Big girl

We are in the middle of month 9! Ellie is cuter and cuter as the days go by. She LOVES her Tigers hat (thanks Becky) and enjoys watching the games with Scott and myself. She is very content to sit and hang out and doesn't show much interest in crawling. She LOVES to stand so I spend a lot of time holding her in a stance. She also wants to pull up on me and reaches out when I walk by. We are in no rush for mobility. When I was a baby, I didn't crawl until 10 months or walk until 15, so I think she might be taking after me. We don't care though, we are enjoying every minute of her development. What she lacks in mobility, she makes up in personality. She is always laughing and talking and pulling crazy faces. She now says MAMA and I couldn't be more thrilled. She says lots of cute combinations and we spend hours chatting. She's rediscovered her self in the mirror and talks and smiles at her reflection. She alternates head shakes and nods and cracks up with the other baby in the mirror does the same thing. She is starting to feed herself and loves puffs and cheerios, but she gets frusterated when she misses. She also gags on these, so we're taking a little break on figer foods. We've also stepped up into the DSLR world! Here are some pics on my (our) new camera. I've been having so much fun playing with all of the settings but Ellie is getting annoyed with me always in her face.

She had a bad day

(Written 4/2/10)

It was 80 degrees in early April! No Fools. Back in March, it was in the 70s. We've had warmer weather this winter than last summer. I love love love it! I also love my little girl and loved spending the whole day with her today. Everything started out great, but the universe was anti- nap. She went down for her first mid morning nap and 5 minutes later the people who live behind us had beefed up men, heavy duty machinery, and other power equipment gathered to chop down trees. Our house was violently shaking and the nap only lasted 4 minutes. Awhile later, I finally got her down, but the phone rang twice followed by someone knocking at our door sending Odie into a barking frenzy. Another failed attempt. Despite the lack of sleep and 3 blowouts, she was in a great mood. She chatted, jabbered, and played all day, as long as i was still close enough to pay attention to her. I wasn't able to clean or work on my wedding photo album from 5 year ago, but it was still lovely. We went outside during the cooler evening hours and she loved looking at the sky with Ellie-like intensity while watching the birds fly overhead. I optimistically thought she would go to bed easier, but it took twice as long.

Lately she is so cute and responsive. She shakes her head yes and no (copies us) claps her hands, says lots of word combos, but mostly da-da. The look on her face while she talks is priceless. Wide eyed and animated. She calls her cookie monster "kaka", her dad "da da" or "dady", lots of other things "daDA" and me "blank stare". She recognizes her own name and looks around for odie if we say "where's odie" She also knows "bottle" and if you dare say the word without having a mixed one ready to go, watch out. She also is reacting to our facial expressions and loves to make us laugh. She flew peas all over and made us laugh so hard we we got excited and couldn't hide it and she busted out into a huge belly laugh and looked so pleased with herself.

I LOVE this time in our lives right now. She is sitting, pivoting, and crawling backwards so she has a little mobility to keep her satisfied, but not enough to make us go crazy. She is so content to play with her toys or chat with us. Every day is a little something different and amazing. I'm going to burst with happiness and rain gumdrops all over a street near you.

The Lady with many Faces

You think you can get away with this?

Think again

I spit on you and your cute hat

Take me for a walk or else

Thumbs up! Thanks Maaaah

Ohhh, I am adorable

Whoa, bumpy ride

I'm going to sleep here. G'Night!

I LOVE FEET

Dear Mom & Dad,

Please stop wasting your hard earned money on toys. Give me an empty box or a smelly foot any day.



Love,
Ellie

Giggle Basket

Lots of recent cute developments in her 7th month!

• Clapping! She'll clap on her own and back at you if you start it
• She often waves, but we're not sure if she knows what she's doing
  
• More mobility - scoots backwards and turns around very well
• Performs planks - just to make mom jealous
• Chatter box - lots of da-das and many other noises that sound like Odie, icecream, and good-day
• Teeth - she is on tooth #8 (bottom right). The top 4 came in over the last few weeks. What a nightmare!
• Shows her displeasure more often and with increasing volume
• Gets really excited when we walk in the room
• Laughs hysterically at Odie.
• Blows food on her mom - especially green beans
• First ear infection
• Still loves bath time
• Makes motorboat noises
• Makes garbage disposal noises
  
• Makes kissy noises
• Sits unassisted
  
• Not eating bottles well - too many places to go and things to see

DA DA your hair is greasy

Love ya even though you stink

I'm sooo cute

Baby vs Beagle

Too busy for a title

Last week was a whirlwind as usual! We had a really great Valentines day thanks to my wonderful husband, cheese fondue, and wine. Scott surprised me with Carrie Underwood tickets even though we agreed on no gifts, but to his credit, he bought them way before he agreed on the no gifts. Adding to the awesomeness of the gift, the concert date falls on April twenty-turd, which is our dating anniversary. Unintentionally, we celebrate our dating anniversary more than our wedding anniversary, probably because travel is cheap in April. We took a cruise 3 years ago, went to Mexico two years ago, went to Chicago one year ago, and this year we'll be at a concert. Now that I think of it, each year is getting slightly less exciting and maybe next year we'll find ourselves at Chuckecheese when the 23rd rolls around. Anyway, it was very sweet of him! We also made cheese fondue and enjoyed some yummy wine we got at Robinettes. We bought a case right before I found out I was pregnant, so we've been having fun making up for lost time over the last couple of months.

Ellie had a very exciting week and took her first step toward an exciting career in marketing. She started the day hanging out with some coworkers while I presented the new covers at our sales conference. Later in the day, I exploited her in another presentation about a Bible geared towards new moms. She did SO good. She just looked around while I held her and talked about the Bible. She added some "ba bas" and razzes at the perfect times. She fell asleep in my arms at the end while the rest of the team finished the presentation. I mainly used her cuteness to detract some attention from myself, but I think it added at lot to the presentation. I've been pushing her toward a career as a pharmacist, but maybe marketing will be her thing! I was so nervous that she was going to freak out, especially after being at work for a few hours before her big moment and missing her nap, but it was perfect! I wish I would have remembered my camera!

I can't believe she is 7 months old! She is waving bye-bye and giving high-fives, but only on her own terms. She is wiggling around on he tummy more and I don't think it will be much longer until she is crawling. She still has no interest in sitting up on the floor. She just wants to stand, but if i can get her to sit, she starts reaching for everything. She loves to eat her solids and attacks the spoon so violently she sometimes misses her mark and ends up with food all over her cheek. She is getting her two front teeth, which makes for 6 total. The left one is mostly through and the right is sooo close. Hopefully we'll all be a little happier and less fussy once that is done.