7 weeks old!

Gabriel is now 7 weeks old!  He is fortunately developing a schedule now...  He will take naps often throughout the day.  In the evening, he might get somewhat fussy and then will fall asleep around 8pm or 9pm for good.  At night he will get up to feed but then more often than not goes right back to sleep.  He will get up at around 6am or 7am and be awake for a while.

When Gabriel is awake, he is more alert and looks around the room.  He makes eye contact with you now but doesn't smile at you yet--that is, unless you are Eliana.  Eliana has a knack with little babies; she will talk softly to Gabriel, stroke his cheek, and pat his head.  And Gabriel will coo a her and smile in return.  He doesn't do this for anyone but her, not even for Mommy. 





We like the picture below because it looks like Gabriel is waving to the camera.  We have a picture of Eliana doing the same thing.

We don't know exactly how much Gabriel weighs right now, but he is already wearing 3-6 month clothes, and some of those are tight on him.  The shirt below is pretty tight-fitting and shows off the contour of his mighty belly. 

To go along with his long fingers, he seems to have pretty long toes as well. 

Karina still enjoys holding Gabriel.  She has lots of fun doing that.  Sometimes Gabriel's arm will swing up and bonk her on her face.  She thinks that that is really funny.

And she likes delivering little kisses on to her little brother.

When putting him to sleep, we will rock Gabriel in the bathroom with the loud overhead fan on because that seems to soothe him.  Sometimes Karina will come along doing the same to her teddy bear.

Karina and Eliana are enjoying a pretty laid back summer.  So how are they spending their days?  They like doing puzzles, playing games, and listening to audible books on Mom's cell phone.



Eliana LOOOVES playing hide-and-seek with Elvin.  Can you tell where she is hiding in the picture below?

Eliana likes going outside on the plasma car that the girls got for their birthdays recently.  She got the hang of it right away and it's probably her favorite bike-type toy right now.  She also likes picking flowers from the yard; except that for this one, she uprooted the whole thing.

And Eliana continues to display her goofy side.  One day while we were setting the table she says, "Look Mommy what I can do!" and hangs the spoon onto her nose.  To our knowledge this is the first time she's done this, although the way she did it with such ease makes us think that she's been secretly practicing in a closet somewhere.  "Who taught you that, Eliana?" Emily asked.  Eliana said she saw it done in one of her Fancy Nancy books.  Go figure.

And it's been fairly hot here, so the girls have enjoyed playing the pool they inherited from their cousins.  They love to splash around in there.

They seem to be enjoying their lazy, carefree summer!  We hope you are too!

Happy July 4th!

Happy 4th of July!  As has been our tradition, we have gone on a trip for the 4th of July, which is just as well because fireworks are legal here and people spend thousands of dollars on them.  On the night of the 4th, it can sound like a war zone on our street.

We took off in the morning for the 2-hour drive to the Oregon Coast, to Lincoln City, for a reunion with all of Emily's family.  All five of her siblings plus their spouses and kids drove or flew in for the occasion.  On the way there, we stopped at a random farm stand/sundry store and had Tillamook ice cream for lunch.  It was either that or eat cherry tomatoes or green beans or raw onions.  Eliana really enjoyed this and was asking for ice cream for lunch the rest of the week.

Because there were more than 30 people gathering together, we rented two 5-bedroom houses that were side by side.  They were a stone's throw from the beach and had a beautiful view.  You can see the view from the balcony below.  In the picture, you can also see Karina's thigh and leg--she was the one that took the picture in case you were wondering.

We had nice strolls down the beach and walked to the tide pools.  It was very sunny, in the 60's and low 70's, and also very windy.  Here is Karina acting shy.  When she doesn't like what's going on, she gives you this look.

On Saturday, we drove about 40 miles south to the Newport Aquarium.  Both girls enjoyed looking at the sea lions, sea otters, and fish.

Eliana grabbed the camera and took pictures as well.  Here are a couple...

And to explain the picture above, here is the informational panel.

The cousins also came along to the Aquarium.  It's very handy having two extra set of hands.

The Aquarium has a underwater tunnel you walk through.  This is Karina's first time, as least that she could remember; she thought it was pretty cool.

This was also Gabriel's first time, but it did not impress him at all.

And the Aquarium has a nice little playground.  We have a picture of Eliana playing on the same dolphin structure when she was Karina's age.

And the girls spent plenty of time on the beach.  Karina had an aversion to sand and would not stand or sit in it.  She would only sit on someone's lap or on a towel.  On one hand, this make it real limiting for her.  On the other hand, you could leave her on the towel and know that she wouldn't wander off.

The girls enjoyed playing together.

The weather was perfect for flying kites. 

Karina is flying a kite with her cousin Erica.

Eliana went to the beach at least once a day and sometimes twice.  Here she is building sand castles with cousin Abby.

Gabriel, on the other hand, mostly stayed indoors.  He hung out with Mommy, or was being carried by one of his aunties or cousins.  Needless to say, he got lots of attention.

And this vacation was certainly different for Eliana compared to a generation ago.  Instead of playing cards or boardgames, the kids played with iPhones and iPads.

And on the last night, we joined the family on the beach for a bonfire.  Since Karina doesn't like the sand, she insisted on being carried the whole time.  We roasted marshmallows, which the girls loved gobbling up.  Overall it was great fun, but also very tiring for the girls.  The night we got home, they each slept about 12 hours!