Monday, November 26, 2012

Joy

I just had to share some pictures of my sweetie little girl.











This is my favorite, just because of the joy on her face!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

6 months???

How in the world have I neglected this blog for 6 months?  Oh wait...I have a toddler!  Ellie turned 20 months old yesterday.  How that's possible, I just don't know!  Time seems to be flying by at warp speed.  Each stage just gets more and more fun.  I think God must do that so we don't miss the previous stage so much.  That's not to say I don't miss by bitty baby rocking and snuggling with me for hours on end.  Oh how I miss that!  But, right now I love my wild, crazy, sweet, and sometimes sassy toddler.  We must say no less than 10 times a day how much fun she is or what a great stage she's in.  I seriously could not love a child more than I love her.  Sometimes I just watch her and smile and my heart feels like it's going to burst it hurts so much with all the love I have for this amazing child.  God sure got this right!

She says more words and phrases than I can count these days.  She loves her baby dolls and Elm0.  Oh how she loves that guy.  I tell Barry all the time I think he must be crack for toddlers.  She has an small stuffed Elm0 she carries with her all over along with her baby doll.  We bought her a new bike (radi0 f1yer tricyc1e that we can also push) that she is in love with.  We take her for walks around the neighborhood. 
The pool was a HUGE hit this summer.  She loves it and has no fear of the water whatsoever.  She would spend the day in the pool if we let her.  She'll look out the window and say, "pool, pool."  How can you say no to that? 

Ellie is still so little.  Well let me clarify that.  At her 18 month checkup she weighed 21.8 lbs. Last week I actually had to buy 24 month shirts because the 18 months were showing her belly.  The 24 months are huge around, but just the right length.  She has a long torso...she's going to be tall.  She's still wearing 12 month pants though.  She actually wore a pair of jeans last night that were 6-12 months and I had the adjustable straps pulled as tight as they would go.  The bottom half of her is just tiny.  Her waist is so small. 

Picky eater doesn't begin to describe what our girl has turned into.  She will eat any fruit you give her, but that's about it.  ha!  Well, she will eat chicken and steak as well.  But nothing with ground beef.  She hates most veggies and will spit them out and cry if I try to get her to eat them.  I still put them on her tray every night.  I've talked to my OT and Speech Therapist friends and they've given me lots of suggestions.  Some of it I think is a texture issue and some of it is a control issue and I'm sure some of it she just doesn't care for.  So far our pediatrician isn't worried.  He said she's little, but has stayed on her own curve so that's good I guess. 

Our bedtime routine is still the same....books, books, books.  We also read a bible story and say a prayer each night before bed.  I could read 20 books and she'd still want more.  Now that I'm back to school, she's in bed by 6:30 or 7:00 each night and I wake her up at 6:40.  She naps 2.5-3 hours a day and will ask for her nap if she's ready to sleep before our normal nap time.  She still gets her pacie when she sleeps (don't judge me!)  I'm sure I could break her of it, but I didn't do it this summer so I'm waiting for Christmas Vacation.  Yes, it's all about my convenience.  Well, that and the fact that she loves it and sleeps so good with it.  She calls it her "pappy"...she knows she only gets it at "night night" times and usually is fine with that.  Before we had Ellie, I would have been sure that thing would be gone long before she was 6 months old, but guess what I've learned....you do what works for you! 

I need to do lots of updates with pics from probably all the way back to last Christmas.  I'll get to that someday, but I do want to start keeping this blog updated if only so I can remember all the cute little things my girl does. 

Here are a few pics from recently all the way back to the summer...
First sucker after her flu shot on Thursday

Lake Michigan in July.  Would only walk on the sand with these water shoes on.

Trying to catch butterflies at Grandma's house

Fresh from the bath

Pool time in May

Family Pics the end of July...it was 109 the day we had these done.  HOT!

June

June

Lake Michigan in July

First time to visit our new yogurt place in town.  It was a hit!

I guess that's a little more than a few.  Some of these are from my iph0ne.  I've been bad about using my regular camera because by the time I get it out, she's over the moment and on to something else.  Photographing a toddler is not easy. 

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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Wordless Wednesday























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Friday, February 10, 2012

Just some pictures

pigtails




sweet sleeping baby!












funny puff face


brushing those 10 teeth










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Thursday, December 22, 2011

11 Months Old!

How did my girl turn 11 months old? It seems like only yesterday, we were bringing her home. She growing up too fast! I'm in party planning mode here and also Christmas mode. Things are definitely crazy! ha!

Ellie took two steps on her own last week. She had a nasty virus last week and I spent two days at home with her while she had a pretty high temp. Finally Wednesday evening she started feeling better and Barry was playing with her on the floor. She let go of the coffee table and took two steps towards him. It was sweet! She definitely loves her daddy. She hears the garage door open when he comes home and starts looking for him. As soon as he walks into the kitchen from the laundry room, she starts crawling as fast as she can to him. I love to watch her...and him!

She's started saying, "Wo" in the last couple of weeks. She'll say it when Sam comes running up to her or something surprising happens or even if she drops something. I think Barry and I must say it quite a bit. It's too cute. I think she says a lot of other things that I say to her often, but I'm not sure. Is it an accident or real words. So hard to tell sometimes because this girl babbles ALL. THE. TIME. She wakes up talking and doesn't stop until we lay her back for a nap or bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime...well really wake up time. Ellie still has her pacie. She's only ever had it at bedtime or in the car. We occasionally give it to her at church when it's nap time, but she doesn't get to crawl around with it. When she wakes up in the mornings, I'll pick her up from her crib and tell her to throw her "night night pacie" in the crib. She takes it right out of her mouth and throws it back in her crib. It's so stinkin' cute!

My girl has started biting. What's up with that?! Our pediatrician said most babies don't start until around 15 months. Just our luck she'd be an early bloomer with the biting. The first time she did it, I screamed a little because it HURT! This girl has 8 teeth and she bites hard. Plus it was unexpected. She laughed so it was hard for me to be serious, but I told her no. The next time she did it, she pretended like she wanted to snuggle and bit my shoulder. She's done it several times. Our pediatrician gave me some good advice and I'm hoping it works. The last thing I need is her biting one of the boys at the babysitter's.

If we are playing with Ellie on the floor, Sam is sure to be right there. A while back he stole one of her small teddy bear stuffed animals with a rattle right out of her toy basket. I didn't catch it in time and he'd slobbered all over it so I let him keep it. One day last week, he was chewing on what I thought was that, "baby" as we call it. All of a sudden I heard a "baaaa" coming from it and realized he'd stole another animal from Ellie. I grabbed it from him and washed it off since he'd just picked it up. The lamb got a good bath and was as good as new. Well, fast forward to playing later in the day. I'm playing with Ellie and throwing Sam's other slobbery baby for him to go get and bring back. Ellie goes to her toy basket, gets out that lamb and hands it to Sam. He takes it from her and runs off. I had to chase that dog to get that lamb back. Apparently Sam and Ellie have worked out some deal so he can have that lamb. They are really starting to interact more lately and it's so cute. She's even been throwing him puffs from her high chair.

Ellie is still wearing 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. I do have some 12 month onesies I got a while back for Christmas because I wasn't sure how big she would be by now. They fit, but are definitely big on her. She can't wear 12 month pants though, they fall right off her. She's just a little thing with a big personality. She laughs most of the time. Of course she's getting to that point where when she wants something, she wants it. If you tell her no, there is likely to be some screaming.


And now the important stuff...pictures!  I have gobs of them because she was just too cute this month.  Still a bit of a goopy eye.  Going to see a specialist in January about the clogged tear duct.  Hoping we come up with a plan. 


Here's a bit of that temper I mentioned.


laughing at my funny faces



had to pose in front of the tree


this is before our christmas with barry's parents and grandpa last night, but i love it so i had to throw it in!
My mom, sister and nephew arrive tomorrow.  I'm so excited!  Can't wait to get lots of pictures of Ellie and Cooper together.
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Friday, December 9, 2011

10 Months Old...

Better late than never, right?!

Ellie has so much personality! She is so much fun! I wish I could freeze time right now...of course I think that every month. This month is so much fun though! Ellie laughs and smiles so much. I think she's got to be the happiest baby I've ever met. Don't get me wrong, we've seen glimpses lately at some serious stubbornness. But, that's OK too. We love everything about this sweet darling!




We finally got in for our 9 month well baby visit when she was 10 months old. Our pediatrician had to reschedule the previously scheduled appt. Ellie weighed 19.6 oz. Even though she's only between the 50-60% for weight, she's in the 90% for height. She is growing!

We still have lots of drool, but definitely not as much as before those last teeth popped through. She loves to bite. Sometimes us, but mostly our clothes or blankets...things like that. She's never been interested in those teething rings that you freeze or refrigerate too much. She is however loving her tooth brush! I’ve been brushing her teeth for a while and now she wants to do it herself. So of course I let her after I do the actual brushing. She smiles as soon as she sees that thing!




At our visit with Dr. L, he told us we could start some table foods. I had already given her a few things, but he said to try turkey on Thanksgiving. Let me just say, it was not a hit. I even tried leftovers with her a couple times and it's a no go for now. I think it might be the texture because her response was to put it in her mouth and then make a very odd face. ha! She did however LOVE the mashed potatoes. We've also tried steamed peas with the skin peeled off. She loves those as well.


She has added a couple words to her repertoire "dada" and "mama." She also says, "dog-dog," "no-no," and "ni-ni" (when it's time for bed). At first she only said "dog-dog" when she would see our dog, Sam or I would ask her where he was. Now she says it when she sees any dog. It's so sweet.
She loves, loves, loves to sing! In church she has started singing/humming along with the songs. We sing songs in the car and I'll look back in the mirror and she's just smiling away. We sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" several times a day and she now tries to do the hand motions. It's mostly just lifting her hands up and down, but it's so cute.


Bed head!
Ellie is still cruising around furniture. We also borrowed one of those stand and push toys from a friend and she goes to town with that thing. She will stand still on her own, but as soon as she realizes we've let go of her fingers, she sits down. She is just lacking the confidence...she'll get there though.  She also stands at her Laugh and Learn Fun with Friends Musical Table.  She crawls right to it and then will play with the different activities on it for what seems like forever.  She just loves it!




This girl loves to read! We have SOOOOOO many books. I went a little crazy with the board books. I turn in a scholastic book order every month for my class so I also go on their website and order from the baby/toddler book order. Ellie had shelves full of books before we ever even got the call for her. Now she continues to get books. Plus her Aunt Laurie (my bff) sends her a gift each month for her month birthday. There is usually one or two books included in that. You know how us teachers are! Anyway, her favorite right now is, Toes, Ears, & Nose! It's a lift the flap book of body parts. She will let us read that to her multiple times while she lifts the flaps. We've only had one mishap and had to tape the flap back on.


Reading with Daddy
 



Sleep is still a wonderful thing for us. She has been going down between 6:30 and 7:00 and I wake her up about 6:30. The weekends she usually wakes up by 7:00. I think mostly because she's in a good routine. Over Thanksgiving break, she slept until about 7:30. She still takes two naps a day. One in the morning for about 2 hours and her afternoon nap is down to 1.5-2 hours. On Sundays, she only gets one nap because of church. She sleeps in the car on the way to church for about 15 minutes and then sleeps after church for about 2.5-3 hours. She doesn't seem to have trouble with that. I mean I know she's tired, but never gets too cranky. She is definitely a go with the flow baby girl.

All in all....Life is GREAT!
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