Fun Book!

Ok, I said no more posts on the baby blog... but I found this fun site to make a book and had to share it. You can actually make a book that is up to 20 pages long and then order it for only $13. I thought this was so cool! :)

I've been trying to get it to embed in the screen here, but it won't work... so here's the link instead.



http://www.mixbook.com/books?pid=2601000

Enjoy! :)

First Birthday... finally!

Ok, so I realize that this post is LOOOONG overdue. But I had to sort through all of the pictures and pick which ones I wanted, and it's been a busy couple of weeks. THEN, I started trying to upload the pictures to blogger, and kept getting an error message. So then I had to go back through and resize all of the images, and THEN it let me upload them. So, as you can see, I have at least been trying to get this post done since Saturday... still really late, but, hey, better late than never! :) If I EVER had a weekend off, I might get stuff done faster!! :)



Anyway, on to the birthday festivities! As I already posted, the party really started on Friday. Since I already posted some pictures, I just found these two that were too cute, so I had to add them.

Elena, modeling the CUTE birthday hat Aunt Ruthie got her! She wasn't a huge fan, but it sure looked adorable!

Gotta love Uncle Charlie!

On Saturday, the day of the party, we actually started off with a playdate with Elena's friends Charlotte and Ella, and their mommies, my friends Liz H. and April. The girls are all 3 months apart, so it's really fun to see them all together. Extra helpful for me, because I can get an idea of what to expect over the next couple months! The other two girls were very sweet about giving kisses!

Hanging out with Mommy...

Truman was less than pleased to have not one, but THREE toddlers in the house! Especially when Miss Charlie was immediately infatuated with his tail! He looked like he had a mohawk within seconds, because she rubbed his fur backwards, too. Despite the look, however, he still lolled about in the middle of the living room, so he obviously didn't mind too much!
Yummy, yummy... nothing as delicious as a giant Lego! Check out the cute dress that Liz H. made! It's reversible, and totally adorable.
These shots just CRACK me up... so we wanted a picture of all 3 girls. Yeah, this is what we got...

And finally a good one! Or at least one where we can see all of the faces. But the girls were not very happy by this point because we took all of the balloons away!
I don't know when we took this one... but I think it's adorable! She's hugging the cow that Aunt Jessica got her for her birthday. It unfolds into a pillow, and is really soft and totally cute!
And now onto the party! The decorations were pretty simple, but looked great! Which means, obviously I wasn't in charge of them! Ellen took care of that, starting with this really cute "poster" that she made, that is actually a really cute blanket! What a good idea!
The cake... slightly more colorful than I had imagined, but still cute. And really good, even a week later (yes, we were still eating it). Thanks, Hyvee!
The birthday girl in her birthday dress. This was the EXACT dress that I wanted. And this picture just SCREAMED onery to me! I get the feeling we're in for an exciting life raising this little girl! Hanging out with Grandma Price & Great Grandma De!
This was Elena's favorite toy all evening-- it was a card that sang Happy Birthday. Unfortunately, it was so annoying that it eventually just "disappeared!"
Making faces with Grandpa Looten... and eating a club cracker, which she ate ALL NIGHT LONG. And, actually, is still eating, since we bought the Sam's Jumbo-pack! She loves them, though!
Sitting with Bro. Dave... and her new favorite drink, Aunt Ellen's famous orange koolaid. No sugar there...

Quite the social butterfly, here she is hanging out with, well, everybody!

Wouldn't be a first birthday without cake time! We stripped her down, spread a towel on the floor, and drug her high chair into the middle of the room!
She was really funny... she didn't dive in or anything. She just stuck her hand into the cake, pulled it straight out, and licked her fingers. Then jammed it back in again. It was pretty funny!
But, even if she was only licking it off her fingers, the sugar craze set in pretty quick!
Afterwards, we took her to the bathroom, stripped her down, and gave her a bath in the sink!

After cake, there had to be presents! Elena got a MOUNTAIN of presents, pretty much 90% of which make annoying noises. Don't worry, all of you who got her loud presents... your time will come! There will be payback!

A cute family photo in a moment away...
Elena passed out for awhile, so I thought she was ready for bed. I put pjs on her, nursed her, and was putting her to bed, when she was all of a sudden wide awake! So, she came back out to the party, and hung out in her PJs! She started off with learning to share with her cousin, Leila!
Showing Grandma Looten her new cow pillow...
And sharing Great-Grandma Looten's lap space with Leila! Aren't they a cute trio?!

Anyway, the party was great. It was so awesome to have all of our favorite people there... or at least most, since not everyone made it. It was very laid back, and I even got to enjoy it, despite the mass chaos of preparing for it! It's so hard to believe my little girl is one now! She has really grown up all of a sudden. She doesn't seem like a baby anymore, she really does seem like a little girl. And she has the personality to prove it! She can even talk, at least a little with sign language. She knows "please" "more" and "all done." We're working on "thank you" now. She is a good walker now, she practically runs. And she is into everything! I'm amazed at how she plays by herself- she just digs stuff out of her toy box and goes to town. She loves everything that makes music, and anything soft. One of her favorite birthday presents is a stuffed dog that Josh's Aunt Ruthie got her!

It's amazing how much our lives have changed in the last year. On one hand, it seems like she's been around forever, and we can't imagine life without her. On the other, it seems like it's not possible that it's already been a year since she was born. Becoming a wife was fulfilling for me in a way I'd never imagined. But becoming a mom has surpassed even that. And watching my husband become a father has made me love him more than I thought possible. What a blessing our little girl is, and I thank God for her, and for our family, every day.

Anyway, since my little girl isn't really a baby anymore, this marks the end of the baby blog. I'll keep recording our lives on the other blog, so make sure you check there! And be ready for another baby blog... sometime! :)

1 Year Check Up

Ok, so no birthday pictures yet because I didn't take a single picture the entire day, and Jess hasn't gotten the cd to me yet- she's bringing it this weekend. But let me just tell you that her party was a BLAST... so lots more details to come, when I have some time! :)

We did go to her 1 year appointment today, and the doctors said everything looked great. She had clear ears (PRAISE GOD!) and they were impressed by how well she walked.

The stats...
Weight: 18 lbs, 15 ounces, 20th percentile
Height: 28 3/4 inches, 40th percentile
Head Circumference: 18 3/8 inches, 90th percentile

So, it can definitely still be said that our daughter is a petite little girl with a big ol' head! :) But we think she's beautiful!!

She did have to get two shots today, and has been kind of a cranky mess the rest of the day. I'm sure she'll wake up happier tomorrow, and I'm just thrilled to know that she is a healthy little girl.

And I am so excited to know that I have actually made it to a full year nursing. That' something I really wanted to do, and I made it! Of course, it helps that Elena LOVES to nurse, so she hasn't started weaning herself at all. I will be sad to stop nursing her, whenever I finally do get her weaned, but I DO NOT miss dragging that horrible pump around with me EVERYWHERE I GO... I tell you what, I grew to despise that thing! But it was worth it for my little girl... she is happy and healthy!!

Happy First Birthday!!

Wow, at exactly 9:55 pm Elena turns one year old!! It's hard to believe... the big party is tomorrow, but she's already had a pretty busy birthday!!


We dressed up for daycare today, because Aunt Jess brought Elena this really cute dress, and the birthday girl should always look special! First thing on Elena's schedule this morning... a nap! :)





After we finally got her to wake up (no small feat, she wakes up like her mommy), and got her dressed, she got to open her first present from Mommy and Daddy! She loved tearing the paper, for awhile, but then got bored.


Mommy and Daddy got her a LAPTOP!! She loves our laptop, and is constantly pounding on it, so we thought she should have her own. She did think it was pretty cool! We also let her open a present from a guy at my work, and he gave her a school bus with big legos in it, which was also pretty sweet!

At daycare, Elena got to have her first little party! I didn't get to go :( but I left my camera, and they took some great pictures!!

I did get to take off work at noon, so we went to lunch with Aunt Jess and the whole family... Laney had a lemon! :)

After lunch we went to Sam's to finish shopping for the birthday party, then back home to get ready.

It's amazing to me that it was a year ago today that we went in to the hospital and came out parents. There's nothing like it in the world, and it has been a true blessing to watch her grow up in the last year. It is such an amazing miracle to see this tiny baby grow and develop into a toddler with personality. The littlest things point so clearly to God's sovereignty and His ultimate design. It's just amazing, and I can't wait to watch her life unfold over the next 18 (and even more) years! We are blessed to be trusted with the upbringing and care of this amazing little girl.

Week 50 & 51

I find it hard to believe that the title of this post is actually 50 and 51 weeks... it doesn't seem possible that a week from now our little girl will turn one! It doesn't seem possible. It's kind of like being married... it doesn't seem possible that it's already been a year since she was born.
But, at the same time, I can't imagine (or really remember) life without her.

Anyway, the last two weeks have been really busy, and full of fun new tricks- like talking on the phone and walking!! The two weeks ago we had the Fall Kickoff with the youth group, which really turned into a huge water fight! I took some great pictures of Elena playing on the playground equipment at Cosmo Park, but I think they're on Aunt Ruthie's camera, so I don't have any to put up.

Over Labor Day weekend we headed to Illinois to visit my grandparents. We had a great time. We just relaxed on Saturday, hung out and goofed off around the farm. Then, on Sunday, Josh got to preach at Grandma & Grandpa's church because they don't have a pastor. Afterwards, the whole family came to Grandma & Grandpa's house for lunch- we had 36 people there! It was crazy. Elena had a great time re-meeting all of her great-aunts & uncles, cousins, etc. Monday we went to Grandma & Grandpa Hook's house. They are my great-grandparents, so they are Elena's great-great grandparents. Elena LOVED Grandpa Hook's walker, she just pushed it all over their living room. I took some great pictures of that... on Ruth's camera, so those will have to come later. But I did take GOBS of pictures on my own camera, and here are a few of my favs...

Hanging out with Great-Grandpa Price. Check out the shoes!! Daddy decided that, since she was walking now, she had to start wearing shoes. So we stopped at the Carter's outlet on the way to IL and bought these ADORABLE brown and white tennis shoes. Doesn't she look like such a big girl?!

Driving Uncle Davids new zero-turn mower... all the guys in the family were salivating over this thing... Aunt Jane, not so thrilled! :)
Elena spent lots of time helping Aunt Ruthie with her physics homework!
At lunch on Sunday Elena got to hang out with her cousin, Addyson. Addy is actually 2 months younger than Elena, despite being quite a bit bigger! Guess Elena really is just that petite. She certainly doesn't fit in with the Price side of the family when it comes to body type!
Elena and Addy weren't too sure about each other at first... but they warmed up to each other pretty quick!

Long weekends require lots of naps... and what better way to take a nap than with Daddy?

We got to ride the Mule around the farm to look at all of the animals. We saw pigs and cows, and Elena LOVED them all!
We stopped at the lake and fed the fish, which meant there were massive catfish jumping all over the water. Elena thought that was pretty cool, too!
Hanging out with Grandpa again... she DESPERATELY needed a nap, but she wouldn't go to sleep for anyone, not even Grandpa!
ted This is back at home... apparently she wasn't done with her cereal! She has become fascinated with her bowl and spoons, trying to eat out of them and pound on them after I finish feeding her oatmeal.

Now that she has started walking so much, I'm finding that I LOVE these pictures of her walking with somebody. Poor thing, nobody loves her enough to walk with her, but I've managed to capture a few shots...

Walking with Daddy...

With Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Charlie at church...

Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Charlie again!

Grandma Price and Aunt Ruthie

I just think there's something so sweet about seeing the little girl walking with the grown ups.

Anyway, there has been much planning and preparing for the big party next weekend! I get the feeling it's going to be a big ol' party! I hope you all are coming!! If not, stay tuned for pictures in the next big update next weekend!!

What A Difference...

...a couple of weeks makes!!!

So, Elena's been learning to walk. This first video is from August 22nd.

And this second is from tonight (2 weeks later).

Amazing what a difference a couple of weeks makes!!

Stay tuned for an update (with LOTS of pictures) from the last 2 weeks! Hopefully tomorrow, maybe Saturday...

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!