Two posts in one day! He must be sleeping…

I mentioned earlier that Elliott has a bad case of diaper rash that turned into some broken skin. Now before I get a ton of emails from the relatives asking me why I’m letting my son’s skin rot, I plead not guilty.

I had been using every paste, cream, and ointment known to man, Earth friendly and super sensitve diapers and wipes, changing his diaper at the first sound of a squirt and most recently using the blow dryer on cool (which he LOVES) to dry him out and still his toxic poo had wrecked an otherwise supremely soft bottom.

I am happy to say that with some directions from the pediatrician and some hospital grade barrier cream from my mom, Elliott is looking better than ever in just a 24 hour period. However, this has me thinking about the great cloth diaper vs. disposable debate.

Environmental issues aside, I am most concerned about the health of Elliott and how the products we use affect our everyday lives. Before he was born, I spent weeks reading about todays cloth diapers and came across my two favorite options:

A pocket diaper from FuzziBunz and a hybrid system from Gdiapers

Seeing that they are more expensive at the upstart and require more commitment I shied away from trying either after Elliott was born in the midst of our new hectic life. Now that things have settled in a bit, I am willing to give it another go, for the sake of clean healthy skin.

Because I have zero experience, I wanted to see if any other parents out there have used alternatives, what they were, and how they felt about them before I made the plunge.

Any suggestions?

Elliott loves his Aunt Jules!

We saw the Pediatrician yesterday for a 5 week checkup with a Hep B shot (way to be brave son!) and here are some quick stats for all you Curious Georges out there:

Weight: 10 lbs 12 oz
Height: 23.75 in
A bad case of diaper rash
Some skin dermatitis
A cyst that looks like a molar on his back gum

It seems from the stats that the kid is a wreck, but he couldn’t be happier. He charmed his way through the Doctors visit starting off with letting everyone know who was the boss. We were checking out his butt as I was explaining the rash and next thing we both new, a gigantic arc of pee was hitting the wall. I’m glad she found it as funny as I did. So much for the Wee blocking.

His weight and height are busting off the charts which is excellent because he is stretching to 5 hours between feedings at night giving me sleep I’d thought I would never see again. His gassiness is also starting to get better which is cutting down on the squirming and crying.

The best part of the day however, was in the morning. We were having some strong man tummy time and he flashed me his first real smile. It was awesome. Nothing beats it.

We finished the day at Aunt Jules’ house. Pretty much a great day.

I haven’t had much time to post anything these past couple of weeks, seems any spare minute I’m trying to sneak in a nap. I feel however, this little invention deserves a post.

I give you the wee block.

Thanks to my sister who picked one up for me I no longer have to bust out my Matrix moves to avoid getting sprayed in the face. And there have been some close calls!

I think my favorite was a late night feeding/diaper change. Danny got up to help me in the poop zone and as soon as he came over got hit in the shoulder. Trooper that he is, he wiped it off and got right back to chipping off butt crust.

Boys definately have thier own set of challenges.

Everyone is doing great. Elliott is gaining weight at rapid speed. Ill keep you all posted in the up coming weeks!

“Wherever he’s going, he’ll be the coolest kid around carrying this fun dinosaur backpack, made just for him!”

We’re sold — check out the Dinosaur Backpack from BabyGap. Liz and I love the stitching on the teeth, claw feet bottom and the corduroy eyes/nostrils! Of course, what Dino-pack would be complete without the matching Dinosaur Lunchbox?!

It’s officially awesome to be a kid these days!

I stumbled across this today and it made me super excited for playgrounds, mud pies, skateboarding, kite flying, forrest exploring and all sorts of adventures we’ll be having with Elliott. When the cuts and scrapes ensue, I’ll be there with a fresh pack of Bacon & Eggs & Comic Strip Bandages!

(via Wishingfish)

Maybe this is obnoxious, but we’ve been finding all sorts of other “Elliott’s” on the web and I feel like I need to share the really rad ones! Whilst searching through our Flickr inbox, we discovered a new friend, ella+elliott — based out of Toronto, CA!

“ella+elliot™ strives to provide modern design’s simple lines along with functionality and sustainability to all objects affecting the first two years of a child.

How sweet is that? A hip Canadian baby store donning the same name (minus the extra “t”) as our child. So yea, we need to make a special trip to Canada soon. More on “Other Elliott’s” soon!

Liz makes fun of my random posts, (e.g. Publix Baby Club) but I don’t care! Perhaps it’s the nerd in me wanting to create a sweet resource of baby gear/happenings for other new and soon-to-be parents. A repository of links, photos and our first hand stories for the discerning parent not wanting to buy the typical baby swag. But I digress …

I love seeing other people’s crib setups — so here’s us weighing in on our hot lil’ jammers.

Olivia Crib Set (@ Walmart) — We’ve searched all over the internet(s) for the rad crib and initially wanted to buy the Oeuf crib. After much discussion and a little more searching we found the Olivia, essentially a knock-off, maybe “knock-off” is a harsh word, let’s say a “close estranged cousin” of the Oeuf. For a third of the price! Yea, nailed it! All that money-saving opened up the budget for the matching chest, changing table and some fresh bedding, which I will get to next.

Silly Owl Crib Set by Litto (@ Fawn & Forest) — Liz discovered this when we first found out we were expecting and we both fell in love with it. It’s so perfect for Elliott! The color, the style and everything about it is so fresh! It’s a tad spend-y for crib bedding, especially when you can get a rad set like this from Walmart. However the Silly Owl set is really well constricted and the stitching is top-notch! Pricey but quality!

We’re still figuring out “the bows” on this thing but we’re crazy happy with Elliott’s setup! Also, Liz keep making fun of how long this post is, my obsession with crib bedding and the fact that I have to tell people about it! Yay internet!

No sleep til Brooklyn! It looks as if Elliott didn’t get the memo on the whole, “Sleep at night, play during the day” thing. Whew!

We caught this snap of him whilst watching Terms Of Endearment (yea we Netflix-ed it, wanna fight about it?) and he pretty much snoozed through the whole 2 hours and 11 minutes of it! A few coos, squeals and crackle-cries after the movie we decided to go for a stroller ride. Elliott loves stroller rides, I love walks and Liz needs walks — a winning combo, no doubt!

We had our first visit to the Pediatrician and everything whent really well. Here’s a fun little fact sheet on him:

1. Elliott is super healthy (not jaundice-y, 8/9 APGAR, etc.)
2. Elliott has a nicely shaped head (doc thought he was a c-section, ha!)
3. Elliott left the hospital @ 7 lbs 13 oz and has gained weight up to 7 lbs 15 oz
4. Elliott will pee all over you when you change him at 3am
5. Elliott has sick gas, like Dad
6. Elliott is adorable

I’ve been trying to post as many worthwhile photos as I can manage in a day, so keep checking our flickr for tons of Elliott Roman Jones goodness!

Liz is already a champion of a Mom — fact!

Elliott’s a healthy, strong, handsome, gassy and coo-ing bundle of joy. We think he’s got his days and nights mixed up, which leads to a midnight ’til seven in the morning cry-feed-poop-sleep fest! Did I mention my wife being a champion? Allow me to reiterate: C-H-A-M-P!

All whilst chompin’ at the breast Elliott is an awesome son and we both couldn’t be happier parents. Here’s a few mug shots of Elliott for the non-subscribers of our flickr photo feed!

Day 2:

Day 3:

Elliott Roman Jones
8 lbs. 3 oz. @ 3pm July 22, 2008