Sounds like a good music group huh? So in case you were wondering, we made it back from Minnesota and Wisconsin safe and sound! We had ourselves a great time at the Elsbernd family reunion--I mean as great a time as one can have with a 4 month old nursing child :) The weather was beautiful there, I mean the best weather one can dream of having for a week of vacation at a lake. But then again, we were traveling with my grandma and when you travel with her, luck is pretty plentiful. We had a weekend at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, a week at the cabin in Wisconsin, and then a couple more days back in Minneapolis since we were flying out of there. Our week at the cabin was full of LOTS of outdoor time--card games, fishing, paddle boating, a bonfire every night (with occasional musical performances) and lots of water sports! No water sports for me though, although I did venture out on the jet ski a few times and we went on a couple of boat rides. It is beautiful up there not to mention it doesn't get dark until about 10! Everyone was so nice, it seemed like it was just yesterday that we saw them even though for me it had been 10 years! And of course, everyone was so welcoming and embracing towards Elizabeth. My Dad, Mary, Alex and Grandma were especially glad to have so much time with her so she was definitely fawned over to say the least! There were about 50 family members total that came and went throughout the week. Here are some pics!
Sunsets at the cabin were beautiful!
Mommy, Ellie, and my Grandma
Cousin Jerry with Ellie
The Elsbernd Family! We're the last on the right.
View from the cabin
Coming back from a dockside restaurant
Ellie and Grandpa
Ellie with Mary
Ellie with Uncle Alex
We thought about Daddy a lot while we were there. He would've loved being able to fish every day. We also celebrated the fourth of July while we were there which obviously brought him to mind as well. It's definitely different when your husband is
one of the "troops" that we're supporting at home and that he's actually away sticking up for the things that we celebrate that day: our freedom and independence. The reason why we have the day is because of men like him. I mean this isn't the first year he has served but to have him away serving on this day makes it hit a little closer to home.
We also had some milestones happen while we were gone this week. One little one is that Ellie finally found her toes and thus is now always putting them in her mouth. And one big one is that she rolled over for the first time!! The video below isn't of the first time but it's probably the third!
She has definitely become more hands on. She is grabbing everything (and putting it in her mouth), very alert and interactive. She can focus in on you even if you aren't in front of her and she will follow you as you move from side to side. Right when we got back from our trip she turned four months and had her check-up. She weighed 13.9 lbs and was 25 in long. We started rice cereal that night and have been eating it ever since. Since she nurses, she doesn't drink out of bottles ALOT, and when we started the cereal I would pump one breast and mix a tablespoon with it and feed it to her in a bottle and then nurse her on the other afterwards. Well she hadn't had a bottle since she started this grabbing phase and the first night she had the cereal in a bottle she just grabbed the bottle and started holding it like a pro, as if she gets a bottle all the time! She likes the cereal a lot, though I was hoping it would help me get her to bed earlier. We are still at an 11-midnight bed time which I still haven't fully gotten used to. Daddy and I are usually 9pm people and when he gets back, he will expect that routine to resume. She's a good sleeper, she sleeps 6-10 hours a night but it just doesn't start til Midnight. So I have 2 months to work on that!
She fell asleep like this in the car, holding onto her toy!
As I am writing this we are in NJ for our second visit of the summer and I have realized that tomorrow will be the halfway point for John's time over there. They are telling him that he will be back in the States by October 6th-God willing! I didn't think it would be going by this fast but still, it's not fast enough!
