Eliana's 1st Christmas...

Eliana's first Christmas was very eventful. We all flew down to San Jose, CA to visit Elvin's family on Friday, December 19. We ate lots of good Chinese food and Eliana got to spend time with her grandparents and Auntie Sue & Uncle Leslie. She also got to open some Christmas presents.

As we were about to fly back to Portland, we found out that our flight was cancelled due to the snow storm. We were able to get on a different flight 2 days later, just in time to be home by Christmas Eve. We made it home, to find our house completely blanketed in 12 inches of snow- it was beautiful!

On Christmas Day, we, and 18 other Rice's, went to Emily's parents' house for a Christmas dinner of ham and roast beef with all the trimmings. Eliana got even more Christmas presents from her cousins and aunts and uncles. We finally had our own "Christmas morning" on the 26th, with stockings and presents under the tree.

Bedtime reading...

Mommy and Daddy enjoy reading in bed. This happens before we go to bed or on a Saturday morning after we wake up. We hope to instill the same value into Eliana. So here she is with her book. But before reading it, she wants to get a taste of what it's like...

More new tricks...

Eliana has learned how to cough and how to scream--voluntarily that is. She coughs just for fun, or when she's annoyed, or just to make noise, it seems. Same for the screaming. She'll take a big breath, close her eyes, and let out a scream. Then repeat. Fortunately, she seems to be growing out of both of these habits, as they were funny and cute the first few times she did it. But after the 100th time...

New tricks...

Eliana has learned a couple more tricks that she'd like to share with you.

Her first trick is that she now realizes that she has feet. And she loves to grab them and chew on them. So, now she often has a wet sock or wet shoe. It is making it hard for her to learn how to sit up, since as soon as she is seated, she flips down to chew on her big toe. But it's a pretty convenient toy to have, as they go with her wherever she goes.

Her second trick is blowing bubbles, or blowing raspberries. This is a funny trick, but makes a big slobbery mess, as you will see...

Teddy bear suit...

Back when Eliana was 2 weeks old, her Aunt Jenny visited from Colorado bearing many gifts. One of the gifts was a full-body fleece suit, with a hood that had bear ears sticking out. At that time, the suit seemed incredibly large when compared to Eliana's little newborn body. But since then, Eliana has doubled in weight and fits into her suit quite nicely. And just in time too...although we have had a very mild fall, winter has set in. The low's this weekend will be below freezing and we are expecting some snow on Sunday.

Trimming toenails

Eliana's fingernails are cut on a regular basis--about twice a week. Even then, they are sharp and she sometimes scratches herself in the face. Her toenails are cut less often because they are always covered up and so we think about it less. But they were exposed tonight because she kept kicking her socks off. So Mommy decided to clip them. But as you'll see, Eliana wants to become involved in the activity. She's gotten a lot more grabby lately and pretty good at putting her hands in the general vicinity of what she wants to grab...

Eliana-ese

Eliana speaks a language called Eliana-ese. Neither Mommy nor Daddy can understand what she's saying, but she doesn't really care; she shares her opinions anyways. Mommy and Daddy wish they spoke Eliana-ese, but it's hard to understand as it's mostly vowels and squeaky noises. Also, Eliana is mostly comfortable talking at home. When somewhere else other than home, she gets a serious look on her face and usually doesn't crack a smile, let alone talk.

First Thanksgiving...

Eliana had her first Thanksgiving at her granparent's house in Vancouver, WA. Although she didn't get to eat any turkey or pumpkin pie, she did get to see lots of her aunts, uncles, and cousins.

On the car ride there, she decides that for appetizer, she'll chew on her monkey beanie baby's hand. (She's gotten quite good recently at grabbing something in front of her. In the past, she could grab things, but only accidentally if the thing was near her hand already. Now she'll willfully grab something in front of her.)

Since we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house at 3pm, Eliana took a nap later in the afternoon. When she got up at around 5pm, the food was almost ready to be served.

And finally everyone dug in!
Towards the end of the evening, Eliana took another nap while people sat around and talked.

Eliana is always a big hit with her cousins. Millie, age 5 likes it when Eliana grabs her finger.

When it's time to go home, Eliana gets a warm goodbye from Grandpa Rice.

It was a long day for her so she screeched almost the entire car ride home. But she slept through the night and only got up once! And you'll notice that there are no pictures of any aunties or uncles holding her. Unfortunately, Eliana has been honing her stranger anxiety skills and has gotten quite good at them recently.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving as well!

Soccer practice...

To get her ready for her soccer career, we're starting her on practice sessions now. To help her track the ball with her eyes, Elvin dribbles the ball while holding her. After that we move on to her dribbling skills. Being as she can't walk yet, Emily helps her to do the kicking. Which she finds very fun.

Another developmental milestone that Eliana has reached is the laughing skill. Different things will many her laugh out loud...such as tickling her under her armpits, or rubbing her ample cheeks. Mommy can make her laugh by doing this...

Four month check-up...

Eliana had her 4 month check-up at the doctor's today. She weighed in at 15 pound and 6 ounces. With that, here's another graph of her weight.

According to Emily, she did not enjoy her visit to the doctor one bit. Unlike the last visit, this time she cried the entire time that she was poked and prodded by her pediatrician. And needless to say, she extremely unhappy when she got her shots.

On a happier note, she's been getting better and better at the hand-to-mouth coordination. She will chew on anything she can get her chubby little hands on, including toys (shown below), her beanie baby monkey, the collar of her shirts, paper napkins, and any appendages that are offered to her.

And last week Emily and Eliana visited Daddy at his work. She was for some reason not that impressed by the gray cubicle walls that Elvin has to stare at 8 hours a day. She did get ooh-ed and ahh-ed at by about 40 of Elvin's co-workers.

Bedtime routine...

Every night, we try to go through the same routine. By the end, hopefully Eliana realizes that it's bedtime and peacefully falls asleep. (The key word being "hopefully.")



Starting at about 730pm...

Visiting grandparents...

We spent last weekend in the Bay Area visiting Elvin's parents. They threw a big party for Eliana to celebrate her 1st 100 days. Because Eliana had a hard time sleeping the night before the party, we made sure that she took long naps in the morning in preparation for the guests coming at noon. She finally made her grand appearance at around 12:30pm. I don't think she's ever received this much attention from this many people but she did very well and even let other people hold her!

Her First Halloween...

Even though she has no idea why, Eliana's daddy has dressed her up as a Brazillian soccer player. We have a onesie with an embroidered flag on the front that Elvin's aunt Marie Louise bought in Brazil one year ago. We also have a stuffed soccer ball from Ikea.

It's ok if she never goes pro, but Elvin does hope that soccer becomes part of her life. With the World Cup coming up in 2010, both Elvin and Eliana plan to stay up late at night to watch the games. We can't wait to find out whether she's left-footed or right-footed.

Eliana paying homage to the greatest soccer dynasty of the world.
Eliana getting to know Master Yoda (or at least the pumpkin version of him.)

Master Yoda wisely looks on and says, "A Happy Halloween, may you have..."

Chatterbox...

This past weekend, Emily, Elvin and Eliana flew down to visit Elvin's parents in San Jose, CA. Later on, we'll post pictures from the big party that Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai ("grandpa" and "grandma") threw for Eliana. But fow now, here's a video that Elvin took in the airport terminal as we were waiting to board our flight back to Portland. Eliana is getting a little fussy, so she demands to be walked around (merely sitting on her daddy's lap is just too boring.) And she feels the need to express her opinions about...well, we're not sure, but here is the short video...

Sucking her thumb

Eliana has finally gotten the hang of sucking her thumb! It's been a long time coming, after about a month of only knowing how to suck on her knuckles, fingers, shirt. Elvin thinks that Eliana might be left-handed, because he thinks that she prefers her left-hand. But the jury is still out...

She's 3 months old...

Eliana is now 3 months old and the time has flown by. Her unofficial weight ("unofficial" because it's according to our bathroom scale) is 14 pounds now. She is much more alert, looks around the room, and when she hears new sounds, she'll swivel her head around to see what's going on. And as you'll see, she has mastered several different octaves of "singing." To Elvin, she sounds like the Beijing opera, if you know what that is.

In case you can't watch the video, here are some of our favorite pictures. Below is Eliana wearing a pair of blue corduroys.

In the morning, the Yuen family has woken up and is enjoying breakfast together.

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(In case you were wondering...this time we let Eliana type the blog entry. But she often sticks her hands in her mouth, which makes her hands all slobbery. So instead of using her hands, she used her feet. Not bad for the first time using a computer, I guess.)

She's a talker...

Eliana will be a full-fledged chatterbox, we can tell already. She loves to vocalize and has all her vowels down pat. She can also do the "g" sound and the "d" sound, but that's about it.



By the way, in our last blog post, we announced that she had slept through the night for 3 nights in a row. Well, that jinxed us, because that very night, she decided to prove us wrong by getting up at 3am and not going to bed until 4:30am. Since then, she sleeps through the night about 4 times a week.

Growing up...

Eliana has changed alot the past couple of weeks. She has discovered her hands--that they are actually hers. She'll watch her hands move and occasionally notice her feet moving as well. Also, although she has been grabbing things for a while now...we think that she might actually be purposely reaching for things now. Not sure yet though. Eliana is definitely less fussy than she was even 3 weeks ago. The 1 to 2 hour crying sessions in the evenings are now 15 or 30 minutes.

And...(drumroll)...our baby has slept through the night for 3 days straight now! On a typical night, she'll be in bed by 9am or so and not get up until 6am or 7am.

Trip to Mile High City...

Last weekend we went to Denver to visit Emily's sister and brother-in-law, Jen and Darin. We saw their new house, did a little sight seeing, and most importantly, Eliana got to hang out with her aunt.

And what happens if you need to change a diaper at 30,000 feet, you might ask? Well, it takes two tray tables and some quick hands. The kind gentleman sitting next to us volunteered his Ziploc bag to put the old diaper in. I think there was some self-interest involved.

Fun activities

A co-worker told Elvin that when her son was 2 months old, her son really enjoyed looking at books. Eliana has not really shown interest in books, but we decided to try again. She thought the books were ok, but not that interesting...

What she really enjoys, though, is her monkey friend. If you hold Monkey in front of her face, she squeals in delight and will have a whole conversation with him.

Harvest time

Although we had a cool and wet spring, summer has extended nicely into September. The hot weather has allowed the tomatoes, strawberries and cucumbers in our backyard to ripen. Eliana joined Elvin while he was in the back grabbing some veggies.

Also in our backyard, we have some sort of a squash-bearing plant growing. The squashes are in the shape of a zucchini, but the color of a pumpkin. The plant was a volunteer and it might be a hybrid between the two. It grows monstrously large squashes, as you can see below. This must be what it's like to have twins (just kidding, to all those parents out there who actually have twins!).

Learning to sit up...

Eliana loves to be carried around in a sitting up position, facing out so she can she what's going on around her. But being able to sit up by herself, however, is another thing. Watch her attempts at sitting up (with mommy's help)...

Back by popular demand...

Because of all the positive feedback last time I did this, here is another graph showing Eliana's weight. Two days ago , she had her 2-month check up and weighed in at 12 lb. 1 oz. Needless to say, she is fattening up quite nicely. She also got her shots. She turned beet red and let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard for miles. We didn't think to take a video of that, so you'll just have to take our word for it. Anyways, she was pronounced healthy and fine.

Happy

Eliana is definitely a morning person. She is grouchy in the evenings but chipper when she wakes up...between 6 and 9am. In the morning, she always greets you with a contagious smile that brightens the room.

We have amassed a bunch of video clips in the past two weeks that show off the best of her laughs...

Snoring

Just like her daddy, Eliana is a natural and talented snorer. The disturbing thing is that Daddy is a grown man, but Eliana is just an 8-week old. She will be a very powerful snorer when she grows up. Beware potential suitors!

(Make sure the volume on your computer is "on" for the full experience.)

Eliana's Eighth Week

Eliana is almost 8 weeks old and boy has time flown by. She is growing by leaps and bounds--the folds of fat on her thighs prove it. We estimate that she is over 12 pounds now. She is much more alert now and able to track people's faces from across the room. She is vocalizing her vowels and sometimes even says "hi" by accident.

Our Eliana divides everyone she meets into two categories: "Mommy" and "Non-Mommy." She only lets Non-Mommy people hold her when she's in a good mood, or very drowsy. Otherwise, only Mommy is allowed to hold her. (Yes, Daddy unfortunately gets lumped into the Non-Mommy category.) We're trying to wean her of this, as Mommy sometimes needs a break.

Lots happens in one week and here is a snippet...

Learning How to Suck Her Thumb

Besides crawling, walking, and talking, the next big developmental milestone for Eliana is learning how to suck her thumb. Until recently, getting her hand anywhere near her mouth has been a hit-and-miss affair for Eliana. But as you will see, it seems like she can generally put her hand in the vicinity of her mouth. However, getting enough coordination to make her thumb stick out from her fist and into her mouth is still too much to ask. For now, she seems content to suck on her knuckles.

Bless you!

Eliana is a really good sneezer, but until now, we haven't been able to capture that on camera. She usually sneezes in pairs, so when she sneezed once, I quickly grabbed my camera and here is the second one...

Family Get Together

This weekend, Emily's sister, Jennifer, visited from Denver. Also, aunts, uncles and cousins drove in from as far as Walla Walla, WA for a Saturday bbq at Emily's parents house here in town.

So Eliana got to see some of her cousins that she's met before, and also meet other cousins for the very first time.

Aunt Jenny, from Denver, is holding Eliana. She spent this past weekend at our house.

Uncle Rob, who drove in from Walla Walla, is testing Ellie's neck strength.

Cousin Lena from Seattle meets Eliana for the first time and can't get over "how cute" Eliana is.

Cousin Nathaniel holds Eliana while cousin Millie pats her head.

Playtime!

Now that Eliana is 5 weeks old, she is becoming more active and more aware of her surroundings. So we lay her down on her play mat, where she can bat at the mini-stuffed animals dangling in front of her.

Her legs are also getting stronger and can support her full body weight. Although the balance is not there yet, she likes to stretch her legs and bounce up and down. And eventually, she gets tired of playing and just wants to be in mommy's arms.

Gan-bei!

("Gan-bei" is Chinese for "bottoms up!") Just last week, we started Eliana on a bottle once a day. We heard that if we start too late, she won't be used to it and will reject it. Eliana seems to like it fine, if she's in a good mood. With it, she can guzzle 5 oz. of milk like no other. But if she's in a bad mood, she likes her milk straight from the source.

Out for a walk...

This past Saturday, we went out for a walk on a great sunny day. We were on the campus of WSU, which is about a 15 minute car-ride away. Like all babies, I guess, Eliana enjoyed being in the stroller, especially when the ground was bumpy. She also really likes being outdoors, but hated having the sun in her eyes.

After a while, we took a family picture together. Eliana waves "hi" to all her peeps out there.

By the way, the picture above was taken about 5 minutes before Eliana started shrieking uncontrollably. We cancelled our planned stop at Costco and headed straight home.

She is four weeks old!

On Monday, Eliana will have been with us for four weeks. It feels like she has been here for a long time and we can't imagine what life was like before she was around. She is learning how to hold her head up and also grasping things more with her tiny little hands. Eliana is also tracking things alot better with her eyes--especially faces. She continues to amaze us with her appetite and has developed chubby cheeks, chubby arms, and chubby thighs.

Elvin is still working part-time and between going grocery shopping, working in the yard, and watching the Olympics, he made this slideshow about the past couple of weeks.

Favorite activity...

When Eliana starts fussing and nothing seems to soothe her, Emily takes her outside to our front porch. Once outside, Eliana almost always quiets down, especially when sitting on our swing. She enjoys looking at our neighbor's houses, at the lawn, or at the siding on the house. Whatever it is, she loves being outside. So being outside is her favorite activity.

Sweet dreams...

A few days ago, we took some video of Eliana, while she was sleeping in her mommy's arms. At times, she sleeps super soundly, and nothing seems to wake her up. Other times, she seems to be having all kinds of dreams...about? No matter what, Elvin loves to watch her, and gets impatient if she sleeps for too long, and actually tries to wake her up, despite Emily's requests to not do so.

Favorite nap position

After feeding, Eliana usually goes into a food coma for about 5 minutes. Then she wakes up and becomes alert for about half an hour. After that, she starts fussing and needs to be soothed to sleep. Eliana's favorite position for that is tummy to tummy with her Mommy. It takes between 5 minutes and 45 minutes to get her to sleep, and after that...she'll be out cold for 1-3 hours.

Grandparents' visit...

Last week, Eliana's grandparents from Elvin's side flew in from San Jose, CA. This was the first time that Yeh-yeh (grandpa) and Nai-nai (grandma) got to see Eliana. They showered attention on her and spoke a mix of English, Portuguese, and Chinese to her. This either thoroughly confused her or is helping her become trilingual...or maybe a little of both.

Yeh-yeh, Nai-nai, and Eliana...

And here are all four grandparents...

Eliana's weight gain...

We just came back from Eliana's 2-week appointment with her pediatrician. The doctor said that they expect most babies to get back to their birth weight at the 2-week point. Our Eliana, however, weighed in at 8 lb. and 12 ounces. That's 1 lb. and 2 ounces over her birth weight. Do we have a future competitive eating contender?

Because I'm sure you'll all be asking for it, here is her weight all graphed out for you, starting from the day she was born until today. (At this stage in her young life, I figured she's not that sensitive about her weight, so I didn't think she'd mind be posting this.)

Hanging out with Eliana

So we've been told that Eliana is a very mild-mannered baby (so far.) When she cries, it's usually for a reason, like "I'm hungry and need some grub!" or "Why in the world did you wake me up for?" Otherwise, she's been sleeping at 3 to 4 hours at a stretch and been gaining weight like gangbusters.

Besides eating and sleeping, she does spend quite a bit of time looking around, swinging her arms around and--with her legs--kicking at an invisible soccer ball. (We hope that someday she'll be on the women's World Cup team for the U.S.) She also enjoys making a variety of grunts, loud exhale sounds, and squeaky noises.

Here's a look...

Eliana's first week

Eliana has had a long week, beginning with being born and leaving her cozy womb, to taking her first car ride, meeting some of her cousins, and moving in with her Mommy and Daddy.



Eliana has learned how to sleep through her Daddy's snoring and her Daddy has learned how to sleep through Eliana's screaming. (Mommy has a hard time sleeping through either.) We are adjusting well as a family.



Here's a video summarizing her first week...

Little hands and feet

At the hospital, they took a stamp of Eliana's tiny hands and feet. Some of the impressions went onto the birth certificate, we believe, and others were for us as keepsakes. She has long little fingers...

While she was taking a nap...

Eliana is holding Daddy's finger.

Waking up routine...

About every 3 hours, Eliana has to go through her wake up routine. She instinctively knows to do her calisthenics, especially after we take her out of her swaddling. She stretches her arms and legs out straight, contorts her face in a myriad of expressions, and gradually starts wimpering...which soon turns into shrieking if we don't get her some food!

First smile?

We're not sure, but we may have caught one of Eliana's first smiles. Or it could just be muscle spasm. What do you think? (As a bonus, the video also show's Eliana doing her freaky one-eye-opening maneuver.)

Eliana's first bath

Well, technically, this is her second bath, since her first was at the hospital after she was born. But this is her first bath at home. Since Elvin had no idea how to give a baby a bath, Emily did it all and Elvin just took pictures.

"I'm not sure I'm going to like this..."

Washing her hands.

"This isn't so bad...I think."

Washing the wispy hair...

New hairdoo..

Getting my hair combed.

Now I'm all clean!