Sharing

In addition to waving and saying "BAH!" Ilana's newest trick is sharing. This is how this happens at almost every meal:
Ilana teases Moses...
Moses loses patience and resigns to the fact that Ilana's not going to give him any food, so he goes to lay down, and wait...
until one small morsel of anything happens to drop to the ground, then he swarms in and savors whatever it is (usually something very small like one Cherri-o)...
My sweet vacuum cleaner, I mean puppy dog!
I love Ilana's feet in the second picture. She swings them back and forth during every meal. She's always moving. When she starts to crawl my life will be over. :)
-H

a new trick

Ilana started waving one morning last week. She can't quite figure out what it's good for, but it sure is cute. We've been practicing for awhile now and she's starting to wave back. It melts my heart every time!

-H

Just playing

I'm testing to see if this video actually uploads and works...

Is the resolution as crappy as it looks in the preview?
This was Ilana playing with one of her Christmas presents a few days after we got back. It's amazing how quickly you learn the songs on these toys. I could sing them in my sleep! Poor thing, towards the end you can see her bump her lip on the toy and instead of crying she just moves onto the next toy. I was so proud of her!
-H

I think it's a little big

It's been in the upper 70's all week, so a coat is not needed. But, someday it WILL be cold (even if I have to WILL it to be cold), so I tried Ilana's new coat on her. I think it's a little bit big...

Maybe we'll just hope this warm spell sticks around for awhile.

Ilana went to the doctor's on Wednesday. She only gained a few ounces (to take her to 16 pounds 1 ounce), but she grew 2 inches taller in one month! Maybe she'll be tall and skinny someday. Maybe that'll be the same day this coat will fit her. She's right on the verge of crawling, hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to post videos before that beloved day. For now I better go, she's fussing because she can't get to the toy she wants. Some moments we're excited for her to crawl, other moments we never want her to learn to crawl or walk.
-H

Blogging Resolutions

Well, many people make new year's resolutions, and usually by now they're gone, forgotten, or given up on. Well, I'm just about to start mine. I've never really made a resolution, never been into promising myself I'd do something, knowing that I likely wouldn't keep up on it, so I'd just end up frustrated with myself. But, this year, I've made one resolution. I think this is do-able, reasonable, manageable and favorable (for most)...I'd like to blog more often. So, on this, the 19th day of January, I'm going to start my resolution...
Christmas was crazy...a blast, but crazy. We went with great intentions to rest and see friends and family...some of those things happened...some. We would have loved to see tons more people, at the same time, I felt like we saw so many people that we could barely have a real conversation with anyone. (Anyone who's traveled after being far away from family knows exactly what I'm talking about, I'm sure.) We really did have a good time, though. Here are some highlights...

As you can see, Ilana loved the tissue paper and wrapping paper as much as (maybe even more than) the actual presents. She ate as much as she could until I would see her and remove from her mouth whatever I could get. Maybe next year she'll understand a bit more...
We spent a day at my brother and sister-in-law's with their two little girls. Caroline is 5 weeks younger than Ilana, so they're basically at the same stage. We're really looking forward to watching these girls grow up together. This year, they were both at the "everything goes straight to the mouth with glazed-over eyes" stage. So, we enjoyed this all day...
We spent a week with Paul's family, but took all those pictures on Paul's mom's new (VERY nice) digital SLR camera. We forgot to get those pictures before we left, so when I get them, I'll post more.

For Christmas, Moses went to Oklahoma with a friend of ours. He was thoroughly spoiled - 3 little girls who loved him and another dog with lots of land and house to run around in...I think he's depressed now, being back here. When we got back home, we gave him his presents...

The fleece jacket fits him perfectly. We can't wait for him to actually use it!
As you can see, Moses desperately needed a new rope toy...
He loves it!

Since Christmas, we've been settling back into our routine of eating...
playing...
working on our new milestones (standing)...
and we've even already packed up Christmas...


So, here's to New Year's resolutions. We'll see how long this one lasts. :)
-H