New Tricks

While the grandparents were visiting, they took every opportunity available to teach Elaina new tricks. My mom loved that she was able to teach Elaina to blow bubbles. She even caught a video of the new talent.

Mike (Matt's dad) found that Elaina enjoys sitting in the powder room sink. I'm not sure that this is a new trick, but I'm worried about where I'll find her once she is able to climb.

Daycare

Today was Elaina's first day at daycare. We had a really difficult time finding a center that had an opening for her, but we were very blessed to have my mom and Matt's parents fill in until a spot opened up for her. Elaina did pretty well today. The noise and activity of the other kids kept her from taking a very long nap, but I'm confident she will adjust just fine. Now, we're preparing ourselves for her first kid sickness that she's destined to acquire.

Recently, she has continued to enjoy her feet and loves wriggling around without any clothes on. Ah, the life of a babe. :)

Four Months

Elaina had her four month check-up this week. Our little girl has almost doubled her birth weight. She is 13 pounds 10 ounces and 23.75 inches long. She recently found her feet and enjoys playing with them every chance she gets. She continues to enjoy bath time as she shows us how flexible she is! Please excuse the brevity of this post. I guess a little something is better than nothing, right? :)

What a Weekend!

When I started law school last year Victoria and I quickly realized that the weekend projects we enjoyed were going to have to be fewer and farther between if I was ever going to have time to study. What we decided was that we would plan ahead and fit our home improvement projects into the weekends I'm on break and not studying.

So, this first weekend of my law school spring break (still have to work this week of course...), Victoria and I followed through on our plan to finish painting our living room. Grammy was drafted due to her great taping skills and Elaina co-supervised along with her new buddy Elmo (who is very fond of reminding us that "Elmo luuuuuuvvvvsss kisses!"). We took a break between coats to stop by our friends' house for the 1st birthday bash for their little girl, Rebecca.

This morning we all woke up wondering where that other hour had gone and ended up being 10 minutes late to church (much better than two years ago when we walked in at the end of the service the morning after the time change). This afternoon, merely 6 days after everything in the triangle had come to a halt due to SNOW, we took a stroll on the American Tobacco Trail to enjoy the 80 degree weather (humidity-free!).

After a 2.5 mile stroll, Grammy, Victoria, and I came back to the house where Victoria decided it was time to let Elaina experience the big swing (as opposed to the little one that only Elaina fits in).

All of this would have made for a perfectly full Sunday, but Elaina decided to put some icing on the cake. As I was starting dinner our baby girl rolled over for the first and second times! I did get over in time to film the third rollover which we're happy to share with you all.

Why I'll Probably Take My Kid's Lunch Money

On the way home from work yesterday I listened to a music review on NPR that introduced me to Lunch Money, a Kids Music Band (I didn't know there was such a thing) who just released their second album: "Dizzy."

I now no longer worry about Elaina driving me nuts with listening to the same music track over and over and over and over. [My sister was always guilty of this.] In fact, I suspect some day I will swipe Elaina's Lunch Money (CD) and wear it out in my car.

The titles and lyrics that caught my attention were:

• It Only Takes One Night to Make a Balloon Your Friend where the artist explains that kids should not be upset if at first their new balloon prefers to hang out in a corner of the ceiling instead of coming down to play. Balloons are shy like that.
  
• A Cookie As Big As My Head urges children to indulge their sweet teeth and advises on what to do if Mom prefers to provide oatmeal cookies instead of chocolate chip: "Oatmeal and Raisins sounds a lot like cereal... and I already had breakfast."

NPR has three of their tracks (including the balloon-befriending ballad) and a synopsis of the All Things Considered program I heard at NPR music.

I also found a youtube clip of the band performing the Cookie song in 2007.

New Sounds and Funny Faces

Two New Videos!

First up: Elaina has been exercising those vocal cords more and more. She currently prefers a mix of squealing and sighing noises to mumbling.



This video highlights a new face Elaina premiered tonight at the dinner table. Victoria and I are worried that Grammy might be teaching her to eat solid foods during the day...



Bon Appetit!

Blog-Guilt

I've been feeling a bit of "blog-guilt" lately since we haven't posted any new info or pictures. We've been a little busy- My parents arrived on Saturday... I'm hosting a large vendor show at UNC on Thursday... and Matt has law school mid-terms this week. In our spare time, we get as much Elaina time as possible! My mom is staying with us this month, and Elaina is enjoying time with Grammy during the day while Matt and I work. I do have a picture of Elaina that I've been meaning to share, and I hope to have it up soon!