Welcoming...

Leila Kathleen Wilson!

Born 3/31/08 at 1:15 am

6 lbs, 7 oz 19 inches long

Baby and Mommy doing fine, she has LOTS of hair!

Week 28

Well, there are a ridiculous number of pictures in this post, I just want to warn you now! We've had Daddy's birthday, Easter, and Spring Break all this week, so the camera has been highly overused! :) But they're really cute!


Like I said, it's been a busy week, but a very fun one (mostly)! We went out to Grandma & Grandpa Price's to celebrate Daddy and Aunt Ellen's birthdays last Saturday. It's so funny, because we used to bring games out for birthday dinners and play games after dinner. Now we just all sit around and stare at Elena. But she is very entertaining! She's very interested in everything now, very curious. She's getting really good at picking things up, though she still doesn't do the pincer grasp. EVERYTHING is a toy for her. You can see her looking around like "Ok, what can I grab...hmmm..." And she NEVER grabs something you want her to, of course! Her favorite toys during the party were a yellow ribbon and some scraps of wrapping paper. We had to be careful because she would take a big piece of paper, give it a good yank, and try to shove the litte piece that tore off in her mouth! And she kept dropping stuff on the floor, which was just funny. It was a pretty fun party... and out came some pretty fun pics!

Napping before the party... it's hard work to be the entertaining, and a girl has to have all her strength!

Sticking her tongue out at Aunt Ruthie. She always has her tongue out now, it's so cute!

Uncle Charlie and Uncle Sam (I know, he's not really an uncle, but that's a lot easier than saying "second cousin Sam") got to feed Elena. We just passed the bumbo around the table and everybody got a shot at it! But Charlie and Sam were the novices. It was pretty cute!

Sam was more MADE to feed her than GOT to feed her! Doesn't he look so excited to be doing it?!

Elena got to try her first pickle this week when Josh and I went out to dinner. We had to recreate the face for everyone to see at Grandma & Grandpa's, though. Elena didn't disappoint- she was definitely still not sure about that whole pickle thing...

...but right after making the face, the pickle went right back in her mouth, so I guess she liked it!

Her favorite toys... the yellow ribbon and the wrapping paper. I love the look on her face- so interested!

It was definitely a fun party, and we just can't figure out what we did before she came along! :)

The party had to end early because we had sunrise service (0630 for those of us in choir!) the next morning at church. That meant getting up extra early to get Miss Elena all dressed up in her Easter dress! She looked adorable (of course). The dress came from a girl at church who also used to be one of my students. She gave it to me at my church shower in June, and I was very sad because it was a 3 month dress, but it was sleeveless, and I didn't think Elena would ever get to wear it. But since Elena is so petite, it fit perfectly at 6 months for Easter! :) With a little sweater and some cute shoes, she was ready to go! After church we went to Grandma Looten's house for lunch. We ate fried chicken and hung out with Grandma Looten and Aunt Shell for awhile. Then we went home for a MUCH NEEDED nap! :)

Clearly, Elena is a morning person- this is in the morning BEFORE sunrise service! I'd like to think she was smiling at me, but really...

...she was smiling at Truman! She is fascinated with the cat. She gets so excited every time he comes in the room, and loves to "pet" him (aka grab big handfuls of fur and yank). Truman is amazingly tolerant of this behavior, though... such a good kitty!

Once we got to church, Elena had to help Grandma practice for the sunrise service, and...

...discuss her dress with Brother Dave.

After church, we tried to take a family photo... it's not a great shot but it's not horrible, either. We just don't have many pictures with all 3 of us.

At Grandm Looten's, Elena got to play with her new toys. Aunt Shell gave her this duck with rabbit ears, and Elena loved it!

Eating her first peep- Mean ol' Mommy only let her keep it long enough to take the picture, though. It sure was yummy while it lasted, though!

She looked like such a big girl sitting on the floor in her pretty dress!

Speaking of a big girl... look at her playing with her new baby doll from Grandma Looten! She's getting pretty good at sitting up. And she rolls EVERYWHERE!

Well, after all of the excitement of Easter weekend, Elena and I got a special treat- we got to spend the week home because I'm on Spring Break! It was lots of fun! We spent a couple of days in our pjs, took naps on the couch together (the best thing EVER), and just hung out! We also went to Rock Bridge State Park on Wednesday morning. We're having a youth event there at the end of April, so Ruth, Charlie, James and I (and Elena, of course) went out to take a look at it. Elena got carted around in the front carrier (not bad, but not really that comfortable, it was kind of like being pregnant again, only she was A LOT bigger!) and we even took the stroller off-roading on some of the trails! It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time!

Hanging out at the Devil's Icebox... it was very bright outside!

Uncle Charlie even pushed the stroller! He must be ate up by little Miss Elena to do that!

Price girls (even if their last name is Looten) must be used to crossing creeks! Mr. Safety is probably having a heart attack right about now... :)

Well, that was a really long post, and it really only covered 3 days!! But it's been a fun week around here. I have really loved staying home with Elena, and it's been good timing because it's been exhausting! She has not been sleeping well at night. Well, she's been sleeping, but she has been waking up every couple of hours crying. Still asleep, but crying. So I've been waking up every couple of hours, too, stumbling across the hall and sticking a binky in her mouth, then stumbling back to bed. We tried everything: sleeping in the crib, in a swing, in a bouncy seat, swaddled, unswaddled, EVERYTHING! She's had a cold with an ugly cough, and I think that she's just not sleeping well. Last night she FINALLY slept through the night again, which was wonderful! We go to the doctor Monday, so I'll definitely be asking about that, too! It may be time to do away with the monitor, but that will be hard. The other lovely side effect of the cough, has been the puking. Twice this week she has coughed until she gagged, and then ended up throwing up. And I don't mean spitting up-- I mean throwing up. Another lovely bonus of feeding her real food! Yesterday on the way home from the daycare (I had to work one day this week) she started throwing up peas and milk in the car! It was so gross, and all I could do was watch her in the mirror, because I was driving down I-70! By the time we got home, it was EVERYWHERE. I stripped her down, threw her clothes in the washer and her in the bathtub. Daddy was such a great daddy, he took care of cleaning out the car seat when he got home. I'm going to ask the doctor about that cough, too, because she sounds like such a pitiful little thing! She doesn't seem to feel too bad, though, she's been pretty good natured.

Despite all of the not-fun things this past week, I have really, really loved getting to stay home with my little girl this week! Hopefully someday I'll be able to do that all the time! For now, I'll enjoy all of the time I get! Hope your week was as fun as our's! We're off to Silver Dollar City for Young Christian's Weekend this weekend. Check back for a doctor's update, and pictures of our new cousin (once she arrives) sometime next week!

Contrast

Ellen gave me a bunch of pictures that she accidentally ordered doubles of, and it was pretty neat looking at them. They are pictures from the time Elena was born. All I could think as I looked through them was "What a difference 6 months makes!" With these two pictures it was especially obvious because the pictures are so similar. Enjoy! :)

Weeks 26 & 27

It's been a crazy-busy couple of weeks, though I'm starting to wonder what weeks aren't crazy-busy! Elena is so much fun now! Not that she hasn't always been fun, but she is so active all of a sudden! She loves spending time in her jumperoo, and if you lay her down on the floor, she just starts rolling all over the place. She talks and laughs and grabs everything she can get her hands on!

She started eating fruit when she turned 6 months old last week, and she LOVES it! Everything we've given her to try, she has hoovered. She's tried peaches, applesauce, prunes, pears, and bananas. She makes a funny face every time she tries a new one, but then she eats the whole jar as fast as we can get it into her mouth!

The other funny thing Elena has discovered over the last few weeks is Truman! She LOVES the kitty... every time he walks in the room she drops everything else and starts staring at him. Then she gets all excited and you can feel all of the muscles in her body tense and she lets out this big grunt. Of course, if he comes near enough for her to touch, she's all about "petting" the kitty... which mostly means grabbing any handful of fur she can reach and hanging on for dear life. Truman is suprisingly good natured about all of this... he looks at us and meows like "Mom, it's grabbing my tail" but he hasn't once hissed or growled or swung at her. I'm sure that day is coming, but meanwhile it's hilarious to watch her get so excited about the cat! Little does he know that when she's mobile, his life will change forever! :)

The last couple of weeks have been fun, but I haven't been very good at taking pictures of everything. We invited the college Sunday School class over for a game night, and Elena was passed around to everyone. Everybody loved her, of course! :)

Last weekend we went to Springfield and visited Grandma & Grandpa Looten. Grandma & Grandpa Looten babysat Elena while Josh and I went to the KJ-52 concert for his birthday. Believe it or not, I did not take a single picture of Elena the whole weekend! But I've still taken quite a few pictures over the last few weeks, so I hope you enjoy...

Hanging out with Moochie during game night... gotta love John Deere hats!

Ready for St. Patrick's Day!

Sitting her up in her boppy is no longer an option. I mean, I can sit her in it, but she doesn't stay there long! Shout out to our friends in Oki! :)
The theme for this week has been to put the bunny ears on Elena... they're so adorable, we couldn't resist! First, the full body bunny outfit...
Even bunnies can be cool...


Yummy, yummy prunes! I just loved this picture!

I know I say it all the time, but our little girl is growing up so fast! She sits up by herself (she can't get herself up there, but she's pretty good at staying there if we put her there), she's definitely mobile- she can't actually crawl yet, but she sure moves around a lot. She loves her toes, and constantly has them sticking straight up in the air, grabbing ahold of them, or sucking on them (this really grosses Josh out). She talks all the time! She's just such an amazing little creature, and she has so much personality already. God help us when she can actually start talking! :) It's certainly going to be an interesting ride!

While You're Waiting...

I know, I know, it's been too long since I posted! I will post again for a 2 week update later this week, but until then, here's something to keep you entertained.

Elena has discovered how to work the jumper....

It's hilarious to watch... you can't hear a thing between the rattling and the "talking," but it's awesome to see her jumping like a crazy person, so excited to jump.

6 Months

My little baby girl is 6 months old! Hard to believe she used to look like this...

Then she used to just lay around crying, sleeping, and eating. Now, she's a MANIAC! She's into and grabbing everything, she talks, she smiles, she laughs, she reaches for everything (and it goes straight into her mouth), and she has made our lives so much more joyful! We can't even remember what life was like without her!

To celebrate being 6 months old, we tried our first fruit! We tried applesauce first. She wasn't overly hungry at first, so we just gave her a little bit. But, man, this afternoon, when she was actually hungry, she scarfed the whole jar! Next up, peaches, pears, bananas, prunes... this is going to be so much fun! :)

Here are some pictures from this morning, stay tuned Friday for a Week 26 update! :)

Week 25

Well, I've already posted on the blogs a little about this week... Poor Elena got her first ear infection, and she's been working through her amoxicillin since then. Which she hates, and which has turned half of her clothes (and half of mine) a lovely shade of pink! But, on the good side, we had a beautiful weekend outside last weekend, so we went for a walk and barbecued.

As far as milestones, she hasn't hit any major ones this week... but I am continually amazed by how strong she's getting. She can sit up on her own for a little while, though she is not good at monitoring herself- i.e. when she starts to fall, she doesn't try to correct, it's just "TIMBER!" So if I leave her to sit on her own, it's usually with the boppy around her, so she only falls halfway, and has a nice soft landing! She's definitely picking things she likes now, she reaches for everything. She actually has purpose when she reaches, which is something new. Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Next week will be exciting... she turns 6 months old, and gets to start eating fruits! :) There will definitely be pictures of that! After all of the green beans, carrots, squash, peas, and sweet potatoes, she'll be so excited about fruit, she'll probably eat all of it! Regardless, I'm sure there will be good faces and great pictures, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, enjoy some of my favorites from this week...

Check out the pink amoxicillin face! I am so never getting that stuff out of all of our clothes!

She LOVES her glow worm.

Sweet, sleeping baby... the red cheeks are from the fever, poor thing!

Reading... or eating... a good book!

The mean things we do to our children... but she's so cute! :)

Chillin'

Another First

Elena had another first this weekend, and not such a good one. She got her first ear infection! :( She had a fever Thursday night, and didn't sleep very well (which means neither did we, of course). I had a conference all day Friday, so Josh had to stay home with her. He took her to the doctor, and she had a temp of 104 by the time they got there. They checked out the ears, said definitely an ear infection; did a flu test and no flu (thank God). So we started her on amoxicillin Friday, and she was so much better by Saturday! Today she doesn't have a fever, but she's still pretty cranky. And she's eating ALL THE TIME. It was hard to see our little girl so sick, but she really was a trooper- she just slept all the time, which is what you should do when you're sick anyway!

Just an update, she's feeling much better, and seems to have passed her cough along to me (lucky me). I'm pretty pleased that she made it until now before she got her first ear infection; I really worried about that since she was a c-section baby. But she's been a pretty healthy baby, all things considered. One more way that we are truly blessed.