8 Whole Months

Elise is 8 months old today! I am so proud of my big girl! I can't believe it's been 8 months already. I feel like she was born just yesterday. Amongst other milestones that she achieved this month, Elise got her first haircut. Those long curls growing out of the side of her head were getting out of control. So, here's her before picture;


And here's her after pictures;




Okay, so maybe you can't really tell much of a difference, especially not in these pictures, I just like to upload pictures to the blog, haha!

Keeping up with the little monkey

Alright, now it's gotten really tough. Elise is such a monkey! She is climbing, or attempting to climb any piece of furniture, or person, she can find. She is so funny. Elise is very happy now that she has her first pair of "big girl shoes". They don't slip when she tries to stand on our hardwood floors.
I guess alot has happened since the last time I updated this. Elise had her first Christmas and New Years, which was very exciting. She had so much fun opening her presents, she's really into ripping paper. Unfortunately, she was more excited about the wrapping than the actual gifts. Elise is now almost eight months old and weighs nearly 18 pounds, she is such a big girl! She is right in the fiftieth percentile on her growth curve, which is great.
Elise mostly likes to spend her day crawling around the house chasing cats (see picture below), eating baby food, and talking up a storm.


She still calls for her "dada" incessantly, but I still haven't gotten her to say 'mama' even once. I think she gets tired of me because as soon as daddy gets home it's "dadadadadadaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" and she doesn't want her mama anymore! Oh well, I love her like crazy. Here are some of the latest pictures of her;


Elise trying to get that camera.



Eatin an apple.



Playing with Daddy and Emma



My big girl standing up



Our Christmas card, 2007



Checkin emails



Me and the little one

Sorry so many pictures! I'm camera crazy!

Update!

Usually I'm not this bad about updating this blog, but it takes alot of time and energy keeping up with that little girl! I'll try to be better.
Well, I guess alot has happened since the last time I wrote on here. For one, Elise turned six months old! She is such a big girl, I can't believe it's already been half a year! Time really does fly. She has officially started crawling, which is very exciting for everyone and also exhausting for me. If I don't watch her constantly, I swear she will just leave. That girl is all over the place! She had been rolling around the house like crazy and making strange attempts at crawling for the last couple of months, but now she's finally getting the hang of that crawling business.
I also decided to try teaching her sign language so that she would be able to communicate more effectively. I was so excited when she actually used her first sign last week when she signed for milk. It was so amazingly cool and kind of wierd too! She's really telling me what she wants, and she's still so little. It's amazing. We are currently working on teaching her to sign for a diaper change, to ask for more, and to ask for food.
A few weeks ago, my sister Veronica and my brother-in-law Eloy came to visit from California. We had a good time hanging out. They hadn't seen Elise since she was two weeks old, we were all very happy to see eachother again. We baptized Elise while they were here and they became Elise's godparents. It was a very special time. Elise shouted out during the entire ceremony. Not in sadness or frustration, but just to shout out. Deacon Jerry, who officiated the ceremony, said she was communicating with the holy spirit. Maybe that explains the strange orbs of light in the pictures above? I don't know, but still kinda strange.
All in all, we are happy and doing well, and we hope that anyone still reading this blog finds themselves the same way.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all had a blast celebrating this halloween. Elise and I had a good time. We went over to my mom's house and went trick-or-treating with my family. You can see my sweet little hotdog in the pictures above, I think she is hilarious. The thing in her hand in the second picture is a bottle of ketchup. Elise sure does know how she likes her hotdogs.
Though we both missed Kenny (he was at a conference in San Francisco), we made do as best as we could. Elise really enjoyed going from house to house. She LOVES walks, and she's such a ham, she just loves seeing people too. So trick-or-treating was perfect for her.

Strained Peas, I finally figured it out!

I FINALLY figured out how to post a video! And it's just in time too! Elise had her first taste of solid food today. We are so excited! We started her off on strained peas because all the books and doctors have told us over and over to feed her vegetables before fruits, so peas it was. Check out the video, it's pretty hilarious. I thought I could just get by with having a paper towel handy, boy was I wrong. Looks like we're going to have to start breaking out the bibs. Her little onesie was covered in strained peas after this adventure. Below are some pictures of Kenny's attempt at feeding Elise, taken right after the video above was taken. We had fun.

Nice and toasty

I told you I was technologically challenged! So I haven't been able to post a video on here yet. I did figure out how to use the camcorder, though. So, videos of Elise do exist, they're just not on the internet...yet. I took this two-minute video of her, but for some reason the file is rediculously huge, so I can't really upload it anywhere. As soon as I figure out how I screwed up, I'll post a video.

Kenny, Elise and I had fun this weekend shopping for Elise's first winter clothes. Kenny bought this big white furry snowsuit for her which is rediculously big and bulky. He debated for a little on whether to buy it, but he loves winter clothing and he just couldn't resist. I'm sure I'll be grateful for that suit when the snow starts rolling in. We bought alot of little jammies to keep her warm and a sweet little winter hat with bunny ears (see pictures above and below).

We are doing well and Elise is as happy as can be (especially right now, as she naps in my left arm while I type with my right). We have continued to practice our baby yoga which Elise usually loves. But I think Elise is wanting to cut back on it a bit, she started crying yesterday in the middle of our routine, so we had to stop, maybe she's bored with it? That's the thing with babies, alot of times it's just guess work and ruling things out.
Here are some pictures of our little bunny getting ready for winter.

We're Growing Up

I just finished packing away all of the clothes that Elise has outgrown and I am so sad! I filled up a whole crate full of sweet little outfits that she will never wear again. I had to pause every once in a while and hug a little onesie or romper that brought back special memories. Okay, I admit it, I have become a sappy mom. But I just can't help it! I held her little shirts up to my nose, breathing in what was left of that wonderful baby smell. I know that Elise is still so small, she's still just a little baby, but she is just growing so fast, I wish there was a pause button!
Despite my motherly sappiness, I am looking forward to watching her grow up. I know that every stage brings its own rewards and I can't wait to see her crawling and toddling around. I always get so proud every time she reaches a new developmental milestone. I see her and immediately get an insanely large grin on my face and I think 'That's my girl! Growing and learning something new every day.'
She is such a joy. But, enough of me gushing over her.
My goal for this week: Figuring out how to use the video camera and how to post a video on this blog. We'll see if it happens, I'm not very technologically savvy.
Here are some new pictures, because if you have been following this blog at all, you know that I am very camera happy.