Wow! What a fun but chaotic month! Thankfully I have the next week off so I hope to post some more pictures and videos which are more interesting than my ramblings. Ellie turned 5 months a few weeks ago (I didn't remember on the 13th.. oops!) and she is growing cuter and TALLER by the day. She's wearing some 9 month clothes already and eating all the time. I'm excited to start veggies next month and I'm hoping they will help keep her fuller longer. She's been rolling over on a consistent basis and enjoys hanging out on her tummy more than last month. She's frustrated laying down all the time, but can't sit up yet. She'll do "baby crunches" and try to sit up from a laying down position. She likes sitting in her bumbo, but sometimes gets lazy and sloops forward to play with her feet.
The last 2 or 3 months have been filled with constant razzing sounds. Not fun when feeding cereal! Before the razzing was "ahhs and oyyys" but when she discovered the raz there was no going back. I didn't think she would ever make any other sound again, but recently discovered saying "blah blah blah" was pretty cool too. Thankfully she's been very healthy with the exception of an occasional stuffy nose that comes and goes. Christmas was really fun and busy. We had 3 parties in a row the weekend before Christmas: The Mars extended side, the Mars immediate (hosted at our house), and then the Convey extended. It was the first time my mother's side got to see Ellie, so it was very fun!
Then on Christmas Eve we traveled to the Bailey extended on the very icy roads! We slide into the oncoming traffic lane once, but thankfully no one was there! On Christmas day, we traveled one whole mile to my parents house. We did it up Bailey style with meat and cheese fondue and plenty of extras. By that point, I was pretty exhausted and even took a nap while everyone else played with Ellie. I wish I would have taken more pictures. Before my family's Christmas party, I woke up early (couldn't sleep) and made breakfast. Scott, Ellie, and I opened the presents we got for each other. I made out amazingly, as usual. I got a digital frame, Bunny Tales, the Twilight series, TIM concert tickets, BRAD concert tickets and a few other items. Ellie got a few gifts she already got, re-wrapped (yes, we're THAT bad of parents). At that point, she seemed a little sick of opening gifts anyway. Ellie gave us a nice surprise gift of a diaper blowout while we were opening gifts. Overall, we could not believe how great Ellie was at all the parties. She let everyone hold her, took her naps at scheduled times, and barely fussed! 
We'll see how she does next year when she's mobile. Now I'm looking forward to a nice long week of NOT WORKING, visiting with friends, maybe seeing a movie with the hubby, getting over my second cold in a row, organizing all of the endless crap around the house, and sleeping!
If you've made it through this post, you've won a prize! Yes, you may babysit Ellie at anytime. You're welcome!
