Monday, February 7, 2011

8 Months Old

Eliana is a funny kid. She LOVES to smile and giggle at her sister. Kirra can get her belly laughing so quickly! Elli, as we're starting to call her, has two "settings" : super happy or super upset! Her super happy setting is fabulous! Her super upset setting is exhausting! Elli is a screamer...but just not any scream. It's at the frequency of a dog whistle, but is audible by the human ear! We've been slowly working on her to use "a soft, gentle" voice. :) Wish us luck.

Here are her latest tricks/accomplishments/stats:
1. She is eating REAL food. Her favorites consist of ANYTHING! Basically, if she's hungry, she'll eat it. So, I'm taking advantage of this fact and making her lots of yummy dishes (she's tried almost all fruits that are in season and many veggies including kale!)
2. Drinking from a straw is a sure hit with Elli! Kirra has a Foogo bottle that has a straw. We bought the sippy cup version for Elli, but she'd much rather use the straw bottle! Champ!
3. Crawling...kinda! Just over the past two weeks she's been getting herself up on all fours and rocking! Over the past four days she's been making movement forward and sometimes backward!
4. Walking...with help of course! At times she gets fussy and simply wants to walk around the house holding your fingers! She LOVES to walk!
5. Talking...she says "mamamamamama" when she's tired or hungry. She has said "dadadada" as well. Elli mostly "sings" when she speaks. It's beautiful!
6. Determination is a sure trait thus far!
7. Dancing like a rock star! Eliana LOVES music, whether it be at church or in the car or at home, she will start to shake her head, bounce up and down, and jam to the beat!!! It's fabulous!
8. Signing times...currently Elli is signing all done, more, fan, light, and up. We are working on nurse, please, thank you, and eat!
Bonus 9. Sleeping. Well, this is the one I wish were a bit better. This week we've finally decided it's time for her to "cry it out". We fed her last night at 8:30 and then I finally fed her at 4:30, but she woke up twice in between. It only took her about 5-10 minutes both times to fall back asleep. I'm hoping this is the start of something good...but with Eliana, there's no telling! She's my unpredictable one! That's why I love her! :)


SO BIG!!! She's quite good at this trick! I love the fact that she wraps her arms around her head when we say, "how big is Elli"!

Breaking News: My mom was right. I've always given her a hard time about the lack of info and photos in my baby book. She always used the excuse that having two kids was simply too busy to spend time filling out a baby book! I didn't like that excuse and always said that when I had my 2nd, that I would MAKE the time. HA! Who was I kidding?! By now Kirra already had a 0-6 month photo book, all of the pages in her baby book filled out to completion, and her 6-12 month book started. Plus, I would update the blog regularly AND take photos on a weekly basis. Perhaps I set the bar WAY too high! :) Poor Eliana's 0-6 month photo book has not been started, her baby book is mostly empty, and this blog, well, is rarely updated! Having 2 kiddos is BUSY for sure! I get it Mom. You were right. There. I said it.

Speaking of Kirra...I want to make sure I still share about the wonderful little person she is among all of this Eliana talk! :)
Kirra is a wonderful big sister! She is such a great helper! If I need a diaper or whatever, she will get it without questions asked! I love the fact that she is teaching Eliana how to sign! Score! Kirra is so big at times, that I forget she's only 3! She gets her own milk out of the fridge, goes potty all by her big self, plays or reads for hours on end without complaint, sings HEAPS of songs and sings them WELL (and usually on key!), is very curious about the world and how things work and why they were made and why they are called what they are called. One of my favorite statements lately is "because that's the way God made it, right mama?!" YUP Kirra! Have I mentioned that I LOVE this kid?!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

A Great Start to 2011

Every January Alan and I choose a theme for the year. For 2011 we are deeming it "The Year of Health". This way we're not making huge promises, resolutions, etc that we can't keep or fail to continue. So far, we're doing fairly well with some aspects of health...mostly in eating/food. Since the fall, I have been choosing a mostly gluten and dairy free diet. I feel heaps better and Eliana isn't spitting up as much as she was when I was eating those foods. Alan has also chosen to go "almost" gluten and dairy free (this basically means that at home that's how we/he eats and then when we're out or at friend's houses, there's room for swaying from the diet). Kirra is now so aware of what foods have gluten or dairy in them that she asks before we eat new foods! The area that both Alan and I are not doing great in, yet, is exercise. After having Eliana I was thinking that it would be easy to get the girls in the double stroller and go for a walk/run at least every other day. HA! Not even a possibility! I've given myself some grace in this area and certainly do not feel like I've failed, but definitely need to set goals to achieve. Baby steps. Kirra and I did do a workout video together the other day...hoping to do that more often!
With all of that said, January started out well with a fabulous visit, though short, from our friends Amy and Marc. They met and live in Spain and just recently had their first little one, Ada! It was so wonderful to meet her and hug my friend Amy! We have had several visits from Nana and Papa or we have headed to Higgins to spend time at their house as well. Overall, it's been a busy and quick month!

Belated Christmas Photos:




Amy, Marc and Ada visit from Spain:


Nana and Papa Time:






Kirra doing her "thing" (being Cinderella-bride-soccer player):


The Blizzard of 2011 (we received about 2 feet of snow overnight):



Eliana doing some of her tricks (SO BIG):



Friday, February 4, 2011

7 Months & 3 years 3 months










BBF Getaway

Alan and I are so thankful that we are a part of a community of friends that have become family. They are aunts and uncles to Eliana and Kirra and their kiddos are like sisters to our girls! Matt and Corrie Boyle and Randy, Jen, Norah and Sydney Byrne are a part of our house church that we call BBF. We have been wanting to get away as a group for a while now and just after Christmas we were able to go away for a couple nights to Interlochen without the kiddos!!! We had an awesome time of playing games, eating yummy food, learning more about each other, and playing in the snow!
Matt's first time on cross-country skis!

Matt and Corrie
us
Jen and Randy

Tis the Season

December came and went in a blink of an eye. I accidently posted all of my pics backwards (in terms of dates) so we're starting off with HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 and then heading back to the beginning of December! (note: our other camera is broken so all of my Christmas pics with my sister and family are stuck on there! bummer)
New Years Morning with the Quists at my mom and dad's.
Toasting in the new year ( we all made celebration hats)
Tracy...too much vino already?! :)
Jeremy all cool and stuff in his newspaper hat
Alan...a cross between a pirate and, well, I'm not sure!
The kiddos saying, "Happy New Year" just before their apple juice toasts and early bedtimes of 8pm! :)
Kirra playing on the frozen pond at night.
Our little dancer girl!
E!!!!
Kirra received three semi-big gifts for Christmas, dance lessons and outfits, cross-country skis, and well, you'll have to keep reading for the 3rd gift! She was a PRO the first time out! She even convinced Papa to take her out late at night!
Ski Family
The 3rd Gift! Meet NEMO, Kirra's Beta Fish! :)
Elli playing with her future present (leg warmers from Nana that are still in the yarn ball form)
Realizing she didn't get a "real dog" that she kept asking us for, but a fish! Not too disappointed thankfully!
My Grandma Strite spent the entire two weeks of Christmas break up at my mom and dad's with us! I love that my girls are getting a chance to spend quality time with her!
So Big!!!
Attack of the baby monster!

Alan and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on the 21st!!! We actually did a little night out a few weeks prior, however, and went to see Michael Buble in concert and stayed at the JW Marriot downtown! I get blown away by the life we have been given together and am so thrilled to be doing it with my best friend!!!!