Elsa's Nine-Month Shoot

Here is a sneak peek of Elsa's nine-month photo shoot, which took place Sunday afternoon. We still have a decent amount of sorting and editing to do, but this shot was one of my favorites, so I thought I would go ahead and post it. We didn't spend as much time or get as many shots as we did at her five-month shoot, but I think we still got some good ones. She was definitely more squirmy this time around!

Elsa is Nine Months

Yes, our dear little one is nine months old. Well... more like nine-and-a-half months at this point, but pay no attention to my tardiness. I will just use the excuse that I was waiting to post until she went to her nine-month doctor's appointment, which was this last Thursday. The appointment went well. Elsa now weighs 17 pounds, 6 ounces (25th percentile), is 28 inches long (60th percentile), and has a head circumference of 17 inches (25th percentile). The last measurement I have recorded was from back in March when she weighed 14 pounds, 8 ounces (we did not get her length that go around, but she was 26 inches long in February). She is a growing girl, but she has definitely decided to cruise along her new line lower on the charts. She is long and slender, much more like her daddy as a baby. I was long, but fat as fat can be -- in an unbearably cute way, of course. Her round, chubby cheeks keep her looking quite plump enough, though, thank you very much. She is perfect and healthy. She received two injections at the appointment, both of which she has received in the past. I think one was for Hib and the other was DTaP (I really need to start a vaccination chart for her so I can keep all of these straight!). She will begin a round of the polio vaccine at her next appointment, which will be in September after she turns one (gasp). I had Dr. Owen check out her knees, as they seem to pop quite a bit, but she seemed unconcerned and just said we would keep an eye on it. She was more concerned in ruling out that it had anything to do with her hips, but they seemed fine.

She continues to develop at an astonishing rate, as babies are wont to do. We continue to work with her on sign language (and have done so consistently since she was about five or six months old), and she is now doing the sign for "dog" (patting thigh with hand) on a fairly regular basis. On a whole, though, she seems to be much more interested in being vocal using "Elsa speak," than learn the signs, but I continue to demonstrate them anyway. She loves her books, and will look around for them whenever we ask her if she wants to read. Her favorites at this point seem to be Easter Bunny, Big Little, and Goodnight Moon, and Jarrett and I can nearly recite them by heart, which is fairly convenient when Elsa decides to flip the pages at whim. She is coming even closer to crawling, now actually rocking onto her knees, but she usually goes from there to splaying herself out on the floor on her tummy. But now that she is able to do this, she is so much more content staying on her tummy, and even sleeps that way now quite often, regardless of the fact that we still put her down on her back. She is eating more and more foods, and is really becoming a pro at getting finger food into her mouth on her own, her favorite being "O"-shaped cereal. She loves avocado, cheese, and whole wheat bread, and is fairly fond of black beans and scrambled eggs. I still enjoy making food for her, the newest concoction being pureed turnips and pears, which Jarrett and I actually enjoyed in their pre-pureed state. Cooking and pureeing fruits and veggies is a good way to use up those extras in our CSA box from week to week. Elsa's left-front tooth on the top of her mouth has barely broken through just in the past couple of days, so Jarrett and I are hoping to get in her nine-month photo shoot later this afternoon to capture the last of our mostly-toothless grins.

There are so many signs around the house reminding us that our baby is getting older and, thus, more and more less-babyish. Yesterday we put the baby swing and bouncer in the attic. We stored away the mobile. The crib mattress was lowered to the next-to-lowest setting. She has nearly outgrown the exersaucer. Some days I cannot wait for her to crawl, to be mobile, and I almost cringe with anticipation and enthusiasm with all the effort she puts forth at the attempts. Then I realize I will have to worry more about safety hazards and will spend my days chasing a toddler around the house, and I remind myself once again to cherish where she is at this moment. To enjoy my baby while she is just that -- a baby.

Happy Father's Day

Elsa, Jarrett, and I spent this Father's Day morning sitting around a breakfast table loaded with biscuits and sausage gravy (Jarrett's favorite), scrambled eggs (for Elsa and me), and coffee, freshly poured into Jarrett's first official cheesy Father's Day gift (pictured below). It was nice enjoying a relaxing morning together and celebrating Jarrett's first year as a daddy.


Happy Father's Day to all of you fathers (and fathers-to-be!) out there. Know that you are well recognized for all of the hard work you do, whether it be working outside the home to support the family or taking on the role of Mr. Mom, and for being there alongside all of us moms, helping out on a day-to-day basis. Know that your care, sensitivity, and love do not go unnoticed. And, most of all, know that you are well loved.

Beach Baby

We have been back home from our lovely week at the beach for nearly as long as we were away. We returned last Saturday evening from St. George Island, Florida, where we rented the House with the Horrendous Name, "Daddy's Money." Let's just say Daddy must not be the richest man on Earth. It was a nice enough house -- definitely what is to be expected of a beach house -- but nothing too, too fancy, and really a quite humble abode. The house did have both a screened porch and a back deck that had a decent view of the ocean for being in the third row back from the beach, and we spent most meals and evenings on the screened porch, and -- when the mosquitoes were not biting quite as fiercely -- did some fantastic stargazing on the back deck. We cooked all but three of our meals, grilling quite a lot and throwing in some vacation splurges, such as yeasted waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and homemade cake doughnuts (plain and cinnamon-sugared). Kate, Elsa, and I ate at The Owl Cafe in Apalachicola twice (the boys joined us the second time) and had fabulous lunches on both occasions. Jarrett and I were daydreaming about the sandwiches even days after being back home. We also ate one dinner out at the Blue Parrot there on the island, and Jarrett and I both had some yummy local grouper. Oh -- and of course we consumed (well, all of us except the pregnant Kate) many tasty beachy-sort-of cocktails, including banana daiquiris and mojitos. Tim made quite the excellent bartender the entire week, always having a drink waiting for me when I emerged from Elsa's room after putting her down for the night.


Speaking of Elsa, she did really well in the car, seeing as it was an eight-hour trip after factoring in all of the stops, and meaning that most of her entire day was spent strapped in the car seat. She did cry some, but who could blame her? I was ready to cry by about hour six myself... especially on the way home. After arriving on the island and unpacking the cars, we did not waste much time before taking the first walk down to the beach, which was not a long one at all. I of course had to dip Elsa's toes into the ocean, but she rejected my excitement surrounding the introduction of baby and ocean. She never really warmed up to it either -- that big expanse of sea was just a little too frightening. She did, however, really enjoy the sand. On Thursday morning before Elsa's nap, we all went down to the beach, beach toys in tow, and played for awhile. Tim fished in his kayak while the rest of us hung out on the sand. Elsa enjoyed playing with her sand bucket, shovel, rake, and car, but really took much more interest in grabbing fists of sand and letting it filter through the spaces between her fingers, as well as picking up dried pieces of seaweed and chomping on them as if they were the most delicious morning snack. It was also Merckx's first encounter with the ocean, and when his feet first hit the water and a wave came at him, he did kind of backward skipping jig, and did this a few times before he decided the water was quite fabulous. Our house had a private pool, which proved to be really nice for those times when we wanted to take a swim but didn't necessarily want to face the sand, and we even ended up setting up an awning Jarrett and I purchased prior to the trip, making for some nice shade over parts of the pool. Elsa was also quite terrified of this smaller expanse of water at first, but warmed up to it fairly quickly while her daddy carried her around in it. Once she and the pool made friends, they were nearly inseparable, and she loved floating around in her floatie and playing with her water toys (as you can see from the photos, the squirty water toys also provided much amusement for the adults). This proved to be invaluable, especially for the afternoon or two she refused to take an afternoon nap.


Elsa's sleep on the whole was not too terrible. There was one night -- Sunday night, I think -- where she woke up screaming right as we were going to bed, and it proved to be a bit of a struggle for me to get her back down. But we made it, and all was well the rest of the night. She also had some napping issues, but overall did as well as can probably be expected being in the portable crib in a strange place.

Aside from water/sand fun, Kate and I knitted some and the boys fished a lot. They took the kayaks (Jarrett rented one on the island for the week) out nearly every day, and sometimes twice in one day, usually setting sail from St. George Island State Park. Tim even treated Jarrett to an early birthday gift on Tuesday and they both spent the better part of the day out on a boat with a guide and fished for tarpon. They unfortunately came up empty handed as far as the tarpon went, but Jarrett did catch a sizable red fish, and their infamous captain, Nate Dog, served us much amusement in conversation for the remainder of the week. After hearing stories and hearing the captain's voice just briefly on the video below, I really wished I could have met the guy in person. He seems like a real character. Which reminds me -- please note that the video is not intended for little ears. As short as it is, a curse word (or two) is involved.

Overall, it was a very fun week, and it was such a nice change of pace from the everday grind. Jarrett, Elsa, Merckx, and I took one last walk down to the beach before we hit the road Saturday morning, and Jarrett and I were lamenting about how sad we were to be headed home. Vacations are just like that. You look forward to them for so long, counting down the days until it gets there, and then it flashes by in a seeming instant and leaves you feeling fairly bummed that it is over all too soon. But we had good conversation in the car on the way home, dreaming up our future and planning upcoming vacations, so all was well in the end, and it was nice to get home and sleep in our own beds.

Too Cool for School

Elsa was modeling her sunglasses for us this morning over breakfast, preparing for the beach trip we embark on Saturday morning. If you look closely, you can see her two little bottom teeth in the last photo.

Elsa's First Hair Clip

The hair clips I ordered for Elsa from BriarClaire (on Etsy) arrived yesterday, and I could not keep myself from immediately clipping her hair back. I am really not a super girly girl, but any girlishness I do have seems to be emanating from me as of recent. I think it probably has something to do with the fact that most of Elsa's nine-month-sized clothes are dresses -- and she just looks so cute in the them.





And just because I love this one...