Days 197, 198, 199, and 200

Elise, performing her morning yoga stretch. September 21st:



September 22nd:



Elise sitting up with the help of a blanket, September 23rd:



Elise's first breakfast! She's such a good eater that we decided she's ready for two meals with solid food. September 24th:



Baby Food Update:
Despite that video (on an earlier post) of Elise nearly throwing up her first taste of green beans, she's now decided that she likes them. It took three tries before she could eat them, but now she gobbles them down. Yay! We've also added yellow squash and oatmeal to her diet.

Elise's First Tooth!

It's hard to see but you can just make it out. You may have to zoom in, it's only just poking up. Actually her two bottom front teeth feel like they are coming in and you can sort of see them both starting to show.

Here is what happened when Elise first tasted green beans.

Ever the optimist, Elise's mouth starts off as open as her mind but she soon finds herself gagging on gross green goop!

Days 195 and 196: Romantic Baby Weekend

Elise spent last weekend with her baby boyfriend, Andy. I'm pretty sure it's true love.

September 19th:



September 20th:

Day 194: Daddy and Baby Sunshine

She's such a happy baby. Look at that smile!

September 18th:



Elise has started crawling! Or maybe "proto-crawling" is more accurate. She can move herself forward using her arms and legs, but it isn't a perfectly smooth operation yet. She gets a little bit better at it every day.

She's still a wonderful eater, although she HATES green beans right now. So far she's tried avocado, banana, rice cereal, sweet potato, green beans, and applesauce. We've mixed the foods together in various combinations, too. For example, tonight she ate banana and applesauce mixed together, and since she was still hungry she had some rice cereal afterward.

Elise is the best baby ever. We love her so much!

Days 192 and 193

Baby Elise flashing the camera, September 16th:



Moments before a gigantic poop explosion... see the sneaky smile on her face? September 17th:

Days 188, 189, 190, and 191

Beautiful Elise on Grandparent's Day, September 12th:



Here is Elise in her bathtub thinking, "Where's my rubber ducky, lady?" September 13th:



September 14th:



What is it with little kids and elephants? William loved elephant toys, too. September 15th:

Days 185, 186, and 187

Elise on her 6 month birthday, sleeping in her car seat. Don't worry-- I usually have her buckled in even if she's sleeping, but I was about to take her out when I thought to take a picture. September 9th:



6 month doctor's check-up. Here she is at the office, playing with one of her teddy bears. She was 25 1/2 inches long (45th percentile) and 15 lbs 9 oz (45th percentile). Getting so big! September 10th:



Picking out a Halloween costume, September 11th:

Days 182, 183, and 184

Elise in her baby backpack, ready for a walk with Mommy and Daddy. September 6th:



Elise has a bigger bassinet now. Here she is, sleeping soundly in her bigger baby bed, September 7th:



Elise eating avocado, September 8th:

Happy Half Birthday, Elise!

Elise turned 6 months old today!



We let her dance on the table to celebrate, just this once.

Days 179, 180, and 181

Elise playing with one of her teddy bears, September 3rd:



On September 4th, we went to Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville, Georgia. This was Elise's first trip out of Florida. We saw lots of goats! One of them even tried to eat Elise:



On September 5th, we went to Kanapaha Gardens in Gainesville, Florida. Here is a picture of Elise with her Mimi, Mommy, Aunt Sara, and Nana:



Exciting weekend!

Today, Elise ate her first solid food!

Here is a video of that event:

She had some avocado mixed with breast milk. She seemed to like it and didn't throw it up or spit it out at all.

Days 177 and 178

Cutie-pie, playing in her bouncer, September 1st:



Here's Elise after her morning nap today. Hangin' out. Or maybe trying to figure out how to escape. That one's up to interpretation. September 2nd:

Days 173, 174, 175, and 176

Mommy, Elise, and Radar on August 28th:



Snuggles, August 29th:



Elise loves bath time! (You can't see it in this picture, but I'm almost as wet as she is after all of her happy splashing.) August 30th:



Zzzzzz, August 31st:

Days 171 and 172

My beautiful baby taking her morning nap in her bassinet, August 26th:



Have you ever seen that old tv show, "Married... With Children"? Remember how Al Bundy would put his hand down the front of his pants? Presenting Elise Bundy! August 26th:



Cheese! August 27th:

Days 168, 169, and 170

Shopping for avocados, August 23rd:



August 24th:



Sleepy (Elise often falls asleep with her fingers in her mouth), August 25th:

Days 166 and 167

Elise and her dog-cousin, Mocha, on August 21st:



Peek-a-boo! August 22nd:

Days 162, 163, 164, and 165

August 17th, morning nap:



Playing on August 18th:



Sick baby. She had a fever of 101 degrees. August 19th:



August 20th, running errands with Mommy:

Days 159, 160, and 161

Cookie Monster, trying to take Daddy's snack right out of his mouth, August 14th:



August 15th:



August 16th:

Bye Bye, Lydia and Drew

Lydia and Drew left earlier this week to go live with a relative. The foster care system tries to place children with relatives whenever possible. Most of the time, that policy is probably a good idea. We don't know anything about Lydia and Drew's relative, but we're hoping that the move is good for them and their family.

Since the kids are from a different county, we probably won't see them or hear about them again. This makes me sad, as we've been able to get a little bit of a follow up on all of our other foster kids.

Having three kids under 2 years old was QUITE a challenge. I'm proud of our hard work, though, and even though Lydia and Drew were only with us for a short time, I like to believe that we helped them and provided them some much needed stability and security.