Jason & Darlys

Ellie's TWO!

2013-08-16T07:47:00.000-05:00

If I have any readers left...

Ellie's TWO! (and if you don't want to read my long catch-up post...just scroll through for pictures)

Ellie's continuing to grow and change, as toddlers do! She's completely weaned as of the beginning of June, when she also started sleeping in a big girl bed! (will we ever learn not to introduce too much change at the same time?). At first she stayed in there and asked to be taken out in the morning, just like in her crib, but that only lasted a week. And recently she's started with the bed time excuses...coming out for "water?" "poopoo!" or just to declare she's "awake!" For the most part she goes to bed pretty easily though, which we're super thankful for.

Her hair's getting really long too! Her first French braid:

She can use a lot of words now, and even a few short sentences (like "help you?" and "I [d]on't wan[t] it"). Often she's speaking Ellie-nese, but when she uses English or the local language we can usually understand, even if her speech is a bit mumbled. Recently she came up to me and said "I love you!" unprompted. That was a heart-melter for sure! She also likes to say "bless you!" over and over when someone sneezes. She had a brief phase of calling me "Darlys" occasionally. She thought it was pretty funny. I didn't even realize she knew that was my name! haha

Ellie still loves to color, so that's what we do a lot of. Going outside is a favorite, too, though she usually wants to be carried everywhere. She often asks for a bus or a taxi. Here we are on a bus:

And at a local fruit and vegetable market:

The beach is Ellie's favorite spot by far. She'd go every day if we'd let her. (It's only a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment).

She yells "it's coming!" and runs from the waves.

Hard at work digging in the sand :)

Blurry but so joyful!

Every time we go she makes a new friend or two (and then never sees her again).

We also found out about an indoor play place that we'll probably be frequenting come winter. It has awesome slides, a few small trampolines, and a giant ball pit. She'd never been in a ball pit before.

Ellie still enjoys watching Kung Fu Panda and now also Boz the Bear, which she calls the "green dog" and requests multiple times a day. (I started this update a month ago. Now her favorite is Flo the Lyin' Fly (thanks Hugghins'!) or Tayo, a cartoon about a bus on Hulu.) Maybe I shouldn't post about that...it makes her look like a tv junkie at 2... I promise we do limit her screen time...

Using the Ipad by herself. Do you like the cow socks?

She loves copying everything we do, from standing the same way we do, crossing her arms when we do, changing her baby's diapers (and sometimes trying to put one on me!), cleaning, cooking, etc. She even practices "tucking me in" just the way I do her...her doll on one side, teddy bear on the other, gives me water, a hug and a kiss, and says "goodnight! Love you!" then walks out of the room for a few seconds before running back in and asking, "awake?!"

Squatting byDaddy, waiting with our groceries for the bus

She's a great helper. Here she helping Jason make tortillas (which he's excellent at, by the way!)

Food-wise, she's still not eating many vegetables, though she often has to eat at least one bite to try them before she can refuse. She does like meat most of the time now, and she loves yogurt (which she's not allergic to, yay!). It seems she loves anything red too (tomatoes, cherries, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, watermelon, ketchup (she dips her finger in it and eats it plain)). That's been super helpful for ~~staining~~ adding a little extra decoration to all of her clothes. Sure glad a friend brought us some stain remover...and that she wears a lot of pink so stains match! Peanut butter sandwiches are a recent (super convenient!) addition to her diet. I think rice might still be her favorite of all, though.

Plenty more has happened since my last post (since it was in April afterall all...), including a visit from my brother. Here's Ellie with Uncle Ozzie! Maybe someday I'll post some pics from his trip. But don't count on it. :)

PS. This post is a few days early...her birthday is Monday the 19th. :)

Spring is here!

2013-04-28T02:10:00.003-05:00

Spring is here! Until this week the weather didn't show it, but the flowers are blooming. This is a bush in our apartment complex.

Yesterday we went to a park known for its flowers. We got photo-mobbed a few times by people wanting Ellie's picture, but overall it was a nice family outing. Ellie got to run around, and we didn't need winter coats!

20 Months!

2013-04-28T02:00:00.000-05:00

We’ve had lots of blog-worthy experiences recently but no time to blog about them. I would love to share but for now we’ll just stick to the regular-type Ellie update, since she’s now 20 months!

I didn’t think she could get cuter, but she proved me wrong when she started doing extra adorable things like sleeping with a teddy bear, wearing ponytails, and later pigtails!

Ellie is very compassionate. Whenever one of us hurts ourself or drops something, she says, "Awww...i sorry." She is also really particular about including everyone in things, so when she gives one of us a high five or a kiss, she insists the other get one too. She also likes to include her doll now too. Ellie likes to “see” (look in the mirror) when we do her hair or get her dressed or when she puts stickers on her face, and now she likes her baby to “see” too when Ellie dresses her up as well. When we show Ellie something (like that a rug is soft or a surface is cold), she has her baby feel too. It’s super cute.

She’s still obsessed with dogs, birds, water, and phones.

She also loves socks. We let her pick out her own clothes a lot, and she almost always goes to the chest where hers are kept and says “socks!” and finds several pairs, often changing her mind multiple times about which she wears. She also likes to wear dresses over her outfits and loves trying on shoes. Here she is wearing her boots (which she calls “boops”) inside…this day she wasn’t a fan of pants, apparently.

A few months ago now, we had Ellie’s car seat, which we left in the van that picked us up from the airport, delivered. Ellie saw it when she got up from a nap and was so excited. She even sat it in, buckled in, for like 20 minutes straight in our hallway. After that a fun game was to sit in the car seat and have me sit on the floor in front of her pretending to drive. I’d even hand her snacks and water like I would when we were really driving in the States. We travelled a LOT in our last few months (or years?) before moving here, and the car seat was the one thing that stayed the same no matter where we went. I think it was her security “blanket” so to have it back made her really happy.

Other faves: waking up at 5 am. Every. Day.

Stickers

Hiding in the tv stand cabinet

Wearing mom and dad's clothes

Playing on our bed. She likes to put the blanket over us like a tent and read books or I’ll tell her stories about a little girl named Ellie in a whisper voice.

Balls. She likes to “kickit” (pretty sure she thinks that’s one word).

Watching "Po" (Kung-Fu Panda) on the "pie-pad" (iPad), which she can fully operate by herself.

Playing hide and seek, which usually ends with her playing in the closet with the light off.

And running everywhere she goes.

Food-wise she was eating everything we put in front of her for a while, but after a stomach virus a while back reverted to super-pickiness. She mostly eats crackers (sometimes with peanut butter), rice, noodles, and oatmeal. Occasionally she'll eat a bit of meat or some meat and vegetable-stuffed buns or dumplings. She's also a big fan of strawberries, grape tomatoes, chocolate and cookies. Here she is in her less picky period chewing on a chicken bone with mommy.

Her vocabulary is well past the list-every-new-word stage, though understanding her is a lot like learning a new language…you have to know the context to figure out what she’s saying. For a while “bear” “bed” and “bird” all sounded the same, as did “play” “plate” “plane” and a few other "p" words.

Pointing to the "Pane!" flying overhead

She surprises us all the time with new words she’s picked up from us. For example, one day we were going outside and she pointed to cars and she said “cars!” and then a bus drove by and she said “bus!” and then continued to correctly distinguish between the two for the rest of our walk (and a month or more later, still does the same). She also picked up our habit of saying “niiice”.

A few of my other favorite words of hers:

“Noodles” are “noo-noos”; “tissue” for a while was “shishoo”; “star” is “tars”; “cup” is “puc”; "pocket" is "pockeck"; she knows “fireworks” (“fieee”) and “tired," two words I’m not sure the average 1 ½ year old has in their vocab. Maybe “tired” is normal, but she’s usually asking us if we’re tired rather than the other way around. And the answer is always “yes.”

She’s definitely understanding more of the local language too. When our helper asks in Mandarin for her to name people she can (and calls my mom “laolao” in pictures, which means “maternal grandma”), she understands the words for “nose,” “eyes,” "clock" and probably many more we haven’t discovered yet. She’s been saying “haochi” (“tastes good”) and even asked her babydoll today if her pretend food was “haochi.” One day she wanted to be picked up and went to her daddy and said “hold you?” and then to our helper and said “bao bao” That was pretty amazing to me.

All in all, she seems pretty happy and well-adjusted. :)

Been a While...

2013-02-08T01:02:00.001-06:00

Well, we’re way past the monthly updates. Not that we’ve been busy or anything…we travelled all over for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years; Ellie got a cold, then hand, foot, and mouth disease, then bronchiolitis (and probably has asthma); we sold/gave away most of our belongings, packed up the rest in some suitcases, moved across the world; lived in a hotel for 5 days; moved to a new apartment, and all got sick again. We’re getting settled in our new home--which will probably be the place Ellie will spend the most consecutive time in her whole life--and since she’s 17 (almost 18) months now, I figured it’s time for a little update!

Playing with bandaids

Some of her favorite activities are playing with her babies (feeding them, dressing and undressing them, changing their diapers), sweeping, playing with shoes, stacking things, reading her board books, playing with stickers, dancing, and mimicking anything we’re doing (wiping our face with a napkin, putting things away, using spoons or chopsticks, cleaning the tables, etc). She also loves playing with anything electronic, but we’re cutting down on much of that after too much screen time during our travel/transition time. She can turn the ipad on and off, and swipe to unlock it, change screens, switch between apps, etc). She loves to watch "babeee!" on the ipad (which is videos of herself when she was a few months younger). Backyardigans is another fav, though she really just likes the theme song at the beginning.

TWO pairs of new shoes! Heaven!

Since coming here she has really branched out on her foods. She has tried (and liked!) noodles, eggs, green onions, pb and j, tofu, mushrooms, potatoes, sweet potato noodles, sesame and bean paste buns, lamb, and her very favorite, a cookie-disguised-as-a-cracker labeled "fragrant fragile cahew nut biscuit." She also goes to town on fruit (mostly mandarin oranges and apples), crackers, and, for a short while longer, Cheerios. Guess that’s what happens when baby food is hard to find and costs 2-3 times what we paid in the states (and what we did buy she didn’t like anyway)…she gets hungry and just tries what’s available!

The mess one blackberry makes. I miss having a high chair!

First taste of street food

Her vocabulary is increasing quite a bit too. She says “mama daddy mama daddy” all the time. Other favorite words: “daw!” (usually followed by a bark) = dog; “ma” = pacifier; “mo” = more; “byebye”; “no”; “noooo”; “no no no”; “off” (she just mastered the “f” in this word, so she says it all the time and wants to practice turning things off or taking things off); “shoes”; “baby”; “cheese” (for pictures, not the food); “apple”; "babeee"; "tooteeeee!" (usually with a grin) = cookie; and “side” = outside. "Dada" and "daddy" are also often used for anything she doesn't know how to say but wants to talk about. :) She mimics a lot, as well, which is good because she’s going to be learning a lot of new words in the coming months!

She took about a week or week and a half but is finally adjusted to the new time zone. She goes to bed by 8pm and wakes up around 6. She naps once around 11:30 or so. It’s so nice to FINALLY have a schedule again!

Hopefully it won’t be another 3 months before my next update…and MAYBE there will be some pictures from our new place...but no promises. J

Colorado and 14 Months

2012-11-05T12:39:00.000-06:00

We've been in Colorado for the past 3 weeks (and have 2 more to go!) for training. It's been amazing so far. We've gotten to meet and hang out with several other families, some of whom have kids Ellie's been able to play with. She's pretty much constantly entertained.

There's a great trail next to where we're staying, so we took a little family hike. This is also where we've been half marathon training. I tried running on the roads one day, but didn't even make it a mile. It's SOOO hilly!

We got several inches of snow one day. Ellie loved playing in it for about 5 minutes. Then she fell and got wet and cold. :)

This weekend we went to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs

and then to Denver to see some old friends.

Around the time we got here, Ellie had FIVE new teeth coming in at once. We thought there was a sixth, but it still hasn't broken through. That (and sleeping in the same room) has made for some fun (read: agonizing ad sleepless) nights. We've been doing a lot of co-sleeping (and a fair amount of co-not-sleeping).

Some other Ellie "facts" at 14 months:

New favorite foods: black olives, bacon, and ice (which is also the word she says most clearly). She hasn't been eating much, actually. Some days it takes 3 feedings to finish a 4 oz baby food jar (but other days she eats 2 in one sitting). She still loves Cheerios but is iffy on peanut butter tortillas now.

She understands a lot now and can point to her nose and head when we ask where they are, though she sometimes gets mixed up and points to her ears or eyes instead. She knows where her belly button is too.

Other fun activities: playing with baby dolls, pushing her stroller, climbing stairs, and tickling belly
buttons (ours and her own).

Quick Update and Family Vacation

2012-10-13T22:08:00.000-05:00

I have a few excuses for my lack of posting. Mainly, Ellie doesn't nap much these days, so I have very little time to do all the things I normally do when she's napping (cooking, emails, reading. what little cleaning I actually do these days), so this has taken a back seat. Also, we take most of our picture on Jason's phone, so that slows down the process. But for anyone who's interested, here's a little update:

To kick off October we went on a much needed family vacation to Cocoa Beach, Florida and stayed right off the beach. We walked out the condo pool gate onto the sand. We got to relax, let Ellie play in the water (and eat sea shells), and go to a great zoo. It was small (perfect size to see the whole thing in an afternoon) but had a very natural feel, you could get close to the animals, and there were volunteers all over giving information about the animals.

Chillin' in the lounge chair, waving at passers-by

Now we're preparing for a month-long trip to Colorado (don't try to steal our stuff while we're gone cause all the good stuff is coming with us...and there may be people staying at our place some of the time too!). Packing for that long with a one year old is nuts. I've been stressing and planning for days, and we've had to buy things she's never needed before...like close-toed shoes and a winter coat. I think I'm going to need the whole month of January to prepare and pack for moving. Seriously.

Ellie is doing great. She likes to pretend to blow her nose, collect acorns in the yard, babble about who knows what, and wave at everyone she sees. She says "shoes," "keys," "this," and "dada." She hates having her teeth brushed. She's walking everywhere (and FAST!) and even tries some more complex moves, like turning in circles and walking on the couch (which ended badly at least once). She gives kisses when asked and hugs tons, which really speaks my language.

We are having some sleep issues. She often wakes up early in the morning (like 4:30 early) and about 45 minutes into a nap (often only taking one a day), nurse, and then fall asleep in my arms. She'll then sleep that way for a while, sometimes a few hours. I'm pretty sure there's a tooth about to break through, so hopefully that's the issue. Or maybe it's a result of being taken to umpteen million places over the past almost 14 months. In any case, it really is sweet to watch her sleeping, but it'd be nice to not do it every time. :)

Maybe soon I'll do an all-picture post to make up for the scarcity on this one. And who knows...maybe I'll even throw in a post about something else one of these days!

Family Pictures

2012-10-13T21:29:00.003-05:00

Been a while. Anyone still read this? :)

One of these days I'm going to write something for the blog...but until then, enjoy some family photos our wonderfully talented friend Jenni took for us recently. She did such a great job! We are so happy with how they turned out.

One Year!

2012-09-03T16:42:00.002-05:00

We have a one year old! [This post is coming a little late...I started it right around her birthday but didn't have pictures on my computer. But I have an excuse...in the last month we've had a garage sale, moved, and visited seven different cities!] Ellie went to the doctor the day after her birthday and is 30 inches long and weighs 19.5 pounds. What a difference a year makes!

Ellie loves water, so we had a pool party for her birthday. She had a blast and got lots of awesome new toys and clothes! She didn't care for cupcakes, but she did enjoy the pool toys! :)

Ellie also got to spend some extended time with her grandparents. My mom met us in Houston to babysit during the day while Jason and I attended a conference, then Jason's mom and stepdad came home with us to babysit while we went to our annual staff retreat for a few days. That was my first time to be away from her overnight. She did great, and I got to SLEEP! I woke up close to 7:30 for the first time in a year! We made up for it the next week, though, by being up by 5 every day. :)

She started walking like a champ a few days before she turned one. This video is her first time to go more than a few steps. (Now she's much more confident and goes pretty fast!)

She can also climb up on the couch by herself (and sometimes get down, but not always!) and one day found her way into her toy basket...

but not out of it!

She is signing "more" and "please" pretty consistently now. "More" is often done unprompted, and "please" is sometimes accompanied by verbalizing "ease?" She still babbles non-stop, but there aren't really distinguishable words yet.

Ellie loves playing the piano,

pretending to talk on the phone,

and playing outside. She points to the door all day long. Our new street has lots of kids that are outside a lot too, so that's been fun. We even had a pool party with her bff down the street one afternoon. (Didn't get the other baby's face in case her parents don't want her on the internet!)

Her favorite food is still Cheerios. In fact, her doctor visit paperwork asked if she'll point to a familiar object when asked. We tested it by asking: "Where are your shoes?" No response. "Where's your toy?" No response. "Where's mama?" No response. "Where are your O's?" Arm shoots up like a rocket, and she points across the room straight to the box of "o's" above the fridge.

She's been a super picky eater recently, going from eating just about everything put in front of her to only eating one type of jarred baby food (turkey and rice), Cheerios, and whole peas. We're hoping it's because she's teething. We're also hoping the middle of the night waking and screaming until I let her nurse is teething-related too and will soon end. : / [Update: it did! yay!] She also likes Goldfish...she found the bag herself one morning and ate them for breakfast. Nothing like Goldfish at 6 am!

It's been an amazing year...full of joy, exhaustion, laughter, frustration, excitement, questions, and more love than our hearts can contain. We wouldn't trade it for anything. Happy birthday, big girl!

Eleven Months!

2012-07-22T18:40:00.002-05:00

Ellie is 11 months! Our little one weighs about 19 pounds (maybe I rounded up last month or maybe all her mobility is burning lots of calories!). She has four teeth now, doesn't like to sleep much, loves to "talk" and make sound effects, and sure is cute.

We have a very active, curious girl on our hands! She's definitely learning a lot these days. Like how to open cabinets and drawers and pull everything out:

to make room for herself:

put things in/take things out of containers (and cheer! She LOVES to clap and say "Yaaaaay!"):

give kisses (sometimes to us, but sometimes to the "other" baby in the oven):

drink out of a sippy cup:

and feed herself:

Her favorite foods are carrots, sweet potatoes, and cheerios. We sneak in some ground meat, but it has to be well-masked at this point. And she likes her food cold...sometimes even her bottle.

She easily stands with no support and walks great while holding onto something (like one of our fingers). She even took several steps yesterday(!) but for the most part isn't walking solo yet.

She still loves her books, particularly Brown Bear Brown Bear, I Love you THIS Much, and her My First Bible (the pages on that one turn the easiest). She also likes the remotes and our phones, so we went garage sale-ing and picked up this awesome toy phone. It plays songs and "teaches" numbers, letters, and animal sounds. Best of all, it has buttons to push! It keeps Ellie entertained for long periods.

Another fun thing to play with these days is this belt. Jason had it out to pull around one one Ellie's toys, and she adopted it as her scarf. She carries it around and puts it around her neck like so.

She's in a sharing phase right now. She likes to put her paci in my hand...or my mouth (and then immediately take it back, of course) and sometimes tries to feed me her bottle...or her carrot stick.

Water is a big hit too. During a recent downpour I opened the front door to show her the rain, and she got really excited and wanted to touch it. So, naturally, we played in the rain.

Double Digits!

2012-06-27T13:03:00.001-05:00

I can't believe Ellie is TEN months old! She weighs about 19 pounds now and wears 9 and 12 month clothes (mostly 12 month because that's what we have more of).

Cheering on the Rangers!

We think she's growth-spurting at the moment. She's eating tons and waking up VERY hungry earlier in the morning (it's exciting when she sleeps past 6 am right now!). We're having to move slowly adding in new foods because of her poor little sensitive skin. We've safely added green beans, zucchini, and chicken, but she's gotten diaper rash from every fruit we've tried (bananas, watermelon, apples, and pears). Is it possible to be allergic to an entire food group? Hopefully she'll outgrow that...'cause, really, what's the point of summer if you can't have watermelon?!?! :)

Spoons make good toys, too!

Ellie still loves music, as well as playing with empty plastic bottles and clothespins. One new favorite activity is reading board books. Brown Bear Brown Bear is her very favorite and keeps her occupied for a long time. She also likes to "wrestle" with us when we lay on the floor. She pounces and body-slams like a pro!

Taking a knee by the toy basket

Other milestones:

She has a top tooth breaking through (with it's matching pair on the way)!
She definitely understands "no"...but obeying it is a whole different matter. [Funny how child-rearing was so much more straight forward in my mind before there was an actual child to rear. Now our idealism is shattered and we have to figure out what is actually realistic to expect at different ages and, even, different levels of tiredness.]
She can find things we hide behind the couch pillows (phones, ipad, remotes), so we have to me more creative in keeping things away from her.
She's mostly dropped her third nap and just takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon, totaling about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Those shorter days usually aren't pretty!
She "talks" all the time, though not with any identifiable words.
She cruises around along furniture with no problem and even lets go to and stands on her own for a short while.

"Walking" in the grass at Grandpa and Grandma Werner's

This past month we went to Dallas for a little over a week and Ellie got some time with her aunts and uncles and grandma. We went berry picking

All ready to pick! This lasted about 20 minutes and then Ellie headed for the shaded porch.

I'm holding her here, so we're a little off from the face holes. :)

and played in the pool

Ellie wants to be held a lot these days and to have people's undivided attention (though she plays by herself for short stints too). I love getting hugs from her and that she turned into a cuddly baby after all (I didn't think she was at first).We love you, sweet Ellie!!!

BIG smile!

Nine Months

2012-05-22T12:51:00.002-05:00

Months are going by so fast it seems like there's nothing new to share! Ellie weighs somewhere around 18 pounds. Her 6 month clothes are getting a little too short now, but we haven't officially put them in the "too small" pile.

She's "cruising" these days (walking while holding onto furniture) and is figuring out how to get back to sitting once she pulls herself up to a stand. She still scoots all over the place on her rear; knee crawling isn't really her thing.

We have tried a few new foods. Ellie loved her first taste of watermelon!

Cheerios were a big hit too. She liked to get as many as she could in each hand and then try to shove them in her mouth. :)

Then her eczema returned and we thought the Cheerios were the culprit. We switched to rice puffs, which she also loved, but when the skin issues continued (and add to that mega diaper rash) those got shelved as well. Now that she's experienced finger foods she's not as willing to eat purees. Last night we chopped up some cooked carrot and she went to town on those. Most of it ended up in her bib pocket, but she got some in her belly. :)

We took Ellie to her fourth wedding.

She didn't like sleeping at the hotel (she's very aware of new places these days) and, combined with several late nights of celebrating, we had a very tired baby. In fact, she fell asleep during a diaper change Sunday morning.

Ellie also got her first ear infection this month, along with a pretty nasty cold. We have an awesome picture of the biggest snot bubble I've ever seen, but Jason doesn't want it circulating the web. She spent a lot of time bumming around and being held (day and night). Glad she's feeling better and back to her happy, bouncy self!

Favorite toys these days are her Hungry Caterpillar board "book", her singing/talking tea pot, clothespins, and keys (the real ones, of course, not the plastic imitation ones). She also likes anything that makes noise and LOVES dancing to music of any kind. She loves the water, so swimming is a new popular activity

along with being outside

and playing with her daddy.

She is definitely a lot of fun and makes us laugh a lot.

Eight Months!

2012-04-23T13:43:00.000-05:00

This month has been full of development!

Ellie is "mobile" now...just not in the conventional crawling way. She can get onto her knees but still doesn't move forward (though she goes backwards sometimes). Instead, she prefers to get into a sitting position from her hands and knees and scoot around on her rear. She can get pretty far like that on our wood floors! On a bed or Aunt Shelly's soft carpet, she transports herself by sticking her head down on the floor for balance and walking her feet up (into a pike position) and then throwing herself forward.

She also shocked us one day when we sat her down to play and looked over to find her standing up! She pulls herself up on short tables, her exersaucer, or Jason's guitar. I tried to upload a video here, but it failed twice, so I gave up.

We finally stopped the late night feeding! Turns out she was fine without that 6th feeding, and for a few weeks she slept from about 8pm to 7am (with a few wakings in there sporadically). Recently, though, she has been waking closer to 6 am...maybe because she's using sleep time to practice sitting up and trying to crawl. Every time we go to get her out of her crib she's on hands and knees or sitting up. We also stopped swaddling her! Only about 3 months overdue for that! It was a smoother transition than expected.

We have had some success in feeding her baby food too. So far we've tried banana (but holding off because we think it gave her bad diaper rash), squash, sweet potato, avocado

and carrots.

She also likes apples, just like her mom!

It's also been a month full of travel! We've stayed in five places besides our own: three homes in Houston in a twelve-day period (and Ellie went to her third wedding during that time!)

then San Antonio for her first Easter,

and finally a few days in a hotel in Ohio. Here's a picture of the plane ride and a rare occurrence: Ellie sleeping while being held! (And yes, I do always look that rough on planes. :) )

She actually did great on the plane, sleeping two straight hours on the way there, through some of the worst turbulence I've ever experienced and last minute aborted landing due to strong winds. (Our plane also was struck by lightning, but she was still awake for that.) The picture above is on the much less dramatic trip home.

Anyway, back to the star of the blog. Ellie went swimming for the first time! She loves splashing, which makes bath time more fun as well!

She also started guitar lessons! Not really, but since she loves music so much, we got out her guitar. She hits it and shakes her head like she's dancing to her own music. ;)

And finally, a few typical faces she makes these days:

After dropping toys: "Oops! Where'd it go?"

And my personal favorite: "I'm really fine, but PICK ME UP NOOOWWW!"

Seven Months

2012-03-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

Slow down, Ellie! You're growing up too fast! Our little seven month old is just under 17 pounds, in 6 month clothes, and wears size 3 diapers.

Just after she hit the 6-month mark Ellie turned into a Mama's girl. She reaches out for me whenever she sees me and fusses when I leave the room.

She's been getting some good Daddy time in, though, so she's a lot more excited to see him again now too. Thankfully she still does well in the church nursery without either of us, but she definitely doesn't like to be alone! The high chair is a good solution, so we can eat without her feeling abandoned.

Ellie has gotten pretty good at sitting up. She still eventually falls over, so we often stick pillows around her while she sits on the floor to play. She much prefers that to laying down to play, though if there are people in the room talking (the more the better, it seems) she'll play by herself (even on her belly!) for quite a while. How much do you think HEB would give me for this picture?

We've tried a few different foods this month, but she hasn't been too excited about any of them. Sweet potatoes made her gag, and she seems to like the taste of applesauce but she won't eat it. The only "food" she likes is carrot sticks. She can't eat them, but she likes to gnaw and suck on them. I tried to use the carrot stick as a "spoon" for applesauce, and it worked for the first scoop, but then she wouldn't touch the carrot anymore. :) She's too smart.

She does still get excited about milk, though! In fact, a few times when we've gotten her out of bed to feed her she's taken her paci out of her mouth and literally thrown it on the floor. It's pretty funny. She's super distractable when she's eating. Every noise or sight needs to be explored. She likes to try to sit up when she's eating and chew on the rocker's arm rest.

Really, as you may have noticed in the pictures, she likes to chew on anything she can get in her mouth (including her toes!) Probably because it feels good on her new TEETH! She has two bottom teeth coming in. We figured they were coming (lots of drooling and chewing) and noticed them breaking through about a week ago. And, embarrassing confession, I seriously cried when I saw them...not for fear of being bitten but because I got all sappy about her getting older and not having a toothless grin anymore. Haha. You can see them if you look closely in this picture.

Ellie's still not quite crawling, though she does push up on her arms and get her stomach off the floor. Sometimes she scoots, but she moves backwards instead of forwards. She's a master roller now, so we can't leave her for even a second on any elevated surface (I mean...not that we ever did that anyway, of course).

She's also exploring her voice. She will often repeat "dadada" when we say it to her. She makes a "mama" noise sometimes too, but it's usually a whiny, almost cry because she wants to be picked up or something. She makes a lot of other fun gurgles and squeals, as well as a gasping/choking noise that has scared us a few times. This photo, on a play day with Daddy, shows her talking. Maybe we'll get a good video of it up some time.

She loves being outside, and going out provides some good change of scenery and excitement. Here we are at Lake Bryan:

The exersaucer is also still a hit, as long as it's not too far into her wake time. As are measuring spoons.

She is definitely a lot of fun...and a lot of work! We love our little girl.

Zero and a Half Years Old!

2012-02-19T19:54:00.000-06:00

Six months! What a big girl! Ellie seems to have changed quite a bit just in these last few weeks. At just over 16 pounds, her weight growth seems to be catching up to her height growth. She is still mostly in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers (but looks like we'll make the switch to 3s after this box is gone).

Recently she's found her voice more and more! She babbles almost constantly while she plays, using consonants, a few high pitch squeals, and lots of spit. And she loves to laugh.

Her hair is getting longer, so we tried out a clip for the first time!

She also sits unsupported for a few minutes at a time. We have to sit nearby as "just in case support", though, because she does eventually topple over. This picture is a little blurry because I was trying to watch her while taking it. But I had to show off the new skill. ;)

After starting solid foods, Ellie decided it was time to start drinking tea as well.

Actually, we only gave her rice cereal a handful of times. The first few times she was really excited about it, but then she stopped eating much. I think maybe she just wasn't hungry enough. We put it aside for a bit and are now trying again. She definitely notices when we are eating, even sometimes opening her mouth as she watches. She grabs for cups and water bottles too. Forget those other toys! ;)

She started sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago! RELIEF!! After weeks of not good sleep (day or night) we felt like we couldn't make any rational decisions anymore about what she needed and when. I about went crazy, and Jason stepped in to save the day. He came up with a new plan that gives more consistency to Ellie's day again, and it seems to be working for now. She has 2 1/2 naps a day - from about 8:30 to 10, 12 to 2-ish, and a last one betweein 4 and 5. The first one is pretty consistent, but the rest of the day flexes a bit depending on her sleep cues and how long she stays asleep. She's up a little longer in the evening, and I feed her just before she goes down around 7:30 or 8. She eats one more time around 11, and then she sleeps until 7. Some nights she wakes up for a little bit and fusses, but she goes back to sleep on her own, unless of course she has kicked her legs out of her footie pajamas or has a poopy diaper...or both. Once she can consistently go until 7, we'll work on dropping the 11pm feeding. That will be glorious!

We also are starting to wean her swaddle. She doesn't scratch much anymore, which is nice, so we leave her arms free. That allows her to suck on her hands and also find her pacifier and put it back in, if it's within reach. It also allows for some cute sleep positions.

She is rolling both ways now, though she still often gets stuck on her belly and won't roll to her back. This interrupts naps sometimes still. (Any ideas for keeping a baby from rolling over in bed?)

She likes to be sitting upright a lot and gets mad when she's laying on the floor for long. We've been using the Bumbo, and just got an exersuacer from a friend. Ellie LOVES it!

She just keeps getting cuter...

and cuter...

and cuter.

But I'm not biased, right? :)

What Can You Eat?!?!

2012-02-09T15:04:00.000-06:00

As we're trying to figure out if there's a food allergy/sensitivity causing Ellie's skin issues, we've eliminated a lot of things: dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, and peanuts to start, then also took out berries, citrus fruits, tomatoes, avocado, and nuts. People often ask, "What can you eat?"

I've spent a lot of time frustrated with meal planning since we can't eat most of what we're used to...and by the near impossibility of avoiding these things while eating out. As I've grumbled and felt sorry for myself, though, I've thought many times about the millions of people who are actually suffering and literally have "nothing to eat". I've felt like the Israelites complaining about their manna. The truth is, we have more than enough to keep us satisfied and well-nourished, and are probably eating better than ever! Here are few recent lunches to prove my point:

Pot roast, acorn squash, and stir fried broccoli and bok choy.

Adzuki Bean and Yam Hash

This second one came from a website/blog (nourishingmeals.com) by a couple who are nutritionists and gluten-free. They also talk about an elimination diet, where you cut out lots of foods and add them back in to see if there's something your body is reacting to. We haven't followed their elimination diet, but the website has been helpful to get ideas and recipes for what we are doing. Adzuki beans aren't widely available here, but the best price in town (by far!) is in the bulk section at Brazos Natural. You can also just use black beans, but adzuki are supposedly easier to digest. I ate my Adzuki Bean and Yam Hash over brown rice, and it was also good scooped up on a tortilla chip (or 6).

As far as progress with figuring out allergies, it hasn't been very successful. Overall her skin has been much better. I've tried testing out a few different things, like wheat and avacado, by adding them back in and watching for reactions. But with weather changing every eight hours or so, it's hard to know if that's affecting her skin or the food. Plus, we're using a topical medicine that really helps keep breakouts from getting out of control. Too many factors. We need a lab setting where we can just change one variable at a time!

A few things I have discovered, though, is wheat seems to affect my digestion! And I'm almost positive dairy makes her spit up more. Days with more significant milk upchuck have consistently followed me eating dairy...even small amounts..

Five Months Already!

2012-01-24T09:35:00.000-06:00

Ellie turned five months on Thursday! She weighs 14.5 pounds. Still in 3 to 6 month clothes, though some of the 3 month ones are getting a little short.

She started rolling over a few days after my Four Month post! She still only goes from her back to her belly, and always to her left, but that skill is definitely mastered! We are hoping she figures out how to go from belly to back soon so we don't have to continually flip her back over when she gets mad about being on her stomach. :)

She is starting to giggle now too! It usually takes some effort on our part to get her to laugh, but when it works, it's adorable! Unfortunately, whenever I try to record it, she gets distracted by the camera or phone and stops. :)

Speaking of distraction...she IS distractable! She loves to watch people and take in everything around her, which has made public feeding harder. Even at home she'll catch a glimpse of something in the room and stop eating to look at it. She is an observer!

Another favorite activity: Grabbing everything in sight (toys, my hair, her hair) and, if possible, putting it in her mouth.

We think her current favorite toy is her sock monkey.

Or maybe her pillow pet.

Ok, maybe both. :)

We're still battling eczema and trying all sorts of things to help it...lotions, medications, changing my diet, etc. That last one's been frustrating because it's a daily battle to plan meals, and it doesn't even seem to be working! Maybe it needs more time...or maybe it's not food-related at all! Some days I just want to quit and have a big bowl of icecream...but I don't. :)

Sleeping is getting harder and harder; she seems to be up more now instead of less. We have established that it's not hunger keeping her up at night--if I feed her around 11 she doesn't need to eat again until morning. But she still wakes up throughout the night...sometimes multiple times...and can't go back to sleep on her own. When we try to let her, she busts out of her swaddle and often scratches her face and neck. Thankfully, my super-husband has been taking most of the night shift duty recently. Last night I even got a straight 7 hours or so of sleep in the guest room while he was up for hours trying to soothe her back to sleep. We're in a transition with her day-time schedule as a result, thinking she was getting too MUCH naptime and wasn't tired. But naps are touch-and-go now too. Basically, we feel like we know less and less what she needs. Maybe she's teething?

Ok, this is supposed to be a celebratory post, so enough complaining...let's enjoy another milestone instead! Food!

Our doctor recommended (more than once) starting rice cereal to try to help with the sleeping, so we started just at 5 months. Here's a short video of the first meal! (There have only been three so far.)

Christmas(es)

2012-01-07T16:40:00.000-06:00

Hey, I'm posting and it hasn't even been a whole month! I thought Christmas deserved its own entry.

Guess she has to be on her side for the words to all be the right direction. :)

Maybe some day I'll get some of Jason's (probably better quality) iphone photos on here, but no promises. I figured I better go with what I have, or it could be forever before I get anything uploaded. :)

We started celebrating early this year, with Christmas with the Wares on December 3rd. But we didn't take any pictures. And I already mentioned Christmas at the Olesens'. Here she is "helping" with Christmas cookies there.

Next came a trip to Sheridan and Hallettsville. We were very blessed with some extended travel time this year, so we got to go down a little early and let Ellie meet Jason's sweet, wonderful cousin Stacey, who wouldn't be there for Christmas day. I thought I had pictures of them meeting, but apparently not. Instead, here's Ellie in her super cute gift from Stacey, which she wears quite often right now.

Next we went to see the Werners.

This picture is busy, but it shows well how many people Ellie got to meet and be held by! She had a great time.

Ellie had a very special ginger bread house made by her great grandma Werner (and some cousins).

And she got this pillow pet, which, in spite of being bigger than she is, has been a favorite these last few weeks. She loves to suck on its nose and antennas. :)

Then back to Sheridan for the Sanford Family Christmas. (Notice her Christmas pj's from ~~Grandma~~ Santa Barb.)

And finally, for New Years we went to Jason's aunt's ranch, and took a day trip so Ellie could FINALLY meet her great-great grandparents!

It was great travelling and seeing everyone, but after being gone all but 5 days from December 6th to January 1st, we're happy to be home and getting back to normal life for a bit!

PS. I'm having trouble with alignment again...guess I'll have to live with it being inconsistent throughout my post.

Four Months Old!

2011-12-19T18:16:00.018-06:00

Ellie is four months today! That seems like a huge milestone because our good friends had a four-month-old when Ellie was born, and she seemed SO OLD at the time!

She really seems to have changed quite a bit, even in the last few weeks. The beginnings of a laugh is starting to emerge. It sounds more like a cough-laugh mix, sheand only does it occasionally, but it's really cute. She isn't rolling over quite yet, but is getting close. And today was the first time she seemed to be making progress to "scooting" when on her tummy and pushed up on her hands instead of just her elbows. She is getting longer and longer, and now weighs about 14 pounds.

Ellie went to her great grandma's house for Thanksgiving and got to meet some more people! She also got to enjoy her baby recliner from her great great grandma Meme. :)

We went to Plano for about 12 days, so Ellie got lots of time with her Grandma Barb and some of her aunts and uncles.

While we were there Ellie found her feet!

And they are SOOO tasty!

She also found my face:

And somehow this happened:

Guess she spit up while burrowing on my shirt and then face-planted into it. Haha

We had Olesen Christmas on Saturday. I think Ellie's favorite gift so far is her first baseball.

Just today we started using her Bumbo seat, and she seems to like it a lot!

Sleeping is touch-and-go. Her eczema still wakes her up sometimes, but we can usually just giver her a pacifier and she falls back asleep. Usually that happens once or twice a night...sometimes 4 or 5 times...or 7 (but that's rare). The eczema seems to be in better control now, so we are thankful for that!

Three Months!

2011-11-19T21:32:00.008-06:00

Maybe we should re-title our blog "Ellie's Monthly Updates." Life is busy with a baby! And now she's three months! She moved up to size 2 diapers just a week or 2 ago and we finally retired most of the newborn clothes. She's sporting some super cute new outfits from her aunts and grandma. (The second photo is a little dark...I didn't want to wake her up with the flash.)

A few days after my last post, Ellie got her first round of shots. That was the day she really took to the pacifier. She slept like this for 2 hours. No swaddle or anything. (Don't worry...I was there and didn't leave her unattended on the couch.)

She is getting really good at grabbing things (like toys and my face) and likes to put everything to her mouth. Unfortunately, she also is learning how to scratch her eczema. :(

And about a week ago she suddenly started enjoying tummy time instead of crying and burying her face in the floor whenever we tried. :) She even rolled over twice today from her tummy to her back...but I think it was accidental...more like a fall over than a roll over.

Ellie got to ride on an airplane this month! We all went to Orlando for a 9 day training. It was intense, but she did pretty well. And she got to be with Grandma and Grandpa Ware, because they were at the training too! We were sidetracked with caring for her, though, and didn't get any pictures.

This past week Ellie and I took our first solo road trip. While Jason went to a conference, we went to her G-Mama's in Plano (that name's a joke, by the way...at least I think...). Thankfully she slept the first three hours both directions and was only awake and fussy the last 15 minutes. She got to see her uncles and aunts, meet my cousin,

and meet one of my good friends from high school and her youngest son.

Sleeping through the night stopped about as quickly as it started. She slept all the way through again a few times in Florida, but now she's waking up more than ever--FOUR times one night! We think it's because of the eczema and a stuffy nose. Hopefully she'll be back to normal soon!

It's definitely fun to watch her learn new things and get more and more interactive. She's such a delight!

Two Months!

2011-10-19T10:22:00.009-05:00

Ellie is two months old today! The second month went by even faster than the first (and not just because it was a day shorter!). She weighs 12.2 pounds, is still wearing mostly newborn clothes, and is still in size one diapers (having blowouts much less frequently!). We had a lot of "firsts" this month!

First pacifier (she still doesn't keep it in long, but we don't care)

First bottle (pumped milk)

First time to bake cookies with her mama

First eczema outbreak. Here's a picture of the cute pants used to cover it up (because it was worse in non-clothes-covered areas). :)

First road trip. We went to her Grandma and Grandpa Werner's for the weekend, and she also met two of her great grandmas, but all the pictures are on other peoples' cameras.

On that trip she slept through the night for the first time as well! She started consistently going about 7 hours at night a few weeks ago, and we were working to get a late enough feeding in so the 7 hours would end at a decent waking time. Then Friday she suddenly jumped to 9 hours! She's slept through the night like that 3 of the past 5 nights, which has been great. Hopefully she keeps that up!

She smiles and "talks" a lot more these days (with coos and such), and it's super cute. Unfortunately, she usually stops when the camera comes out. She found her hands recently and enjoys trying to shove her whole fist in her mouth, especially when she's hungry or tired. She loves laying on the floor and kicking her legs around and squeals with delight as she does that. This photo is a little dark, but I love the look on her face!

And sometimes all that hard play makes her a little sleepy!

She doesn't necessarily like being "snuggled" with (so I sneak that in when she dozes off after eating), but she does like to sit on our laps and interact. She has great eye contact and focus and follows us visually when we move around. She "talks" the most when she sits like this.

She likes to stand too (assisted for balance, of course). Is this normal?

The swing is still a big hit during fussy evenings (which aren't quite as frequent but still happen). She fits in it a lot better now too, even when her head support falls out!

The blanket wasn't working out so well in the swing, so we switched to warmer clothes. This outfit is from her GREAT GREAT grandma!

I still sometimes get teary from how much I love this sweet girl. She's such a blessing to us.

One Month!

2011-09-19T15:20:00.008-05:00

Little Ellie is one month old! She weighed in at 10.4 pounds Monday morning. She's still in newborn clothes and size 1 diapers and is very active and interactive. When she's awake she's really alert and can maintain eye contact more and more. She seems to be pretty strong and has fairly good head and neck control already (she kind of has since birth). She started grasping things a lot more too, so I'm in a pony tail most days now! She still sneezes a lot and makes a lot of noise while eating and sleeping.

She loves music of any kind, and quiets down almost immediately when Jason plays guitar. During the day iTunes is usually sufficient. :) Her infant seat is really handy too (big THANKS to the Hugghins!), particularly with the music and vibration going. We often put her in that while we eat, so we can have both hands free.

It's also a good way to calm her when she starts to get fussy or tired but is not quite ready for bed.

She enjoys being in motion, whether it's going for a ride in the stroller, her car seat, the swing, or being carried around by her parents (or anyone else, for that matter).

She'll tolerate her floor mat play area for a little while, but much prefers to be walked around or to sit on one of our laps. We try to mix it up a little so she can play by herself some and we can do some things while she's awake.

She hasn't quite settled into a schedule, but I still generally only have to get up for one or two middle of the night feedings (one if I stay up until 10 to feed her before I go to bed...if I fall asleep earlier, I get up twice). I've been thankful for a baby who, usually, is a good night sleeper. Day time is hit or miss still...sometimes she sleeps great and I wake her up from naps to get enough feedings in. Other days she seems to barely sleep at all during her naps, even though she seems really tired.

She also seems to be getting messier as she gets older. Milk goes everywhere when she eats, dripping on me and all over her arm and onsie sleeve, down her face, and in her hair. Did that happen to anyone else? And does it get better as she stays latched longer, or will I always need to use multiple burp cloths at once? We've had LOTS of diaper blow-outs recently, both in Pampers and Huggies, and she's spitting up more too. (I have pictures, but I'll spare you.) I'm so glad Jason thought to make our laundry area accessible from inside the house!

This past weekend she went to her first Aggie tailgate (and my second or third...haha). We didn't go to the game. It was our longest outing yet, and she did great! And my first public feeding attempt was a success! We think she likes the outdoors, as long as the sunlight isn't in her face (which is kind of ironic, since one meaning of her name is "light from the sun"). She was thoroughly stinky for her first "real" bath afterwards (her cord finally was completely gone so she got to be IN the water). Here she is in her Aggie gear...the only outfit we've actually purchased for her ourselves!

I think that's enough updating for now. :)

The Dessert Girl

2011-09-09T14:51:00.005-05:00

Those of you who came to my College Station baby shower tasted the delicious, beautiful cake and cupcakes my friend Lisa made.

Someone asked if she sells them...and she does now! A new law passed recently that allows her to sell baked goods from her home. She makes incredible brownies, sugar cookies, and other desserts as well, all from scratch using high quality ingredients. Check out the options at her website: http://thedessertgirl.blogspot.com/

2011-09-07T11:08:00.009-05:00

Life sure is different! Feed Ellie, change her diaper, keep her awake, put her to sleep, repeat. And try to sleep in there myself. We have been enjoying all her cute faces and noises. She eats loudly, plays loudly, even sleeps loudly! I've tried to catch some of it on video, but haven't gotten a good one yet.

For the most part, she's been a pretty easy baby. She generally sleeps well at night, so we're able to get some good sleep too. She usually only wakes up twice, eats, and goes right back to sleep. If we get a late night (10 or 11 pm) feeding in, she might even sleep until 3, and then again until 7 or so. I enjoy those long stretches...yay for REM sleep!

The last few days have been much more challenging, though. She's been crankier and even stayed up for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of Monday night...then wanted to sleep all day (and there was no changing her mind on that!). We're trying for a schedule with her, but we're in the beginning stages and some days go better than others. Here's a picture from "wake time" one day last week (major fail...but she's so cute when she's asleep!).

Our doctor warned us that she'll probably surprise us with early development, since she's so active and strong already. She has pretty good head control for a little bitty. And what 12 day old can already do this???

We have to be careful where we put her in her crib because she can scoot, even when swaddled, and I found her face planted into the siding yesterday. Good thing it's mesh, but she wasn't very happy about ending up there. :)

I really enjoyed the time Jason was able to be home, and very very thankful that he got so much time off work. See how she loves her daddy!

It's harder going solo, though. I like to be able to do everything and am learning I can't do much besides care for her right now. She's totally worth it, but I have my breakdown moments (or maybe longer than moments). Then every time I get her up from a nap, she melts my heart all over again.

More Ellie Pictures

2011-08-24T18:07:00.003-05:00

Every time we look at Ellie our hearts melt. She is just too cute. There just aren't enough kisses for her sweet little cheeks. Our lives are definitely changing. Jason pointed out this morning that our voices are changing too; suddenly we're talking about everything in sweet, sing-song voices.

Here are some pictures of our much-loved little girl.

Wild hair after a sponge bath (2 days old)

Burrito Baby (3 days)

Cute picture in an outfit her Aunt Jennifer picked out long before she was born

"Look how strong I am!" (4 days)

All relaxed after pooping on her daddy (4 days)

Due Date: 40 Weeks!

2011-08-11T11:14:00.003-05:00

Well, I made it to my due date (and now one day beyond)! I'm still feeling good most of the time. I just have a lot of trouble getting comfortable to go to sleep, and the last three nights have woken up between 3 and 3:30 am and haven't been able to fall back asleep until 5:30 or so. That's not very fun.

But I'm still able to exercise. I think I've made a few cycling instructors nervous by telling them I'm trying to go into labor. :) I haven't had much swelling, either, which I'm surprised about. I am grateful to be able to lay down a lot. The only swelling has been after sitting for long periods or when I've been on my feet for a long time. Each time it's gone away quickly. And I haven't been having as much trouble breathing the last week or so (though the baby's still pretty high).

Now we're just waiting it out. Jason's definitely ready for her to be here. I am too, but I wouldn't mind waiting until my doctor gets back in town next week. We met the doctor who will be on call this weekend, and, while he may be a great doctor for many people, he gave all the red flags of "not the doctor for us!"...we have very different birthing philosophies and he seemed to be trying to talk us out of just about everything we said we wanted to do for our birth. Jason was my hero at the appointment, though, and fought for our desires and plans (while I mostly fought tears). I was so glad he was there and am very thankful to have an involved, knowledgeable husband. I have full confidence in him as my birthing coach.

Hopefully my next baby update will be pictures of her outside my belly!