11 Months and Growing...

Sorry for the incredibly long delay in blog postings! Elena is growing and changing all the time. At 11 months old, she:

Knows the meaning of at least 12-15 words (Where's Lola? Where's Daddy? etc.)

Loves "big people" food, so much so that she often gets fussy when asked to eat baby food

Can stand easily and is close... to standing on her own

Sleeps about 12 hours a night

Is super easy to put to bed most nights!

Likes to sit and "read" a book with one of us

Has 9 teeth!

Can pick out the correct object when shown ones she knows (i.e., I hold two toys, ask her which one is _____, and she points to it)

Loves Grandma Pam, who spends every Tuesday with her; this week, she didn't want me to hold her, only Grandma!

Loves people... she is SUCH an extrovert!

We're looking forward to a week in North Carolina with my family, and Elena's first visit with her cousin, Preston. He's 5 1/2 months younger... we hope she doesn't beat him up!

This is the way we do the wash...

Yes, it's been way too long since the last blog posting. She's way into crawling, laughing, eating, and good nighttime sleeping now (naps still aren't so hot), that I thought I'd show you her laundry skills.

Or sort of.

Elena decided to... ummm... help... with the laundry recently on one of her days home with Kristi.



Actually, what she really loves these days is to take things out of anything they might currently be confined inside... clothers, books, toys. All should be free! Be free!

We promise to get back into more and more blog posts and photos. There's also now a video page on her website.

Crawling & Shopping

Elena's crawling skills continue to improve. The early crawls look a little funky, as she kind of drags a foot behind her. But every day she gets more mobile... and soon, the baby gate we recently bought will come out of the box.

Her food preferences are also getting better, and she's eating more often. Fresh bananas and pears, avocados, peach applesauce, even yogurt all have been gobbled up in the last few days!

Elena also loves outings to the grocery store, sitting in the cart and watching all the people go by. She smiles at everyone, but is learning the hard way that some people... well, they just don't smile back. Poor kid, her optimism is beautiful.

As an aside, a quick story that makes me happy to tell: I was gone most of last week covering the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. Upon arriving home Friday night, Elena flashed a big smile when she saw me, and held out her arms for me to pick her up. It was one of the best feelings... ever.

Crawling, Just Barely!

Well, she did it. Sort of.

This morning, Elena finally figured out that in order to crawl, she needed to move her arms forward. Oh, those things?



She made her first successful crawl just a few minutes before this photo. Honestly, she's gotten up like this and not been able to move so many times, neither of us thought this time would be any different.

Kristi told me that I probably scared the child with my loud reaction. But I was just happy, and can't wait to see her put it in full motion.

Until then, mark today down: she crawled.

Yummmm

Elena's diet continues to expand.

Today was a particularly good day, with apple and blueberry baby food at lunch, and homemade sweet potatoes and avocado at dinnertime. Those, of course, are supplemented by a still healthy helping of baby formula.

She's not a huge fan of carrots, though she'll eat them a little bit. And she doesn't seem interested yet in those God awful looking pureed jars of peas and potatoes.

And, sorry Kristi, she's not digging the figs.

She DOES, however, want anything anyone is drinking. Period. We've now had to start hiding our glasses of water, soda, juice, wine... because little E is obsessed with drinking from the big people's glasses.

She's also learning to make some new noises with her mouth, including a bubbling noise with her lips that helped her to spit out a spoonful of food tonight.

7 Months

Happy Birthday to our favorite girl. No special events today... just a regular Tuesday with Grandma Pam.

I can report, though, that Elena seems to like avocado as a new food. How Californian. And her little arms are getting strong enough to hold her body up, which may soon lead to... CRAWLING!

The Many Wonders of 24 Days!

That's how long it's been since I've updated the site... and boy, has she changed.

The big news: a first tooth! Or... two. We think. Auntie JoAnn first felt it with her finger last Tuesday, July 29. And three days later, Dr. Wilson said he thinks that two bottom teeth have broken though. Looking at her gums is no real help... just a thin white line shows up.

Tooth Discovery Day also marked Elena's first real visit with Ozi, Aunt JoAnn's behemoth dog who loves kids... thankfully. Unlike, ummm, Lola.



That's not all. While others (Kristi) may say they've seen it before, on Sunday I saw Elena move herself forward on her belly for the first time... desperately trying to get to a toy on her bedroom floor. The funniest part, to me, was how she kept rolling from her tummy to back, and then back again before the final stomach "inching." And yes, she got it.

Her six month doctor's appointment went well. Even the final set of vaccinations didn't foul up her mood. The stats: 16 lbs, 4.2 ounces (43rd percentile)... 26.375 inches long (60th percentile)... and her head is 17.5 inches in circumference (90th percentile!!).

Sorry we've been so behind in updates... Elena actually caught her first nasty virus this past week, with a fever and runny nose that probably worried her new parents more than anyone else.



The website will have lots of new photos soon, including all of the many bath photos we now are taking, with Elena now taking nightly dips that she seems to enjoy.

Cousin Preston!

We've neglected to mention that on June 29, Elena welcomed her new cousin Preston Myers Eddins into the world -- a son to John's sister, Nancy, and brother-in-law John. His site is here; Uncle John is flying out to meet his nephew in two weeks. Elena may not see her cuz for a bit longer!

182 Days... or 26 Weeks... or 6 Months!

Today marks a big milestone for little Elena -- six months from the day she was born.



By all accounts, this is a happy baby. Now weighing in at about 17 pounds and stretching about to about 27 inches, this little girl is undoubtedly the apple of our eyes.

In just the last two weeks, Elena's started sitting up by herself for periods of up to about a minute. Of course, she soon topples over (unless propped up by one of us). She laughs, she squeals in delight (mostly at dogs -- Lola, and Grandma Pam's pooch, Chester), and she's been sleeping like a champ... as many as 10.5 hours in a night without a single whimper.



Needless to say, the older she gets, the more stimulation she demands. Songs, toys, her jumper... and she still wants more. She can get a little fussy when she thinks you aren't doing enough to entertain her.



On this big day, she made her first visit to the private clubhouse and pool here in our neighborhood. Kristi, of course, demands that Elena wear her full UV suit; "she'll thank me when she's a model with beautiful fair skin!" says Kristi.

She's now eating solid food twice a day -- her favorite is definitely sweet potatoes, followed by applesauce and rice cereal. Carrots and bananas are okay, but not quite her faves.

Elena falls asleep with Mommy and wakes up with Daddy... and daily proves to be the greatest miracle in our lives. We can scarcely imagine life without her, and we give thanks for her every single day.

(all photos above were taken in the last 24 hours)

Dog Days of Summer

Elena has just discovered dogs, and we think she's smitten. Our old gal, Lola, is probably the least interesting to Elena... simply because, as we joke, she's indifferent to "that little crying thing" we brought home five months ago. But Elena loves Grandma Pam's dog, Chester. And she actually does enjoy Lola when Lola's playing and wrestling with neighbor dog, Zoey. Zoey was over for a visit yesterday... and, well, see for yourself.



I had hoped to actually record Elena laughing at the dogs, because that's what she does when they play outside. She's a riot when she laughs.

Cinco

Just a note that Elena was born five months ago today!

She's now closing in on 15 pounds and about 25 inches... and sleeping somewhere around eight to nine hours at night (when we're lucky!).

Some photos taken in just the last couple of days for your enjoyment!




(Yes, that's a big trail of slobber from one part of the bouncy seat to the next!)

My Future's So Bright...

I've gotta wear shades, says the song.



I think the photo says it all!

Ahoy!

For those of you who don't know, Sacramento is situated at the confluence of two rivers: the Sacramento and the American. It was just up the American River where gold was first discovered in California in 1848.



(This is the marina where we keep it)

For the last five years, we've had a ski boat that we keep docked on the river during the summer. After work cruises, weekend excursions, etc.

Last weekend was Elena's very first time on the water. And while it went pretty well, I think her crankiness was all about...



The life jacket.

We bought this little yellow floater at Costco, and it says "0-30 pounds." I think the jacket is better suited to the high end of that range.

Our friends Eric and Rachel and 17-month-old Zachary went along. It was Z's first boating excursion, too. He seemed to dig it. Elena... well, there's always next time. And a smaller life jacket.

Cereal... or My Foot?

Elena has been eating rice cereal once a day for about the last three weeks, and she finally seems to be developing a little bit of a taste for it.



This, however, was the very first night. She was not amused.



On day #2, Kristi broke Dr. Wilson's rule, which was one food at a time until she got used to it. Kristi tried applesauce. Elena returned it... slightly used.

But now she's fully integrated both foods into one smashing combo (thanks for the idea, Grandma Pam!). Every night about an hour or so before bedtime, little E gets a combo of rice cereal, formula, water, and applesauce. And she seems to do pretty well with it, slowly learning how to eat it off the spoon and to swallow it past that busy tongue of hers.

Of course, what she REALLY excels at eating these days is her foot. Those incredibly flexible baby bodies means she's found her foot while laying down.


Okay, it's almost in her mouth in this photo. She stopped every time I picked up the camera today.

While she seems to prefer her right foot over her left (I'm not kidding, the other one almost never gets chosen), she's not very picky about the au naturel foot or one with a sock on it... either way, it's worth a taste!

Swimwear

These photos are for Aunt Nancy, who bought Elena her first swimsuit. Here she is, Nance!

Elena took her first trip to our nearby kiddie pool last weekend. It lasted 20 minutes. She wasn't too thrilled about dipping her feet in at first, but ultimately seemed to accept it. She also sat down up to her waist in the aqua. And yes, I forgot to take the camera to the pool!

Firsts!

So we've been a little slow to chronicle the following Elena firsts...

First Laugh or Chuckle: May 2, 2008 in Manteo, NC. Elena was fascinated by the big swooshing tail of Margo the Newfoundland (yep, that's a BIG dog) and she did a little rat-a-tat-tat cackle!

We couldn't believe it at first, until she did it a second time! No, we haven't heard it again... yet.


Roll Over: On Saturday, May 17, Elena FINALLY made it all the way over, from her belly to her back. She's been about 75% of the way there for a few weeks. But she made it on Saturday... three times! The next day she did it three MORE times. And just like the laugh, she's now decided she's not buying it.

And one for the behavioral crowd: Elena now, as they say, "follows distal points" with her eyes. For the last few weeks, she will often look at the object I point to... usually the ceiling fan (her fave).

More as they develop!

The Bad 'Do

Here are a couple of photos from Mother's Day, which we spent at Grandma Pam's house. The first one is cute enough...

But wait. That's Elena's hair from the front. The back... well...


Yeah, she's got a serious sand trap there on the back nine. It almost looks like we went at it with the clippers.

Elena & Ducky

Actually, there is a story about the duck. In this case, Grandmama Jackie bought Elena this squeaky duck while were shopping in the town of... Duck (yeah, that's it's name).


But this is really a story about why ducks matter, at least to me. When Elena was born, the hospital placed one of those security bands on my arm that matched me to her... to prove I belonged! And we had (as you can see below) ducks on our bands. Sentimental sap that I am, I instantly began calling Elena my "lucky duck." Which she is. And ever since, my mom has taken to it with gusto... which explains why she bought Elena her very own... lucky duck.

More North Carolina Photos

These photos didn't fit on the other page... but they help tell the story of our big trip!

This is Elena posing at... well... a butterfly thing-a-ma-jig outside of some shops in the little town of Duck.


I also stuck some hats on her in one shop-- the hat in the posting below this one... and, well, this one. Sorry, Elena.

The trip was timed so that we could attend the wedding of Kevin and Jennifer Rawls. Kevin's as close to me as family; we grew up together, and being there and introducing Elena was great. Elena, of course, slept through the entire ceremony, which was held on a beautiful day at the beach.

Here's Kevin at his wedding reception with my very pregnant sister, Nancy (will Elena's cousin be a boy or girl? Stay tuned).



But we think little Elena was the hit of the party, and she even had her first dance... chaperoned, that is!

Carolina Fun!

Hello from North Carolina... where Elena is wrapping up her first trip to see my family. We've had a fantastic week here on the Outer Banks, the barrier islands on the Atlantic coast -- home to my mom and dad, and only a few hours away from my grandparents and my sister, Nancy.

Elena has been incredible on this trip -- happy, easygoing, and a real charmer. Above you can see her trying on a hat in a beach shop (ok, so I put the hat on her).

And she even managed a few firsts... the grabbing of her own feet and even a small laugh!

Much more soon, as we travel back to Sacramento.

Elena and the Terminator

This is actually a story from January... but I've only now realized that I forgot to post it back then!

Two weeks after we came home, I had to introduce Governor Schwarzenegger at the monthly luncheon of the Sacramento Press Club. I've been the president of the club now for three years, and every January "Ahnuld" pays us a visit.

Needless to say, I wasn't working at the time... still home full-time with Elena... and was pretty jumbled as I put on a suit and headed in to town.



So I'm waiting backstage for the Terminator to arrive. Once he does, he walks up and smiles and says, "John, how ah you doing?" (That's written a little in Arnold-speak). One of his staffers then congratulates me on Elena... and he whips around and says, "Oh, thaht eez wunderfuhl."



Later, after his speech, he took questions from the audience. I was running around the room with a wireless microphone so the questions could be heard (there were about 250 people there).

Well, I apparently didn't get to someone fast enough... and Arnold made the following comments, found in the official state transcript of the event (the "Q" is me):

GOVERNOR: You're very slow today, since you have a new baby.

Q: I know.

GOVERNOR: You don't get enough sleep. Let's give a hand for the new baby. Come on, now. He's doing a great job. (Applause)

Q: She'll be very pleased.

What I wanted to say in response was "actually, Governor, I'm accepting donations to her scholarship fund today... would you like to make one?"

But I didn't. By the way, my mom was in the audience (she was here helping us with Elena) and loved the whole thing.

If you want to see the video, click here, then click on "Video" in the top right hand corner and it's at 33:33 in the video where Elena's big moment happens!

Behold... The Flickering Giant!

As Elena marks week 14 of her little journey today, I thought you'd want to know that she's discovered the center of the couch potato's universe...

The television.

Now I'm not sure exactly when she realized it was there, but in the past week it's been THE thing to look at while she's in the family room. For those of you who don't know, I broke down last December and bought a high definition TV; I'm now a junkie for the small number of HD channels we get, watching every NFL , NBA and NCAA hoops game I can.

But Elena's nowhere near as picky. Regardless of what's on, she'll now stop moving around and I'll notice that her gaze has drifted toward it. And it'll placate her for a good 10 minutes or so... even longer, I think, than the ceiling fan.

My favorite moment was yesterday. She'd had a midday bottle and was sitting in her new little chair-thingy...

and I started to notice that after about five minutes, she was dozing off. You know, that head-drops-and-jerks-back-up kind of dozing off we all do. Actually, Kristi will tell you that Elena and I now share something in common: we both fall alseep watching the TV.

Last evening, we took Elena along for dinner at a nearby restaurant. After our drinks came, we noticed Elena was staring intently just over my shoulder. What's she looking at, we wondered.

It was a plasma TV hanging on the wall.

Wow!

We hope to have more photos and stories up soon, but for now a quick update on the biggest thing going on with Elena these days...

Sleep!

You may remember that she struggled, as I guess all babies do, with real sleep for several weeks. But about 2 weeks ago, it all changed -- almost overnight. Now, Elena is going to bed around midnight and sleeping through the night until 6:30am or 7:00am.

In fact as I write this... at 7:26 a.m. ... she's still asleep!

Needless to say, Kristi and I are thrilled to get some zzz's. Elena also has developed another pretty amazing habit: if she's properly swaddled and can lie in her crib watching her "rainforest friends," she'll often fall asleep on her own! (See video of the rainforest friends on her website here.)

This is all big news! More soon, we hope.

She's not fat, she's under-tall!

Elena went for her 2 month check-up last week...and at 10 lbs. 14 oz. and 22 inches, she is a bit big for her size, which I don't get because she has skinny little chicken wings for arms and legs and is still wearing "newborn" size clothes...the weight is clearly all brain! She took her vaccinations like a champ.

She has also begun to sleep in her crib (last night from 1am-3:45 and then again from 4:45 - 6:15am). She does a lot of grunting and straining against her baby straight jacket (her swaddle) but without it she flails about and punches herself in the face, not conducive to sleeping.

Elena is quite the socialite and on everyone's "A" list. She went to her first birthday party (her friend Zackary's) and wore her first party dress (thanks to Aunt Nancy and Grammie Jackie...mary-jane socks thanks to friend Vivian), which she vomitted all over. We hope that is the first and last time she will puke on a party dress. She also had dinner at our neighbors' Rebecca & Pablo's house...they have a son just 2 months older than Elena.

Elena is developing some likes and dislikes...
LIKES:

• her demonic goat mobile (Duke Blue Devils)
• her Rainforest Friends music machine
• her car seat (THANK GOD!)
• the pictures of puppies on her wall
• kissy-smacky sounds...big smiles, but the goats still rule
• standing up and bouncing on her feet
• working out in her gym

DISLIKES:

• waiting to eat...oooh, boy...don't put the bib on her unless you have a bottle ready!
• being put down for longer than 15 minutes (although the swing is gaining in popularity)
• scary, doped-up bunnies...take a look at the pupils on that thing!

V Day

Yesterday was Elena's second visit with Dr. Wilson since coming home... and the day she received her vaccinations.

A few updates: she now weighs 10 lbs. and almost 15 ozs., up from 6 lbs. 12 ozs. when she was born. Elena is now just about 22 inches tall/long, up from 19 inches back on January 12.

The vaccinations went well, and her crying was very short lived. What I did notice, though, was that this was the first time I've heard her really cry. Everything up until now has obviously been grumpiness, hunger, etc. This one... this was pain. But again, it lasted all of about 5 seconds.

Hopefully more photos and other stuff soon.

Woe Is Me, Says Lo Dog

We've had our dog, Lola, for more than eight years. She's a sweet, if not neurotic, English shepherd mix that we rescued when we lived down on the California coast. And for all of this time, she had our (actually Kristi's) undivided attention.

Ummm... she used to.

Lola is slowly... and I do mean slowly... adjusting to life with Elena. It's not that she hates her. She just doesn't get it. "Why are they paying attention to that little thing that cries?," Lola would say. "And why does Kristi use the high-pitched baby talk -- the voice she uses with ME -- with that little thing?"

Sigh. Lola misses life with the spotlight all to herself!



This video says it all. Lola was polite and came up to say hello when asked, but that was it.

8 Weeks And Counting

A happy birthday to our little gal. Eight weeks ago this morning, she became the greatest thing to ever happen to us.

Her vitals: she's now up to a little more than 10.5 lbs. and has grown to about 20.5 inches. She fits in more of her newborn clothes than ever before. And she's eating about 4 ounces of formula at a time.

This photo shows her in front of a nifty door chart handmade by Aunt Nancy's mother-in-law Linda. The mysterious arms in the photo holding E belong to Grandma Pam.

Sleepy Time?

On this, Elena's 8 week birthday, I thought I'd let everyone know that while our girl is incredible in every way, she's not yet much of a sleeper.

And man, am I tired.

For the first few weeks or so after coming home from Indiana, Kristi and I decided to simply go with the flow... usually holding the little angel while she slept. We even bought a comfy leather recliner to make that time pass more quickly.

But Elena's a fussy sleeper. She grunts. She twitches. And getting restful sleep with her hasn't been so easy. In fact, she's rarely slept longer than about 3 hours at any one time.

I'm not fond of this photo of me (Kristi sneaked up on us!) but I think it pretty much says it all.

This was my first week back at work (three days a week for now)and sleep is a must. And so we're pushing her to do more. It started with the stroller and car seat, where she sleeps like a champ during the day. Kristi and I have been putting her in it at night, strolling around the dining room and family room until she conks out, and then letting her sleep there on her own for as many hours as she'll go.

Now, we're pushing her toward the bassinet and the crib. As I write this, she's in the portable bassinet, all swaddled and asleep. I hear the occasional grunt, but I'm hoping to break her all time record for sleeping flat on her back alone: 90 minutes! [Update: Wow!! She slept on her own in the bassinet for 4 HOURS, and then after a feeding slept in there for almost another 75 minutes! This was her best night yet.]

My motto these days: 5 hours, kiddo. If you can sleep on your own for 5 hours, I can adjust. But until then, the sleep deprivation continues. And we think a lot of it is because she's REALLY hard to burp. The more she burps, the happier she is. The less she burps... ummm... let's just say she's not as sweet when her belly is full of air bubbles.

Grandaddy John

My dad's first visit with little Elena just ended this morning, and we all had a blast.



He and his girlfriend, Beth, spent five days with us. And they were just like all of our other family members who have come to see this little cutie: they didn't want to put her down!

They also helped Kristi and me with the round-the-clock feedings, and Grandma Pam (Kristi's mom) watched the little one for a day while the rest of us took a daytrip down to the wine region of Lodi/Woodbridge, about 40 minutes south of Sacramento. My dad thinks he's a wine afficianado.

I should also mention that the photos on the main page that I posted today are the best yet of Elena; they also show her rapidly receding hairline... which Kristi says looks like"male pattern baldness."

Swingers

Funny thing about automatic baby swings... some babies love 'em, some hate 'em. Elena is... somewhere in between.

I'm a little more aggressive at putting her in the swing than is Kristi. And I learned an important tip from one of the 494 baby books we have: only put the bambino in when they are already happy, not when they're screaming.



Click on the video to see Elena swing. This particular swing is pretty cool in that it can swing either back and forth or side to side. At the beginning (and in this video), she only liked side to side. But she's warming up to the old back and forth... and actually seemed to prefer it last night. You'll also notice the "nature" sounds... she digs the water and birds. Or maybe that's me that digs them.

Happy Valentine's Day. We're taking E out for lunch and a cupcake. Okay, that's actually all for us... but she's the one who gets all the affection today!

Strangers In The Night, Exchanging Glances...

It's not like Kristi and I weren't warned by every single parent we know.

"Say goodbye to your sleep," they all said with a smile and a sinister laugh.

Yep.

Elena is just like every newborn; she needs to eat a lot more than our sleep cycles would prefer. And so there's always one overnight bottle to make. Add that to her slow progress toward more night sleeping and... well, we're tired. But you know, it's the happiest "tired" I've ever been.

The current schedule finds Kristi on the clock from 11pm until 4am, and then me from 4am until at least 9am. That division of labor is largely by necessity, as Kristi doesn't fall asleep as quickly as I do... hence, the one who can sleep easiest should sleep first after an otherwise normal evening.

And so, we're often ships passing in the night... handing off the little cutie, quickly exchanging information about when she last ate and when she was last changed... and then going our separate ways.

The one family member left in the middle is Lola, our (approximately) 11 year old gentle-yet-neurotic shepherd mix. Like all dogs, Lola thrives on predictability. And we've been pretty good in recent years. Time for bed; she goes out to pee and then heads to her doggie bed in our room.

But now, what's a dog supposed to do? One of us is in the family room with Elena. The other is sacked out in the bedroom. And to make matters worse, each of us closes the bedroom door to keep our 4-5 hours quiet ones. On the times she's chosen to stay in the family room, she often tries to "go to bed," only to find the door closed. Damn.

Welcome to Babyland, Lo-Dog.

Now weighing in....

We had our first CA doctor visit today...and our girl has put on a pound since her last check-up in Indiana. She now weighs 7 lbs. 4 oz! She is a good eater, typically between 2 and 3 oz each bottle.
For those of you comparing, hopefully you can see the difference a pound makes in the photo... Elena is staring with interest (John says with love) at her Duke Blue Devils mobile that is above her changing table (thanks, Auntie Juanita...I registered for it as a joke).

It plays the Duke fight song, which I hear now in my sleep. And upon closer inspection, the Blue Devils more closely resemble blue demonic goats. Thankfully, the goats have yet to appear in my dreams.

Elena had her second bath today...she still loves getting her hair washed and having warm water poured all over her. We hope this means she will love the water and be an early swimmer!

Elena's arrival was 6 years or so in the making (I've lost exact count, and she has made the years melt away) and all of the people who have been waiting with us arrived in droves to see her when she came home (we had our first ecstatic visitors within 2 hours of the plane hitting the runway!). So, after our travels home, a big "Welcome Elena" party thrown by our neighbors and 2 weeks of visiting family, we (perhaps just me?) are a bit pooped.

So pooped that I don't think we will be doing a baby shower...that doesn't mean that we don't want you all to meet Elena! Just give us a call and we can arrange a meet and greet.

Looking forward to seeing you all very soon!
XOXO, Kristi