My, how time flies!

This week we are all recovering from our head colds... finally! On Wednesday I started feeling bad and by Friday Jim had the head cold, raw throat, and cough. Hopefully in another week we'll all be healthy again! In the photo above Elizabeth 'told' me she was finished with her oatmeal and banana cereal by lying her head down on the high chair tray and sucking on her fingers.

Elizabeth is sleeping through the night again! YEAH! Looking at the calendar it makes sense that she stopped about the same time I went back to school and Jim started working a different shift. With all the changes in her life she was not sure what to do. Now we seem to have adjusted and its time to sleep again!

This week dad's cousin John and his wife, Elaine, along with another couple visited from Denver. On Saturday night I invited the whole crowd, plus Pat and Jack, over for tamales, Spanish rice, beans, and pico. I'd ever cooked for 10, nor served that many, before. The good news is that I had plenty of forks and plates. Unlike 10 years ago when Pat and Grandaddy Frye came over and I did not even have 3 forks for us to eat. I ended up using a spoon to eat salad and salmon so they could have the forks (that story is probably a whole blog post within itself). While eating dinner Elizabeth joined us in her high chair. She loved watching everyone talk and even tried to join in the converstations.

Elizabeth has started to discover her feet and likes to play with them, sometimes she'll get them into her mouth and suck on her toes. She is rolling about all over the living room now and we are staring to look around to see what might cause her harm.

I'm staring to exercise a bit again since my knee surgery in December. My knee is doing well and I'm making it through most days without painkillers. Elizabeth and I went on a walk where I sat her up in her stroller and she enjoyed looking around while sitting instead of lying down like she used to in her carseat. Soon we'll be able to do some light hiking, so I'm now on the lookout for a good three-wheeled stroller that is heavy duty.

Its hard to believe but a week from today Elizabeth will be 5 months old! Rodeo Days are this week so its a short week of only three days! Yeah, for a long weekend. On Friday Jim and dad are planning to attend Baseball's Spring Training Opening day in Tucson while mom, Elizabeth and I go to the IKEA in Chandler to meet James and Lisa. As of right now thats the plan, but as always, it could change.

Birthday Party in Gilbert

This week Elizabeth fought off her cold and was doing much better by mid week. Her cough is still hanging on a bit, but other than that she's almost back to her old self. Including her appetite. We invested in a high chair that straps to regular chairs and she loves playing in it either eating, reading the paper, or with her toys. The picture below shows her eating rice cereal. Mommy forgot the bib!

This week Elizabeth reached a milestone; she no longer needs or wants to be swaddled while sleeping. She relaxes on a shoulder then sings and coos herself to sleep. When its time to move her to her crib we just pop a paci in her mouth and she sleeps comfortably. She's not sleeping as long as she was swaddled, but we'll get to that.

On Saturday we went to Gilbert to celebrate Lisa's birthday as well as mine. Lisa made beef stew and I brought the chocolate jubilee cake (at mom's request). A good time was had by all. The cutest thing James did was run up to me saying "Aunt Amy I think Little Bits likes me." I reassured him that she loves him because he's her big cousin James. James and Little Bits played on the floor for hours enjoying each others company.

First Cold

This week Elizabeth has her first cold. She started getting congested on Tuesday and by Thursday it had developed into a full blown head cold with a cough. She and I had very little sleep this week, but by the weekend and help from daddy we were all catching up. On Thursday I asked Grammy and Grandpaw to be her caregivers since I knew she'd probably have to leave Miss Sonia's early due to her runny nose and developing fever. Fortunately on Friday we had her 4 month wellness check and were able to have her looked at by her doctor as well as her checkup. She now weighs in at 14.5 lbs and is 25" long. Since birth she's gained 8.5 lbs and grown 6.5". I went through her "larger" clothes because a lot of her 3 month clothes were getting tight. I found a couple things that are already too small that she never wore - oh well. New clothes are in the drawers now.




This week Elizabeth's new trick is to read the paper. She preferred the Toys R Us ad over the Jo Ann's. Actually she just wads it up and drools on it but she has such a great time! She also loves to grab at things and put them in her mouth. I think her stamp of approval is chewing on whatever she finds. She typically likes to chew on fingers. I'm doing A LOT of hand washing!

Snow can be seen on the moutains, so our weather has turned cold. I think its actually warmer in Indiana today than Tucson. I think we are forecasted for the 50's this week!

Four Months Old

Elizabeth is now four months old! We'll go to the pediatrician on Friday and let you know what her measurements are. We know she's gaining weight and growing at a steady rate. She is getting much more solid and her hand strength is incredible!

Elizabeth did not develop any new tricks or talents this week, just worked on her perfecting her current ones of eating oatmeal and rolling over. She is able to roll from her tummy to her back with proficiency now. She has come to love her oatmeal "dinner" and lets me know when shes done by taking the spoon.

She continues to do very well at Miss Sonia's which makes our lives much easier and less stressful. She takes two good naps each day so when I pick her up she's not exhausted and fussy, but happy and ready to play. The little boys still refer to her as the princess and love to make sure she's got everything she needs or wants. This week I added onto our Bumbo Seat investment by purchasing the tray. I put toys on the tray for her to play with, but most of the time she knocks them off and ends up banging on it happily.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

On Friday night Jim and I decided to give Elizabeth some oatmeal cereal. She took about 10 small bites and maybe swallowed five. We were busy on Saturday so no oatmeal, but tonight we'll try it again before tubby time. She told me she was done with the oatmeal by taking the spoon and not giving it back! I found a great website and made homemade old fashioned oatmeal.

The big news for the week is that Elizabeth can roll over from her tummy to her back. She did it for the first time today while playing with Grammy on the play mat, then did it several more times this afternoon. She's so proud of herself after she rolls, probably because we all cheer. Hopefully this week I can get a video of her rolling over and post!

I spent Tuesday interviewing sitters and found one that we love. Her name is Sonia and she is wonderful! Elizabeth spent Thursday and Friday afternoons with her and did very well. Sonia is confident that in a very short time she'll adjust. Elizabeth is the only girl and the youngest of Sonia's other charges. The little boys call her "princess Elizabeth." I'm sure when she figures out that that means we'll never hear the end of it.

We've started reading to Elizabeth and playing games like patty cake and itsy bitsy spider; she smiles through the songs and wants to play more when finished.

Long Holiday Weekend

The week has been a busy one, stressful as well. Elizabeth was not making the adjustments to her sitter so later in the week I'd drop her off and Jim would pick her up just a few hours later when he got off work. On Friday I even took her to school with me for the day and had many volunteers from fellow teacher to watch her while I taught. In the end we are looking for a new sitter for our "Little Bits" and I've set up interviews for this week. In the mean time Grammy and Grandpaw are helping out.

On Saturday we all drove up to Gilbert in two vehicles (our van & dad's big truck) to help Jeff, Lisa, and James move into their new house. Lisa was very well organized and had everything purchased and ready to be unpacked and installed. Jim and Jeff spent most of the day intsalling celing fans, while Betsy and Jamie worked on window treatments. Betsy thought ahead and made chicken and potatoe soup for lunch that just needed to be warmed up. The meal was complete with cheese, rolls, and iced brownies. James loved having both his Grammy, Nana, Grandpaw, and Papa around as well as Little Bits. He had already decided the extra bedroom would be hers. The day was complete with a couple trips to Lisa's parents to haul their belongins which were being stored in the garage. Unfortunately, neither mom nor I remembered to bring a camera, so no pictures of their house... next time!

On Sunday dad and Jim took off with gold digging maps and a metal detector for the Helvetia mine area. They did not mention finding any gold, so I'm assuming their prospecting was not profitable with either method. While they galavanted around Helvetia, mom and I went to Cost Co then home to rest for the rest of the day.

Its a short week coming, but in my experience the shorter the week the longer it feels in the end. I've not counted the days, but think its only 3 weeks until Rodeo Break.

A Week of Changes

This week brought many new changes for all of us. Jim started working the midnight shift; he goes to work around 10:30 p.m. and gets home around 8 a.m. Amy returned to teaching after being off for over four months and Elizabeth went to a sitter where her playmates are two one year old twin boys, Austin & Connor. Adjustments are still being made, but we are getting there. Amy's commute is now 80 miles per day and about 2.5 hours of driving. Elizabeth had a hard time the first couple day but by the end of the week had mostly settled in. She is coming to love tummy time and enjoys her Bumbo seat as well. She'll still play on her mat and grab onto the hanging friends but is quickly moving onto big girl things. She finally seems to be growing into her head, her body is getting longer and more solid. When she has her clothes and/or diaper changed she loves to wiggle and stretch naked on the pad and is really starting to enjoy tubby time! The sucking on everything continues, we think she might be in the early stages of teething. Elizabeth continues to be a great sleeper and sleeps through the night. She did wake up Tuesday morning at 3 a.m., which made for a very long day. To remedy that Jim now wakes her up around 9 p.m. to feed her a few ounces then she goes right back to sleep until 5 a.m. when I'm ready for the day and wake her up. Elizabeth's new trick this week is "talking" and making all sorts of new noises.