Monday, May 31, 2010

Family Time

Forgot to let you know... we've gone to Bosie for the week to honor the death and celebrate the life of Andrea's Aitxitxia (that's Grandpa, in Basque).  We are wrapping ourselves up in some good family time.  I'll tell you all about it when we return home.  xoxo.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

DIY: Bum Panel Pants For Cloth Diapers

Elliot's had a bit of a problem lately.  See, he's a big guy (27.10 pounds at one year) made even bigger by his awesomely huge cloth diapered bum.  But, even though he's the size of a two year old (he literally wears 24 month clothes), he's only developmentally a one year old. He's still crawling and moving like a one year old.  He still needs stretchy one year old pants made out of soft, knit fabric.  But all of the pants made for 24 month olds (toddlers who are up and running around and have shed most of their baby fat) are made out of denim and stiff cotton.  There's no stretch to them at all.  Can you imagine how uncomfortable it would be to try and crawl in jeans stretched tight around a gigantic bum?!?  So, out came my sewing machine.  

True to the Mixed Baby Greens philosophy, I went to the thrift store and got a bunch of men's x-large solid colored t-shirts and cut them up to make repurposed pants for Elliot.  There are ton of how-to blogs and websites that tell you how to do such a thing.  Here's my first try:


Cute, stretchy, and comfortable, but not too roomy.  So I tried again:
This time I added an extra bum panel.  This seemed to give Elliot just the extra room he and his cloth diaper needed (what do you think...? Is this the launch of my Baby Got Back line??).

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that Elliot was interested enough in my sewing that he wanted to sit on my lap and watch. 
A future sewer in the making??  Oooh, I do hope so!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Last Birthday Post

I promise.  This is the last about Elliot's birthday (well, at least until next weekend when Hilary throws him another birthday bash while her mom is visiting!).  But here I am, it's a rainy Sunday evening and I am still in my pajamas... I repeat: I AM STILL IN MY PAJAMAS!  Celebrating and visitors and overeating have come to an end, and today I have just rested.  Lots of playing on the floor and some sewing for Elliot and not much more.  A perfect way to end the party.

But there is one more thing I wanted to share that I hope we make our new tradition.  One of the most fun parts of his birthday weekend at the beach was that the menu--for the whole weekend!-- was designed entirely around his favorite foods.  Here it is.  Elliot's birthday menu:

Friday Happy Hour: homemade hummus with zucchini sticks and crackers
Friday Dinner: homemade pizza with tomato, zucchini and goat cheese
Saturday Breakfast:  oatmeal pancakes and cantaloupe
Saturday Lunch: almond butter and jelly sandwiches, strawberries, pirates booty and pirate corn stix
Saturday Birthday Treat: vegan banana cupcakes with vegan banana frosting
Saturday Dinner: sweet potato chicken enchiladas and chips and guacamole
Sunday Breakfast: baby zucchini cakes and scrambled eggs

Mmmmm... Elliot sure does know how to eat.  My birthday is next in September.  I better start planning the menu now!

Big City Adventure

I absolutely love cities.  A vacation in San Francisco, New York, Paris or Barcelona is my idea of a good time.  Tall buildings, bustling streets, city art and public transit systems are all exciting and interesting to me.  And sometimes I take for granted that Portland has all of those things--it really is a "city."  My dad, visiting from a tiny town on Maui, had a great first trip to downtown Portland with Elliot and I.  We rode the bus, the MAX train, we got lunch at a cafe and ate in a "park" nestled in between the buildings, visited my office, and then hit the zoo.  Elliot slept through the zoo part, but loved all the rest of our adventure.  And his Papa loved it too!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Learning Through Play

For Elliot's actual birth day celebration, Andrea and I took him to the children's museum for the first time. 
There were, of course, a ton of amazing things to explore--a whole baby area, a grocery store, magnets, lights and shadows, a performance stage, an entire water room.  But I thought the best part was the clay studio.  It was really big and had a whole area of tables low to the ground with clay on them especially for the wee ones to explore.  Turns out Elliot really likes to squeeze clay... HARD.  The older kids had higher tables and an unlimited amount of clay and tools.  For a few dollars you can glaze and fire your piece, or you can just sit and squeeze and sculpt to your heart's content without any commitment.  The museum was full of photos documenting kids at play, with gentle instructions for the adults with them on how to engage in and facilitate the child's play.  I loved it.  That's the kind of stuff that excites me.  It makes me miss being a preschool teacher.  And it makes me miss all of the academic work I've done studying children's play.  There's just something about it that turns my brain on and keeps me energized and engaged.  Children's play and how they use it as a learning tool.  That's my thing.  What's yours?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Cozy Coup

Elliot got this walking toy, called a Cozy Coup, for Christmas from his Great Nana.  It's been perfect during this early phase of his walking development, except that he hasn't quite gotten the hang of turning.  He starts out walking across the room and ends whenever he's crashed head on with whatever is straight in front of him.  As you can imagine, it's less than satisfying for his eager walking needs.  Solution: the wide open beach.  
Oh, happiness!  He could just go and go and go, until his little legs could go no more.  Ah, the beach.  Perfect in so many ways. 

Rockaway Beach

Some of my favorite moments of Elliot's birthday weekend were the times he spent on the beach with his Nan and Papa.  It was so special that both my mom (from San Francisco) and dad (from Maui) came to be with us.  His Amuma and Grandpa on Andrea's side weren't able to make it, but we talked about how much they would have both loved the beach house.  Maybe some day we'll have pictures with each of them to add to this collection.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Wow

My baby is One Year Old.  It is most difficult to believe.  We are almost done with the celebrating (my dad is still visiting and there is still one celebration at the end of the month),  but so far we have been lucky enough to enjoy:

a special birthday day with just the three of us.
a sun-filled grandparent-loving weekend at the Oregon Coast.
birthday cupcakes.
special friends. 
many facebook, email and voicemail birthday wishes.
and lots of reminiscing about how Elliot entered this world and all of the amazing things he has learned to do in just one short year.  

I have so much to share with all of you.  Hopefully, little bits will come out over this next week.  But, for now, this birthday-celebrating Mumma is T-I-R-E-D!  So I'll leave with a few sweet pics of Elliot on his special day and a promise to share more soon.  Here's to many more years filled with all the speicialness that comes with a first-birthday celebration!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Elliot's Birth Day

Today is Elliot's birthday.  He was born on May 13th, 2009, at 2:45pm, weighing 8 pounds 8 ounces.  Lots of other moms who keep mom-blogs use their site as a venue to track their growing belly and record their birth story.  Since I didn't start blogging until Elliot was a few months old, I never had the opportunity to write down my version of Elliot's birth.  But I think today, the celebration of that special day, is the right time for me to do it.  So, here goes... Elliot's birth story.


Elliot was conceived on the very first try, something that almost never happens when two Mamas try to have a baby.  We were very lucky!  Using an unknown donor, I was inseminated by my naturopath, who was also our labor doula.  You could say she was there with Elliot from start to finish.


I had what I remember to be a wonderful pregnancy.  I was only really uncomfortable for the last two weeks.  I loved my big round belly.  I had never had such a good body image as when I was pregnant.  It was, by far, the most incredible thing to know that I was growing a person in my belly.  
I was given a due date of May 26th, but I always thought I'd go until sometime in the first week of June.  You can imagine how surprised we were when my water broke at around 11pm on MAY 11th!  Andrea and Annika were both home.  I remember calling out from the bathroom... "Um, hello?  I think my water just broke," and not hearing anything back but silence for what seemed like a looonng time.  Then they both came running into the bathroom with lots of "whats?!?" and "reallys??!?"  I remember Annika saying over and over, "But, does this mean your going to have the baby?!"


We were admitted to the hospital later that night and began what was, in total, a 40 hour birth journey.  I like to think that I've experienced every kind of labor and birth that one can experience (with the exception of the actaul vaginal delivery).  During those 40 hours, I did it all:

-I had an amazing birth team (my beloved Andrea, the amazing Annika, and my naturopath/doula Molly) who helped me through:
-27 hours of contractions
-dilation to a full 10 cm, during which time I,
-had IV antibiotics every 4 hours for group B strep
-continuous heart monitoring
-internal fetal monitoring
-used the ball and the squat bar
-was in the birthing tub
-was in the shower, being massaged with a shower hose
-walked the labyrinth 
-then I finally had an epidural
-then pitocin
-then I pushed for 4 hours
-was catheterized 
-puked
-did yoga to try and turn the baby who was sunnyside up
-and, finally, got ready for a c-section
We were very lucky that Elliot never showed any signs of distress for the entire labor.  If he had, we would have obviously decided on a c-section sooner.  But, as is true to his nature, he was just right there with me, being a part of all that was happening, holding on and quietly "observing."  Which left us all of the time we wanted to allow me to labor and for us to make calm decisions about our labor journey.  But then Dr. Tom, our most-wonderful midwife, finally said, "You are exhausted.  And I think the baby is stuck."  We all agreed.


A few hours later, Elliot was born by c-section.  Because he essentially ran a marathon for 40 hours with no food, his blood sugar was super low.  I nursed him in the recovery room shortly after he was born, then he was taken to the special care nursery to be with Andrea and I was transfered to a room to be cared for by Annika.  Coming down off of all of those c-section drugs was terrible and I was so glad that I had someone to take care of me.  And you can imagine how relieved I was that Andrea was by Elliot's side every minute of the first 24 hours.  When I was finally taken to nurse him later that first night, I held him in my arms and cried (then puked all of the jello and apple juice they fed me after the surgery all over the nurse). 
The next day we were all united in one room.  Elliot still needed his blood sugars checked regularly and was given supplemental formula, so we all just hung out in the room for a few days.  I was also really sore and still pumped full of the left over surgery meds plus new pain killers, so I was in no shape to leave.  My ankles swelled up as big as my thighs and I couldn't walk very well and was still bleeding a lot (it actually took me a full five weeks after the surgery to be free of pain and regain some normalcy to my strength and stamina).

The thing we spent most of our time on over those few days after Elliot was born was trying to figure out what his name was.  We went to the hospital with four choices: Jonah, Seamus, Elliot and Edan.  It's obviously the main question everyone asks you in the hospital, so all of the nurses and midwives knew what our four choices were.  Unfortunately, there was some disagreement amongst us which name should be on the top of the list...even after he was born.  Then on that first day, when he was in the special care nursery, I went in to breastfeed and one of the nurses had written the name Jonah on the board in his room!  I got totally freaked out and made them remove it right away.  I hadn't even seen my baby's soft knees or felt the roundness of his belly, let alone figured out what his name was!  Needless to say, it was erased and we spent the next few days trying out each of the four options, scratching all of them, starting a new list, then, on day three, deciding with certainty that this new being's name was Elliot Patrick Geraghty.  Here he is at his naming ceremony.  Peacefully becoming who he is.

And here his is one year later.  
This sweet baby boy.  Never did I believe my life, or all of life, would change so much with your arrival.  But I am so glad it has.  I love the world with you in it, Elliot.  

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Quintessential Baby

There's something so classic to me about a baby going over to the bottom drawer in the kitchen, opening it on their own, and emptying all of the tupperware out of it with a twinkle in their eye and a squeal on their lips.  Right now, it's one of Elliot's favorite games.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

We Did It

We had our first mother's day, and it was just perfect.  All of the things you would expect... delicious brunch, mimosas, a lot of walking in the gorgeous sunny weather, and....

...WE GOT ELLIOT'S HAIR CUT!!!!
We ended up taking him to Rudy's and put his name on the list.  Angela was the person who called his name.  I walked up to her and said, "Are you into doing 'baby's first haircut?'"  She said, "Sure!"  One strawberry lolly, two Mama's, one Spiritual Guardian, one giant mirror, and lots of punk rock music and pictures on the wall all made for one perfectly content little boy getting his very first hair cut.  It all worked out just fine.  And, as you can imagine, he is oh-so-cute,

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Yes, Indeed

Eliot's walking.  This was him just this past weekend.  All of a sudden, standing up and walking with his push toys.  Like it was no big deal.  Smiling at us all the way.
Then... tonight... two steps on his own.  Twice.  No push toys involved.  It took our breath away.  We gasped and screeched and laughed and clapped.  Theoretically, I've always thought that each developmental milestone was as important and special as the one before it.  But this walking milestone really is all it's cracked up to be.  Wow.  His little body, moving all on it's own.  With intention and coordination.  It's the same as all of his other accomplishments, but so much more.  I can't believe this little sweet thing will be one year old next week.  He's walking and communicating.  He's happy and healthy.  He's just an absolute joy.  

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

You Know Your Baby Needs His First Haircut When....

You have to put a barrette in to keep his bangs out of his eyes.
Andrea and I committed well before Elliot was born that we wouldn't give him any choppy home hair cuts.  But now that it's time for him to actually have his first cut, it's not as easy as it once seemed.  I have always wanted him to have his first haircut at Rudy's.  Seems fittingly Portland for baby to have his first do from a punk rock, hipster shop.  But now Andrea's thinking that they can't just cut a baby's hair because we think it's fun for them, but that instead he needs to go to a place that specializes in cutting children's hair.  Terrible places.  Places with movies playing at every station and seats made to look like barbie cars.  Places with terrible names like Kuts for Kids or Kiddie Kuts.  Gag.  First of all, I totally get the need to distract him and keep him still while the person is wielding a sharp cutting instrument around his little baby head, but can't we use mirrors and books to distract him instead?  (Or am I just being too much of a hippy and making a big deal out of this?).  And my second biggest problem is the naming of these so-called children's establishments.  If, in fact, you are a child-focused place intent on supporting the development of the children you serve, don't you think it's important to model for them correct spelling??!?!?  Kuts is NOT spelled with a K!  (And, yes.  I am on my soapbox here.)  We used to live by a childcare center called Kiddie Kollege.  Can you believe that?!  It's enough to make me pack us all up and move to the mountains, live off the grid, and only expose Elliot to novels and things that grow out of the dirt.  But I digress.  Back to the issue of our son wearing barrettes (which I think is just about the CUTEST thing, by the way)... I recognize that we need to take care of this problem.  Maybe I'll call Rudy's today and just ask if they cut children's hair.  Or maybe we'll break down, give him a lolly, and do the snipping ourselves.  I continue to be surprised at how all of these little things that pop up in parenting totally catch me by surprise.  Is it really that big of a deal to give him his first cut? Was your baby's first haircut this big of an issue for you?