Brought to you by the Number 32

Happy birthday, Andrea!

Today you're:

I've known you since you were:

That means I've know you for this many years!:

And I've loved everyone one of them. I hope today is wonderful for you.

Zillows

I made Zillows for Elliot and his cousin, Jack, for Christmas. Zillows are from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, There's a Wocket in my Pocket. The last page in the book says:

But the ZILLOW

On my PILLOW

Always helps me fall asleep.

It was a fun, creative project for me to make up what a Zillow might look like. And god knows, Elliot needs all the help he can get sleeping!

Merry Christmas, Elliot and Jack. We had a wonderful day at Grandpa G and Amuma's house together. And I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day, too!

Amuma Love

Elliot loves his Amuma.

Amuma loves her Elliot.

Last night Debbie told us the story of her Amuma, Elliot's great-Amuma, Delores Echeverria. The story goes that her husband came to the states from the Basque country to herd sheep and make money to send back for his wife and their son, Leo, to join him. He did make it to Idaho, and he did make money herding sheep, but he did not send it back to help bring his wife and son to join him. Instead he spent it on the local "sporting gal." When the money never came, Delores set out to make her own money to get her and her son to the states. She worked as a wet nurse, maid, and cook and got enough to pay their way. They came through Ellis Island and made it all the way to Idaho, where the story goes that upon their arrival her husband had the nerve to point out the sporting gal that had gotten all of his money! Amuma, who was obviously one tough cookie, "chased that gal all the way to California." She and her husband then settled in Idaho to raise their children and love on their grandchildren.

Elliot's Amuma has great memories of her Basque Amuma singing to her and cooking for her, all of the things Debbie loves to do for her grandsons. Elliot is so lucky to have such a wonderful Amuma.

Travelin' Buddies

Today was a big day... Elliot's first plane trip! And he did so amazingly good. He was fun and interactive and interested and played and nursed and slept. He was such a fun buddy to travel with. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the day. I look forward to a long life of travels with my little guy. He is just the best.

When the Cat's Away...

Andrea has been pushing and pushing to get Elliot's picture taken with Santa, and I've been humming and hawing, not really sure if that was a tradition that I wanted to latch on to. But then... while I was stuck at work all day, Andrea planned a covert mission and when I got home from work I found this, framed and sitting on the coffee table:

My god, look at that hilarious child! Now that we have this picture, I love it and I'm so glad his first Christmas didn't pass by without it. Nice job, you sneaky little mice!

Babies Have It So Easy

While his Mama worked hard packing all of his things for our trip to Boise, Elliot got to just lounge around on the bed. Lucky baby!

Happy Birthday, Nana

Here are a few things I keep close to remind me of you each day...

A picture of you as a baby.

A beautiful sewing thing that you wore around your neck when you were little. It still has some old needles and a thimble of yours in it.

Your old lunch bag. I take it to work with me.

The nut grinder that I loved using when we would make cookies together when I was a little girl.

I think all of my Nana things are so special. I hope you had a wonderful day today. I love you so much.

Elliot's First Hanukkah

With Christmas music playing in the background (we're multicultural in this family), Elliot's Spiritual Guardian, Annika, introduced Elliot to his first Hanukkah. She made the most delicious latkes.

Elliot was way into it.

He and his Mama could hardly stand it as they waited for Annika to finish cooking.

While we all waited, Annika told us the story of Hanukkah. (She told it from memory and I dictated quickly. We both apologize if any part of the story is a bit off.)...

"Once upon a time, the Maccabees (who were Jews) were fighting a terrible, terrible war. I don't remember against who, but it was terrible. After they won the war, they came back down the hill from the where they had been fighting and found their city destroyed, including their synagogue. For the Jews, academics are very important and in those days all of the learning happened in the synagogue. They knew they had to rebuild it, so they set about digging through the rubble looking for oil to light the way. In the rubble they found one day's worth of oil, but when they lit it in the lamp it lasted for 8 days, allowing them time to rebuild their temple. And that's the story of Hanukkah!"

Soon the laktes were done. We had plenty of applesauce and sour cream to put on them. Yum!

Annika was very proud of herself, as she should be.

Sadly, Elliot had to go to bed before he could hear Annika read "Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins," but Andrea and I sure enjoyed it.

It was a lovely first Hanukkah for Elliot. Andrea and I are committed to positioning people in Elliot's life that he can trust to help guard and guide him on his journey through life. Annika is charged as his Spiritual Guradian, helping to foster a lifetime of spirit and spirituality in him. This Hanukkah celebration was the perfect step on that journey. Thank you, SG, and happy Hanukkah!

O Tannenbaum

I knew I definitely wanted a Christmas tree for Elliot's first Christmas, but we didn't want to spend the money on one and we'll be gone for a week to Boise to celebrate Christmas with Andrea's family before Elliot's Nan (my mom) comes here for our Christmas, so it seemed like a waste to buy one and just let it dry out. So my brilliant idea was to go up to Mt. Tabor, the beautiful forested park that we live at the bottom of, and gather some branches to "build" a Christmas tree. Well... it's either been too cold or too wet or we've been too sick. There's been no going up Tabor for us for a while now. So I decided to be creative with what I had in my own back yard... a big, beautiful tree and some hedge clippers.

I chopped down some branches and brought them inside. I was sure they would make a great tree. Elliot loved exploring them.
I put a box over a bucket of water.

I cut a whole in a box.
I put the tree in the box.
We decorated the tree.
This one used to belong to my grandparents, Nana and Bapa.
And this is an angel from Nan that we used to top our tree.

And here it is... Elliot's first Christmas tree! The picture doesn't do it justice (I can't wait until Santa Nan brings our new camera!). It is really very sweet. It smells yummy and looks pretty and even has a present under it already. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

One Plop or Two

Most weekends we make a whole batch of baby foods for Elliot's week, but it used to be primarily sweet potatoes and bananas. Now he's starting to eat so many new things it makes the baby food-making so much more fun! Here's the before shot... all of his yummy foods: carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, dinosaur kale, and oatmeal.

This is the equivalent of us licking the cookie batter off the spoon.

Elliot liked it so much he literally lunged to get another lick. His SG, Annika, thinks he's so cleaver!
The after shot: kale, sweet potatoes, prunes, and pears. Delicious!

The last thing we'll do is freeze it into cubes. When Andrea was a baby, her parents called those little baby food cubes "plops," which is so dang cute we of course call them plops now, too. Elliot eats 2-3 plops, 2-3 times a day. We usually do a mixture, like two oatmeals and a prune or two sweet potatoes and a kale. It's so satisfying to make his food for him. It feels so healthy and nourishing. It's a lot of work, but worth it. Thanks so much for the New Season's gift card, Nan. All of this today was because of you!

I Heart Rojo

Today was the big holiday party I throw every year for all of the client families I work with. The highlight of this year's party... Rojo the Llama! Yes, that's right. A llama. But not just any llama, a very special THERAPY llama. You know, like a therapy dog who goes to a hospital to cheer up the patients? Well, this is a LLAMA who goes around to different community locations and events to spread cheer. He is gorgeous and sweet and soft and gentle and he makes everyone smile. We were so lucky to have Rojo join us today. By far, the best work event I've ever thrown.

One Little Monkey, Jumping on the Bed

Ugh... sickness round 2 hit our house this week. Andrea and I were both down for the count. Luckily, Elliot has stayed healthy. Unluckily, he's had two sick Mamas (thanks to Annika for coming to take care of us all on Wednesday night!).

Needless to say, I was dragging as I made our lunches and got bottles ready last night in preparation for today. Andrea was upstairs putting laundry away (the never ending battle). I could hear Elliot, who was upstairs with her, squealing with delight. I finished what I was doing, climbed the stairs, and found this lovely sight:

He was sitting in his crib, squealing at his little stuffed animals. Smiling, shrieking, so so so happy!

Then, just when I thought he couldn't get any happier, he started flapping his arms and making himself bounce up and down!

How is it possible that he keeps getting cuter and cuter?!?!?? I just love this little baby!