Elaina's first Christmas

Well, we made it through (or should I say Elaina made it through) her first Christmas and we enjoyed every minute of it. Elaina enjoyed it all too but she was exhausted by the day's end on Christmas. Poor thing, there was too much excitement and people for her to sleep like she's used to. She's a good napper and doesn't do well when she can't get her full nap. Below are some shots of her and as you can see, she looks so sleepy in some of them :(.... Besides that, she got tons of great presents from friends and family. She got many new toys that she will enjoy over the coming months.

Elaina on Christmas morning with some of her many toys that she got... She is starting to sit up so well now with very little assistance. Another shot of her on Christmas morning in her "My First Christmas" outfit
This is Elaina at the end of the day on Christmas with her blanket that her Mamaw Sandy made for her. Look who looks so sleepy - poor thing!
Elaina in a Christmas cap and mittens that her Aunt Melanie gave her - so cute. Thanks Melanie!
Elaina and her daddy on Christmas Eve.
Elaina and her cousin Celia on Christmas Eve

Elaina and her cousins (on Erin's side) - Alexandra, Sadie, Celia, and Quentin

Elaina's week of firsts.....

We've not posted in a while - holidays are keeping us busy. We are ready for Christmas and can't wait to spend it with Elaina for the first time. As you can see from this picture, she is ready for Christmas with her Santa hat..... or, is that her mom's Santa hat??

Elaina has had an exciting couple of weeks - full of first that weren't so fun but worth mentioning. Within a week, she got her first bad cold complete with a 102 degree fever. Then, she was in her first car accident with her Granny - praise the Lord no one was hurt. Elaina was unphased by the whole thing but needless to say Granny and her parents were a bit un-nerved the ordeal. The car took a beating but thanks to God, no one was seriously hurt. Then two days after that, Elaina caught her first virus (stomach bug). She came through with flying colors but she shared it with Erik and I who were down and out with it a little more then she was. She's already sharing!! What a good girl... well, maybe not :)

Elaina and her Daddy spending some time on their tummies.....

Elaina puts her first ornament on the tree

My mom (Elaina's Granny) gets her grandchildren a Christmas ornament each year for Christmas. Last year, she bought her ornaments a year early and bought an extra ornamanet in hopes that Erik and I would have a baby soon. She had no idea we were even thinking of getting pregnant so when we announced we were, Granny broke down and cried because she said she had bought an extra Christmas ornament that year hoping that I would have a baby soon. So, I thought it would be appropriate to have Elaina help me put that ornament on our Christmas tree this year. Daddy snapped a few shots of the big event.

Elaina get cereal for the first time

On Friday (11/23), Elaina got a taste of rice cereal for the first time. Like everything else, she took it like a champ. She ate all of it although from the looks of the pictures, she got most of it all over her.... :)
She liked grabbing the spoon while it went in her mouth
Cousins' Alexandra and Iva helped video the event
Post Cereal - full as a tick and happy

Elaina's First Thanksgiving

Elaina enjoyed her first Thanksgiving and was very good all day. She attended Thanksgiving dinners on Wednesday night (camera batteries were dead so no pictures from that night), and 2 on Thursday. She slept through the entire first dinner on Thursday so not very many pictures were taken of her but here are few of the folks that got to hold her after dinner.... By the time she woke up half the family had already left.

Elaina with her Papaw Don

Elaina getting kissed on the noggin by Uncle Brett....
Elaina and Aunt Lisa
Mamaw Sandy giving Elaina a bottle
Elaina doing what she does best - smiling and chewing on her fingers

Look How Big I'm Getting!!!!

Another week gone by and Elaina gets bigger and develops more each day. Nothing particularly exciting happened this week. We're just getting ready for Elaina's first Thanksgiving and looking forward to seeing family. We can't wait to put the tree up and see how little E likes the lights. Until next time, love to all!!

Enjoy these pics:

Last Sunday (11/11) watching the game on daddy's lap. We enjoy watching the Titans play on Sunday afternoons. They're our favorite team.

I took some good pictures of Elaina sitting up in her Bumbo and some good ones of her on her tummy. Until the last few weeks, she has really resisited tummy time but she is starting to enjoy it more.

Everytime Elaina sits with her daddy, someone else gets jealous and jumps on daddy's lap too... Here is good shot of the jealous puppy hard at work not lose his rank with daddy.

Elaina with her Mommy and Daddy...

Elaina is 4 months old

Elaina turned 4 months old on Tuesday (11/6) - we can't believe it! Her daddy took her for her 4 month check up on Friday (11/9) and is healthy and happy. She weighed 12 lbs, 10 oz and measured 24 inches long. She really grew in her height this month (1 1/2 inches). She is still pretty little in comparison as she is in the 28th percentile on her weight and the 39th percentile in height. However, her head circumference is in the 92nd percentile - girls go a big noggin!!! :) She got her second round of shots at this appointment and Daddy said he did not want to do that again - he's such a softy :)

She's still a great baby. Daddy gave her her first bottle of formula on Saturday and she took it like a champ while Mommy cried like a baby just to see it. She's just getting so big. We gave her formula to help supplement for breastmilk and prepare her for cereal in a few weeks...

Here a couple of recent pics... Enjoy!

Elaina sits in her Exersaucer for the first time

Since Elaina is getting pretty steady at holding her upper body steady and is getting very good at standing with assistance, today, mommy put the exersaucer together to see what she'd do. She actually really enjoyed it for the 5 minutes she was in it (that's all she would take of it). She played with one of the toys that lets her spin the toy with her hand. She just looked at the rest of it.

As you can see, she is not tall enough for it yet. Her feet didn't hit the bottom and it was on the shortest setting :) !!!!

Elaina's first time to the park

Elaina went to the park today. It was a beautiful day but a little bit chilly but she was bundled up good. She really enjoyed the outdoors and watching the other children play. She'll be running around parks before we know it!!

Elaina's 1st Halloween

Elaina was a Lady Bug for her first Halloween. She did not like her costume very much. She didn't have it on for very long. It was too hot for her. But, we still got some pictures of her in it... Enjoy!

Cousin Tasio's Baptism

On October 27th, my cousin Gabe's son Tasio was in town for his Baptism. Elaina and Tasio are 7 days apart (Elaina born 7/6 and Tasio born 7/13). We had several family members in from out of town and it was good to see everyone and, for those that hadn't met Elaina yet, to meet her. It was great to meet cousin Tasio too. We got some very cute pictures of him and Elaina together sitting on the couch. See the resemblance??

We also got to see many other family members over the weekend as well.... Here are some of the photos taken over the weekend.

Elaina's cousins, Sadie and Celia, giving Elaina a kiss in her swing........

Candice (Tasio's mom) and Erin hold each other's babies.....

Elaina and her aunt Nell from San Francisco....

Elaina and her daddy....

Some of Elaina's cousins and second cousins....

seated from left to right: Taylor, Walker, Celia, Sadie

standing from left to right: Quentin, Alexandra

Elaina with cousins Taylor and Celia (holding Elaina)

Elaina with her Aunt Kate (Erin's sister, left) and Granny (Erin's mom, right).

Erin's cousins and sisters..... From left: Anna (cousin), Erin, Kate, Nell, and Abby (sisters), Josh (lying), Gabe (in front). These were all the cousins who came in for the weekend.