Yeah!!! Elayna is finally taking off! Tonight she just seemed to figure it all out and was suddenly crawling after her toys. We are very proud of her. It is a nice present for her Dad on his birthday!!
Turn to our new video page to see a quick video of her actions!
Happy birthday too, Aaron!! We've had a nice relaxing day at home enjoying being with Aaron and loving life. It's fun to have some quality family time!
It's no secret that Elayna is ridiculously stinking cute. But just to prove it, here are her 6-month pictures! We took these on Monday with my friend Amy Lee -- who photographs families part-time out of her home. Amy is AMAZING; she is extremely patient, great with kids, and has a wonderful eye for good pictures. We've sat with her twice and have been very happy with the results.
Jerry and Carol were in town and sat for a few grandparent pictures too. They also 'baby wrangled' -- entertained Elayna with toys and encouragement to make her smile.
The website is: www.amyleephotography.com
Click on 'Client Sessions'. The user name is Kellum and password is Elanna.
Hope you enjoy as much as we do ... the hard part will be picking the pictures we want! Expect to see the family photos in a Christmas card coming soon.
Elayna is wanting to crawl so badly. I just know any day now she'll take off and I'll be chasing her from then on. For the past week she'll get up on her hands and knees rock back and forth. Then in the last few days she's started 'tri-poding' -- pushing her butt up in the air with her feet on the ground and legs straight (also known as 'downward-dog' in yoga). This is a lot of effort but not a lot of movement forward. After a while, she does start to get frustrated but I know she'll get the idea soon.
At daycare today, she tried so hard that she took a nice header onto the carpet. Her teachers were very upset but I think her new war wounds are super cute. It's difficult to see from the picture but she has a small bruise beneath her left eye and red scrape on her eyebrow. Luckily neither boo-boo hurts her in the slightest.
However, her diaper rash does hurt her right now. It's the worst she's ever had and has to be due to some new teeth coming in. Poor thing is miserable but I'm optimistic it will clear up soon. Until then, lather on the desitin!
Elayna is very blessed to have such great family in her life! This weekend Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Carol visited us from Oklahoma. She had a great time playing with her Grandparents and they had a fabulous time spoiling her!
Saturday we all spent the day with our friends the Schugs. Tim and Linda Schug were visiting from Billings so the men played golf and the ladies attended Peyton and Brady's soccer games. Elayna wore out pretty quickly so we missed out on the shopping but regrouped in the evening for a great barbeque at Nate and Sarah's new house. Delicious!
Today Elayna took her 6-month photos and we all watched Aaron play softball in the evening. Even though Aaron's team lost, we all still had a lot of fun. Alicia even stopped by after work! The picture above was taken at the game.
Elayna is getting so big and is so fun to play with. I think she's about to start crawling any day.....
Elayna has her first tooth!! While she's been a little crabby the last few days, we were caught pretty unprepared when we were giving her her bath tonight. But there it is, the little front bottom tooth. I'm very proud of her -- she's just getting SOOOO big!
The other night, my friend Tammy asked if Elayna was still sleeping in our room. I nonchalantly said, "Of course not" as if Elayna was a pro and had been in her own room forever. But I do have to confess this is a new milestone and should probably do my due-diligence here (especially since I know Tammy reads our blog.)
Yes, Elayna spent nights with us for the first 6 months of her life. Aaron really liked her close by so happily we slept with her in the pack-n-play in our room. While we discussed moving her frequently, it just never happened. And then she got the cold .... this never-ending beast that woke all of us up at night and made it convenient to keep her by our sides.
However, FINALLY this week we moved her to her room at night and she has done great! Even the cold has weakened so she only coughs a few times at night. The last three nights she's gotten between 11-12 hours of sleep and we haven't done so badly ourselves (although I think Aaron misses her). So its official ... no more pack-n-play!
In other news, Elayna's 6 month pediatrician appointment went great. She's now 27 inches and is back on the charts for height (90th percentile). Her weight gain slowed as well -- she's now 17 pounds and 60th percentile for weight. With the exception of the cough she's doing great and very healthy.
The doctor also suggested starting her on meats so we gave it a try on Friday. I actually bought beef babyfood (which smells like dog-food by the way) and attempted to give it to her. Elayna happily tried it, then made the worst face ever (it was hysterical) and actually gagged! Then she refused to try anything else the rest of the day like she didn't trust me. So I guess beef tastes like dog-food too.... We'll stick the other jars in the pantry for a while and try it another day.
It will be a busy next few weeks for us so it's nice to reflect today on the small victories we have. Like a full night's sleep. And a healthy child. And beautiful cool, Phoenix weather. And bananas for Elayna to try today. Life is good. :)
Elayna is 6 months old today! She is an amazing baby and every day is a fun adventure with her. I love to think about how much she has changed in just this last month.
It has been an exceptionally busy month. People we meet can't believe that she's only 6 months old -- she's so strong, active, and attentive. Happy birthday, sweet angel!! We love you.
However, with all her sugar, Elayna also comes with some spice. For almost the entire month, Elayna has been battling a cold. This started as congestion and has worked into a cough. Almost every night, she'll be sleeping peacefully, then wake up coughing for 30-60 minutes. Once this has worked its way clear, she'll fall back to sleep for a few hours.
I have tried to be a good-nurturing mom through this but last night reached a breaking point. It is so hard to go several weeks without a full-night's sleep and nothing seems to help her -- not Benadryl, not the humidifier, not saline, not our undying love. Thankfully, I have the best husband ever! Aaron has volunteered to sleep with her tonight so I can get a full night's sleep. We'll see how tonight goes ... but every night we hope she'll finally be getting through this.
People are always asking me "So what does Elayna do...?" And my response is generally, "Well, a lot!". Elayna is a busy bug so I decided to give you a flavor of a day in the life of our baby girl.
Elayna is almost 6 months old and here's a typical non-daycare day. I work Mondays and Thursdays and I usually take her in for a partial day on Tuesdays. But this is a mommy-and-me kind of day.....
This is our very exciting day! Elayna is smiley, happy, and a joy to be around. She continues to discover new things every day and loves to be the center of attention. I'm so glad that I get to spend so many days like this with my precious little girl. I'm very blessed!
