In our Home

We have a 10 month old. She is crazy and silly and fun and we love her so much! She is emotional and loving, yet grumpy and stubborn. She loves to talk all day long. She's even singing a little bit. She does the motions to the Itsy-Bitsy-Spider and jabbers away to the tune. She can stand all on her own now. She has the strongest little legs! I swear she does at least a thousand squats a day, bending down, picking up a toy and popping right back up! She walks all over holding on to things, but hasn't taken any steps on her own yet.

She still loves the dogs so much, especially Ember. The first thing in the morning, she will ramble on saying "Eber-ber-ber-ber" looking around until she finds her. Then she likes to play tug-a-war with her and she chases her all day long. It's surprising to me that Ember actually really likes Ellie too. She will bring her blanket right up to her and ask to play. Ember has never been much of a baby/child dog, but she has really warmed up to Ellie.

Ellie has a new found love for the outdoors. Now that it's warming up, we've been spending lots of time outside. Every time the front or back door opens, she tries to escape. We play out in the grass, picking up leaves and sticks. She's mastered climbing our front steps, but she still has no idea how to go down. I'm trying to teach her. One of her most favorite things still is swinging. On days that it's nice outside, we walk to the park with the swing. I had to work last weekend, but when I got home, Ryan had a wonderful suprise for me. He had put up a swing in the backyard! Ellie loves it so much!

Ryan's brother sean and his girlfriend came to visit over the weekend. I wasn't able to see them much cause I had to work. Ryan and Ellie had lots of fun with them. They went on a hike and it sounds like Ellie loved it. Sean helped Ryan with the swing and they did an awesome job.

 

 

 

 

 

After a long day of playing and getting dirty, Ellie does her other most favorite thing before bedtime. Bathtime!!!

 

She still loves to make the biggest mess possible. She especially loves to pull all of her books off of her shelf.

 

She has the best sense of humor and she has been making the funniest scrunchy face lateley.

 

For V-day, daddy got her a new bear!

 

We went bowling with some friends a few weeks ago and she had so much fun!

I still think she looks so much like her daddy

 



 

She has also discovered the cupboards and the tupperware!

 

And how she loves these dogs

 

And of course, here are he 10 month shots...

 

This little girl is turning into a toddler. I catch little glimpses here and there of my baby and I try to hold on to them as much as I can, but she is inevitably transforming before my eyes. One of my favorite things is rocking her to sleep for her naps. She lies there so still in my arms, breathing softly and looking so peaceful. I could just sit there for hours watching her.

Hello Again

Alright. I know. It's been a while. Probably the longest span of time, since the babe was born that I have not posted. I apologize. Really I do. It's just that I have not had the time, nor the energy to put my thoughts in writing, let alone pictures on the computer. But, tonight, I went to bunco leaving husband and baby here alone together and when I came home the house was dark and silent. An environment I have come to forget. I am so tired, but the thought of savoring a few peaceful moments to myself, and to get something done that has een looming over my thoughts sounds too tempting. My pillow can wait tonight.

The last month at work has been so trying. In all my nursing career, I have never seen such an amount of craziness and tragedy on our unit. I am emotionally and physically exhausted. I am really hoping that we are out of the woods and things can get back to normal.

Ellie keeps becoming more and more of a handful. I feel like I could put her in a padded room with nothing in it and she would still figure out how to get in to trouble. She truly is the energizer bunny. I am lucky if she takes a second nap now days. At least for the most part, she sleeps through the night. If only I could figure out how to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep.

So at 9 months, Ellie can stand up and cruise around the couches and ottoman. She's been able to let go and stand on her own really well the last few days. She learned how to clap her hands together and say "Yay". I think her favorite word to say is "ebar" or "ber" for Ember. She loves, loves, loves the dogs. She even growls like one, thanks to her dad teaching her. She gets a kick out of playing tug-a-war with Ember and she loves to crawl all over Recon. One of her most favorite things is the bath. We have to keep the bathroom door shut, cause she will constantly crawl in there and try to climb into the tub. Every time I start to fill the tub for bath time, she literally sprints and shrieks with excitment from whereever she is in the house the whole way there. Then she will stand there and bounce up and down in excitment watching the water, trying to climb in. She also loves to shred the toilet paper up into tiny pieces, put them in her mouth and then spit them out. She's had her first encounter with toilet water, I walked out for two seconds and came back in to find her skimming her fingers along the water! So we have learned to be extra careful about keeping the bathroom door shut. She also loves the dog food bowls. Any time I put them down to feed the dogs, it is another a dead out sprint to them as she gasps with excitment trying to beat me. Another one of hers and my favorite things that she does is blowing raspberries on any skin she can find of ours. She'll do it on arms, hands, chest, shoulders, legs and if we are lying on the floor, she will crawl up to us, pull up our shirts and blow big ol ones on our stomaches. It is quite hilarious and she will laugh and laugh as she does it. I just think it is such a cute role reversal and love that she has figured out how to do it. She hates diaper changes and getting dressed as well as nap time. She hates being confined, she always has to be wriggling around and doing something stimulating. The older she gets, the more I see how independent she is. She always wants to do everything on her own and if I try to help her, she gets mad. If I feed her a piece of food, she will immediately spit it out and then pick it right back up, put it in her mouth and eat it. I am terrified that she is going to be just like me. Heaven help us.

So at her 9 month appointment, she weighed 19.13 lbs, coming in around 77th percentile. She is still a little above average for height. We are going to have to switch to a regular car seat here soon, which I have no idea which one I should get. Aparently the recommendations now are to stay rear facing until two years if at all possible.

Ellie's finally popped out another tooth, on her bottom, next to her two she already has. For the last month, she has been miserable and I felt so bad for her. I hope that it gets better with each one, cause it is was pretty rough. She actually has weaned herself off of her binky. I think that it was too painful. She will not take it now at all. I guess that this is a good thing though in the long run, even though it's harder to get her down for a nap without one now.

Here's a few pictures from the last month or so...

 

 

 

And of course, her 9 month photos

 

8 Months!

 

Alright, here's my 8 month Ellie overload. She has reached so many major milestones this last month! She finally figured out how to crawl on her hands and knees. She stood up for the first time. She's been babbling up a storm and her first real word was "Hi" with a wave a few weeks ago. We were sitting on the couch and Ember was across from us on the other one. Ellie looked over and saw her,  waved her hand and as clear as day said the word "Hi". I was shocked and thought maybe it was just a coincidence, but sure enough she did it again later and now she does it all the time. She can say bye-bye too. She says mama occasionally and she has said dada a couple of times but we're still trying to figure out if she really means it. Her latest word is "Ember", not that greatly enunciated, sounds kinda like emmmer, but we think she also means it too. She has tried many new foods and is getting really good at feeding herself. She loves sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados and her puff treats (which are pretty much a whole grain cracker that dissolves easily in the mouth). She is getting really fast, we always have to keep a close eye on her cause she can get in to trouble quickly. Some of her favorite things to play and do are... Peek-a-boo. She actually pulls a blanket over her face and then down quickly with a smile, she also likes when we do it to her too. She loves us singing to her, especially the itsy-bitsy-spider and helping her do the motions. She goes crazy about rides on dad's shoulders, every time when he puts her up she will jump up and down, smile so big and squeal . She loves bath time like crazy! She will splash her hands and scoot around all over playing with her toys until she is all pruney. She likes to play with her fun, flashy toys that make music and she bounces up and down dancing. She also dances when I play exciting, fun music too. She loves to pull all of the books off of her bookshelf and make a huge mess. She pretty much loves to make a huge mess with anything she can. She hates napping, and always wants to be a part of the action. We average about 2, 45 minute naps per day. But on the bright side, she sleeps like a dream at night now. usually like 8-6. Even though I'm not a morning person, I can't complain about that. I need to just learn to go to bed earlier. This girl definitely keeps us on our toes. We love her so much and are so excited to see what the next month will bring!