four months

Elia turned four months on Saturday.

She decided she'd try rolling over to celebrate.

When she's not smiling, it's usually because her mouth is full of one of her hands. 

Today the doctor assured us that she's a genius. We told him not to worry, that we already knew. I mean, who else has a four-month old who can hold onto things? Or giggle? No one, right?  I didn't think so.

He also told us that we can start giving her solids whenever we want to. He told us to go home and giver her a banana if we'd like. Solid foods? That's bananas. I decline for now.  Surely my tiny baby isn't ready to eat anything but milk yet, is she?

Well, she did roll over after all...

Don't grow up too fast baby girl.

 

set apart

This morning, in front of family, friends, and our congregation, Elia was baptized and welcomed into the body of Christ. We as parents entered into a covenant, a promise to guide our daughter in her faith. As Christian parents, this is the most important promise we can make to our children and it's a big responsibility but one we take on happily.

We are so blessed that four generations of family was there to witness this special day.

One detail that made it even more special to me was Elia's baptismal gown. It was made with love by my maternal grandmother for my brother Matt's baptism in 1981 and used again, along with handmade booties and bonnet, at my and my other sibling's baptisms. Grandma J is no longer with us but it was wonderful to have her represented today.

You'll notice that the gown was also embroidered with love by my mother with our names and now Elia's too. It's such a special garment and I hope the tradition will continue with any future nieces, nephews, children, and grandchildren that we have.

Of course, any joyous occasion deserves a bit of celebrating so we had everyone over for a celebration luncheon following the service. An indoor summer picnic was just the thing.

 

What a happy day we had. Happy baptism day, Elia!

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. - Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

a touch of whimsy

When I was pregnant I spent a lot of time on a website called Pinterest. You might have heard of it. From nursery ideas to checklists of what to pack in my hospital bag, I looked to Pinterest for inspiration (or should I call it pinspiration?).

One idea that I loved and saw over and over again was a weekly or monthly picture of a baby as a way to track their growth. I loved some of the more simple ones but also found some that both Todd and I agreed were fun and kind of hilarious. The blog About Him + Her provided some of our favorites, including this gem:

I mean, a baby muscle man?  How darling is little Hyrum?

I still wanted something simple but Todd liked this style of photo so well that I was soon on board. We big aspirations to create similarly creative and whimsical scenes for Elia along with a set of simple photos in a chair like in yesterday's post.

For her scene photos so far she's been in a flower garden (May flowers), hung out with some bugs (June bug), and this month she has lemonade for sale.

Needless to say, we're having a lot of fun with this and look forward to having a year's worth of scenes to look back on.

To see all of Hyrum's monthly pictures, click here.

For more fun baby scenes visit Mila's Daydreams.

e turns three (months)

Elia is three months old today. 

She's starting to have favorite things. Right now there's a tie for favorite stuffed animal between Migue el Mono (sometimes we call him Charlie el Changuito) and Violet la Vaca. Today Violet's winning. Her face lights up when either is in the room.

She has a minor obsession with her hands and her mouth is constantly covered in bubbles when she's not busy chatting away. 

She started school this week and likes seeing the older kids run around. I can't wait to rush home to see this beautiful face every night.

Happy three months, Bug!

tios

As of tonight, Elia has met all of her aunts and uncles.

From Chicago, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Beijing, they've all made their way to Grand Rapids to meet our little lady.  Two aunts and four uncles - what a great set of tíos!  Maybe someday she'll be lucky enough to visit all of them in their hometowns but for now she's enjoying their visits and getting to know them.