Elsa Everyday 2-1-12

She was delighted by the park.

DDD and EE January 30, 2012

We love sunny days in January with temperatures so high we only need a
light jacket! With two days over 60 in a row, we spent some quality
time at our park this week. The sunshine freshened everyone's mood.

Elsa Everday Jan 30

Elsa enjoyed the lower end of the slide on Sunday afternoon when we
went to the park with her Haid Grandparents.

Marking Milestones....

I have the photos as proof, but I know I won't be able to have them for this post right now since I haven't edited them.

At 9 months exactly, Elsa started making her first real crawls.  She has attempted crawling and has wiggled and scooted her way around the floor for one month, but she took REAL crawls towards an object she wanted last week.  The object was a photo of herself, and she triumphantly grabbed it when she got to it!!

She said a new word last week, too.  Uh-oh! She even uses it in the right context.  She drops her spoon and says, "Uh-oh! Ah-oh!:"

Elsa clapped for the first time today, too.  Only twice, and then she went back to banging, which is more noisy and fun to do.

She has started to nurse less and less, now only taking 4 feedings a day.  She is getting very good at eating table foods, and her teeth are very sharp, so I am happy to reduce her nursing.

At her 9 month appointment on Friday she weighed 17 lbs, 10 oz, which is in the 27%.
She was 29.5 inches, which is in the 97%.
Her head was in the 80s for size.
She's growing well and there is little concern that her heart condition is adversely affecting her growth and development.

EE for January 29

They were buzzing each others' lips.

Elsa Everyday for Jan 28

Oh YES she can! Elsa learned to crawl this week!

Elsa Everyday 1-27-12

She looks happy in the photo, but she didn't have a really happy morning.

She got four shots when we went for her routine checkup! She weighs
17.5 lbs, which is in the 27th percentile. Her height is in the 97
percentile, and she is growing just fine.

DDD and EE for January 26, 2012

She is not in the mood for teasing.
And he's not as innocent as the cute smile makes him look.

EE and DDD for January 25, 2012

Daniel often wants to hold Elsa, but she is getting to be so wiggly
that he rarely gets to for long. He had the chance to do it this
morning and he sang "Rocka Baby" to her, too.

DDD and EE for Jan 23, 2012

He was giving her a kiss before her nap. Daniel really is this sweet
to his sister, but I appreciate gestures like this much more than she
does. She doesn't like him in her space that often, and he doesn't
understand boundaries since he is such a snuggle bug.

Late Night!

Little Lovie, we put you down for bed three times tonight.  And you convinced us to let you up twice.  You were giggling, howling with laughter, singing, and being really disruptive to your brother.  I don't know what tickled your fancy so much, but whatever it was meant that you went to bed after 9:30 PM, which is far too late for such a little lady!

It was fun to watch you play and sing while I folded laundry and watched Desperate Housewives on TV.

DDD and EE for January 22, 2012

Daniel said, "Two in the tub! Two in the tub!" at the end of his
sister's bath and jumped him himself. She thought it was funny.

a picture for you

Get used to it, baby girl!

Elsa Everyday 1-20-12

She could play with this toy egg crate puzzle all day long.

Daily Dose of Daniel and Elsa Everday for Jan19

They were chatting with my parents online and Daniel told Elsa to back
up, then hopped on her lap.

Elsa Everyday for 1-18-12

She rarely gets to play this piano because her brother takes it away
from her. When he was out with his Dad she seized the chance to bang
to her heart's content.

Elsa Everyday 1-17-12

I think she looks a bit like my mother here.

DDD and EE for 1-14-12

Both kids brush teeth now!

Elsa Everyday 1-13-12

Elsa loves to try whatever meal we're having, and we found that her
favorite foods so far are manicotti, dirt pudding, and ceasar
dressing. She really went nuts over the manicotti and ate as much of
it as I did!

Elsa Everyday 1-12-12

Elsa is always licking her upper lip. Lately its because its wet from
a sneeze. During bathtime, she splashes her face just to get a little
slurp of water. What a goof ball.

Brotherly Love

Taken spontaneously in mid December.

EEE 1-11-12

This photo is a little old, but it shows that Elsa is getting more
mobile. She paws around on her belly and army crawls, and she is
working towards real crawling. In the past, she was quite upset being
on her belly, but these days she tolerates it and sometimes chooses to
lay this way on her own.

Working and Not Working.

I am teaching a short term class on Mondays and Wednesdays this month.   I am doing a basic English as Second Language advanced course in communication to college students. My students are all female and from Pusan National University studying child development and family studies.  They are ideal students - intelligent, perky, interested in learning, and adorable.  Because this class is short term, it was a good way for me to test the waters to see if I wanted to work more.

As it happens, I do not really enjoy working.  

The actual teaching part is fun and I do like that. But the wage I am earning + the enjoyment of teaching does not = a big enough gain to be away from the kids and deal with the extra stress that comes from working.

 I much prefer being with my kids and setting my schedule and not worrying about the children while I am gone and preparing to be gone while I am with my kids. 

I also don't enjoy that my husband rearranged his schedule at work to be home with the kids on Mondays so that we only do baby sitter once per week.  I LOVE having him home three days in a row, but ten hour work days feels too long as he has to compensate for the Monday off .  I really miss him at 2 PM. I'd normally see him at 3:15 PM, but now its 5:15 PM.  Those two hours are long! 

Again, I am feeling so surprised that I prefer to be an at home mom.  Its interesting to me that I have the opportunity to influence young women by sharing my feelings about how I am raising my kids.  Most of these girls will be preschool teachers and all have said they want to become mothers one day.  I think this class is a unique opportunity for me to connect with these women and share that they could be open to the idea of staying at home with their kids.  I certainly wish that someone had shared this option with me when I was their age so that I could have reframed my idea of what success is or happiness in life can mean.

And so darling daughter, I encourage you to be open to staying at home with your babies.
If you would rather not, please allow me to do so for you!

Playing with Ball

New Food: Manicotti! Plus your menu.

Breakfast: Prunes and Oatmeal (You like strong flavors, even prunes!)
Yogurt puff bites

Lunch: Beef with Sweet Potato, Potato, Carrot, Apple (a casserole I made for you!)
More yogurt puff bites, per your request - you grabbed the bag!
A few sips of Similac formula, an attempt for you to learn to tolerate this type of milk

Dinner: Pumpkin and Potato puree, licks of salad dressing from lettuce leaf, one whole manicotti serving from my plate

Elsa Everyday 1-12-12

Elsa has very few toys with bells and whistles. This crawl-ball toy
is loaded with them! Elsa doesn't really crawl after it, but she
enjoys it. She pushes it, bangs on it, and yells at it.

Thanks Nanny and Poppy Douglas!

DDD for 1-09-12

Daniel saw me chopping veggies for a salad and he decided to help,
too. He got his play food out and got to work!

EE = Elsa Everyday 1-9-12

She can splash vigorously for ten minutes without a break! She has
such a fun time in the bath!

DDD and EE for 1-8-12

Daniel liked feeding his sister!

New Clothes!

Last week I went shopping and bought some things for you. I actually haven't bought this much for you since  before you were born! And those were much smaller pieces of clothing.  Most of your clothing does come as gifts from some of your adoring fans or comes from resale stores, which I don't technically count as a shopping experience.  

Some PJs, size 12 months!  You will wear them later in the year.

Such a pretty velvet dress, size 9 months, fits very well.

A purple tunic and leggings, which is 12 months and a little large.

Not pictured is a purple overall-style dress which is two large for right now, but intended to be worn when you are crawling!

This is what you look like in the purple dress! (LOVELY)

You Like Yogurt.

Your brother fed you some this week.  You liked him feeding you, too!  He thought he was pretty hilarious and was so proud to share his snack with you.  He was sure that you DID NOT get any of his beloved sprinkles in your spoonfuls, however, which is fine since you aren't much of a chew-er these days.