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A lot of people have been asking where got Elliot’s name.

No where. We just like the name. The ‘John’ part comes from one of Susan’s Grandpas, I believe.

Elliot is two weeks old now, which is pretty exciting. He has changed a lot over the past week. He is starting to be awake for long stretches at a time. He usually is up all morning, sleeps all afternoon, is up again in the evening, and then is “asleep for the night” by 11. He appears to be a little like Andrew was when he was little. Elliot likes to be able to see what is going on and seems to get over-stimulated when we are out in large groups.

Andrew and Mari are still showing some signs of stress. They have both been getting up really early and have been fairly needy during the day. I need to get their sleeping straightened out by the time Susan’s parents leave, so they are a less fussy and clingy during the day.

I am back to work now, working a half-day yesterday and a full day today. This week shouldn’t be bad since Susan’s parents are in town, but next week should be interesting.

Later. . .

It’s now March, and Susan and I are both thrilled to have a February baby. If Elliot was as late as Mari was, then Susan would still be pregnant, which would not be much fun at this point.

Elliot is nine days old now, and things are getting a little more settled. The kids are sleeping well, which means that they are in a good mood during the day. There was a stretch where they were not sleeping well and were a little crazy during the day.

Elliot is doing well. He has a little cold, which he is handling well. He is getting used to his bodily functions. In general, he is pretty mellow. He definitely sleeps more than our others did and does not require as much walking around. His presence at family dinners has been a pleasant one, since he has either been sleeping or just chillin’ out.

Other than Elliot, there is not much going on. I am going to be headed back to work next week. There should hopefully be some visitors on the way soon, but the weather is not helping with that.

That’s all for now. We’ll keep you updated.

• Elliot just went through five diapers and a blanket, in one diaper change. He also managed to pee on himself in the process.
• There is a placenta in my freezer. I had kinda forgotten about it.
• Elliot is going to have some more craniosacral therapy in the morning. His head still looks great, but we feel like a little more might help.

We are five days into this little adventure, and things don’t really appear to be settling down. I have a minute to write a little more extensively though, so I will.

The birth went awesome. We had perfect timing with everything, from filling up the tub, to calling our midwife, to Elliot actually coming out. He was born at 5:29, which gave us just enough time to get settled before the sun came up. That day, Tuesday, was crazy. Luckily my mom took care of the kids all day, and my dad brought us some dinner, so things were manageable.

Since then, we have been getting used to doing things on our own, which is going OK. Susan has been on a light bed-rest since the birth to help everything heal right. Tracey (our midwife) recommended this approach over stitches since it was a tiny tear and it will improve our chances of not tearing next time (next time?). Susan is able to get up and move around, but she is supposed to limit her activities. Since I am home, this has been pretty do-able.

Elliot is doing well. He likes to nurse and sleep, but he does not like to poop and pee. He was not very happy when he was born and Tracey pointed out that he had a huge ridge on his head. She said that he probably had a bad head-ache. She recommended Craniosacral Therapy. Our friend, Lauren, came over Tuesday afternoon, moved a few bones in his skull, and he appears to be happier now. Pretty cool, huh? She worked on him for about fifteen minutes and the ridge almost totally disappeared. She tells us that the amount of pressure that she uses is no more than the weight of a nickel.

Andrew and Mari have been adjusting well. They have both been tired and stressed.

I think that is enough for now. I’ll try to keep you updated.

Elliot is doing well. He is really cute and sleeps a lot. He is nursing well.

Susan is recovering well.

Andrew loves his new brother, but I can tell he is a little more stressed than usual.

Mari ended her breastfeeding strike and is back in action. She rebelled for a few days, but once Susan convinced her that it was OK she is back to her old form.

I am well. My back aches from carrying kids, but that is OK.

Make sure to check out the pics of Elliot. More to come when I get the chance.

My favorite moments so far are when Elliot is awake and just looking right at me and when Andrew and Mari interact with him.

I finally put some pictures up. Click here to view them.

I just realized that when we sent out the announcement yesterday we didn’t know Elliot’s weight yet. We weighed him in the afternoon and he weighed in at 9lbs 8oz. Not too shabby and definitely the biggest of our three so far.

Andrew & Mari just woke up. Susan & Elliot are still ‘sleeping’. Overall I would say that last night went pretty well. I think that Susan and I both got some rest and Andrew & Mari slept well also (which makes sense since they were both out of bed by 4:30 yesterday morning).

Wow, that was a busy day. Yesterday was pretty crazy. Hopefully we will start to find a rhythm and things will begin to stabilize, but I think that could take a while.

I am going to try to get some pics up today or tonight. Wish me luck!

Later. . .

Elliot John Liesland

Born February 20, 2007 5:29AM

After a few days of light labor and a few hours of heavy labor, Elliot was born in our dining room (on purpose) in the wee hours of the morning. Andrew was there for the birth and Mari came down right afterward. Everyone is doing well.

More photos and details will be posted soon.

-Susan, Rob, Andrew & Mari

Note: I am tired. I hope I got all the details correct.

1. I didn’t have to work (for the second straight day).

2. Mari was up at four in the morning throwing up. It was only the second time in her life.

After a fun couple days off, I am back to the daily grind (sort of). I am about to head home so that Susan & Andrew can go see our midwife and I can take care of our ailing daughter.

Later. . .

Andrew and I finally got out for some real sledding fun this past weekend. We went to the park where we had our wedding reception and found some medium-sized hills. He was a little too scared to go down by himself, so I had to go down with him. This was fine with me since I loved sled-riding. After going down the hill a few times we went for a nice winter hike. It was pretty fun because whenever he was tired he could just ride in the sled and I would pull him. His favorite parts of the hike were walking on the frozen creek and eating some snow. The hike brought back some great memories of sled-riding in the woods behind my parents.