11 weeks old!

I haven't posted in a long time...
Esther had a busy and eventful weekend last weekend. On Saturday we traveled up North to Hammond, Indiana, to celebrate Molly's Grandma Van Gorp's 85th birthday. The drive is about 3 hours each way. Esther did great in the car. She got hungry and Mom fed her once each way, at the Wolcott / Chalmers rest stop, which is probably about the halfway point. We decided to change Esther's diaper on a bench in the middle of the rest stop, for lack of a better place to change her, but Esther didn't mind. :-p We had fun at the birthday party - sloppy joe's and banana or chocolate cake to eat. Grandma had lots of relatives and church friends there to help her celebrate. Afterwards we stayed and talked for awhile with family, and then went to Grandma's house nearby. Esther was pretty sleepy during the party, but let a few people hold her. Then she was kind of cranky at Grandma's house, because she was getting hungry again. We ate with Kristin, Ed, Mallory and Leah at Cracker Barrel before heading home. Andy kept Esther entertained most of the time during dinner, since she was wide awake and slightly cranky. Then Kristin took a turn. The ride home was fairly uneventful, but we didn't get back until like 11:30. Esther slept good Saturday night!
On Sunday we had AWESOME weather. This winter seems to be dragging on and on and on, but Sunday was a gorgeous day. The temperature was up somewhere in the mid-60's! Mom and Dad went out in the back yard to work in the garden, while Esther napped in a little screened-in baby tent that Mom bought at Once Upon a Child. Esther slept really hard in the little tent for probably around 2 hours! She slept right through Max attacking the tent, planes buzzing overhead, and a strong wind at times. Mom is looking forward to using the tent again in Spring when she gets outside to garden some more. Only 15 days until Spring!! (as I'm writing it is 28 degrees outside with some snow and ice leftover from yesterday. yuck)
Esther is 11 weeks old now and is making sounds every day. She has a sound she makes when she gets excited that is like sucking in air really fast. She has a couple more "full night's of sleep" under her belt now, and has somewhat more of a routine. Mornings are still her happy time, and she still really likes the bouncy seat that she got from Target. Esther needs to be able to see peoples' faces. She doesn't like it when people leave her field of vision - she will turn her head to try to follow them, and if they don't come back she might start crying. She can stand up really well with some support - Dad likes to make her pick up one leg, and then she will bend her knee and kind of take a supported step. Mom tries to make sure that Esther still gets plenty of tummy time! She can halfway roll over, but no real attempts to roll over or crawl just yet.