First steps!!!

She can walk!!! It's true, ladies and gentlemen, the baby can fanally walk on the eve of her 15 month birthday. It's a miracle.

Sleep update

The good news is that Elena now consistantly sleeps about 9-10 hours straight in her crib without waking!!! The 2 am and 4 am wakings slowly dissapeared... I went from nursing her to walking with her, to just needing to pat her, to reassuring her with my voice from the bed to no waking at all. Unfortunately, I am still waking up pretty frequently, and actually don't feel that much more rested, but I imagine after a few more weeks of solid sleep, I will have caught up on my sleep debt and may even feel fairly sane. That combined with summer sun may even tip me over the edge to energetic and cheerful! I don't think I can remember the last time I felt truly full of energy!

Grapefruit?

This week baby#2 is the size of an heirloom tomoato. I do not have an heirloom tomato, so I thought a grapefruit would suffice. Six inches, head to bum is pretty big! I don't even think this grapefruit can do him justice. (The tulips are from our garden!)
And for those who ask, "Are you showing yet?" YES! I feel huge, but I guess in these pictures I don't really look that big. In the picture I am wearing pants two sizes too big to avoid my belly-- otherwise I need to wear maternity pants. I am in the horrible stage when all pants do not stay up and I am constantly annoyed when I try to do anything beyond sitting on the couch. They need to make suspenders for pregnant women!

Progress!

Kevin is in the process of putting the cedar shingles on the roof of his new arbor. Doesn't it look great?!

Golden Gardens

This is a really nice beach in Seattle called Golden Gardens. We picked up some BBQ and headed down for dinner last night. It was nice, but cold, as usual.

Little Helper

Elena is really into washing dishes lately. Well, actually, she is into anything that involves water.
Here she is "helping."

New things for big girl

We took a trip to the consignment shop this week and got a bunch of neat things. Here is Elena standing on her new stool washing her hands. If I let her, she would stand there all day playing with the water. Lucky for me, she has not yet figured out how to climb up on the stool or turn on the water...
We also got a potty! She is far from potty trianing, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have her sit on the potty for a few minutes every day or so and see what happens. She is very pleased to have her own potty and says, "sshssshssh" to announce that she is making "pee pee" (she isn't.) She also has discovered the joys of reading on the pot.
We also go this nice little walker and she proudly walked it up and down the sidewalk around the corner for about an hour this afternoon. Notice her first pair of shoes! They are brown and chunky with velcro closures-- classic Seattle baby. I was aiming for gender neutral and got a bit of hippy Pacific Northwest flavor thrown in for good measure.

Sweet little pepper

This week, baby#2 is the size of a bell pepper. Last week, he was a turnip, but I am not fond of turnips, so I opted to skip straight to the pepper week. I celebrated pepper week with a lovely stir fry of tofu, sweet pepper, broccoli, asperagus and pinapple over borwn rice. (Kevin was out of town, so I was allowed to have tofu in the house.)

Leaps and bounds

Elena is doing so many neat things these days! Here is a small sample...

1. Waking us in the morning with kisses and hugs ("guh! guh!") and announcing our names with glee.
2. Walking her stroller up and down ("gak! gak!") the sidewalk with her funny frankenstein gait
3. Standing up in her stroller, saying "no, no," sitting down, then saying "geh geh" (good girl) (How did my attempts at discipline turn into a game???)
4. Announcing when she is about to make a poo poo ("poo poo")-- this is especially helpful in the bathtub!
5. Telling me that she has spilled her juice/water/milk ("puh"), then proceeding to wipe it up with a napkin... then wipe the floor... then my shoe... then her face... then my hands...she LOVES wiping things up
6. Identifying body parts... nose, ear, head, belly button, knee, toes, tongue, teeth...
7. Asking to put on lotion ("tuh") and then after putting it on her hands, tasting it and telling me that it is yucky ("guk")
8. When I ask her if she wants something she does want, she nods her head, waves her arms, wiggles her legs and says a breathy, "yeah, yeah, yeah!"
9. Finding enormous pleasure in rolling around on the bed ("bai! bai!") and playing "all fall down"-- by bouncing her body ("buh buh") then all...fall..."dah!" and falling backwards.
10. Asking to play "Where is thumbkin?" by pinching her first finger and thumb together repeatedly
11. Clapping for herself when she has done something neat, like fitting the rings on the wooden pole, putting her hat on, etc.
12. Identifying herself from the picture of her on my cell phone by pointing to her chest (I swear I didn't tell her it was her!)

okay, that's enough for tonight... She is just so wonderful. It seems like she is changing everyday!

Avacado baby

This week, baby #2 is the size of an avacado! Coincidentally, he is also the size of this funny Mexican snail Carrie Ann got me. I think it is much more interesting to imagine him as a colorful snail than an avacado (and it continues the Mexican theme!). Tonight, in celebration of his continued growth, we had lovely guacamole and chips. Initially, I felt strange cutting into my symbolic baby and eating him, but I don't want to get too carried away with the whole exercise. I mean, come on-- food is food. I am sure Ebee can offer up some really bizarre ceremonies from Ancient Greece that will make eating a symbolic avacado baby seem really mild. Ebee??? (Incidentally, the lemon from last week became a wonderful lemon and honey tea concoction to soothe my sore throat and clogged sinuses. Thanks, little lemon baby!)

Sleep, wonderful sleep!

The last two nights Elena has not nursed and has slept in her crib all night! She only has woken up once enough for me to walk and sing her back to sleep. Other than that, she just turns over and goes back to sleep! We put fuzzy slippers on her feet so if she kicks off her covers she doesn't get cold, and that helps. It doesn't prevent me from obsessively checking her to make sure she is covered, but I am sure that won't last long. She doesn't seem to mind not nursing too much as long as she is not in "nursing position"-- in bed, with me, lying down. If I walk with her and sing her favorite songs, she settles in my arms very well. Last night, she insisted on sticking her hand down my shirt just for the comfort. Who am I to argue? I am hoping that eventually the one night waking will slowly disappear, but it is s omuch better than the every 1-3 hour waking for the last 14 months, I'll do jumping jacks for ten minutes every night to get the rest of it in peace.

How did we get this far? Well, it wasn't by letting her scream and cry it out in her crib, that's for sure. I am just the biggest wimp when it comes to listening to my baby cry. We actually tried to leave her one night when she woke up to see if she would go back to sleep and she just stood in her crib and pleaded "hi! hi! hi! hi!" over and over for about 10 mintues before I went crazy. She does that now-- when she is upset and wants me she says, "hi!" Yesterday Kevin bellowed "no" to her when she was messing with the stereo equipment and she looked up at us and said, "Hi!" and then dissolved into tears. It is the most pitiful thing you've ever seen. Anyhow, I guess our method was a combination of the "No cry sleep solution, "a lot of desperation, and luck. I really think developmentally we lucked out. She seems to have turned a corner as far as sleep consolidation and also her ability to put herself back to sleep. And I finally did realize, after about a million people told me, that when she isn't directly next to me all night, she doesn't wake to nurse as often. I know, it is so simple. But I am really dense sometimes.

Anyhow, I can't possibly try and analyze what we did and when we did it and how I'd to it differently, but I really feel okay about not sleeping with my bug right now. I do miss her little body and am so happy to welcome her into bed in the morning for hugs and cuddles and a nurse, but I am just so exhausted and worn out right now that I really need the sleep and space. So, allaluia to a good night's sleep. Sleep, beautiful sleep!

Dog and pony show

Elena is really in to doing animal sounds! I really don't know how she learned them all, but one day last week, she just started reciting them. I guess all those books with animals finally sunk in?Anyhow, here is a little show for you.

Here she comes...

hey, hey she's a monkey!

So, we are still far from walking solo, but Ellie is getting to be a pro with the walker contraption.