Biking Day

> The weather was finally cool this morning so we decided to venture out! We had a fun morning riding our bikes to the park!
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Month 7

Who knew it would be such a challenge to update a blog once a month when you are able to keep a little baby clean, fed, and in safe hands each and every day.  I've been procrastinating posting on the 7th month, but realized today on my way home from work how much (not to mention how often) I enjoyed going back and reading the posts from the first week of her life all the way through 6 months so far.  So in order to make this a digital diary of sorts I am back on the bandwagon and am here to tell you about Ellie's month 7.  Months 5-7 have been my favorites by far if I haven't mentioned that already.  She shows her personality in each and everything she does.  She is super laid back, but isn't afraid to tell us what she wants.  She is making all sorts of noises.  Ba (we think for "Bo") and Dadadadada (close enough to Daddy in our books) are her most common words.  She has this other fascinating noise that is a mix of a grunt, squeal, and yell with a smile that indicates she wants something.  We hear it when she wants another bite, when she wants to be picked up, when she is uncomfortable, or when she wants out of the bath.  She is quite vocal and if she could say words she'd already be bossing us around I'm sure.  Jeff says she's already a talker just like her mom.  Aside from talking she is also developing daily.  She can go from sitting to laying on her tummy perfectly.  She loves to sit up in her crib and play with her paci and smile in the camera.  Her newest trick is to pull herself up in the crib or on the play table.  So far she only does it when we aren't paying much attention... when we watch, she does her grunt, yell, squeal smile for us to help her into the standing position.  My prediction is that by the end of the month she will be pulling up on her own on everything.  And if I was a betting woman, I'd guess she's going to be an early walker, maybe around 10 months.  She is so determined, focused, and doesn't like to be sedentary for one second.  As for eating, she does mashed bananas, avocados, all the puree foods and loves the rice cakes (long wafer looking ones, the name has slipped my mind).  We've tried some puffs, yogurt melts (bad choking memory for mom so we are staying away from those for a bit), and cheerios and she doesn't seem quite ready to eat those or maybe its just us that isn't ready for her to eat them since we can't relax yet while she's eating.  I don't have weight/height percentile, but I can promise you that she is growing like a weed.  In fact she has already outgrown her 9 month PJs and is ready for 12 month ones.  She's growing entirely too fast.  Jeff and I were astonished to find out that 12 months (at Carter's at least) is in a different section than newborn to 9 months.  We were having trouble finding 12 month PJs and the employee at Carter's had to redirect us to the 12-24 month section.  Wow.... too big for me.  Maybe we'll keep squeezing her into the 9 months a little bit longer so I don't have to openly admit my baby is growing up.

Here are a few pictures for 7 months.  Sweet girl had a cold and/or was teething so these aren't the happiest of pictures.  She still looks cute even without a smile :).

Half a Year

It's hard to imagine life 6 months ago, BE, before Ellie.  It's hard to imagine what we did all the time, what we laughed at, what brought us happiness.  Because now, Ellie does it all.  She has been such a joy over the past 6 months and has grown up so quickly.  We went to the doctor Friday and she remains  a super long lady at 27 3/4 inches (over 100 percentile) and 18 lbs (80th percentile).  We were quite impressed at the 18 lbs because Jeff and I were both guessing 20 +.... from the way she eats and the comments we get on her sweet thighs, we were convinced she was a little chunk.... our little beautiful chunk.  But, turns out she's just perfect!   Months 5-6 have been the biggest developmentally.  Ellie is fully mobile.  She started army crawling a little into the 5th month and now she is full on crawling everywhere.  There's no stopping her now.  I suspect that she'll start pulling herself up on things soon.  She sits up as well.  Well let me better explain myself on that one, she CAN sit up...but with the crawling it seems her only interest at this point is being on the move.  Why sit when you can get in to anything and everything anywhere you want.  And food, her favorite past time.  She has been cleared to eat anything she wants now (puree/mushed that is).... I wonder if we should start her out on sushi already :)?  She has tried, tasted, and approved the following foods: avocado, banana, sweet potatoes, green beans, apple sauce, squash, rice, and oatmeal.  She still has much more to explore but for being 6 months, she is doing fabulous!  Until next month.....

Mother's Day & Father's Day

Miss Ellie is always smiling for pictures, but she decided that on mother's day and father's day she just wanted to relax and not take any pictures.  We tried to sneak a few to remember the day but she just wasn't having it :).

Daddy - Father's Day 2012

Mommy - Father's Day 2012

Mother's Day 2012

Mommy with her babies - Mother's Day 2012

5 months

Just a month behind :).  Too many great ones to chose from but just wanted everyone to be able to see her progress over the months!  In month 5 she began eating some veggies and is ARMY CRAWLING!  Big girl!  She has the ability to sit up but just isn't yet convinced that it's the cool thing to do! 

Nom Nom Nom

We officially have a rice cereal eater!  She's been going at it for about 2 weeks and loves it!  This was her first few bites :)!  Took it like a champ!

Easter

Here are some long overdue Easter pics!  We had a great first Easter with Ellie!  We went to early service at Stonebriar Community Church then went for a family brunch at Bonnie Ruth's.  Ellie loved her first Easter basket!

The weekend before Easter our neighborhood had an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was Ellie's first time to meet the Easter Bunny!

The girls had a super fun time!