Summer is here . . .

And it came with a vengeance! It's been about 100 degrees for a few days now, which makes going places inconvenient because we have to cool the car down before I can put the baby in. But we're dealing with it okay, mostly staying inside. Elena Rose got to use her pool for the first time today to keep cool while we were at my mother-in-law's house. She really enjoyed it. Her swimsuit is size 18 months, but it was a little too snug, so we ended up taking the top off after awhile.

She's super active all the time now. She's always pulling herself up, trying to climb, and grabbing things. She likes to stand at the sliding door and look outside.She loves it when the dogs are inside. The annoying thing is that they're always around when she's in her highchair, waiting for her to drop something. And when she doesn't want something she just throws it on the floor, which doesn't help. Ginger's really sweet with her, though; she'll run up and just lay down in front of her so that Elena can pet her, but the baby barely notices. And I'm happy to say that I actually got Elena Rose to eat food other than yogurt today! She nibbled on strawberry and cantaloupe, and also on toast with avocado spread on top. Progress!

And look, she doesn't have rolls on her ankles anymore, that's how much she's grown!Just this weekend she started batting her eyes. I don't know where she learned how to do it, but it's adorable. In this picture she's batting her eyes at Jorge. And when I laid down with her to put her to sleep for her afternoon nap today, she started batting her eyes at me. I couldn't keep myself from smiling so I had to hide my face so she wouldn't start to play.I'm still going through all the boxes in the garage. I always saved things that had sentimental value, so it's been nice to find all the little things I put away to remember. I found a tiny little guardian angel pin my grandma got me for my 11th birthday, and I also found my 1st year birthday plaque. I was so excited because everyone always says that Elena Rose looks exactly like Jorge (except people do say she has my eyes), but when I saw the picture on this plaque, I saw her right away. So she does look like her mommy, too!And her first birthday is less than 2 weeks away! Where did my baby go?!