Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, y'all! Wow, this has been an awesome year...solely because Ellie was born in 2006!

We are being pretty low-key tonight. Ellie crashed around 6:30. She was exhausted from being out late last night celebrating Grandma Judy's birthday at Papadeaux. Then today she went to church with me and afterwards we hung out with my parents who are in town for a few days. My mom made her traditional Sunday dinner of roast and mashed potatos. Yum! Ellie loves mashed potatos with my Dad's famous gravy. But back to tonight's celebrations. I am chillin' at home, wearing my cozy polka dot pajama pants, waiting for Tom to get back from walking the devil-dogs so we can start our Dawsons Creek marathon. Yep, that's right...we are having a Dawsons Creek marathon for NYE. How cool (read: lame) are we?! I am the proud owner of all 6 seasons and let me just say...they all ROCK!!! Thank heavens Pacey and Joey ended up together in the end. :) I think our pal Alex will be making an appearance tonight. We have celebrated the last several New Years with him. I am hoping we can talk him into doing a little Karaoke Revolution for us. Oh. My. Gosh. My NYE is Dawsons Creek and karaoke. I am not really sure what that says about me, but it can't be good.

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Still teething

Bipolar baby

Teething has made Ellie crazy. She goes from happy to sad to mad within seconds. Take this picture below, for example. She was on the floor doing her sad cry when I started saying her name in a really happy voice and she gives me this great big smile. But immediately after the picture she started doing her angry pick-me-up-now-or-die cry. I miss my happy, sunshine baby. Why oh why was I so eager for Ellie to get her teeth? Who needs teeth? Her Uncle Mark could have just made her some dentures and we could have bypassed this whole painful process.

Boring post about teething

Ellie's first tooth finally poked through yesterday. I could feel the little sharp point with my finger. It is obviously still causing her pain, though, as she woke up no fewer than 4 times last night. When she cries out for us, she mixes in Dada with her cries. So it is like, "waaaa DADA waaaaa DADA." And I am talking SCREAMING here. So each time I roll over and tell Tom that she is calling him in the hopes that he will find it adorable and let me sleep through this round. But...the little booger will not go back to sleep for him. She just gets more and more angry until I go in there, manually roll her onto her side, and rub her cheek a few times. Then she goes right back to sleep. Only 19 more teeth to go.

Ellie is showing a real stubborn streak these days. Now that she can pull up on everything in sight, she insists on standing at all times. Try to sit her on the floor to play with her toys and her body goes rigid and she starts yelling at you. Once she is standing she is all smiles and bounces. The kid will probably never crawl, but she sure is getting good at maneuvering around her toys while standing. Yesterday, she was in her feeted (is that a word?) pajamas that are slippery on the carpet so she went down in a perfect split. Seriously, legs straight out on either side of her. Oh to be that flexible.

Christmas recap

Whew, Christmas is over! Not that it wasn't fun. But it is nice to be hanging out in my pajamas this morning with nowhere to go and nobody to see!

Christmas Eve, Tom and I took Ellie to Mass. Back when Tom and I were in high school, I used to always go to Midnight Mass with him on Christmas Eve. It was pretty exciting for me because it meant I got to stay out past my traditional 12pm curfew. We kept up the tradition every year, even after we got married, but this year we thought midnight would be a little late for Ellie so we bumped the time up to 5:30. After Mass, we came home and put Ellie to bed and then sat down to watch our favorite Christmas movie of all time...Love Actually. Our Christmas Eve meal was just a smorgasbord of finger foods...yum! We also opened our gifts to each other so the next day we could just focus on Ellie.

Christmas morning, Ellie woke us up early as usual and we got right to work opening her gifts. She didn't seem as interested in the paper as much as I thought she's be. She just kinda waited til we unwrapped the presents for her and then she would bat at her toys and whatnot. She got a few big toys this year and she LOVES them. It is amazing to me how quickly she figures out what buttons to push, which gadgets to spin, or panels to open in order to continue the annoying song that each toy emits.




Christmas Day we went over to Grandma Judy's where we had lots more presents to open. I had opened my big gift from her earlier...a baby jogger, yay! Ellie got this Sit n Spin Zebra thing that she loves. Later that evening, we went back to our place and Grandpa Tom, Uncle Mike, Aunt Tara, and Brannon came over to finish up celebrating Christmas. We weren't really planning it so the only food I had were leftovers from the night before. Oh, just in case you are wondering...Pizza Hut, Dominos, and Papa Johns are all closed on Christmas Day, but the Chinese buffet place down the road is open.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas ramblings

Yay! Today is Friday! I don't have to return to work til next Wednesday! How's that for Christmas cheer?

Tom, Ellie, and I are planning on spending a quiet Christmas at home this year. Normally, the holiday is pretty hectic with trying juggle visits to my parents, Tom's mom, and Tom's dad. But since my parents decided to move to Aruba for a few years (mean! so mean! how could you move so far?!), we are staying home Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Then, Christmas day will be spent with Grandma Judy and Christmas day eve will be spent with Grandpa Tom. I am so excited for Ellie to open her presents...even though she probably won't get past the thrill of playing with the wrapping paper. Christmas is just so much more exciting when you have a kid...maybe that is why my parents had seven? I always kinda thought is was for the slave-factor, but maybe they were just addicted to the excitement of Christmas that children add? :)

I bought Ellie a little santa hat and booties yesterday and tried them on her last night. She wasn't a big fan of the hat, but she sure will look cute on Christmas Day!

(I drew a Santa hat on Tom so he wouldn't feel left out. I have mad paint skillz.)

Little Miss Chatterbox

Last week, Ellie started say "dog" whenever she would see the dogs. Even though she stresses the D and the G, it is obvious what she is saying. So...now she can say Dada, hi, and dog...but still no freakin' Mama. Yesterday, she learned Nana and she says it almost as much as Dada. I have a feeling that Ellie will probably be speaking in complete sentences (and possibly doing simple math) before she says Mama.

Edit: Ok, I swear Ellie reads my blog and does her best to contradict me everytime I post something. Right after I published the above, Tom called me to say that he had been saying "Mmmmm" to Ellie all day so she would learn the M sound and now she says "MmmmmAh MmmmmAh" He put her on the phone so I could hear. Sounds close enough to Mama to make me happy!

Crazy long legs (and I don't mean the spider)

Ok, to follow up on yesterday's post, I walked in the door last night to find Tom scrubbing the baseboards in our kitchen! I didn't even realize Tom knew we had baseboards, much less that you have to clean them. I was all like, "Are you cheating on me? Cuz I like it!"

Ok, returning focus to Ellie...I am having a bit of a shower dilemna. Every morning I place Ellie in her bouncer while I take a shower. But now she has totally outgrown it. When she drops a toy, she will sit up in it and lean forward to grab the toy. I just know that one day she will flip the thing right over. Plus, look at how far her feet dangle over the edge! Since when did this kid get so tall?

I need to find a new method of restraining her while I shower. I thought about bringing her exersaucer into the bathroom, but there really isn't space for it. Then I thought about throwing a blanket down in my big whirlpool tub and letting her play in there, but it just sounds a little crazy. Any ideas?

Househusbands and Valentine's Day

Tom is acting as a stay-at-home Dad til January 2nd when he has to go back to work. I wish I had as much time off for Christmas, but I do love that Ellie gets this great bonding time with her dad. Plus, it was really nice coming home yesterday to a clean house, freshly bathed baby, and dinner marinating. Tom makes a great househusband (how come people say housewife and not househusband?).

I went to Target today to look for a cute Christmas sweater for Ellie. All their Christmas stuff was pretty much gone, but they did have out clothes for Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day? I still haven't even hung up my Christmas lights (and it doesn't look like I am going to, but whatever). Anyway, who buys clothes specifically for Valentine's Day? Ok, I may have bought one of the tops (the super cute black and white striped one with the red heart on the front), but only because I plan on dressing Ellie up in it all sorts of times...not just V-day :)

All I want for Christmas is Ellie's 2 bottom teeth

Only 1 week til Christmas! Tom and I took Ellie Christmas shopping Saturday. She seems to really like riding in the shopping carts, but I always forget to bring the floppy seat so I have to wipe down the seats with a baby wipe and try to keep her from licking the handlebar. Ugh. She picked out a stuffed penguin at Old Navy. I was going to put it back but then she spit up on it so I was "forced" to buy it. She really loves that crocheted penguin, though. We even took it with us to church yesterday. I really miss the days when she would sit so calmly in my lap for the whole 3 hours. She is going through this phase where she refuses to sit. Or play on the floor. She just wants to stand and bounce and talk loudly. Preferably holding onto the back of the pew and facing everyone behind us. It was exhausting. Oh, here is the conversation I had with Mia at church yesterday:

Mia: Aunt Holly, where is Uncle Tom?
Me: Uncle Tom is at my house.
Mia: Aunt Holly, how come Uncle Tom doesn't come to church with you?
Me: Because Uncle Tom goes to his own church.
Mia (incredulously): You have church at your house?
Me: No, Uncle Tom's church doesn't start until later.
Mia: Well, how come Uncle Tom doesn't come to church with you?

I love my conversations with little Mia. We tend to just go round and round in circles.

I am pretty certain Ellie is getting her two bottom teeth. I feel them both pressing through. Plus, she has been waking up crying several times a night for the past few nights and it is difficult to calm her. We have started dosing her up with cycles of Tylonel and Ibuprofen. I am hoping those teeth pop out soon so Tom and I can quit arguing in the middle of the night about who got up last. I have no memory of Tom waking up to calm her, but he always insists that he was "just in there for THIRTY minutes!"

How time flies

From this


to this

to this

Just one of those days

When I went to see Ellie over my lunch hour, the daycare ladies informed me that she has been "terrible. a little pill." Yeah, don't sugar coat it for me, thanks. Apparently, she refused to take a nap and was wanting to be held and cuddled the whole time. And with six other babies in the infant room, they aren't able to do that. Poor Ellie. She has this terrible sounding cough that makes her gag and throw up. I keep having these moments where I stop and think, "Oh my gosh. I am a real mom." Like when Ellie throws up on my work shirt and it doesn't even faze me.

After my visit with Ellie, I had 15 minutes to run into Target to buy more diapers, wipes, baby food, and check the clearance racks for cute outfits. Then, at the register the lady in front of me faints and somehow manages to hurt her leg in the fall. My cashier starts crying, all pandemonium breaks loose, and I am all like "shoot, I have to get back to work." So I go to another register. Only to discover that my wallet isn't in my purse. Then I think I might have thrown it in Target's trashcan outside with my McDonalds bag. So, as two ambulances pull up to Target, I am outside digging through the nasty trash. I am surprised they didn't try to cart me away as well. Turns out I left my wallet at the other register with the crying cashier. So...I am 30 minutes late returning to work for my meeting with my boss where one of the topics on the agenda is tardiness. And how we have to start docking our pay for being late. Just one of those days.

Happy 8 months, Ellie!

Dear Elizabeth,

Happy 8 months! This past week, I realized I have never once called you by your full name. It is always “Ellie” or “Choo-choo” or something that sounds like “Basoofah.” I don’t want you to grow up and see your birth certificate one day and be all shocked so I have started calling you Elizabeth as well as Ellie. But you don’t really look like an Elizabeth and it seems too grown up for you. And mostly I just named you that because I wanted a name to go with the nickname Ellie. And I really, really love Pride & Prejudice.

This past month you learned how to pull yourself up to a standing position. Ok, actually that was yesterday. It was like you knew I would be writing out your monthly milestones today and wanted to slip that one in at the last moment. You also seem to realize now that when you say “Da-da” you are referring to your daddy. Just last night you pulled your paci out of your mouth, looked directly at your dad, and said “Da-da” and then smiled like you were oh so proud of yourself. I keep trying to get you to say mama, but you just laugh like it is the funniest thing in the world and say dada again.

Despite all your impressive talents (like drinking from a sippy cup like a pro and feeding yourself finger foods without dropping a single piece), you still haven’t mastered the art of crawling. I tried having a conversation with you about it. I explained how you would have so much more direction and control with crawling then you do with rolling. I also explained that with crawling you wouldn’t roll on top of your toys and then get mad and cry about it. Seriously, you are such a baby. If you barely bump your head, your lower lip quivers and you look at me and emit the most pitiful cry. It is amazing how quickly you learned that by making that adorable sad face, I will drop everything and rush right over to comfort you. Mommy is just a big puppet at your disposal. But I guess I don’t mind you discovering this ability to bring me running. I want you to always know that whenever you get hurt, whenever you need me, I will always be there for you.

Happy eight months.

Love you forever,
Mama

Continuing to blog every second of her life

Ellie and I are just chillin' at home this morning. The antibiotics seem to have kicked in because she woke up happy and fever-free! I know I get so dramatic when she is sick. I don't know what I'll be like if she ever gets anything more serious then a cold or ear infection :)

Ellie is so lucky. She will know the exact dates of all the important events in her life. Like when she had each and every cold. Or when she had a big blow out in her diaper. Then, of course, the second child will come along and one day this Child #2 will ask me how old he/she was when he/she learned to walk and I'll be all "Oh, I am sure you started walking before kindgergarten. Yes, that's right. Because you looked so cute walking out to the bus stop on your first day of school. I would have taken a picture, but y'know how it is."

Doctor visit

We took Ellie to the doctor today. I was right, she has another ear infection (btw, her weight is now at 18lbs, 3 oz). This whole doctor thing is such a struggle for me. I feel like I am taking her too much and she is getting put on antibiotics too much. So I tell myself that I will wait 4-5 days and see if it gets better on its own. I know most things are viral and antibiotics don't help with viral infections. And I don't want her to build a resistance to antibiotics that she might really need later in life. And then there is that study that says children treated with antibiotics under the age of one are twice as likely to develop asthma in childhood (asthma study).
But then I see my baby, so miserable and sick. And I just want to do something, give her something, anything to make her feel better again.

Why is my baby ALWAYS sick?!

Ellie is sick again. Not her normal cold-sick, but 102.4 fever, fussy, sleep all day and cry all night sick. I am pretty sure she has an ear infection again. Bleh. I made a doctor's appointment for Tuesday morning because I am hoping that she will get better before then. I just don't want her to be on antibiotics for the fourth time.

Last night we went to Mark and Rosie's to celebrate Leilani's and my birthdays. Clearly, I like to drag out my birthdays as long as possible. Daniel and Sabrina gave me this cool snowflake decoration that has pics of my whole family in it...even the devil-dogs! I love it so much that I am contemplating keeping it up all year long. :)

2nd attempt and too much flash

Ok, so I don't get my camera. I turn the flash off and all my pictures are blurry. Then I put it on autoflash and open all the blinds and turn on all the lights and the flash still goes off. Grrr. I think I am going to drop Ellie off at Aunt Rosie's next Wednesday adn tell her to snap away!

Attempt at Christmas pics

I decided to ignore that fact that I am terrible at taking pictures and barely know how to work the camera and attempted to take some Christmas pics of Ellie this morning. Ellie soon grew tired of my failed attempts at photography and decided to throw a fit.



I think I will try again when she wakes up. Some people just never learn.

Rockin' the bedhead

This is what Ellie looked like when she woke up this morning. Check out that crazy hair! Her hair is finally growing long enough to have to brush down in the mornings. Still not enough to put a cute clip in, but getting close!

On a side note, Ellie has slept straight through the night for the past 2 nights. We put her down around 8:00pm and she just rolls over and goes to sleep til 6:00am! Ahhhh, the good life.

Christmas presents

I am so excited about Ellie's first Christmas! It is weird, but this will be the first time I have purchased any toys for her. They toys she has now were either hand-me-downs from Aunt Rosie or given to me at my baby shower. And Ellie loves them! I can sit her in front of her basket of toys and she will play happily for hours (ok, not hours. but for like 20 minutes. which is hours in baby-time). Anyway, I have already ordered this for her from Amazon.com:

And then I found these two Fisher Price toys on Craigslist for only $8 each and they are in great condition!

Then, Tom came home with two really soft stuffed animals that he picked up at Old Navy for Ellie since she really likes sleeping with her soft monkey. So, I think this is going to be a fun Christmas for Ellie. Even though I am pretty sure her favorite toys will be the boxes and wrapping paper.

My birthday dinner and yet another cold

Ellie enjoyed her dinner at Olive Garden last night. She was asleep when we arrived, but she soon woke up to join us at the table. She tried to eat a whole breadstick, but I took it away from her and broke it into small pieces because I didn't want to practice the heimlich maneuver in public. The people at the table next to us kept trying to talk to Ellie. And then the busboy/lady came up and asked if she could touch Ellie. I am not kidding. She wanted to touch her. I was like, ok. So she rubbed Ellie's arm a few times. Very odd.

Ellie slept straight through the night for like a week straight, but now she is back to her old antics. She has been waking up around 3:30-4:00 every morning and then sleeping restlessly after that. She has yet another cold so that might have something to do with it. Poor baby, she tries to breathe out of her mouth, but then she loses her pacifier so she starts searching her crib for it. The past few nights we have gone in there and she is on her belly, rotated so she is facing out of the crib. She is getting pretty good at maneuvering around on her belly and then rolling to whatever it is she wants. She especially wants Tom's playstation. And the remote control.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my 28th birthday! It started off with our dog, Hank, getting out of the kitchen and peeing all over the study. I've been meaning to sort through those boxes and clear out some space. Thanks, Hank, for making the decision of what to throw out a whole lot easier.

I have today off from work since I worked on Saturday. Yay! No work on my birthday! Ellie helped me decorate the Christmas tree this morning. Ok, she sat in her exersaucer and watched while I attempted to string up lights and whatnot. My tree? Looks like crap. Really, it does. I know I have no decorating skills and apparently that pertains to Christmas decorations as well.

Ellie, Tom, and I are going to the Olive Garden for dinner tonight. I picked Olive Garden because we never get to eat there since Tom hates it. But it's my birthday so I am all powerful! Daniel and Sabrina offered to babysit tonight, but I like the thought of spending my birthday with the two people I love the most in the world. Plus, Ellie really loves going out to eat so I would hate to deprive her off that fun. I think I will bring my camera tonight so that I can get a pic of Ellie in all her dining glory.

Hi!

Ellie says hi and waves! Well, I am 93% sure that it is "Hi" she is saying. Though it sounds more like someone from Georgia saying hi. "Haaa." Everytime we see Ellie, we wave to her and say hi. Yesterday, when she saw Tom, she waved her arm and said "Haaaa." Then, she did it to me later. And she did it to the lady at Carmax. I am not sure why I am so excited about her waving and saying what I think is hi, but I just am. It seems like such a cool thing for her to do.

The other day, Tom was holding Ellie and he looked over at me and said, "We are no longer alone. We have another person living with us now." And I understood exactly what he meant. Like, for over 4 years it was just Tom and I, hanging out, doing our thing. But now? Now we are no longer just the two of us. And we better quit walking around naked.

I hesitate to say it

Ellie has slept through the night for the past three nights! Someone once told me that if it happens three times in a row then it is permanent. Or something like that. Meaning that maybe Ellie will continue to sleep through the night. And I might start to feel human again. And speak in full, coherent sentences. And start doing my hair in the morning. And wear makeup. The possibilities are endless...

Pacifiers and peek-a-boo!

It is hard being back at work after having such a long weekend for Thanksgiving. Ellie's first Thanksgiving was fun. She sampled mashed potatoes and stuffing at Grandma Judy's house and then we went to Grandpa Tom's house to hang out. Ellie really just likes going to new places and being around different people.

This past weekend we took her out to a Mexican restaurant. She just loves sitting at the table in a high chair and watching all the people around us. Of course, they would notice her staring and start smiling and playing with her and she would just eat it up. Our baby is such an attention-whore.

We have become big fans of Baby Einstein in our house. Those videos are really just crack for babies, but it gives me 30 minutes to get a little cleaning done. Ellie will sit in front of the TV, laughing and reaching for the screen. She likes to lean forward onto all fours and just rock back and forth. It looks like she is about to take off any second, but she hasn't quite figured out how to make her knees move.

Ellie's favorite thing right now is to take her pacifier out of her mouth and try to put it in mine or Tom's mouth. She thinks it is soooo funny and will chuckle every time she does it. No wonder Tom, Ellie, and I all have colds...we are all sharing the same pacifier! Ellie also loves to play peek-a-boo. She will pull the blanket over her head and then pull it down again...making Tom or I say "peek-a-boo!" over and over.

I love that Ellie is getting older and wanting to play and interact more. However, sometimes I miss my little blob who was content to sit in my lap. Now she wiggles and wriggles wanting to get down or be bounced or thrown in the air. It is quite exhausting!

Video clips of Ellie

Ellie laughing

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Ellie saying "dada"...a lot.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Ellie's first Thanksgiving. She had another one of her wakeful nights. Tom and I brought her into bed with us this morning. It was so funny. She kept reaching over to grab at Tom's nipple (it seems very weird to refer to Tom as having a nipple, but you know what I mean). It was like Ellie was trying to figure out how to latch onto it to get some milk. Heehee.

We are being pretty lazy this morning. My house is a disaster and I desperately need to clean, but I am just hanging out in my cozy gray flannel PJs (that Tom hates) and taking pics of Ellie. Of course, I was too lazy to dress Ellie before taking the pics so she is all white-trash baby hanging in her diaper with snot running out of her nose. Whatever, she is still adorable!

A good night

I had to work late last night so Ellie was already asleep by the time I got home (10:15). She woke up at 11:00 right as I was getting into bed. I knew she couldn't be hungry so I decided to let her cry for 5 minutes to see if she would go back to sleep. It worked! She went back to sleep and didn't wake up til 4:30 this morning! Then I nursed her and she promptly fell back asleep and was still sleeping when I left for work at 7:30.

However, I was a little sad this morning despite getting my wish for a (almost) full night's sleep. Usually Ellie wakes up every morning around 5-5:30 when Tom is getting up and out the door for work. It is like she senses there is a vacancy in the bed next to me and it is her job to fill it. So most mornings I go and bring her back to bed with me where we snuggle together under the covers. When she tires of lying down, I sit her up next to me so I can stay in bed just a little longer in my semi-sleep haze. She will talk and grab at my hair and face. And every few minutes she leans forward to lay her head on me, throwing an arm across me and squeezing me tight, all the while making this incredibly happy noise "aaaaaaaahhhhhh". And I can't think of a better way to start my day.

Totally spoiled

Oh. my. gosh. Ellie is waking up soooo much during the night now. She is killing me! And she doesn't just wake up, nurse, and go right back to sleep. No she wakes up, screams, arches her back, and refuses to go back to sleep. Tom usually ends up taking her out to the recliner and sleeping while holding her. She seems to be feeling better so I am hoping that this is just all sickness related and she will go back to her 1 to 2 wakings a night as usual. :(

I can't get too mad at her. Last night, when I walked in the front door, she kept trying to lurch out of Tom's arms to get to me. She was so excited to see me that she kept bobbing around and laughing. It is nice to be so loved. Y

Family time and ear infections

This has been a whirlwind weekend. We had a lot of fun hanging out with Jen and her family. Ellie is happiest when lots of people are around (and giving her lots of attention). Even though she was sick all weekend (fever, runny nose, cough), it didn't stop her from enjoying all the family around. Grandpa (Dad) took everyone out to dinner at Sweet Tomato on Saturday night. We put Ellie in a high chair at the end of the table next to Kolby and she had a blast! She loved being part of everything, stealing Kolby's peas, and banging on the table.
Unfortunately, when Ellie woke up Sunday morning, she was no longer happy. All she wanted to do was be held in my arms. I took her temp and it was 101.7. She wouldn't eat and spent most of the day sleeping. I took her in to the after-hours clinic to get her checked out and the doctor determined she has a bad ear infection in one ear. Poor baby. This is the 3rd time she has been on antibiotics. The doctor said that is not unusual for daycare babies. I just wish I could stay home with Ellie every day and keep her away from all those germ-ridden babies! ;) At least Tom is off work all this week so Ellie will get lots of Daddy-time.

Sick baby, new car, and lots of birthdays

Things are so crazy for us these days. It started Wednesday night with Ellie waking up every hour throughout the night. At around 4am, I noticed she was running a fever so I gave her some Tylonel and brought her to bed with us. In the morning, she seemed fine so I dropped her off at daycare and went to work. Tom and I had scheduled to pick up my new car (yay!) at Carmax right after work. I spent the whole morning at work calling about my old car and its missing title. After two calls to the Texas Department of Transportation, two calls to the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles, and about nine calls to Claudia at Carmax, it was determined that I had to get a duplicate title from Utah which would take two weeks in order to trade in my old car (obviously I was a model employee during this time and got tons of work done). Buying a new car was seeming to be more of a hassle then buying our house! I went to go feed Ellie on my lunch break, and she didn’t seem to want to nurse. I finally was able to get her to eat a little bit and then rocked her to sleep. I noticed that she felt pretty warm, but the daycare ladies assured me she had been happy all morning. I went back to work and was there for all of 20 minutes before I got a call from daycare saying Ellie had 102 fever and I needed to come pick her up. The ladies at daycare said that they never would have known she was sick since she was so happy except they tried to feed her solids when she woke up and Ellie refused to eat. And Ellie loves her food so they knew she must be sick!

The rest of the day was rushing around. We dropped Ellie off at Grandma Kathy’s and went to Carmax to get my new car. Went back to my mom’s to get Ellie. Then went to Grandma Judy’s house to celebrate Aunt Tara’s birthday. I was really worried that Ellie would be fussy since she was sick and it was past her bedtime, but she was too busy smiling and charming everyone. Happy Birthday, Tara!
We finally arrived home last night and left Ellie sleeping in her carseat til she woke up at 1:00. Her fever was back so I gave her some Motrin and brought her to bed with us til 4:00am when Tom took her out to the recliner to sleep with him so I could actually get some sleep before getting up at 6:30 for work. It is just amazing how a sick baby can affect your life so much! Tom is staying home with Ellie today and then tonight we are going to Uncle Mark and Aunt Rosie’s to celebrate some birthdays with Ellie’s cousins from Arizona! Happy Birthday, Kristen and Kaitlyn!

7 month shots and bloodwork

I took Ellie in for the second part of her flu shot and her Hep B vaccination yesterday. I took the whole day off so that I could spend the rest of the day giving her lots of love to make up for tormenting her in the morning.

Her shots went fine. She always gives a mad cry right after they do them, but as soon as I pick her up and cuddle her, she calms right down and will even smile at the nurse. Then, I took her back to the lab so they could try to draw blood for the allergy tests again. It was the same 2 lab techs and they totally remembered us. They tried both arms again, jabbing and pulling the needle in and out. They didn't get a single drop. Poor Ellie was beside herself. They told me that I would have to take her to a different place to get it done because they were just too incompetent to do it themselves. At this point, I am saying no way. Sure, Ellie has a stuffy nose half the time and a runny one the other half, but it doesn't seem to bother her so I am not going to let it bother me. Maybe when she is one we will try again to find out what she is allergic to, but for now I think I will just forget about it.

Happy 7 Months, Ellie girl!

Dear Ellie-belly,

You are 7 months old today. I just cannot get over how quickly time flies. You are growing up so fast and sometimes it makes me a little sad. Your Daddy and I went to the movies this weekend and found ourselves surrounded by overly-enthusiastic junior high girls. And I thought to myself, "Soon Ellie will be like them." One day you will scream "I hate you, Mom!" while simultaneously throwing your shoe at my head. And my heart will shatter into a million pieces. But I will know that is just what junior high girls do. And then I will pull out pics of you kissing me and laughing with me and say, "See, you DO love me!" I want to keep you my sweet, innocent little girl forever.

This past month you have really figured out how to get around. If there is a toy half way across the room, you will find a way to roll/scoot your way over there. When you are sitting, if a toy is out of your grasp, you will lean forward, ease onto your tummy, and roll away! You are also "talking" a lot more. Your favorite phrase is "Ah da da da." You also make these growling noises a lot and some high pitched screeches.

Everyone always comments on how happy you are. You really are such a happy baby. Quick to smile and laugh at everyone. You love to play with your cousins and you get so excited when you see them. You have also discovered the dogs. You never used to show them much interest, but now you get really excited when you see them, flapping your arms and kicking your legs in your funny spastic way. I was always so careful to keep the dogs a safe distance from you because they are such big, wild, hyper things. Quick to jump up and slobber anyone who dares pet them. Many a grandkid has been knocked down by our overgrown puppies. But with you they are different. If you are sitting on the ground, they won't go near you (which makes me sad because I do so want a picture of you with them). When I am holding you, they come up and carefully balance on their hind legs so they can give you cautious licks. And you love every minute of it.

Every moment I am away from you, I miss you like crazy. I feel so very, very lucky to have such a great baby. Happy 7 months, Choo-choo!

I love you forever,
Mama

All about the food

Ellie is no longer a vegetarian. This morning we tried out Sweet Potatoes & Turkey and she loved it. She kept banging her hands on her high chair tray for more. Unfortunately, since we have been giving her finger foods, she thinks that she needs to feed herself her baby food as well. She keeps grabbing at the spoon and gets mad if I don’t give it to her. She is good at getting the spoon in her mouth, but inevitably makes a HUGE mess. Oh, she is much better at her veggie puffs now…consistently averaging 4 out of 5 puffs in her mouth. Such a big girl!

Odds and ends

I had to work today (Saturday, ugh) so Ellie stayed home with Tom. They both dressed up in their A&M gear as today is the big A&M/OU football game. I wonder if Ellie will rebel when she is older and discard all her A&M clothes for UT ones. I hope not...her complexion is much more suited for maroon then burnt orange. Of course, she could choose BYU and go blue, but right now when she wears blue she just looks like a boy. Hopefully she will outgrow that problem.

I no longer can just set Ellie on the floor with a bunch of toys and count on her staying there. She can roll from one side of the room to the other in no time flat. However, she seems to only be able to roll in one direction (clockwise). She gets around this limitation by maneuvering herself upside down and rolling back across the floor again. I don't think she will ever learn to crawl because I can't get her to stay on her stomach for more than 2 seconds to practice. Tonight she got caught under the coffee table and I just left her under there for a bit so that she would stay out of trouble. She didn't seem to mind.

About 2 weeks ago, Ellie woke up one morning repeating "da da da da" over and over again. It remains one of her favorite phrases and we like to pretend that she is talking about Tom. She also likes to grab my nose because I will say "honk" everytime she does it. She find that pretty darn funny. I have always been a bit sensitive about my beak of a nose, but I am glad it serves its purpose here.

I am pretty sure Ellie was going through a growth spurt last week as she was eating NONSTOP! She was insatiable. I started her on some finger foods for fun (those veggie puff things that dissolve in the mouth). She loves trying to eat them, but she only gets like 1 in 5 pieces in her mouth. The rest end up stuck to her sleeves or on the floor, much to the dogs' delight.

I can't get over how big Ellie is getting. I was just looking at this pic of her sleeping when she was only 2 weeks old and felt compelled to go take one of her now for comparisons sake. Ordinarily, Ellie sleeping is something I would never, ever, ever take the chance of disrupting but tonight I snuck in and snapped the 2nd pic below...and she didn't even wake up. Yes, I know she is still wearing her "street clothes." That's because I was too busy watching the game and stuffing my face with pizza to bother bathing her and putting her PJs on. I pretty much just told her to put herself to bed and handed her a piece of coal to suck on. I am just that good of a mom.

First Halloween!

I was ridiculously excited for Ellie's first Halloween. I took off from work an hour early and headed out to Mark and Rosie's house for a family Halloween party. Rosie had set out such a fun, creative Halloweeny food spread. We took all the kids trick-or-treating, but a lot of the candy-givers would look at Ellie and say things like "Oh, she is too little for any of this." Hello! Obviously, the candy is for me and I am just using the kid. Ok, not really, I had tons of candy at home...I just wanted the whole trick or treating experience.
Tom, Ellie, and I looked quite the motley crew. Tom was Arnold, I was a pirate, and Ellie a ladybug. We weren't clever enough to coordinate like Kolby, Sabrina, and Daniel who were a lion, witch, and a wardrobe (so cute!).

But overall I'd say Ellie's first Halloween was a success. Good food, good company, and lots of laughs.

My baby is a vegetarian?

Ellie is such a great eater. Every time I have introduced a new food, she has gobbled it down without hesitation. We have pretty much tried all the Stage 1 fruits and veggies and had moved onto Stage 2. Today I decided enough with all these boring old fruits and veggies...my baby needs some MEAT! So, I sat her in her high chair, handed her a sippy cup of water to keep her occupied while I prepared some rice cereal, and got out the 'chicken in chicken gravy.' I also decided to take some pics while doing all of this.

Notice how happy Ellie is about the prospect of food? I opened up the jar of chicken. It smelled like canned dog food. Actually, canned dog food smells a little better. And there is something just wrong about eating liquid meat. With the camera in my right hand and the dog-food chicken in my left, I proceeded to give Ellie her first taste of glorious meat.

I have never seen Ellie respond to food like this! I couldn't stop laughing. I gave up after a few bites and moved on to her rice cereal with bananas. She happily gobbled it all down so I tried to sneak in another bite of chicken. She eagerly bit into it only to recognize it for the devil-food that it was. And I swear she whispered a word that sounded like "yuck." Then, she started opening her moth wide and acting like she was going to throw up, all the while making these "bleeeeaaaahh" noises.