Sweet Faces...

Eating...

Elina has been eating so much better lately. She really enjoys her little Gerber puffs. When she first started eating them she would only eat about 3 a day, now she'll eat more like 15 or so...I only tell you this b/c I find it interesting that the serving size is 73! I can't imagine her eating that many in one sitting!

Anyway, she actually opens her mouth for a spoonful of food these days! This is a huge relief for Mommy since prying her mouth open to try to get some food in seemed so mean! I offered avacado the other day and she didn't seem to hate it, but she didn't love it! So I mixed it with her pear-blueberry and multigrain cereal...seems nasty huh!...she actually liked it!!! Yay!!! So then I tried peas with the pear-blueberry/multigrain mixture...gag I know!...she didn't love it (I wouldn't either)...but she accepted it!

Waking Up

I wish I looked a cute as Elina when I wake up! Even with wild hair she is still so precious! Elina often wakes up looking like this after a really good nap! (Funny how her hair looks a lot like Jason's!)

Falling Asleep

While we are doing much better now with Elina's bedtime routine and with sleeping through the night (as of Sunday of this week, YAY!)...this was a few weeks ago...

Elina wasn't giving into the idea of sleeping, so Daddy held her like this (facing the stereo) so she could watch the blinking lights and listen to Daddy's new CD (which turned out sooo good!). She finally gave up! Precious!!!

Pulling Up...

Elina has been very strong all of her little life, and has been able to stand up for quite some time. She officially started pulling up on everything just after she turned 8 months old!

Happy Belated 8 Month Birthday...

We were out of town on Elina's birthday, so I didn't get to take "special" birthday pics like I normally try to do. However, I did think this one was pretty cute! Elina did great on the trip, we were driving in some pretty crazy weather in a church van...she was a champ!

This little tongue...

kept popping up in Elina's pictures for about a week (just before her 8 month birthday). Elina goes through phases with her expressions...sticking out her tongue, making a scrunchy nose, puckering her lips, etc. Her expressions come and go, and I must admit that I get really excited everytime an expression shows back up!

This was an unexpected site when I walked in to get Elina from her crib. Can you see her little feet sticking out under the bumper pad? I captured video also, but it'll be a while before I can get around to uploading that (it takes so long to get videos on this thing).