Construction Trucks!

We have been lovin' construction trucks lately. There's a firestation under construction about a mile from here, so every day we've been taking a walk up there to go watch them work. Rychen P. tells me the names of each truck, and I tell him, "It's cold, let's go now." We are also seeing trucks almost every day at another place....a secret place...

8 weeks

My little girl is getting old enough that I am going to have to start giving her age in months. That is a big step!! No, I think I will keep using weeks. I will get confused stares from strangers when they ask how old, and I say "35 weeks" ha ha!

I had a baby shower a few weeks ago and they went in on a jogging stroller for me. I've used it for taking walks (Rychen in the stroller, Elisabeth in the Moby) but just today I tried jogging. Didn't work. The same neurosis that prevents her from being happy in the carseat is also preventing her from being happy in the stroller. *sigh* Gotta try changing up some factors, like when she is either in a deep sleep (which rarely happens) or if she is wide awake and perky. Today she was tired and grumpy, so of course the odds were already against me.

Yeah, did I mention she's a bear in the carseat? I am avoiding all errands unless my chauffer (aka husband) drives and I can sit next to her. We are going on lots of walks though.

I have been saying how she is a light sleeper and has to be next to me, but I finally "figured out" -- or shall I say REMEMBERED, *duh* that you have to leave a sleeping baby GRADUALLY in order for them to stay asleep. Ahh!! So I finally left her laying in bed and crept away. Nice.

Fun playing around

"Uno" has become a daily favorite in our house. And somehow it squeaked into our bed routine. (Joy! We were just looking for something to make that whole thing a bit longer)


Here is Rychen playing with our friend Nechama. It is really fun that they have such a playful relationship--Nechama basically got me through his birth. She ended up at his birth due to a misunderstanding (I had asked for no students) but as it turned out, she was the perfect labor support, and I have bonded with her ever since. So now she is a fun "big sister" type for Rychen, she is so incredible!

Scootin' Tootin' machine

So yeah, Elisabeth can roll over and scoot across the floor. She is just such a wiggle worm, that she inches around inadvertently! It's quite common to find her in a different spot than where you left her, but today I took my eyes off her for 5 minutes and she completely disappeared! I had to get up, and I found her cornerned and rolled over! (Reminds me of how we'd find Esio Trot, our pet tortoise, scraping the corner of his box, and when he tried to climb up the wall, he'd flop over onto his back.) She had inched forward about 3 feet. Also, she rolls from her tummy over to her back a few times a day. I don't know if she does it on purpose or if its just a result of her constant squirming.

Hello from Elisabeth herself!

Here are some little lopsided smiles for you!! Is it just me, or is she just completely sweet and adorable? She is 7 weeks now! 9 1/2 lbs.

T-ball & T-ter toter

Here are some shots from playing at the park (these are two different days, two different parks, different friends).



And here, we play Tee-ball at Myers playground.

Nyman's visit

Laura (my sister), Jon & Millie stayed with us for a week while they did some Oregon sight-seeing. I would have loved to get out more, but long car rides just aren't Elisabeth's idea of fun. So we hung out a lot, and I showed them the Oregon experience of farmers markets, U-picks, Silver Falls, Star of India restaurant, and La Hacienda Real.




OK let me explain this one. I introduced Laura to EC and now we are both doing it with our babies. "Elimination Communicaton" is where you watch your baby for signs of when they have to pee, and instead of soiling a diaper, you sit them on the potty. It's an alternative to full-time diapering which saves a lot of money/laundry. I will tell you, it's awesome not having much laundry to do, and we use about 3 disposables per week (I put her in a diaper when we leave the house and changing a cloth isn't practical). That is not even enough to buy a Costco pack of diapers in a single size before they are on to the next. Laura is fully devoted and does really well keeping Millie dry, even out in public! But I do it mostly for fun right now (obviously it gets harder, the more kids you have, and the more waking hours you have with the baby). Anyway I thought this pictures is cute, both babies using the potty together!!






Everytime I put Elisabeth down, Jon would pick her up. So I asked him about this, "Why do you always pick her up?" I was wondering if he had some rule about babies on the floor, and maybe I was being a bad mom or something. But he just said "I don't know." I guess he is *fond* of Elisabeth! ha!! So I handed her to him here to take a cute picture of Jon the Baby Man. (and is it just me, or does it look like Millie is nursing on him? ha ha!)






I had a lot of fun being around Millie - last time I saw her, she was only 2 months old (and her name was Amelia!) She is only 8 months older than Elisabeth, but when you are that young, it's lightyears ahead. She was always trying to get at the little baby, poking her, etc!! Give them a few years and they'll be best pals.






We took them to Silver Falls. Laura & Jon are big hikers. We did our best with a little "nature walk" and quick sight-seeing of the falls. It was cool for Laura & I to both be wearing our babies. I even nursed Elisabeth in the sling while hiking! Sometime I want to go back to hike the full 6 mile loop.

Laura has a degree in Geology, so she showed us some cool things on the walls of the canyon. Well, at least she showed ME. The guys were busy being crazy and putting their lives in danger, down in the canyon.




Now there are 4 Gremlich grandchildren, all equally spaced: Rychen Parker Jones (3 years old), Ethan Erick Gremlich (2 years), Amelia Gisele Nyman (9 months), and Elisabeth Diane Jones (6 weeks). Who is going to be next??? :)

Elisabeth is 6 weeks old!

Everybody loves a good nakey picture. Isn't this precious?