Elora's Becoming More Alert and Engaged

Coming up on three weeks this Sunday, Elora has had some
longer stretches of being awake and alert. She's smiling more
and is holding eye contact for considerably longer. Logan is
thrilled by this and often exclaims happily, "she's looking at'
me" or "she smiled at me."

Elora's neck strength has increased as well. She'll often pick
up her head and look around when she's held upright (for a
burp) or if on her tummy on the playmat.

Elora on the Play Mat (12 Days Old)

Planting a Little Vegetable Garden

We've been talking about planting a little vegie garden
ever since we moved into this house five months ago. Today
was the day! We went to the nursery and bought soil (plants
don't grow well in red clay!) and some seedlings. The kids had
fun playing in the nursery's playground -- and especially enjoyed
the bowl of ice cream from the nursery's cafe. Mom and Grams
relaxed with a cool drink too (iced chocolate/iced coffee).

This evening after dinner we all headed out to the garden. We
turned over the very hard/solid clay dirt, but then put five bags
of potting soil on top (as a raised garden). Logan surprised us
with his strength -- lifting a 2/3 full bag upright and pulling the
plastic bag off.

Finally, the kids planted the seedlings. We hope to grow tomato
plants, lettuce and some bell peppers (capsicums). And, we might
also plant some seeds in the next few days as well.

Elora and her folks

It has been so wonderful having Grams here. While she'll deny
it up and down, she's been a huge help, keeping the kids entertained
with crafts, scavenger hunts, doll and airplane games,
reading to them for Quiet Time and/or bedtime, keeping the laundry
and dishes clean and on and on! In the pictures above, Grams is making
paper airplanes with Logan and coloring. They have plans to make lots
of valentines cards too!

The older kids (Logan and Delenn) have both come down with illness/colds --
and have had several miserable nights in a row. For example, on Friday
night Daddy was up with Delenn for hours as she screamed and writhed
around in pain. Last night (Saturday) he held Logan's head as Logan
heaved (but never threw up). Both kids have runny noses, but in
general are doing well during the day. Anyway, back to Grams, she has
let both Mom and Dad sleep in and entertained the kids for hours in
the morning. We sure appreciate having her here.

Pictured above: We all played animal dominos. Below, Grams
reads to Logan and Delenn for Quiet Time.

We haven't mentioned recently how well Logan is doing with
reading. He's on his second box of Bob Books -- and is reading
short words... for example today's story went like this: "Tex was
a big man. Tex had a big hat. Max was a cat. Max was in the big
hat. Rex was a big dog..." Logan's really coming along.

What's really funny is that Delenn is getting into the groove of
reading too. The other day Delenn brought Mommy a piece of play
cheese from her plastic food set. Delenn brought the cheese to
Mommy and asked "What's this say?" Then she said "No wait.
Lenny do it." "Hhh" "aahhh" "Sss" "Chhh" said Delenn. She
was obviously sounding it out just like her brother! "Very good,"
said Mommy, "It says 'Made in China'."

Delenn is quite the competant counter -- and can now easily count
about seven or eight objects pointing with her finger as she goes.
She can sometimes count up to twenty, though often mixes up the
numbers above 13.

"Her Eyes are Open! Can I hold her?!"

Logan and Delenn are excited about the baby. Logan is
especially keen to hold his sister when she's awake. He knows
to be very careful of her wobbly head (see the picture above!)
He really wants to make her smile (like the "big brother" in
one of his books).

Elora settles into life at home (Feb. 8)

Logan and Elora bonding together

Grams loves cuddling with Elora

Delenn and Elora (Feb. 6)

Both Delenn and Logan love holding their little
sister. Delenn was fine holding a crying Elora
for this picture, but other times Delenn holds her
hands to her ears and says "TOO loud!"

Delenn at Kindergym (Tues, Feb 5)

IT'S A GIRL!

Here's a quick summary of our sudden turn of events. Our due date for our forthcoming new bub was Wednesday, 6 February. However, at around 5 AM this Sunday, 3 February 2008, Liesl began feeling a few uncomfortable spells (not quite really contractions). Then, at just barely before 6 AM, Daddy woke up like a rocket upon hearing Mom's first real moans of a serious contraction hit (her first). This was it! It was time! But wait, no, Mom said it was too soon and Daddy should relax and take a shower, which he did, while Mom called up our good friend Melissa to come over and watch the kids. At around 6:25 AM Melissa arrived. Mommy was emptying the dishwasher while Daddy and Melissa helped, just to get Mommy moving along towards the door, even though Mom was confident it was too early considering contractions were at least 10-20 minutes apart and irregular. Upon exiting the front door Mommy had another bad contraction. Enroute we stopped off the shoulder of a road for another quick contraction, followed by another quickie at the hospital entrance (Alice Springs hospital is a max of 5 minutes away by car). In the elevator Mommy had another bad contraction and the mid-wives heard the screams, to which they came running while Daddy held the "STAY OPEN ELEVATOR" button down for dear life. It was now about 6:44 AM when we entered the room and after one more contraction Liesl managed to get up on all fours on the bed. She begged for drugs, but the mid-wives indicated it was too late for everything but noxious oxide (laughing gas), however Liesl tends to just vomit that kind of thing up, so she was on her own. A good 3 (maybe 4) good pushes later and the babe was welcomed into the world (about 6:57 AM, but we're just saying 7:00 AM)!! One hour from when Daddy woke up to baby being born! Whew! What a trooper Mom! The first thing Mom wanted to know before absolutely anything else was, "Is it a boy or a girl?!" Well, after moving around at all angles (the babe's legs were together) and getting a view around the mid-wives, Dad got a slight glimpse and announced, "It's a GIRL!" And thus was welcomed Elora Lee into the world. Mom and babe are doing great and staying at the hospital for a bit (primarily for rest from Elora's siblings). Speaking of which, Logan and Delenn were able to see their new baby sister at about 1:00 PM that afternoon. They were quite excited and very gentle and soothing to the babe, providing her with numerous unrequested kisses and special cards made at Melissa's house earlier in the day.

So here are the stats:
Name: Elora Lee
Length: 51 cm (20.078 inches)
Head circumference: 32.5 cm (12.795 inches)
Weight: 3.720 kg (8.3 lbs)
Date/Time born: 3 February, 2008, 7:00 AM
Blood Type: O negative

YAY!

First Pictures of Elora Lee

The first two pictures of Elora with Mom and Dad were taken
in the first hour. Later in the morning, Dad went off to get
Logan and Delenn. The family photo (below) was taken when Elora
was about 6 hours old.