What lights us up!

This weekend, Eric was back on his "A game", singlehandedly putting up our brand new dining room light.  Elaine and I watched with eager and excited eyes.  She looks up to her papa and was so impressed with his handiness.

Here was our light BEFORE:

Here is our handyman hero in action.

Here is our new light which I have spent about 3 years looking for!  Compliments of Restoration Hardware.  AFTER:

Eric and Elaine are quite the pair.  Eric loves to watch his Art Center videos, and he usually makes his own notes for when he does his docent tours.  Elaine seemed to think this was pretty interesting, this whole, writing with a pen thing.  She loves to touch the pages, and of course, she wanted to try her hand and that pen/writing thing herself!  I just love how she finds everything we do so interesting!

Elaine loves nothing more than a good chew on her "crinkle purse".  She can sit up with the support of the Boppy behind her.  I thought I would share a little video of her in action with just one of her favorite toys, which we call "crinkle purse".

Half a year old!

Elaine is certainly showing us how she is growing!  As I begin to clear her outgrown clothes to the storage bins in the basement, I am reminded how far she has come.  From our itty bitty 6lb 13 oz baby to something close to 16 lbs (official weight tomorrow when she gets her shots), and from a baby who barely cracked her eyes open and slept all day to an interactive, lauging, blue-eyed beauty!  From our bald baby doll to what we now affectionately call "fluffy-head".  She bats at toys, can roll onto her tummy, laughs when we tickle her, and is working on all the vowel and consonant sounds she can muster up.  At 6 months, we are simply taken with her.  She's also battled her first illnesses and is even beginning to develop a napping schedule, which is working in our favor.  She eats veggies made with my baby food maker, rice cereal, and yes, she's still getting 95% breastmilk (formula to catch me up if I get behind).  She loves her "crinkle purse", grabbing her feet, the Whoozit, Sophie the Giraffe, and her "bounce bounce." 

On MLK Day, LeAnn and her daughter Ellie stopped by for a playdate.  Here are the two girls operating the "bounce bounce."  Ellie has the exact same one at home.

Almost 6 months!

I can't believe that Elaine is almost 6 months old!  She has certainly done a lot of growing and it's been so fun to watch her learn new things. 

This week, Elaine got pinkeye for the first time.  She was a little more mopey than normal, since she and I both now have colds.  Luckily Eric is in the clear, but he could be a week or so behind... hope not!

Here is Elaine sleeping on my chest - a must-do for her when she's not feeling great.  And a snuggly loving time for mommy.  :)

Here is Eric being Mr. Fixit.  He's been knocking it out of the park lately getting things around the house done and fixed.  The high winds did a number on our storm door, blowing it wide open and bending the door parts, so he got it all fixed! 

I have been going to town using my baby food maker.  So far, I've made sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, apples, bananas, and pears.  Just freeze in ice cube trays and empty into ziploc bags, and you're in business!  It costs at least half of the price of Gerber baby food (depending on the food item you can save much more) and there are no preservatives, so we feel better about what she's eating.

Looking forward to having Monday (MLK Day) off and getting Elaine's 6 month photos! 

All smiles in 2012.

We are enjoying record high temperatures here in Iowa this winter, with one day last week reaching 60!!  We have all these winter clothes/supplies that in a normal year, we'd be putting to good use, but I guess our snow boots and ice scrapers get the year off!

We all went back to our normal routine this week, luckily, with ease.  Friday night we got together with the Syversons and Grefes to do a little baby shower planning, and I finally got my picture of our 3 girls, Elaine, Alivia, and Quinn!

Elaine is really enjoying her gift from grandma and grandpa Morse, her bouncer!  She is really funny to watch in it.  For your viewing pleasure, here is a video!  We put a blanket under her so she can reach her feet to the ground and she has been bounce, bounce, bouncing away!

Elaine also enjoys a good tickle.  We just LOVE getting good belly laughs from her.  Eric's a pro at getting these from her!  Oh Elaine, we love you to pieces!!

Happy New Year!

The third leg of our blissful 11 day vacation was a return to Des Moines for 3 days of relaxation, catching up, and getting settled back in with our new Christmas goodies!
I got right to it with one of my gifts - the Beaba - baby food maker!  I had some squash from Mike and Julie that was just begging to become baby food.  It was a really fun afternoon chopping, steaming, and pureeing!  Here is the squash in action.  I also did some green veggies, and froze in ice cube trays for dozens of meals perfect for Elaine!

 New Years Eve we spent with friends, two families with kids over a year old, and three pregnant mommas expecting in January and March. I managed to snap some photos of Elaine before the party. She's ready to ring in 2012!!

Happy New Year!  2011 brought us so much happiness and joy welcoming Elaine into the world and watching her grow, I know 2012 will bring a year of growth, discovery and excitement for all of us. 

Over the river and through the woods

To Grandma #2's house we go!  Monday, we drove from Wisconsin to Illinois to celebrate the holiday with the Frosts.  We had our family meal and gift opening at Julie and Kevin's this year.  Of course I forgot the stockings for the dress Elaine was to wear, but she had gotten some gifts that she was able to wear. 

Here are Elaine and Lauren saying hello and Merry Christmas!

Eric and I managed to get a photo with Elaine. 

Here is a great photo of my mom with Elaine, a few days later.

Uncle Andrew is SO silly!  They came over Thursday to play all day, which was fun.

I just love watching Lauren and Elaine check each other out.  Lauren seems to give Elaine the same type of attention I used to get from Julie.  Lots of love!

Lots of love here!  We also figured out that these two will be in the same grade!

Here is Caleb and Elaine having a fun afternoon!

And, something very big happened when we were in Peoria!  Elaine fully rolled over for the first time!  We managed to get one of the rollovers on camera.  We are still perplexed that she can go from back to belly but not belly to back.  They say belly to back usually happens first, but I guess Elaine does it her own way, just like her birth (and her dad)!