Some pictures from the week

This week, we are yet again working on the big "sleep issue." Ellie is still waking me up every couple of hours all night to nurse. I am slowly going insane. In this picture she is coming up with a strategy so that she can stay in the bed with us. She calls it the "quest for bed domination."
Why are babies' noses orange? I have always wondered this. Now I think I know: 90% of baby food has carrots or sweet potatoes or squash as a first ingredient. I guess all that carotin (?) turns noses orange?
Cute bath baby. Elena knows so many words now-- words I have no idea how she learned. Last night I had her in the bath and suggested that she "splash" and she did. Then I told her to find her toothbrush, and she did. Then I asked her where her rubber duck was, and she found it. Amazing.
Hmmm.. Elena has discovered how diapers work! (She also knows the words "zipper" and "botton")
Next week we are going to New York City for 4 days! I am so incredibly excited. I am not lookin gforward to the plane ride or the cold, but I am so excited to get away from all my problems for a long weekend and explore a new place. I am already getting ready for the trip. I got out Amy's kids' stroller snuggly and we took it for a trial ride to the Safeway this evening. Elena fell asleep and we took her into the house, snuggly and all, and she finished her nap very cozy indeed.

hello america

What is that huge horrible thing sitting in our lovely living room? Yes, it is true, we have succumb to temptation and bought a 42 inch flat screen television. For the record, I did not want it and would take it back in an instant if my husband were not so overjoyed by it. It is huge and ugly and way, way, too tempting. Fortunately, we only get 5 stations (not including the Jesus Christ is Lord channel and the Spanish channel), so we aren't spending all our time watching TV. And although we do spend many hours a week watching idiotic reality shows, in this picture we are watching a very educational and moving documentary about an orangutan. And I do admit, I enjoyed watching it more than I would have on a tiny screen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is the grand feast! We are so very thankful for friends, family, and food.

Tofu-rkey Day! (by Kevin)

The Krentz's had a grand and epic day of Thanksgiving. First we rose to have pancakes with maple syrup. Of course, filled with white guilt, we made the pancakes whole wheat.
Then our wonderful friends the Gaylords invited us over for a visit. Lauren made a beautiful blueberry cinammon coffee cake and we all enjoyed it with coffee and fruit in their sun-filled dining room.
Then we came home to hang out for a bit. Ursi cooked and Kevin fought in WWII in the Pacific theater via Call of Duty.
Then we took off for the Coward's home where we had the most succelent Turkey ever. It was like good chicken. A 20 lb chicken. It was a wonderful meal and we all took our time over the course of 5 hours from soup to dessert.
We are enjoying incredible weather these last several days along with our ridiculous new 42" television! Tonight will be movie night and finishing the bottles of wine we started over the last two days! Awesome!
We are thankful for all our friends and family!

Baby talk

Yes, it is true! Ellie has a first word: "baby"! She reliably says it to her baby doll, the photos of the babies on the fridge, to herself, and to the pictures of babies in her "Where's the baby?" book. At first we thought maybe it was just coincidence, but she really does seem to get it and she says it more and more clearly every day. This makes me rather giddy, not so much because I am proud that she has a skill, but because up till this point, she has been totally 100% a Krentz, and now I am starting to feel like we have something in common. Some things to ponder...

1. Word has it that Grandma Linda said her first word at 9-months as well. So Elena is a Figen-woman afterall! Uh oh... better start saving for college... and therapy. (love you, Mom!)

2. Does a baby's first word predict temperament or interests? If so, could it be that my own child shares her mother's love of our smallest humans? Might she also devote way, way, way too many years of schooling studying babies? (case in point: apparently, Ms. Bloomingtonaut's first word was "dirt." She also has a green thumb and studies ancient [probably dirty?] things. Okay, so it's a stretch.)

2. I have never heard of a baby who said her first word before she crawled. I am imagining Elena 14 years from now skipping gym class to go read in the library...Fortunately, most of my most favorite people in the world did this.

3. At the advice of Auntie Rachel, we are now working on her saying "Hey, baby." Let me know if there are any other requests.

The effects of stress on blogging: A case study

It has been a stressful few weeks! Because this blog is so public, I can't give you details, but work has been incredibly horribly stressful! We also had a mouse visitor a week ago who made my office his home and lived off dirty diapers and an old cup of tea for a couple days till we finally trapped him. That was gross. This weekend, Kevin had concerts in Yakima and Richland and I got a nasty virus that left me with a fever and a sore throat for two days-- alone with the baby. That was awful (he is still not home-- still awful!) Elena also does not even come close to sleeping through the night. I have given up on sleep training for the time being, but that doesn't mean I am not suffering for it. Everything combined makes for an incredibly dirty and messy house, and a very tired and unhappy me. To make everything more miserable, the weather here is wretched, as it always is in mid-winter. It is 40-50 degrees and rainy for about three months here in the winter. It is dark by 4:30 and doesn't get very light during the day. Above is a picture of a foggy gray morning-- you can't even see the reservoir across the street. Anyhow, that is why the blogging has suffered. But holidays are coming up and that means a small vacation from work, visits from friends and family, and lots of celebrating-- so that should make things better and more blogalicious.

You've got to see this video

This evening, Elena discovered that banging on the floor is HILARIOUS. I got it captured on video and it is so funny to watch. She only gets this gigglyand manic once a day-- about an hour before she crashes for the night. You can also see her backwards-pushing maneuver in video. A second after I stopped taping, she bumped her head on the desk and started crying!

The little baby that couldn't

Ellie is not yet crawling! Average age for crawling in babies is 7 months, and she is a ripe 9 months! She does get up on hands and knees every so often, but can't seem to get her legs moving. She also scoots herself backwards across the floor with her hands and arms... very frustrating when she wants to be moving forward and ends up squashed up under the couch instead. But pretty much, she is happy just sitting around playing with toys within reach. Why shake things up?
Oberon is very happy about Elena's slow gross motor skills. He keeps his distance and they have a fine relationship. Every so often he goes up and gives her a head butt and she reaches out and grabs a bunch of fur. This suits them just fine for the time being, though I have a feeling their relationship will get a lot more rocky once Ellie becomes mobile.

Fan mail!

Thanks for the Halloween card, Grandma!