Eliza’s First Thanksgiving

So, our family has a little tradition.  Ever since Lyns and I have been married, we have traveled up to Connecticut to visit her brother Kelley and sister-in-law Natalie and their family for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  It’s a wonderful time and we enjoy it every year.  Eliza was “in the womb” as they say last Thanksgiving.  This Thanksgiving was her first one with the Kortman Family and she LOVED it.  Eliza enjoyed every minute of her time with the family.

We went up late Tuesday night so Eliza would just be asleep for the whole time.  It worked out great and she tolerated it well.  She was a little scared when we got her out of the car around 2:30 in the morning and she didn’t recognized her surroundings.  It was kind of cute for her to cling to me – she’s never really done that before.

We had a relaxing Wednesday.  We got up early Thursday to head into NYC for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – a Kortman family tradition.  We’ve gone along with them every year except last year.  Eliza enjoyed the parade although I don’t think she actually saw a single float.  But hey, she’s not even a year old yet so you can’t expect much.

Thanksgiving dinner was excellent!  Natalie is a great cook.  I think I gained 5 pounds while I was up there.  Definitely need to hit the treadmill to get back in shape!

Here’s some more pics of Eliza in a dress she wore to church Sunday.

 

Eliza taking a nap at the gas station

Here she is taking a cat nap.

 

Eliza update – 7 and a half months old

So. It’s been a while folks. Sorry for the bad blogging. It’s all my fault. I do however want to give everyone an update on Eliza.

She is doing great! She is crawling around like a pro and slowly expanding her explorations around the house but she typically stays close to an adult if she can help it. She is pulling up on the couches and is getting up on her feet here and there. She loves to make noises on any and everything. She is scared of the vacuum when its running.

Eliza has her two bottom teeth now and I THINK she is starting to cut her top front teeth as well because she is really fussy, like she was when she cut her bottom teeth a couple weeks ago.

We love her though.

 

Finally! Water!!

After much effort and much prodding our baby finally drank water.  Usually when we offered water she gave a very ugly and annoyed face.  She drank just a little under an ounce but we’ll take it!

 

Our Poor 6 month old.

Our little Eliza has the Roseola virus.  From what I’ve read, this rash isn’t supposed to be painful, but she sure is fussy for it not to hurt.  I dunno.  I just hope she gets over it soon!

 

Eliza is chilling after a walk on the trail.

 

Eliza update – week 13

Well, where to begin. Saturday night Eliza wouldn’t go to sleep. Ok, not just that… she freaked! Eliza has been such a good baby and has slept so wonderfully so Matt and I were really shocked when she was screaming so much and seemed so upset. BUT we chalked it up to growth spurt/way tired/overstimulated and moved on. Sunday night, same deal. Except this time we noticed she was pulling on her ears. We got an appointment with an ENT (mostly because Aunt Natalie wouldn’t stop telling us to) for Thursday. She also had a cold/cough so we didn’t think it was such a bad idea to just get it checked out.

Monday night Eliza went down at 5 pm and didn’t get up again until 3 am but still went back down again at 4:30 am until 7 am. So no screaming but come on… what’s up with the baby that can’t sleep enough? Last night was normal and she hasn’t really pulled on her ears except that one night. So I was pretty convinced that nothing was wrong and that this ENT appointment was going to be a waste (a lady at work has already labelled me a paranoid mom because Eliza has been to the doctor a couple times already so I was even kind of embarassed about this appointment).

The verdict? Aunt Natalie was convinced something was up with her nose because of the way she sounded on the videos we’ve posted. I asked the doc about her nose and he said she’s fine… just a cold. However her ears on the other hand… totally messed up. Eliza has an ear infection in each ear. We have a perscription and another appointment for July 8th to see if it’s cleared up. So that is her update for week 13, ear infections… sheesh!

 

Eliza Update – Week 12

She has a new cold!!!!  Yay!!!!  This one came on rather abruptly.  In the course of 24 hours she went from being completely fine to a completely blocked nose, terrible cough, and a temperature of 100.2.  Took to the doctor and they said it was a cold (of course, we knew that!).  She weighs 12 1/2 pounds as of yesterday 6/16/09.  Fortunately she’s getting better a little faster than the last time.  Here’s a pic of her in her latest outfit sportin’ a hoodie (the temperature today didn’t even make it to 70 so we figured she’d be OK in it).

Talk about an expression!  Looks like a “I will Punch You!” expression again.

In other news, she’s talking more and more now and we got some video of it.  There was a thunderstorm going on outside so you might see some lightning.  This was taken this past weekend. Check it out:

As far as new milestones she’s hitting, she started reaching out to some of her toys and that has us excited.  She used to just keep her arms at her side and stare, but now its more interactive for us and her.  We’ll try to get some good video of that and post it up soon. 

We love our daughter and we’re happy she’s growing.

 

How we give Eliza Her Baths …

Seriously…Its a two-pher … clean her AND her clothes at once!

And this is how we dry her off…

just kidding!

 

Eliza Update: Week 11

Eliza has been doing well this past week.  Her little nose is really starting to clear up and it’s a welcome relief!  Although, we were so used to hearing her breathing (ALL THE TIME) that now it’s odd for her to be so silent.  It throws our sleep deprived minds for a loop!

Here’s a picture of her in one of our favorite outfits (too bad she ruined it later that day with an explosion downtown! We need stain remover!)

Speaking of sleep  deprivation, Lyns and I are having interesting conversations with each other that one of us has no recollection of the following day.  Just the other night I seriously had a convo with Lyns before going to bed one evening.  It was a two-way communication: I would say something and she would respond.  The next day, she didn’t remember a single thing.  Lyns claims that it’s all catching up with her finally.  I would agree because sometimes she’s not even speaking coherent sentences.  I’m constantly sleep deprived so I’ve had more time to adjust than she has. 

I think Eliza is really starting to be more aware of who she’s with and where she is (i.e. home vs. daycare).  The other day when we came home from work, Lyns had to run out and take care of some errands.  As soon as she left and it was just Eliza and myself and she realized mommy was gone, she got the biggest frown on her face and set off into a big cry!  Either it was she missed the mommy daddy play routine we established after work, or she had just pooped and it hurt … may have to do some more tests on this theory.  Here’s a similar frown for your viewing pleasure.

Let us know what you think of Eliza and our Blog in the comments!