A quick note from Jon to say that our mostly empty website (see links section) is not so empty anymore. In particular, I encourage interested parties to read Beth's personal blog on her section of the site for some deeper thoughts and reflections. Meanwhile, the Photo Archive will soon be populated with many photos at full resolution, suitable for saving to disk and getting developed at a photofinishing store if you are so inclined.

Ah, the joys of parenting! Elena surprises us with something new all the time. The past few weeks Elena has shown a deep fascination with the visualizer on Jon's computer. She especially loves when we play Trance/Dance music. In fact, she loves the same music that she did in the womb and will attempt to dance to the music and smile big smiles when it comes on.


Elena turned 10 weeks yesterday so she is now 2 and 1/2 months old! And wow is she big for her age! She is almost 14 lbs now (13 lbs, 14 oz to be exact) and is getting longer too! She has almost completely grown out of her 0-3 month clothing and is now wearing her 3-6 month clothes. Here she is playing in her new fun toy: the Tiny Love 3-D Baby Gym that our friends Myles and Karen let us borrow. Elena will play in her little gym for 20-30 minutes at a time, allowing me some much needed time to get things done around the house.


Elena loves her giraffe towel. She especially loves when we let her shower with us and then we wrap her up in her towel, put her on her changing table, and sing to her. She smiles so widely sometimes we can barely see her eyes.

Elena's favorite stuffed animal is Mr. Monkey. Elena loves to talk to Mr. Monkey, hug him, and even tries to "kiss" him. She also loves sitting her chair which vibrates.



When Jon gets home from work, he usually loves holding his lil girl and playing with her. The easiest way to calm Elena down is to put her in her baby carrier. She usually konks right out. Here she sleeps with Jon as he surfs the web (one of Jon's fav pasttimes).

Having a little baby to care for can be challenging at times, but Jon and I have such great joy in watching Elena learn new things. Recently she has learned that she has hands and will hold them out in front of her face and try to use them. I wake up and step out of the room and come back to find her reaching out for me with her little arms and hands spread wide. It is a beautiful sight!

January 2, 2007

It's a new year and we have more tales of Elena our Moon Monkey! (that's one of Jon's pet names for her. Don't ask me why, but it makes us all laugh!)

On December 9, my dear friends Amber O'Neill and Joanna Pallister threw me and Elena a wonderful baby shower. Amber organized the shower and Joanna hosted the shower at her house. I feel so blessed to have such great friends and felt blessed to be able to share my shower with my mom who was in town to help us with Elena.

Elena turned 6 weeks old last Thursday and we had our final midwife appointment. Elena weighs 12 pounds on the dot and is almost 24 inches long. She is healthy, fast-growing little girl! Jon and I have been greatly rejoicing in Elena's new use of sounds. Besides making "oohs" and "ahs," she has started repeating the sounds we make. This week I was singing to her and she starting singing back to me in perfect pitch several times! I was SOOO excited! And then she sang back to Jon as well. We aren't planning her career in opera yet, but it is great to know that she can sing!



Here you can see the great joy that my dad has in holding his little granddaughter. Elena is so strong that she is standing when we just use our hands to steady her. My dad visited us in Vancouver from December 19-28 and it was such a joy to have him near and watch him interact with Elena!



Jon insisted that Elena "open" her own presents. Here Elena opens the beautiful gift that her Grandma Ovelina and her Grandpa Dave sent for her to open on Christmas Eve. Inside was a lovely ornament for Elena's first Christmas tree!




Elena also learned to smile just before Christmas as you can see in these two pictures.



Elena received her first stocking and Jon and I thought it would be funny if looking back she got to see that she FIT in her stocking!

Elena keeps surprising us with all the new things she is learning to do. She has begun talking in baby gibberish and seems like she is going to be a real talker. She is always "telling us stories" and "singing us songs" : ) She also loves staring into people's eyes and smiling. Her favorite game is "flying baby" which Jon plays with her every day!

On the not-specifically-about-Elena front, Jon and I have been busily putting together our applications for PhD programs and hope to find out in the next few months where we will be living next and which program we will working in. It is very exciting, but also a lot of work especially with a newborn!

Well, I must be going. Elena is waking up from one of her afternoon naps and needs my attention. We send our love to all and our well wishes in this New Year!