Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Toys!

Up until now, any Ernie-related item that had a larger footprint than the Ernie himself was mostly a containment unit masked as a baby entertainment center (bouncer, bumbo, and the like). That was until Rob stopped by with an early Christmas present from him and Becky. This thing is meant to help Ernie conquer the whole downstairs, and to challenge the "parent-controlled speed adaptor" on the front wheels. Who knew how much fun it would be for a baby to pretend to be both postal customer and carrier in one? Little Tykes knew.

Here's Ernie sharing some love with Rob before the gift opening, just to prove that he's not totally materialistic.

And here he is with the amazing new toy! He loves to bang the plastic envelopes on every part of it, and especially to turn the turny thingy. It's so entertaining, you almost forget you have roughly 22 oz. worth of drool soaking through your shirt.

First We Endorse Them, Now We Can Pronounce Them!

Yesterday, Ernie uttered his first "Mmomm." It came several times yesterday, and a couple have escaped his mouth today already. "M"s are supposed to be more difficult than "D"s for kids, but he's about mastered them. It's also pretty clear that he understands what it means since he gets a big old grin when I say it when he can here her coming. So moms are back in, and fully pronounced. Not sure if "mommy" is too difficult or if we're just too big of a boy and too cool to cry "mommy" rather than simply utter "Mom"--we'll take it either way.

Ernie's Anti-Endorsement of the Week: Teething!

The first one that showed up on Thanksgiving wasn't so bad. We yelped on the car ride to the Grandparents' house, and then a little pink hole was visible where now there is a shiny white tooth. But it's mate is certainly more stubborn. He had us cranky all day and night yesterday. Luckily Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Denie distracted us on Sunday, and Grandma Chris and Grandpa Darrell on Saturday.
Mom and Dad hate hearing us cry out in pain. But for Christmas, we should have our two bottom teeth.

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Language!

We're getting it now. Noises attach themselves to stuff. We have successfully acknowleged Ally Cat as "kee kaa" when she enters the scene, and requested "baa baa" when we're thirsty. There's plenty of other noises Mom and Dad get excited about, like "hey" and "hida" (hi dad) but these are practiced more constantly and therefore we don't always associate them with a greeting or a person.
But it is official now. We can communicate in words.

Starting Early

I think this picture of Mom's cousin Jamie's fiance Janiece holding Ernie is hilarious. Not only is he grabbing a handful, but just look at the skeezy expression on his chubby little face! He's even trying to play like he's admiring her corsage.
He learned subtlety from his father.

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Drool!

If we could bottle and sell this stuff, we'd already have college paid for. It comes in handy for a variety of occasions. For instance, trying to munch finger foods when you don't have actual teeth? Apply drool liberally and you don't even have to gum-chew! Want to make grabbing your Dad's bottom lip and pulling as hard as you can even more exciting? Get your own hand nice and droolly first to increase the challenge and gross Dad out even more! Want to give Mom a kiss and make sure she stays kissed? Lead with the tongue, and have 2-12 ounces of drool ready!

*UPDATE* Ernie drool for sale in 1 dram containers for $25 each.

[Franken]Santa [Zombie]Claus

Beware this Christmas. If you hear someone sliding down your chimney, you might not hear a jolly "Ho, ho, ho!" downstairs... Instead, you might be awoken from your dancing sugarplums with a sinister, "Ho, ho,...Braaaains!" This terrifying creature tears at cheeks and uses his sole tooth to bite into the flesh of his victims. Don't be fooled by the adorable nature of his alter-ego. There's no telling when his cheerful giggle will be quelled by a gruesome, gnawing hunger.

The first photo was captured on Thanksgiving Day with the grandfolks as Ernie's enthusiasm with the galla photoshoot waned, and the second shot was taken while Amber, Ernie, and I decked the Hall halls for the merry Christmas season.

Let It Snow!

First day of snow here in Lincoln, Nebraska and Ernie got to enjoy it! We weren't sure if he would cry waking up to a world that looks totally different, but he once again proved to be adaptable.
When it snows in November, you get the added benefit of the fall colors. Our bridal wreath bushes that line the north side of our house are a gorgeous mixture of yellow and brown ochres and the red you see here.

ErnElves!

This is too much fun!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9565772754

Bathtime peek-a-boo

He was, of course, far more giggly and animated before I went for the camera, but Ernie and Daddy enjoyed some fun peek-a-boo time last night in the bathtub. You can see how well Ern's mastered object permanence, as he tries to peek over the tub to find Daddy below it!
Please excuse the nudity : )

Daddy & Me

Ernie loves his Daddy. This weekend he shard some special affection with Dad in the form of classic Ernie open-mouth kisses.

They love to snuggle each other. He's quick, too quick for the camera sometimes, but kissing is becoming one of his favorite things.

Great Aunt Tricia!

Ernie got to see his Great Aunt Tricia this weekend. It's been four months since the last time they saw each other, and so much has changed since then! Now Ernie can sit up, eat solids and finger foods, and babble like a madman (literally, I'm sure an insane man sounds very similar).

He had a great time entertaining her and letting her entertain him!

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: BANG!

It's no secret to anyone who knows Ernie: he likes to bang on things. This weekend Grandpas made that even more exciting. Grandpa Darrell added impliments to the fun:

And Grandpa Denie lended a head:

Cousin Kitterick Arrives!

Ernie has a new cousin! Lisa and Toby welcomed Kitterick Wells, and we got to see and hold him over the weekend. It's not possible that Ernie was ever this small. We already can't remember.
Lisa looks fantastic! And Kitt has the longest fingers and toes of any baby we've ever seen!

Grandma Chris is now a Great Great Aunt!
Kitt got a few pats (bang) on the head from Ernie in acknowlegement. They'll grow to be great friends. The age difference between Kitt and Ernie is the same as between Mom and Lisa, and Uncle Darren and cousin Eric (Lisa's big bro).

Halloween!

Halloween lasts year-round in our household, because it is by far Daddy's favorite holiday. Ernie enjoyed all the festivities.

Grandma Bonnie reads him his "Where's Baby's Pumpkin?" book that was a gift from the Walshes.

And Walshes and Hall/Mohrs all enjoyed Boo at the Zoo this year. Jonathan's been working out lately, and Johanna put her cheeks to good use and dressed as the cutest pumpkin ever.
Ernie's bear costume (see previous Erndorsement of bears) was made by Grandma Bonnie. The hat was given to us by Kelli about two days after we announced our pregnancy. It made the perfect Halloween outfit, and he was snuggly warm for the chilly evenings. Pictures can't accurately express what a great job Grandma Bonnie did. She even appliqued little bear foot pads on his footies.
And the Grandparents Hall also joined us on October 31 to visit a few houses that contain Ernie fans.
And our little ladies' man has a cheerleader from every team who love him (plus one vampire).

Pumpkin Carvin' Par-Tay

Another October tradition, slightly modified to include earlier hours and less alcohol, that Ernie participated in for the first time. He's not so good with knives yet, so Ernie painted his pumpkin with his foot and fingers to make a very scary (adorable) ghost!


But he was far more interested and impressed with Steve's facial hair. It's kinda orangey, like a pumpkin.

AUNT LAURA!!!!!!!

This smile only mildly expresses the joy Ernie (And Amber, and Jeremy, and Tim, and the Grandparents Mohrs) felt upon her return visit. We couldn't get enough of her. We hope we've mastered crawling by the time we see her in December, so she can chase Ernie everywhere!

Roca Berry Farm

This has been a tradition for most of the years we've lived in Lincoln, and Aunt Laura definately wanted to hit a pumpkin patch on her weekend back in Nebraska. Most years we run around like kids enjoying all the patch fun, but this year since we had a kid, most of the day was spent posing Ernie in various gourd-related arenas. Still, a day well spent.

Ernie's Endorsement of Recent Weeks: Food! More food!

We already told you how much he loves solids now, and he's up to three meals a day and starting on a few finger foods as well. At mealtime, he constantly kicks in his highchair grunting at us as we shovel the spoon in his mouth as fast as we can. He sounds like a voracious zombie requesting "braaaaaaaains" when he's hungry.
He's more polite with anyone other than Mom and Dad, so we let others feed him as often as they like. Grandpa Denie had a good time while Grandma Bonnie watched:

And he LOVES apples. We cut up a few and put them in his mesh feeder (basically a nylon bag so he can safely gum solids). When Dad finally took a mushy mesh feeder away from Ernie once, the poor dear cried.
And he loves sharing apples with others as well. He gets pretty impatient since we all have to chew them and he just sucks on the juice. Laura got to enjoy this experience when she visited in mid-October.

And this is what he did one recent morning BEFORE we added breakfast to his repast schedule:

Backblogging

You all have been so patient with us these past two months. It's time to get back on track with Ernventures! So I'll be posting some new (illustrated!) blogs from the times already past, and pledge to be a better blogger henceforth. Enjoy the Ernie!

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Replicated Babbling!

We've got "dee dee dah dah duh duh" and "bah bah beh beh" going on in our house. And last weekend, when happy little Ernie was supposed to be nursing but broke away to practice his D's, Mom interrupted him to say "Daddy." Ern stopped short, stared off into space for several seconds, then looked Mom right in the eyes and said, "Dah-dee."
It was a-MAZE-ing! Daddy was sitting in the same room and heard it.
Repeating Mom and Dad isn't nearly as fun as getting a mouthful of peas and trying out your B's, though. Mom started changing out of her dry-clean only work clothes before feeding Ernie dinner.

Sorry, Folks!

Apologies for letting almost TWO WEEKS go by without an Erndorsement. My new job is certainly stimulating, and I just haven't had the energy to blog on Ern's behalf (that's right, the lazy kid makes me do his blogging for him). And the other bad news is I used to update the blog and download Ernimages from our camera while pumping at work (TMI!). Well, my office doesn't have window shades, so I pump in the staff restroom.
But here's some news nonetheless, if not illustrated:
Ernie LOVES solid foods. He likes peas, and green beans, and carrots, and squash, and sweet potatoes, and prunes, and pears, and apples, and oatmeal, and rice. And the other day Jeremy left him in his high chair with a bottle of water in front of him to go get his dinner plate, and had returned to find resourceful Ernie holding and sucking the bottle himself! He couldn't tilt it high enough to get any water, but he knew how to try!
Ernie is giggling more frequently now. It still sounds like a polite laugh, so maybe we're just not very funny.
And sleeping is soooo much better. He still wakes up twice per night to eat, but it's fairly scheduled and if something wakes him before that he can put himself back to sleep. Everyday he wakes up so happy! And even if for some reason he doesn't nap well, he's still a happy guy, which means he's well-rested.
We'll continue to work on the blogging, and getting pictures of Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Denie feeding Ernie up, and definately some from Aunt Laura's visit next week.
Thanks for your understanding!

Sleep Obsession

When you aren't getting it, it's all you can think about. Sleep, that is. Ernie's now had about a week to work on recovering from the Austin hotel crib fiasco. He's made big improvements, or so we think until he throws another surprise at us. After a horrible two-hour cry on Saturday night (no, not because the Huskers lost) he slept until his morning feeding. We're trying to retrain ourselves to not respond to every noise so that he can learn to fall asleep on his own, and to only respond to awakenings that require something from us (food, diaper change) and not just requests for company and assistance in falling back asleep. He's now able to sleep on his tummy, too; something he discovered last week. It's been rough, but the reward will be a better-rested baby (and parents).

In case you can't read the title of the book Ern and Daddy are sharing, it's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child."

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Art!

This is Ernie's second art project, mentored by Grandma Chris. The first was a little gift he made for Grandparents' Day last weekend of a flower for both sets of g-rents. We've got a little something creative cooked up for Aunt Laura as well. Baby art is fun!

Ernie seems to be pretty equally interested in the visual and the tactile. He likes to grab at flowers and prairie grasses we pass on our walks, but he was very intent just looking at the koi pond at the Sunken Gardens this weekend. Some books he really wants to get physically involved in, and others he's content to just sit back while we turn the pages. It's pretty exciting to watch him master tasks with his hands. It's still a lot of flailing before anything gets accomplished, but that's all part of the learning process.

First solids

That's the funny thing, it's barely more than mush. In fact, it's watered down mushy mush, but Ern tried his first "solids" last night. This picture illustrates his overall feeling about the mess.


He was pretty peeved that we put him in his high chair in the fist place before he felt he was properly fed. He did open his mouth and successfully suck in some of the mush, as the video will show. But it will take some practice to get used to it. He likes his food the old-fashioned way yet.

Just adorable

That's the only reason for this picture. We were trapped in an IHOP just outside Fort Worth, and Ernie decided this was much improved from the Hilton Garden Inn fiasco.

And just wanted to share this picture of Ernie reading his Fluffy Chick book in his Bumbo seat. He's always liked books, and in the last couple of weeks he's really eager to interact with them physically. He likes to flail his little arms around trying to turn the page for us. The fabric books certainly hold up to his excitement better than their paper counterparts.

Killing him Adorably

What does it look like to torture someone with cuteness? It looks like this picture of Zac being forced to hold Ernie on his lap. He even bought us dinner afterwards, so there's no real hard feelings.

And yes, that is a goatee he's sporting. He says he just wants to be abel to wax it to a point, then he'll shave it off. We shall see. I'm sure that's how the pompadour started oh so many years ago.

Verdict is in

For those of you with young'uns yourselves, or daring enough to try changing Ernie--take note: We are past Phase 1: Cloth-diaper Beta and have moved on to full-scale Bum Genius Omega. We've done our shopping around and have decided that "prefolds" are fine for picking up some slack, but after two poops in them (which really oughta be the test for any clothing worth its salt), we're going to order a sustaining supply of the cloth diapers. For those of you questioning the decision, it's really a matter of going through approximately 3,000 diapers in the first year of life. We'd like to cut down on that cost if possible. And by the time number 2 comes along (I'm talking about a second kid here rather that the diaper filler--and no, Ernie doesn't have to share his blog quite yet), they should have paid for themselves and it's like getting a second kid for free--sort of. Plus there's the added advantage of telling him (once he's old enough to be disgusted) that he and his sibling wore the very same underpants, which they both crapped in. A lot. Will I miss days gone by of being able to just throw the waste in it's intended basket. Oh sure, poop days will always make me a little nostalgic. But we've deemed Bum Geniuses worth it and are anxious to move forward.

Ernie's Endorsement of the (last two) Week(s): Being Home!

We don't like Texas. It's nothing personal, but we hate it. We even like driving 16 hours straight better than sleeping two hours in a five-star hotel in Texas.
But you know what we do like?
BEING HOME!!!!! We woke up at 3:30 a.m. and all of a sudden we were in our crib at home! Rather than blood-curling screeches, we decided to audition for mezzo soprano to express our joy! Hopefully Mom and Dad have finally learned their lesson and will keep us home for a while.

Furbabies

Ernie has been expressing a lot of interest in Ally Cat in recent weeks, and loves the opportunity to pet her. She's pretty receptive, as he's not too grabby yet. She'll evey do her roll over/tummy exposure sometimes when he's having floor time. This is a huge improvement from her initial reactions to Ernie (i.e. persistant vomitting for weeks on end whenever he made a noise, or was in the room). I think they like each other!

And Grandma Bonnie's furbabies were also very willing to let Ernie love them. Here he is practicing his pet with Shadow and Tiger in the foreground.

Ern seems to have his father's love of cats. When he's being read to and Ally enters the room, he turns from his book to see what she's up to. If he's in a room and hears her collar clinking somewhere else, he'll turn on his side to find where she's at. Ally's a good little nanny now.

The razor rash was worth it

Ernie's starting to get ticklish. It's mostly his neck and ears that elicit the strongest reaction, but he also finds playing with his feet pretty funny. Last night Grandpa Darrell blew some raspberries on his neck several times, and he anticipated it with joy!

I remember my Dad's tickling techniques. They always started out fun, and slowly built up into hysteria that bordered on child abuse:

"Dad! Stop!!!! Don't!!!! Stop!!!!"

"Don't stop? OK!" (resumes tickling)

At least Ernie's enjoying it (for now).

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Sitting Up!

We just thought we'd try it, and it turns out we like it! Since last Thursday night, we've sat up for a period of 60 seconds or more three times, and much more often for shorter periods of time. Some positioning from Mom helps, and as long as someone is on hand to prefent nose-dives, we feel pretty confident. Mom thinks some of the credit goes to our new diapers, which provide firmer lower ab and lower back support, but nonetheless - we're learning to sit!

Grandma Chris and Grandpa Darrell also gifted us a Bumbo seat. It's a little device to assist babies learning to sit up. We still get tired after too long, but our muscles are developing by leaps and bounds. Look out, Ally Cat! Soon we'll be crawling!

We're crossing over

to cloth diapering. Ernie seems willing, and for the past two days now we've been exclusively cloth-diapering him with eight Bum Genius pocket one-size diapers. They change Ernie's delicate figure from a sweetly tapered chest to bum, to a bit more straight to eggplantish, but they'll fit him until he's potty-trained. If you're browsing on-line cloth diapering, my second sentance would read "ECDing with 8 BG OS 2.0." I've basically had to learn a whole new language to even research where to begin with cloth.
We've even had to change a poopy dipe already. Well, Jeremy changed it but I washed it. Ernie doesn't go twosies everyday, but when he does you could feed a small family off it. It went fine so far!
I ordered some of the prefold diapers (these are like the traditional ones but more absorbant). We got Indian (as opposed to Chinese) prefolds, a snappie (which is a fancy tool to secure the diaper closed instead of using pins - as Jeremy can attest from our formal dances, I should not be pinning anything on anyone, much less a baby) and two Bummis whisper wrap covers. Jeremy is less enthusiastic about the prefolds. He looked at me like I just got off a spaceship when I showed him how they should be folded.
But his reaction to that is nothing compared to my news that we will also be transitioning to cloth wipes. I mean, with disposable wipes you have to keep a pile of trash next to your cloth for washing. With cloth wipes, they all go in the same bin. And you can keep them in a wipe container with homemade solution and just pull them out as needed. When I told him all this, he looked at me like I'd just sold Ally Cat.
But I'm excited. I don't know if its the thrill of buying things for Ernie online (we were so set from our baby showers that we really haven't had to buy him anything outside of disposable dipes and wipes yet) or just glad we'll be helping the environment and our pocketbooks at the same time. Wish us luck!

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Minis!

We're sure to love items small enough for nostril-insertion even more in the future, but we still enjoyed out recent welcoming by the Omaha-Council Bluffs Miniature Guild. These talented crafters managed to replicate our nursery in 1:12 scale, and everyone contributed a small accessory item. We have more than enough for several mini-nurseries! Here's the spread:

And here's the completeish project from last night. Can you believe they have everything down to Grandma Bonnie's handmade curtains and the "It's a Boy!" balloon from Rob & Becky on the closet door? Our favorite accessory is probably the rug Susan Curtis made to match our full-sized version. Even if we grow inversely, we've still got a place to sleep.

Full Frontal Ernie

This post is mostly for Grandma Chris, who loves giving Ernie baths. But who doesn't love a good chubby naked baby?

This brown puppy towel was made especially for Ernie by Mom's former boss at American Quilt Study Group, Judy Buss. He also has a hooded bath towel given by cousin Teresa, that says "Little Bath Star" on it. Whenever Mom refers to her "Little Bath Star" during bath time, Dad always gives her a queer look. She has to remind him to read the towel, and that she's not questioning the legitimacy of Ernie's parentage.

Speaking of chubby and naked, check out the placement of Dad's t-shirt right behind Ernie. The one and only F.N.E.P. (Fat Naked Elf Page) seems like the perfect attire for bath time activity. Ernie likes the shirt, too. He's got some original art from F.N.E.P. creator Eric Kerkove in his nursery. You can visit the elves at: http://www.geocities.com/ekerkove/

Good-bye kisses

A few days ago Ern was looking very intently at Mom while she was kissy-facing all over him. Turns out with a couple of days' worth of processing, we can learn to smack lips just like the big kids! The new skill was exhibited for the very first time last night for Aunt Laura. Especially for Aunt Laura. Here's her good-bye kiss from Ernie:

Baby vs. Baby

Baby Brison was born a whole 9 days before Ernie, but he's got quite a solid lead on our boy in the size department. Let's just say he's no one we'd want to meet in a dark alley. But since we met him in the light at Grandma and Grandpa Mohrs' house, it was A-ok! Here's the face-off:

And before you know it, the two contenders are (commence womb-aching in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . .) HOLDING HANDS (. . . and 1).

She'll be back at Christmastime

Aunt Laura left this morning to begin her own adventures (Laurventures? not the same ring to it) in New Paltz, New York as she begins her Masters of Art in Painting. We saw her last night, and we started missing her before she was even gone. We can't wait for Christmas.

We love her so much.

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Erniewearing!

Mom got this jaunty little handmade number from Laura Kiefer. She didn't even know how much we wanted one until we had it. Especially with all our recent trips, this ring sling is not only a handy way to tote an Ernie, but it's a sure way to calm down a baby who's had too much stimulation.

And anyone can wear an Ernie! They look good on every figure!