California Dreamin'

As the school year was quickly closing in, the extended Weidmann family soaked up some amazing San Diego sun and surf at the Del Coronado Hotel. Winnie and Picky, the Sustars, Uncle Andy, Auntie Jane, Pops, and our Facknitz clan all came together for a marvelous 10 days of ultimate beach experience. Elaine was officially baptized in the Pacific to honor her California heritage. She met some of her California relatives for the first time including Auntie Jane, Great-grandpa Ross (Pops), and Woodbury cousins, Tim, Bergen, and Alex.

Pacific Baptism 

The Del Coronado was an ideal place for our multi-generation group. The kids were able to play in the sand, the adults were able to enjoy lounging in the sun and sipping drinks poolside, and everyone congregated for meals and strolls along the beach. For our family, it was especially awesome to have a 24-hour Starbucks stand right in the hotel. Elaine was still relying on nursing to go to sleep and I was essentially a human binky for the whole vacation. We finally resorted to having Jeremy wheel her around in the stroller at all hours of the night in order to give me a little rest. (Consequently, this was what propelled us into the world of "cry it out" sleep training.) But at least he could sip a starbucks coffee at 2 am while pushing the stroller along the boardwalk! Some people would consider that heaven... even with the screaming baby.  

Amidst the festivities, Jeremy (Uncle Boo) organized a "boo" competition with Siena and Libby Sustar. Jeremy earned this nickname by scaring and being scared by the Sustar girls every time they see each other. This tradition started last October and seems to have stuck. 

"The Great 'Boo'-off"

This blog entree is a bit out of order with the previous entrees. Elaine was 5 1/2 months old when we went on this trip. Thus, she was still learning how to sit up on her own. We enjoyed having her practice on our hotel bed as it was a wonderfully soft platform for her to do face plants into. 

Sitting Princess

It was a WONDERFUL vacation and we give a BIG THANKS to Winnie and Picky for making it happen! (Oops! We don't have any pictures of them! Will have to get some from Auntie Meg or Winnie!) 

Bon Appetite!

Our little girl has come to the age of experiencing the wonderful world of solid foods! Although we didn't start consistently feeding her regular meals of pureed fruits & veggies until after we got back from CA, I gave Elaine her first taste of apples and avocados on her 5 month birthday. I was curious to see how she'd react! It was entertaining of course. Apparently it takes a while to learn how to use one's tongue to swallow a pudding texture if you've only swallowed liquids your whole life. But by the end of the experiment, Elaine could successfully slurp up both the applesauce and mashed avocados. AND she seemed to like them!

Now that she's 6 months old, she eats 2 baby food meals a day in addition to her regular mommy-milk regimen. So far she enjoys: green beans, sweet potatoes, apples, avocados, bananas, peaches, and rice cereal. Soon she'll experience the excitement of blueberries, carrots, corn, and peas. I'm grateful to have the time to make these baby food items at home. And thanks to the internet, I can make all kinds of meals for E without having to be a gourmet chef!

So lets take a look at the lady in action!
Avocado Introduction

6 Month Milestones!

Ok, so Elaine isn't quite 6 months old yet (5 more days) but this past month of milestones has been nothing short of AMAZING! We have not had the time to post pictures or videos in the last month because of trips to Colorado Springs and San Diego and packing up the house for our big move back to CO. Jeremy will be driving our stuff out to our house in 12 days! (And will finish his career at Ameriprise Financial in 4 business days!!! Woohoo!!) So many things going on.

So anyway, this video summarizes the list of epic milestones our little girl has crossed in the last few weeks:
- Sitting up on her own
- Eating solid foods (thereby having solid bowel movements... very exciting, very grown up!)
- Sleeping though the night!!! HUZZAH!!
- Sleep training to establish a regular nap schedule without sleep crutches (i.e.: nursing, being rocked, pushed in a stroller, etc) Basically this means Elaine can now be put in a crib and she will put herself to sleep and put herself back to sleep if she wakes up in the middle of the night without the aid of adults. This is HUGE! We're still working on the sleep training but she's doing amazing!

Without further ado, lets hear from the woman herself!
Kicking Developmental Booty