Spring has sprung!

The arrival of spring is a welcome one! The blossoms are on the trees, the coats are being shed, and the grass is green. Elaine got a new sunhat, which is a new experience for her.  It is hilarious watching her wear it for the first time.  Here's a short clip for your viewing pleasure.

Double bonus for being a day late blogging - here's a second video of Elaine as she watches me cook on a normal weeknight.  Her budding personality continues to crack us up!

Here she is reading her bumble bee book - the laughter just keeps coming from our little lady!

Saturday night we had dinner at the Grefe's and Elaine stayed up later than normal, and eventually she just conked out!  What a party animal.

Over the weekend, Eric was a BUSY daddy getting ready for spring, bringing the deck furniture out of the shed, mowing the lawn for the first time of the season, weeding, trimming, mulching and more!  Elaine and I watched from the shade.  She enjoyed being outside and wearing the new hat! 

Grandpa Mike's St.Patrick's 60th birthday!

The Morses spent a very unseasonably warm weekend in Wisconsin to celebrate Grandpa Morse's 60th birthday, which falls on St. Patrick's Day!  Eric's dad did not know we were coming so it was really fun to walk up to the door and ring the doorbell to a very surprised birthday boy!  On our drive up, Elaine spent one of her first afternoons with no socks.  This newfound access to her feet provided at least a half hour of entertainment and interest on our drive.  Who knew feet were so interesting!?  Here she is smiling at her feet.  You can also see she is quickly outgrowing her carseat!  Time for a big girl carseat very soon!

On Mike's birthday, he had plans to go to the model railroad show in town, so we tagged along for the fun!  Elaine watched the trains with interest and Eric enjoyed showing her something he used to do as a kid.

For dinner, we went to the Freighthouse, which is Lacrosse's top notch steakhouse.  Elaine experienced her first dinner in a highchair!  She LOVED sitting up with us like a big girl. 

Here is Eric with our cute little St. Patty's girl.

Sunday it was so nice that Eric's favorite drive-in (Rudy's) was open and we managed to grab a picnic table at a nearby park before we hit the road.  What a great way to end the weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather. 

Daddy's First Night Away

Tonight is the first night Eric will spend away from his girls. He's at a Radiohead (his favorite band in the whole world) concert in Kansas City. So of course to mark this event, I put on Elaine's Radiohead onesie that she got from her uncle Dan! I had to throw in some pink so she didn't look too much like a boy. 

While daddy was gone, we decided to make a long overdue visit to our friends Nick and Kelly Price and their two boys, Burke and JD.  JD is already 2 months old and he is such a strong and happy little guy!  Holding a newborn is a reminder to me of how much Elaine has grown since the day she was born.  JD and I match!

Elaine normally has bathtime with daddy and I am in charge of towel-time.  Tonight we got crazy in the bath with daddy gone (okay, that's not true, she was shivering so we actually made it a quick bath).  This is, however, her second bath in the big-girl tub.  No more baby tubs for this growing girl!  Can you believe it?

And of course, the most popular question as she approaches 8 months is: "is she crawling yet"?  I can firmly say no, but she can shimmy, roll, rotate, and lean her way to just about any toy she finds.  She can crawl backwards in her attempts to move forward, but I'm not counting that as crawling yet.  She's really working to get up on all fours and I think she's well on her way!  Here's a sample.

Happy Birthday Grandma Frost!

This weekend, Elaine's grandma and grandpa Frost came to visit!  We had a really nice visit and it happened to be my mom's birthday weekend so we tried to make it special for her.  Friday night we had dinner at home featuring shrimp.  We also played cards (NERTS), which is now a favorite/addiction!  Saturday, we all went to Elaine's swim lesson, and relaxed at home in the afternoon.

I happened to snap a picture of Elaine's favorite sleeping position during her afternoon nap.  This new iphone is allowing me to capture so many more funny moments of our girl!

We had a casual dinner at Gateway Market, where we took this picture:

Sunday morning we had a birthday brunch at Granite City before my parents hit the road back to Peoria. We enjoyed every minute of their visit and hope they'll come back again soon! Here are the 3 generations!

Here is the birthday girl with her granddaughter!

Here is Elaine reading "That's Not my Puppy".  I couldn't resist sharing this one, as she's just becoming more and more interested in books!

I also have to share two humorous videos.  I just find it so funny to watch Elaine eat her banana puffs.  She's still getting the hang of it, as you can see!

This one is blurry (sorry) but quite entertaining to see how happy and funny she is when she is entertained with song and dance.  I am also demonstrating my usual multitasking in the kitchen.  I normally try to put on some kid tunes, since, perhaps do a little dance (clapping or snapping really get her going), and cook!  Gotta make the most of every minute, right?  This song is one of my/her favorites.  Always gets me hopping around the room.   PS - the safest place to be is behind the lens of the camera - there's a reason you don't see me in any of the videos!  :)

She's got TEETH!

After countless months of drooling, knawing on every toy, shirt, finger in sight, and constant comments by mom and dad that "she must be teething", she is OFFICIALLY teething!  I felt the teeth for the first time a week ago, and here are the teeny tiny nubs of teeth - sharp as razors!

Fast forward to yesterday, one week after that photo was taken.  I feel like it is a hug difference, and you can see them when she smiles big.  I have a hunch just looking at her top gums that teeth number 3 and 4 are just around the corner.

We had class #2 of Waterbabies and this time Eric swam with Elaine!  He had a huge smile the whole time and Elaine also enjoyed the morning of splashing.  Here's a good look at her cute suit!

Here are Eric and Elaine in action.

Sunday, the weather was a balmy 52 degrees, so we took Elaine out on a walk.  We bundled her up, complete with shades.  She was funny - she was absolutely still in her stroller - it was the first time she's ever faced forward in a moving vehicle! 

Here is the official stroller pusher on our small jaunt.  It was so nice to get outside for a little while and Elaine certainly appreciated the fresh air too!

Elaine Swims

I have been waiting for this moment since the day I found out I was pregnant!  As you know, swimming has always been a part of my life, and being in the water is my favorite place to be.  So I have been wanting to introduce the water to Elaine like you can't imagine.  Until now, bathtime has sufficed, but this weekend, we attended our first Waterbabies class at the Waukee YMCA. Having been a Y employee, I know which Y has the warmest, most kid-friendly facility, and one of my former co-coaches and I were all set for a fun morning of splashing fun!

Here are Elaine (fresh up from a nap) and I about to enter the water... drumroll please!

She likes it, she really really likes it!

Here we are counting her toes singing the piggy song. 

Here is LeAnn and her daughter, Ellie, playing with us!  Ellie loved it too!!

 I think we may just have a future swimmer!  She really was looking around taking everything in and never got fussy or cold!  I thought it was funny she was so bouyant - her feet kept floating to the surface!  :)

And of course, Eric was dry on the side taking photos and getting towels for his girls!  Here is a video - I beleive we are singing Wheels on the Bus.

First word: Dada!

This week, Elaine said her first word!  Of course, she doesn't really know what it means yet, but she not only said it, she has been repeating it over and over again.  That word, is "dada".  Which means dada is absolutely wrapped around Elaine's finger!  It is hard to get on camera because the camera itself distracts her so much from what she is doing but here is a small taste of her new babble.

I also forgot to upload a video from last weekend of her dada playing peekaboo with her from outside the window.  Perhaps I got the biggest charge of anyone here, but usually Elaine shrieks and laughs with delight at her clever dada.

This weekend, Elaine's grandma and grandpa Morse came to visit!  Grandpa had his new camera, so he had fun taking lots of pictures of her.  They enjoyed listening to the babble, watching her roll over, sit up, and eat big girl food!  Seems like there is something new happening with Elaine every single day and we are loving every minute!!