Ellen, 8 months (1/11/2012)

Dear Ellen,

Happy New Year!  You are now eight months old… two thirds of a year!  The past month continued to be busy as we went through Advent, Christmas, and the celebration of the New Year.  You are such a joy to have around and I am already looking forward to celebrating the holidays with you as a toddler next year.

My Favorite Thing: You are very happy and smiley right now.  It doesn’t take much to get you to light up.  You also started DANCING when you hear music and it is so cute.  Your eyes are always shining and I can tell that you very curious about the world around you.  I can’t wait to hear what you will have to say about everything.

Daily Activities and Playing:  After about 5 weeks of watching you work through yoga poses (plank, downward facing dog, low cobra), we were glad to see you finally REALLY crawling on December 27!  Throughout the month you have been able to move around, but it was a bit haphazard and you weren’t able to efficiently get to where you wanted to go until after Christmas.  Your crawl is very amusing – you push up into a crawl and use your toes, instead of your knees, to propel you forward.  You play by yourself very well, staying entertained with whatever toy is nearby, but you are also starting to explore more and are even starting to pull up on the fireplace, ottoman, and play piano.  You moved into the older baby section of the infant room at school and seem to enjoy being with the more mobile babies and having lots of room to explore.

Sibling:  This is when the real fun begins.  Now that you are mobile, you are starting to chase after Ian constantly!  Usually he doesn’t mind, but he is certainly getting more possessive of HIS things, especially toys.  Ian has become a little more daring with you as you have started crawling, sometimes picking you up (!!) and moving you away from his toys.  You are just pleased as punch to be near him and you laugh just hearing him laugh!  You took your first bath together in the big bathtub (goodbye baby tub!) and you both loved splashing and playing together.  Ian wants to take turns pouring water on you and himself.  My favorite times are when you are smiling and laughing together in the car. 

Eating:  You always nurse in the morning and have two bottles of formula or breastmilk (6 oz) during the day.  On weekdays you get an additional “dinner” bottle, and on the weekends I generally nurse you again for the fourth feeding of the day.  Three or four “meals” of solid food are offered each day (breakfast, afternoon snack, dinner), but eating was hit or miss for most of the month.  Due to some mild sickness and traveling, your appetite was reduced for a while, but once we got home and back in a routine, you started eating up a storm!  Right now banana, pear, and avocado are our “go to” foods, but you also REALLY love winter squash and sweet potato.  You really like to self feed, so we are looking for more finger foods to satisfy you.  Rice puffs and rice rusks (“Baby Mum-Mum”) are also favorite finger foods.

Sleeping:  Night time sleep is generally good and you consistently sleep through the night from about 8 pm to 6:30 or 7 am.  A combination of growth spurt/low milk supply caused you to wake up in the middle of the night multiple times this month, but once we worked out a bottle/nursing schedule to keep your belly full and happy, you started sleeping just fine.  During the week you really only nap once per day, right after lunch, with the rest of the group, and then again on both our morning and evening commutes.  On the weekends, you still consistently take a mid morning nap and a late evening nap, mimicking the timing of our weekday commute.

 Special Events:  Christmas was fun this year!  You and Ian looked really cute in your matching dancing reindeer pajamas.  Although you were too young to get into the fun of opening presents and stockings, Ian had fun being the elf (distributing presents) and helping you with your new things.  You received a new baby doll from Santa, a shape sorter from Ian (he showed you how to do it), and two books from Mama and Daddy.  Mimi and Grandpa also got you lots of new books.  Mimi and Grandpa, Aunt Bonnie, Aunt Brooke, and Aunt Jesse all got you new clothes!  The Lewickis got you a stack and roll ball, and Gram and Pops got you a red stuffed elephant, a soft doggie book, and little slippers.  You were a great traveler to Rowena, sleeping most of the way, and you also slept most of the Christmas Eve church service!

{Bath Time @ 12/19/11}

{Waiting for Santa @ 12/22/11}

 {Opening Presents, Family Christmas @ 12/22/11}

{"Ooh I am unwrapping a present!" @ 12/22/11}

 
{"Gee, Thanks Mom, you shouldn't have." @ 12/22/11} 
She actually loves this toy.  And so does Ian.

 {Big Brother Instructs @ 12/22/11}

 {Ellen @ 12/22/11}

There's the happy baby!

{Mama and Ellen in Rowena @ 12/24/11}

{Dierschke Family at Christmas Eve @ 12/24/11}

This is the result of no napping for Ian.  Depression sets in.

{Grandpa Ray and Ellen in Rowena @ 12/25/11}

8 month photo shoot:  Please excuse the poorly chosen outfit and also enjoy the out takes (after the first two pictures).  Ellen was difficult to pose this month as she is always on the move!

{Ellen @ 1/14/12}

{Ellen @ 1/14/12}

{Ellen @ 1/14/12}

{Ellen @ 1/14/12}

{Ellen @ 1/14/12}

Camera Details / What I'm Working On

What is in my camera bag?
 

·              Camera:  Nikon, D90

·              Lens # 1: Kit Lens = Nikon brand, 18-105 mm, f/3.5-5.6G

·              Lens # 2: Nikon brand, 50 mm, f/1.8D

·              Lens # 3: Nikon brand, 35 mm, f/1.8G

·              UV Filter for each lens

·              External Flash: SB-700

·              Remote

·              Chargers, USB cords, extra memory card

·              Mini tripod and video camera

·              Camera Manual, Notebook, and a handy book

Settings/Preferences:

I used to primarily use the AUTO settings, but since the photography workshop I attended last October  I have been shooting in Aperture Priority mode most of the time (with exposure compensation.)  I used my kit lens exclusively until my daughter was born, at which point we acquired the 50 mm lens.  I LOVE the lovely bokeh I can get with the 50 mm lens, but I also found that I couldn’t get far enough away (especially in low light settings) to capture good snapshots where everyone is in focus.  ENTER the 35 mm lens as an early Christmas present.  Although I still use the 50 mm a lot (and especially for more portrait type shots), the 35 mm is a great one to keep on all of the time.  The snapshots I took at Christmas were taken almost exclusively with this new lens.


Key areas for technical improvement:

·         Depth of Field - Some of my early photos of Ian and Ellen together were flawed because only one of them would be in focus.  I didn’t find out until later on that the problem was that my depth of field was too short.  I didn’t have a good understanding of it before my photography workshop, but now I have a better sense of the settings I need to achieve crisp focus on all of my subjects (bump up the aperture, or scoot back!)   I have an iphone app that calculates the depth of field based on the lens, aperture setting, and distance from the subject, but I have yet to put it to use.  Usually I just fiddle with my settings until everything looks in focus.  I would really like to improve my execution in this area.

·         Quick Manipulation of Settings - Until recently, I was finding that even at my lowest aperture setting, I couldn’t get a quick enough shutter speed to knock out the blur.  Since my main living room has very little natural light, this was a source of  constant frustration, and I hated resorting to the flash (either pop up or external) all of the time.  I have gotten better recently at playing with the shutter speed and ISO settings while on a low aperture to make sure I can capture especially low light moments.

·         Photo Editing – I am currently using Picassa to do some basic adjusting on my photos.  Usually I just increase the Highlights and Shadows and sometimes Brightness, but that is about it.  I have Photoshop Elements but haven’t had an opportunity to really play with it and so don’t use it consistently.  I have heard that Lightroom from Photoshop is awesome, but don’t feel like it is worth the investment right now.  I would like to start familiarizing myself more with my Elements program and start utilizing it instead of Picassa, eventually.

  

To finish out today, here are some photos I like from recent months:

 {Ian @ 10/16/11}

{Babar-esque Mug @ 6/21/11}

{Happy Birthday Ian @ 10/1/11}

{Pea Pod @ 6/11/11} 

 {Garden Haul @ 6/11/11}

{Yahtzee!(tm) @ 9/17/11}

{Ellen @ 12/10/11}

{Nephew @ 12/10/11}

Ellen, 7 months (12/11/2011)

Dear Ellen,

The past month was quiet for the most part but picked up towards the end of November with Thanksgiving.  We mostly worked around the house and it was nice to have some down time before things start picking up during Advent.  I really enjoy spending time together as a family, and I can’t wait until we can all do activities together.

My Favorite Thing:  I love how you are starting to take a more active role in whatever we are doing.  The days in which you would lounge passively in the baby carrier watching everyone else are waning - you are ready to be on the floor playing all of the time!  This is one of the easiest ages because you are sitting to play on your own but can’t move very far.  I am (foolishly?) looking forward to you crawling…

Daily Activities and Playing:  You are generally content to sit and play by yourself with whatever toys are nearby, but you are also starting to gain interest in moving around to get new toys or explore.  Crawling can’t be far off!  On 11/18, you started pushing up into the box position, rocking back and forth and experimenting with movement.  You also started playing on the piano this month.  I loved the expression you gave when you first (unintentionally) hit the keys.  Your eyes got wide as if to say, “I made that noise?!”

Sibling:  We are trying to encourage you to crawl by placing toys a little ways off, but Ian doesn’t like it when you protest so he keeps bringing toys to you (“Ellen needs this toy!”).  All of your interactions are very sweet, and since you are still not mobile he is very happy to play in the same room as you.  He especially likes to go stand on the bottom rail of the crib while you are laying in there so he can talk to you.  I even caught him crawling into the crib with you once (he hasn’t repeated that, yet).  Sometimes he will also play peek-a-boo with you using the bumper on the crib. 

Eating:  The daily routine is still for you to nurse in the morning and evening (before dinner) and take two 6-7 oz breastmilk bottles during the day.  We served 1 cereal meal per day at dinner with the family, but whether or not you eat it has been hit or miss.  I tried roasting and milling some bananas for you to eat.  It was a fun experiment, but you preferred the chunkier texture of fresh banana and it was certainly to prepare that way.  Just before Thanksgiving, you got very sick with a very high fever, and this definitely curtailed your appetite.  Luckily I didn’t have to go to work that week so I could keep you home from school and take you to the doctor with no problems.

Sleeping:  You continue to be very easy to put down and a solid sleeper.  You have started going to bed a little earlier, consistently close to 8.  A couple of times you went to bed around 7:45!  Your wake time is generally 6:30 or 7:00, and I have had to go wake you up for breakfast a couple of weekday mornings (I let you sleep as late as you want on the weekends!)  You pretty much go to sleep on your tummy now and stay that way for most of the night.  You still sleep most mornings and evenings on our drive to and from work and take one long nap around noon while at school.  Weekend routines vary depending on what else is going on… if we drive somewhere you will snooze on the drive and then take one long afternoon nap, but if we are at home all day you will take 3 hour long naps.  You still only use your pacifier when you are sleepy and can get it in and out of your mouth.  If you don’t have access to the pacifier and are upset, you will suck your thumb, but it really doesn’t happen very much anymore.

Special Events:  Lots of things happened in the past month – we were constantly on the go!  We celebrated Thanksgiving at Gram and Pops’ house, but unfortunately you couldn’t enjoy any of the delicious food yet.  Maybe next year!  A week and a half later, Mama and Daddy both ran in the White Rock Half Marathon while you and Ian stayed home with Gram and Pops.  What a change from last year’s race, when you were 4 months in utero!  The next weekend we took family pictures with the Lewickis and then went to cousin Beckett’s first birthday party (which was a mad house… so many people were there!).  The next day was our last day at FaithBridge Church before it closed its doors.  We were sad to say goodbye to all of our friends there but are looking forward to finding a new church home and meeting more people.

{Meet the Cousins @ 12/10/11}

 {Dierschke Family Photo @ 12/10/11}

Once again, my children have such listless expressions.

{Daddy and Daughter @ 12/10/11}

I love love love this picture

{Ellen @ 12/10/11}

And I said I would avoid purple... but she looks so good in it!

{Ellen and Gram @ 12/10/11}

 {Ellen @ 12/10/11}

I have no idea what she is looking at.

{Ellen @ 12/10/11}

{Ellen @ 12/10/11}

ALMOST Crawling.

Ellen, 6 months (11/11/2011)

Dear Ellen,

Half a year has passed since you were born… I am continually amazed by the changes from birth to 6 months:  from totally helpless to sitting up and playing by yourself.  You are at such a fun age – you can play independently but can’t get too far, so it is easy to let you play in the living room while I do something in the kitchen.  I am looking forward to seeing even more amazing development in the next six months!

My Favorite Thing:  I love going to get you in the morning for your breakfast (nursing).  Sometimes you are awake, just quietly looking around and taking in your surroundings.  Sometimes you are quietly laying in the crib, sucking your thumb, and when I say good morning you pop your head up and smile at me.  Every once in a while you let us know with a little insistent noise that you are hungry, but most of the time you wait patiently until we come and get you.

Daily Activities and Playing:  You can finally sit unassisted for several minutes!  If there is a toy out of reach in any direction, you will try to get it and then will fall over, but usually you have a smooth recovery and are able to break your fall pretty well by twisting and landing on your side.  You also do better at sitting when Ian is not right next to you.  You are moving around a lot and can push your upper body WAY up, but you are not in a crawling position quite yet.  You roll around from back to front (and back again) both to the right and left, and you use that movement to get to a desired toy sometimes.

Sibling:  Now that you are sitting, Ian is starting to interact with you a little more.  He likes to bring you toys to play with, and he also likes to get RIGHT in your face to laugh and smile at you.  He also loves that you are sitting at the table with us and wants to make sure we move all of the tall things off the center of the table so he can see you sitting across from him.

Eating:  The daily routine has been the same for the majority of the month.  You still eat every 4 hours during the day and 12 hours between evening and morning feedings.  The two bottles you have during the day still have 6-7 ounces of breast milk apiece.  One BIG change this month is that we started solid foods in the last few days!  This past Tuesday (November 9^th), we were eating dinner and all of a sudden you just seemed really hungry so I decided to try feeding you some cereal.  I had already purchased some so that we would be ready to go when you were, so it was easy to whip up the combination of warmed breast milk and rice cereal.  You opened your mouth right away and wanted more!  I tried to make it a little thicker and ended up pouring way too much cereal in the bowl, and you didn't like it that thick.  I added more milk, but didn't let it get warm again and you REALLY didn't like that.  Overall, you ended up with several bites before clamping your lips shut.

Sleeping:  You continue to be very easy to put down and a peaceful sleeper.  You go to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 PM, although Day Light Savings time messed you up for about a week and you wanted to be in bed around 7:45 or 8:00 at the latest.  You wake up to eat at 6:30 or 7:00, sometimes waiting for us to come get you and sometimes letting us know that it is time for breakfast!  I usually put you down to sleep on your side, but lately when I have come to get you in the mornings, you are on your tummy.  Of course, you move around a lot at night and are sometimes on your back as well.  You nap 2-3 times per day, depending on where you are.  You almost always fall asleep in the car while we commute, both in the mornings and evenings, but those are 30 minute snoozes at the most.  At daycare, you usually take one long nap around noon, but you don’t do anything consistently there due to the light and noise levels.  When you are at home, you will almost always still take a good hour long morning nap before your “lunch” feeding, and you will take another quick snooze before dinner.  You still only use your pacifier when you are sleepy and you try to get it in your own mouth most of the time.  But in the mornings I still usually find you sucking your thumb and I suspect that if you wake up in the middle of the night, you suck your thumb to fall back asleep by yourself.

 Special Events:  Halloween was very fun this year!  Several girls at my office decided that we could all make matching crayon costumes for Halloween (everyone was a different color, of course), and I thought I would bring the kids in on it.  I was the green crayon and so made matching outfits for you and Ian.  I brought you both to the office in the late afternoon to “Trick-or-Treat”.  The next day, we went to the Lewicki’s house for party with some of their friends.  No neighborhood trick-or-treating this year, though.

 {Green Crayon Family @ 10/28/11}

 {Green Crayon Family @ 10/28/11}

 {Fully Color Coordinating Ellen at Lewickis Halloween Party @ 10/29/11}

{Hand made by yours truly @ 10/28/11}

 {Ellen @ 11/5/11}

{Ellen @ 11/5/11}

Ellen, 5 months (10/11/2011)

Dear Ellen,

You are so much fun these days!  Lots of smiles, laughing, and little noises.  You are blowing raspberries and sticking out your tongue a lot, much to our amusement.  You continue to be a very easy baby and hardly ever cry out of fussiness.  If you do cry, it is for a specific need like food or a diaper change.  People can hardly believe our good luck – two easy babies is not an easy thing to come by!

My Favorite Thing:  I love that your personality is coming through a little more each day, and it amazes me how even at this age I can tell that you and your brother will be different!  While you are both pretty easy going, I think you are going to be a little more demanding.  When you see something that you want, you work to get it!  You don’t like to be left alone and you let us know in no uncertain terms that we need to come get you… NOW.  Not a cry, but a “HEY YOU GUYS!  I’m over here!  I want to see you!”

Daily Activities and Playing:  You are starting to sit up really well and can almost sit unassisted.  The “tripod” position isn’t far off.  You roll over from back to front almost immediately when we lay you down (changing your diaper can be an adventure!).  You can scoot around a little, mostly backwards, and are starting to really reach for objects that are out of reach.  You are starting to become more vocal, and even started SCREAMING (with happiness) lately.  When you play, you are very focused on your toy and not easily distracted.

Sibling:  No one can make you smile like Ian can!  Even when I am afraid that he is being too rough, you are usually laughing right along with him.  There have been a couple of times that he poked you in the eye or accidentally hit you in the face, and this definitely made you cry.  But he is quick to respond with, “It’s okay, Ellen,” and tries to rock you (if you are in the bouncer or your car seat) or give you hugs and kisses.  You are usually more vocal when Ian isn’t around, but clam up when he is there as you are busy watching everything he is doing.  Ian talks enough for the both of you, and for now you are happy to let him steal the show. 

Eating:  No significant changes in eating; you still eat every 4 hours during the day and 12 hours between evening and morning feedings.  You might be hitting a growth spurt as you have occasionally been waking up hungry at 4 or 5 a.m., but early waking is not a habit.  The two bottles you have during the day still have 6-7 ounces of breast milk apiece.  You are still not eating solid foods, although you are starting to look interested in what we are doing at dinner time.  I let you suck on a peach a couple of times and you weren’t very sure about that!  You sit at the table with us in the bumbo chair, and before too long we will get a high chair so you can really join us for meals.

Sleeping:  You are still consistently going to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 PM and waking up to eat at 6:30 or 7:00.  You usually like to go to sleep on your side, but when I check on you, you move all over the crib and sleep in all sorts of positions!  You even sleep on your stomach much of the time, but you do not like being put down to go to sleep that way.  You nap about 2-3 times per day, usually snoozing in the car to and from school as well.  You usually get a very long (2 hour) nap during the early afternoon.  Your morning nap is hit or miss at school, but you will still take a good morning nap when at home.  You only use your pacifier when you are sleepy, and if it isn’t handy I will catch you sucking on your thumb instead.  However, if the pacifier falls out and you can see it, you usually try to grab it and put it back in your mouth before resorting to your thumb.

Special Events:  This month we took a weekend camping trip to Cooper Lake State Park (Doctor’s Creek Unit) with some other families from FaithBridge Church.  We arrived late on Friday afternoon to set up camp, stayed in our tent for two nights, and then finished off the weekend with a quick trip to Sulphur Springs to eat in Steve Smith’s BBQ restaurant.  It was the first weekend in many months that it wasn’t over 100 degrees, and it actually rained late on Friday night.  But the temperature still rose pretty high on Saturday, making our hike warmer than we would have liked.  I carried you in the Baby Bjorn, and you fell asleep pretty quickly.  Overall it was a very fun trip.

 

{Ellen on FaithBridge Camping Trip @ 9/16/11}

{Hiking @ 9/17/11}

{Hiking @ 9/17/11}

{Ellen Sleeping @ 10/1/11}

{Ellen @ 10/1/11}

{Ellen Smiles @ 10/2/11}

  

{LOOKY HERE, ELLEN @ 10/16/11}

{Ian and Ellen @ 10/16/11}

{Ellen @ 10/16/11}

It's like looking in a mirror...

{Ellen @ 10/16/11}

Ellen, 4 months (9/11/2011)

Dear Ellen,

The “Generic Newborn Look” is starting to fade and “Ellen Paige” is starting to finally make an appearance!  This is such a fun age as you start to look more like “yourself” and little bits of personality are appearing.  Many people think you look like me, but I will have to do a comparison to my baby pictures in a few months to really be able to tell.  Everything is going smoothly and you continue to be a fairly effortless baby!

My Favorite Thing:  Laughing is definitely a highlight!  You started laughing around 15 weeks old.  We can usually make you laugh by tickling your arm pits or tummy, and Ian generally has a higher laughing success rate than anyone else. 

Daily Activities and Playing:  You are really starting to pay attention to people and turn your head to look at someone when they are talking to you.  Since you are sitting up supported fairly well, we try to give you upright sitting time in the Bumbo chair instead of always putting you in the bouncer (reclined).  You seem to like sitting up on the kitchen table with us while we eat.  At 15 weeks you turned from back to tummy, but you don’t do it very often and prefer to lie on your back looking around if given the option.  However, you are happy to stay on your tummy, either looking in the mirror or playing with toys, when put on the floor that way.  oweverGrasping and grabbing now comes very easily to you and you are starting to bring more and more things to your mouth to chew on.  Let the drool fest begin!

Sibling:  Right now you can’t get enough of your big brother.  You are always looking around to see what he is doing, and you smile when he comes in close for a kiss.  Although you will smile at most anyone, Ian gets the BIGGEST smiles by far.  He likes to get up VERY close to your face (“Hi Ellen!”) and that always makes you smile and giggle.  You start to bat at his face and he thinks that is pretty funny, too (“Ellen poke eye! Haha!”).  You also blow lots of little bubbles and Ian likes to point them out (and occasionally try to pop them).

Eating:  You eat 4 times per day: about every 4 hours, and 12 hours between evening and morning feedings.  No big changes in the past month except that we have been sending 6 oz bottles (instead of 7 oz) to day care and this seems to be sufficient.  The pediatrician gave us the go-ahead to start solid foods but we are waiting until close to 6 months.

Sleeping:  You are sleeping a solid 10 or 11 hours every night, consistently waking up between 6:30 and 7:00 for your morning feeding.  You occasionally want to sleep longer, so sometimes you “sleep in” until 7:30 on the weekends and sometimes I have to wake you up to eat before heading out to work/school.  Naps are still not consistent at day care because of the group schedule.  They start turning off the lights for group nap time at 11:30, so that’s when you want to sleep, too.  You usually have at least 2 good naps during the day and almost always snooze in the 30-45 minutes we drive each morning and evening.  You still take fairly solid morning, noon, and late afternoon naps when you are at home, so I think the higher noise and activity levels have quite an impact on you at day care.  Also, about 10 minutes after I wrote the 3-month update, I stopped swaddling you for either bed time or naps.  You didn’t skip a beat and slept just as well.

Special Events:  First over night stay with Gram and Pops when you were just over 3 months old.  Mama and Daddy got to go on the first real date since you were born… even though it was about 3 months late, we considered it our (3^rd) anniversary celebration.  You also went to Rowena twice this month!  You are no stranger to long drives, so both of the 4-5 hour trips were uneventful.  Mimi and Grandpa loved to see you at their house.

 {Ellen in Rowena @ 8/27/11}

{Dierschke Cousins with Mimi and Grandpa @ 8/28/22} 

{Ellen @ 9/11/11}

 {Ellen @ 9/11/11}

{Brandon and Ellen @ 9/11/11}

{Ellen and Catherine @ 9/11/11}

{Ellen @ 9/11/11}

Look at those baby blues