Il Secondo Mese

At her most recent weigh-in, I mean check-up, the doctor's assistant asked whether the last two months have gone by quickly or slowly. I know that it seems like a year since she was born, but I'm not sure whether that indicates the former or the latter. At any rate, much has happened in the last month!

For one thing, Elinor reached the two month milestone, endured her vaccinations, and even survived the indignity of swallowing the oral Rotavirus immunization.  Judging by her screams at each, having to taste something other than what she was used to was far worse than skin punctures.  Though the above picture may indicate otherwise, even dethroned Gwyndelin just adores Baby Elinor.  I often have people following me around like loyal canines in hopes that they can get a glimpse, whiff, or hold of our little cherub. This picture was undercover, not staged.

Elinor is our third summer baby.  I really like my summers, except when I am recovering from childbirth during them, and tend to get a little frantic when I see them slipping away with no fun had.  So, before school started up again, we crammed in a week of swim lessons and a trip to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  
The photos are in no particular order, but the events themselves were not so haphazard.  The kids all learned the value of having an infant along pretty quickly; when Elinor needed to eat on the way down, they were rewarded with ice cream at the Cheese Factory in Beaver.  When she needed to eat on the way back, their choice of foreign candy from Pop n' Sweets helped them while away the time.  Traveling with an infant is the best!

In addition to Justin taking the three big girls to The Merchant of Venice and the whole family seeing the British-themed Greenshow before the staging of Henry VI, we also hiked around in Cedar Breaks, toured SUU campus, and visited historic Cedar City sites.  Since the arrival of baby Aurora called Nin and Opa up north to help Kinsi, instead of spending Sunday in St. George as planned, we attended the Stake Conference of our vacation house which was presided over by none other than BYU President Kevin Worthen, the area authority seventy.  Not knowing that it was stake conference, of course, and only aiming for an 11 am church, we ended up mostly hearing only his talk, which was very moving.  Then Justin and the kids saw the Sabbath-appropriate sites of Cedar City--including the temple, an old iron foundry, and the Eves cousins--while Elinor and I rested.

We visited Navajo Lake on our way out of Dodge and consumed an entire watermelon.  I guess that definitively marks us as a large family, because it wasn't exactly a petite one.

We had to hurry home because the following day Grandma and Grandpa Collings returned from their mission to Tokyo slash Fukuoka Japan.  Julia and Elisabeth made a beautiful welcome home banner for them, which we hung and then left to terrorize ducks at the BYU duck pond until Grandma and Grandpa actually got there.  They had invited all the grandkids over for pizza.  I personally think Grandma just wanted to hold Elinor.

The next Monday the big girls started 9th, 7th, and 5th grades, respectively, and the Monday after that, Abdiel started Kindergarten.

 He was dropped off by one sister (Gwyndelin), picked up by another (Katharine), and pretty much rocked the house.  He loves school.

The following Sunday made Elinor Beatrix official.  Justin gave a perfectly beautiful blessing and Elinor slept through the whole thing. She looked just darling in her bonnet, and the taco salad bar with biological family and soda float bar with ward family afterward left us all glowing for most of the night.  She is such a little angel.  Love you, baby girl!!

That should probably end our post since nothing really tops the naming blessing of a fifth daughter, but a fifth daughter has called forth some serious male bonding.  Not only does Abdiel get some pretty consistent time jumping on the trampoline with Dad, he also gets season tickets to BYU football games with Justin and the Lloyd men, Shane, Peter, and Nathan.  The season opener was hailed by a BYU Law Alumni tailgate party; treated by J. Dawgs, ice cream, and Cosmo, Abdiel was reportedly in heaven.

 

We Collings women held a Japanese tea ceremony and viewed 12 Angry Men, both homeschool projects, truth be told, and both lovely.  I forgot to take pictures, but just imagine how cute they all looked kneeling on a mat wearing their split toe socks from Japan that Grandma brought back, sipping broth out of black mugs, and stabbing chicken nuggets with chopsticks.  Gwyndelin was especially adept at this last activity.

Let's see what the next month of Elinor's life holds!