Uh Oh!

Look who found her thumb!  This could be a hard habit to break down the road... but pretty cute right now.

Car seat ninja

This is her plotting face.

I'm always wondering what she is thinking...

Whom is she fighting?  That's our Car Seat Ninja.

Our sweetie

Trips with Eliana

I call this her bulldog face.  (Eliana, please don't hate me when you are older!)

Visiting Aunt Abby

Eliana has taken a couple of trips lately - one to Columbus as we checked out places to live and one to Rockford, IL to visit my sister as she plans her wedding.  This girl HATES rides in the car!  The ride home from Columbus was awful.  She can scream so loud!  I think she was very tired because she had spent all day in the car.  We were stopping every 30 min or so just to get her out of her carseat and calm her down.  Traveling is nearly impossible with Eliana.  So imagine my trepidation to take her with me to visit my sister - a four hour car ride at least.  I figured out a trick though.  If I leave when she is sleeping then we can make it a lot farther before she starts crying.  That means I left Rockford at 6am in the hopes that I could make it mostly home before she woke for the day.  Haha, the things you do when you have kids.
We did have a good trip to visit Abby though.  Eliana rolled over for the first time!  She rolled from her tummy to her back.  I didn't believe it happened and had to check with Abby to make sure she saw it too.  David was funny - when we got home, he said to Eliana, "Why are you doing all your tricks for Aunt Abby and not showing them to me?"  I felt kinda bad about that, but I guess I don't have any control over when she hits her milestones.  She's getting to be such a big girl!

Beautiful Baby Time

Checking out my play mat toys.  This outfit is from Uncle Joe and Aunt Karen, and one of my favorites right now!

Lifting up my head!

Getting ready to go on a walk with Dad.

Eliana has been a busy bee these past few days.  She has been working hard on lifting her head and now can hold herself up on her forearms pretty well.  She can turn from her back to her side really well.  She's not quite turning over yet, but she is getting very close!  When Eliana is on her back, she can spin herself in a circle!  One time I put her on her play mat and then was working on something on the computer.  David came home and he said "Whoa, look what Eliana is doing!"  She was on her side and completely turned her self from feet towards me to head towards me.  I was listening to her coo and had no idea she was moving that far!  Guess I need to start keeping an eye on her now, huh. 
Today we went to the breastfeeding support group at the hospital.  Eliana weighs 14lbs!  What a big girl.  At two and a half months old, the average baby weighs 11lbs.  Not our girl.  She is above average in every way.  :)
Tomorrow, David and I will be going to Columbus to check out the city.  While we are there, we are going to visit my brother Michael and his girlfriend Melissa.  Melissa lives in Columbus and Michael plans on moving there soon.  It will be so nice to move to a place where we already know some people!  Plus there are several friends of friends that I am excited to meet.  Ready or not Columbus, here we come!

Match Day!

At the Match Day Ceremony.  Eliana is ready for the Luau!

David's devoted family.

Signing the white coat.

David Bond - Ohio St IM

We're going to Columbus, OH!  David matched at Ohio State!

Tomorrow is Match Day!!

Less than 24 hours until David finds out his residency!!

I might take a few too many pictures ...

Naked time on my playmat!  Eliana will probably be so mad at me one day for posting a picture like this.  Oh well.  She likes naked time because then her legs are more free to move without her bulky diaper on.  I'll give you one guess why I soon came to regret the decision to let her go diaperless.

Too cute!

David rocking Eliana to sleep.  We are trying to get her to go to bed earlier since the time change.

Eliana is lifting her head higher!  And what tummy time wouldn't be complete without some puking :)

Nap time

Here are a bunch of different pictures from the past week.  I know, I've gone a little overboard.  And this isn't even all of them haha. 

FOUR days until we find out where David will be for residency!

Bath Time

Love my fist!

Like my hairdo?

We all went down to the canal today to enjoy the nice weather.  David went on a run to train for the Mini.  He jogged the canal twice (that's 6 miles) in 44 min.  That's about 7:20 a mile.  Ok all of my family, how is your training going?  While David was running, Eliana took a ride in her stroller while I walked with my friend Stephanie Newton.  We did one lap in 60 min.  That's about 20 min per mile.  You can see that I am training hard for the Mini. 

Shakin' It!

Eliana's shaking her rattle!  Ok, technically, I put the rattle in her hand but she is good at grasping it.  Then she shakes it!  Or really she is just moving her arms and the rattle happens to be in her hand.  But still, this is the first time she has sort of interacted with her toys.  Unless you count the times that she accidentally has hit the toys dangling from her bouncy seat.  She gets more and more fun every day!

Tummy Time

Working out my neck muscles.

Starting to get tired of this tummy time thing...

Big, beautiful smile!

We went out to dinner with my parents tonight for my mom's birthday.  As I was getting ready, I started thinking about how things have changed with a baby.  I like to dress up if I am going out.  Dressing up used to mean wearing skinny jeans with a nice top and putting on makeup.  Now dressing up means putting on pants that don't have an elastic waistband.  A nice dinner used to mean going to a restaurant and relaxing with a glass of wine.  Now a nice dinner is one that I can inhale in less than 10 minutes before Eliana wants to eat.  I used to wear clean clothes.  Now I think as long as Eliana hasn't puked on me more than twice, my clothes are probably clean enough.  Nap time used to mean I laid down on the couch in the early afternoon for a little snooze.  Now nap time means Eliana is sleeping and I am rushing around trying to clean and put away as much stuff as possible.  It might be different, but I'm kinda liking it.  Funny how I wouldn't trade this new world for anything. 

I'm a happy baby!

Shots

Poor Eliana has been miserable.  She cried off and on for a couple of hours last night.  Laying against my chest, she would be sleeping and then out of the blue would start wailing.  She would make the saddest face I have ever seen.  I think she is feeling bad from her shots.  This must be the hardest part of being a parent.  I know she needs her shots and that they are for her good, but how do I explain that to a two month old?  All she knows is that she hurts and doesn't know why.  We were both in tears last night. 

This made me think of how God must be with us sometimes.  He has a great plan for us, for our good, but so often we don't understand.  When we are in pain or something bad happens or things don't go the way we think they should or would like them to, we cry to Him, "Why are you doing this to me?  This is too painful!  Can't we do things my way?"  And God replies, "My child, this is for your good.  You don't understand now, but I have a plan for you and this will help you achieve that perfect plan."  Maybe this is one of the answers to why bad things happen to good people.  How much God must long for us to understand Him and trust Him.  As much as I love Eliana, He loves each of us more.  And as much as I hurt when Eliana cries, He hurts more to see us in pain.  Maybe I don't understand Him, but God does have a plan for my life and sometimes I have to be tested by fire to come out stronger.  Eliana has taught me so much in the little time I have been blessed to have her in my life.  I don't know how anything could change you quite as much as being a parent.  (Or make you appreciate your own parents so much.  I love you Mom and Dad!)

2 Months old!

See the bandaids from my shots?

Sleepy cuddle time for the brave little girl.

Eliana is two months old today.  Time is going so fast!  She got to spend the morning with Grandmama Gloria.  She was looking mighty cute and was all smiles.  Then we went to the pediatrician for her well baby visit.  Eliana now weighs 13 lbs even and is 23.5in long.  That's the 90th percentile for both.  Her head circumference is 42cm, which is greater than the 97th percentile.  Eliana was super cute during her appointment.  She kept smiling at Dr. Greenfield.  Once the doctor had finished her exam, she said "Okay, I am going to send the nurse in now to give Eliana her shots."  And poor unsuspecting Eliana gave a huge smile.  She actually did really well getting her shots.  She cried initially but calmed down quickly.  This afternoon she has seemed extra tired.  Right now she is screaming her head off, but David is changing her diaper, so hopefully she calms down once that is done.  Otherwise we might be in for a looong night.  Which would be really sad since she has gotten so good at sleeping through the night.  Say a prayer for us!

Bobby Potato (get it -- like couch potato!)

I am not supposed to be blogging right now (David and I are watching a movie) but this was too cute to resist.  I propped Eliana on the bobby and she was actually enjoying it for a while, with quite impressive head control I might add.  Then she said "Ok I'm done" and started fussing.  I was about to pick her up when David turned on our movie ("50/50" in case you were wondering - it's good!).  All the sudden she stopped crying and stared right at the TV.  She was entranced!  I think we have a movie lover on our hands :)  She is so stinkin' cute!