Happy Feet

We recently bought Elise a Fisher Price Jumperoo. She loves the new found freedom of jumping and moving anyway she wants. Since I am worried she'll get overstimulated, we limit her to 10 minutes at a time. Frankly, she'd spend all day in there if we let her. It's so funny to watch her chunky legs bounce her up and down as she has the happiest smile on her face.






Elise's physical therapy continues to go well. Her therapist is happy with all the progress we are making- sitting up straighter, initiating more movement to her sides, and more relaxed hands and feet. We have two more visits to go and then we will reassess if we need more work with her. Before we know it, we'll be baby proofing the house! What a change that will be!

Teeth and Waves

Elise is finally getting teeth! Her two front bottom teeth are starting to erupt. You can hardly see them but you can feel the rough little bumps. Even though we see erupting teeth all the time it's truly amazing to see them on your own child! We are on our way to Cheerios soon.... which I've been promising the dogs for months.

Jeff has also taught Elise to wave. First it started as a little thing between the two of them but now everyone gets a wave-- including strangers at the grocery store. However, some people get more waves than others. I'm still wondering how I can get on that list! Another little thing that Jeff and Elise have between them is the 'da da' dance. Every evening, after daddy feeds her the last bottle, he repeats 'da da da'.... in hopes that Elise makes the connection that he is 'dada'. When he say's his 'da da da', Elise does a little hops and waves her arms. It's so precious to watch the two of them together. It's their special time at the end of the day when everything is winding down and Elise is in her jammies.

Go Bucks! and Physical Therapy

Elise finally got to see her beloved Buckeyes start their football season off by beating Navy (31-27). She celebrated the game by wearing her Jim Tressel onesie....super cute! She's such a fan! Unfortunately the next game will be past her bedtime so we'll have to record it on our DVR so she can review the highlights the next day.





Elise has also been working with a physical therapist. Because of her high risk for developmental delays (thankfully we don't yet have any!), we are fortunate that our county sends therapists and educators to our home once a month to assess Elise's growth and development. At our August visit, the physical therapist suggested that we work with a private therapist to help Elise continue with her motor development. Last week was our first visit (we will have a total of six weeks worth of appointments). Our therapist, Ann, taught me how to encourage Elise to turn and reach for toys placed by her side and games we can play when she is on her belly... all in order to make those muscles strong for the day she decides to start crawling and getting into/out of a sitting position. We had a lot of fun and look forward to this week's appointment. Crawling must be getting closer because Elise has been getting onto her knees and rocks back and forth. Get the baby gates ready!

On a side note, we are getting some sleep! It's official that we sleep through the night. Elise is in bed and asleep between 7-7:30 and wakes between 6:30-7:30. It's wonderful!

Sitting and swimming

Elise's new favorite thing is sitting. She is no longer content to lay on the floor to play and will whine until we pull her upright. While we used to pack pillows around her in case she toppled over, we no longer have to do that as long as she's not apt to bang her head into something hard. She rarely losses her balance.

The heat has finally found its way to Ohio and we've set up our baby pool. Initially, Elise wasn't convinced that she wanted to sit outside in the water even though bath time still continues to be the highlight of her day. But after playing in the pool (without water) and playing next to the pool (with water), multiple times, Nana was able to show her that swimming was fun.... especially sporting her pink swimsuit (already getting a tad small!)

We are back to having a few sleep issues....rats. Poor Elise isn't always able to sleep straight through the night, leaving mommy a bit tired again. We're working on some new techniques for Elise to comfort herself back to sleep in the middle of the night. Hopefully in a few weeks, we'll be back on track. On a side note, we're starting to grow some hair! Maybe Elise isn't sleeping well because she's dreaming of future hairstyles she wants to try out!

6 month checkup

Ahhh...we are finally (knock on wood!) sleeping through the night. Just as soon as I compiled a list of 'sleep' questions to ask the pediatrician at our 6 month visit, Miss Elise started sleeping 10-12 hours straight a night. Thank goodness! Now that she has finally mastered rolling over, she has no more worries. However, sometimes she rolls herself into the corner during the night and gets herself a bit upset. Nothing that a pacifier and a minute or two of back rubs and butt taps can't fix! I'm up and back into bed in a flash!

Our six-month checkup went wonderfully. Elise is up to 14lb 8oz (25%) in weight, 25 inches (40%) in length and 16 inches (10%) for her head circumference. Guess she just has a cute, petite head like her mom! We were given the green light to cut Elise's gastric reflux medicine in half-- so far so good and to continue on with eating a meal or two a day of food. While Elise hated her next round of vaccinations, we were pleased to learn that her developmental skills are either at or have surpassed her age (not even adjusting back for prematurity!). We are currently working on sitting unassisted. As of now, we wrap a boppy pillow around Elise in case she topples over- which she does after a few minutes or if she loses her balance.

The food eating is going well. I've been making some of my own food otherwise Elise has been eating organic baby food. So far we have eaten and enjoyed green beans, peas, carrots and squash. Yesterday, Elise polished off her first full jar of food-- yummy squash! Soon we will be adventuring to the land fruits. If we continue at the same rate, she'll love each and everyone of them too!!!! I think all these vegetables are starting to make her hair grow!

Making friends

Elise and I took a road trip down to Columbus this past Monday to visit with my best friend Sarah, and her new daughter Riley. Riley is a little over 2 months old. This was the first time our girls got to meet. Elise and Riley bonded over their bottles of milk and Sarah and I got to catch up on the topic of motherhood. As for the girls, we are sure that this will be the beginning of a long friendship too!

Elise continues to roll-- now from both the front and back. It's not uncommon to find her awake in her crib 'practicing' her moves in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, Elise still is not sleeping well-- even after our previous praises in her blog. She's up every 3-4 hours crying-- sometimes to eat and sometimes she's still asleep. We plan to discuss this with the pediatrician next week at her appointment. Maybe then we'll start introducing more solid foods (we are eating rice cereal 1-2x daily along with our bottles) and Jeff and I will be on our way to more Zzzzzzzzzzz's!

Still Rollin'

Elise continues to improve on her rolling. She can officially roll from her stomach to back either from the left of right-- all in a matter of seconds. Of course Elise finds this quite handy since she isn't a fan of spending time on her belly. We still have yet to roll from the opposite direction (back to stomach) but we are getting close. Our little girl is slowly getting mobile. She's enjoying all the wiggling and squirming around which makes it difficult to hold her at times. You never know when she's trying to jump ship!