Week 49

Well, not too much to say about this week... it's continued much like the last couple. Elena keeps growing, and her first birthday just keeps getting closer and closer... which sometimes makes me excited and sometimes makes me sad... She is getting much better at walking, too, which is fun, and dangerous! She totally cracked her head at daycare this week trying to walk between me and one of her teachers. She has been very fussy this week, mostly because she was getting another tooth. The second top tooth has just peeked through, and as soon as it did she was a much happier baby!

We got to actually spend a whole weekend home together, which was wonderful. Saturday we hung out at home, had a good breakfast, and went for a walk on the trail. But that's about the most exciting thing we did this week, which was just fine with us!

Some pictures from our refreshingly uneventful week...

My big girl, sleeping without a swaddle... this is what she does: she flips on her stomach, buries her face in her blanket, and sticks her butt in the air. She's a thrasher, though... by morning she's turned totally around and usually in the complete opposite side of the crib!

Well, in case Elena ever needs proof... here's proof that she's abused! We found this balloon, and, well, just had to have some fun with it! Check out the hair!!

And someday we'll use this to blackmail her... or maybe we'll show it to her first boyfriend... the possibilities are endless! :)And the abuse continues... maybe she will be a lion for Halloween!
During our walk on the trail... by the time we reached the bridge, which is where we turn around, she was not a very happy camper. Mostly, she was tired, but she wouldn't go to sleep in the stroller. So she PASSED OUT on the way home!
Now that we've broken her of the cd shelf habit, she's moved on to some new helpful activities... like emptying the shoe rack,
and helping fold laundry. It's important to note that those clothes were ALREADY FOLDED!
Just love this picture...
"Go ahead. Make my day."
Anyway, that's about it. A short post, but not much to report. Just some funny pictures for you to enjoy!

Weeks 47 & 48

Here's the promised weekly (or bi-weekly) post... although, as I went back through the pictures, I really haven't been very good at taking pictures the last couple of weeks. I still managed to find 9 pictures to put up, though... is it sad that 9 pictures counts as "not very many?!"

Anyway, it's been an exhausting couple of weeks. I had to go back to work full time the first week of August, so Elena went back to daycare full time. Of course, she came home after the first week with a bit of a cold, but (so far) it hasn't gone to her ears. I have discovered that she is MUCH better at fighting off the saline bottle, though! She starts flailing and screaming as soon as she sees it! She's gotten her 3rd tooth, it's her top right front one. I get the feeling the other top front one is coming, too, because she's still been pretty fussy, and her gum is all hard right there. She's learning to love to eat real food. She still prefers veggies (especially peas and corn) but she likes cut up grapes, too. And she loves biscuits, and turkey burgers! I think her aversion to fruit is more a texture thing- fruit is so juicy, it gets slimy and I don't think she likes that. And we still feed her baby food, but at least one meal a day she sits in her high chair at the table with us while we all eat. We think it's important to teach her how to sit and eat dinner. She definitely has all kinds of personality, and she loves the word "uh-oh," especially when we're grocery shopping. She will take whatever she's holding (she prefers my pen or my shopping list), yell "uh-oh" at the top of her lungs, and fling it on the floor. I keep trying to explain to her that it doesn't count if you say "uh-oh" BEFORE you throw it on the floor, but it doesn't seem to sink in. Regardless, I've gotten very good and swooping down and picking something (toys, list, pen, keys) off of the floor without breaking stride while shopping! :) She's also really started wanting to walk. She usually only goes 2 or 3 steps at a time, and it's not so much walking as "falling, with style" (name that movie?), but she gets SO excited when she does it. The girls at the daycare said she went 7 steps the other day... so, life as we know it is about to change! Though, I've discovered that's kind of what parenting is- you get used to something, and they grow out of that phase and life as you know it changes, and by the time you get used to the new phase, it all changes again! Guess this is what we signed up for! :) And we wouldn't trade it for the world!

Alrighty, enough of the talking, onto the pictures...

At VBS Parent night... apparently, it was so humid that the lens fogged up and we didn't realize it. It's too bad, because these were some darn cute pics of her swinging in one of the baby swings. She LOVED it. But I still thought this pic was kind of cool with the foggy look!

Her new favorite trick: emptying the cd tower. I guess they make cool noises. There has been much screaming, and lots of "NOs," but I think we've mostly stopped this really fun activity... I know, I know, we're the meanest parents ever!

We finally got our gate, and we got to move the coffee table out of the living room. Makes our living room feel much less like a corral! And it works wonderfully to keep the dog and the baby separate when we let Isa in the house. Although, they defnitely love on each other through the gate. The first time, it made us really nervous (most of you know how unpredictable Isabelle is), but they petted/licked each other through the cracks (Elena petted, Isa licked, not the other way around!) then Isa flipped over on her back and showed her belly to Elena. So we took that as a good sign. When Isa is in, it's really hard to keep either of them away from the gate! But, hey, they're entertained!

Elena got to go with us to Camp Windermere last weekend. Grandma Price came along to take care of Elena so that I could be part of the group. We were out in the woods all day, so napping happened in the stroller... and she looked pretty cute passed out!
Check out the teeth!
I love this hat on her... and she actually left it on sometimes.
Since we were at Windermere, we got to go swimming again!! Although, it was cloudy and about 70, so it wasn't the greatest swimming weather. Poor Elena's lips were just quivering, but she was smiling and laughing at the same time!
Grinning and bearing it! I felt bad that she was cold, but she was loving it!
Wapped up nice and warm on the deck... check out the hair!

Well, that's about it for the last couple of weeks. 4 more weeks until the big birthday! Pretty much anyone who reads this blog is getting an invitation to her party, and, if I forget you, you're invited anyway! September 13th. 6:00 pm at our house! :) Hard to believe my baby's not going to be a baby much longer!

11 Months!

I know I owe you all a weekly update, but work has been crazy- in my new job, it's busier right before school starts because everyone wants training then. So, this short update will have to do, and I'll do a two week update later this week, hopefully!

Today is special because... Elena is 11 months old today!


Fun things about our 11-month old...

• she has 3 teeth now- two on the bottom, one on the top. She has just learned that she can clack them against each other, and is doing that most of the time now!
• She has started sleeping without her swaddle. Actually, we stopped swaddling her awhile ago, but she still just looks so big when she's laying in her crib without anything wrapping her up. She likes to sleep on her face with her butt in the air. She is quite the thrasher at night, though- she is all over that crib!
• She LOVES vegetables, especially peas and corn. She's ok with grapes now, but I can't get her to try other fruits.
• She's a talker- like, she never stops talking!
• Peek-a-boo is guaranteed to get a smile from her!
• She's already a reader...
• or maybe she's developing her sense of fashion, and thought it made a good hat...
• SHE TOOK 3 STEPS TODAY! So, she's not really walking yet, but she's trying.

Anyway, just a quick 11 month update. I cannot believe that her birthday is in a month! It's been really weird the last couple of weeks to go back to work and remember that, last year at this time, I was pregnant! Time sure does fly!

Week 46

Well, not a lot of pictures from Week 46, but we had fun anyway! Last weekend Josh's parents came to visit. They were actually heading to Quincy, IL to see Aunt Amy in a show on Saturday, but they came up Friday night for dinner at our house... and some rounds with the Wii... and some visiting with Elena, of course! We had a great time with them Friday night, especially Elena!

Saturday we broke out Elena's new pool. It's a really neat pool with a slide and everything. It even has a place to attach a hose to a sprinkler so it will spray water down the slide. Unfortunately, that part didn't work, but she still had fun play in it! It was just the right size so that she could actually crawl around without getting her face in the water. Once she figured out that she could move around, and didn't have to just sit there (like she does in her bath) she was ALL ABOUT swimming!

Standing up in the pool... what a big girl she is!

Walking to the slide... with Mommy's help, of course!

Down the slide... wheeeeee~

On Sunday we celebrated Grandma Looten's birthday with dinner out at Shakespeares and cake and presents back at Great-Grandma Looten's house. The best part, besides seeing the whole family, was Aunt Shell's new puppy! She's a shih tzu/beagle mix, and is only about 6 weeks old. Needless to say, Elena LOVED the puppy. Puppy.... not so crazy about Elena, though!

The rest of this week has been VBS at church. Elena has gone with me and stayed in the nursery while I taught. Thursday night at the program, however, she was quite the hit with the girls in my class! Check out the stylish hat they tried on her... looks pretty good!
Elena's favorite part about VBS Parent Night was the treat- ice cream floats. Not that she got to eat much, but she was quite certain she wanted some. One of the dads gave her several little bites, then left. Well, once she knew what was in the cups, it was all kinds of fussing until she got another bite. Which, since she was fussing, we wouldn't give her. Pretty pitiful face, though! :)

Well, the little girl continues to grow. She stands up by herself a lot, and has even taken a step occaisionally. We finally got the gate we ordered, so we have closed off the kitchen to her. She's not so sure how she feels about it, but at least we don't have to use the coffee table to barricade her in the living room anymore! Her new favorite thing to do, however, is to empty out her diaper bag, which has been fun. She talks tons, though she's gotten a little more fussy than normal lately. I'm guessing she's working on those top two teeth, although we haven't seen any sign of them yet. Her personality is definitely growing!! :)

Anyway, that's about it for week 46... six more weeks until she's a year! Hard to believe!!!