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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

8 Months

Dear Ellison -

You are 8 months old! We are 2/3 through your first year! Holy moly, time is moving way too fast!! Here's what you've been up to lately.

- I think you're tipping the scales at around 20 pounds. You've probably grown another inch too. Maybe around 25 inches or so?

- You're wearing mostly 6-9 and 9 month clothes. You can also wear 6-12 month and you've got room to grow in them. Lots of your 6 month onesies still fit, but 6 month pants and jammies are a little snug. You're in size 3 diapers with plenty of room. No shoes fit yet. You've got plenty of size 3 shoes that are still a solid inch too big! I think you've just got really tiny feet!

- You've only tried a few new things this month as far as food goes. You've had mango which you have loved and started snacking on banana cream flavored waffle wheels. You have really enjoyed snacking with your mesh teether. You've also started eating bigger chunks of some foods (banana, mango, avocado) instead of purée. You've started practicing with a sippy cup and have really started to get the hang of it! You're also finally holding your own bottle. You have been able to do it for months, but you just didn't want to!

 




- You have five bottles a day still...6 oz when you wake up, 5 oz plus fruit/cereal mid morning, 6 oz midday, 5 oz plus veggie/cereal midafternoon, and 6oz before bed. We usually give you a little snack of puffs or fruit early evening before we get you ready for bed.



- You are the best sleeper still. We put you down awake and you usually roll straight to your belly, talk to yourself for a bit, and then right to sleep. During the week you sleep from about 7:30 and we wake you up around 6:15. On the weekends, you'll sleep till 7:00 or 7:30. We still live and die by our bedtime routine. We think it's the main reason you're such a good sleeper. We took the wedge out of your crib this month too. Now, instead of scooting down to the bottom of your crib, you scrunch up in the top!

- You are SO close to crawling! You can get up on all fours, rock, reach out...but you'll stretch the full length of your body to get what you want instead of crawling!! You can definitely move around though. You've become sort of a scooter. You twist and wiggle till you get where you're going! You would much, much rather stand! Even when you're sitting, you twist and try to pull yourself up. We thing you might just skip crawling all together and stand up and walk away one day!

- You got your third tooth this month too! The top front right one gave you a tough little time when it was coming in!



- You love to clap. It's the cutest thing and we've even heard some audible claps lately!

- You're starting to wave now too and we are just eating it up!

- You still think Buddy and Daddy are the best things since sliced bread and light up when you see them!

- We've noticed you're getting a little ticklish and you have the best belly laugh!

- School is still going so great. You love your teachers and are learning so much. We are really lucky to have found such a special place for you.

- You are such a wiggle worm! You're constantly moving and squirming. I once heard that trying to get a baby in a onesie is like trying to fit an octopus into a bagpipe. Fact. Changing your diaper is like an Olympic sport. You love to dance and bounce!

- You had lots of firsts this month when we took you to Florida to visit Nana and the Dude. You flew on an airplane, swam in the pool, went to the beach, went for a boat ride, saw fish and dolphins, and had a blast!





- You're still chatty chatty. We think you're starting to really associate daddy with dada. Still no mama yet, but we'll get there!  We think you might be making "mmm" motions with your mouth, but no actual sound is coming out with it yet!  You do lots of talking on the way too and from school, and I just love to listen to your sweet babbling! 

- You are the absolute best thing we've ever done. You make everyday happier than the one before. We love you to the moon and stars and back sweet Ellie Belle.








Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Anybody Out There?!

Oh, hey there. How've ya been?

Still here. Fell off the face of the planet a bit. We got back from Florida, got lazy, got sick, and got busy!

Posts coming...I promise! You've got our Florida vacation recap, E turns 8 months, and a happy wedding to look forward to!

:-)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Wordless (almost) Wednesday

Waiting to board our flight to Florida...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Seven Months

Dear Ellison,

Seven months?! Yikes! We're in the second half of your first year. How'd that happen?! You are growing so fast and it is so fun to watch you learn something new everyday. You've been a busy bee! Here's what's up this month...

-No checkup this month, but I'd guess you're weighing in at about 19 or 20 pounds and are maybe 26 inches long? You are probably only still long enough to measure when you're sleeping!

-You're wearing mostly 6 month clothes, but depending on the brand you can wear 6-9, 9, or 6-12 months. You are wearing size three diapers. None of your shoes fit you yet!

-You are still a wonderful sleeper. You are typically in bed by about 7:30 and give us a pretty solid twelve hours. You usually take two good naps a day still, one around 10:00 am and one around 2:00 pm when you're home with us. You definitely prefer sleeping on your belly, and we've finally given in and don't come in to flip you back over anymore!  You've recently discovered your Sleep Sheep and sometimes we'll catch you in the crib reaching up to grab it!

 
 
-You are still a great eater, too. You have five bottles a day...6 oz when you wake up, midday, and before bed...5 oz mid morning and 5 oz mid afternoon.  We're working on trying to get you to hold your bottle on your own. You CAN do it, you just don't always WANT to do it! 

-You LOVE your fruits and veggies! New foods you've tried this month are avocado, squash, pears, peaches, peas, apples, and apples with cherries. We started bringing fruits and veggies to school for you this month, and you have a fruit with cereal at your mid morning bottle and a veggie with cereal at your mid afternoon bottle, just like you do at home.  You love snacking on fruits with your mesh teether, too.



-We started giving you Puffs and yogurt melts this month too. After just two or three tries, you really got the hang of getting the puffs and melts to your mouth. You're great at using just your pointer finger and thumb to pick them up, and you're even passing things from one hand to the other. Buddy has it all figured out now and spends every meal and snack time parked under your high chair, just in case!


-You've got the whole object permanence thing down pat. You look for toys and other items when you drop them and try to find things that we cover with our hands or a blanket. You think peek a boo is pretty fun too.

-Standing is your favorite.  You'd rather stand than sit for sure.  You hold on to our fingers or the ottomon in the living room.  You're getting really brave and are trying to let go and stand on your own.  You're not quite there yet, sugar, so slow down! 

 
 
-You're about to crawl any second now.  You get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth.  As soon as you figure out how to move a knee, you'll be mobile!


-You are the sweetest little conversationalist.  You love to chat.  You say lots of Da Da's and Buh Buh's.  We don't think you're truly associating your daddy with Da Da yet, but I think you're close.  You have made all vowel sounds and have also got down the following consonants: b,d, g, p, t, v, w, and y.  You blow lots of raspberries and have started making a sweet little smacking sound with your lips.  We think you're trying to blow us kisses. ;-)

-You started taking baths in your inflatable duck tub this month.  We knew it was time to graduate from your pink bath chair when you were sitting up and forward in it to reach your toes!  You love your duck tub and love to splash and play with your rubber duckies.  You also really love chewing/sucking on the wet washcloth!


-Speaking of chewing...we noticed your second tooth on March 8.  You now have your two bottom middle teeth and they are just the cutest thing!

-We had some really lovely weather here this month, so one day we took you out to the neighborhood park while on our walk and put you in the baby swing.  You definitely still have some room to grow in it, but you really liked it and I think we'll spend a lot of time there this summer.  You love the sunshine and fresh air, so we try to get outside whenever we can!

 

-You made two trips to Burlington this month.  The first was to celebrate Grammy's Birthday and the second was so mommy and daddy could help celebrate a friend's birthday.  You got in lots of good snnuggles.



-You had your first St. Patty's Day celebration.  We went to the uptown St. Patty's Parade.  You made a new friend with a little girl who stood next to us.  She wanted to share her beads with you.  We did lots of walking and even went down to the festival.  You were worn out from all the excitement and were passed out as soon as you got in the car!




-We also celebrated your first Easter this month.  We spent the day at home with Grandad and Gigi and had a wonderful time. 


-You are the light of our lives, sweet girl.  We love you to the moon and stars and back.  XOXO



 

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Hoppy Easter!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!

We'd been hearing for days that Easter was going to be a rainy mess, but it turned out to be a really nice day!

The Easter Bunny was good to E this year.  She got lots of fun treats...a Jelly Cat bunny with monogrammed ear, sunglasses from Janie and Jack, a bath book, finger puppets, bubbles, pink ballerina bunny jammies, an Easter egg bib, yogurt melts, blueberry puffs, snack traps, and a new sippy cup.  I love her ruffled basket liner and basket from PB Kids.  I went back and forth on what kind of basket to get her and am so glad I went with this one! She was the cutest little thing. She pulled every little thing out of her basket, and immediately stuck it in her mouth. I mean, isn't that that you do with your new toys? She sat and played with all her goodies and basket for at least half an hour! Buddy got a fun new toy that has an empty water bottle inside.  So now, he has his own noisy giraffe to compete with Sophie.



 


 

 
 
Jeff and Cindy joined us for a delicious Easter lunch. I made Paula Deen's banana pudding and y'all, it was just as tasty as you might imagine. I'm going to have to send the leftovers to work with Barrett because I could seriously put a hurting on the entire pan.

 
 




Ellie Belle was in the sweetest, snuggliest (probably not a word), giggliest (also probably not a word) mood all day! She is a true blessing. I am so excited for next year's Easter. I foresee some serious egg hunting in our future!