Thursday, March 11, 2010

Baby McDade Update - 11 March 2010

Elsa Lynne McDade update:

Erin and I continue to enjoy the heck out of our still-new roles as Mommy and Daddy to (in our humble opinion) the sweetest, smartest, most dang-near-perfect little girl God ever created. Perhaps we are a little biased.

The latest things that Elsa is doing are:
* eating solid food (loving the rice cereal; a little slower to fall in love with the fruit puree);
* sitting up by herself (still falls over a lot)
* communicating back and forth in high-pitched baby sounds (Emerson Cooper is really good at this – they will have 3-minute “conversations” in baby squeak language. They sound like dolphins or malfunctioning radios, only 1,000 times cuter.)
* making noises to get our attention (If I’m not paying attention to her and she wants my attention, she’ll stare right at me and kind of grunt.)
* reaching up with her arms to signal “Pick me up” or “Hold me”
* rolling over from back to front side (Yesterday I came into her room after we heard her stirring around and she was laying on her belly just staring at the door over the edge of her crib.)
* taking daily morning naps (anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours)
* recognizing, acknowledging, looking for, and talking to Lucho (our cat)
* jump jump jumping and swiveling around in her jumper
* growing lots of hair on her head!

We went on our annual El Pozo beach retreat, but alas it was once again too cold for the little one to get in the ocean or play in the sand.

Elsita turned 6 months on Sunday the 28th. Those six months have FLOWN BY!

The weather has warmed up here (finally!) so she’s now able to wear some of the cute little dresses.

Latest checkup: All is well health-wise. Height 69 cm (27.2 inches). Weight 7.9 kilos (17.4 pounds).

Still holding off on the earrings, mostly now because we’ve just been so busy!

After several frustrating hours the other day, we got Elsa’s Mexican passport! So she’s now totally official as a citizen of both the United States of America and Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Pretty cool. We only lack the social security number, which we hope to take care of next week, and which will enable us to claim her as a dependent! Hehe.

She has her serious days, but most of the time she’s very happy. She loves to laugh! She’s also VERY curious. EVERYTHING she can get her hands on goes straight to the mouth, and her grip and reach and quickness continue to surprise us. Time to baby-proof the house…

Can't remember if I've written this before, but Elsa LOVES birds! From the very beginning birds have trumped all else with regard to getting Elsa's attention. She loves to watch them. This is something she shares with Lucho; perhaps they will bond over it someday. Or perhaps not, since Elsa's fascination will (hopefully) never take the shape of what, in Lucho, could more aptly be described as a "murderous obsession". Anyway, it's pretty cool that before she was born we chose a bird mobile to decorate her room. Now if only we could finish it and hang it up...

We are so excited about a couple of Elsa-related things right now:
1. My cousin Erin Oakley is here for three months as our nanny! Or “au pair” if you want to sound fancy. It has been so great to have her around, and she is great with the little one. Check out Erin’s blog here. She’s a great writer and puts up new photos much more often than I do.
2. We are taking a week of vacation and heading to the USA. It will be Elsa’s first plane trip, first time in the USA, and first time meeting most of our family and friends. Can’t wait for her to meet Grandma and Pappy and Granny and her aunts and uncles and cousins, and of course we are excited to meet a bunch of the little babies of our good friends whom we only know through photos and blogs up to this point. Our friends have been popping out the offspring left and right. We have only had the pleasure of holding a few of them, and of course Elsa has met none of them: Morgan, Holly Ann, Savannah, Caedmon, Susanna, Judah, Mary Beth, Gabriel, Lucy, Madison, Colton, Ella, Tripp, Luke, Benjamin, baby Nelson, (who am I missing?) – get ready to meet your little Mexican buddy! If not next week, then we hope very soon.

Also, I had a good laugh when, coincidentally, I was watching an old episode of Seinfeld yesterday and it was the one where they make fun of their friends who can't stop insisting that they come SEE THE BABY. GOTTA SEE THE BABY!!! FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS, WE'RE GOING TO SEE THE BABY! A nice dose of perspective and humor before our little USA trip.

Okay, here are the latest photos!


Jumper!


Face time with Daddy. As in, smashing our faces together.


Bath time with Erin Squared.


Adidas gifts straight from headquarters during Jess's visit.


"Hold on Dad I just need to send a quick text..."


"Aaaaaand now I'm gonna eat the phone."


Warm hats!


Sun hat!


Bottle with Daddy.


With Pam.


With Frizz.


With Carter.


Beach!


McTrio on the beach at Casitas, Veracruz.


Bathing suit!!!


With Emerson.


With Moi.


With Andrea.


Getting ready for her first solid food!


Rice cereal!


Chowing down.


"What IS this stuff???"


Not sure what she thinks about this...


Starting to get into it...


Messy!


Sitting up by herself, playing on the bed.


Fun with Mommy.


Laughing with Daddy.


Snoozing with Erin O.


Out.

And now, for a new blog feature brought to you by Amanda Cooper, who complained that the blog readers don't get anything extra or special since I put the same photos up on Facebook ... the BLOG BONUS PHOTOS! This edition features the "Daddy's-eye-view" of Elsa doing one of her favorite things - trying to eat my hat. It's really hilarious because all I see when she does this is her jaw and bottom lip and tongue ravenously chomping and licking and slobbering. O sea, I see ... this:


And here are a few more images taken by Erin O. or the Edwardses (grandparents) when they were in town. Enjoy!


Getting ready to chew on my hat.


Trying to eat my nose.


We are huge fans of the Bumbo chair.


Good times.


Electric toothbrush = favorite!


Cracking up with Mommy at Flavor brunch.

And last but not least, the latest photos of the Bo Bo Babies (my brother's twins who should arrive in August)!!!






We appreciate your prayers for and interest in our family! God bless.

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