Growing Up with Gabriela

Walking and Spaghetti Dinner

2008-04-25T22:17:00.006-05:00

A lot of new things have been happening at the Starks. Ela is teething again. Two new top teeth can be seen beginning to push their way through. She doesn't seem to be suffering too much although she's had an occasional moment or two of desperation. This morning, during breakfast, I was finally able to catch on video something that she's been doing for quite some time. If you blink at her she will make eyes back at you. Here, watch:

I think she looks so intense in this picture. Wonder who she gets it from?

Ela taking baby for a walk. She's walking all over the place now. Mostly she uses the furniture to help her get around but she'll also take up to six or seven steps all on her own before she plops down on the ground. It's exciting to watch her wobbly little steps.

In the following picture she is sharing some quiet time with new friends. I've been trying to teach her to be nice to the dolls instead of throwing them on the floor. She's learned to hug and kiss them and we're working on learning to feed them their bottle. Although notice she'd rather chew on it herself. I think the progression of events in the next three pictures is funny (I didn't stage this. It just kind of happened, not sure how):

They were getting along fine when suddenly they decided to gang up on her! She is clearly annoyed at them. Bad babies. Then again, maybe she shouldn't chew on their bottle.

This is the lovely jump suit from her Aunt Amanda. She always helps bring style into this tot's life.

And finally, the best video I've seen in a while. Ela had spaghetti for dinner tonight. This is just some of what happened:

I think no caption is necessary here. Enjoy!

Photos and Videos

2008-04-15T20:04:00.006-05:00

Aunt Amanda visited this past weekend and Ela had tons of fun with her. Here they are playing peek-a-boo/tickle. Notice she sports the hot pink tutu even when it's too chili to wear just the tights.

Today Ela went for a walk with her abuelo. They picked a rosa (Spanish for rose, that's what my dad called it) for me. Ela at first didn't want to touch it but when she saw how much I liked it she decided she might just want to keep it for herself. We compromised and it's in a vase on the coffee table where we can both look at it.

And the video of her using her walker. I think she looks like a tiny old person. My mom babysat her this morning and she reports that Ela actually took a couple of steps alone by her own initiative. I was sad I missed it but I'm sure it will happen again soon.

And last but not least, the video I call peek a boo. I'll let you figure out why. She will do this over and over and she even likes to do it in the bathtub with her ducking down inside the tub while I'm outside of it. I'll try to get a video of it sometime.

Some Recent Picutres

2008-04-10T15:49:00.007-05:00

Last weekend my friend, Ceri, came over. She brought an old bridesmaid dress and a bunch of hot pink tulle and said, more or less, "let's give this dress a makeover". So we did--maybe I'll posts pictures of the transformation if I get any from her, but she over-calculated on the tulle she would need so some of the extra turned into a tutu for Ela:

Ela loves being a ballerina.

This is an action shot. She's either dancing to some music or doing one of her newest things-- hold on to the coffee table and scoot all the way around it. She does this many times a day now.

Waking up from a nap. She looks so big to me in this picture.

Kimono from Uncle Jim and his trip to Japan. Her Aunt Dee,
Cousin Lily and Cousin Robert all sent her fun gifts too.

Here's a video that was taken about a month ago but I was looking through them and rediscovered it. It made me laugh so I thought I'd add it. She's moving around a lot more on her own now. She uses the furniture to get from place to place. It's fun to watch.

High Chair Makeover

2008-04-02T11:42:00.016-05:00

I finally completed a project I've been wanting to do for a while now. It helps that now I have my own sewing machine so I can have at it whenever I have free time. Ela's high chair is a hand-me-down that someone gave us. It's in great shape and serves its purpose so I can't complain... except for the color of the padding. It's just ugly. Here, you can see for yourself:

So Ela and I picked out some fun fabric and I got to work. Here's Ela posing with the fabric for her "new" high chair:

And here's Ela in her high chair with no cover while the project was in progress. I had to include this video 'cause it makes me laugh. I've entitled it "Ela Eats with a Fork":

(there have been some difficulties in uploading the video. I will try again
to upload it later so check back again. I promise it will be worthwhile.)

And the finished project. It feels fresh, it feels new, it feels pretty. It took me a couple of nights of work for a total of about 4 hours (includes trial-and-error so I'd get it done much faster if I did it again) and it cost me $4. Not bad!

In other news, Ela seems to have come down with a little bit of a virus. She's running a fever, got a runny nose and a little bit of diarrhea. She has to go on the "brat" diet: banana, rice, apple, toast. Basically anything high in fiber. I hope this doesn't last long and that she starts feeling better soon. Now that I think of it, she hasn't been sick at all since a mild cold she had in December so I can't complain, but it's still no fun having a sick baby.

Before & After

Goes to show that you don't need a new high chair, just an old one with a makeover!

Ten Months and Walking

2008-03-23T22:33:00.006-05:00

It's been a while since I last posted about Ela and so I sincerely apologize to those who check back here for updates and pictures. I guess life has been busy, but we're still having a blast.

Let's see, what has Ela been up to? She just turned 10 months last Wednesday. Time has gone by so fast and I find myself fantasizing about her birthday party. I know she won't know or care but I will and I want to have the story to tell and pictures to show her when she's older.

She seems to have skipped right over the crawling stage and into the walking. The drive to get up and walk seems to be irresistible. There are times when she will simply insist that someone come help her walk around. This stage has been demanding on us parents since she requires our help all the time, although she's gaining more and more independence every day. She now holds on to furniture and tries to move from the coffee table to the couch and back (they're only about a foot apart). For a week or so she has stood on her own for intervals of about 10-60 second or longer. Today, for the first time, she stood and clapped her hands at the same time--this requires quite a bit of balance! She was giving herself a round of applause for having put her toy in the toy box.

We've been to the playground on the few days when the weather has been nice. She loves the swing. She hangs on tight and doesn't mind going high. We tried the slide but she doesn't get the fun in that yet so we pretty much head straight for the baby swings.

Ela walking the drive way with her abuelita.

I think this is the second or third time she stood solo.

Still loves bath time! She'll stand at the tub and dance around
and try to climb in the tub while I'm preparing her water.

She had a blast pulling out all the books. I think she was also proud of herself.

Playing in Abuelita's back yard on a beautiful spring day.

Sitting on a bench.

Bowls are tons of fun!

Nursery, Teeth, and Mom gets Creative

2008-02-24T20:13:00.006-06:00

Saturday morning was a lazy morning. In an attempt to sleep a little longer I brought Ela into bed with us and fed her there. I thought she might fall back asleep but she didn't. It ended up with Thom and me lying there half asleep and Ela sitting in between the two trying real hard to entertain herself. She discovered one of Thom's tattoos and tried to pick it off with her. That task lasted a while until she figured out it couldn't be done. Thom is sticking to the story that there are two races of humans: the tattoosians, who are born that way, and the non-tattoosians. He claims this is how he will teach our kids not to get tattoos. Good luck Thom.

Yesterday Ela went to the church nursery for the first time. I know, I know, it's about time. I was so nervous when I dropped her off I was literally shaking. I managed to sit through the whole sermon and I made myself stay through one song before I went to check on her. She was fine, playing on the floor with one of the teenagers that works there. She had a great time. I'm beginning to experience what my mom, to this day, still experiences when any one of us girls is staying with them but is out late at night. It's not pleasant.

Yesterday I also discovered she sprouted a new tooth and today, as I was trying to show the new tooth to Thom, he discovered that the one next to it is just about ready to push through which will give her a total of four teeth. Somehow having upper teeth makes her seem so much older than just bottom ones. She's also getting better at her walking with help from Mom or Dad's fingers. She used to call out to me when she wanted to be picked up. Now she calls out to me when she wants me to come over and lend a friendly finger or two. She grabs on to one finger, then the other and pulls herself up. Pretty soon we're across the room.

Finding things for her to eat has become a challenge. She doesn't want to be spoon fed the mushy stuff anymore. That stage came and went real quickly. So I've been forced to find soft foods that I can cut up small enough for her to gum and swallow. Some foods, like banana, are to slimy to pick up with two little pinchy fingers so I set out to find a solution. One thing I tried was coating the little banana pieces with crushed cheerios. She didn't like that so much but I'm keeping that idea storead away for future use. You never know. She did love the banana pancakes I made for her. I dipped banana slices in pancake batter (made with formula, not milk) and then cooked them on the skillet. Another thing that has worked is banana toast. I just make her a piece of toast, smear some mushed banana on there and fold the toast in half like a sandwich so she doesn't notice the slimy banana on there. I know, sounds kind of gross but she loves it. Today I tried the same thing with prunes and she like it too. I just squished the inside out of the prune skin and spread it on the toast. This is my attempt to get some fiber in her diet.

Lastly, here's a video of Thom playing with Ela. Well, it's more like a video of Thom being Ela.

Doctor Visit

2008-02-21T16:08:00.007-06:00

Despite the rain and ice, Ela and I went to her Dr. appointment today. Thom and I were both off on her height and weight. Her weight is 15 lbs 8 oz. Her height is 26 in. I was surprised to hear that she had only gained about 1.6 lbs since last time, three months ago. The doctor told me not to worry right now because she is proportionate. In other words, her weight is right for her height. She's not fat, nor skinny. We'll just keep an eye on her. She has begun eating more actual foods so maybe that will add some pounds to her.

It seemed boring to post without having at least a video or something so here it is, enjoy.

Growing, Learning, Laughing

2008-02-20T20:21:00.006-06:00

Hello all. I don't have much time but I wanted to post some pictures and a quick update on what Ela is doing. She has started waving bye bye and drinking out of her sippy cup by herself (although sometimes I have to help tip it back far enough to get anything).

She is eating more and more foods, she won't allow me to spoon feed her anymore so I've gone to cutting everything up and letting her pick it up with her two little fingers. She's also eating larger quantities. This morning she ate almost a whole piece of toast and 1/4 banana for breakfast and for supper she ate almost a whole tortilla with beans and rice. That's a lot for a little tummy!

She loves to play all kinds of games. Her newest favorite game is one we invented tonight. It's called "Ela catch." The premise of the game is that we "toss" Ela back and forth between the two of us and she thinks she's actually being tossed and caught. We all laughed real hard.

She loves reading books, all the more when Daddy reads them with his funny voices. The ones with the lift flaps are the best. She has a couple of them memorized so she knows exactly where to lift from. She's always sure to put the flap back in place before moving on to the next page.

I know only a handful of people care about this but tomorrow his her 9 month checkup. At her last appointment on Nov 27th she weighted 14 lbs, 2 oz. and was 25 1/4 inches tall.
Thom's guess for tomorrow: 16.5 lbs and 27 in. tall.
My guess for tomorrow: 17 lbs 3 oz and 27.5 in. tall.

Ela and our friend Hiedi

Ela and Aunt Amanda

heavenly peace

What Ela's Up To

2008-02-13T20:56:00.005-06:00

Our days have been busier. It's been hard to find time to post on blogs these days. Thom got a new job so now he's working two jobs. I've also been working more. This is good, since we need the money. But we're crunched for time-- time together and time to get miscellaneous things done.

Ela, as always, is wonderful. Today she waved bye bye to Thom for the first time. She's been saying Dada for a few weeks now. She likes to sing loudly and she now eats big person foods. Her newest food is little pieces of green beans. She loves them. She's been refusing to crawl for a long time. She finally looks like she's on the verge of that milestone, but not quite yet. I hope I can get some video of her when it happens. She likes to stand up and sit down, over and over. She also can now stand while holding on to a chair or the sofa and she can take little steps while holding on to mom or dad's fingers.

Next Thursday is her 9 month checkup at the Dr. I'm eager to find out her weight and height. I'll be sure to let you know how her growth is once I know. It's been three months since her last appointment and I'm proud to announce that for the first time we didn't have to go in to see the Dr. in between checkups for some nagging illness, which means a healthy baby.

Well, that's enough of that. Here are some recent pictures:

Zebra shirt from Aunt Amanda!

Practicing use of sippy cup.

Eating something (Cheerio, I think).

Eating tortilla-- yum!

"Dada"

Oh yes, Ela's new little friend, Ava Rose entered this world on Feb 12th around 5:40pm. Ela, Megan and I went to visit her and her mommy today. They're doing great and Ava is beautiful. I can't wait to spend some more time with her and I'll be sure to get some pictures up here of Ela interacting with Ava. She was definitely intrigued by the little crying baby and wanted to touch her so bad--which just serves to remind me all the more that Ela is no longer a little baby. It also gets me thinking "big sister", but I should probably put that thought away for now.

2008-02-03T18:43:00.000-06:00

She's Just So Much Fun

2008-02-02T21:08:00.000-06:00

Ela and I are playing "mommy peeks from behind the camera".

Just a few photos

2008-01-28T12:50:00.000-06:00

This is Ela's crazy after-bath hair. And it's her time-to-go-to-bed stare.

Finally enough hair for a barrette.

Lovin' the freedom.

Daddy & Ela chillin' on the couch.

Aunt Amanda made a surprise visit this weekend!

Loving the sweet potatoes.

Who Does She Look Like?

2008-01-22T22:22:00.001-06:00

I was just looking through some old childhood pictures of Thom and me. I started trying to figure out who she looked like most. Well, what do you think? I tried to find pictures of her making similar expressions as Thom and I are making in our pictures.

I couldn't resist

2008-01-18T22:22:00.000-06:00

Ela and I went over to my parents house this afternoon. My dad found a little basketball in his drawer for Ela to play with. It's her favorite toy now. This is just a cute video of Ela playing with the ball.

Video: Si, No

2008-01-16T15:16:00.001-06:00

Here's a fun video I think everyone will enjoy. One of Ela's latest things is shaking her head "no", although I don't think she knows it means no. She also can bob her head, "yes". Other new things she does are talk (at least she thinks so) and dance--well, more like keeps beat with her body. She also seems to be teething really bad. She already has one tooth completely in and a second one half way in. Lately, though she hasn't seemed quite herself and she has refused to eat anything but her milk during the last couple of days, which makes me believe she's got a bad case of teething. At least I hope that's what it is and not something serious. We've all been through a round of a couple of different viruses. Anyway, enjoy the video. It's great. Ela is great.

Our Trip to Illinois

2008-01-10T21:01:00.001-06:00

The first week of January Megan, Ela and I drove up to Decatur, IL to visit Amanda. She wasn't able to make it home for Christmas because of work and money so we had to take her gifts to her. We had a really good time. Here are just a few pictures:

Ela and I got to meet the Breezes. The grownups had good talks and the babies had fun too. Ela tried to take Torah's sock off!

Two cuties

Ela and me with one of my oldest and best friends, Amy. Thanks for meeting up with us Amy!

We went to a museum in Champagne and Ela got to sit on Australia.

Tia Amanda and Ela just loungin.

One of Ela's new favorite buddies, Alex. She and Alex played and played and played and had a great time.

At Starbucks where Ela's Auntie Amanda works. We had fun there!

On our way home we drove through some tornado weather in Springfield so we had to stop and take shelter at Kmart. We were there for three hours but Ela behaved well the whole time. Here are Megan and Ela making the best of a dull situation.

Jump, Jump Ela

2007-12-31T17:44:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time since I updated Ela's blog. Much has happened. Ela is now trying a new food every 4-6 days or so. So far she's had avocado, squash and her new one since yesterday is banana. She's not had quite as big of an appetite since fighting off this cold but hopefully she'll get back to normal soon.
Ela's Christmas was simple, but she still got a few nice gifts. I made her a stuffed frog, her grandma got her a few fun toys and her great-grandma got her a jumperoo. Sounds fun, right? It is. She loves it.

Ela and I are getting ready to head out on a roadtrip with her aunt Megan soon. We leave Thursday and area headed to Decatur, IL where Ela's Aunt Amanda lives. Hopefully Ela will do great in the car as she has before and we'll have a great time. We also hope to meet up with a few different friends that live near or around that same area. I'll be posting pictures from that trip soon.

For now here's a video of Ela jumping gleefully away. I love the way her little feet look like she's tap dancing when she jumps. It's cute!

Ela's To-Do List

2007-11-28T11:03:00.001-06:00

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Looking Cute On Thanksgiving Day

2007-11-24T23:47:00.000-06:00

Ela was looking mighty good on thanksgiving. Other than that I don't have much news except that we are having family portraits taken tomorrow (family being my mom, dad, grandma, sisters & us three). We will also do Ela's six month portraits and I will post a few samples once I have them.

Latest Photos

2007-11-20T13:02:00.001-06:00

About a week ago Ela and I went to the park to play on the swings:

Yesterday Thom, Ela and I drove up to Kansas City to meet up with Thom's dad (Poppy) and spend the day with him during his layover:

Ela's first time meeting Poppy

Downtown Kansas City with Daddy and Poppy

Some Chinese buffet where we decided to celebrate Ela's 1/2 birthday

Ela wanted to eat the cake, the candle and the bowl

Pictures from Today

2007-11-10T21:07:00.000-06:00

Great-granny giving Ela her rice cereal. They had a fun time.

Ela in the new hat I crocheted for her and her girlie jeans. They're both a bit big on her but I couldn't help myself.

Ready for an afternoon at the park with old friends.

Old friends, Luis & Katie Almonacid are visiting from Chile. Funny thing, Thom met Luis about six years ago when he spent a summer in Chile and I knew Katie from Dennis Hall at OCC. Katie moved to Chile, met Luis and now they're married. We each knew them independently before they even met so now we have a great time together. Alisa lives 8 blocks away but we see her about as often as we see Luis & Katie. Sad, isn't it? But we had a great time at the park and the weather was perfect.

Solid Food!

2007-11-07T16:51:00.000-06:00

Well...semi solid. Today, for the first time, Ela ate cereal. Really soupy rice cereal. I could tell you about it but I'll just show you. The order these appear in is chronological so it's best to watch them that way:

Her first solid feeding she started blowing bubbles in her cereal. At least she seemed to know exactly what to do with it and even noticed that Dad needed help getting it in her mouth. I can only imagine what fun lies ahead. I'm sure we'll be posting more interesting videos of Ela's table manners.

Thank You Poppy!

2007-10-26T21:08:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Ela and I were supposed to fly down to Florida to Ashley's wedding and Ela was also going to meet her Poppy (Thom's dad) for the first time ever. Well, that trip didn't turn out because Ela got sick. So Poppy sent her a package with gifts he had intended to give her in Florida. It was packed full of all kinds of goodies like clothes and some bowls, spoons & sippy cups. All very practical things. Ela's favorite thing was this teether shaped like an ear of corn.

As you watch the video notice the corn toy caught between her feet. In a little bit it will fall on the table, making a loud sound. When this happens look at her surprised eyebrows. It's so funny how expressive she is:

Another thank you goes out to Aunt Meg who made Ela this cute beanie:

Look at the first picture and notice what side of her head the purple bow is on. Now scroll down to the next picture...

I turned away for a minute to put new batteries in the camera and when I turned back the bow was on the other side! I think possibly it rotated from her wiggling so much. Or maybe she just likes the bow better on the right. Who knows.

On another note. I was looking through some old posts and ran across this post on Thom's blog. It's from when Ela was sick in the hospital. If you scroll down to the very last comment on the page you'll find a comment by someone else named Ela. This person googled "Ela" and thus ran across the post. I had never read it (or any of the other comments) since I was kind of preoccupied at the time. I was reminded of everything we went through and how fortunate we are to have this precious child with us today. Thanks everyone for your prayers back then. They made a difference, I know it.

--Erica

sick baby

2007-10-22T18:50:00.000-05:00

This past week was hectic. First Ela's great grandma (Thom's Grandma) fell and broke her hip and had to have surgery. We drove to Springfield on Monday and Tuesday to visit her in the hospital. She's doing better now. Has been moved to a different hospital for physical therapy.

On Friday Ceri, Ela and I were supposed to fly to Florida for Cole & Ashley's wedding. On Thursday night at 11 Ela ran a fever of 102. I didn't know what to do. I didn't just want to take off to Florida without knowing if Ela was ok. So we took her to urgent care first thing to see if we could figure out if it was ok for her to travel. It wasn't. So I had Ceri stop by on her way to the airport to pick up the gift and we have been home all weekend fighting hand, foot & mouth. She's had a fever all weekend but she is finally starting to look and act better. She still has the fever but not quite as high. I just hope we're on the road to recovery.

Sittin' Pretty

2007-10-13T14:33:00.001-05:00

It kind of looks like I'm helping her but I'm not touching her. She's been working on this for awhile now. We would help her sit and hold her, when we let go she would stay there for about two seconds before she tipped. Well, today I was playing that very game with her when suddenly she didn't tip. She figured out she can use her hands to hold herself up. I think this takes her one step closer to crawling. If she can incorporate using her arms like this into the moves you saw below then she might just get somewhere. We'll really have to keep or eyes open after that. Yikes.

Later on tonight Megan and Ashley came over and helped give Ela a bath. After her bath Ela was up to some more sitting. Here's what happened:

No, Ashley didn't push her down. She tumbled on her own and I didn't catch her quite in time. No damage was done.