Day 158: Sitting Pretty

Good thing I'm not superstitious. My sweet little Beastie, who was 6 lbs 6.6 oz when she was born, decided to hit a major milestone on Friday the 13th-- she found her balance and can sit unassisted for short stretches. If I sit her up, she now leans forward onto her hands and can sit that way by herself until she gets excited and throws her head back or tries to stand up.

Here's a picture of Elise sitting up for the first time. It's a little blurry because I had to snap the picture quickly.



She's getting close to crawling, too. When she's on her belly she can get her little legs up underneath of her body and stick her bottom WAAAAAAAAAAAAY up in the air. She's scooted herself forward a few times, but it doesn't really count as crawling yet because she doesn't know what to do with her arms. She'll have it figured out soon, though.

Our Pal William

We take Lydia and Drew to the same day care center that William still goes to, so we see him every once in a while. He looks like he's grown a few inches since he lived with us!

William is sweet and gives us hugs when he sees us. We miss him, but it's great to see that he's doing well.

Days 154, 155, 156 and 157

August 9th:



August 10th, playing with her friend's toys:



August 11th:



August 12th twisty baby:

Days 152 and 153

August 7th:



August 8th:

Days 147, 148, 149, 150, and 151

August 2nd, hard at work playing in her bouncer:



August 3rd, toe grabblin':



August 4th, napping:



August 5th:



August 6th:

Lots of Babies

Lydia and Drew are doing well. Elliot and I are... tired. Three babies! We're figuring out a routine and things are steadily improving, though.

Lydia is a wonderful eater-- better than William ever was. And she sleeps through the night. Drew wakes up once or twice during the night. The real problem happens when either Elise or Drew wakes the other one up in the middle of the night because then we have two crying babies and it takes a little bit of effort to get them both calmed down.

We're doing our best. And actually, I think that we're doing a pretty good job. :)

Days 145 and 146

July 31st:



August 1st:

Days 143 and 144

Sometimes when Elise is playing, she moves so much that all of my pictures (taken with my cellphone) turn out blurry. July 29th was one of those days.



Sleeping in her swing on July 30th:

Day 142: Work of Art

July 28th:

Days 139, 140, and 141

Elise likes to grab her toes a lot now. She even sticks them in her mouth. Here she is on July 25th:



July 26th:



Here's her "we need to talk..." face. July 27th:

Welcome, Lydia and Drew!

We got a new foster care placement today, two siblings we'll call "Lydia" and "Drew." They're both under 2 years old, so including Elise, we have quite a full house!

Yikes! We'll let you know how it goes...

Days 136, 137, and 138

Blurry pic from July 22nd (some days she just wont hold still...):



Playing with a rattle on July 23rd:



Elise and Daddy, July 24th:

Days 133, 134, and 135

July 19th, playing on the puppy that Grandpa got her:



July 20th:



July 21st, her first time in her bouncer:

Happy Music

The baby and I just listened to:
ABC by Jackson 5,
I want you back by Jackson 5,
Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson, and
Jackie Wilson Said by Van Morrison.

Now we are going to take a nap.

Days 131 and 132: Miami

July 17th:



July 18th, with Aunt Katie, Nana, Mema, Daddy, and Mommy:

First Trip to Miami

Elise took her first trip to Miami last weekend. Sadly, it was to attend a funeral. Elliot's Uncle Steve passed away unexpectedly.

This picture is from July 16th, the day we arrived. Elise is sitting with her Nana, Aunt Katie, Mema, and Great Aunt Martha.

Days 129 and 130

July 15th:



Sleepy car ride on July 16th:

Days 127 and 128

July 13th, pulling Daddy's hair:



July 14th:

Day 126: Ignorance Is Bliss

Elise, July 12th, sleeping in her car seat in the waiting room at the doctor's office:



Little did she know, she had 2 shots and some nasty tasting medicine waiting for her in the other room. Poor baby.

Elise did well at her 4 month check up. Healthy and strong. She was 24.5 inches long (which puts her in the 55th percentile) and 13 lbs 4 oz (45th percentile).

Days 122, 123, 124, and 125

July 8th, right before bed:



July 9th, mid-morning nap:



July 10th:



July 11th, Elise predicting Spain as the World Cup champions by dressing for the occasion in a mildly Spanish-themed shirt:

Day 121: Soup Isle

Grocery shopping on July 7th:



When Elise was a newborn, she'd sleep through all of our outings. I think that it was information overload and she'd just shut down for the duration of the trip. Now she takes it all in. She's learning!

Days 118, 119, and 120

Elise's first 4th of July started out with some early morning sleepy time, shared with Clotilda:



Later in the evening, Elise saw her first fireworks over at our friends Katie and Ian's house. Elise loved the sparkly lights.

Here is the cutest baby EVER on July 5th:



With her Daddy on July 6th:



Compare her size here to this photo from 3 months ago. WOW!

Days 116 and 117

July 2nd:



On July 3rd we took Elise to get vaccinated for baby rabies. Just kidding. Radar (our "walking vet bill" as one of the doctors so succinctly put it) had to go to the vet's office and Elise came along:

Days 114 and 115

June 30th:



July 1st (dimple!):

Day 113: Elise vs. Daddy

On June 29th, we found this picture taken of Elliot taken on June 29th in the year he was born:



Elise and Elliot were born only a few calendar days apart, so Elliot was practically the same age as Elise is now. We tried to replicate the picture with Elise:



She doesn't have a Winnie the Pooh, she has a Tigger. But we did our best.

Days 111 and 112

6-27:



Sometimes Elise sleeps on her side now. 6-28: