I had the best day with you today

I can't seem to get the Taylor Swift lyrics to 'Best Day' out of my head. Basically, it's a song to her mother that regardless of the crummy circumstance of her day she 'had the best day with her today'. I feel like we had the 'best day' tonight. Elli is back to our Elli! It's been a while since I posted so I have lots and lots and lots to write about. Back to tonight - Elli just laughed and laughed. There is nothing I love more than to make her giggle. She has the sweetest throw her head back, open mouth squeal. I love it!!

Ok...where to start?? How about some super fun news: OWEN IS ONE!!! We celebrated Owen's birthday a couple of weeks ago and he looked adorable and did AWESOME with his cake. He was napping when the majority of us arrived at his house so when he came down from his nap and saw us all in his living room I'm not sure he knew what to think. Regardless, he got a ton of fun toys and he was a total champ when it came cake time!

After the big party...we had a big clean up!! :)

On Friday we had a super fun play date with my adorably pregnant friend Amanda. I took my camera to take pictures so I could post pictures but alas no pictures were taken. Amanda watches her nephew on Fridays - Cameron and Elli seemed to get along great. Cameron didn't even seem to mind that Elli ate TWO bowls of his animal crackers. Amanda - I promise I feed her!!! I feel so blessed that I have such good friends to go through these life stages with. I'm so excited for Amanda. I used to think that nothing is better than being an aunt...than I realized that being a mommy is even better. I have a feeling Amanda will be able to relate to my resolution in a couple of months.

Fits - throwing fits seems to be Elli's new favorite past time. She will be crawling, eating, in my arms, whatever, and all the sudden she just throws her head down and melts down. It's very dramatic and really quite naughty and I don't know what in the world I am supposed to do about it. Any suggestions...please post a comment!!!!

Mickey and Minnie - she loves these little stuffed toys (the best part about them is that they were on clearance). One is usually traveling with her at all times. Don't get me wrong, the mice can never replace, nor hold a candle to her bug blanket. My biggest fear is no longer spiders...it's that we might somehow lose or misplace her bug blanket! She loves this thing with a passion. It literally travels with her everywhere. It's always in her car seat and then always in her crib. Elli always cracks a smile when we give it to her (even if she's in the midst of one of her aforementioned fits). Grandma Marilyn - thank you so much for blanket. I don't know what we would do without it!!

Elli is getting better at sharing. :)

She loves to feed herself. I gave her the spoon just to pacify her while I was getting her breakfast ready and what do you know...she knew just what to do with it. Sometimes I don't give her enough credit I guess. She would love to feed herself all of the time, but it's a little messy and very time consuming.

I mentioned that Elli is back to her old self. Last week was a scary time for us as Elli had her first real case of sickness. She's had a cold or two, but nothing compared to the fever and yuckiness she had last week. Elli was just not herself - really fussy, super clingy, waking up in the middle of the night and unable to get back to sleep and the #1 indication: she stopped crawling around and jabbering over the weekend. I was thinking maybe she was teething...nope! She had some sort of viral infection that left her completely lethargic and out of it on Monday night. I took her temp and it said 103.2, so I panicked and then took it about 15 more times in a five minute period. She was really around 102...which was just enough to make me cry when our pediatrician (who was on call) called me back. I had this instant feeling of guilt - I should have taken her temperature earlier, I should have called the doctor earlier, I should have stayed home with her (even though Grandma Lee Ann was here and she probably enjoyed her way more than she would have me), etc., etc., etc. I took Elli to the doctor on Tuesday morning and she checked out okay - nothing obvious. They did a flu swab which basically means they stick a super long Q-tip up your babies nose and shove it so far up there that it touches the back of her head. Ok, I exaggerate but I HATE seeing Elli in pain AND her nose bled. Afterward, Elli looked at me with a look that said, "What in the world did you just let them do to me??" And then she burst out crying. I would have too! Okay, so everything came back clear and they told me it was probably just a viral thing. So then on Wednesday night I noticed that Elli had a rash on her neck which made me realize she basically had a rash all over her upper body. Again, I called the pediatrician on call (HEY, TWO TIMES IN OVER NINE MONTHS IS NOT TOO BAD, RIGHT??) and she told me to take her to MedCheck or the ER...just to be sure. I am pretty sure the doctor who saw us doubles for a mall Santa Clause during the holidays. He was an older man with a big voice, glasses and a mustache. Elli was so captured by every move he made. He told us it was nothing to worry about and the rash finally went away later the next day.

On Saturday we went for a walk while we were waiting for my parents to drop by our house. We were having so much fun. Greg dared me to sprint to a sign on Pendleton Pike so I did that and it made Elli laugh. I took advantage of her laugh and performed some legendary high knees and jogging in place. That's when my right foot landed 1/2 off and 1/2 on the sidewalk and I completely rolled it, felt and heard a pop, it swelled up to the size of a fist and then I felt like I was going to either get sick or faint. Long story short, some amazingly nice people stopped as I was laying on the sidewalk of a major road and drove me the 30 seconds back to our house, we made some new friends at the ER and I feel blessed that I'm just bruised and sore. Crazy timing as we are heading to Vegas on Thursday. I think this might be God's way of telling me to slow down and focus on the things that really matter - like making Greg and Elli laugh! :)

Elli's first grass encounter (at least the first where she actually knew she was sitting up on her own). Isn't she adorable!?!?

Elli loves Aunt Katie and Uncle Syd's new house...especially their soft carpet and stairs! :)

9 Month Appointment

Elli's BIG TIME now!

Greg gave her the Wii Rock Band drumsticks and she loved the noise they made.

Elli's 9 month appointment was this afternoon. I was looking forward to it to learn her weight...plus, no shots this time! Elli was awesome the entire time we were there. She was super laid back when the doctor came in and then started warming up and talking to the doctor throughout. Elli is doing great. She's right around 50th percentile in everything except (you guessed it) her weight. Elli weighed in at 15 lbs 5 oz. I had flashbacks of last June...going to the scale expecting a certain number when ultimately a smaller number pops up. She's not even on the chart anymore for her current weight, but the doctor wasn't at all concerned (praise God!!). I am amazed at how this girl eats ALL the time!! She's getting such a little belly, but apparently it doesn't effect the number on the scale. She's a banana, right!?!?


A few memories to capture from the week

• Today was the first time that I walked into her room in the morning and she was standing in her crib ready to greet me. It kind of weirded me out as I wasn't expecting to see her smiling face until I peeked into the crib. She absolutely loves to pull herself up and stand. She's also really big on 'standing' on her knees. Elli can stand a second or two on her own but she's still really wobbly.



• Mamaw and Papaw Nicholson came down to spend the day with Elli on Wednesday. It was so thoughtful of them just to take the day off and come. Greg and I really appreciated it, but ultimately it was Elli who had the most fun. When I got home on Wednesday night Elli was talking up a storm, smiling, laughing, crawling and having a ton of fun. It was probably one of the best moods I've ever seen her in. I don't know what they did, but Elli fell asleep during her last feeding and then didn't make another peep until we woke her up the next morning! Usually, she has to settle herself down a bit before she turns in for the night. I think she and Mamaw must have played really hard!!!!! I don't think Elli was spoiled at all through the day. :) Thank you, Mamaw and Papaw, for coming to visit! Elli loves you SO much!!



• Last weekend was Uncle Chris's birthday (happy 30th!!!!!!), so we enjoyed a lot of time with my side of the family. My mom came down on Thursday because I had a dentist appointment on Friday morning and Elli's 9 month appointment was originally scheduled for that day as well. I'll admit it...I'm a super huge wimp when it comes to Elli in any pain, so pre-meditated pain...even the good-for-you-kind (a.k.a. shots/vaccinations) make me super sad. I was thinking that Elli had to get shots at her appointment, but then realized that we are all set until she's a year old. I had recruited my mom to join me since I'm such a wimp. Anyway, Elli's appointment had to be rescheduled so mom, Elli, dad and I had a fun afternoon of shopping. And, boy did we shop! I am such a sucker for baby girl clothes (and SALES!!)! Grandpa Kevin took over the Elli watch and every time I turned around he was giving my mom a new toy to put in her cart that Elli had to have. No, her grandparents don't spoil her at all! :) Saturday we went to eat and shop at Clay Terrace for Chris' birthday and it was such a beautiful day. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can take walks and get out more. We are going to Vegas in a couple of weeks and I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather. On that note, if anyone has any baby air travel advice/tips I'd love to hear them!! Elli is a total trooper so I'm hoping she doesn't hate the plane ride or the weird time change. Good thing is we'll have a lot of help from some of Elli's favorite people - we are going with Syd, Katie, mom and dad. Below is one of the toys mom got for Elli for her birthday (which is three months away!!). It's her new favorite for sure!




• Quick comment on a pretty recent development. Elli's always liked kids, but lately it's really turning into something. She wants to be with Owen a lot more I've noticed. If someone is holding Owen she wants them to hold her too. On Saturday, if Owen was passed around she wanted to be wherever he was. On Thursday morning when I dropped Elli off at Ehrin's she immediately crawled right to the chair that Ehrin, Grace and Owen were sitting in. Elli's hero is Grace, there's no doubt about it so I was surprised when Ehrin put her in the chair with them that Elli immediately tried to hug on Owen. Owen was not so thrilled - he played the part of the cooler, older boy cousin when Elli was trying to love on him. She's also been doing that during our Bible Study with her new boyfriend, Daniel (who is the cutest little pumpkin ever!!). She is very interested in whoever has him.





• After Elli's appointment today she and I went to return some things and I was stopped by no less than 6 people commenting on what a pretty baby she was, she has such pretty eyes and how good she was being. She likes to be out and about and seems to really like stroller rides so we had a ton of fun. Of course, I was totally soaking in the compliments too. I think she's pretty terrific, but I know I'm a bit biased. I hate to brag about it as you can tell by this website!!!!

• Elli's new love: Gerber Graduates Cheetoh looking puffs (she's eating one in the picture below). She's crazy about them and crunches through them like she has a tooth or two (which she still doesn't). She's also tried the yogurt snacks and loves Cheerios. Today she tried string cheese and was definitely digging that too. No doubt about this girl's appetite...she loves to eat!!

On a separate note, Greg has been really sick with the flu these last couple of days so please keep him in your prayers. I don't remember the last time he felt so miserable.