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.