11 month pictures

the next birthday in the family is ella's!



here is ella saying "oof-oof" for doggy:



can you see the teeth?



this flower is from germany, from a., and it plays mozart:

look ma...

no hands! ella stood today for several seconds at a time several times over without holding onto anything at all and even lowered herself down onto her bottom without plopping at all. she was so proud of herself.

we had a great time out in the yard this afternoon together. elenora was enjoying the grass, clover, flowers, and leaves. she's starting to be more interested in looking at them and handling them than in eating them, which is nice.

she's been laughing a lot lately. this morning i hiccoughed and she started giggling.

the nights are cool now, and even during the day today i wore a sweater throughout.

i got a call from momby today and the tests were all clear of cancer. we're so relieved. they still have to figure out what it was they saw, and there was mention of crohn's disease... so more prayers necessary, but at least it's not cancer.

for brianna

here are a couple photos of ella playing this morning.




i asked her "ella, where's 'd,' dog?" and this is what she did:

"dada"

finally ella has found her "d"! she's been saying "baa-baa" for "da-da" until now, but today she said "dada" very distinctly quite a few times.

she's 11 months yesterday. where did the time go? we will have her birthday party in a month. wow.

the days are getting cooler and so beautiful. the weather is truly gorgeous.

i survived my weekend of single motherhood. not so awful. elenora usually tackles j. in the mornings by leaning her head backwards until it is tucked under his chin and then she just grins and coos happily. but when j. was gone she did that to me, so it was precious time. both mornings i took elenora to dunkin donuts and she is the most friendly baby in the world. every time we see a person she stretches her arms out to them with a huge smile on her face. they can't resist wanting to know her, and so i answer "how old is she?" and "what is her name?" and "wow, she's friendly!" over and over again. she just makes me so proud.

saturday we went to the beach with momby and h. we sat by the shore and had sandwiches and chips (yes, i let ella munch on one or two i have to admit, but they were called 'earth' something chips and were made with veggies) and then we went in the water and ella cuddled in her gramby's arms and let the water splash over her feet.





momby said "i have something to tell you girls." which made me nervous. her colonoscopy results were not good. a "mass." tests. catscan. biopsy. we'll find out on thursday what the findings are. it's so scary. when it comes to health matters i always just think "oh, it will be fine." but momby's dad died of colon cancer. if this is cancer, she will have surgery and chemotherapy. these are not words you want to think about. especially not when you're thinking about momby, who is so healthy and youthful and someone who we depend on so much from day to day. a few weeks ago she was in PA for a week and j. and i just missed her brutally. we rely on her for emotional support, friendship, babysitting, laundry, dishes, errands. she's a god-send and a blessing and best of all she loves us and loves elenora more than anyone. all we can do right now is pray that the results are good. and also pray that we can be as supportive of her as she is of us.


saturday evening k. came over and we made eggplant parmesan and drank red wine and played cards and watched "iron chef." this is a very typical evening for k. and me. it was tons of fun to have girls' night.

sunday i did take elenora to church by myself. it felt good. she was wonderful in the nursery and afterward she and i hung out in the sanctuary with p. and j.a. and d. and his wife, who, it turns out, is almost done with her first trimester. elenora was so active. she wanted to crawl through the pews of the mostly empty sanctuary and wave and smile at everyone. i'm amazed at how easily she'll let other people hold her or take her hands to walk her around. p. and j.a. invited us to join their small group, which meets once or twice a month for dinner and a study. i'm looking forward to that sort of thing.

the only thing that worries me about the presbyterian church is just how presbyterian it is. both sundays i've been there they've mentioned their "covenant children" or "baptizing our babies." i'm just not into that. and i don't want to feel like we're out of the loop or club because i don't want ella baptized. i would like to be a member of a church around here some day and have elenora dedicated. but i don't know that they will do a dedication in lieu of a baptism.

oh well.

sunday afternoon i took ella for a long walk around town in the sling. she finally fits in there without my worrying that she's uncomfortable.

after she was in bed i cleaned like crazy around here so that j. could come home to a clutter- and mess-free home. our bedroom actually has a clear floor now, and i swept everything. we're so bad about keeping our room neat. the rest of the house seems like enough, so our room always comes last. my present to j. was a clean room.

it was great to see j. he came home super late and super sunburned, but it was so nice to catch up with each other.

napping questions

as of the last two weeks elenora has begun to play around during the majority of her morning and afternoon naps (usually either the first or the second, with a good nap for the other). Before this, she would sleep from 9-11 am and then from 1-3 pm (give or take a half hour) each day. There have been 3-4 days the past two weeks where she has played in her crib for an hour and a half in the afternoon, and not slept at all. When I get her up she is very pleasant and I just make sure to put her to bed by 6 pm. (Her bedtime is always between 6-6:30 pm and she sleeps until 6 am.) For a few mornings during the past two weeks she has played around in her crib and not fallen asleep for quite awhile. When she does fall asleep, I then have to wake her after 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes so that the rest of her schedule won't be thrown off for the day.

I am under the impression that this is too early for her to move to one nap a day. But her behavior seems to indicate otherwise, although there have been a few days in the last two weeks where she takes two naps just fine.

Should I press on with two naps a day and just let her play if she wants to play? Should I change the times of these two naps so they are shorter? Or should I begin the transition to one nap? What time is a good time for an afternoon nap if there is only one nap a day? What time should she go to bed at night, and will she start sleeping in past 6 am? I set my alarm for 6 am so that she has a regular wake up time (she's generally awake when I go in to get her), but if she starts sleeping later, how late should I let her sleep?

golf carts

j. took elenora and me golfing yesterday! he had arranged all week to go golfing with a friend, but that was canceled at the last minute. the day was gorgeous, however, so he asked if ella and i wanted to go. the course is about five minutes from our house and it was so quiet and beautiful there. j. got a golf cart (my first time in one ever) and we zipped around the greens among the trees and flags. elenora was wonderful. i held her on my lap with one hand and held her head from bouncing all around with the other hand and braced my foot firmly in front of me...i was so afraid we were going to go toppling out of the cart. but we had a lot of fun. ella loved watching j. hit the balls. she was so pleasant.

last night i went out for mexican food with k. there's an authentic place called celito lindo that has the most amazing food that reminds me of my summer trips to mexico. they even had live latin music. k. and i had guacamole and i had fish tacos. i shared the leftovers with elenora today for lunch. her first taste of fish!

j. is leaving for the weekend for his brother's bachelor weekend away at a cabin in vt. i am planning on a quiet evening tonight. tomorrow i'll take elenora downtown for breakfast and then momby and h. are meeting us to go to the beach following morning nap. k. might come over in the afternoon or evening, so it will be quite the day.

i haven't decided yet if i'll try bringing elenora to church by myself on sunday. i really should try it, i suppose. she liked the nursery a lot last week, and i want her to have that as part of her life. she barely gets any baby play time with other children since i don't watch penelope anymore.

i stopped by casa de moda to pick out invitations for ella's birthday party. i found some gorgeous blue ones with pink roses around the boarder. they type them up with your font choice and message for $5. i can't wait to pick them up and send them out. i know it's only her first birthday, but it seems so special to me.

shopping carts

i took elenora on my grocery run yesterday. j. or i usually grocery shop while she naps or is in bed for the night, but i thought i'd bring her along this time. i sat her in the basket of the cart on a blanket and buckled her in. she was so pleasant and smiled at anyone who smiled at her (which was a lot). i stuck various things in the basket next to her for her to look at, like an eggplant and the bananas.

i'd do it again.

we've started brushing her two little teeth. ella gets so excited about brushing them (the apple training paste doesn't hurt) that she points to the toothbrushes every time she's in the bathroom.

i let her try maple sugar candy last thursday night. k. brought me some as a present, so i pinched some off and put it in elenora's mouth. she looked at me smiling, like "there is this in the world, mommy?!?"

that's my baby.

we have been reading a lift-the-flap bible stories book. (well, mostly we skip a lot of the stories and just lift the flaps. why do all the stories have to be so violent and seemingly have no point? i need a bible story book that focuses on peace, love, and the big picture of God's plan... i was just recommended "the big picture bible" by e., so i need to get that.) anyhow, ella is amazing at remembering where the different animals are hiding behind each flap. i'll say "where is the monkey?" and she immediately flips that flap open. i say "where is the snail?" and she points to the snail. i say "where is the wolf?" and she pulls the flap down. i say "where is the baby Jesus?" and she points to the baby in the manger. she's real quick.

(i know, i know: what do a monkey, a snail, and a wolf have to do with the bible?! think "garden of eden," "noah's ark," and "the parable of the good shepherd and the lost sheep.")

we were given a set of toy fruits and vegetables that are a big hit right now. she loves the pineapple especially. she pulls it apart into three pieces and i ask "where is the top of the pineapple?" and she points to the part with the green leaves. i say "where is the bottom of the pineapple?" and she turns the other side over and points there too. i can ask "where is the avocado?" and she goes digging for it in her toy grocery basket and comes up with the dark green fruit.

is this normal?

she's not walking yet. or standing on her own without the help of something. she can stand and walk along the couch or coffee table. and she always pulls herself up to standing and will barely hold on with one hand. but no free-standing yet. gotta work on that.

my brother says to not be in too much of a hurry for that.

last night elenora had Art Time with Daddy while i made her dinner. they were so cute sitting at the kitchen table coloring together. well, j. colored and ella mostly tried to throw or eat the crayons. she was very excited over his drawing of a dog, though, and kept saying "oof, oof" and pointing to it.

oh yes, she makes doggy and fish noises.

silly goose

we went to church today. dropped elenora off in the nursery. we must have lingered like new parents do...afraid to leave our baby with strangers in a large room full of toys and other babies and toddlers. we plopped ella down on the rug and she immediately was distracted with a large rocking horse and a toy that spins when you push the top. we walked out of the room and up the stairs looking at each other like "is this okay?"

church itself was really good. when i went to get elenora she was in the process of happily crawling from the infant room to the toddler room. the nursery aids told me she was just an angel and didn't fuss at all. they said "she's so mobile!" i took her upstairs and i saw friends from college who are now married. they didn't know i'd had a baby, so i got to show ella off. she was just so precious.

i think elenora is in the process of dropping a nap. i thought this would be too early for that, but for the past week she spends either one or both of the hours of her afternoon nap just playing happily in her crib. twice now, today included, i've gone to get her after over an hour and a half of listening to her play and she hasn't slept at all. i don't know really what to do about that. should i go ahead and move towards one nap? or should i stick with two?

i don't know that i'm ready to go to one nap yet.



after her non-nap we took her to russell orchard to look at the animals. she was so great there--pointing at all the ducks and pigs and geese and chickens. there was one really large white goose that kept following people and honking, and elenora just started laughing at it.

tonight we're chilling.

pancake house

this morning j. let me sleep in again. i think he was afraid i'd throw elenora across the room if i didn't get more sleep. it's only partially funny.

it's so hard to be a good mother when you're working with less than six hours of sleep. these olympics are really hurting me in that department. i love the gymnastics, but because they're in china they aren't playing the gymnastics until about 11:20 pm each night. it's brutal to try to start watching something at that hour, let alone try to stay up to see how things turn out. but if i get less than six hours of sleep i just have no patience for a fussy baby.

but after we all got to sleep until 11 am, we took elenora to the pancake house for breakfast. she was so darling. as soon as we walked into the restaurant she started smiling at the entire room full of patrons and waving. we got so many cheerful looks from the tables around the room. ella sat in her a high chair throughout the entire meal. this is the first time we've gone to a restaurant where she's done that. we gave her various things to eat (probably the least healthy meal we've ever given her between the home fries, the hot apples, and the toast with butter). while we waited for the check she looked at her baby animals book and pointed correctly to each animal we asked her about.

the perfect family outing for a saturday morning.

i went to target this afternoon while she napped and picked up some shoes and pajamas for her. they're too big for her now, but i have to think ahead to this next year.

we're heading to j. and m.'s to visit with them and their new baby. i'm eager to hear how the first few weeks have gone for them.

and i want to hold the baby.

fever, runny nose

elenora is sick again. well, better today. yesterday her head was hot all day and her eyes were watery and her nose was running. her head wasn't hot today and her eyes were better. the nose is still runny. i stayed home with her yesterday to monitor her health. she was so precious. i know she is happier outside, so i walked around our driveway and yard with her before her afternoon nap. we picked clover and yellow flowers and she tight-fisted one in each hand and was able to point to the clover and the flower when i asked her where each one was. in the afternoon i took her out again (it was a lovely, cool, early-autumn/late-summer day) in the sling this time, and we walked downtown and around the river. she's so sweet when we're outside. just hangs on my hip chatting with the world.

today i met up with j.m. while elenora took her afternoon nap. we walked around town and i took her up the marble steps of the cemetary. such a lovely view--all green this time of year. j.m. came back home with me and got to spend some time with ella, who was all smiles when she woke up from her nap. she was so cute and so friendly with j.m., who she doesn't really know. i'm always so proud of ella.

j. says elenora is really friendly with strangers when he takes her on walks for coffee in the mornings. he said she makes grumpy women smile.

j. is loving his new job. it's been really chill so far, and yet we know we're going to get a big check starting next week. i'm so happy. i'm so proud of him and just excited for our life going forward.

"how are we still sleeping?!"

so the last few nights j. and i struggled to get enough sleep. after dinner and opening Olympic ceremonies at momby's last night we climbed into our bed around 11, fully expecting to get up with the baby this morning. 6 am came and i shut the alarm off, thinking i'd go get ella in twenty minutes or so. the next thing i heard was "how are we still sleeping?" i looked at the clock and it was 8:26! i haven't slept that late since my early pregancy (before the nightly bathroom trips began). we both jumped out of bed and ran to the baby's room to find elenora sweetly playing in her crib with her friends. we brought her into our room and she was the happiest baby ever.

i feel awesome.

today i'm going to marblehead to walk around and window shop with momby. i haven't gone window shopping in ages because it was too painful to not be able to splurge on a small item for elenora. today i'm planning on splurging up to $40! i couldn't be more excited about it.

i've started an Elenora Birthday List at amazon. i can't believe she's turning 1 in less than two months. amazing.

i swear to god...TEETH!

elenora has finally popped out two precious little teeth. i can just feel the tops of the bottom teeth. she's been a trooper about it.

she's been trying to see if she can stand on her own without holding onto things. i sometimes see her consciously plant her feet and test the "letting go."

work gave me a gift card in appreciation for my five years of service here, so j. and i had a date last night. dinner and a movie. we saw the batman film, which was well done, but so dark and tense. christian bale continues to be the good-looking man a. and i were so infatuated with when we were about 14 and "newsies" came out. the theater seemed to have the volume up way too high on the film, and i can't decide if it really was loud or if we're just not used to things being above a quite voice in the evenings. i kept thinking we were going to wake the baby.

work starts tomorrow for j. we're so excited about it.

i need to get to the library and find some new books for elenora. she has her favorites, but i saw some at a bookstore last night that would be great for her. she's so good about pointing to things in her books. we do a lot of pointing, actually. and counting. she takes my hand and we point to the things in her books together. she really understands what the pictures are of. we only have to tell her things once and she just gets it. like yesterday we pointed to a photo of a boy with a hat on his head and then every time we asked her where the boy with the hat on was she would go across the room to point it out on the page of the book.

last night she tried a little tomato sauce on her tortellini for the first time. not much. she liked it, though.

elenora stood today without holding onto anything for about three seconds. i was so impressed. she also knows how to kiss her animals. she's been leaning in and giving a kiss to Bluey (a porcelain blue and white dog that i got in rockport) and today we asked her to give a kiss to Cody and she leaned over and graced him with a kiss, too. so sweet.

this weekend ella and i went to maine to visit with my parents and grampa. my folks are on their way to north carolina to begin their wycliffe training. they wanted to see elenora before leaving, though, so we shot up to the cabin on saturday. my mom had all kinds of things for me to go through (old photos, diaries, letters, jewelry). it was so strange looking at so many pictures of me from high school and college--remembering how carefree and adventurous and silly and fun i used to be. i'm a mother now, and for some reason that has made me uber-responsible and serious.

looking at the photos made me think about who i am and where that light-hearted, adventurous girl is. so much of my life is wrapped up in routine and schedules and baby, and i just can't even say the last time i just was silly and young.

good news

j. got a good job in a town not too far away! we're so excited. thank you to everyone for their prayers. now ella can have a good birthday and i can buy $5 items without feeling like it is rent money.

we're so blessed. thank God.