It’s the Dawsons!

Ok, so we’re all a bit embarassed here at the Dawson house at how long it has taken to post an update to the site.  It has been a busy 2+ months here and despite good intentions, updates just didn’t make our daily to-do list.  It’s a new year and we hope to show better dedication in giving updates and information about our lovely little family.

As for Ms. Elliott, things have been changing rapidly for her.  She is developing at an alarming pace and it is hard to believe that the little lump we held those first few months is now able to do so much.  Watching her change and grow is one of the best parts of our day as she seems to learn something new every day. 

Since we last posted, she moved on to “normal” crawling after scooting around for six weeks, she’s standing up on everything and walks along furniture like an expert.  Her vocabulary is growing slowly, it currently consists of: “hi,” “Dada,” “santa,” and “baby.” If you listen closely, you’ll hear an “hi Dada” during the video.  She is an extremely affectionate little girl and gives kisses to everyone, especially her stuffed animals.  She will also dance to anything with the slightest beat and delights us with funny noises and faces all the time.

Please enjoy the video of our little Ms. Elliott showing just a bit of her new found skills.

So we’ve gone on and on about how happy our baby is, but we’ve only heard Elliott truly laugh a few times.  When she does, it is usually for just a second or two.  That all changed last night.  I picked her up before bath time and pulled off her socks.  Without really thinking about it, and because having a baby makes you do silly things, I put her socks to my nose and exclaimed, “P-U!” like her socks were stinky.

Elly lost it.  She started laughing like a mad woman.  Total hysterical laughter.  I recoiled from the stinky socks and did the “P-U” bit again - more laughter.  Molly and Brett are in town and were in disbelief.  Kari was in the bedroom and came running in to witness it.  She then grabbed the video camera to capture some of the laughter. 

Enjoy.

So our little girl is motoring all over the house.  She’s still scooting, but will get up on her hands and knees in the traditional crawling position and is thinking about doing it the right way.  I’m sure one day it’ll just click.  For your viewing pleasure, check out another video of Ms. Elliott going up and down the hallway from the carpet’s point of view .

I can barely believe as I write this that our little girl has now been in this world a half a year!  I remember holding that little peanut in my arms, and now she’s turning into this little kid with a big personality.

Look at me! I'm a big kid!

Elliott had her 6-month checkup at the pediatrician on Monday. Our “little” girl now weighs 15 pounds, 11 ounces and is 27.5 inches long.  That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and 95th for length.  She is still long and lean and is just fitting into her size 3-6 month clothes.

She's long and lean!

On that note, I still have troubles getting her into clothes that fit. Her waist fits into size 3-month pants, but they come up to her ankles. If I put her in 6-month pants, they are great in the length, but jumbo in the waist.

This last month has been a big one developmentally for Elle. She is sitting up so nicely on her own now. She is also a crawling machine. She’s not actually crawling on her knees yet, but is doing more of an “Army scoot.”  Still, that girl can wiggle her way across the room in the blink of an eye. The doctor said there’s a good chance she’ll be walking by Christmas–YIKES.

Look at me go! I'm a crawler now!

Miss Elly also has her two bottom teeth coming up. As a result, she is a drool machine.  And, as always, everything she gets her hands on goes directly into her mouth.

Now that I have teeth coming in, EVERYTHING goes into my mouth.

After her doctor’s appointment, we also started Elliott on real foods. The doctor advised us to start slowly with the variation of foods, and so far, so good. She really seemed to like the butternut squash (and kept most of it in her mouth) and had a pretty good experience with cereal and pears too. Next on the agenda:  green beans and carrots. Yum.

Mmmmmm.......squash.

Our baby is such a joy. I can’t properly describe her happy, loving, and wonderful personality. Just thinking of her warms my heart. Sometimes she’ll wake us up at 3 a.m. or throw a minor fit at night….and we really don’t care.  We just look at that beautiful little face and know that our lives are complete.  I can’t imagine what our lives were like without her in them.

Dad and Elly

In the past few weeks, Elliott has been rolling from back to tummy and back again and has become increasingly mobile in terms of spinning herself around and rolling after things she’s interested in.  Well, at just over five months and two weeks old, she took the next big leap forward tonight.  Take a look at this video and watch Ms. Elliott show some determination in getting to the newspaper…

It’s official. Our little baby is becoming a little girl.  We can’t believe all of the changes and progress she’s made in the last few weeks.

Elliott had her 4-month checkup at the doctor last week.  Our girl now weighs just under 14 pounds (more than double her birth weight!) and is 26.5 inches long.  That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height! According to Dr. Dominski, Elliott is going to be one tall lady!   As she’s grown, she’s also moved on to bigger clothes sizes.  Elliott finally fits into her 3-month outfits….at least in the length…and she’s graduated to size 2 diapers!

I'm so tall! My feet finally touch the floor in my jumperoo!

Elle also had round #2 of vaccinations.  Poor kid.  She howled for about five minutes after the shots, but like last time, Dad comforted her and everything was OK…..until I brought her back home.   Elliott screamed for about an hour.  Finally, I fed her and rocked her to sleep. Infant Tylenol was also a big help.  She did well the rest of the night, but it was a little trickier than usual to get her to bed.  But, today she was back to her bubbly self.

Super baby!

I still maintain that Elliott is the happiest baby in the world. She spends 98% of her awake time smiling. Whenever I’m having a lousy day or feel down on my luck, I look at that little face and know everything is right in the world.  And she’s such a funny baby, too. Just this week she’s begun putting her toes in her mouth. (Check out the video of that.) She also rolls from front to back AND back to front….although she never lets us catch it on camera!

Elliott working on getting her toes in her mouth!

She also talks up a storm and is so loud in the morning that I’m sure the neighbors can hear her.  Oh man, just wait until this kid can actually talk. She may never shut up.

Elliott Dorothy Dawson: 4 months, 1 week

In the next two weeks, there will be a new milestone for Elle. She’s been breastfed exclusively since birth and soon she will be introduced to the wonderful world of rice cereal.   Stay tuned for video of that!

We’re backlogged with video clips of our little girl and need to find the time to edit more of them and get them posted here.  In the mean time, please enjoy our little girl discovering that her feet can reach her mouth…

So we’ve been extremely behind on posting photos here.  For those of you on Facebook, you’ve seen some of these and have gotten too see Elliott’s progress.  For those of you who aren’t - I promise we’ll get better at updating this page with current photos.  We also need to get some more videos up, but Elliott doesn’t always cooperate.  She can roll from her tummy to her back, but refuses to do it when the camera comes out.  We have about 20 minutes of her laying on her stomach looking at us wondering what we’re waiting for.  One of these days she’ll cooperate…

So the photos in this loop stretch from 10 week - 16 weeks.  Our little girl hits the 4-month (!) mark this weekend and you can see how much she’s growing each week.  She eats well and sleeps through the night like a champ.  Enjoy the photos!

Sorry this posting is a little late….it’s been a busy week-and-a-half!

June 28 was a very special day. Our little 3-month-old was baptised at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in New Berlin–the same church where Homer and I were married last April–in front of about 20 of our family members and friends.

Mommy and Elliott.

Elliott wore a baptismal gown that was first worn by my maternal grandfather–Richard Polaski–back in 1922.  It has since been worn by more than 15 family members including my mother, her siblings, her cousins, my brother, my three cousins and now, Elliott. The gown is beautiful and in perfect condition…although it was so hot in that church that poor little Elliott sweat right through it.

Our family with Deacon John. Poor little Elle was soooo tired.

The baptism took about 20 minutes following Sunday mass. Elliott was so overdue for a nap. We tried to keep her up, but she fell asleep in Homer’s arms during the ceremony.  But, she didn’t cry!  We were so proud.

Deacon John baptising Elliott.Godparents Julie Larsen and Brad Polczynski

It was really great to see  Homer’s family who made the trip down from Minnesota. The exception was Homer’s sister, Molly, who was flying home that day from a study abroad trip to Europe. But she was there in spirit!

The Polczynski family.

The Dawson Family: Mike & Julie Larsen, Monica Dawson & Dennis Dawson

The Dawson Family: Kathy & Dennis Dawson