Elayne is 14 weeks old today; she was 3 months old last Monday.

How time flies! Run through this much time 71 more times, and she’ll be 18: a strange thought, to be sure. Yes, that’s a lot of repetitions, but if they all go this quickly… well, it’s obvious that it won’t necessarily seem that long. I begin to understand my parents’ comments about how quickly we all grew up.

Begin, I say, because of course Ellie is only 3 months old. She’s cooing and laughing and starting to put things in her mouth and trying to roll. She gets happy when Mommy or Daddy enter the room, or come back after hours away at work, or put her where she can watch us while we’re cooking, or talk to her, or really do just about anything with her. Read on, intrepid explorer →

The last few weeks, the pace hereabouts has picked up a bit again. My web development consulting has stepped back up to the levels it was in the months before Elayne was born, which is great, but it’s an extra 10 hours every week (minimum) that I need to spend on things outside the home. Add in get-togethers with friends each of the last two Saturday evenings, celebrating our anniversary three weekends ago, and our normal busy schedule, and you have a recipe for busyness. Read on, intrepid explorer →

Elayne has apparently made it one of her early life goals to spit up on my nicer shirts. Whenever I’m holding her, patting her back, post feeding, she strains toward the edge of the burp cloth, tugs on it to pull the sides together, and generally makes every possible effort to guarantee that when she does finally get out a big burp (and some spit-up with it), my polo will be the recipient rather than the wonderful tie-dyed cloth.

This, of course, isn’t quite accurate: she’s not doing it on purpose. Indeed, at 8 weeks old, Ellie really isn’t doing much “on purpose” yet; her mental capacities have not developed to the point of complex intentions. She is, at three days shy of two months old, showing more and more signs of active engagement and interactivity with the world and with us. It’s remarkable and fun to see her intelligence flowering, her emotional palette broadening, and her physical capabilities increasing – from interacting with objects to making a wider variety of noises.

I’d be lying if I said it was all fun and games, though. Read on, intrepid explorer →

Ellie will be 7 weeks old on Sunday. To put it mildly, that just seems crazy. It’s not going too fast, but I sure don’t want to blink.

Read on, intrepid explorer →