Elaine took her very first official crawls this week! Eric and I were getting ready in the morning, and she went forward! She's had the hand motion figured out for a while, but she is finally getting the leg motion in action.
She also can sit up in her crib, and can be found at either corner sitting up chewing on a sock. So we lowered her crib one more level (2 of 3). Here is a quick pic of her in action at her Saturday nap. Another plus for using sock-ons. Less sock eating.
One of the other fun thing is her mimicking. She was really singing back to me to the Beach Boys song "Bobaran". She is also standing (almost on her own) at the ottoman here. She is quite a ham!
She gives us endless hours of entertainment. Here she is in her mom's favorite color, yellow!
And one more video, for your viewing pleasure. In the background you can hear Eric with the vacuum.
Over the weekend, I traveled to Davenport to help host a baby shower for Ashley Merrill who is expecting a baby boy! Unfortunately, I somehow forgot to take any photos, so I don't have much for the blog in the way of the fun times I had with the Drake gals. Eric had his mom and dad come visit while I was gone and they had a fun day of shopping, followed by a father son game of baseball while Grandma Morse and Elaine had a girls night in.
So I made up for a little lack of pictures Sunday and today. Elaine has grown to LOVE her Cheerios. She often gets several of them stuck to her face as she shovels handfuls of them in her mouth. This was a particularly funny moment.
Tonight we had our last (4 of 4) Baby Sign Language Class at the Clive Public Library. Elaine loves it! It was a beautiful night and I had my camera in hand to capture the moment of smiles!
Here is a short clip of one of the songs we sing in the baby sign language class. Elaine is a busybody, but when they sing and sign, she is transfixed.
When we got home, Elaine crawled backwards across the kitchen floor. Unfortunately I was a little late to grab the camera, but you can still see how active she is! She's SO close to crawling - any day now she is going to go fully mobile. Look out world!
This past weekend, we had the Jolliffs to come visit! Kristin is still on her maternity leave and Matt was off for spring break, so they decided to spend a few days in Iowa visiting us and Elaine!
Kaleigh, who is 3, took an immediate liking to Elaine, and the feeling was definitely mutual! Watching these two light each other up brought me immense joy.
Here are our two daddies with the kiddos! Luke is 2 months - what a doll.
Here we are having lunch at Palmer's. We were all good eaters, so we all got dessert, even Kaleigh!
Saturday turned into quite a stormy afternoon and evening, so we decided to make it a fiesta inside and Kristin made us all her famous guacamole. It was such a treat - she really knows what she's doing!
One of my favorite things is Kaleigh's pretend playing. She loves to play mommy and daughter, as well as teacher and student. Here she is doing a combo, reading Elaine some books. I use the term "reading" fairly loosely...
Of course I had to get a video. I should have mentioned, Kaleigh took a pretty nasty spill before they came to our house. Poor girl!
Here is a closeup of the cutey Luke with Elaine. He was so happy and chatty!!
Here's the grand finale photo just before they had to leave on Sunday morning. It was SO great to see them and that they were able to make the trip to come visit!
For Easter, we headed to Peoria to enjoy our extended Easter weekend with family. Here is our little bunny in all her glory, with her Easter dress, complete with headband, flower, AND bunny ears. What a sport.
One of the fun things to watch is the two girls, Lauren and Elaine, who are 7 months apart. Elaine is already looking up to Lauren.
They are equally interested in each other, and Lauren points at Elaine and says "bee-bee" ( baby).
Here is Eric with his happy little Easter dolly.
She was such a sport wearing the flower almost all night!
We had an egg hunt in my parent's backyard - here are the kiddos just before they filled their baskets with eggs. So fun to watch!
My grandparents also came to visit and see Elaine. They really enjoy watching her grow and Elaine LOVED her great grandma's sound effects while reading a book about barn animals.
I had to share a video of Elaine's giggles. She LOVES her daddy!!
This weekend, we were able to attend a special event co-chaired by Nikki and Kylee, called Bubble Ball. It is perhaps the most unique (and fun) event I've been to in a while. It is a fundraiser for ChildServe, a really reputable organization in our area that provides services and care for families and children with special needs. We have seen friends and co-workers who have directly benefited from this organization, and so it was a triple bonus to get to go - it was fun, it helped support our friends, and it helped a great cause!
When we entered, we were greeted with bubbly, on to the open bar, and filet mignon for our dinner. The vibe was very high energy, not stuffy or too heavy. There were brazilian violinists that danced around for 3 hours, playing current-day music - I called them Des Moines' slightly more classy version of LMFAO. Then after a delicious dinner came the fun part. There was a fashion show where local businesses created masterpieces (think Project Runway - LIVE) out of bubble wrap inspired by children's fairy tales. Really unbeleivable stuff! We also fashioned our own bubble accessories. Here are some fun pics. Here is Erin, me, Nikki, and Kylee.
And here are the guys with their bubble wrap bowties.
Eric and I really enjoyed an evening on the town indulging in all the fun this party had to offer!
Today, we visited the mall to get Eric a few pre-birthday goodies. Of course we had to visit the Bunny! Here is Eric and Elaine near the line. We lucked out and were able to walk right up, no waiting!
Elaine's first encounter with the Easter Bunny! This is her "I need a nap" face. Mostly a non-event, but an important first before she gets stranger danger! :)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg)