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!

4 months

I figured I better get these posted before she turns 5 months in about another week!  Month 4 completely flew by with Jeff and my travel schedules and our little"infant" seems to have turned in to a little baby.  The days of her sleeping during a nice dinner out and sitting contently in mommy's lap with her hands by her side are long gone.  She is rolling every which way on the ground....grabbing anything in site on tables and plates....her favorite things to grab right now seem to be my hair, Jeff's glasses and her foot, her foot is her FAVORITE chew toy....I don't know why we invest in any toys...this girl loves to have her foot in her mouth.  It continues to be amazing watching her change.

Here 4 month stats:

15 lbs, 6 oz. (97th percentile)
26 inches (90th percentile)

3 months

Here are Ellie's 3 month pictures.  Ok I have to be honest 3 months, 3 days.  This week was a little overwhelming to say the least and we didn't quite make it around to these on April 3rd.  This week I started back to work and on that first day back, as most of you are all too familiar with, tornadoes were hovering all over Dallas.  I had my first uncontrollable worry of being a mother.  I can't imagine (and from what I've been told) the worrying never goes away...it only becomes worse as they grow up.  Oh the ulcers I have to look forward to.

I am a proud momma of a 3 month old that regularly smiles, rolls over, eats 5+ ounces a meal, lifts her head on her own, holds little toys, and responds to her name!  We love her!

all for her momma

Today is my last day home with Ellie before returning to work full time tomorrow.  Tear.  I've had mixed emotions about returning... there are some positives to interacting with adults on a daily basis again :) but the thing I have been dreading the most are missing Ellie's "firsts" and not being able to watch her grow and change all day everyday.  Well sweet Miss Ellie loves her momma very much and didn't let me miss a "first".  Today she gave me her first long head lift (without fussing on her tummy) and first rollover!

This morning while we were hanging out she was acting like she wanted to be on her tummy.  I rolled her over and she proceeded to lift her head.  It's like today she discovered she has control of her head!

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, she rolled over! I put her on her mat on her back while I picked up a little around the house.  When I came back into the room I found Ellie on her tummy!  I actually missed the "first" rollover!  

So I watched and watched and finally she gave me a good roll.   I was only able to get the video of the second half...you'll have to take my word for it that she can roll.    

  

Tomorrow she is 3 months and becomes a daycare regular... I'm so happy that she did all this today for her momma before we go back to reality.  It feels like the last 3 months have been a vacation from reality...a hard vacation at times...but  a vacation from the real world.  We took these 3 months to get to know each other and to grow together (momma had a lot of growing up to do too) pretty isolated from all the real world stresses.  Our biggest stress was when to get up and nap each day :)!    I would not trade any of it for anything!  Can't wait to see what the next 3 months, 3 years and 3 decades with our beautiful daughter brings!!

some more of my favs

 Here are a few of my favorites from the last month!

uh oh.... looking fierce in that Aggie gear.... but I'll say she looks pretty cute in BU stuff too....Jeff and I have made a truce...no bad talking each others schools in front of Ellie.

Getting so strong in the Bumbo!

Siblings learning to share.

I'm not even sure what day this was, but she was so so so happy and absolutely precious!!!

Ellie's first passport picture AKA baby mugshot.  WANTED cute baby!!

Ellie celebrated St. Patty's day with us.  It was a chore to find something with green within all her pink!

"Mommy I think I'm getting too big for the swing already :(.  The swing is my favorite these days, I put her in that thing and she goes right to sleep.  It's the only place she will nap!

Another LAM joins the flock.

Here's Ellie in action.... smiling and rolling around... her 2 favorite things!

Almost got it

Ellie is now a little over 11 weeks old (sorry I haven't been back here for so long she's kept me busy!) and is quite the little giggler.  Her happiest time is right after she wakes up.  Your sure to get a bunch of free smiles right after a nap.  You can really tell the joy she has for life.  Like any baby she gets fussy from time to time, but its rare... she's so happy each and everyday and so interested in all her surroundings.  As we broach the 3 month mark I've been working hard with her to grasp or hold things, roll over, and to hold her head up on her tummy.  We are making headway in each area.  She can ALMOST flip her self over from back to tummy.  She gets caught on the side and needs a little nudge.  Tummy to back is a little harder because she doesn't like to be on her tummy as much.  I try to get her to do tummy time and work on those head lifts about 3 times a day (if she allows).   Today I think we had a break through in the area of reaching and grabbing for things.  I guess it's kinda minor, but for a mom who watches and hopes for change each day it felt like a milestone.  I had her on her play mat by the window (my whitey needs her vitamin D).  She normally grabs one of the rings on accident but holds on, but today you can watch her right arm actively going after the hanging mirror.  She doesn't quite know that she can "grab" it, but you can tell she knows its there and knows she can reach for it... progress in my book.  I think it could be days before she "grabs" and not by accident.  She's almost got it..... I'm sure I'll be wishing she doesn't grab things when she's yanking my hair or pulling things off the table, but for now I'm happy to see her learning to use her hands!

I don't think I updated y'all with her 2 month statistics.  She was still off the charts.  The doctor likes to call her a little chunk.  I don't take offense to it because she is a pretty precious little chunk.  She measured 24 inches (97th%) and 12 lbs 10 oz (90th%).  She keeps growing and growing and is now officially out of most 0-3 month clothes!  Our next appointment is May 6th for her 4 month.  I'll let you know where she falls on the charts after that.