Week 22

Ok, well, Week 22's post is late, but I was determined to do separate posts for these weeks! So I'm just going to stop writing at what happened by last Thursday, and I'll post again this week (hopefully).

Anyway, Week 22 wasn't all that exciting. Well, I guess it kind of was! Miss 'Lena turned 5 months, and got to start eating vegetables. Dr. Garb told us to start with yellow veggies, so we spent this week working on a jar of squash. She's not a huge fan, but she does eat it. It's so fun to feed her, although she makes a huge mess of it! She eats oatmeal twice a day, too, so she's getting to be a really big girl! She even sits at the big baby table at the daycare, although the teachers in her room have to make sure she doesn't steal cheerios from the other babies!

Grandma & Grandpa Looten came just to visit last weekend. Mostly, they came to see Elena, because they hadn't seen her since Christmas! They couldn't believe how much she'd grown up! Grandpa Looten & Daddy went fishing all day Saturday, so Grandma Looten, 'Lena, and I went shopping for a cute outfit for Elena. Saturday night Grandma & Grandpa babysat while Josh and I got to go to dinner and a movie. It was nice for Josh and I to have some time alone. I think the baby sitting went pretty well, until Grandma tried to swaddle Elena, and ended up making her really mad instead! It's kind of nice to know there's some things only Mommy can do! :) Ovearll, it was a nice relaxing weekend for them to visit.

We got to have our first Valentine's Day, too. We got her all dressed up in the new outfit Grandma Looten bought her. It said "I love Daddy," so we had to get pictures taken with him, of course! The daycare had a little Valentine's party for the baby, so I went over there at 3:00 to hang out a bit, then we busted out of there early! The sad news was, Elena had a massive blowout (I'm not kidding, it was up to her shoulder blades) and so far it hasn't washed out of the onesie, so that may be the one and only time she wears it! But at least it was really cute!

Here are some of the best pictures I have from this week...

Helping Mommy clean the house... we really needed to clean it (since we'd been sick and then busy it was a wreck) but she decided she didn't want to be set down. So, this was the only solution I could come up with! :) She's big enough to sit on my hip, but she doesn't know to hold herself on there, so the sling was a huge help!

Hanging out with Grandma Looten. Check out the thumb! She's really started sucking on it. She'll even take her binky out to stick her hand in her mouth instead. She's really funny because she can pull her binky out, and put it back in, but she forgets to let go of it, so she just keeps putting it in and pulling it out.

Another picture from the squash feeding!

She really watches everything that you put in your mouth. If you're eating or drinking and holding her, she follows the cup or fork or whatever back and forth. So I let her try to drink out of my cup. I'm not sure how much water actually got in her mouth, but it was pretty entertaining!

More sitting up in the bathtub! She's so adorable! I love that there are gobs of toys in her tub. And, of all of the toys she has, she plays with the cup that came with the tub for pouring water on her! Oh well... it doesn't get much cuter than this!

With her favorite Valentines on Valentine's Day! I sure am getting a lot of mileage out of that red and white Christmas bow!

Anyway, my little girl continues to grow and change so fast. She's really reaching for things, she's trying to sit up (and does with only a little support). There is nothing greater in the world then when she looks up at you with her bright eyes and a big smile. I could stare at her all day when she does that! It's hard to believe I could love a little girl that much! And I can't even imagine what we did before she came along.