Elinor at 13 months

We have so few pictures this month that I am just posting a couple of pictures directly into the blog instead of doing a Picasa album. There was a period of 3 weeks where I don’t think we took a single picture!  Elinor got very sick after her birthday and it went on and on and on…5 MD visits in 4 weeks!  We are so happy that she is back to her normal self now!  She is full of energy and learning new things every day.  She has regained the weight she lost while she was sick and has just kept going!  She seems to have an insatiable appetite, especially for tangerines and cottage cheese!  She loves being outside so we are looking forward to spring and hopefully some warm, sunny days soon.  She is still not saying too much but is signing up a storm, and we are graduating up to the next sign language class series starting in March.  We are also putting our house on the market in early March.  Oh my, is it busy around here!  In very sad news, Elinor’s GrandChuck passed away last week. GrandChuck played the piano beautifully and Elinor loved to listen to him play when she went to visit.  His funeral was beautiful and the music inspiring.  We will all miss him, his booming voice and laugh, and how happy he made GrandJan.

Happy Birthday, Elinor!

Wow, one whole year!  I could never be able to express here what one year of life with Elinor has meant to us, so I won’t even try!

We have had fun for the past few days playing the game of what were we doing last year at this time?  Tonight, a year ago, we were getting ready to spend our first night here at home with a new baby.  We were pretty freaked out, with good reason!  The night before Elinor’s birthday, Burke brought in the cribbage set to play a game of cribbage before bed, because that’s what we were doing that time last year, when I was in early labor.  We quickly realized we hadn’t played any cribbage SINCE then either!

Elinor’s birthday was lovely.  Burke took the day off and we had our families over for brunch.  It was all very fun, although Elinor certainly did not care for the cake!  It did not take long before the whole piece was on the floor.

The past month has been great and of course busy!  We packed a lot in over the holidays–Zoo Lights, Peacock Lane, walks through the neighborhood to look at lights, Christmas Eve at GrandJan’s and GrandChuck’s, Christmas Eve church at First Methodist downtown (a family service that only lasted 30 minutes–perfect!), Christmas morning just the three of us, and Christmas afternoon and evening with Miney, Jake, and Aunt Jennifer.  We got to Skype with Grandpa and Grandma Stoll first thing on Christmas morning which was great!

Elinor is walking all over the place, all the time.  She doesn’t sit still long, so we’ve put a lot of her Christmas and birthday toys up and will bring them down when walking isn’t such a novelty anymore! 

Here are pictures from the past month!

We are looking forward to the next year and can’t wait to see what amazing things it will bring.

Love to all of you,

Julia, Burke, and Elinor

11 months old!

Elinor is becoming quite the reader!  She loves books, especially ones with flaps and things to touch, feel, and point at.  We read books before naps and bedtime and lots of times throughout the day too!

She’s also becoming quite the signer.  She signs cat, dog, frog, bunny, car, bird, duck, more, all done, book, fan, light, and ball.  She seems to pick up a new one every day and her signs are becoming much more refined.

She’s also becoming quite the walker!  She’s been walking back and forth between people for weeks but today seems to have been a major breakthrough, with walking 20 feet or more, all around the room and into the hall!

We had a busy Thanksgiving weekend, with a rainy (but wonderful) Thanksgiving day spent with GrandJan and GrandChuck.  We enjoyed meeting Chuck’s sister Mary from Texas and getting to visit with Chuck’s kids too!  Then, the day after Thanksgiving we had a delightful afternoon with the Perdues.  Since Aunt Jennifer arrived on Thanksgiving day we had another late Thanksgiving dinner with the Jordans on Sunday.  Lots of food!!

In other news, Burke launched his kayak!  Yay, Burke!  And, Elinor got sick with her worst cold yet.  You might  notice in some of the pictures that she looks pretty miserable.  This cold lasted at least a week and she is FINALLY feeling better.  It seems that we have less pictures than usual this month and I think that her cold was a big reason for that.

I hope you enjoy a few pictures from the last month (click here to access).

Merry Christmas, everybody!  We got out our Fisher Price nativity from Susie Dunn over the weekend, and when I got home from work today, Elinor already could identify Baby Jesus in the manger!

10 months old!

For Elinor’s 10-month birthday yesterday, Burke and I reorganized the kitchen cabinets to put all of the lightweight, indestructible things down below so that Elinor could play while we work in the kitchen.  She loves it!  She spends so much time every day taking things out (of the laundry basket, of her toy drawer, of Mommy’s sock drawer) and putting them back in.  She also loves turning the lights on and off, opening and closing doors, and playing with the telephone and the stereo buttons.  Her pointing that started last month has turned into pointing and saying “dat” (what’s that, we assume) and we spend most of our day telling her what things are.  We think she’s said a few words, like maybe duck and light, but they sound an awful lot like “dat” so who knows!  In the past few weeks Elinor started standing alone for moments at a time, but in the last few days, she’s been doing it much more confidently.  She stands while clapping and while reaching down to get a toy that’s fallen.  She’s getting more confident with her steps as well, and we don’t think it will be too long before she takes her first independent steps.  We won’t rush her though!!!  Keeping up with a crawling baby is enough for now!

We went to Ashland in mid-October with a big group of friends, most of whom brought young babies, and it was a wonderful trip.  Elinor went on her first hayride at the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island, dressed as a bee for Halloween, and is loving her Music Together classes.  She goes to book babies at the library, on long walks with GrandJan, and over to Miney & Jake’s house to play.  She’s sleeping great, most of the time, except for that 4 AM morning on the day after Daylight Saving’s Time ended!

In other news, Burke finished his kayak and is planning on launching next weekend!  I am so proud of him for sticking to it and having such a beauty of a boat as a result.

Here is a link to photos taken this past month. Enjoy!

9 months old!

We’ve been taking care of Aunt Jennifer this month.  Elinor has been such a joy amongst the sadness surrounding Uncle Mike’s death from glioblastoma multiforme on September 9, 2009.  I’ve learned a lot about Mike through the things that other people have said and written about him during his 16 month fight against cancer.  I didn’t know the “rock star” Mike that many people knew although I did know the Mike that made people laugh in every single conversation with him.  But really I knew the Mike that was an amazing partner to my sister.  The “family man” Mike.  The Mike that made fun of my mother (and got away with it), the Mike that participated willingly in Christmas programs and hours of the Jordan stocking tradition, the Mike that helped out behind the scenes at my wedding, the Mike that tolerated the Jordan family stuck in his house for a week in a Colorado blizzard, the Mike that loved my sister.  We will miss him terribly.

My parents, Elinor, and I spent almost two weeks in Denver, enjoying Mike and Jennifer’s backyard almost every single day.  I can definitely see why Mike liked sitting out in the yard so much during his illness.  It was a calm, quiet oasis, with lots of green grass and flowers, birds to look at, airplanes to listen to, and sunshine to soak up.  We even had a flock of geese fly over one evening at dusk.  While in Denver, it seems like Elinor really became a different baby (much to her daddy’s chagrin!).  She started crawling and pulling up and climbing in earnest and had lots of new tricks to show off to Daddy when we got back home.  In the past week, Elinor has become a pointer.  She points at everything and wants us to say the name of the item.  She can sign “ball”, “light”, and “fan”.  She loves to dance and is loving our Music Together classes which started last week.  Aunt Jennifer is here this week and Elinor is giving her lots of hugs and kisses every day, as are we all.

Click here to access a few of our favorite pictures from the past month.  We haven’t taken as many pictures lately, so yesterday I took 160 pictures of Elinor (don’t worry, I only put a few of those here!).  We’ve got the camera out to remind us to take more.  It’s just that being with Elinor is too much fun to stop to take pictures!

8 months old!!

It is moments like the one pictured here that made me want to be a parent.  Seeing my daugher experience pure joy and explore this new beautiful life is what it is all about.  It has been a hard year.  The tragedies of my sister’s Mike’s illness and my dear friend Cindy’s death have hit me hard.  But despite all the sadness, there is so much beauty…so much joy…so many good things and good people and I am loving every single minute of sharing this with Elinor.

Here are some pictures of Elinor’s adventures in this past month.  A long trip to the North Cascades…scooting and almost crawling…first tooth….first plums and peas and pears and peaches…pulling up, up, up!…and of course swings and more swings.

We love all of you.  Thanks for being such an important part of Elinor’s world.

Seven months old!

Another month has passed!  Click here to access a few pictures from June and July on Picasa.  Elinor is changing so very rapidly.  She’s sitting, pulling up to a stand, scooting, and trying to crawl.  She talks all the time to us, and her latest cute thing is bobbing her head to music (and to Jake!).  I noticed most of our pictures from the last month are of her eating.  It’s pretty cute, but I can’t say that she’s eating too much.  We’ll keep trying and I’m sure that will change with time!  She’s tried sweet potatoes, applesauce (she hated!), pears, avocado, and peaches.  A lot of the pictures are of our recent trip to Bend.  Burke, Elinor, and I went down early on Friday and did a stop at Elinor’s first museum on the Warm Springs reservation.  Then Burke left to climb Middle Sister on Saturday and Sunday while Miney & Jake came to keep us company.  We had fun swimming in the pool and exploring a little in Bend.  On Sunday, we were on the top of Lava Butte looking out at the mountains when Burke called from the top of Middle Sister!  We waved!  That was pretty cool.  All in all, it was a good trip and Elinor is a great little traveler.  This week has been a hard week for Burke & me because we’ve been working on Elinor’s sleep.  We’ve been cosleeping for 6 months and it was time to move Elinor to her crib.  She’s been doing fabulously and sleeping for 8 hours at a stretch.  We know it’s been harder on us than on her, and we’re hopeful that this hard little period of change will be best for everyone in the long run.  Happy 7 month birthday to Elinor.  We love our beautiful, curious, serious little girl!

Happy Half-Birthday, Elinor!

Where have the last 6 months gone?  The last thing I knew it was the depths of winter and we were home with a tiny newborn, and now it’s summer and we have a beautiful 6 month old baby!!  Here are a few pictures from the last few days.  Elinor had a great half-birthday: her first trip to the zoo, her first rice cereal, and a few new toys too.  Happy Half-Birthday, Elinor!

Finally–new photos!

I can’t believe how long it’s been since we uploaded new pictures to a web album for you!  As I was preparing albums for March, April, and May, I could hardly believe how much Elinor has changed these past few months.  She is now a smiley, giggley girl who can roll, grab, and stand up with support.  She seems to have moved beyond the bee, and would rather have her parents & grandparents play with her and talk to her.  She is so aware of the world around her and seems to have a very curious spirit.  Click here to access our Picasa web album with pictures from the last three months.  Grandparents, let us know if you like Picasa and whether you have any problems ordering pictures.  Of all the photo-sharing tools we’ve tried, Picasa is my favorite by far.

Scenes from Texas

Whew!!!!!!!!  What a trip!  From Dallas to Georgetown to Lufkin to Carthage to Longview and back to Dallas!  From grandparents to great-aunts and great-uncles and great-great uncles to cousins and second cousins and third cousins to friends!  Elinor was an absolute trooper.  Despite the change in scenery, different beds every night, and lack of sleep, she decided to roll from back to front AND front to back while she was in Texas!  She’s grabbing her toes, talking a bunch, and just more beautiful and fun and alert every day.  Here are a few pictures to help you appreciate what a great week we had and how many people Elinor got to meet.  We had such a wonderful time and are so thankful for the hospitality of our friends and family.