From birth until now.

                                              1 month                                                                               2 months                                                                           3 months

                                                4 months                                                                             5 months                                                                               6 months

                                             7 months                                                                               8 months                                                                           9 months

                                        10 months                                                                            11 months                                                                           12 months

My first Mother’s Day.

Oh what a blessing it is to be a mother to my sweet Elna!   It’s an amazing thing to be a mother to another little person who absolutely adores you and pretty much loves you better than anyone else in the world (at least for a few more years, right?) It’s breathtaking at times to look into the eyes of your child and see yourself looking back.  It’s endearing to realize that your child copies your funny faces and happy squeals.  It’s also a huge responsibility to realize how much I get to teach this little girl—and especially what I teach her by example.  I hope more than anything I will be an example of faith and righteousness to Elna. 

Brian took a few pictures of us together on my first Mother’s Day:

Of course, I reflected as well on my own mom this past weekend.  I really don’t know what I would do without her.  You might think now that I am all grown up I wouldn’t need her quite as much, but in most ways I feel like I’ve never needed her more.   We Skype or talk on the phone most days and I love that Elna is getting to know her (even if it is via the internet).  She is a great mom and a great friend!

Mama!

Yesterday for the first time Elna said “Mama.”  And then she said it about a thousand more times that day and today.  And she even says it with purpose.  To me!  I’m not going to lie—it makes my heart completely melt and I want to do anything and everything she wants me to do at that time.  Oh, you want me to pick you up even though I’m trying to do dishes and my hands are all wet?  Okay.  You don’t want to take your nap?  Okay.  You want to pull all of the books off the bookshelf?  Okay.  She says Mama and I just do it.  I can’t imagine it stopping either.  She just melts my heart over and over again. 

She now says: 

hi (it was probably her first word, but I didn’t really realize it until later—she says it quite a bit—she said it at her 9 month doctors appointment when the doctor walked in the room and the doctor said, “Did she just say “hi” to me?” and she had), book, bath, tweet tweet (when she hears birds), dada, and mama!  I am one happy mama!

Lately.

Does taking a picture of something encourage the bad behavior?

Brian’s brother, Daren passed the Bar Exam and came over to our house to celebrate that night—yay Daren!

This cute girl spends a lot of time with our shoes—she loves trying to put them on her feet. She is very persistent.

If she isn’t putting on shoes, she is playing on the hearth—safe?  not really, but I never claimed to be a super mom.

Love that hair, her pudgy little fingers, her sweet smile and beautiful eyes!  She is so full of love and energy.  Can’t get enough of this girl!

More yard work.

We rented this tractor from Home Depot so we could transport the dirt from the front to the back easier.  It also had an auger attachment that we used to drill holes for the posts of the raspberry bushes—that is what he is doing in the picture above.

Brian comes from such a great family—they are always so generous with their time!  We couldn’t have done this by ourselves.  Thank you, DeWin, Daren, Heather, and Barbara!

11 months!

11 months is a big deal!  Only one month until we will have had Elna in our lives for a whole year!  The months just keep ticking by!

This girl loves her books!

Our little monkey!

At 11 months, Elna:

-- is obsessed with books!  “puh puh”

-- can climb up on the couch and ottoman all by herself. 

-- opens cupboards (dang!)

-- free stands more and more often each day, but no steps.

-- drops her paci into her crib after I pick her up from her crib.  She makes me laugh all the time when she doesn’t want to nap because as I approach the crib to place her in it she will throw her paci into it like maybe if she doesn’t have her paci in her mouth I won’t make her nap.  Or if she has been crying for a few minutes and I go in there to calm her down or pick her up, she will turn around and fling her paci into her crib.  Funny girl.

-- hums Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and does the motions (the open and closed hands motions)

-- is a great sleeper!  She goes down to bed easily every night at 7:00 and usually wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning. 

-- because of 2 more top teeth that have been coming in, her sleeping hasn’t been as great the last 2 nights.

-- loves to pull her hair clip out right after I’ve put it in—I’ve had to start mostly using rubber bands instead of clips.

-- is very generous and wet with her kisses.

-- loves to put our shoes on and will spend much of her spare time tackling this project.

-- love climbing stairs.

-- can blow and will blow when I am blowing on her food to cool it down.

-- copies us when we (or anyone else) laughs.  It’s totally a fake laugh when she does it, so it’s pretty hilarious.

-- hits her leg over and over again when she is happy.

-- has just begun shaking her head vigorously back and forth to say “no.”  She really means it too.  Usually it is her saying no to more food or whichever book we choose to read to her. 

-- loves to look outside at the squirrels, birds, children getting on or off the bus, or the rain.  Loves to be outside even more!

-- waves to us and other people all the time.

-- is absolutely full of delight and wonder!  Each day we spend together we fall more and more in love with this special girl!