The Grohmann Gazette

18 months!

2010-05-25T22:00:00.009-05:00

Elizabeth is 18 months old today! Wow time flies. My baby is getting to be a big girl everyday. This hilarious picture was taken on Saturday. I love it so much. I call it her paparazzi shot (dark sunglasses and blurry).

Here's a list of her measurements, milestones and accomplishments!

Weight: 21 lbs 13 oz.

Height: 30 1/4 inches

Head Cf: 46 3/4 cm

Her words (I may be forgetting some, but these I know for sure): Mama, Dada, Dexter, Casey, Jesus, apple, baby, ball, bath, bear, bird, blanket, blocks, bubbles, bye-bye, car, cat, cow, cracker, dog, duck, egg, fan, giraffe, hi, light, milk, moon, more, mouth, mouse, rah (for lion), papa, shoes, snack, sock, star, thank-you, toes, uh oh, up, walrus, water, wow, yogurt

She can point to these body parts: hair, head, ears, nose, mouth, hands, fingers, bellybutton, toes, foot

She can sign "eat," "more," "milk," "please," and "thank-you"

She can walk really fast but she hasn't taken off running yet. Maybe soon.

She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and takes one 2-3 hour nap during the day. She sleeps with a lovey and blanket. I have two of each so she has them at both daycare and home.

She's been in the Toddler 1 room at daycare for a couple months now. She LOVES her room and is always in a happy mood. She enjoys the soft play area and playing outside (when it hasn't been so hot). Because all the children in her classroom take a nap on the floor at the same time, Elizabeth sleeps so much better now. Pretty consistent 2-hour naps. In the other rooms, she would hardly sleep in her crib for fear she was missing all the action. Needless to say she's been a lot cheerier in the evenings because she's not so sleep deprived.

From the post "Dancing for Joy. Finally a Post!" I wrote that she moved up to a convertible car seat in April. We still have her rear facing, and I plan to have her rear facing for as long as possible. But so far she's liking the cushioning and being able to look back and see us in the front seats.

She's a pretty good eater for the most part and enjoys a wide variety of foods. Some days it takes a little coaxing for her to eat her dinner (mixing her dinner with other food she loves, singing songs, making a game out of it, feeding her animals, etc.). Luckily she doesn't need too much coaxing. Hopefully as she becomes an older toddler she won't turn into a picky eater.

LIKES

Activities: Reading books and pulling all her books off the shelf; coloring; playing peek-a-boo; watching her learning DVDs; climbing on everything; pushing her baby doll in its stroller; getting into mama's purses and shoes; wearing mama's purses; trying to put on her own shoes; getting her hair blown out by mama's hairdryer, playing with chair seat buckles; pulling all the pillows off the sofa; pushing chairs; pushing our big blue exercise ball around the room; playing with her small purple bouncy ball; stacking blocks, playing with her puzzles, playing with her toy CD player; playing with her tea set; feeding her toys; looking out the window ... And getting into trouble.

Food: pasta, eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, bananas, grapes, pears, peaches, dried apples/pears/bananas/strawberries, green beans, peas, carrots, mashed potatoes, chicken, nut butter and jelly sandwiches, pancakes, waffles, bagels, goldfish, ketchup

DISLIKES

The vacuum cleaner, the Dustbuster, the lawnmower (anything that makes loud noises, except mama's hairdryer); most fruit (I'm working on it. tips anyone? amazingly she eats more fruit at daycare); too spicy food (flavor enhanced, not hot) ... And not getting her way/being told "No."

Round 2 of travel month! Destination: Port Aransas!

2010-05-25T00:04:00.018-05:00

The weekend after the graduation and Mother's Day, the Grohmann clan headed to the "coast" (as my mother-in-love calls it) to enjoy a nice, relaxing weekend at the "beach" (as I call it) with family and a belated birthday celebration for Casey's 23rd birthday.

Let's talk weather first. What's the worst thing to hear when you've planned to go somewhere to relax in the sunshine? RAIN! The weather forecast predicted rain all weekend. Luckily weatherman can't always predict the weather. And as Grandma Keillor says, "In Texas if you don't like the weather, wait a minute." Course we indeed got our fair share of sprinkles. On the drive down on Friday, we survived the monsoon rain in Sugarland but good thing that was the worst of it. On Saturday it rained for a good part of the morning (thank goodness for the Wii) but then it cleared up in time for swimming in the afternoon. After that, no more drops.

While in the past we've usually stayed at the Gulfstream Condos on Mustand Island, this time we were treating, so I decided to pick somewhere different. My ultimate choice taking price and amenities into account was the Sandpiper Condos. Twelve floors of gulfront condos offering spectacular views of the Gulf of Mexico, a heated swimming pool, a fitness room, two tennis courts, a shuffleboard, table tennis, boardwalk to the beach, DSL internet in every unit and more! (I sound like an ad for the place - where's my commission?) We stayed in unit #1103 so we were pretty high up. The view of the Gulf was spectacular, but as I'm afraid of heights, I didn't venture out onto the balcony nor did I dare walk close to the railing on the outdoor hallway leading to our unit.

Despite the early setback with the rain, we ultimately had a wonderful little vacation. Andrew and I got a good workout in at the the fitness room (no rinky dink machines - they had a PreCor elliptical). We enjoyed several dips in the pool and Andrew enjoyed playing Casey at table tennis (although he was badly beaten and Casey admitted he was only giving 10%). We all worked on our bowling games on the Wii, including mom (it's funny watching her kick up her leg after every bowl hoping that will steer the ball right). And we ate, snacked and ate some more. Elizabeth finally discovered she likes grapes and couldn't get enough. I kept telling her to give them a chance!

Here she's so excited from swimming in the pool with her floaty that she kept wanting to lay in it in the condo.

Course what's a weekend at the beach without actually going to the beach? So we had to make at least one trip out to the shore so Elizabeth could experience the sand and saltwater. She's changed so much since last year's trip to the beach. Even though her first instinct was to shove a fistful of sand into her mouth (like last year), she delighted in playing in the water and occasionally taking a spill because of the current.

Sadly the weekend went by too fast. Thankfully we decided to take off work on Monday and enjoy a 3-day weekend. It was a good feeling on Sunday knowing we had an extra day to relax. And because we left on Monday with no traffic and lines, we decided to ride the ferry across to Aransas Pass instead of going through Corpus. Elizabeth's first ferry ride! Though the ride lasted all but 3 minutes, it was neat getting to experience something different.

Round 1 of travel month! Destination: San Antonio!

2010-05-24T23:10:00.007-05:00

Elizabeth attended her 2nd ever college graduation on May 8 in San Antonio. Chris Schraer (him and his family are long-time family friend of the Grohmanns) graduated from UTSA with a B.S. in Computer Science. Go Chris and good luck in Phoenix! The graduation ceremonies at UTSA are a well-oiled machine. Most definitely the shortest graduation ceremony EVER. 1:00 p.m. start time and we were back in our car exiting the parking lot at 2:46. No joke. Not that I'm complaining. With a toddler, the faster the better!
Elizabeth had the most fun at the after party doing cheese runs (grabbing cheese cubes of mommy's and daddy's plates, running off to play, repeat) and learning to shake hands with everyone around the room. Here she's playing with her new favorite toy - a roller coaster bead toy that was graciously set out by the hosts for her enjoyment.

The next day we celebrated Mother's Day with Mass followed by an appropriately themed lunch to Mama's Cafe, and cards, kisses and hugs. Elizabeth wore her "I love my Mommy dress" for the occasion. SO cute!

She also specially made me a beautiful card at school. On the front side she colored with crayon. On the inside her teacher helped her glue a hand giving the sign for "I love you" and she drew flowers as if the hand was holding them, and she wrote "I (heartshape) U," "Happy Mother's Day," and "Love, Elizabeth." On the backside her teached helped her glue a lovely poem entitled: "Happy Mother's Day" Means More.

"Happy Mother's Day" means more

Than have a happy day.

Within those words lie lots of things

We never get to say.

It means I love you first of all,

Then thanks for all you do.

It means you mean a lot to me,

And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means

That I am thinking of

Your happiness on this, your day,

With pleasure and with love.

My heart just melted! Handmade cards from my sweet little one are the best! Even though her teacher helped with most of it, I'll always treasure it. Andrew also gave me a very sweet card and handwritten note that made me cry. He always knows what to write! Thank you for making this day very special! I love my family!

Dancing for joy. Finally a post!

2010-04-24T13:52:00.055-05:00

Elizabeth is dancing for joy (yes, she's learned to "twirl") Yea, finally a post! Sorry for not keeping everyone updated in a while! Hmm, since our last post, a lot has transpired! Here's a recap on events in the Grohmann household.

In October Elizabeth celebrated her first Halloween by dressing up as the cutest pumpkin ever and going trick-or-treating (via stroller). The highlight of the evening was not all the candy she received (and she had a lot of candy) but seeing our neighbor's Great Pyrenees, Nelson. What can I say, Elizabeth loves dogs!

In November Elizabeth ate spaghetti for the first time and loved it! A girl after her daddy's heart (for those of you who don't know, Andrew's favorite meal of all time is spaghetti). She also took her first steps on November 21st and celebrated the big #1 birthday on the 25th with family and friends. The highlight of her birthday party was lifting her whole birthday cake with both hands and putting it up to her mouth! I'll have to post the video of that another day since we'll have to borrow it from the in-laws. Thanksgiving was spent in San Antonio so while in town, she also visited the Alamo and the Riverwalk for the first time!

In December she picked out her first Christmas tree, met Santa for the first time, switched to the big girl tub and watched her Uncle walk across the stage at her first graduation! Uncle Casey graduated from Texas A&M Corpus Christi on December 19th. Go Casey!

There seems to be no news from January. It was a cold month and we didn't get out much!

In February Elizabeth attended her first Super Bowl party. She was rooting for the Colts and luckily had to go to bed before she could watch them lose to the Saints. We were excited that Aunt Amy could come into town that weekend! For Valentine's Day weekend, we traveled to San Antonio. Andrew took me out to dinner at San Francisco Steakhouse for my first time there. Sadly we didn't get to see the lady swing; she had retired for the night. Boo! But it was nice having family around to babysit Elizabeth so we could have an evening out. The next weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Keillor drove up to Houston for a visit. My mom had a landscape design course at A&M the following week and I bribed my dad, the biggest model train enthusiast on the planet, with a train show that was in town that weekend. We celebrated Fat Tuesday by donning Elizabeth with some of my old Mardi Gras beads - Elizabeth got them for being cute.

March brought the Oscars, Elizabeth's first trip to the Houston Live Stockshow and Rodeo, and the big 30th Birthday for me. I found my new favorite place to shop - Arne's Warehouse and Party Store. Any party theme you want and they have it! At our Oscar party, Elizabeth was nervous at first at stepping on the red carpet through the gold curtain, but she soon started having fun! At the Rodeo, Elizabeth got to pet a real live cow and bunny and savor her first turkey leg (now a girl after mommy's heart!). And now she can officially say "This ain't my first rodeo!" For my birthday, both sets of parents/grandparents and Amy, Casey and Erwin were able to come into town to celebrate. Thank you so much to them and to all our dear wonderful friends who could come to the party. We had a blast eating sushi and rocking out to Rock Band!

We spent Easter weekend in San Antonio. Except for a very scary night on Saturday, the weekend was fun and Elizabeth enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs and her Easter basketS on Sunday. Elizabeth had been running a fever since Good Friday and we had been giving her Motrin and Tylenol as usual. Elizabeth was active and playful like normal and the fever had gone down on Saturday afternoon, but had gone back up to 102 in the evening right before dinner, so Andrew gave her another dose of Motrin. Even as she started eating her dinner she was acting fine ... right up until her lips started quivering and she sunk back in her booster seat, going unconscious. We know now that she had a febrile seizure brought on by the spike in her temperature that day. I hope we'll never experience that again - those few short minutes when she was unconscious were without a doubt, the scariest moments in my life. I think I lost 5 years of my life! But thanks to the paramedics and hospital staff, we're better prepared in case something like this happens again. Although we were in another city, I'm so thankful we had our family there for support. My "mother-in-love" especially. She has seen me through some scary, tough times! If you're reading this and have small children, I would do a little research yourself on febrile seizures. That way you can be more prepared in case something were to happen. Needless to say we were exhausted on Easter Sunday, but we celebrated the wonderful day. Yea, Jesus is risen! I guess Elizabeth's seizure couldn't have come at a better time to remind me of God's love for us.

Elizabeth's new car seats came in last week! She finally outgrew her infant car seat (in height, not weight) and both of us got tired of lugging her to daycare in it. Too bad we had to buy one for each car. That's one advantage of the infant seat I won't miss. So far, she's liking them and I love the cute color! The real test will come when we go on our next road trip. The extra padding in this seat should be more comfortable on her tushy and allow for an easier time for everyone!

I'm calling May, "Travel Month." We have 3 weekend trips planned, one being Elizabeth's first plane ride! Elizabeth also turns 18 months old May 25. Check back for more details!

Just looking through all these pictures, it's as if my baby has become a big girl overnight! She must have had a big growth spurt between March and April. She's definitely gotten more hair since the New Year.

If you've read this far, sorry for being out of touch so long and having to write a book to catch everyone up. Maybe if Andrew posted too (hint, hint) we would have an easier time staying updated! Thanks for reading!

Elizabeth on the Piano

2009-10-18T22:47:00.003-05:00

Picasso and Norm Abrams

2009-04-26T19:39:00.006-05:00

Elizabeth turned 5 months on Saturday. Her teachers have already helped her draw with crayons at daycare so we figure we'd better try at home. She was more interested in trying to eat them than draw with them (as seen by the evidence left on her chin). But her picture was very creative. Maybe we have an aspiring artist on our hands.

Or maybe a master craftsman? She also helped Andrew put together her high chair today. She really enjoyed reading the directions and telling him which piece came next. Here's her posing in it for the first time. I think she's going to like eating with us at dinnertime. But that's not for another month. My plan for now is to get her used to sitting in it with us before we introduce solid foods. Not too many new things at once!

What Happens At Grandmas . . .

2009-04-19T00:34:00.001-05:00

Someone's got a new hat!

We packed the car up again this weekend, this time for Elizabeth's first trip to San Antonio to visit her G&G Grohmann and Uncle Casey. We also celebrated our friend Brenda's 50th birthday. Thanks Grandma Grohmann for the cute onesie!
Elizabeth did really well again napping and sleeping in her pack 'n play. She's such a pro:) She's also gotten good at blowing raspberries. At breakfast on Saturday she was cracking everyone up. We look forward to coming back this summer and playing in the pool Grandma promises to get her. Course I can't wait until she gets a little older so we can get passes to Sea World!

Elizabeth's 1st Easter

2009-04-13T23:15:00.001-05:00

It was a blessed day. We got to celebrate Elizabeth's 1st Easter by decorating eggs on Saturday night and hunting for them on Easter morning, opening our Easter baskets, going to church with Grandma and Grandpa Keillor and Aunt Amy and then having lunch with our extended family at my cousin Kathy's house. Whew that sounds like a lot!
Elizabeth had fun helping us find all the Easter eggs. The Easter bunny hid them really well this year. At Grandma and Grandpa Keillors, we like to decorate the old-fashioned method with hardboiled eggs and food coloring mixed in with vinegar. She got really excited opening her Easter baskets that the Easter bunny left in both Harlingen and San Antonio (G&G Grohmann dropped off an early delivery at our house). When she gets excited she starts breathing really hard and shaking her arms and hands. She LOVED tearing at the cellophane!
At church she was doing well and slept in her carseat until everyone started clapping after the baptisms. The noise woke her up. It wasn't far into the service either. Then she got restless and we went through all our bag of tricks before Andrew had to get up (as he was the one sitting on the aisle) and take her into the hallway. My dad got up too to help him out. I figured they would be back, but they stayed out the remainder of the service. As we (me, my mom and Amy) got up to leave, I saw them in the hallway with Elizabeth all the way down to her skivvies. Turns out that beautiful Easter dress that Aunt Amy got her was making her too hot and uncomfortable. As soon as Andrew took the dress off, she brightened up. It was a funny site! Yes my baby has been naked in church on Easter Sunday!!!
Lunch with the Keillor/Bannert/Miller/Zepeda clan was fun as always. Elizabeth enjoyed meeting her relatives and getting held by everybody!

My Birthday Part 2

2009-04-13T22:56:00.001-05:00

My mom surprised me with a second birthday cake and presents on Saturday night. I got a beautiful wooden cross to add to my collection and some cool sandals. Amy gave me some yummy smelling Laura Mercier body lotion in french vanilla and brought me and Elizabeth back some neat souvenirs from her recent trip to Antigua.

Over the River and Through the Woods

2009-04-13T18:09:00.012-05:00

Elizabeth getting her first driving lesson with the car in Park

Harlingen or Bust!

Aunt Amy loves reading to her niece

Elizabeth loves her Grandpa and his watch

All bathed and ready for bed!

We had our first road trip with Elizabeth this past Easter weekend to see G&G Keillor and Aunt Amy in Harlingen. The trip on the way down there went surprisingly well. I was stressed a bit which made me scour every website for tips on what to pack. Traveling with an infant does require some planning! It's amazing how much stuff Elizabeth requires!

We hit the road on Good Friday morning at 6:30 immediately after waking Elizabeth up, nursing and changing her, and putting her into her car seat. That required us to load up almost everything in the car the night before. Dexter rode shotgun while one of us rode in the back with Elizabeth to keep her entertained. We rotated shifts with Andrew driving the first and me the second. The way I timed the feedings,we only had to stop once in Refugio for gas, bathroom breaks and to nurse and change Elizabeth. I had bought some window shades to block out as much sun as possible so Elizabeth slept most of the morning.

And Elizabeth slept wonderfully in her pack n play the whole weekend even though we shared a room with her. We had started putting her in it the previous weekend so she could get used to sleeping in there and it worked. We also tried sticking to our schedule and nightly routine as best as possible and bringing whatever we needed to recreate her nursery.

On the way back to Houston we got a late start so feedings were off and things weren't as smooth. We still only had to stop twice, in Odem and El Campo. But Elizabeth was up way past her bedtime and couldn't settle herself in the car. Once we got home, I did the Cliff's notes version of our nightly routine and sent Elizabeth straight to bed. She got a second wind though and it seemed with all that energy, she'd never be able to go to sleep. But eventually she settled herself to sleep and slept through until morning!

Grandma G Visits Houston

2009-03-30T17:48:00.004-05:00

Work brought my MIL/Grandma Grohmann to Houston this past week. She got to stay with us two weekends in a row while working the whole week in between at the Texas Library Association Convention in the George R. Convention Center and staying at a hotel downtown. Here are some cute pictures of her and Elizabeth together.

Turning Schwenty-Nine

2009-03-29T17:50:00.005-05:00

I turned 29 today! Wow only one more year until I'm 30 and officially "old." Isn't it weird that this age seemed so old when we were little? According to my MIL Diane's calculations, I turned my forever age. Whenever your birthday matches your age, you'll always be that age. So I'll always be 29 since I was born on March 29th. Diane was born on the 21st, so she'll always be 21. It's a fun thing to do so we don't have to think we're getting any older.

Everyone at work kept asking me what big plans I had for the day. I kept telling them "I have a baby." I had to toss out the idea of wild partying a long time ago. But the weekend was still special. Diane was in town so she babysat Elizabeth on Saturday night while Andrew and I enjoyed a nice dinner out. I didn't realize this or plan it but we've gone to one Japanese restaurant or another every year now for a while to celebrate my birthday. I guess I just like Japanese food and sushi that much. This year was no exception. Andrew took me to a neighborhood fusion Japanese restaurant so I could get my sushi fix.

We had wanted to go see a movie afterwards but things just didn't work out. We had planned to eat dinner, then come home and bathe and feed Elizabeth and put her down, then go catch the movie. Well we had to sorta rush through dinner so we could get home in time. But by the time we got home, our nightly routine got started later than usual and Elizabeth got fussy and it was hard settling her down to go to bed. So we missed the movie. We instead did the next best thing by renting some movies from Blockbuster and watching them in the comfort of pjs on the couch. There are some big pluses to watching a movie at home I must say! But hopefully one of these days we'll actually get to a movie theater again. I love movie theater popcorn and the microwave kind just can't come close enough.

Tonight we celebrated my birthday with cake, ice cream and presents. Diane baked me carrot cake - yum! And I received some wonderful presents from my wonderful hubby. Course the biggest present of all was Elizabeth. I love my little one!

4 months!

2009-03-27T22:21:00.005-05:00

Elizabeth turned 4 months on Wednesday. We captured her being cute that night during and after her bath. She's so photogenic!

I took her in to see Dr. Rowland today for her check-up and weight is 12 lbs 13 oz (40th percentile), height is 24.5" long (60th percentile) and FOC -head measurement is 16.5" circumference (75th percentile). Banana baby! I've been worried that Elizabeth hasn't been gaining enough weight but Dr. Rowland reassured me everything is ok. Elizabeth has been in the 50th percentile for weight all along and Dr. Rowland showed me that her placement on the growth chart and the difference between 40 and 50th percentile is not that significant. And now that Elizabeth is more active and will continue to be more active, her weight will probably fluctuate. There will only be cause to worry if she continually goes down in her growth rate. So let's hope for the best. But I also have to keep in mind that Elizabeth was sick for a while and on antibiotics which made her poop like crazy so I'm sure some weight was lost through that! Elizabeth was moving like crazy on the table and rolling and scooching around (show off!) which impressed Dr. Rowland. She said she usually doesn't see babies move like that until 5 or 6 months. So again the weight issue isn't cause for alarm since she's reaching her milestones ahead of time.

We're going to wait until she's 6 months to introduce solid food and Dr. Rowland agreed with that. Even though we don't have a family history of food allergies, I want to be as conservative as possible on this and not risk anything. Plus I want to wait until Elizabeth is ready. She seems to be watching us now when we eat which is a good sign. And she's drooling like crazy and mouthing objects all the time which could mean she'll cut her first tooth soon. Yet she still seems to be doing ok on just her feedings (update 4/15/09 - well now I've had to nurse her several times this week in the middle of the night, but maybe she's just going through a growth spurt). And she has good head control but can't quite sit up for that long without support. She is getting plenty of tummy time though at daycare which should improve her back strength and also round out some of those flat spots on her head.

She also had her third round of vaccines (we're splitting up her shots a bit and going every month instead of every other month). She had her Rotavirus, DTAP, HIB, and Pneumococcal vaccines this time. At her 5-month shot-only visit, she'll get her Polio and Hep B shots. This is always the part that both of us hate. Everything is fine and dandy until the nurse comes in with that big needle and sticks Elizabeth in both thighs. At least it's at the end of the visit! She took her rotavirus ok in the mouth and didn't get that upset. Andrew and I learned a trick when we had to give Elizabeth her antibiotics - gently blow in her face which stimulates her swallowing reflex. It works! But with the other shots there was a split second delay from the time Elizabeth got poked until she started crying. But she didn't stay upset that long. At least we're getting better. Before she'd be hysterical the whole time.

I'm looking forward to starting solids in 2 months. Anyone have a recommendation for a good book to read? Dr. Rowland mentioned Super Foods. There's one called Super Foods for Babies and Super Baby Food so I'm not sure which one she meant. I'll have to ask at our next visit!

Roly Poly

2009-03-24T21:00:00.009-05:00

Now that Elizabeth can roll over from her back to tummy, she's been rolling over non-stop! I caught her sleeping this morning on her tummy and snapped a few shots before she woke up. With the "back to sleep" campaign and preventing SIDS, I was a little scared at first and tried rolling her onto her back when I put her down for her bedtime tonight. But she kept rolling over onto her tummy. I've read that once babies have good enough head control and can roll over in both directions, the risk of SIDS greatly reduces. Plus there's not much I can do if my headstrong daughter prefers to sleep on her tummy! What am I going to do -watch over her crib all night and keep moving her onto her back?
Update 4/15/09: Elizabeth has been sleeping on her tummy for over 3 weeks now and seems to sleep really well that way. I guess she's a stomach sleeper just like her daddy! I still put her down for naps and bedtime on her back but eventually she finds her way onto her tummy. I've been checking on her several times a night (can't help it) and sometimes she'll be sleeping right up beside her crib bumpers. With the fear of suffocation, I'm always worried so I move her to the center of her crib. At least her face is turned away and not buried in the bumpers but I'd rather her be in the safest position possible. I've read mixed reviews on those mesh bumpers so we'll keep the current ones in place for now because they fit and I don't want her legs and arms getting stuck outside the rails. But we'll definitely remove them once Elizabeth starts pulling herself up. And that won't be far off now! Elizabeth is a wiggle worm and has been moving and scooching all around her crib. I find her diagonal, sideways and at the opposite end of her crib and facing the other direction!

New Toy

2009-03-22T17:58:00.003-05:00

We let Elizabeth start playing with a new toy yesterday ... a set of keys. She loves them. She loves holding them, putting them in her mouth, and of course throwing them. Yeah so far her distance record is about 3 feet; Not bad for an almost 4 month old. The other big news to report is Elizabeth is now rolling over from her back to her stomach. We put her down on her back the other day and the next thing we know she is on her stomach. Becky had to ask me the first time, "Did you put her on her stomach?" I am sure we will get to report her crawling soon.

Happy Anniversary (Since Dating)

2009-03-18T11:15:00.003-05:00

Today Becky and I have "officially" been dating for 7 years. Has it really been that long? Where does the time go? I don't really know ... but what I do know is that through all the ups and downs our love still continues to grow.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T15:27:00.006-05:00

Did you forget to wear green today? Becky had to remind me this morning after I dressed Elizabeth in the wrong outfit. Oops. Hope everyone has a great day!

Naked Time

2009-03-13T21:31:00.009-05:00

When Elizabeth is older, she'd be embarrassed that I took a video of her naked as a baby, but I don't care. She acts so cute after her bath that I had to capture some of it to share with everyone. She gets really talkative and wiggles like crazy. Course here, she's a little confused by the camera as if to say, "what's that thing in front of mommy?" But I'm glad she wasn't too camera shy. Thank you Andrew for formatting the video so it wouldn't be too big to fit!

A Year Ago

2009-03-12T00:28:00.011-05:00

It was a year ago today that I found out I was pregnant. I give thanks to the Lord for watching out over us throughout the pregnancy and blessing us so much with the birth of our sweet little girl. In her three months here, Elizabeth has brought such joy and happiness to our lives. Just seeing that gummy smile makes my day! Everyday she's gets bigger right before my eyes and I always say to her, "Please stay small forever." I know that the time will pass too quickly and soon enough my little one will be all grown up, so I'm trying to relish every moment I can with her.

ANDREW adds: Elizabeth is such a blessing in every way possible. It is hard for me as her father to put into words what she means to me ... to us. She is such a blessing! She is such a joy!

Daddy's Little Girl

2009-03-10T23:54:00.006-05:00

We enjoyed the nice weather today and hung out in the backyard for a while before it got dark. I just had to take a picture of Andrew and Elizabeth. He just loves his little girl and likes blowing raspberries to make her smile!

Roll Over Elizabeth

2009-03-07T23:06:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth has been rolling over from her tummy to back for a couple weeks now! We tried taking video but she would not cooperate. So until she gets really good at it, these pictures will have to do! She is very close to rolling from her back to her tummy. She'll bend her knees into her stomach and roll to her side and a little of her stomach, but her bottom arm keeps getting in the way of rolling all the way over. Grandma Keillor calls that a speed bump!

Just a spoonful of sugar ...

2009-03-04T21:29:00.006-06:00

helps the medicine go down! Being a kid rocks! I miss the days of bubble gum flavored medicine. Elizabeth drank pink milk tonight (AKA Princess Punch)!- 3 ml dose of her medicine mixed in with an ounce of milk. Usually she doesn't like drinking from a bottle whenever I'm close by (why buy the milk when you can get the cow for free egh?) but I've tried the ol' put the dropper at the back of the cheek and tongue trick and it doesn't work. Luckily she drank every last drop of her Princess Punch. I have to repeat this for the next two weeks. I hope everytime will be this easy!

Cold or sinus infection?

2009-03-04T12:14:00.004-06:00

I took Elizabeth to see Dr. Rowland again today. She got a cold back in February and it never really went away. Even after almost going through a whole bottle of saline drops and humidifying the nursery, these past couple of days her congestion has seemed worse than ever with a stuffy nose and coughing - as if a lung is going to come up any minute. If I touch her chest, I can feel the congestion! I spoke with Dr. Rowland's nurse on Monday and told her Elizabeth's symptoms. She was concerned about the congestion in the chest, so she suggested I come in. Dr. Rowland was out yesterday and I was unsure about having another doctor in the practice examine her. So I booked an appointment for first thing today. Dr. Rowland was concerned that she's been sick for 25 days now and thought it could be due to a sinus infection. After listening to Elizabeth's chest and looking up her nose, in her ears and down her throat, she said everything was clear - no fluid in her ears and no yellow or green mucus - so no symtoms of a sinus infection. Yet she still wrote a prescription for Amoxicillin. She said it won't hurt Elizabeth, but I'm concerned about giving my 3-month old antibiotics. She did say if things don't clear up within 4 days, I know it's not a sinus infection. I pray that my little one gets better soon!

Elizabeth's Wardrobe Changes

2009-03-02T20:46:00.005-06:00

As promised, here are pictures of the other outfits Elizabeth wore the day of her baptism. Watch out Mariah Carey! (If you've ever seen MTV's Cribs, you'll know what I'm talking about - the woman went through a zillion different outfits!)
The last one is a cute little Feltman Brothers dress from Grandma Keillor. The first two show Elizabeth in a cute outfit from Grandma Grohmann.
Wonderful story - Grandma Grohmann got the little shirt, bloomers and bonnet as a gift when she was pregnant ... with ANDREW! Of course she had a boy and could not see herself putting the outfit (with all its lace and pink roses) on him. But she kept it in case she later had a baby girl. Instead she had 2 more boys! But she never gave it away, knowing someday a baby girl would be coming into the family. She passed the outfit onto me at my baby shower. I can't believe she saved it for 28 years!
Elizabeth looks so precious in everything. The second and third pictures are hilarious. She's really got in the habit of sucking her fingers (good - she can self-soothe, bad - I can't just take her hand away like I can do with a binky) and lately she's been getting a finger caught up her nose! Her latest thing is to constantly stick her tongue out and she usually puts whatever is close by up to her mouth. I predict she's going to try to put anything and everything in her mouth!

Elizabeth's Baptism

2009-03-01T23:43:00.008-06:00

This is our first official post. Elizabeth was baptized today! Thank you to all our family and friends who traveled near and far to be with us on this special day. Elizabeth looked absolutely beautiful in her gown. Course she didn't like wearing her bonnet that much! Although she did manage to chew on the bonnet strings a bit. With everyone in town, it was a hectic day. We got off her feeding and nap schedule a bit so that's why she's all tuckered out in the picture. The oils they rubbed on her chest and forehead smelled like aromatherapy scents. Maybe she fell asleep because she was all relaxed from that?? Thanks to Grandma Keillor for her lace bloomers, christening socks and after baptism outfit (in the tradition of Grohmann women wearing two dresses to formal events!). I'll have to post pictures of her wardrobe changes later.