Week 11

Week 11 was a pretty crazy week for Miss Elena. A good part of it was spent in Illinois for Thanksgiving. She got to meet tons of people, and we had a pretty good time. Elena got a little fussy if she was held for too long, but she spent a lot of time laying on the floor "riding a bicycle" as Mom calls it- mostly just flailing arms and legs like a crazy person. Lots of interesting things happened (interesting for a 11 week old, of course)...

We looked all over for a turkey onesie, but we had to make do with a bib... and check out the new blue jeans that Aunt Jessica bought her! They're adorable, even if they do come up to her armpits! :)

She met lots of new people, like her great-aunt Jane, who quickly figured out that big girls like Elena don't lay down!

Even her cousin, Sam, held her without looking terrified... is that a smile I see? :)

Diaper changees were a 6 person affair because every time we laid her down she'd start smiling and laughing... so I got a lot of great pictures!

What a sweetheart!!

We even got her a "My First Christmas" outfit, and it came with a striped headband... which she didn't appreciate very much!

Once we got home, I thought we'd try out her big bouncy seat because she is always wanting to stand up (and my arms get tired of holding her! She looked pretty cute in it, but since her feet dangled about 6 inches off the ground, I think she's not quite big enough for it!

Of course, she watched the MU vs. KU game with her daddy, wrapped in her MU blanket.

I still can't believe how fast she is growing up. She changes minute by minute it seems. I know I'm going to blink and she's going to be 16 and driving! But what a ride...

Five

Over Thanksgiving weekend we went to visit my great-grandparents. It was a really neat thing to see five generations together, and I'm glad Grandma and Grandpa Hook got to meet Miss Elena... they looked awful cute together! :)

The direct line of descent...

Grandma & Elena

Grandma and Grandpa with Elena

All the moms...

Week 10

Well, she's 2 1/2 months old now! The last few weeks have been really fun because she's started being very vocal (without screaming) and started smiling tons. There is nothing so special as when she locks eyes with you, and grins. It's the most beautiful thing in the whole world! A lot of the time she starts really smiling when we lay her down for a diaper change (if she's not cranky). It makes diaper changes a lot more fun, but it also makes them take a lot longer, since I spend 5 minutes making her talk and smile before even taking off her diaper! But, oh well!This weekend we went to Springfield for Josh and my's annual trip to do our Christmas shopping and go to the SDC Christmas festival. We left Elena with her Grandma Looten for the day while we hit The Landing in Branson, and SDC. They had a great day, and Josh and I enjoyed some alone time. Although, by the end of the day I missed my baby girl, and not just because my boobs were about to explode. She loves her Grandma Looten, though, and will just talk and talk with her. Sunday we went to church with them, and she was a great baby. This week has been a great week, and she just keeps getting cuter! Here are some of my favorite pictures from this week...

Smiling and talking for Grandma Looten... she finally fits in the "coming home" outfit Josh and I originally bought her! But it's awful cute now!

Having her make eye contact is so neat... but she doesn't like to lay down very much, she wants to stand all the time. She is great at holding up her head now, too!
Grandma Looten bought her two Christmas onesies, so, of course, we had to wear one home!
After a rough afternoon of laying on the ground kicking, Elena passed out on her Grandpa Looten. Apparently, on a grandpa's chest is her favorite place to nap (see last week's picture of her napping on Grandpa Price's chest)!
Lest everyone gets the impression that Miss Elena is always happy... sometimes she doesn't WANT her diaper changed! Sad thing is, she's still adorable!

Elena has picked up a new habit in the last week or so... she is constantly sucking on her fist. I just know she's thinking "I know there's a thumb in there somewhere, and if I can just figure out how to make it stick out, I'll be set!" It's pretty funny, because you'll hear this loud sucking noise and look over, and her hand is practically wrist deep in her mouth! Anyway, Josh doesn't want her to be a thumb sucker, but I think it's pretty cute! :)

1o weeks old and already a talker, I get the feeling our life is only going to get more interesting! This weekend we are headed to Illinois for Thanksgiving, and to meet lots and lots of aunts and uncles and cousins! I'm sure there will be lots of pictures next week, too!

Not So Bad

Well, we went to the doctor's office today, and it wasn't so bad. Elena weighs 10 lbs 7 oz, so she's still gaining roughly 2 pounds a month. She's 21 5/8 inches long, so still short, too! :) But they said she was still following her curve, so nothing to worry about.

What I was worried about was the shots she had to get. She screams like crazy when they look in her ears, I couldn't imagine what she was going to do when they actually gave her shots. But the nurse was so fast, I hardly noticed. Elena noticed, of course, and expressed her displeasure in a very loud voice. But she calmed down pretty quickly, and was asleep before we got in the car. She had a rough morning at daycare, but after sleeping all afternoon she has been all smiles and coos. so, overall, not such a bad day at the doctors!

Speaking of smiles and coos, I got home today with her after a late meeting and laid her in the bouncy seat while I made dinner. I was cracking up in the kitchen because she was just takling and talking to her waterfall. So I finally couldn't stand it anymore, and I took a video of her with my cheapy camera. The video isn't great, but the audio is priceless, so make sure you turn up your volume! :)

Week 9

Week 9 was a pretty boring week for Miss Elena. The most exciting thing that happened was that she turned 2 months on Monday. But she did do a few fun things...

On Saturday, she spent the day at home with Mommy and Daddy. It was an exciting day of cleaning (for Mommy and Daddy, not Elena) and, of course, naps (with Daddy)...


We also listened to the MU vs. Texas A&M game, properly attired of course!

After the game, we went out to eat with Grandma & Grandpa Looten and Jeff and Connie. Elena dazzled everyone with smiles and talking, which was very sweet!
Sunday we went to Aunt Ellen's house for lunch, and Elena took a nap on Aunt Ruthie's lap...

...and on Grandpa Price's lap (naps are an important part of a baby's life)!

One of the cool things about this week is that Elena is really starting to interact with things- people, toys, etc. She has learned about mirrors, and loves them! She smiles at herself in the mirrors, and at whoever is holding her. She's way more interested in the waterfall on her bouncy seat now, too. And she has started paying attention to her mobile. I can lay her down in her crib for a couple minutes if it's on and she's perfectly happy. And she just looks so adorable staring up at the flowers, that I couldn't resist taking some pictures...


It is amazing to me how fast she grows, and how much she changes every week. She is really developing a lot of personality. And she smiles at me when I come into the daycare to pick her up, which just melts my heart (and makes me feel guilty for leaving her there all day, but that's my own issue). Miranda at the daycare told me that today she held Elena on the floor in front of the mirror, and Elena looked into the mirror, and immediately grinned really big. I just thought that was so sweet...

Of course, the last few evenings Elena has been less than pleasant. She fussed at church all night last night, even while Uncle Charlie held her during choir. And she's looking to do the same thing tonight. But overall she's a great baby... and she's so adorable, it's impossible to be mad at her! (A feeling I'm sure will change once she can talk!)

We're headed to Springfield this weekend, and we go to the doctor's on Monday, so look for more updates soon!

Two Months

My sweet little baby Elena is two whole months old today! To celebrate, she stayed home with her daddy all day (Veteran's Day). Not sure he'd call it much of a celebration, since I think she screamed for the majority of the morning! But after they came to see me for lunch, she passed out (as good as bottles are, they just can't beat the real thing for knockin' a baby out!) and they had a much better afternoon. This evening she has been entertaining me with smiles and coos (and a bit of screaming, but that's not nearly as entertaining). She is so adorable, and I can't believe she is 2 months old!

Here are some of the pictures from our "photo shoot" last weekend. We started out taking pictures of her in the cute red dress she wore to church, then we put her flower girl dress on...

First, there were beautiful smiles...
Then, not so much....
Though, she did let us take a few cute pictures, as long as we held her up and let her stand. Big girls don't like to lay down, you know.
The back of the dress was so cute we had to take some pictures of it, too.
And the bloomers were equally adorable!
Modeling is hard work, so she had to take a nap afterwards, of course!

She may not have been the happiest model in the world, but she certainly was the cutest! Thanks, Aunt Yaya, for making her such a beautiful dress!

Week 8

So, this has definitely been a cool week in baby world! Elena has really started smiling on purpose and in response to what we say or do. She's also started "talking" (cooing and gurgling, mostly). It's really the cutest thing I've ever seen or heard! And it led to me laying her down on her white blanket, putting the camera on continuous, and holding the button down for about 15 minutes! The result being that we have 80 pictures which look hilarious when you just arrow through them... it really looks like she's talking then, like one of those flip books! Anyway, I didn't think everyone wanted to see all 80 pictures, so I picked two of my favorites...


Poor Elena got a little cold from the daycare this week. They called me Tuesday because she had a fever. Which made me feel like the worst mother ever, because she got sick in the first week of daycare. So I took her to the doctor (after a consultation with Aunt Yaya, of course) and they said she just had a cold. But she's already feeling better, we just have her sleep in her bouncy seat so she can breathe, and put in saline nose drops (she loves those) and we bought a humidfier for her room. So she's doing lots better now. And we've been giving her more baths to help, which led to this really cute picture from when her daddy gave her a bath.
It is definitely true, though, that your kids will get sick the day your doctor's office is closed. When we were kids, Dr. Prica's day off was Friday, we always got sick on Fridays. Elena got sick on Tuesday, Dr. Garb's office is closed on Tuesday! So we had to go see Deb in Dr. Beal's office instead. Which wasn't a big deal, but it made me laugh because I always remembered Mom having to take us to different doctors.

Sunday we went to Mom and Dad's house to celebrate Charlie's birthday (even though his birthday was 2 weeks ago). Elena wore her Grandma bib, and looked adorable in it (of course).

While we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house, we did a photo shoot with Elena in her flower girl dress because I didn't get any good pictures at the wedding. Ruth took most of the pictures, though, so I don't have them yet! But I'll post them when I do, because they were adorable.

This week, Elena also got to go to her first campfire with the youth group! She was all bundled up, and slept pretty much the whole time. She got passed around the youth group, even to Sam, who held her only under duress! His exact words were "How long do I have to do this?"

Anyway, it was pretty good week. We've settled into the whole daycare routine. I like the people who take care of her, and I absolutely love the smiling and talking thing that started this week. It just melts my heart to have her look at me, like really make eye contact, and grin really big. It's a feeling unlike any other, that's for sure!

Hilarious

Make sure your sound is turned up, the noises they make are priceless. Thank goodness my husband isn't like this!

Fun Present

Julie and Noa sent us a really fun (and funny) box of presents from Japan last week, and I couldn't resist sharing my favorite parts!

First there were a couple of onesies. One was just striped, and the other had a rabbit on it (see below).

Then I looked a little closer... check out what the writing under the bunny says!
Random! So that'll be a fun story once she's big enough to wear those. Julie and Noa also sent a book called "Safe Baby Handling Tips" that is hilarious. I've included my favorite pages below.

The cover... note the "Wheel of Responsibility." We have definitely used it several times already!

My favorite pages...

Isn't that hilarious?! They also sent a cute bib with a neat Japanese pattern, and a book that is an all about me book where kids can put in pictures of themselves, their family, house, pets, favorite things, etc. It was a really fun present! Even Truman found something to enjoy from the present...
Julie and Noa... thanks from the whole family! :) A very cool, fun present!