Week 28

Well, there are a ridiculous number of pictures in this post, I just want to warn you now! We've had Daddy's birthday, Easter, and Spring Break all this week, so the camera has been highly overused! :) But they're really cute!


Like I said, it's been a busy week, but a very fun one (mostly)! We went out to Grandma & Grandpa Price's to celebrate Daddy and Aunt Ellen's birthdays last Saturday. It's so funny, because we used to bring games out for birthday dinners and play games after dinner. Now we just all sit around and stare at Elena. But she is very entertaining! She's very interested in everything now, very curious. She's getting really good at picking things up, though she still doesn't do the pincer grasp. EVERYTHING is a toy for her. You can see her looking around like "Ok, what can I grab...hmmm..." And she NEVER grabs something you want her to, of course! Her favorite toys during the party were a yellow ribbon and some scraps of wrapping paper. We had to be careful because she would take a big piece of paper, give it a good yank, and try to shove the litte piece that tore off in her mouth! And she kept dropping stuff on the floor, which was just funny. It was a pretty fun party... and out came some pretty fun pics!

Napping before the party... it's hard work to be the entertaining, and a girl has to have all her strength!

Sticking her tongue out at Aunt Ruthie. She always has her tongue out now, it's so cute!

Uncle Charlie and Uncle Sam (I know, he's not really an uncle, but that's a lot easier than saying "second cousin Sam") got to feed Elena. We just passed the bumbo around the table and everybody got a shot at it! But Charlie and Sam were the novices. It was pretty cute!

Sam was more MADE to feed her than GOT to feed her! Doesn't he look so excited to be doing it?!

Elena got to try her first pickle this week when Josh and I went out to dinner. We had to recreate the face for everyone to see at Grandma & Grandpa's, though. Elena didn't disappoint- she was definitely still not sure about that whole pickle thing...

...but right after making the face, the pickle went right back in her mouth, so I guess she liked it!

Her favorite toys... the yellow ribbon and the wrapping paper. I love the look on her face- so interested!

It was definitely a fun party, and we just can't figure out what we did before she came along! :)

The party had to end early because we had sunrise service (0630 for those of us in choir!) the next morning at church. That meant getting up extra early to get Miss Elena all dressed up in her Easter dress! She looked adorable (of course). The dress came from a girl at church who also used to be one of my students. She gave it to me at my church shower in June, and I was very sad because it was a 3 month dress, but it was sleeveless, and I didn't think Elena would ever get to wear it. But since Elena is so petite, it fit perfectly at 6 months for Easter! :) With a little sweater and some cute shoes, she was ready to go! After church we went to Grandma Looten's house for lunch. We ate fried chicken and hung out with Grandma Looten and Aunt Shell for awhile. Then we went home for a MUCH NEEDED nap! :)

Clearly, Elena is a morning person- this is in the morning BEFORE sunrise service! I'd like to think she was smiling at me, but really...

...she was smiling at Truman! She is fascinated with the cat. She gets so excited every time he comes in the room, and loves to "pet" him (aka grab big handfuls of fur and yank). Truman is amazingly tolerant of this behavior, though... such a good kitty!

Once we got to church, Elena had to help Grandma practice for the sunrise service, and...

...discuss her dress with Brother Dave.

After church, we tried to take a family photo... it's not a great shot but it's not horrible, either. We just don't have many pictures with all 3 of us.

At Grandm Looten's, Elena got to play with her new toys. Aunt Shell gave her this duck with rabbit ears, and Elena loved it!

Eating her first peep- Mean ol' Mommy only let her keep it long enough to take the picture, though. It sure was yummy while it lasted, though!

She looked like such a big girl sitting on the floor in her pretty dress!

Speaking of a big girl... look at her playing with her new baby doll from Grandma Looten! She's getting pretty good at sitting up. And she rolls EVERYWHERE!

Well, after all of the excitement of Easter weekend, Elena and I got a special treat- we got to spend the week home because I'm on Spring Break! It was lots of fun! We spent a couple of days in our pjs, took naps on the couch together (the best thing EVER), and just hung out! We also went to Rock Bridge State Park on Wednesday morning. We're having a youth event there at the end of April, so Ruth, Charlie, James and I (and Elena, of course) went out to take a look at it. Elena got carted around in the front carrier (not bad, but not really that comfortable, it was kind of like being pregnant again, only she was A LOT bigger!) and we even took the stroller off-roading on some of the trails! It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time!

Hanging out at the Devil's Icebox... it was very bright outside!

Uncle Charlie even pushed the stroller! He must be ate up by little Miss Elena to do that!

Price girls (even if their last name is Looten) must be used to crossing creeks! Mr. Safety is probably having a heart attack right about now... :)

Well, that was a really long post, and it really only covered 3 days!! But it's been a fun week around here. I have really loved staying home with Elena, and it's been good timing because it's been exhausting! She has not been sleeping well at night. Well, she's been sleeping, but she has been waking up every couple of hours crying. Still asleep, but crying. So I've been waking up every couple of hours, too, stumbling across the hall and sticking a binky in her mouth, then stumbling back to bed. We tried everything: sleeping in the crib, in a swing, in a bouncy seat, swaddled, unswaddled, EVERYTHING! She's had a cold with an ugly cough, and I think that she's just not sleeping well. Last night she FINALLY slept through the night again, which was wonderful! We go to the doctor Monday, so I'll definitely be asking about that, too! It may be time to do away with the monitor, but that will be hard. The other lovely side effect of the cough, has been the puking. Twice this week she has coughed until she gagged, and then ended up throwing up. And I don't mean spitting up-- I mean throwing up. Another lovely bonus of feeding her real food! Yesterday on the way home from the daycare (I had to work one day this week) she started throwing up peas and milk in the car! It was so gross, and all I could do was watch her in the mirror, because I was driving down I-70! By the time we got home, it was EVERYWHERE. I stripped her down, threw her clothes in the washer and her in the bathtub. Daddy was such a great daddy, he took care of cleaning out the car seat when he got home. I'm going to ask the doctor about that cough, too, because she sounds like such a pitiful little thing! She doesn't seem to feel too bad, though, she's been pretty good natured.

Despite all of the not-fun things this past week, I have really, really loved getting to stay home with my little girl this week! Hopefully someday I'll be able to do that all the time! For now, I'll enjoy all of the time I get! Hope your week was as fun as our's! We're off to Silver Dollar City for Young Christian's Weekend this weekend. Check back for a doctor's update, and pictures of our new cousin (once she arrives) sometime next week!