Elise is 9 months old!

Our little girl is three quarters of the way to being a one year old! Today she turned nine months old. We have seen so much growth in Elise over the past month, including...

...crawling! She started to crawl a couple weeks ago, and she is progressing further each day. She can get from the living room to the kitchen in no time now! She also looks like she's trying to stand up from a sitting position. This might take a while, but she's working on it! And although she can crawl, I've noticed that her love of motion isn't quite as strong as Isaac's was at her age. She actually has moments where she is content to sit in one place and play with toys; that is, if they are cool toys that she likes! Here are those cute little feet that work so hard to help her crawl:


...talking more! She still babbles mostly, but she does a lot of it! And she's loud with her babbling! Her favorite sounds are babababa and dadadada. As I mentioned earlier in the month, she says "dada" around Steven. I don't hear her say it when he's not around, so we are convinced that she knows her Daddy's name. When we're in church, Elise loves to talk to our pastor throughout most of the sermon with "babababa". Because her volume is so high (she's definitely trying to get her point across!), we usually end up taking her out of the service so she can "talk about it" without keeping our church family from hearing the message. You know, we might just have a little evangelist on our hands!

...eating more! We've increased Elise's intake of solids over the past month. According to my lactation consultant (who is also the nurse practitioner who saw both of our kids for their first out-of-the-hospital checkups), it is time to increase solids and slowly decrease the number of times I nurse. Right now, I nurse Elise before each meal, and I also nurse her for a midafternoon snack, a nightime snack, a late night snack, and upon waking in the morning. That means I'm nursing her about seven times per day, and she's eating solids three times per day. Our goal for the next month is to get her eating more solids at each meal, switch from nursing before the meals to nursing after the meals, and to offer her a midmorning nursing in addition to the midafternoon nursing. Eventually, by the time she's 10 months or so, she'll be nursing upon waking, midmorning, midafternoon, evening, and maybe a late night feeding. So we'll be down to about 4-5nursing sessions each day, and she'll take in a higher volume at the "snack" sessions, which will ensure she's getting enough breastmilk. In the past couple weeks, we've added another cereal feeding each day and another fruit/veggie each day. She's also started eating some table food, including mashed homegrown squash (from my parents' garden) and mashed plums (that we got from a garden near our house). She didn't love the squash, but once I mixed it in with her cereal, she ate it up!

...playing more! Elise is becoming more interactive with Isaac and his toys these days. She loves to sit in the floor with him and put his toys in her mouth. Isaac has been known to tell me that "Eese eating train. Idee eat train too?" I have to remind him that she's a baby and babies put everything in their mouths, but he is a big boy and he doesn't need to do that. He seems to understand, but I do think he's a little disappointed that he can't "eat" everything like Elise does.

...chewing more! Speaking of eating, Elise does chew on anything she can get within her grasp. She cut her first two teeth this month, and we know that means more will keep coming from now on! So she is definitely teething and also exploring her world this way.

...grasping more! Elise is developing the pincer grasp, which is the ability to pick things up between her thumb and pointer finger. Here are those pretty little fingers grasping her pacifier-holder:



Elise is such a blessing to be around. She is still so good-natured and laid back and, of course, lots of fun! She is most definitely a Mommy's Girl. Anybody who knows her knows she can't get enough Mommy time. I'm not complaining... But when Daddy steps into the room, she just gets overcome with excitement and starts bouncing up and down. It's obvious that Steven lights up her life. And she also loves her big brother; she never tires of Isaac giving her hugs, holding her hand or just being around her. She constantly smiles at him and tries to get his attention.

We are so thankful for how Elise is growing and the joy that she is in our lives.

Here is a glimpse of that joy in photograph form, from today's photo shoot, starting with the monthly comparison pictures:

Monthly comparison shots:
Birth - 9.30.09


One month - 10.30.09


Two months - 11.30.09


Three months - 12.30.09


Four months - 1.30.10


Five months - 3.1.10


Six months - 3.30.10



Seven months - 4.29.10



Eight months - 5.31.10



Nine months - 6.30.10
(*It's getting so much harder to take this shot. As soon as I put her in the boppy, she lunges forward to crawl around her crib. The only way I could get her to sit still was to give her something that she'd enjoy chewing on. But at least I got it, right?! No telling what next month's will look like!)


Some precious close-ups:




Happy nine months to you Elise, our sweet little brite crawler!

Chillin' on the couch...

Isaac (yes, he is wearing big-boy undies all the time now, with the exception of naptime and bedtime. And, by the way, he started to poopy in the potty on Monday! Go Isaac, you big boy, you!):


Elise (notice the adorably cute diaper she has on):


(And, yes, her shirt does say, "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" We got this shirt as a hand-me-down from my friend Ashley, and I couldn't resist taking her picture wearing it!! Thanks Ash!)

Our cute kids playing together...

Being outside and playing with water...

Isaac still loves water. He can't get enough of it. The sink, the tub, the water hoses outside, water guns, the pool, spray bottles... pretty much any water or container that holds water gets him excited. He can reach up high enough to fill his own cup with water from our refrigerator as well as turn on the spigot outside. One of his favorite things to do is to spray water from the hose onto our "new-van" (what he calls our van) or the garden in our backyard. Here he is, playing with the water hose in our garden last week:



Notice the Crocs? He loves those too! They were a great yard sale find, and I also got him a pair in navy. Orange is definitely his favorite right now, though! He can put them on all by himself, and he usually always gets them on the right feet. (It took him a few weeks to master that skill, but he's doing great now.) I got some new Crocs in the mail this week (for me), and as soon as I put them on he was very excited that I had shoes to match his. Except mine are pink. Isaac's first comment after I put them on was, "I like Mommy's pinkshoes!"

Sleeping Beauty

Elise at 8.5 months, sleeping in her crib.

We can't stop looking at these guys...

Elise and I think they are so handsome!

Little movin' lady...

Elise is quite the mover these days, since she started to crawl last week.

Here is the "old" way that she got around - scooting on her back. She still enjoys it just as much as ever:


Here she is, up on all fours:


And here is her signature pose. She loves to sit like this, with one leg over the other (she's such a girl!):



We love this little fluffy-bottomed little lady!

Doesn't this look fun?

Then Elise gets to join in on the fun:



We love playtime with Daddy!

Faces of our little lady

Here are some pictures I took of Elise last week when she was sitting in her high chair and just being so sweeeet!!!

Her precious smile:


This was while she was saying "babababa":


That open mouth, toothless smile (which I can't get enough of!):

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day 2010 was a very special day for our family! It started out with a breakfast of eggs and french toast on the deck. The weather was gorgeous, and we had a wonderful time just enjoying each other. Isaac gave Steven his Father's Day card, which was actually a mini scrapbook. He loved it!

Here is Elise, playing in her exersaucer while Isaac, Steven, and I were eating breakfast:


Isaac and Steven, right before Steven opened his card: (look at that smile on Isaac's face! It's so hard to catch one like that on camera, but, trust me, I get to see it several times a day and it is a blessing every time!!)


Steven, reading through his scrapbook card:


After breakfast, we had a laid-back morning and early afternoon playing together and just having lots of fun as a family. Naptime came and Steven got ready, as usual, to pack up the van and head to church. After he'd left, Elise told me she wanted to dress up for Daddy's special day:


How could I say no to that? (wink, wink) After both kids got up from naps, we headed to our church service and had a wonderful time with our church family. Here is Steven with the kids at church:


After church, we headed home, got the kids in bed, and then Steven and I ate a yummy dinner of take-out Mexican (have you ever had take out Mexican before? It's addicting!!) while watching a Hallmark Father's Day movie (in my book, any Hallmark movie = awesomeness). Yes, it was indeed a perfect day. And according to Steven, it was a perfect Father's Day. :)

Steven and each of our sweet little ones on Father's Day weekend 2010:



Steven, you are an incredible Dad to our two babies who think you're the world!

Sweetie-pies

Elise at 8.5 months
Isaac at 31 months

Both of them = extreme cuteness. I just can't get over it.

Crawling Elise: still shot

Here she is, crawling in a still version (since the only crawling I've posted yet was in video form)


GO ELISE!

Gotta love love!

Isaac is starting to understand more abstract concepts these days. Like love. He has been saying lots about love recently:

I lahve Daddy.
I lahve Mommy.
I lahve Ba (Gramps).
I lahve Nanna.
I lahve too-key (turkey).
I lahve honey.
I lahve Maahgan (Morgan, our babysitter).
I lahve playing with legos.
I lahve Sesame Street.
I lahve Burt.
I lahve going ahh pool (our neighborhood swimming pool).

Isaac has said these and many more phrases using the word "love". Although, as you see, he pronounces it "lahve". He even says it with a tone similar to that of the hotel manager in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (I "LAHVE" you [Mr McAlister]) If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's worth renting that movie just to find out. However, you might want to wait until a little closer to Christmas. It's so fun to watch Home Alone 2 at Christmastime! :)

Isaac also seems to really love his two newest toys, a couple of soldier men that he got from our friend Ms Vikki. The one who wears blue is named "Jump" and the one who wears white is named "Ice". Yes, those were their given names on the package. Isaac loves taking Jump and Ice with him wherever he is playing (he's not quite ready to play with them as toys; they are more like his little friends who watch him play with other toys). He also likes to take them to his crib with him. When putting him down for his nap today, he only had Ice in his crib, so he asked for Jump. I couldn't find Jump and said he'd have to go to bed with just Ice today. He said "Look for Jump later", and, you betcha, that'll be the first thing he asks for when he wakes up!

A Teachable Moment!

Yesterday, while Isaac was eating and I was feeding Elise her baby food, Isaac said "Teepa song! Teepa song!" It took me a minute to figure out what he meant - "Teapot song", which is something he's heard on the Your Baby Can Read videos that were a gift from his Nanna and Gramps a while back. So I proceeded to sing "I'm a little teapot, short and stout; here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, hear me shout! Tip me over and pour me out!" And then Isaac said "Do din!", meaning "Do it again!" So we sang the teapot song over and over as we were eating lunch. Towards the end of the meal, I pointed into the kitchen and said "We have a teapot!" Isaac looked all around, but he didn't fix his eyes on anything in particular. It dawned on me that he probably hasn't ever really seen a teapot because ours stays on the stove (or my decorative ones stay in my window) and we don't use it often at all. So, I pointed it out to him and showed him our teapot. He immediately asked to hold it. I wiped the dust off and handed it to him. He loved holding it and looking at the handle and spout. I pointed those parts out to him and then we sang the song some more. I then asked him what goes in a teapot, and he responded "Stuff." So I taught him that water goes in a teapot then it gets heated up on the stove until it bubbles, which means it's boiling, and then it sings!! Yes, the teapot really sings, Isaac! Can you believe that? Once it sings, we pour it into a cup with a teabag and make tea! After hearing this, he, of course, requested that we make the teapot sing and make tea!

So we dusted it off some more, filled it up with water and put it on the stove. We turned the burner on and watched the flame. Then I told Isaac that we had to wait on the teapot to sing. We had to be patient. Then I started quoting Isaiah "They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." I began to sweep the kitchen, and Isaac got out his cars to play, and we waited. Then we heard something. Not the singing of a teapot, but the rumblings that come before the singing. Isaac said "It's seening! It's seening!" but I told him that what he was hearing was just the teapot "talking" and that we needed to keep waiting. But, since the teapot was talking, that meant that the singing was really coming soon! Then I quoted Isaiah 40:31 a couple more times. At that moment, I heard the Lord telling me that the teapot lesson is an analogy for the rapture of the church. The Body of Christ has long been waiting for Jesus to come get His Bride just like Isaac and I were waiting for the teapot to sing. But the teapot started rumbling before it ever sang for us. Those rumblings are like what we are feeling now - all over the world - that the rapture of the Church, the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Bible and the second return of Jesus is coming very soon! We are hearing "rumblings" in the form of biblical signs, prophecies being fulfilled, and harvesting of souls to Jesus, and we know Jesus is coming back soon! Isaac and I kept working and playing in the kitchen, but we knew that at any moment the teapot would begin to whistle and sing for us. Just like we know at any moment we could see our Savior crack the sky and come get his Bride.

Back to the teapot... All of a sudden, the rumblings stopped, there was a tiny pause and then the teapot started to sing! Isaac and I both stopped what we were doing and looked at each other in awe! It felt like the first time I'd ever heard a teapot sing! Watching my son experience this "first" was incredible. His expression indicated that he was amazed at the singing teapot, and he immediately asked to "Now make tea!!" So I showed him a teabag and prepared a cup of tea. Then I thought better and decided that I'd show him my clear teapot and a blooming flower tea ball. We watched as the ball turned into a flower. Then I poured some tea for him. He drank it and said "tea!" but I could tell he didn't love the taste of plain tea without any sweetener, so I got the honey out, added it to the tea, and poured him a little more. He took one sip and said "I like it!" His big grin just had me tickled. He drank his tea with honey like nobody's business. And it felt so cool to have taught my son about something completely new for him.

Hearing the teapot sing really did remind me how quickly the rapture of the church will come upon us all. It'll be glorious and awesome because He is coming to get his Bride, the Church, the ones who are looking for his return and love Him with all their hearts. May we all be preparing now for that day and setting our focus on "Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2)

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Don't you just love this face?

Such a handsome boy!

Memorial Day 2010

Our family had a wonderful Memorial Day celebration. We had dinner at my parents' house and a wonderful time of fellowship with them, Kati & Ray, and Granny & Paw Paw Gurley. Here are some pictures from our time together:

Elise in the high chair (her first time in this one!)


Isaac's first time sitting in a big chair at Gramps' and Nanna's big table:


Granny and Paw Paw at the dinner table:


Isaac and Uncle Ray playing "iPod game":


Isaac and Paw Paw playing with the new GeoTrax train set (my Dad's sweet yard sale find!)


Our attempts at getting some family pictures...

The ladies: (four generations)


The men: (also four generations)


The whole crew!



After our delicious dinner, the entire crew gathered in the family room to make some music... here is a little taste of our family "Stomp" party (after seeing this, if you'd like to book our group to come out and entertain at your family gathering, just let me know.):



What a wonderful day!