Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Weeks 36 & 37

This is going to be one MONDO post because I haven't had time to post, but I've taken LOTS of great pictures over the last two weeks. So, here goes...

Last weekend we went to the City Museum in St. Louis with the college class. I told the whole story on the other blog, but here are some cute pics of Elena's day!

Her first slide! These were the coolest little roller slides. The tubes rolled, so she didn't get stuck or anything, it was like a little conveyor belt.

Slides are hard work, so she had to take a nap with Grandma Price!
Hanging out with Uncle Charlie. It was really funny because all of these college kids would run off and play on all of the equipment and tunnels and stuff, then come back to hold Elena for a little while. Everybody loves her!
This is my new favorite picture, and is now the background on my computer. Elena LOVES taking a bath. She's discovered splashing and really likes to play. Mommy gets bored WAY before Elena does! In this picture she actually has her first shampoo spike, though you can't really see it.

A much better view of the spike from the side. She finally has enough hair!
Elena has also discovered the diapers on the changing table. Every time we lay her down to change her diaper she grabs one (or a handful) and flails it around. It is for this reason that half of her diapers look like they've already been worn! :)
Elena loves music, she starts grinning and bouncing whenever she hears some. She especially loves piano music, which is funny because when I was pregnant she would thrash like a wild woman during choir practice. Now when we're at church she likes to play the piano herself. It's pretty cute!
So I couldn't resist a video of it, too!


Helping Daddy give the announcements during youth.
Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby. I know that I have a pictuer of her sleeping in like every post. But she's so adorable when she's sleeping (and NOT talking!!). This was especially cute because she was laying on her boppy, and then she rolled over onto her side and curled her arms up. She just looked so grown up!

This past weekend the Looten's came into town for Memorial Day, so we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Looten and Great-Grandma Looten, too. Elena wore her Bass Pro Shop onesie just for Grandpa! Check out the celery on the table- she'd been gnawing on a couple of sticks during dinner!

So after church on Sunday we went to Catfish Corner for lunch, and I'd given Elena a pickle a couple of times during lunch- just cut one in half and let her suck on it while she sat in her high chair. When we were all done eating, Grandma Looten was holding Elena and we were all talking, but not really paying that much attention to her. All of a sudden we looked at her, and she was sucking on this big ol' pickle! She had leaned over, grabbed a pickle off of a plate in the middle of the table and started chewing on it. Girl knows what she wants! :)
If you live in MO, you know it has really warmed up lately. So, of course, it was time to bust out the shorts. What a big girl!
We grilled the other night, and it was so nice that I wanted to be outside, too, but not necessarily wrestling with Elena the whole time. So we put up the play pen in the backyard and let her play while we grilled. Isabelle gave her a sniff or two, then went on about her business.
"Mommy, I do not want to be in the playpen anymore!!"

Anyway, it's actually been a rough couple of weeks. Elena had an ear infection, so she's been on antibiotics, which gives her horrendous diarrhea. She always has 3 outfits at the daycare, and some days she still came home in the daycare's clothes! Her tummy was upset, she didn't feel good, therefore she was cranky. Then, even after the antibiotics were finished, she stopped sleeping through the night. She wakes up just screaming and crying, except she's not really even awake, she's just crying. It makes for a rough night. Just in the last couple of days she's started sleeping through the night again.
Elena has learned some cool new tricks, though! :) She claps now, and she is getting really good at crawling. She covers good ground, that's for sure. She's also started pulling up on stuff, and she's trying to learn to wave. She also says "mamamamama," but doesn't really know what she's saying, obviously.
In short, it hasn't been the easiest couple of weeks, but this age is really fun. She learns so much so quickly. Everyday she learns something new. I'm so glad I have this blog to keep track of everything, I'd never actually remember!! This weekend we are going to our first Cardinals game, so those should be some cute pictures next week!!

Friday, May 16, 2008

It Continues

Well, the blogging (and video) rush continues! Couldn't resist sharing these two videos...

Obviously, Elena is not too into clothes yet... from the whole box of clothes Aunt Jess got her, this was her favorite part. Pretty much, if it's NOT a toy, she wants to play with it! She especially loves paper, though!

And, the second video is from last night in the bath. She has discovered the joy of splashing. Need I say more?

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Week 35

Ok, so looks like I am actually going to get caught up tonight on posting... write down the date, because it may never happen again! :)


Week 35 was pretty exciting for Miss Elena! We spent the weekend in Springfield and Branson celebrating the end of Daddy's seminary class. We went to Silver Dollar City all day on Saturday, and just ran around. A MUCH better trip than our last trip to SDC for Young Christian's Weekend when it was pouring rain and 40 degrees outside! It still rained Saturday morning, but at least it was raining and 60. And it got sunny and warm that afternoon. Aunt Jess, Uncle Luke, and Leila joined us, along with a couple of their friends, so we had a great time! Mommy and Daddy ate too much, and shared some with Elena. The frozen lemonade wasn't too bad, but she LOVED the blackberry topping from our funnel cake!


Making faces at Daddy through the "window" on the umbrella part of her stroller.




Hanging out with Grandma Looten... think these two are related?!


'Lena and Leila, chillin' outside the pottery shop.




The guy at the rock shop who makes jewelry gave Elena and Leila baby rings with a stone the color of their birthstones (obviously not a real sapphire). His only request was that we let him pray for the babies while he made the rings. That sounded like a win-win situation to us, and the ring is awful cute!



Besides Silver Dollar City, we spent Sunday hanging out, going to church, and celebrating the moms with lunch out at a mexican restaurant and candy (chocolate toffees for me, dark chocolate caramels for Aunt Jess) from Grandma & Grandpa Looten. For my first Mother's Day Elena got me chocolate covered strawberries... again! What a smart little girl she is... ;)


Listening to Grandpa Looten tell a story. Elena decided she was too big to sit in her swing while we ate- she had to sit up at the table with the rest of the family!


Showin' off the girls after church.



Grandma & Grandpa with their favorite granddaughters!


When we got home, we had a surprise package from the other Aunt Jess! She sent Miss Elena a couple of really cute dresses, a sleeper, and a swimsuit...

The most interesting part was the tissue paper it came wrapped in!



But she finally decided to try on the swimsuit. It looked adorable, of course.

Like every woman, after seeing herself in a swim suit, Elena decided to read up on some pointers to get herself ready for swimsuit season!

Elena is starting to enjoy the feeling of grass and different textures and that sort of thing. Last summer she was just too young to even know there was a difference. I love this picture because she's holding one of the little tiny blue flowers that I used to pick by the handful when I was little. Too cute!
Elena is also discovering some of the downfalls of crawling: sometimes you end up where you don't want to be! We heard her start crying in the living room and looked in there and didn't see her. Yep, sure enough, she had rolled herself under the table, and couldn't get out because she was too tall with her head up. Mean ol' Mommy got the camera and took a couple of pictures before rescuing her! It was too funny...
Well, the not so good news this week is Miss Elena has another ear infection. Sad. :( We were afraid it was pink eye because her eyes were just mondo-gunky and all red-rimmed. But the actual whites of her eyes weren't red. So I called the doctor on Wednesday to see what they thought, and they said to bring her in because it probably wasn't pink eye, but could definitely be an ear infection. And they were right... so we're on the 3rd antibiotic since January. But she's already feeling much better, and this antibiotic doesn't seem to be messing with her system as much (read: no diarrhea), at least not yet.
I did find out that she is about 16 1/2 pounds now, she's getting to be a porker! :) We sure do love her...


Post Script: I was so proud of myself for getting this post all done, with the pictures and everything. Then I went to preview it, and IT WAS ON THE WRONG BLOG!! So, here is take two, because, OF COURSE, you can't copy and paste pictures from the blog editor... NEAT. I may not make it to a year of separate blogs...

Week 34

Ok, so I'm obviously a week behind... I'm hoping to get this post and the Week 35 post done today, but in case I run out of time, at least I'll get one done! This posting every week is hard work!! Especially when you are as picture-happy as I am, and when you have a little girl who has discovered that the keyboard makes a REALLY cool noise when you pound on it with both hands! She's such a helper...

Anyway, week 34 was a pretty good week. Over the weekend, we celebrated my 26th birthday with "breakfast for dinner" at my parents' house. We had a great time just hanging out. Elena was VERY interested in the cake with the candles, that's for sure! And she was happy to help me unwrap my presents! I got a bag for my new camera, a couple of movies (27 Dresses & Miss Congeniality 1 & 2), and some money for new clothes (somehow, I'm not exactly the same size or shape I was last May!). We just had a good time hanging out together and, of course, playing with Elena!!
Uncle Charlie (aka The Baby Hog) and his favorite niece! :)

With Aunt Ellen, chewing on a piece of celery. I can't stand the taste, but she doesn't seem to mind! I think she mostly likes chewing on the cool, hard texture. Teething, anyone?

Helping Mommy blow out the candles. She was fascinated, and made the funniest face when the candles were all out!

Hanging with Uncle Sam... much to his delight, as you can see!

Trying on the cute Nike sandles Grandpa Price got for her. Pretty adorable!

On Sunday the 4th we had a 30th anniversary celebration at church. We just had a special morning worship service, and then we did lunch and some reminiscing afterwards. Elena wore a new dress for the occasion... pretty cute! :)

Trying to get a picture before church. My new camera has an orange light when you push the button down to focus it. Well, Elena sees that orange light and immediately stops smiling, then closes her eyes as the flash goes off. So it took a couple of tries, and she still isn't smiling!

We're still working on that whole ladylike thing... I wasn't ever very good at it, either!

I love my daddy!

Hangin' out with Great-Grandma Looten during the lunch... and chewing on some more celery!

After the weekend, we had a pretty relaxing week. Mostly just hung out around the house. And, of course, the camera was never very far away!

I sure do love my hippo!

Let's see, I've watched Mommy read the paper... I can do this, too. First spread the ads out over here, then crinkle up the front page. Hmm... this paper makes a cool noice when I squeeze it. Let's see, oops, I missed a spot over there, better cover it up with the sports section!

Phew, it's hard work to spread that newspaper out all over the floor... time for a nap!

Well, life is rarely boring anymore... Elena is really getting mobile now, which is really fun. And sometimes a little annoying, such as with the newspaper and the fascination with the computer keyboard! Sometimes makes me wish for when she would just lay wherever I put her! But she's awful fun, and I don't think I'd trade it for the world!

Monday, May 12, 2008

8 Months!

Well, to continue the string of videos... here's another one to celebrate being 8 months old!


So, the work towards crawling continues. This is a pretty funny new trick!

Eventually, I will put up another post. With my new camera, I have gobs of really cute pictures. But, I have no time (as you can probably tell from the six weeks it's been since I updated the other blog). So, for now, enjoy the video, and sometime I will post more pictures!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Movin' and Groovin'

Well, I hate to overwhelm you all with videos, but I couldn't resist posting this...

She is officially MOBILE! It's not exactly hands and knees, but it's definitely moving. Nothing is safe now...

Monday, May 5, 2008

Monkey Trick!

Well, as promised, here is the video of Elena's new trick! The one we will be very sorry we taught her! But, for now, it's adorable.

Just FYI, right before I turned on the video camera, Josh was saying that he wished someone was afraid of him. Thus, the question I asked Elena...

Enjoy!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Week 33

Well, I didn't have my new camera until the end of this week with Elena, so I still don't have gobs of pictures, but I do have a few! And some pretty cute ones!


It's been a pretty exciting week for the Looten household... or at least a pretty busy one! Last weekend was the Digital Camera Scavenger Hunt with the youth group. We usually do it downtown, but this year we decided to mix things up and moved it to Rock Bridge State Park. Which was a really cool place to do it. But it involved a solid 2 1/2 hours of hiking, most of it with Elena strapped to my chest! I did pass her off to Josh after about an hour and a half, so he got her for the rest of the time. She did really well, though. She loved facing outwards in the carrier, watching everything go by and talking to everyone (and everything). But by the time Josh got back to the shelter for dinner, Elena was passed out in the carrier, hanging there like a rag doll! She took a good nap while we grilled, and then was happy as a clam. Such a good baby! And an adorable one, see...

With Daddy before we left for RB... notice the matching Superman shirts! She finally fits in her's!

After the hike... she was dead meat!


Finally out of the carrier, passed out in Grandma's arms.

After a little nap, happy to be hanging out with Jordyn!

After the hike, Josh and I went out to eat at HuHot with Elena, because we didn't eat much there (when you're feeding a bunch of youth, it's hard to have time to eat). While we were there, Elena got fussy, so we calmed her down with her new favorite treat- A LEMON! She LOVES to suck on lemons. She sucked this one darn near dry- it looked like a little lemon skeleton! She doesn't wince or anything, just grabs it and sucks away. At least it keeps her quiet! :)

Sunday morning she wore a new outfit. But not just any outfit, this is the 3 month outfit that Josh and I bought to bring her home in!!! So it finally fits, 7 months later! Despite the wait, it was still cute on her!

The rest of the week was spent just hanging out with Mommy and Daddy. Elena is so much more active, and she does so much more everyday! She really reaches and grabs things now, and she's still trying desperately to crawl. She hasn't made it up on all fours for very long yet, but she gets up on her toes and her hadns or her forehead pretty often. And she can definitely cover ground just by thrashing around. And it's pretty funny to watch her turn around- she gets high-centered on her stomach, and spins until she can reach whatever it is she's going after. She loves to grab her feet, and talks constantly. Her newest trick is saying "No." She will just start shaking her head back and forth. Someday we'll regret encouraging it, but right now it's really cute and funny! Anyway, it's a joy to watch her grow and change... enjoy the pictures!

It's never too early for a girl to start planning!

Truman is SO not a fan of the new-found mobility. He moves a little, and she just follows him because she is FASCINATED by him. I think we're going to have to look into that cat door pretty soon.

What a big girl riding on Daddy's shoulders! Such a sweet smile...

Stay tuned for a video of the new "monkey trick" later this week...