Belated Birthday

Elena had such a nice birthday party--Grammy and Pop-Pop, Uncle Andy and Aunt Kelly were all there, along with lots of friends from church and some of Mommy's friends. We were at Merril Park, and the day was beautiful! Elena loved walking all around, swinging on the swing with Mommy, Uncle Andy zooming her around, and especially all the birthday festivities. She was given some fun presents, and she loved eating cake for the first time! We had a really nice day celebrating Elena's first year of life.


















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I am SO sorry I did not put these up earlier! But better late than never. :)

Happy Birthday Elena!

Our girl turned one today! I can't believe how big she is. What a big day!

We opened presents from her family at lunch time--look at this haul!


Aunt Kim sent a sweet birthday crown, which Elena would only wear for a moment. :)




We took a video of the whole opening scene, it was so cute! We had a great day; Elena really enjoyed herself. I was so glad her Grammy and Pop-pop were here to help her celebrate!

We will post a post about the whole weekend including the party on Sunday later. :)

A Short-lived Cold Snap

For a couple of days we had some cold weather--but now the temp is rising again! I took some pictures of Elena in her fall getup for posterity. :)

On Saturday it was in the 60s when Elena and I went for a walk. We played at the park a little while and enjoyed not feeling hot for once!

I put some chapstick on Elena's lips because it was windy, and she was licking it off her lips. :)

Get the camera out of my face, Mom, and let's go!

Sunday night it was forecast to get down to 50--it actually reached into the 40s, I read. Because we didn't want to turn on the heat, I went out and got a fuzzy footie sleeper to keep little E warm. Doesn't she look so cute in it? And sadly enough, Monday night it only got into the 60s, so we only needed it that one night. Hopefully it will get cold again before she outgrows it!

Doesn't she look like she's getting her portrait painted?

Little Video

One of Elena's favorite things to do-carry around one or both of Daddy's shoes. :)

Pretty Girl

Here are some pictures of Elena from Sunday--she was looking cute for church and wearing her "pearls." Elena loves her necklace--she can put it on and take it off (of course) by herself! She puts it on and then looks at me or Andrew, wanting to be admired. She's turning into a little girl! Thanks Aunt Kim for the cute dress! It reminds me of something Aunt Julie would have liked when she was a little girl. :)

a good shot of her little clip

Want to play ball, Mom?

Her shoe kept getting stuck in her dress!

"What pretty shoes I have on!"

There's my pretty girl's smile

For My Mom

We hope you feel better soon!!

Eleven Months

Elena is 11 months old! Her first year is almost up... hard to believe!

--She has grown a lot this month, most notably, she now walks! The weekend of Billy and Rachel's wedding she found her confidence, and ever since she's been walking further and further, overcoming obstacles and walking even on rough terrain. She looks like such a big girl when she walks! When we were at Andrew's volleyball game and she was walking around with the other kids, it was so easy to see that she is starting to change from a baby to a toddler. I was letting her walk around (and fall down a lot!) at the park the other day, and she was just loving it. I think she is enjoying the increased freedom that walking gives her, and how much more of a big girl she is now! Also increasing is her mobility on the stairs--she can climb up and down. I still tell her not to on her own, but we've practiced together so that she will know how to get down if she gets up. And we've had to work on places where she can't stand up--like the bathtub or the stroller!

--Elena is still a funny eater. Overall she eats well, but it's hard to get her to eat grains. Thanks to Aunt Kim, though, we have started on "Mum-mum" crackers, which are rice rusks with added veggie powder. She loves those! And it's nice for us--she can eat them by herself. Unlike Cheerios, which we had to feed her two or three at a time! She will usually eat Quick-Oats oatmeal. I started putting cinnamon in it, and sometimes Brewer's Yeast--both strong tastes, which I'm learning she usually likes. She still loves sweet potatoes and green beans, but some new favs are zucchini and squash. She won't eat broccoli or carrots. Another new favorite is string cheese, which she likes to chew in the package as well as out. :)
She is a pretty consistent self-feeder now--she can feed herself almost a whole bowl of food if it's sticky enough to blob on the spoon until she can get it into her mouth. Mom still helps with the two-spoon method, but I usually don't have to get any out of the bowl until she's bored. (I just scrape it off her chin!)
Her "all done" sign has evolved into the right hand touching the hair. Which would be fine, except that her hands are usually covered in food! We do a lot more hair-scrubbing with the clean-up rag now!

--She now has two teeth, and the second one is crooked. She is a cute little snaggletooth. I haven't seen any more on the horizon for now. She loves to use her teeth for chewing food and for chewing on toys, shoes, books, whatever she can get her hands on. Thankfully she hasn't started in on the crib rails.

--She hasn't changed too much in motor skills from last month, but she is just generally improving in that area. She can "read" books better, and she can take all the credit cards out of my wallet faster. She can now get underneath the coffee table to get things we've stashed under there (sad times for us--we had to pick a new hiding spot.) She can also pull out the drawers in my bathroom three drawer storage cube and get things off of the bathroom counter and the kitchen table--lots more areas where she has to learn to obey! She also waves bye-bye more and does some clapping again. She stopped clapping for a while, but now she will do it, especially with Andrew, for some reason. :)

--Her talking hasn't changed too much, though she does copy sounds a lot more and with more accuracy. I will say a word, she will say the first syllable if she can, and then I will say it again, and around we go. She tries so hard! She still says "dada," and most days she can say "mama." She sometimes comes out with "baba," though! She still says "ba" for banana, though it's expanded to a general I'm hungry. And she has said "Bo" for Bob fish. :)

--She's still taking two naps and sleeping a good 11-hour (at least) night. Sometimes she skips one of the naps, though, or if we're out and about, she might just take one and go to bed early. She goes down by herself really well at night, though I still rock her to sleep for naps. Even with the addition of the black curtain, she can't put herself to sleep for a nap.

--Her separation anxiety is still bad, though possibly a little bit improved. She is remembering her friends now from week to week, which is fun.

--She has started a little "secret handshake" type thing. She leans her head in, and you lean your head in and touch foreheads. Or the other way around. It is so adorable! Once the foreheads touch she looks up, with her head still down, then she will smile! Too cute. She does it to her teddy bear, too. :)