My new background picture

This is what I see on my computer every day now. It doesn't begin to show her happy personality or her genuine charm.

OK, I'm being a total sap. But you would too if she were yours.

First sniffles

Ellie's getting through her first little cold. She's doing fine with it -- she's a little sleepier than normal, so she gets tired-cranky a little more often. But she's not noticeably worse when she's not tired.

She loves sneezing, even though it's a lot messier than normal -- she laughs and smiles just about every time. (She hates getting her nose wiped, though.) It bothers Mama and Papa to hear her gurgly nose-breathing (OK, sorry if you're eating while you read this) but Ellie's her usual happy self.

What a blessing she is. I can't imagine a better baby. Well, maybe Ellie without all the spitting up. But otherwise, she's perfect.

Well, that was a disaster

So our church does an occasional Friday-night "date night," where they do a few hours of child care so parents can get a night out without paying for a babysitter. Nice idea.

We dropped Ellie off last night. Tina got upset before we even left the church. I chalked that up to first-time-child-care-drop-off mommy-jitters, and we went shopping and to dinner at the home of the Butterburger. The whole time Tina was all stressed and unhappy, feeling like we forgot something. Then, less than an hour after we left, we got a call that Elizabeth was "having a hard time" and that we should come get her.

Hmmm. That didn't make Tina feel any better.

Apparently, right after we left, Ellie started looking around (for us, we guess) and crying. And crying. And she wouldn't stop. Everyone tried calming her, walking with her, whatever, and she wouldn't stop. She stopped after we got there, but was a little sobby and pretty tired.

Now, Ellie just doesn't cry like that. Ever. Nobody at the child care really seemed to believe us. Well, the folks from our bible study did, because they see her and know what a good baby she is. But the others were saying how they watch colicky babies all the time and it doesn't bother them. We're thinking, "She's not colicky!" but of course they probably hear that all the time.

Anyway, the whole night ended up being a lot more stressful than if we'd just taken Ellie shopping and to the restaurant with us. Not that we think anyone at Trinity did anything wrong, but Ellie's such an easy baby that it's not at all stressful to have her with us.

We've been thinking about dropping Ellie off at child care on Sundays, but Tina's been reluctant to do it. No less so now, I'm sure. We'll have to work her up to it. Ellie, I mean.

Well, and Tina too.

Neato picture collage

Here are some pics of Ellie, purple-i-fied and made into whatcha call a collage.

Photo studios offer similar things - though maybe not purple-i-fied - under the name "portrait study." I'm not sure how it's a portrait, and I wouldn't want to study it so much.

But it's cute anyway.

By the way, that's my finger she's holding.

And her own foot she's eating. 

Dedication dress

Here's Ellie again in her great-grandpa's chair. This time she's in her dedication dress.

By the way, she was five months old yesterday. Happy five-months-old-yesterday day, Elizabeth! 

A-feedin' and a-sleepin'

OK, I'm not really sleeping here. But she is, and it's kinda cute how she's just kinda splayed out there. 

Ellie in her pink chair

Here's Ellie sitting in the chair her great-grandpa (my mom's dad, Dante "Cappy" Caporuscio) made her. It's pink with a white "E" on it. Really cool.

She still needs a little bolstering to sit in it, but she's almost there. She'll fit in it pretty nicely for a while. 

By the way

The message on Sunday was from Joshua 5. That wasn't really planned -- we're going through the book of Joshua as a series, and it just turned out that way. The pastor said he'd rather had almost anything else to teach on, but he had to do it "because God said so."

Kinda funny. Also because five of the seven kids being dedicated were girls.

A closer pic

Thanks for the pictures to our friend Corey -- who doesn't attend Trinity, but he and his wife Beth drove up to Lansing for the service.

Ellie, by the way, was (of course) perfect the whole time. She did get a little jumpy when the congregation applauded after the dedication. 

Dedication photo

Here's Trinity's senior pastor Brad Mitchell introducing the dedication portion of the service. My mom is in black right behind him and Tina's mom is hiding (not really) behind Tina's right shoulder. 

Dedication

We had a great time on Sunday. In the morning, we dedicated Ellie at church. It's a simple ceremony at Trinity -- we don't baptize children or anyone who hasn't believed in and trusted Jesus -- and it's really more for the parents than for the kids. Ellie's not even 5 months old; she clearly has no idea what it's all about. But it's a commitment on our part to raise her in the Lord's way. The rest is up to us -- and Him.

Afterward, we had some friends over to the house...the first time any kind of group has been here. We were a little worried there wouldn't be space for everyone, but things worked out.

My parents and Tina's mom came into town for it all, too, so we got to see them.

All in all, a pretty cool weekend.