...is a very, very, very fine house. With two cats in the yard. Life used to be so hard. Now everything is easy 'cause of you.
I couldn't help myself. Once I wrote "Our House" I had to finish the chorus from the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song. Dan was able to find the time to mow the lawn this past week and I thought I would take a picture of our cute, little house for those of you who don't live in the area. We love living here and we are really grateful for our home. Many of you know the work that we put into it before we moved in. Several of you helped - thank you very much.
The tree in the front was planted less than 2 months ago. It was our five year anniversary tree. Elena and I have already spread out a blanket under it a couple of times and played or read in the little bit of shade that there is. Dan did a great job building the raised flower bed on the left (I helped) and I planted the flowers. The front and back yards are actually 100% weeds, but they are green most of the year, so they're okay with us for now. Maybe we'll try planting grass in the spring - maybe not.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Email: 9 month update
October 14, 2007
Dan took some adorable pictures yesterday of Elena's first time taking a bath in the big tub. Up until then, she was still taking a bath in the little plastic baby tub because it was easier that way until she started to try to stand up inside it. Anyway - I didn't want to post these naked pics on the blog, but you all had to see her cute little tush (is that how it's spelled?). I guess I will just make this her 9 month email since she'll be 9 months on Wednesday.
New developments:
Elena recently learned how to spit out her food. We had been lucky for so long. A few days ago she realized that if she tried to keep her lips sealed but breathed out that the food would exit and it would make a pretty cool sound. I think she does it whenever I feed her baby food to encourage me to give her more table food. She is loving everything solid. She's been eating bananas, peaches, cooked carrots, different crackers and cereals, and cottage cheese. I am slowly trying to get over my fear that she may choke. She only comes close if I put too much food in front of her - she'll shove it all in.
She still scoots around the same way that she has been for the last two months, but we have highs hopes that she'll lift her rear and crawl someday soon. She is starting to pull up on things. Mostly onto her knees, but once she pulled up on the coffee table until she was standing.
Elena has a new sound. It is kind of like she is singing the Tarzan yell now that I think of it. She decided that today during church was the premium time to perfect it. Everyone in the Spanish branch just loves her, so I know they don't mind, but it was disruptive and we had to keep taking her out. At least it's a happy sound.
The older she gets, the more she loves books. She will sit and turn pages back and forth for minutes at a time. "Minutes" may not sound like much, but normally she's very used to one-on-one time and not so keen on alone time. Her favorite alone activity besides reading is to scoot over to one of the bookcases in the house and to pull all the books off the bottom shelf. She's very good at it actually; she's not one to back down from challenge. She'll try each book until she finds the weakest link that will pull out.
Elena has starting giving besitos (kisses) not just to people, but also to her books. She'll kiss the animals and the pictures of people and then look up smiling proudly, so that we'll say, "Aww, you are so sweet." tonight before bed, she was kissing Dan's face in an album over and over. It was adorable!
Those are the big updates for the month I guess. I hope that you all have a good week and stay tuned to thedisonfamily.blogspot.com to see what we are all up to.
Dan took some adorable pictures yesterday of Elena's first time taking a bath in the big tub. Up until then, she was still taking a bath in the little plastic baby tub because it was easier that way until she started to try to stand up inside it. Anyway - I didn't want to post these naked pics on the blog, but you all had to see her cute little tush (is that how it's spelled?). I guess I will just make this her 9 month email since she'll be 9 months on Wednesday.
New developments:
Elena recently learned how to spit out her food. We had been lucky for so long. A few days ago she realized that if she tried to keep her lips sealed but breathed out that the food would exit and it would make a pretty cool sound. I think she does it whenever I feed her baby food to encourage me to give her more table food. She is loving everything solid. She's been eating bananas, peaches, cooked carrots, different crackers and cereals, and cottage cheese. I am slowly trying to get over my fear that she may choke. She only comes close if I put too much food in front of her - she'll shove it all in.
She still scoots around the same way that she has been for the last two months, but we have highs hopes that she'll lift her rear and crawl someday soon. She is starting to pull up on things. Mostly onto her knees, but once she pulled up on the coffee table until she was standing.
Elena has a new sound. It is kind of like she is singing the Tarzan yell now that I think of it. She decided that today during church was the premium time to perfect it. Everyone in the Spanish branch just loves her, so I know they don't mind, but it was disruptive and we had to keep taking her out. At least it's a happy sound.
The older she gets, the more she loves books. She will sit and turn pages back and forth for minutes at a time. "Minutes" may not sound like much, but normally she's very used to one-on-one time and not so keen on alone time. Her favorite alone activity besides reading is to scoot over to one of the bookcases in the house and to pull all the books off the bottom shelf. She's very good at it actually; she's not one to back down from challenge. She'll try each book until she finds the weakest link that will pull out.
Elena has starting giving besitos (kisses) not just to people, but also to her books. She'll kiss the animals and the pictures of people and then look up smiling proudly, so that we'll say, "Aww, you are so sweet." tonight before bed, she was kissing Dan's face in an album over and over. It was adorable!
Those are the big updates for the month I guess. I hope that you all have a good week and stay tuned to thedisonfamily.blogspot.com to see what we are all up to.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Dan's birthday weekend
Dan turned 29 last weekend! He had a great time watching conference and playing football with the guys (in his new cleats). We were lucky enough to have Bethany here too. She is a saint! She watched Elena so that we could go to the temple Friday night (it's 90 minutes away). I had a lot of fun with her this weekend and Elena loved having her Aunt BB around. Bethany and I took her to a birthday party at "The Little Gym". It is definitely geared toward older children, but she had fun. The birthday girl was turning one and she and Elena really enjoyed the bubbles that were blown for the kids to play in on the trampoline.
Dan had a football themed birthday (he got cleats, a ball, flags, a pump for the ball, etc.)
Elena is following behind Laura. She's a very sweet and creative girl who I tutor.
This is the birthday girl (Mia) with Elena. She is Laura's little sister.
Dan had a football themed birthday (he got cleats, a ball, flags, a pump for the ball, etc.)
Elena is following behind Laura. She's a very sweet and creative girl who I tutor.
This is the birthday girl (Mia) with Elena. She is Laura's little sister.
Fun with Daddy
Here are two of the games that Dan loves to play with Elena:
What Dan keeps saying is ven. It means "come" in Spanish
They've been playing this one since she was just a few weeks old. She actually used to be able to hold her balance better than she does now.
What Dan keeps saying is ven. It means "come" in Spanish
They've been playing this one since she was just a few weeks old. She actually used to be able to hold her balance better than she does now.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Mohawk
Elena's hair is starting to get slightly longer and thicker, so I thought I would try to pull it up on top of her head with a hair band. When that failed (miserably), I used some gel to make it into a pretty little mohawk. Unfortunately, it is kind of hard to see it in a couple of the pictures because the background was dark. We went back to her usual style the next day, but trust me: it was very cool.
I had to throw these in as well since she's so darn cute!
I have a couple of videos that I will post soon - maybe tomorrow...
I had to throw these in as well since she's so darn cute!
I have a couple of videos that I will post soon - maybe tomorrow...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Summer Fun!
Elena and I went to the pool right before it closed for the fall and we had a lot of fun. This pool is so great because the kiddie pool is zero entry (like the beach), so Elena was able to sit and splash around in very shallow water. She loved it! She wasn't scared at all by all the other kids or when I carried her into deeper water and she was up to her chest. My favorite picture is the one where she is posing with her chin tucked.
Elena and Laurel are having fun playing together in the water.
Laurel is the adorable daughter of my friend Shelby.
The sqealing game is something that we have since had to abandon. She loves to hear herself so much that I began to think that I shouldn't encourage it. It was a fun game while it lasted though.
Elena and Laurel are having fun playing together in the water.Laurel is the adorable daughter of my friend Shelby.
This video has nothing to do with the pool, but it is hilarious so I had to share it. It was taken earlier this month at my parents house. One night after I had changed her diaper, I went to pick her back up and she started giggling like crazy. My mom preserved the moment. You'll have to excuse the shaky camera work - we were laughing so hard.
The sqealing game is something that we have since had to abandon. She loves to hear herself so much that I began to think that I shouldn't encourage it. It was a fun game while it lasted though.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Email: 8 month update
September 21, 2007
Happy September!
This month has been strange so far for me because it is the first year in the past 21, that my life didn't revolve around the start of school. Everyone went back to school and I got to stay home. I have to say that I loved my major, my job, my coworkers, and each class of kindergarteners that I had, but I don't feel like I am missing out on anything. I am so grateful to be able to spend this time with Elena.
She and I went to Virginia earlier this month, and we were able to spend time with my family and also with friends that I had grown up with at home. It is so cool to see how we are all growing up.
For those of you out west: We have our tickets to Utah for this Christmas. We are going to be flying there on the 23rd and returning on Jan 6th. We are psyched to be able to go for two weeks. We are nervous about flying with Elena and keeping her entertained, but at least we were able to get non-stop flights both ways.
Elena now has 6 teeth. Four on top, two on bottom. I just saw the sixth one today for the first time. She had been more fussy than usual the past couple of days and I am glad that it was not without reason. She is still army crawling her little heart out. Maybe someday she will feel the need to lift her belly off the ground, but not yet. She has learned some new sounds though. She gargles, she makes a "kuh" and a "buh" sound. She has started to wave, but only if we help her out and get her started. She now eats Saltine crackers (the sound of her biting off pieces is adorable) and she had her first table food today. I let her eat some of the carrots that were part of a roast (cut up very small); she loved them. She also loves to "read" and will occupy herself with a book for several minutes. What a smartie! She'll just sit and turn the pages over and over.
Elena's new hobby is going on runs with me. Dan bought me a jogging stroller as an early Christmas present. :)
An update on our anniversary: Dan and I bought a beautiful Trident Maple that will turn orange/red in the fall and we planted it in the front yard about 2 weeks ago. It's about 10 feet tall. I've already pulled out a blanket and enjoyed the small spot of shade on our very sunny yard. It was a big purchase for us.
**I signed up for a family website/blog. I'm going to be sending out invitations to you all. I don't want it to be a public blog, so you'll have to wait for your invite and then sign in to see it. There's already a great family picture on there of all three of us. I'm sure that I won't be updating it more than once a week at the most, so feel free to check it out sporadically. I am very excited about it because I want all of you that live far away to be able to watch videos of the little one (if you want). I may even put some videos on the site from when she was smaller.
I hope that everyone has a fabulous weekend!!!
Happy September!
This month has been strange so far for me because it is the first year in the past 21, that my life didn't revolve around the start of school. Everyone went back to school and I got to stay home. I have to say that I loved my major, my job, my coworkers, and each class of kindergarteners that I had, but I don't feel like I am missing out on anything. I am so grateful to be able to spend this time with Elena.
She and I went to Virginia earlier this month, and we were able to spend time with my family and also with friends that I had grown up with at home. It is so cool to see how we are all growing up.
For those of you out west: We have our tickets to Utah for this Christmas. We are going to be flying there on the 23rd and returning on Jan 6th. We are psyched to be able to go for two weeks. We are nervous about flying with Elena and keeping her entertained, but at least we were able to get non-stop flights both ways.
Elena now has 6 teeth. Four on top, two on bottom. I just saw the sixth one today for the first time. She had been more fussy than usual the past couple of days and I am glad that it was not without reason. She is still army crawling her little heart out. Maybe someday she will feel the need to lift her belly off the ground, but not yet. She has learned some new sounds though. She gargles, she makes a "kuh" and a "buh" sound. She has started to wave, but only if we help her out and get her started. She now eats Saltine crackers (the sound of her biting off pieces is adorable) and she had her first table food today. I let her eat some of the carrots that were part of a roast (cut up very small); she loved them. She also loves to "read" and will occupy herself with a book for several minutes. What a smartie! She'll just sit and turn the pages over and over.
Elena's new hobby is going on runs with me. Dan bought me a jogging stroller as an early Christmas present. :)
An update on our anniversary: Dan and I bought a beautiful Trident Maple that will turn orange/red in the fall and we planted it in the front yard about 2 weeks ago. It's about 10 feet tall. I've already pulled out a blanket and enjoyed the small spot of shade on our very sunny yard. It was a big purchase for us.
**I signed up for a family website/blog. I'm going to be sending out invitations to you all. I don't want it to be a public blog, so you'll have to wait for your invite and then sign in to see it. There's already a great family picture on there of all three of us. I'm sure that I won't be updating it more than once a week at the most, so feel free to check it out sporadically. I am very excited about it because I want all of you that live far away to be able to watch videos of the little one (if you want). I may even put some videos on the site from when she was smaller.
I hope that everyone has a fabulous weekend!!!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
My Very First Post
This picture was taken in front of our friends' house. Elena slept in their port-a-crib while we watched a BYU game. We actually let her look at the TV for the first minute of play before we put her to bed. It was the beginning of what we hope is a life-long love for BYU football.
Elena got a little messy while eating at Granny and Grandad's house. I love this picture because you can see four of her six teeth.This video was taken on August 29th, but it is still the way that she crawls. She has gotten faster in the past month though. I love how she closes her eyes as she pulls down the tower.
This was also taken on the 29th of August. She loves Cheerios! The video is a little long -- if you watch the first 30 seconds or so, you'll get the idea. Luckily for her, she's much more efficient at feeding herself now.
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