Sneezes

So, apparently Daddy sneezes are just the funniest thing ever!

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen (and heard)?!

The Walking Wounded

Well, it was time for Elena's 4 month appointment today, which meant more shots. Elena was a trooper, though. She screamed like a banshee when Dr. Garb looked in her ears, of course. And when she got the shots. But she calmed down pretty quickly, and this evening she's just been a little crankier and a little sleepier than normal. And now we get all of the new stats! :) So, Elena is weighing in today at....

12 lbs, 14.5 oz
23 3/8 inches tall
16 1/4 inches (head circumference)

So, she's not really short and stocky anymore... now she's short and skinny, with a big head! :) She's in the 25th percentile for length, the 30th for weight, and the 60th for head circumference! :) So, obviously she's taking after her father!

Anyway, Dr. Garb said she looked really good. He said we should start giving her oatmeal or barley cereal because it won't constipate her as much. And in a couple of weeks (when she's 5 months) we can start giving her yellow veggies, and then at 6 months we can start giving her fruits. Hard to believe how fast she is growing up! :)

Week 18 & 19

So, here's the post for weeks 18 and 19... and don't forget to scroll down and see the post with pictures Jess took during her visit!

The last few weeks have been really, really fun with Elena. She is growing and changing so fast! In the last few weeks she has started really talking, and she laughs, if you catch her in the right mood. It's funny because if she giggles once, Josh or I will make a complete idiot of ourself trying to get her to laugh more! I haven't managed to catch it on video yet, but I'm trying! She's also really figured out that she has hands, and she reaches for everything. Of course, as soon as she gets anything, she sticks it straight in her mouth. Her aim isn't great, and she really has no idea that if it's the size of her head, it's not fitting in her mouth! It's fun to watch her try, though! :) She's trying really hard to roll over... she can go from front to back if the mood strikes her, but she hasn't quite managed back to front yet. Still trying to get that on video, too, but if she does it once or twice, I grab the camera, and then she refuses to do it again! So, stay tuned...

We started her on rice cereal, as you could see from the previous entries. It's awful cute, and I love feeding her, but it didn't really help her sleep through the night. She's started doing that on her own again, mostly. However, starting about a week after we started giving it to her she stopped pooping! She didn't seem to upset about it; it didn't really bother her, and she wasn't any fussier than normal. It drove Josh and I crazy, though! I started giving her an ounce of apple juice mixed with an ounce of water, and stopped giving her the rice cereal, and after a couple days of that, she dropped the deuce at daycare. So now we all feel better, and we'll just wait to start the cereal again until after our doctor's appointment next week.

Anyway, here are my favorite pictures from the last couple of weeks, excluding the pics Jess took that I put in the other post, and the City Museum pictures that are on the other blog. I tried to find ones that showed her new tricks! So, enjoy...

Trying desperately to roll over, and to shove her mirror into her mouth!

Daddy got to feed her, too!
In the adorable dog hat...
She really loves the rice cereal... after just a few times of feeding her, she started opening her mouth when she saw the spoon. In this picture I'm holding it above her head so she'll look up and open her mouth for the picture! Mean Mommy...
Watching herself in her tummy time mirror. She really doesn't mind tummy time now that she's better at holding her head up. In fact, she almost likes it more than just laying on her back.
Check out the cool shades one of Josh's coworkers got her!
What a sweet grin!
Trying to roll over again!

Stay tuned! We have a doctor's appointment on Monday, so there will definitely be an update then! Have a great week...

Visit from Aunt Jess!

Well, I know it's been far too long since I blogged, but it's been a crazy, crazy couple of weeks for me- work has been NUTS! But, a few weeks ago, Aunt Jess came in from Colorado to celebrate Christmas, and (of course) to see her niece! Poor Elena was reminded of the lightning storms that plagued her when she was first born! But I love all of hte pictures Jess takes; she has such talent! So, there are over 200 pictures on the cd she burned me, but here are my favorites... if you want to see them all, elenaanne.shutterfly.com has them all! :) Enjoy...

Aunt Jess & Aunt Ruth kept Elena out of daycare for one day to hang out. True to form, Elena went through at least 3 outfits that day! But they got some cute pictures in some cute outfits digging through all of her clothes! And Elena wasn't always perfect for them, either! :) But I think the 3 of them had fun...

For Christmas, Aunt Jess got Elena a Bumbo chair. It's adorable, and she looks so big sitting in it! It's perfect for feeding her!

Another Christmas celebration...another bow on Elena's head! :)

Someday, this face will give us FITS!

Clearly, she's starting to grab onto things, and really look at them. She's figured out her hands are attached!

This doggie hat from Aunt Jess is SO cute! :) Somehow, everytime Jess comes, Elena's wardrobe triples!

We had a great time hanging out with Jess, and she even got to be here for the first rice cereal! We can't wait to see her again in February!

4 Months!

It's hard to believe it, but my little baby is 4 months old today... and the cool thing about 4 months is they can start eating rice cereal. So, as promised, here is the video from her first feeding. And several pictures, too (Jess took just a few, as you can imagine). I tried to cut the video down to make it shorter, and I just couldn't find a place to cut it out. So, here it is, all 2 1/2 minutes of it! :)

And a few still shots... it was a lot of fun feeding her for this first time! :)

Week 17

Well, it's another week in the life of a baby... busy, busy, busy! :) This week we actually weren't very busy, we didn't even go anywhere! Elena did go back to daycare, because I had to go back to work. We also had our last Christmas with the Looten family when the Quincy Lootens came into town on Sunday. Mommy is a bad mommy, and she forgot to bring her camera, so there aren't any pictures of that Christmas! But the coolest thing happened! We were all sitting around talking and Elena was laying on the floor on her stomach. All of a sudden, something whacked my knee. I looked down, and Elena had bumped into my knee, and was now laying there ON HER BACK! So she had rolled over! We tried to get her to do it again, but she just screamed because she didn't want to do tummy time anymore. But, since then she's done it a couple more times. She can't do back to front yet, but it's still pretty awesome!

Aunt Jessica came into town this week, too, so Elena got to spend all day Wednesday with Aunt Jessica and Aunt Ruthie instead of going to the daycare. They had lots of fun together, and Elena showed them a whole new meaning to the term "yak" because she went through about 5 outfits in the course of the day! They took lots of pictures, but I'll have to post them later, because Jess has them all.

Elena also got to eat her first rice cereal this week, which was pretty hilarious. I have a video of it, which I will post later. We took the cereal with us to Grandma & Grandpa Price's house while we had our last Christmas with Jess. That way I could feed her, while Jess took pictures and Ruth videotaped it! It was pretty cute, and I will post pictures and video later!
Meanwhile, here are a few cute pictures that I did take this week...

Aunt Jessica brought Elena LOTS of clothes, but this snow suit was one of the cutest things! Even Elena liked it, except...

...she couldn't seem to find her fingers, which she chews on CONSTANTLY now!

Ellen gave Elena this cute dress way before Christmas, but I lost it... so I found it this week and wanted to take some cute pictures of her in it... she cooperated for a second or two,

and then there was much thrashing and screaming (check out the blurs that are her hands and feet!)

For Christmas, Aunt Jessica got Elena a bumbo seat, so now she can sit up! She looks like such a big girl! The seat was perfect for feeding her, and she loves sitting in it. She just looks around, and stares at her toes!

Sitting in the bumbo gives her a whole new perspective on her butterflies!

Elena is also enjoying her tummy time more now. I was trying to get her to roll over here, but instead she just stared at herself in the mirror. It was pretty cute, as is everything else she does! :)

Elena is growing up so fast, we were talking about all of the little baby things that she doesn't do anymore- she doesn't raise her hand randomly ("Elena has a question"), she doesn't sunbathe, or do bird lips, lots of things that she just kind of stopped doing. But she does so much that's fun now! She looks right at you, and smiles, and laughs (sometimes), sucks on her fingers, sits up, holds her head up, and (the cutest), she rubs her blanket all over her face when she's tired. So it's sad to think about some of the stuff she used to do that was so cute, but it's fun to see all the new things! They come faster and faster!

Stay tuned for pictures from Jessica's visit, and of the first rice cereal!! :)

Week 16

After the craziness of the last couple of weeks, week 16 was a pretty calm week for Miss Elena, and the rest of us... and it was much needed! :) Great-Grandma & Grandpa Price were here for awhile, and we went to Springfield for the last Christmas celebration at Grandma De & Grandpa Don's. It was a flying trip to Springfield, and poor Elena was pretty exhausted, so she was a little cranky. But we had fun visiting, and Elena got to meet all of her second cousins and great aunt and uncles.

With Great-Grandma De...

Helping Grandma Price read her card...

And passed out in Great-Grandpa Don's arms

For New Year's we went roller skating with the youth, then to the Watch Night service at church. We had a blast, and Elena was wonderful! She talked and danced (yes, danced, see video below for her dancing to a little Britney Spears) her way through the roller skating, then slept through the Lord's Supper service.

On New Year's Day, we invited everyone over to watch the MU bowl game against Arkansas. Elena dressed for the day in a lovely tiger suit! Unfortunately, she pooped on it halfway through, and had to have a wardrobe change. But we all had a great time hanging out and watching an AWESOME game!

With Aunt Ruthie, hanging out in the tiger suit!

Watchin' the game with Grandpa Price
Just for fun, we tried on the monkey leash... I mean "safety harness."
After the wardrobe change, Elena tried on Uncle Charlie's stinky hat!

Fun parties, but lots of relaxing were the themes for this week! We did have one really rough night. Wednesday night Elena woke up at about 1:30, and screamed and screamed and screamed the rest of the night. She'd fall asleep for a little while, but if I laid her down, she'd scream again. So she and I dozed for the rest of the night on the couch, and both stayed home Thursday morning. But she's feeling better now, and almost 4 months old! It's hard to believe- she'll be eating cereal before much longer.