Some Overdue Pictures

Of course, I have had some of these on my camera for a long time, and I'm just now getting around to posting them. My excuse--the move, of course! :)

A few weekends ago we went with friends to the beach--it was beautiful, and Elena and I were so happy to have Andrew along for the first time this season. The waves were a little stronger than the last time, so Elena was a lot more cautious than usual, which didn't bother me! She is usually a beach daredevil! We had so much fun with Andrew and with our friends.



These pictures are from the first time we came to the house as the actual homeowners!! It was a very exciting moment, and though we didn't have a tripod for a family shot, we each got a turn in front of the camera. :)



The week of the move we spent lots of time with out-of-town people who were in town for just that week! Strange timing, but we were so glad to see Aunt Steph and crew, and April and baby Jack. April and I were photo duds and only got one shot of her and me, but I did take some cute ones of Elena playing in the pool with the cousins. They stayed at a nice resort that has 7 pools! This one was perfect for little Elena. :) While we were there, Lauren and Aunt Steph started feeding a squirrel, which hung around for the kids to stare at, and even touched Elena! She was a little freaked out by that! We forgot to take a picture of the whole family when my mom came into town and we went out to eat with the McDonalds, but we did get a quick shot of Mom and Aunt Steph in our garage, haha. :)










Now for some shots of our floor renovation. The day I took pics it was half-carpet, half-laminate in the room, so you can see a before/after perspective. The new furniture comes on Saturday (yay!), so when it is set up I will take another picture.



And last but not least, a cute picture of Elena eating strawberries and yogurt, and my 37 weeks pictures. It's been awhile, so it will be a big jump. :)



Olivia is technically "term" now, so she could come anytime! She is growing and crowding my lungs and innards more and more. My pelvis has been aching a lot more this time around than with Elena, but on the upside, I haven't been swelling nearly as much than I did with Elena. That's a blessing. Olivia is not in a perfect position, but she is head-down, and she has plenty of time to switch positions before the big day, whenever she decides that will be. :) We are almost ready for her--we still have some work to do on the nursery, but we are close! I had my home visit from my midwife today, for her to make sure they know the way and check out the place. It feels really real that she is coming soon!

Big sister zais out of her crib now! She is switched to her toddler bed, though it wasn't a perfectly smooth transition. She had a really hard time the first night. She seems to be doing better and better each time, though. Today after her nap she got out of the bed by herself, which was a big step. We are hoping that soon she will learn to get out and play once she is done sleeping--that will make it easier for us! She is such a big girl. :)

It's been a good couple of weeks here--normal as we get. We've had some big fun at the beach with our playgroup buddies--Elena LOVED the water. She would run around and throw herself down in the surf. :) She also enjoyed shoveling sand and smashing people's sand castles, sadly. We're looking forward to going again soon, we hope!

She's been enjoying strawberry season! She will eat 5 or 6 sometimes! Her favorite fruits are bananas, strawberries and grapes; she also likes oranges and apples, though much of the apple gets spit out. She likes eggs--hard boiled are her fav, but she also likes scrambled and she will sometimes eat a fried egg. For lunch she still eats cheese (although she likes to switch it up from the string cheese to slices or chunk cheese now and again). A dinner classic, spaghetti with oil and parmesean cheese, is one she likes to eat with a fork--it's so cute to see her eating like a big girl! She just started actually eating cereal for breakfast--she decided that she wanted some too since that is what Mommy and Daddy eat. The first few times she just played with it, but when we tried corn chex with a little honey, we had a breakthrough. :) She also prefers her yogurt plain now, instead of mixed with nut butter. Elena loves snacks--she eats graham crackers, animal crackers, cheerios, goldfish, Ritz crackers, Wasa crackers, and just about any other type of cracker! Although sometimes she has a strong opinion about which one she wants! She is a pretty good eater, although we are getting to the stage of having attitudes about food sometimes.


Elena is finally becoming a proficient climber! She just started getting up onto chairs by herself, and now she can climb up to slides with ladder-like bars. She is gaining confidence in climbing--she was never very quick to try it, but now she will. She is also getting to be a great stair climber. She can stay upright while going up and down now, though sometimes she resorts to the safer way, which I always appreciate. Sometimes she doesn't even want to hold my hand going down the stairs! That freaks me out, but she is usually fine! Also in the physical skills department, she is a great walker. We take walks in the apartment complex regularly--we have a little circuit that she likes to follow. :) To the mailbox, to the office (for a cookie if Mommy is in a nice mood), see the turtles at the pond, run on the tennis courts and back home. She loves to run, but she wants me to "run" too--which is pretty funny now that I'm so pregnant! I usually just pump my arms and make my step bounce a little and that makes her happy. :) She still loves to dance, and she LOVES when Andrew does his Insanity workout videos. She stands in front of the TV and bounces, "exercising" with them. It's adorable! Andrew is not such a fan of her running in between his legs, but she is so sincere, it's so sweet.


Now that it's getting warmer, we've been doing lots of swimming! Elena loves the pool, and she likes her new float, too. She's finally figuring out that she can't let go! It's nice for me to get in the pool--the buoyancy feels great and it keeps swelling down--and I'm sure as I get more pregnant it's going to be even better. She loves to climb up and down the stairs and get in and out of the pool by herself.

I am now 32 weeks along with Olivia. These pictures are 31 weeks. Olivia is getting bigger and less active, although when she is active I can feel it more! She stretches a lot, putting pressure on my lungs, which Elena didn't really do. I have felt a little part move along my belly a few times--that is the best! When that happens, it seems so real that a little person is in there, growing, getting ready to meet us. We are getting ready to meet her, too--I got my list of supplies for the home birth, and I've been getting things together. They usually don't give the list this early, but since we are moving, I thought I'd work on it ahead of time so I have one less thing to worry about later. Plus I just love getting "the list"--I always have, since I would get school supply lists as a little kid. I guess knowing I have everything on the list makes me feel secure and prepared... something like that. :)


Speaking of moving, we are planning to do it May 15! We should be able to close on the house by the first week of May or so--as soon as our loan is ready. Which should move a little faster this time, since we have everything together from last time. It all happened so fast, and we are skating in under the tax credit deadline, and just on my "drop dead" date that I made for moving before the baby. God is so good! We are still not counting our chickens until they are hatched--we won't be truly thrilled until we have the keys in our hand! But we are really looking forward to this working out. :) We do like the house as much, definitely more in some ways, than the Moonlit house. I like the neighborhood pool and playground, the backyard, and how very clean the house is! The only big things we will do before we move in (most likely) are to regrout the master shower and replace the living room carpet with laminate flooring. We don't even have to paint that much! This whole thing happened pretty fast, and I am just floored by how God has answered my prayers and blessed us.

9 Months!

Our little Elena is nine months old! And she has been for a while now (guilty expression). We've had a crazy end of the month, being away visiting Andrew's family, so I'm just getting around to the monthly baby update.

Little Elena is turning into big Elena! At the beginning of the month she didn't want to walk, even with help. She was content with cruising and would pull her hands away when I tried to hold on to them above her head to help her walk. Now, though, she loves walking! She gladly takes advantage of the help, which I give until my lower back can't take it anymore. :) We have walked all around the house and we've started to explore outside as well. She can stand for longer periods of time without holding on to anything (30 seconds or so), she can stand up without support sometimes, and she has even taken a step on her own! Just a little one, and it was this week, so technically it should go in next month's update. :) But she's definitely on her way to walking. When she stands up with her little shoes on, we can see the little girl that she is starting to become. It's crazy--scary and exciting--to see our little one growing up.

Since we started and ended this month with travel, things have been anything but normal for Elena. She has visited both sides of the family and spent a lot of time traveling, in the car and on planes. She has been a trooper, though. On the car rides she slept a lot and was pretty content, and on the plane, as long as Mommy wasn't trying to get her to go to sleep, she was active but happy. What a blessing to have such a good little traveler!

One thing we learned this month is that Elena is a beach bunny. She loves the water and has no fear of the waves! Each time we've gone she has crawled right out towards the waves as soon as she hits the water. She learned to sit up when a wave was coming, though, after getting salt water up her nose a time or two!

At the beach with our playgroup buddies, 7/23

She still loves water in all forms--baths, washing hands in the sink, pools, rain. She is outgrowing her ducky bathtub, sadly, and soon she will graduate to the big tub.

She is eating more at a time now, and we are giving her a greater variety of food. She is still picky sometimes, deciding that she doesn't want to eat and throwing the spoon as far as she can. We use the two spoon system, letting her hold one to distract her while we stick the other one in her mouth with the food on it. As long as she's not bored, she can shovel down the food! She still loves bananas and avacados, she likes green beans and cereal. She does not like apples or applesauce--the first few times she gagged! She likes to pick up peas with her fingers, and she is now getting bored of her puffs. I guess they are not substantial enough for her now? Who knows. :) She likes to shake the puffs can, though!

Elena is becoming more advanced in her toy-playing. She tires quickly of simple toys, though she will spend some time throwing them out of a basket. :) She likes her shape blocks, mainly to bang together and throw out of the bucket. She loves books. She will say "boo," (sounds like buh) especially for Goodnight, Baby, which is her favorite book. She loves to play with the cardboard pieces attached by ribbons, pulling them out of their slots in the book and turning it over and over. Turning the pages of a book is still her favorite part, but she does listen to the story sometimes. :) She has a book from Michelle that is electronic, and she loves to turn the pages to hear it talk. She still loves her jingle bell toy! She also likes to suck on Mommy's bathroom things--like the nozzle to her pump lotion (yuck!) or the toothpaste tube.

Reading Goodnight, Baby

Elena loves to play with non-toys--like her brush.

Playing with a big-girl toy

She said her first word this month. She has been consistently saying "dada" unprompted. She loves her dad! "Boo" came second, accompanied by a lunge over the side of the chair, where we keep the books. This girl knows what she wants!

One thing our girl hates--getting her nails cut. She has never liked it, but now that she is more expressive of her opinion, we really hear it when we try to clip them! The only thing that distracts her is when Daddy holds her so that she can play in the sink water while Mommy clips them from behind.

Another development this month--Elena will not tolerate hair bows anymore. When I put a headband on, if she is extremely distracted, it will last as long as she doesn't realize it's there. But if she feels me putting it on, or if I adjust the headband, it's off in a moment! Here are some pictures to illustrate. :)

Off it comes!

Elena has been showing signs of being a "blankie girl" for awhile, and when she wears an outfit with a skirt, she holds on to it and rubs it as an added element to the self-soothing of sucking her thumb. It's so sweet.

Sad that Mommy's making her sit on the chair for all these pictures!

A few more pictures of our adorable baby girl, and that's all she wrote. :)

Click on this picture for a good look at her beautiful long eyelashes and her growing hair.

I just love these yummy leg rolls!

Home from SC

We just got back from seeing the Strohm family is South Carolina--Nanny and Pappy, it was great to see you!!! Every year my parents visit my dad's parents near the beach and Charleston, and both of us married kids try to make it for at least a little while. Andrew, Elena and I got to spend four days up there, and we loved every minute. Nice walks on the beach, a super awesome geocaching/photo scavenger hunt, and a short trip to the beach with the baby, in addition to Nanny's amazing meals, watching The Philadelphia Story (love!) and lots of reading rounded out the trip nicely!





In other news, our little Elena is growing more amazing by the day. She is amazing me lately by balancing herself standing up (not holding on to anything) for several seconds! The first time she did it was surreal... she just pulled halfway up, stood up the rest of the way holding a toy, then calmly sat down on her bottom. She did it again in the kitchen while I was making dinner today. This kid just won't slow down! And, in the Strohm family tradition, Elena gained weight at Nanny's. She's around 21 pounds now. What a chunker! She loves to make things work, like the sound machine and the light on her clock. When Daddy reads to her, she likes to turn the pages herself. It's amazing to watch her grow!

Also growing is her hair, thankfully. :) Yesterday she had a serious bedhead, which was funny to me since she only recently has had enough hair to have a bedhead. Here you can see it a little bit. :)

It's hard to take pictures of Elena now because she wants to touch the camera. I can only get one or two off in the time it takes her to crawl over to me! Here are some I got with her pulled up on my lap trying to get the camera. They turned out cute, even if they're not nice and posed.




One last picture--Elena is so good at getting up and down and all around now, that sometimes she gets into funny positions. This one looked like Spider-man to me! My little Spidey baby. :)