Freak Sock Injury

 Now for the exciting tale of Elliot's freak sock injury!

Elliot had been wearing the same pair of socks for several days- he only has a few pairs that he won't kick off so I tend to leave them on. I took them off on St. Patricks day to switch to green socks (the extent of our holiday celebration). As soon as the sock was off, I saw that his pinky toe was BRIGHT red and really swollen. A piece of string had wrapped around his toe so tightly that it cut into his skin. 

I got the string off but was worried that his toe might have been without circulation for several days. I called my friend Lakin and she was kind enough to let me come over and assure me that my baby's toe was not about to fall off. 

The toe 1 day later

The weird thing is that Elliot didn't shown any signs of pain. He even let me pick at it for a while to make sure I got all the string before starting to fuss. We got it all cleaned up and it is almost completely healed a week later. 

Hold your head up!

Elliot is getting more and more interactive at 3 months old. He laughs and cries more than he used to. He also spits up a lot more, but I think that's unrelated. 

He's gotten really good at holding his head up!

Love this little man! He looks so different with his neck exposed.

Mr. Chubby Cheeks can totally sit in his bumbo...

... for a little bit. Then he flops and starts whining. Luckily his friend Charlie was around to tuck him in. 

This video is the best laughs we have gotten on video so far:

And this is just cute:

Ward Campout

We took Elliot on his first campout! He did great! It was really cold up on the mountain, and not just for us wimpy Arizonans. It was in the 30's at night. We were all bundled up, but getting up to nurse a baby in the middle of the night in freezing weather wasn't the most fun. I dragged the sleeping bag with me, put on my coat, and sat in a camping chair that fit inside the tent. It wasn't too bad.

I thought that we would never get to use that red hat. I was proved wrong!

The campout was quite fun. We went up to a church owned girl's camp on Mt. Lemmon. They have a bunch of tent pavilions and a (heated) lodge. We played games in the lodge at night. Elliot slept in his carseat, which was convenient- we kept him with us in the lodge then carried the whole seat out to our tent at bedtime. The next day there was a Twister tournament. I have never seen such competitive Twister playing!  Things got cut throat. The Lewis' also brought some awesome nerf bows & arrows that were used dodgeball style. 

Happily munching on his carrier

Colby wanted to join the family picture

Look at those clouds!

Overall it was a success, and I'm glad we went! Maybe we'll get in some more camping trips this summer when it's less cold.

Elliot started spontaneously laughing as we drove away. I'm not sure what was so funny- he was by himself in the back seat. Maybe he liked the bumpy dirt road? Aaron reached back with his phone and managed to catch some of it on video. This is also good documentation of his new favorite hobby- drooling all over the place.

Here's a few pictures from the drive up the mountain:

He's just a little guy

Elliot is more and more fun. I love his little babbles and smiles. He is WAY more interactive now. He has slept through the night without waking up a couple of times, but most nights he wakes up once or twice. I don't mind nearly as much as I thought I would- I manage to stay mostly asleep while feeding him (except for the two 3 a.m. projectile poo incidents that caused quite the adrenaline rush) and I can sleep in if I need to. He's pretty good about letting me take him places and almost always sleeps through Zumba, which is pretty impressive considering how loud they pump the music. He's a sweet little guy!

Best Elliot smiles captured to date

Wearing a wee little vest

"Oh, dad, I love you so much"

Garden Update- February 28

We built a trellis for our grape vines. You can see the two posts on the end and a center post made out of a branch that we chopped off of our Mesquite tree and trimmed using POWER TOOLS. We used wire, which should hold up much better than last year's fishing line tied to nails in the wall. 

Carrots, Swiss Chard, and grape vine in the back. I was all sorts of doubtful about the chard, but steamed chard with vinegar has turned out to be my new favorite side dish. 

Beets & Green Onion

Little Bitty Tomatoes! They looked so big in the cups, but then we put them outside and they look tiny. 

Red onion is starting to sprout

We'll see if we actually get some strawberries from our little patch on the side of the house. It might not get enough sunlight. We shall see!

Yellow Jasmine and the Dwarf Orange tree on the right

Flowers! Lots of them!