The Kids...

Cooper was interested in having his picture taken with the new Christmas tree too.  He somewhat reluctantly sat next to Elena, and was not pleased that she was fixing his Christmas collar.  You can see the dred in his eyes, but Elena was very pleased with herself :)

Under the Christmas Tree

Here are a few pictures of Elena and our Christmas tree, both sharing their first Christmas with us. 

Elena is really pushing up during tummy time.  She is nearly on her knees and her tummy clears the floor!

Christmas Card Photo

Today, Linda our daycare provider was unable to watch Elena.  I took this opportunity to visit Santa, hoping the crowds would be minimal.  We had a great day.  Elena was interested in Santa and was completely content sitting with him while I tried to pick out which picture was the best.  This was also our holiday card picture--although I had them printed, failed to get all envelopes addressed and mailed before Christmas.  Alas, the challenge to balance mama-hood, work and tasks.

Thanksgiving Weekend in Arizona

Here are a few more pictures from Thanksgiving weekend. We went out to breakfast with Donna, Pat, and Grandpa Grossi. Elena was an angel. She does really well in public places, well she does really well in general, we are blessed. After breakfast we went to Grandpa Grossi's house where Elena met Skip the bird. Elena was interested but Skip kept his distance--wise little bird. Scrolling down, the next set of pictures is everyone hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Newman. Aunt Connie was in town and was thrilled to meet Elena. The final pictures culminate our weekend and our venture back to California. Surprisingly, Elena did very well for the 7.5 hour drive to and from Arizona. We really enjoyed our time hanging out with everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we drove to Prescott, Arizona. The drive was great and we had a wonderful weekend hanging out with Mom, Pat, Grandpa Grossi, Grandma and Grandpa Newman, Lauren, Mica, Marilyn and Garry, Connie and all the cats and dogs. Elena had sweet potatoes for dinner while we enjoyed delicious turkey and all the fixings.

Happy 7 Months, Elena!

We find it difficult to believe Elena is already 7 months old. To quote Carl from earlier this week, "she is amazing, absolutely amazing!" Elena is doing well developmentally and can sit on her own now. She is 28-1/2 inches tall and a whopping 22 pounds 4 ounces, exceeding the 95th percentile for height and weight! For the record, she is bigger than both Carl and I were at this age, well she is pretty close to Carl's height.



To celebrate her birthday, we went out to breakfast with Pop and Grandma Lorraine. Below are a couple of pictures of them playing. Elena is great out in public until about 5pm. She smiles and talks, and absorbs everything around her. She just started moving her bottom jaw to talk. I'm sure first words aren't too far in the future.



After breakfast, I plopped Elena down for some more pictures. And after she spit up milk down the front of the dress, I stripped her, put the hat on and snapped a few more pictures. She isn't too keen on wardrobe changes, so I take what I can get.

1st Veggie

Elena's first veggie encounter was squash and she loves it! She doesn't play around when squash is on the menu like she does with cereal. She demands squash by opening her mouth wide when I am feeding her and there is much less clean up in the end. I hope she loves all her veggies!

Photo Shoot--6 months, 3 weeks

Now more than ever, I love taking pictures of Elena. She is so cute when she is sitting up by herself. I just find myself plopping her down and snapping several dozen photos. Here are a few I snapped today with the hat Grandma Donna made her. What a doll!