Bundle of Joy

Eliana - what a sweet child she is! She is growing to be a bundle of joy, laughter, and goofiness. She loves to waddle about everywhere, but will often come and check where mama is, laugh to get my attention and give me a hug. As you can see, she loves to put our shoes on. She loves to dance and will start swinging her arms and swaying or bopping whenever she hears music. And she is still a cuddly baby (wow, do I feel blessed!). One of her all time favourite activities is to nuzzle her bottom into our laps and to sit and read books. Church nursery workers often tell us what a sweet personality she has and we sure do agree. Thank you Lord for this bundle of joy.

Winter and walking

Hoorah! I can finally update videos! Here is the most recent video of some of Eliana's tricks. Enjoy!

14 months

Wow, has it been 2 months since my last Eliana update? Actually, I'm not too surprised. The last 2 months have seen me out of action while battling that hard but blessed first trimester of pregnancy. I'm 15 weeks now and feeling much better. Eliana certainly makes this pregnancy much more tiring than the first. She is a little go-getter. So... here's how she's grown (and my has she grown!)

She is doing sign language for just about anything we teach her now. She just started saying "Dri" for drink and "no no" while pointing at things she's not allowed to touch so Nate and I have claimed that she is officially saying words. "Doh" for dog was her first word while we were around animals at Grandma's house for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving around extended family in Michigan and then church families in Louisville was a huge blessing. It really helped her learn to be ok around strangers. She still is delighted whenever she sees other children - especially the mobile ones. She loves to follow them and chase them.

She started walking the day before she turned 13 months. She then took about 3 weeks to fully walk and boy do I love that she can walk! No more crawling around on strange floors while we're out. I wish I could figure out how to upload videos on this because she is so adorable!

She is eating anything we eat now (although I tone the spice down for her - poor daddy). Yesterday I discovered that she LOVES peanut butter sandwiches.

Not too long ago I also discovered that you never turn your back on your baby while paint is out! Eliana is usually pretty good when I tell her not to touch something - but this green blob was too irresistible. I came back to find her shirt front, the floor and her teeth covered in green. Her poos where bright green for 2 days afterwards!

She finally loves to read books. She will only let us read books that have bright pictures and few words, (and gets cranky if we stop - even after 6 times through!) but she'll flip through anything on her own.The weather has turned very cold so it's hard for me to take her outside (I think I'm more afraid of the cold than she is) but we loved going for walks and bike rides together while the weather was still nice. We sure are looking forward to March!