Elsie turns 32 weeks old

Elsie turned 32 weeks old on Tuesday!

She is really having a hard time sitting still these days.

Elsie is having a lot of fun at Elmhurst Academy. When we arrive in the morning, Elsie just wants to jump out of her car seat and go play with Mrs. Brown! It is a little painful to my mom ego, but I am happy to see Elsie enjoying her teacher and new friends and toys! Here are some cute pictures of Elsie during a contact paper project.

Here is the newsletter for Elsie's second week at EA:

Elsie's first Cubs game

Elsie attended her first Cubs game last weekend! We arrived at the top of the second inning and made it to the sixth. Elsie had a lot of fun looking at all of the people in the stands and even got to eat her first hot dog bun (which she spit back up half an inning later). In the fourth inning, the Cubs did great and scored 3 runs. The fans were all very excited, standing up and clapping. Unfortunately all of the noise really scared Elsie. We were in the middle of the row, so we were kind of stuck. Once the fans and Elsie calmed down, I was secretly cheering for the Reds... Once we were back in the car listening to Ron and Pat, I started cheering for the Cubs again!

Elsie turned 31 weeks old

Elsie turned 31 weeks old on Tuesday. During the week, Elsie also hit the 7-month mark (just 3 days after Jack and I hit our 7 year wedding anniversary!)

Elsie really enjoys playing with loud toys. She loves picking up blocks and banging them together, banging them on another plastic toy, or banging them on the hardwood floors!

Elsie started a new day care in her 31st week! Officially, they call themselves a school - Elmhurst Academy to be exact! We really love this center! Right now there are only 4 babies with 2 teachers (going up to 6 babies in a few weeks) in a large room! The teachers really interact well with the babies, planning lots of fun activites with them and getting on the floor to play. Plus, they send us pictures throughout the week! Here are a few:
Elsie's new friend is Remy - he is about 1 month younger than Elsie.

The teachers engage the babies in "projects." This month, they are exploring apples.

They go outside a lot, which we all love! They have a stroller that holds three babies at a time.

Here are a couple more cure pics of Elsie in front of the big mirror and playing at the table (lots of little chairs nested inside of a table takes the place of highchairs).

Here is the newsletter from the week - we will get one of these every Friday! Enjoy!

Elsie is 30 weeks old

Elsie turned 30 weeks old on Tuesday.

You can see from the drool on her shirt that Elsie has made progress in the teething category. She has her bottom two teeth and drools like she should get the rest of them tomorrow!
Elsie loves being outside, so we try to go out in the yard every night before we go up to bath / bed.

Lately, we have been practicing tummy time on hands and knees! The grass is a great place for this, since Elsie can grab onto the grass for help. She also uses the grass to help her roll over.

From the pictures, you would think that she is having fun. Take a look at the video for the truth - Elsie still does not enjoy tummy time...

Elsie still enjoys standing up the most. Now she can hold herself up for a few moments before tumbling to the side.

Visit from Great-Grandma Sonneveldt

We had a very nice visit from Great-Grandam Sonneveldt on the Friday before Labor Day. We hadn't seen her since our wedding 7 years ago, so it was wonderful catching up and showing off her newest great-granddaughter, Elsie.

Labor Day weekend on the farm

We went down to Chrisman for Labor Day weekend. Elsie had a lot of fun hanging out with the Phipps family and the dog, Maizy. Unlike the cats, Maizy doesn't mid too much when Elsie ripped out her fur. Of course, Elsie really enjoyed playing with her cousins John and Leah, too.


Here is a great video of Elsie and Leah playing together.

We enjoyed the very cold pool for about five minutes during the 1 hour that the sun was really out.

Elsie enjoyed getting toweled off by Grandma Jan about as much as she does when Mom and Dad do it. For Elsie, this ranks right up there with having her nose or face wiped off.

Elsie met our friends, Dave and Karen (an avid blog reader - thanks!).

It was very relaxing and quiet!

Elsie is 29 weeks old

Last Tuesday, Elsie turned 29 weeks old.


As you will see from these photos, Elsie just cannot sit still anymore. She loves moving around - with help. Still no crawling or walking, but she is very active in place. Plus she loves physical play - flipping upside down, flying, rolling around with mom and dad.


Elsie officially sits up on her own now. As we finished our new railings in the front of our house, she happily sat in the front yard watching the cars go by and playing with toys. She also played in the office. Notice the jacket - it was so cold on Aug 29!

Elsie turns 28 weeks old

A couple Tuesdays ago, Elsie turned 28 weeks old.


Elsie has been doing well sitting on her own with just a little support from the Boppy. She is reaching for toys and entertaining herself. Here she is being cute while falling over trying to get her train!


Elsie continues to get better on her stomach. She cries less now when she flips over in the middle of the night. We often find her on her stomach in her crib pleasantly playing with her pacifier.

Elsie also enjoys playing with other children. Unfortunately, part of playing with Elsie means getting pinched and having your hair pulled out. Here is Elsie with Eli, the son of one of my college roommates.