivery went smoothly, we left the house at 1:40pm to head to the hospital and spent a "whopping" total of 3 hours in the hospital before he arrived - I got a spinal block after 2 hours of contractions coming every 2 minutes - with several double and triple peaked contractions in there for good measure (never actually got the full epidural because I delivered about an hour after the block was put in and the NP arrived with the epidural medication about 2 pushes from birth) and it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  Such a different experience than Owen's birth - actually kind of enjoyable it was so calm.  The delivery room went from being this very intense place to being a comedy club in the span of 10 minutes!
Anyway, enough on that.  Here's what you actually want...pictures!

in labour!  This was pre painful labour...about 11am

every newborn needs one weird photo face!

there is lots of hair under that hat!

sleepy baby!

long toes!

see all that hair!?!?

looking a lot like his older brother at this age!

proud papa!

happy mama!

content baby!

 Owen stayed Tuesday night with our friends Brian and Tiffany (whom he LOVES!!) and had a great time with them.  We arrived home Wed evening about 7:30pm from the hospital, and Dave went and picked Owen up to bring him home to meet his brother.  Owen was VERY excited to meet Elliot and talked the whole way home about him apparently!  When he got in the door he ran in and gave me a hug and immediately asked where Elliot was.  Then they had a little sit on the couch together and Owen was a very proud big brother and kept wanting to rub noses with Elliot, just like the Woodsey family does in his books...it was very cute!  He also kept trying to share his toys (turns out 1 day olds don't really play with skid steers...) and asked if Elliot could sleep with him last night (sorry, no - babies can't sleep in the big bed...which Owen has been consistently sleeping in for the past 2 weeks now!).  This morning he wanted to "read" to Elliot.  I think he is going to do just fine as a big brother!

nose rub!

all my boys!

Owen-ism

We must have heard some Nancy Sinatra recently to start this off, but here's our conversation last night:

Dave: beds are made for sleeping
Me: and boots are made for walking! (ha!)
Owen: What, Mama?  (oh, Owen, one day you'll appreciate my humour and our banter!)
Me:  boots are made for walking and beds are made for sleeping
Owen: Nooooooo
Me: yes!  beds are made for sleeping in
Owen: Nooooooo
Me: Well then, what are beds made for?
Owen: looking out the window!

ah, this explains a lot about bedtime recently...

And some pics from daycare for your viewing pleasure.

all lined up for post nap snack! (O on right)

 After breakfast, they do a little bit of "school time" where all the kids sit and learn various things depending on the week (colours, numbers, days of the week, letters, etc.)

looking very thoughtful for class time  

In the sandbox with Finn.  Finn is one of his best friends at daycare.  They like to nap beside each other every day, and whoever wakes up first apparently likes to secretly try to wake the other up to play!

on his maquina (machine).  He loves that John Deere hat!

blocks and puzzles with Melissa!