Greg, Cari & Elli

NEW BLOG ADDRESS

2010-10-16T05:05:00.000-07:00

Hi all - thanks for following this blog. I decided to transition to a different blog site that will allow me to print all of my stories and pictures at the end of the year (more like a digital scrapbook). Here is the new url:

www.babyhomepages.net/thenicholson

Hope to see you there!!

A New Decade...and Loving It!!

2010-04-29T20:08:00.001-07:00

Elli with one of her BFF's. I love this picture of Addie and Elli being silly and cracking themselves up!

Easter pictures!

My wonderful husband and loving daughter traveled to Florida with me last week to celebrate (1) some much, much, much needed time away and (2) my 30th birthday. We spent all five days with Grandma and Grand Dad Roach. They were fabulous hosts. Our time was quite amazing! Here are some of the pictures from hanging out, to deep sea fishing to swimming and the beach (which was Elli's FAVORITE part).

Elli did great on the flights and enjoyed looking out the airplane and especially watching airplanes at the airport (not to mention the moving walkways within the airport). She is starting to carry on conversations and has a huge personality. She is learning to scream and seems to enjoy testing Greg and I quite a lot. She is quick to smile and loves being chased and playing games. Just when I thought we couldn't be having any more fun...we totally are! :) I am so incredibly blessed by my family and by the amazing 30 years I've had!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

Elli's been enjoying two things recently:

1) Outside

2) Sparkly hand-me-down pink shoes that a friend gave me; they are a size too big but Elli LOVES them!

I love that she's in her pajamas, Chicago Bears jacket and sparkly pink shoes in this picture!

Today was a first for our household: we decorated Easter eggs. I invited Grace and Owen over and the four of us had a blast. Grace is a pro at it so I appreciated her help. Elli and Owen loved the glitter part of the decorating. Below are our pictures.

Too Long!

2010-03-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been so so so long since I last posted. Every time I think about posting I get overwhelmed with all I should include, so I am just going to pretend that I am up to date and start with what's new with Elli right now.

She's pretty much awesome, but with a lot of sass. I thought we had skipped the stranger danger phase but Elli hit it just a bit later than a lot of kids. For the last several weeks she has been a serious mama's girl. She gets terribly upset when I leave her in the nursery on Sunday mornings (which is so interesting to me since it's been the same routine on Sunday mornings since she was born). Elli also gets upset when I leave her in the morning and lay her down for bed. At night she gets this crazy arm wrestlers grip around my neck and I have to struggle to get her legs high enough to swing her in to the crib. Ehrin, my sister and Elli's amazing babysitter, does such a great job of distracting every morning. I have to say it's the hardest part of my day to leave her, but my sister makes it way easier than what it otherwise could be. Ehrin and the church nursery workers have told me that Elli settles down quickly after I leave but boy do I struggle when I walk out the door and can hear her crying. The funny thing is that Elli doesn't want to leave Ehrin's when Greg comes to get her after work.

Elli's current loves:

SOCKS - this girl is obsessed with socks! If I don't have socks on she points to my feet and repeats "socks" over and over. I have to explain to her that whichever pair of shoes I have on don't look particularly good with socks.
SHOES - I got out Elli's brown boots out for church on Sunday and when she saw them on the floor she clapped and started talking about shoes. This is truly my little girl...shoe obsessions must be in the DNA.
WEASLEY - Elli has a particular fondness for our dog, Weasley. In the last couple of weeks, I've caught her snuggling on him several times. She's also been caught giving kisses and trying to brush his teeth with my toothbrush. :) She seems to like Potter, our other dog as well. But, it's more in the sense of telling her 'NO! NO!'. Potter gets in trouble a lot at our house.
BARNEY - Holy cow does this girl love Barney! I've found that I pretty much have a Barney song in my head 24/7 now. Truth be told, I actually don't mind this infatuation. They all have a really good lesson behind them and I love to see Elli imitate the kid actors' choreography.
SINGING - She's started singing recently. Especially Barney's I Love You song, but also any time she hears music she'll 'sing' along. I've found that she doesn't usually like for me to sing along with her. She just likes to hear herself sing. :)
SPAGHETTI & CHEESE - No change here.
GOING BYE-BYE - She often asks to go bye-bye when we are home.
PUZZLES - This girl can put together a mean puzzle in no time flat! It's amazing how much she does and understands now.
FIST BUMP - Our family handshake is definitely a fist bump. She really likes to give Greg and I fist bumps when offered. We are still working on the 'blow it up' aspect, but it will come with time!
HER GRANDPARENTS - Again, no real change here. This girl is lucky to have such awesome grandparents. She's crazy about them!
OUTSIDE - Welcome spring! We are all a bit stir crazy from the winter and cold. We have been spending as much time as possible outside and Elli has loved it! I definitely think she is going to be a soccer player - man, she can kick that ball (drop kicks included).

Current Dislikes:

Going to bed at night
When mama leaves
Getting her diaper changed
Baths
Going bye-bey - Apparently she only likes to leave when it's on her timing. She's started throwing some serious fits when we try to put her in the car seat.

I will post some pictures soon. While I missed posting about Christmas I have also missed two other very special holidays. Elli's big cousins - Addie and Owen - both turned two recently! It's hard to believe that Elli is not that far behind. I'm already thinking about themes for her party! :)

Elli is learning so fast and is such a joy to watch! The three of us love playing together...from blocks to puzzles to dance parties to Goodnight Moon...we've had a ton of fun over these last couple of months.

As a side note, Elli weighs 23 pounds and I am pretty sure my arms are more toned than they have ever been thanks to toting those 23 pounds around! :)

SUPERSTAR!

2009-12-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

Elli had her 18 month appointment on Friday. We got an excellent report. The pediatrician said she was a SUPERSTAR, which made me feel great. Elli weighs 22 lbs (20th percentile...YAY!). She is 75th percentile in head and height. She is hitting her milestones and some of the things I was worried about (i.e. not many words right now), the doctor told me that Elli is where she should be. Other things that are not so superstar right now (i.e. the occassional biting), the pediatrician told me that it's common so it made me feel a little better that it's not just my child suffering from a touch of naughtiness these days.

Posted are some pictures of the last month. The first pictures are our Thanksgiving day pictures. Mamaw gave Elli some ice cream with M&M's and she LOVED it! We also celebrated with our first annual Second Six (Nicholson / Ponsler / Nicholson) Thanksmas. We love hanging out with the Ponslers and Syd and Katie, so that was a very special treat. Tegegn has all sorts of cool tools for Elli to play with and he did a great job of sharing. We are so blessed that Elli has some great cousins to play with. Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed Elli's fondness of my nephew, Owen, in particular. We went over to my sister's to babysit a few weekends ago and when Elli spotted Owen she perked right up and started talking to him as we were climbing the stairs to greet him. Once on the ground, Elli put her hand on Owen's cheek and continued talking to him in jibberish. Owen seemed to understand everything Elli was saying just fine. They are hilarious together - following one another from room to room, playing hide and seek, and talking in their own language. We took Elli to Disney on Ice last weekend and my neice and Greg's sister and brother-in-law, were able to join us. The girls were so sweet to watch. Elli was in awe of the characters at the beginning...she would clap along with the music and not take her eyes of the ice. When they were done with one song Elli started clapping with all her might above her head - she was pumped! Greg's parents bought the girls some Mickey and Minnie dolls they found from the Disney Store. Elli was so excited about them and just keep smiling and saying "Minnie" on our way to the show. Thanks Mamaw and Papaw - what a special treat!

Elli has started a soccer class on Friday mornings. She's currently the only one in her class, so she is a little shy at first but once she warms up she has a ton of fun. The 'coaches' do a great job with the class (lots of listening to directions, different learning activities and some fun games all rolled in one) and Elli seems to enjoy it. Her favorite is when the coaches get out the big multi-colored parachute. Every activity we do with the parachute makes Elli laugh (which makes me so happy!!). It's a great outlet right now since the weather is too cold to go out and play.

Elli-Phant!

2009-11-08T10:48:00.001-08:00

Seriously, every day is more awesome than the last with a growing toddler. Elli makes Greg and I laugh all the time. She's such a sponge and I often underestimate how much she understands. Below is a picture post of what we've been doing the last month. More than anything I am reminded of God's grace and perfect plan...by putting Elli in our lives when he did and the miracle of seeing a child grow...and also of his provision and healing...I am so grateful that Elli has grandparents that are a Christian example and who have taught Greg and I so much growing up. I hope and pray that we share God's love to Elli in a very intentional way as she grows.

Halloween was a fun time. Elli's outgrew her costume in the weeks between when I bought and October 31, but she was still a pretty stinking cute Elli-phant (I know I am biased)! Our pictures are most recent to oldest (for the most part), so below is our Halloween adventures at my cousin Kelly's house. Elli loved the food and I loved the leaf pile. We lost one of Elli's shoes three separate time in the leaf pile (twice of which was my fault), which was particularly nerve racking since we completely forgot to bring Elli's bag of clothes for the weekend. It's tricky when you pack for a weekend away with two dogs, and a family a three. We always forget something and this time it was Elli's clothes for Sunday and her diapers, etc. Thankfully my sister-in-law and niece came to our rescue and let us borrow some great things...and my mother-in-law keeps a stash of diapers at her house. Thank goodness for them!!

Before Halloween we went to ZooBoo with the Nicholson's. It was cold, but fun. Bias aside, I do believe that we had the sweetest little ladybug and elephant at the zoo! :) Elli and Addie are hilarious together. They are great friends already and enjoy getting into/doing whatever the other one is participating in at the moment. They are both coloring in the picture below.

Elli's a phone talker...all the time. Below is right before her bedtime. I caught myself saying, "Elli, five more minutes on the phone and then we need to get ready for bed." How many more times will I be saying that in this lifetime!?! :)

Matching...and ornery...cousins. Grace is definitely the most influential person in Elli's life. Elli watches Grace like a hawk and whatever she sees her do, she imitates a second later. We are lucky Grace is a good girl!

Elli's first haircut happened last weekend. Her hair was getting in her eyes occasionally so Grandma Lee Ann took care of that problem! It's tradition for Grandma Lee Ann to conduct the first haircut (all my cousins). Elli was great about it. She loved the spray bottle...and really enjoyed when I sprayed water in her mouth from it. Good times.

More cousin pictures...

Elli really loves to clean. She loves taking wet wash clothes and cleaning off the floor or furniture. Typically, she'll want to wipe her face off with the same cloth that she wiped the floor with...not crazy about that. Anyway, I needed to vacuum the floor quickly a couple of Saturdays ago and Elli was really interested so I showed her how to do it and she finished the job for me. You'll notice she's missing something in the picture (just her pants...no big deal)...her pajama pants are tight and I didn't want to fight to take off her shoes (which is still an obsession) after changing her diaper that morning. Hey, I choose my battles!

Our annual trip to our favorite pumpkin patch! Elli loved pretty much everything about it...the hay ride especially...the farm animals, picking up her pumpkin, the huge hay mountain, etc! We had a great time this year and Elli picked out a cute little pumpkin! :)

Elli's Current Loves

2009-10-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of Elli's current loves:

As of today, the Children's Museum Carousel ride - we rode it THREE times because she would sign 'more' after each ride was over. She would perform her upper body provocative dance (you have to see it to believe it...it's a bit of a shimmy and shake) when she was on the ride and then clap her hands along with the music. I saw people laughing as they saw her go past them. I am so proud! :)
Praise Baby DVDs - God bless my sister in law for introducing these to us! I bought the set of 4 and boy am I glad. Every morning Elli watches the videos on the way to Ehrin's. It used to be a fussy 15 minute trip but now she is enamored by them completely. They have also been great for other longer car rides.
Fruit Smoothies - because our mornings are typically hectic (and I like for Elli to sleep as long as she possibly can) I make her a fruit smoothie every morning and she sucks it down in no time on the way to Ehrin's. It's super healthy too which is a big bonus.
Pot Roast - she's still a fantastic eater (PTL!) but she seems to particular pot roast and any vegetable done in the crock pot. I made it Tuesday and she said "mmmm" through the whole dinner. I figures that was a good sign.
Coke/Diet Coke/Root Beer/any beverage in a cup with a straw that you are drinking - I will go ahead and blame my amazing and wonderful parents for this one. We try to limit as much as possible, but sometimes you just have to choose your battles!
Her cousins - it seems as times that it's a love/hate relationship but overall Elli loves playing with her cousins and seems to get a huge kick out of them.
Pretend play - typically with babies and/or fake food/kitchen toys.
Coloring - she loves to color anything and everything. She seems to be very serious about it when she is coloring. Maybe she'll be an artist like her Mamaw!!!
Talking - I guess it should be termed 'gibbering', but boy does she like to tell you all about it. I wish I knew what she was thinking as she talked.
Talking on the phone - she will take pretend phones or our phones and talk and talk and talk on them typically as she is walking around the house. She talks really loud when she is on the phone so I always get a kick out of it. I wonder where she got the loud talking from. Greg, probably! :)
Carrying her purse - she loves carrying around a little purse and goes to great lengths to keep it on her elbow or shoulder. I know I am severely biased, but it's adorable.
Her mommy - bias aside, Elli is definitely a mommy's girl, but she has a serious crush on her daddy!! :)
Uncle Syd - speaking of crushes, Elli L-O-V-E-S Syd.
Grandpa Kevin - I don't know how this man does it, but kids love him. Elli is definitely no exception and I would say even more than being a mommy's girl, Elli continues to be a Grandpa's girl.
Taking things apart and putting them back together - lids are a good example, but basically anything that you can take apart Elli is really into trying to put back together.
Repeating everything you do - and when I say everything I mean it! She's such a little monkey!

Elli is in such an amazing stage right now. She's learning new things all the time and I'm amazed almost every day at the new things she is learning. I often underestimate how much she understands. I am so blessed by her. Greg and I can't get enough of her and have so much fun having dance parties to the opening song of the Winnie the Pooh cartoon. We also just love loving on her. She rocks.

The pictures below are taken in our backyard earlier this week on an awesome fall evening. I love playing with our camera settings.

At the Children's Museum today:

15 Month Appointment

2009-09-21T18:13:00.001-07:00

I forgot to mention the stats from Elli's 15 Month Appointment:

20 lbs (20 percentile - yay Elli for being inside of the range!! - the doctor gave her an A+ on her print out)
33 inches (80th percentile)
80th percentile in her head circumference as well

In other developmental news Elli has started using some of the sign language I've been working with her on since she was a baby. In the middle of Kroger she pulled the eat sign out of no where and she usually uses the more sign after we are finishing a song (i.e. Jesus Loves Me). Fun!

Picture Post #2

2009-09-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

For some reason the original post would't let me add any more pictures and there is no way I could miss out including the momentous occassions of Grace's FIFTH birthday party and a day at the zoo with Mamaw and Papaw.

Elli loves her Mamaw and Papaw!!

She absolutely loved the water zone. She cracked up at the water and had a fabulous time. I can't wait for next summer and some warm weather so we can go back!

Papaw and the polar bear became good friends.

At an Indians game with my family...we go almost every year to watch the Charlotte Knights (the White Sox AAA team).

Finally...a visit with Garrett Condon...so cute!! Congratulations Amanda!!! He is such a sweetie!

We enjoyed a quick trip to the State Fair. I love everything about the fair and I'm pretty sure Elli did too!

The baby calf was Elli's favorite part (well, tied with the elephant ear). She could have sat there and loved on them all night. She was so mad when we left. I'll admit, they were pretty adorable.

Elli's first camping trip of the summer with Grandpa and Grandma. We had fun even though it was cold that weekend. We took lots of walks with Potter and Weasley and enjoyed beating mom and dad in euchre! Since they camp in Peru we made a trip to the ever enjoyable East End at the end of the weekend for some yummy ice cream. :)

Happy 5th Birthday, Grace! Grace's party was a ton of fun filled with cupcakes, dancing to Miley Cyrus and lots of family and friends to celebrate with. I can't believe Grace is really five!!!

Aunt Jodi making Elli giggle.

All smiles with Grandpa and Grandma!

Picture Post

2009-09-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

I have been so bad update updating, so I've included a picture post of the some of the things Elli has been up to.

I'm very proud of Elli's updated room. I put in the shelving unit myself (on sale at Target, which I am addicted to) and love how it looks and how much space it has saved us!!

Elli's church boyfriend, Steven. He's pretty much adorable!
Elli's very first picture that she took herself. Shoes...nice!

We enjoyed a Friday night at the Indians game a couple of weeks ago with our good friends Justin, Audra and Daniel. We get to see the three of them every week at church and Bible Study and Elli loves Daniel so much. She tries to pick him up whenever we are not looking.

Elli's pigtails.

Elli is an independent eater now for sure. She hasn't mastered the spoon (in my opinion) but I've learned just to be patient and let her try it. It's messy but I have realized that I don't want a seven year old who I am still trying to spoon feed applesauce to!

My parents church had a camping weekend at Mississinewa so we visited and had a fantastic time. It was so much fun being with family and God blessed us with an amazing weekend in terms of weather. Below are some of the pictures from our time there.

The Ponslers were at the campground which was fun for us. We just don't see them enough anymore! Tegegn is a huge hit with everyone in my family. He's such a sweetie!
Elli's first boat ride. At first she wasn't sure and then she started sticking her hands in the water spray off the side of the boat and tilting her head back in the wind. So fun!

Elli's first twinkie...Greg thought this was a big deal so we caught the leftovers on the side of her mouth.

Church service at the campground...very cool!

Elli and Grace at the beginning of the church service. Elli pretty much does everything Grace does. Hilarious!

Greg turned 30 on September 14. We have been celebrating his birthday for a couple of weeks now (that's the way I like to do it!!) and will do so until we cheer on the Bears at Soldier Field on October 4. Elli and I hope that Greg felt special on his birthday because we are so blessed by his love! He is such a great father and husband!

On Greg's birthday - Elli's shirt says "It's No Secret I'm Daddy's Girl". I thought it was so fun and appropriate for the day!

Enjoying cupcakes in Greg's classroom for his annual birthday celebration. Elli had a great time watching the kids (and vice versa). Happy Birthday Greg!!

We took Capri Suns for Greg's class during his birthday celebration. We had a couple of extras so I gave Elli one on Friday and she drank the entire thing in about 30 seconds. She doesn't get much juice so I guess she felt the need to enjoy it while she could.

She walked around the entire house with these shoes on. She's big into shoes (she gets that from me)!

In full Bear attire to cheer them on to their first victory tonight. Elli is coloring which is one of her favorite past times right now. She is saying 'cheese' in this picture. She's started cocking her head to one side with a smile and scrunched up eyes when the camera comes out.

Elli reading her book tonight. She likes to lay on her stomach and color or read books. I get a kick out of it!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears!

2009-08-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Lots of pictures in this post. I couldn't decide which ones to upload so I uploaded a lot! I am going to go from most recent activities (since that's the way my pictures posted).

Last night we went to Animals and all that Jazz at the zoo with Uncle Syd and Aunt Katie. It was really fun and I would encourage anyone to try to make it...it's held on Thursday nights in the summer. When we were near the band Elli enjoyed dancing to the rhythm. Some of the animals weren't out, but we were able to see quite a bit with the ambiance of the jazz music in the background. Below is a picture of Syd, Katie & Elli in front of the sleeping sea lions. It was their bed time apparently. Elli blew them kisses. :)

Elli is getting so big! When I saw the below picture I just couldn't believe how Elli has just become a little girl overnight...she's not a baby anymore!

We went to our second annual Nicholson/VanDam Chicago Bears Training Camp adventures in IL. There was a huge turnout at the practices. I enjoyed playing with Addie and Elli and didn't see much of the practices...I figure I have many, many weeks of watching/talking/obsessing about Bears football so I wan't too sad about missing some of the practice. Besides, I was watching the two sweetest little girls which doesn't even compare to my boyfriends Brian, Adrian and my newest BF Jay! :)

Below we are at the mall...Elli & Addie have on their Bears cheerleading outfits that Papaw and Mamaw got for them. They were so funny running/playing down the mall.

This is our second year to get pictures taken with Staley. Elli kind of hated it, but I made her suffer through lots of pictures with him.

Suckers!!! I figured this would be a good distration. Both girls were amazing at the 2+ hours of practice on three different days. Both Friday and Sunday were really warm but they didn't seem to be bothered.

A family tradition...you gotta' teach them young, right?

Elli did a lot of 'wallering' all over Aunt Sara! :)

Books...another distraction! :)

My boyfriend, Jay, who is going to lead the Bears to a Super Bowl victory this year!

I was in CA for work last week and missed Greg and Elli terribly! Thankfully Greg got some help from his parents. Both he and Elli had a great time hanging with Papaw and Mamaw when I was away.

Two Sundays ago we took a trip to the mall so we could take Elli to Build-a-Bear. Below is a picture of Elli at the Disney Store. This Minnie was as big as she was but she carried it around for quite some time until we were able to distract her and take it away. She wasn't too happy about it, but as much as I love her I can't see spending $40 on a stuffed animal!!!

Here Elli is trying to decide which animal she wants. I think she had three she was clinging to at one point. We ended up with the doggie, which we named Rawf.

Elli is FINALLY facing forward in her carseat. Ironically, she didn't meet the weight requirement for the seat, but did meet the height requirement so we were able to face her forward at almost 14 months. It's so much better for her and we are excited to be able to interact with her more while we are in the car. Elli weighs right around 20 lbs now. So big!

Elli's Current Faves...

2009-07-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some of Elli's current favorites and/or new activities so I don't forget this super fun stage:

Spaghetti (or anything noodle based that she can suck in) - she enjoyed some Lo Mein today at the Chinese buffet we went to.
Food in general - this girl can eat!
Being very busy...her favorite activities include picking up rocks from one side of our backyard and throwing them on the other side. She takes this job very seriously and does it for several minutes at a time. Back and forth...back and forth...back and forth.
When she falls down or hurts herself and I hold her to comfort her she always pats my back. She's very loving and I just love how she picked up this habit.
She loves to talk on her cell phone - last night she probably talked with the phone on her shoulder for 10 minutes.
Being active - this girl is on the go all the time! She has scratches up and down her legs...and some ouchies on her knee from all her antics. When we got home last night my dad asked her where her ouchie was and she pointed to her knees that are skinned up covered by band-aids and then proceeded to 'tell' us all about it.
Talking - she doesn't really say much but boy can she chatter on. I would love to be inside her brain for one minute to know what she's been telling us.
Singing - current favorite is the Itsy Bitsy Spider, but she'll sing along with just about anything I sing to her. She just started to do the motions to the Itsy Bitsy Spider. It's really not the motions, but she is trying.
Dancing - holy cow can Elli dance. She shakes her hips, shoulders, booty - you name it! Elli started stomping her feet really quickly lately in a new kind of dance. I think she and Greg have a lot of dance parties throughout the day when I am at work. It's amazing to me that anytime Elli hears any type of music she moves. Today at church she started dancing when we walked into the sanctuary and some worship music was playing. I didn't even really hear the music until I realized that she was getting her groove on in my arms.
She really has enjoyed the zoo, too. We went with mom and dad last weekend and it was just really fun.
French Fries - she doesn't get these nearly as often as she would like, but she loves them for sure. I've tried not to start her on condiments so they are without ketchup and she just inhales them whenever we give them to her.
Praise Baby DVDs - we've rediscovered these worship music videos that we got Elli for Christmas. It's a great way to calm down at the end of the day...well, I calm down and Elli likes to talk to the people/kids/animals on the screen. These DVDs were something I found from my sister-in-law and I love them!
Fair food - Elli took her annual trip back to Greentown for the Howard County 4-H Fair. It was a pretty cool evening but between Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Lee Ann there to spoil...I mean, help with...Elli and all of the fair food we ate we have a fun time. Elli's food sampling for the night included mashed potatoes, noodles, green beans, applesauce, an elephant ear, a fried pie with ice cream, milkshake, cookie, and lots of blue cotton candy thanks to Grandpa Kevin.
Taking a bow - this is our latest and greatest...just learned today! We taught Elli to take a bow and she is GREAT at it! :)

We went to dinner a couple of weeks ago and had a little bit of time before Elli's nap time so we found some random playground at an apartment complex in Castleton. It was a lot of fun and a perfect evening to spend playing! Elli loves slides! She and Greg are a bit too brave for my taste!

We've taken a couple of bike rides with Elli in her trailer. She does pretty good with it, but I think she would prefer to be riding her own bike. We are lucky that we have a really nice park within driving distance, so we've made a trip or two to it. It's a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

A Veggie Delight 6 inch Subway sandwich. I'm not kidding about her eating skills!

Gary and Sally had a get together at their pool a while back. Above and below are some pictures of the fun we had while there. Elli was in heaven - four grandparents in one area! It's fun to see Elli play with Addie. They are so sweet together!! Addie is just about the cutest little thing ever! She is super duper smart (and I promise I'm not biased!)!

I made blueberry pancakes last Friday morning and she LOVED them!

At the zoo...Dippin Dots has been a tradition so far! :)

Elli and the Elli-phants! It never gets old for me! :)

This is one of my very favorite pictures ever. This is usually Elli's face around her grandparents...full of smiles, laughs and lots of fun!

The butterflies were WAY cooler than any of us expected. Elli was completely enthralled with the butterflies and the scenery.

So, maybe Elli attacked the above butterfly. Maybe...

There is a butterfly on Greg's back. It happened about 90 seconds after we walked into the exhibit and Elli's reaction was so funny!At the park...Elli is trying to figure out bubbles. Greg said this was good for her cognitive skills. I am so glad I am married to a teacher!!!

Greg and I spent a few days in St. Louis to celebrate our 7 year anniversary. We had a great time enjoying some of the area's restaurants, a Coldplay concert and just overall enjoying the scenery. We were literally across the street from the arch...very cool. Here are some of our favorite pictures from the weekend.

My parents watched Elli while we were gone and I can't decide if they had more fun or if Elli did. Needless to say, there was a lot of fun to be had overall. I'm grateful that Greg and I have such a great family that a) they are willing to watch Elli (my parents even suggested that they spend the entire time at our house so Elli would be more comfortable and we wouldn't have to pack her and the dogs up..which I am SO grateful for!) and b) we trust them completely with our pride and joy! After time with my parents she is now whistling and loves to point out the turkey in her animal book for us. Apparently Elli loves my mom's turkey gobble! :)

I truly can't get enough of Elli right now! She is such a blessing. I think God every day for the amazing husband and daughter I am blessed with!!!!

Shoe Betcha!

2009-07-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

Elli loves shoes. She often tries to put them on herself and when she gets frustrated she brings them to whoever is in the room with her. I think she gets the shoe thing from me! :) Here are some pictures of her with my shoe on from yesterday. It's a pretty regular thing for her to walk around with just one shoe on lately.

We enjoyed a lazy 4th of July yesterday. Our church had a short service, dinner and fireworks. It was so much fun. I think some of Elli's best friends are at our church. She loves all of the 'older' girls and loves that they follow her around. Elli did awesome with the fireworks. She was squealing and didn't act like the noise, cold or rain bothered her one bit. We came back to our house after church and had fun with sparklers and snap pops. Elli actually threw down several snap pops and cracked up each time they light up.

Below is our attempt at capturing our photo during the fireworks display.

On Friday we headed to our first visit to the zoo. We had a lot of fun. The kids were great. Grace was so fun...she was SO excited to see the penguins. Elli enjoyed petting the horse the most, I think. All the kids LOVED the train ride. Owen smiled the whole ride.

Elli and the elli-phants! :)

Elli's other loves right now:

throwing things

feeding herself

sitting on her stool that Papaw made her

climbing up on anything that she can (i.e. her crib, changing table, ottoman, etc.)

animal books

saying 'tickle, tickle, tickle'

Syd & Katie's Wedding Weekend

2009-07-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

We had a ton of fun last weekend - Syd and Katie's big day finally arrived. Below are pictures of 'the girls'. The girls include Elli and her cousin's Addie, Grace and Maya. They all had on their polka dotted dresses. Ironically, Grace wore pretty much the same Easter dress as Elli and Addie this year. They looked so cute. The wedding was absolutely perfect, georgeous and beautiful in every way. We had so much fun and were so blessed to be a part of it!

Elli's Party

2009-06-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

Elli's birthday was filled with so many loved ones and lots of cake and ice cream! Thanks to everyone who made the journey and also to those who helped us spoil Elli. We are grateful for your love and generosity. The day was beautiful and the party was fun (HUGE shout out to my mom for all her help in making the party hats, etc., etc., etc., etc.). Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was the theme and we probably had about 30 people at our tiny house. The cake was delicious and homemade ice cream is always a hit - thank you Grandpa and Dad!!!!!

I love the below picture...Elli is about ready to smack Greg's cheek with the elastic string. Ha ha!

Sally made the above Minnie poster and the kids played 'Pin the Bow' on Minnie! :) Sally has some serious skills...plus she makes some delicious ice tea!!

The best decision Greg and I made when planning the party is to ask our friends Jeremy and Valerie to take pictures for us. Jeremy took the above pictures and I can't thank him enough for ALL of the awesome pictures we got of the day!!

Elli is walking everywhere and doesn't slow down much. She's such a joy and makes me smile about every second I am with her. She has started a little of the throwing fits, but I'm hoping as she can start using more words that will be alleviated a bit. We'll see - it might be wishful thinking!

Elli's started to repeat a word or two here and there. Her favorite word is tickle...as in 'tickle tickle tickle' as she touches our bare skin. I love it. Daddy taught her that. She also repeated the word 'horse' when we were at our friends Justin and Audra. They live right next to a little farm and Elli was super excited about the animals she saw. We have got to get her to the zoo. We are hoping maybe this Friday will be the day.

Greg and I took a little lake trip last week which was our first time that both of us were not with Elli. She stayed at Mamaw and Papaw's and seemed to have a great time. It's fun to see her and her cousin Addie play together. I guess they got along really well - holding hands and gabbering to one other. So sweet! She enjoyed her grandparents pool last Saturday as well. We got to hang out at Ehrin and Chris's pool and baby pool in their housing division this week and she loved that as well. We got Elli a little pool for her birthday and need to start taking advantage of it. She definitely loves the water.

When she came home from mamaw and papaw's she knew more animal sounds and is really good at pointing to the right animal when we ask her, "Where's the 'fill in the blank'?" I think she's just so smart. :)

Elli is staying home with Greg this summer and though it's already been a super busy couple of weeks they both seem to be enjoying it. We are so lucky that Greg has this time with her.

We are looking forward to Syd and Katie's wedding this weekend. Elli will get to hang out with the Nicholsons which should be really fun. We are looking forward to seeing Greg's cousin Todd and his family this weekend. They have a little girl about a year older than Elli. It's fun that there are four girl cousins all within about two years of one another. I hope to take lots of pictures!

Elli's New Friend

2009-05-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Elli's New Friend? The fan in her bedroom. She can reach the on/off and timer buttons and had so much fun tonight playing. She would turn off the fan and then work to turn it back on. She was so proud of herself when it came back on...I captured one of the smiles I got when she turned it on.

Elli's Old Friend? Tegegn! We had so much fun with the Ponsler family last weekend. We headed over to our second home, The Children's Museum, on Friday morning. It seemed like the kids had a fun time. This is the third time we've visited and each time Elli is really into something different. This time she enjoyed the sand. I love to watch her play and watch her little brain work things out. It's so sweet. It was so fun to watch Tegegn too. He's such a sweet little boy...he's got so much energy and brings so many smiles. It's so fun to share the joy of parenthood with one of my best friends. Sarah is such an amazing mommy!!

They played SO hard! I got to sit between two precious and worn out little ones on the way home. :)

We grilled out with the 'Second Six' (yep, we have a name...Ponslers, Nicholsons (Katie, we're close enough to group you as one!!), Nicholsons) on Friday night. We had a lot of fun and you'll see from the pictures below that Elli enjoyed her first cotton candy! Every time we passed it at the Children's Museum I told Greg I wanted to get some and since Greg wasn't there to tell me no I bought some for Elli and Tegegn. Elli was a mess afterward (and so was I). Afterward Elli and Tegegn shared a bath...I am pretty sure that girl has gotten around when it comes to sharing baths with other kids. We have pictures which will be fun to drive them crazy with in a couple of years!!

I just confirmed today that I am leaving next Wednesday for an overnight work trip to CA. I am excited for the trip but so sad to leave Greg and Elli. I feel so blessed for the amazing support we have that live nearby and those who aren't so near but make it feel that way! I know Elli (and Greg for that matter) will be well taken care of in my absence!

T minus 8 days to Elli's birthday. I have been stressing about the party itinerary (yes, there is an itinerary) ...thinking through what I need to do to get the house in shape and which games we should play and on and on and I was reminded today that all of that pales in comparison to the thought of Elli having fun next Saturday with all the people who love her! Everyone is invited - next Saturday / Elli's house / 2:30 p.m.

Elli's One Year Pictures

2009-05-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a preview of Elli's ONE YEAR pictures! I have to thank Grace for going with me and helping me to get Elli to smile! My baby girl is definitely growing up!!!!

Addie & Elli

2009-05-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

I had to post some fun pictures of our weekend in Greentown a couple of weeks ago. Addie was gracious enough to share her toys. We had a really fun time!

At Katie's shower...Elli's best friends! :)
Elli had so much fun on the little slide in the Sycamore nursery.

They are holding hands. So sweet!

Elli pushing Addie on her princess toy.

Elli's first tooth brushing! :)

They had fun in their bath together!

Playing hard in their bug p.j.s!

Three steps forward!

2009-05-01T07:47:00.001-07:00

So, I started this blog a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting to finishing it up. We've been pleasantly busy, so here is what we've been up to.

We had so much fun with the awesome weather around my birthday. We tried to take advantage of it as much possible...lots of hammock, park and playing on a blanket time.

We celebrated my birthday by going to the Children's Museum. A few notables from the museum:

Elli loved it!

Elli climbed 'up' anything she could.

She was really understanding the 'case and effect' station.

She tried to kiss a chunky little 12 month old.

Elli enjoyed the story time...or she enjoyed trying to eat the fake food during the story time.

Elli was exhausted but she continued to play her heart out...and was SO good!!

She wasn't so sure about the carousel ride, but I figure she'll get used to it.

We got a membership and plan on going regularly (we got the +2 so if you are in the area and want to go please call us!!)

We went again this past weekend with my whole family and we had a ton of fun. Owen, Grace and Elli seemed to all really enjoy our time there. It definitely reinforced our decision to buy the membership.

We also had fun trying to fly Grace's kite on my birthday weekend. It was such a beautiful day to hang out with my family.

We went to a nearby park and Elli got her first swinging adventures in. She seemed to like it...well, she was actually enjoying the string cheese more but I think she liked the swing.

Look at her hair flying in the wind! :)
Elli's not so sure about the feel of grass. She would crawl from one end of the blanket to the other, but never actually touched the grass if she could keep from it. She did enjoy our dandelions...good thing we have about a million for her to play with.

Elli loved the cake and ice cream at Katie's shower. She started dancing when my sister was feeding it to her. The ladies got a big kick out of it, but I was a tiny bit embarrassed because her dance is a little provocative...lots of hip action. Not sure where she learned that from. Seriously!

Holy moly! With all the great weather updates I forgot to mention that Elli has two teeth! That's right! The first tooth came a couple of weeks ago and our babysitter Kelly had to tell us. We didn't even know it! Elli didn't have any of the symptoms (well except for what we found in her diaper...which made things really interesting when she pooped in the bathtub...good times) so we weren't really looking for it. Now that she has one she must be cutting more because she's definitely slobbery and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth. I guess that's not terribly uncommon for her, but it's to a new level.

Elli's birthday is just about a month away. I have been enjoying thinking through the plans. I'm so excited and feel so blessed that God chose Elli for us. It's been such an amazing year. Everyone, save the afternoon of June 6th for E's party! Everyone's invited for some homemade ice cream and cake. Yum!

Another HUGE update: Elli is starting to walk. She's taken a step here and there but on Sunday she took three or four steps at a time! She loves to walk with help so I have no doubt that it will be any day that she starts and doesn't stop.

We visited our friends that moved back home to Michigan a couple of weekends ago. They have a precious baby boy - only 4 weeks old! It was so fun to see them and catch up.

Mother's Day was spent at the park and then with the Nicholson's. It was a beautiful day. We had fun eating our picnic and feeding the ducks.

I love the above picture because Grace was drinking her Sprite and she saw Elli watching her, so she just plopped down and let her drink from her cool M&M cup. We typically (okay, we ALWAYS) shy away from feeding Elli carbonated beverages, but I thought it was so sweet how natural it came to Grace to share with Elli. No wonder Elli loves her big cousin so much!

We had fun on Papaw's golf cart too! The weather was just warm enough to go for a ride.

Yay! Grandma and Granddad are back!!

Ahh..Spring!

2009-04-23T19:13:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun playing outside this afternoon. Elli is so curious about everything...especially the mower and the little tree in our front yard. She enjoys playing on the hammock. It's her own personal jungle gym.

We've got a talker...

2009-04-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

Elli's new loves this week...kissing her baby dolls (and mommy and daddy when prompted) and talking very loud. The kissing all started when I showed Elli how to kiss our Urlacher bobble head. She must love Urlacher as much as I do because it's one of her favorite things now. I don't know where she gets the loud talking from. :) She also loves to laugh and pretty much thinks she is hilarious. Greg and I were watching a recent episode of The Office and started dying laughing (ok all you Office fans...it was when Michael met Dwight outside of the office and said, I hope you aren't wearing a mic...at which point, Dwight basically undressed). Elli looked at both of us and started laughing too. Then she kept doing it. She thought it was hilarious (and she thought she was hilarious).

Yesterday we walked the Race for the Cure (just the 1 mile walk) and really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful day. I'm hoping this will be our first of many, many, many Race for the Cures as a family. It's such an inspiring event. It definitely reminded us of how blessed we are to have Grandma Marilyn in our lives!!!

Overall, we've been spending time outside when it is nice and lots of time with friends. We have a busy couple of weeks this next month which makes me grateful that Elli is pretty low key when it's all said and done. She's pretty good about rolling with the flow...we'll see if I'm still saying that in a month after a trip to the Children's Museum, a couple of bridal showers, some birthday dinners (I kind of forgot my birthday was coming up...I am just excited for Elli's), a trip to Michigan to see our good friend's new baby and a weekend without a whole lot of mommy and daddy because of a wedding rehearsal and ceremony (which we are super excited about...not the being without Elli part, but the wedding part!! Beth, we can't wait!!).

So much to say!

2009-04-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since I last posted that this blog could very well end up being a long one. I'm going to try and condense as much as possible and let our pictures do the talking. I'll start with newest news...

Below are pictures from the Easter Egg hunt today at my sister's housing division. Grace was able to get a lot of eggs and Elli and Owen were both very interested post-hunt.

Elli's first apple...thanks for sharing, Grace!

I love being an aunt and because I'm such a nerd I took a picture of Elli, Addie and Owen's FIRST Easter basket from me (and Grace's is in there too). I love having an excuse to spoil them!

My in-laws (a.k.a. Mamaw and Papaw, Aunt Sara and Addie) came to spend time with Elli this week. She obviously had a great time (look at that smile!!) trying to keep up with Addie and eating McDonald's french fries with Papaw! :)

Vegas was awesome. My dad played the part of baby whisperer and helped us to get Elli to nap and sleep at night (which was the only down side of the whole trip...she hated every part about her crib and sleeping). Apart from the sleep issue Elli was really great. Syd and Katie are awesome travel buddies and my parents were an amazing help!

Hanging out with the Geary's. Elli had as much fun as we did and stayed up WAY past her bedtime!

I didn't have the camera in hand fast enough, but at one point Elli was standing up underneath her exersaucer so the leg holes were above her head and all we could see were her legs. It was hilarious.

Elli and I are helping watch our buddy Daniel on Fridays for the next couple weeks. Our first Friday was a success - he is the best baby! It's a good lesson for Elli to learn how to share!

Elli LOVES her daddy's spaghetti. By far her favorite food right now. Not sure how it got on her forehead, but I guess that just adds to the fun of it! :

Elli's pointing, drinking from a straw and I'm pretty sure she said ball when we were in Vegas! :)

Her shirt says "MOST LIKELY TO CHANGE THE WORLD." It's one of my favorites! :)

I had the best day with you today

2009-03-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Pictures!

2009-02-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT SARA AND MAMAW!!!

(sorry we're a little late!)

I am in total Aunt and Mommy heaven here!

Papaw was blowing in Elli's ear cracking her up. This is one of my favorite pictures ever!

Oreos are good!

Oreo mustache!!

I love this picture of Addie. Isn't she ADORABLE!?!

Day of Firsts!!!

2009-02-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

Elli is officially crawling! I asked Ehrin today if she was crawling and she wouldn't give me a straight answer so as soon as I got home I sat a couple of feet from Elli and she crawled right over to me! I could seriously feel my heart swell. Already I can tell our lives have changed and I'm sure she will only get quicker and quicker in the coming days. Time to baby proof!

A little shout out to cousin Grace here...thanks for all your help teaching Elli how to crawl. We couldn't have done it without you!! Elli loves you SO MUCH!!!

The funny thing is that Elli's favorite thing to do right now is not to crawl, but to walk. She loves to hold on to someone's hands and walk. She just laughs and talks the whole time she's 'walking'. She especially loves to run. Elli gets very mad whenever you stop walking her. It's not pretty. I wish I could figure out a way to download videos on here because I'd love to show how she HIGH steps when she's walking.

We had another first today...Elli had her very own Oreo. I grabbed a cookie for a pre-dinner snack and gave Elli a bite of the filling (that's true love...sharing my Oreo filling). She loved it. When Greg and I were eating dinner I gave Elli some puffs and shared some french fry (Penn Station french fries are the best and very healthy for an almost 9 month old to munch on). Then I told Greg about Elli's deep love for the Oreo filling and teased them both by giving her an entire cookie. Let's just say, Elli was in baby heaven and her clothes were a complete mess (and Greg was about to have a cow but ultimately enjoyed the show). I know I have a flashing neon light over my head saying "BAD MOMMY! BAD MOMMY!" I'm sure Gerber would not recommend Oreo cookies to those Elli's age but you only live once...right!?!? I have some awesome pictures but I can't get them to upload...I'll try again tomorrow...stay tuned.

Last week I LEFT ON A JET PLANE...and Elli didn't even realize I was gone. It was my first time really leaving her. I traveled to CA on a quick 48 hour business trip. I didn't see her for two full days. Luckily, the trip was super quick and busy so I didn't really get too much of a chance to miss Greg and Elli. The trip was at the same time as some things for Greg so my awesome mom came to stay for a couple days to help. I can't decide who had more fun while I was gone - Elli or mom. When Elli woke up on Friday I don't think she knew who she wanted - she was torn between loving on me and then loving on mom.

We were playing in Elli's room that day - Elli and I on the floor and mom in the rocking chair. Mom said something and Elli looked up at her. I was at such an angle that all I saw was Elli's profile looking up. She was completely absorbed looking and listening to mom and it struck me at that moment how much I look up to my grandparents. Greg and I are so blessed to have the grandparents we do and Elli's grandparents are pretty terrific too. We've learned from and been loved by amazing men and women and I am so grateful to have mine and Greg's parents and grandparents who are such amazing Christian people...who love the Lord completely and truly showcase that they love us and that Jesus loves us. I don't think there was ever a time that Grandpa said goodbye without saying "I love you and Jesus loves you" and there was usually a "darlin'" said either before or after the statement. More than anything I want Elli to know that I love her and Jesus loves her.

Aunt Sara's birthday was Saturday...Happy Birthday Aunt Sara! We celebrated the day along with a late celebration for Mamaw Sally whose birthday was the weekend before. Seriously, I don't know how Addie gets cuter every time we see her. It doesn't seem possible, but she truly does. Addie shared some of her new toys with Elli this weekend...thanks Addie! We definitely don't see Addie as much as we want to! Happy Birthday Aunt Sara and Mamaw!! We had so much fun hanging out with you this weekend.

Welcome Daniel!

2009-02-13T19:06:00.000-08:00

Check out Elli's new boyfriend!

Daniel Kauffman is beautiful!!!

Elli and I had a fantastic girls day today. She has such a personality and loves to talk, laugh and especially clap for herself. She's start pulling herself up (I've become a jungle gym) and has mastered going from belly to sitting up again. She gets in crawl position but no crawling yet. It's amazing to watch her manuever where she wants to go...somehow she always gets there.

Her new love: puffies! She loves the little puffs that dissolve in your mouth. Elli especially likes to feed herself. She's mastering the use of all her fingers and I've seen her fine motor skills really improve even over the last two weeks.

Her new hate: her changing table / getting her diaper changed. I don't know why or how this change occurred but she hates to get her diaper changed. At least 50% of all diaper changes involve her having a cow and rolling all over so it's almost impossible to get her changed without there being a situation (i.e. pee all over everywhere).

Her are some pictures of Elli helping me 'work' on my computer today and of her on the way to visit Daniel. You can tell she was excited to meet her new boyfriend! :)

Breakfast for Dinner!

2009-02-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

Greg and I really need to go to the grocery store. We were struggling for dinner ideas so I suggested my very favorite - breakfast for dinner! I made us pancakes and potatoes. Elli had already eaten but she ended up joining us. Our pediatrician said it was good for Elli to join us at the table for dinner...that she did. She fed herself pancakes and loved them. Elli is such a big girl...it's so funny to see her think through getting the food from her tray to her mouth.

Many Happy Birthdays and Elli's First Official Play Date

2009-02-01T15:09:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a while since our last post but in my defense I have tried three separate times to post over the last weeks and each time the entry stuck because I tried uploading videos. We have some great videos of Elli but I have learned my lesson and will stick to just pictures this time.

We've been very busy lately celebrating birthdays (Grandma Lee Ann, Aunt Ehrin and Addie) and just having fun. Elli LOVES to clap and say YAY (or her version of YAY anyway). It's funny because she seems to especially love clapping for herself. She loves to sing, talk, laugh, play and is so full of smiles. She's started kissing too...it's very open mouthed and slobbery but of course we love it.

Rather than me write three thousand pages about all that we've been doing and enjoying lately I'll try to let our pictures do the talking.

The weather got a bit nicer a couple of Friday's ago so Elli and I ventured out for a quick (really, really quick) walk. I bundled her up and she seemed to enjoy it, but I decided it was still too cold. We can't wait for warmer weather to go for walks every day!

Aunt Ehrin's 30th birthday and Grandma Lee Ann's 50 something birthday was celebrated by going up north to the Essenhaus Inn and Restaurant. We had such a fun family time and we found out that Elli loves to swim. We went to the pool late on Saturday night destined to fail (time to eat, time to sleep, grouchy time) and she had a blast. When she wasn't trying to drink the entire pool she was laughing at Grace. The next day we went down to watch dad and Grace swim and decided to take off her pajamas and throw Elli in. Again, she loved every minute of it.

Elli's first official play date happened on Friday morning when Tegegn Ponsler. Tegegn was so much fun and it was fun to talk mommy talk with Sarah.

Happy 1st Birthday Addie! Addie is so adorable and such a sweet little girl. I think Elli tried to out-gibber Addie at times today and she did love playing with Addie's new toys. Addie did excellent with her own personal cake...definitely the best I've seen.

Elli's favorite foods right now: squash, pear sauce, cake and ice cream so she was in heaven!

Elli clapping:

This was the first time Elli was pushing the buttons herself. :)

Dadadadadadadadadadadadadada...

2009-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

Elli's favorite word? Dadadadadadada! You say it and it cracks her up. She loves to say it herself! She started saying it on Thursday and hasn't stopped saying it yet.

Today was a big day for dada...he and his sixth grade basketball team won their County Championship. Congratulations daddy and Uncle Syd!!!

Here is some of the 'Nicholson Cheering Section'.

Not Pictured: Aunt Katie & Uncle Chris.

FINAL SCORE!

Elli wants to start crawling. She just hasn't figured out all the mechanics of it. I am positive she went one step two separate times yesterday. :)

Today, Elli tried (and loved) puffies and vanilla wafers. She's a terrific eater!

Revised: It All Started at Aunt Ehrins!

2009-01-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

After Ehrin saw the last blog entry she told me this morning that something happened last week that I should know about. She started getting a little teary eyed and mentioned that she didn't tell me because she was hoping that Elli would do it in my presence. A little history: Ehrin and I have had the conversation about one of the hardest thing in leaving Elli each day is the fear that I'll not be there for one of her 'firsts'. Anyway, to make a long story short Elli said MAMA on Thursday!!! :) She's not done it again...so far she just loves any and all word starting with B, but I am so excited that she started with MAMA!! She's the most amazing blessing!!!

It All Started in the Panera Bathroom...

2009-01-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

Today was a big day for Elli. After church we had lunch at Panera with my mom and dad and Syd and Katie. Mom went into the bathroom to help me change Elli's diaper before leaving and she just started talking up a storm...really talking...she's partial to any and every word with the letter B. Bla, blee, ba, etc. She hasn't stopped talking yet! Yay!

Aunt Sara, who is a pro at the barrette, suggested yesterday that Elli's hair was long enough to try. It's holding on by a hair or two, but it's in! :)

Elli also met her future BFF today. Tegegn came home today! Woo hoo! He's even more precious than the pictures showed. We are so excited that the Ponslers are home safe and sound and their family is plus one with the most adorable little boy!!!

Elli was full of smiles today (until the ride home at least). She liked talking to Aunt Katie! :)

Feedings, diaper changes and all Elli related items were taken care of by Grandpa and Grandma this afternoon. I think she's very loved...and she very much loves them!!

Momma's Girl

2009-01-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

Elli's first Christmas was SO much fun! The holidays were even more amazing thanks to our new status of 'Elli's parents'. The three of us spent almost two and half weeks together and it was incredibly difficult for it to all end. We enjoyed spending several low key days together before our trip to Greentown. We had decided not to buy anything for each other and not too much for Elli. Not sure who we were kidding.

We got Elli a DVD player (for future use in the cars) and some Praise Baby DVDs (like Baby Einstein but with worship music behind it...it's great). She also got a couple of new toys - a stacker ring, etc. I'm glad we didn't get her too much more as she was definitely spoiled by our families.

The above is one of Elli's favorite toys (probably in between the Fisher Price laugh and learn puppy...it laughs, sings, talks, etc. and her cool new cell phone).

We celebrated with my parents and my mom's family on Christmas Eve, as is tradition. It was super fun...and lots of great food. We ate all night. Below is some of the chaos we saw when it was time for the kids to open presents. Grace was my absolute favorite. She was so excited and grateful for all of her gifts. She even enjoyed watching others open their gifts.

Us in our Christmas jammies...one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

As usual, Elli's grandparents spoiled us all rotten. We feel really blessed by everyone's generosity and thoughtfulness. Below is a picture of the girls in their matching Christmas outfit.

We played a ton of Rock Band over the break. Greg and I forgot that it was make believe at some points...more fans, more stars, more cities, more venues!!! Greg and his sister, Sara, are awesome at the drums. I prefer the guitar and Elli often sings along the few times she's been awake when we were playing. Greg's mom was the funniest. It was fun to watch Gary, Sally, Sara and Greg all play.

Us Mast girls kicking it!

We rang in the New Year at our house with some of Elli's favorites aunts and uncles - Dutch, Sara, Syd and Katie. Addie joined us for the party but she and Elli didn't make it to midnight (thank goodness)! Aunt Sara and Uncle Dutch got Elli the CUTEST pjs! Since we call Elli 'bug' this outfit fits her perfectly! :) We had a ton of fun hosting the VanDams for a couple of days. It went by too fast!

You'll notice my nifty new camera has some fun features. I was tired of every picture of Elli showing up with her having red eyes so I invested in a new one. I've had lots of fun playing with it.

It was hard to go back to work this week. On Monday I raced to my sister's house to get Elli. When I walked through the door Elli saw me and her arms and legs went crazy. She about jumped out of my mom's arms to get to me. When I held her she squealed and then just talked and talked to me. Turns out she was just as excited to see me as I was to see her...and her reaction was absolutely priceless. It made my year if not the next decade for me. Elli's turned into a bit of a Momma's girl over the last couple of weeks. She's starting to have a bit of the stranger danger disorder and likes to throw a fit when someone leaves the room. Elli is really growing into her own personality and can be a bit of a stinker sometimes. She doesn't do anything halfway it seems...when she screams, she screams; when she laughs, she laughs with all she's got; when she's wriggling, she's can move anywhere she wants. Hopefully she continues to live life big! :)

No true updates in terms of milestones - no teeth, no mamama or dadada, no crawling. I'm not in too much of a rush for any of the above. She's doing great sitting up and playing with all of her new toys, eating her fruits and veggies (and meat now!) and growing so much!

Tuesday was Elli's seven month birthday! :)

Happy Birthday, El!!

Elli Loves...

2008-12-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of Elli's greatest loves:

-FOOD (any and all varieties...she does prefer homemade squash, but overall she loves to eat...make sure you are not in between she and her bottle as she will knock you down!)
-Patterns: carpet, upholstery, clothing, doesn't matter (she loves to look and touch patterns...especially carpet patterns)
-Her DADDY - he's the coolest person in the whole world; as soon as he walks into a room she lights up and starts smiling and laughing (she especially loves his funny voices)
-Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - especially the theme song and the Hot Diggity Dog dance (I have officially been inducted into the world of parenting as I've has both of these songs in my head for about a month and a half now...over and over and over and over)
-The Itsy Bitsy Spider - she likes to sing along with this one (and usually tries to be louder than whoever is singing it to her); generally all songs are all right with her
-Our Babysitter's Kids: Grace and Chloe
-Standing, kicking, grabbing, chewing, playing airplane, rolling, sitting up - as long as she's moving she's okay
-Her bug blanket - thanks Grandma and Grandpa Mast...she's loved this silky little blanket since she was about a week old
-Football - she does enjoy watching the occasional football game (she also enjoys her Chicago Bear teether...guess which grandparents that came from??)
-Coldplay Lullabies - it's a sure fire way to get her calmed down and to sleep (thanks Uncle Syd!)
-Her Changing Table - we have some of our funniest times on the changing table...I think it's because we are constantly talking and singing to her when we are changing her
-Baths - she seems to like baths but definitely not the being cold afterward part; she's just recently started trying to swallow all of her bath water
-Tags - it's amazing that she can have the funnest toy in her hand and the thing she goes for above all else is the tag; whoever made the 'taggies' toy line must be a gazillionaire

Other fun things we've been up to:

Elli's always been super ticklish but just recently she's really started laughing hard when being tickled. Greg has the touch...she rolls every time. We'll have to get a video of it and post it.

Going to Greg's basketball games. Elli seems to enjoy watching the boys play...until about halftime of the second game at least.

Grace's preschool Christmas concert. Elli was so great during it. She loves to watch other kids...part of the reason why I think she loves Grace and Chloe so much.

Elli's grandparents have come to babysit which is fun for Elli and also nice for Greg and I to get out. We've had a lot to celebrate lately so we've had some nice dinners out.

Greg and Elli had some daddy/daughter time when school was cancelled last week. I'm so grateful that we all three are off until January 5th! We are going to take advantage of this time together...and play a lot of Rock Band (after about two months of trying to validate purchasing this game for our Wii we finally got it...and it is SO much fun...totally worth it!!!!).

I'll try to get some videos and pictures posted soon. I just wanted to post something so that my sister would get off my back about 'being a bad mom' and not updating our blog. Elli is as cool as ever (actually cooler) and we are having so much fun playing and watching her grow. This Christmas already means so much more. I've been reading Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Shepherd's Christmas to Elli on a pretty regular basis. We are trying to share the true meaning of Christmas with her now...it might be a year or two until she gets it though. :)

Giving Thanks!

2008-12-05T23:13:00.000-08:00

Aren't we all so incredibly blessed? To have families, friends, jobs, freedom...and the list goes on. I am truly thankful this holiday season for the blessings in my life. Our Thanksgiving was a good one. Elli started on vegetables Thanksgiving day. She celebrated with some carrots...it seemed only appropriate. She is really loving her food and seems to really enjoy the homemade apples that Aunt Ehrin mentored me through. I took the week of Thanksgiving off so Elli and I took a trip to Ehrin's so that she could school me on some baby food making. We made squash, sweet potatoes, apples, carrots and peas. It was pretty simple, cheaper than buying baby food and ended up being fun. Ehrin is definitely my mentor. I call her for every question, issue and panic attack and she calmly guides me through. I am so grateful that she is close to us and watching Elli.

I am also grateful for amazing friends. Elli has so many 'aunts' and 'uncles' in her life. From my good friends and accountability partners Katie and Heather to our much loved cousins Syd, Chris, Sarah and Katie (yes, I am mentioning Katie twice...I just love her so much and am SO excited for her to move right next door to us...come on, you know you want to!!!:) to Beth who is the most generous person I know to our Bible Study friends Justin and Audra. And the amazing thing is I could go on! We spent time with some of those aunts and uncles tonight - Chris, Sarah, Syd and Katie. We are so excited for the Ponslers travels to Ethiopia to pick up their long awaited bundle of joy. We can't wait to meet our newest cousin...we already love him so much!! The boys played Rock Band (or whatever it's called) and Elli seemed to enjoy it about as much as they did. I think they can take their show on the road. Elli and I could totally be groupies. Below Elli is watching Syd playing the drums. She alternated between watching Syd and looking up at Greg while he was singing.

Thanks Sarah and Chris for the Pumas...Elli's kickin' it in them for sure! :) I never thought I would have shoe envy toward my six month old!

Speaking of six months...HAPPY SIX MONTH BIRTHDAY ELLIOT! I took her for her six month appointment today and everything looks good. She's still pretty much off the charts for her weight, but she's now up to 12 lbs 6 oz! The funny thing is that she's technically not in 6 months clothes if you go by weight alone (most we have start at 12 1/2 lbs) but as you can see from the picture above she's already getting too tall for them. Do they make baby clothes in 6 month waist and 9 months length??? The doctor seemed to approve of everything we have going on with Elli including her development (sitting up by herself, grabbing things and switching hands, the feeding schedule she is on, eye contact, etc.). She also commended me for continuing to nurse Elli as she's been with me since the beginning struggles with Elli's weight...my goal was to get to six months and we made it! Who would have thought we would be able to do it!?!? When the doctor got to Elli's legs as she was checking out all of her joints she must have hit the tickle spot because Elli started cracking up as the doctor was moving her legs in circles. It was so funny. The next thing: talking. The doctor said she should be working out mamamama, dadadada, babababa any day. I'm betting on the mamamama first. :)

We are so thankful for Y-O-U! Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!

Elli's Big Adventures!

2008-11-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

Elli had a busy day today. She and Greg went to Daddy Boot Camp, which is a class for expecting fathers put on by our hospital. Greg went before Elli was born and got a lot out of it. They ask 'veteran' dads to come in with their child and impart wisdom to those in the class. The class is three hours long. Apparently Elli did very well...she was the only girl in the class of 20 or so. I am so proud of Greg...Elli just loves him to pieces so I'm sure he had some good advice. (Side note: Greg picked out Elli's outfit so she wore her 'I LOVE DADDY' shirt.)

Cereal...here we come! We tried cereal this afternoon for the first time. Elli made some hilarious faces. It was too funny. She maybe ate 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon. We are going to try again tomorrow.

I promise I'm not strangling here her...I was trying to keep her head still.

Greg also put together the ExerSaucer (thank you Wodicka's...it's the coolest!!!). Elli got in it and loved it!! She found the mirror and just sat there smiling and talking to herself. It was priceless. There are moments like those that make me so grateful to be a mom...and specifically, to be Elli's mom. She's so much fun.

Thanks to the Nicholsons for allowing Greg and I to have a date night last night! You guys are the best...Elli loves her Mamaw and Papaw!

Here are some other pictures of what we've been up to.

Elli's a BANANA

2008-11-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post. Not much has changed, Elli keeps getting more fun and is continuing to grow so tall. Elli got to spend some fun time with her grandparents this week. The boys (a.k.a. Greg, Syd and Chris) went to Detroit for a Coldplay concert on Monday and Tuesday. To help me out Greg asked my parents to come on Sunday and Monday and his mom to come on Tuesday. After my parents left on Monday night I swear she was looking all around for them and was super ticked when all she saw was me. I'm pretty sure she got really spoiled Monday and Tuesday. That's what grandparents are for! Thanks mom, dad and Sally!! You guys are the best!!!

I went to support group yesterday morning to get Elli weighed and was discouraged when she only gained 3 ounces since last week. Typical gain is 4 - 6 oz. When I talked to the health care professional there she whipped out her trusty book and read an excerpt about banana shaped babies (versus apple or pear shaped) are those babies that are longer than average and skinny. They have hyper-metabolism and are usually always on the move, burning more calories quicker than most babies and typically growing in height more than weight. So, I am not going to start worrying again and will just believe that Elli is a banana. :)

Elli is teething...I'm 100% sure. She's got all the symptoms especially that of being unpredictable. I feel so bad for her and am looking forward to seeing that first tooth.

Here is a video and some pictures...

This was at our church's Harvest Party on Halloween. The little boy below is one of the candidates for Elli's future husband! :)

Elli and I both have on our Bears shirts and brown yoga pants before the Bears game! :)

HAPPY FIVE MONTH BIRTHDAY, ELLIOT!!

Our Sweet Pea

2008-10-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun weekend. There are a ton of pictures included in this entry because Elli is finally starting to smile when the camera is on (or maybe we are getting better at snapping her smiles). Greg had his Fall Break so he was home on Thursday and Friday. I took a little time off on Thursday so we could go to the pumpkin patch. It looked like one of the last nice days for a while, so we wanted to take advantage of it. Elli was awesome the entire time and she looked so cute in her little pumpkin outfit. Grace wore this pumpkin outfit for her first Halloween.

Lots of smiles! :)

We also spent some fun time with family. Friday night and Saturday morning we spent with the Nicholsons. Elli loved playing with Papaw and Mamaw. Mamaw was even good enough to give Elli her much needed bath.

Then we went to my grandparents to show off our costumes...again, so much fun. Grace was a beautiful princess and Owen was a knight in shining armor. Aren't they so cute!?!? I call Elli 'sweet pea' all the time so when I saw this costume I just had to get it!!

We went to my cousin Kelly's for the second annual Halloween / chili get together. Elli was sweet pea-ed out by the end of the night!! :)

Elli's got such great grandparents! I love to see all of them with her...she loves them so much (and vice versa I do believe)!!

So Big!

2008-10-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Elli. She's getting so big...before long she might actually be wearing 3-6 month clothing! :)

She's holding her own bottle now. Here's the proof:

She likes sitting in her Bumbo seat...well, actually...she likes chewing on her Bumbo seat.

We were celebrating after the Bears victory today! This is her first ride on daddy's shoulders. She thought it was pretty fun when Greg bounced up and down with her.

Go Bears!

2008-10-14T08:08:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPAW!

Elli is watching Bears football in the above picture. Something about football...she can't pull her eyes from the screen when it's on. I wish I were kidding.

I love when Elli gets to spend time with the Nicholsons. She doesn't see them as often as she does her other grandparents (I'd hate to think how many miles my parents have put on their car these last months), so it's fun to get pictures when we are all together. I have the cutest nieces and nephew for sure!! I think Addie's going to be a cheerleader...check out that pose! We all had our Bears gear on (we won't even talk about the one second loss...devastating) on Sunday for Papaw's birthday!

Neon Badge of Courage

2008-10-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

I took Elli to get her four month shots taken care of this morning. Definitely a necessary evil. It was pretty awful for a while but she's rebounded quickly. Here are her neon badges of courage. :)

Elli has found her feet and boy does she love them! I put her rattle socks on her and she tried for quite some time to stick them in her mouth.

Elli is a daddy's girl through and through! Superwoman!!

Long and Skinny!

2008-10-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

Week two was another success. Apart from Elli and I catching a cold we all three had a good week. Elli gets even awesome-er every day! :)

She had her four month appointment today and this is what we found out...

*she's a genius

*she's perfect

*she's very advanced for her age

Okay, those were just my findings...not necessarily the doctor's words...here's what the doctor told us:

*she's 95th percentile for height - over 25 inches!!

*she's 5th percentile in weight - no worries about her weight...maybe she just has Greg's metabolism!! YAY!!

*she's right where she should be with advancements - rolling, grabbing, cooing, etc.

*she had a serious growth spurt over the last two months

*no need to rush the solids...she suggested we wait another month due to some recent studies about introducing food and allergies (I'm secretly glad about this because I personally wasn't ready for solids but was going to move forward if the doctor wanted us to)

*she has angelic features...these were the doctor's words exactly!!! :)

Seriously, Elli is so freaking awesome. I am so glad I have Fridays with her. All she's done today is smile, talk, giggle and nap. I can't get enough of her.

She's rolling and moving around even more these days. Ehrin said that she was able to roll from her belly to her back, but I haven't seen her do it yet. So far she just rolls from her back to her belly and then gets ticked off that's she's on her belly. We put the sleep positioner back in her crib because she kept rolling over and waking herself up (and then wakes us up because she's ticked off that she's on her belly...it's a vicious cycle). I don't know how she does it, but she's never where we put her down...she's usually at least 180 degrees and a foot away from where she was laying when we put her to bed. She's definitely a mover and a wriggler.

We are going to the pumpkin patch tonight for our family night. The weather is awesome today so I am really looking forward to it. I hope to post lots of pictures soon!

Week One...SUCCESS!

2008-10-02T18:36:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers this week! My first week back at work was amazing...so much better than I could have hoped. I have such peace of mind that Elli is being loved and cared for in my absence - Kelly and Ehrin were as great as I knew they would be. I received daily hour by hour reports from each of them which I loved! :)

Elli is such a big girl. She is rolling all over the place and moving all around. She's always been a terrific sleeper and continues to sleep through the night. We are starting to put her to bed earlier which makes me a little sad - a little less time with her in the evening but she is so tired by 9:00 now. Elli doesn't talk too much...unless she's talking to her daddy. For whatever reason Elli loves to talk back to Greg and he just cracks her up. She giggles and laughs when he uses his funny voices and tickles her. I've studied Greg and tried to copy him but don't have the same effect...apparently I'm just not nearly as funny. Elli's also grabbing and pulling things (e.g. my hair). She's really starting to control her arms and hands now.

I don't have any new pictures - I need to do better about this - I just wanted to thank you all for thinking about Greg, Elli and I. We had an amazing and very blessed week...and now Elli and I get to spend all day together tomorrow since I have Fridays off. I've been counting down for tomorrow all week and it came so quick.

The Summer of Us...

2008-09-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

As my 'summer break' is coming to an end I've been overcome with emotion. My first emotion is gratitude. I have been so incredibly blessed to spend these last four months getting to know Elli and experiencing all the ups and downs of becoming a mother for the first time. I also feel grateful that Greg and I were able to spend Elli's first couple of months together as a family. The timing was really a God send (literally) and I'm so glad that Greg was off for the summer when Elli arrived. I can't imagine how people do it on their own...kudos to all of you! I also feel so overwhelmed by all the love and support I've received from our family and friends. We haven't wanted for anything these last few weeks - from gifts for Elli to dinners for Greg and I, people have been so generous and thoughtful.

As I figured, I am also feeling sad...almost 'bittersweet'. I'm excited to get back into the swing of things at work - I have a job that is satisfying and work with people who constantly make me laugh, so my sadness isn't about going back to work. I think it's more about missing out on what I've so enjoyed these last few months - I haven't missed anything when it comes to Elli. Pretty much every cry, every coo, every laugh, every everything I've been there for. When Elli was waking up from her first nap yesterday I went into the nursery to get her because she was fussing a bit. As soon as she saw me she scrunched up her eyes, laughed really loud and gave me the biggest smile. I am sad that I might miss some of those belly laughs. I have to remind myself often that I am lucky enough to have Friday's off and that it's my day to spoil and love on Elli...and that I am going to be a better mom and wife for working (I've learned that as much as I've enjoyed being home the reality is that I am not stay-at-home mom material). I am so lucky that two people who I adore more than anything are going to be loving on Elli in my absence. Our babysitters - Ehrin and Kelly - are terrific moms and amazing people. I feel so blessed that the schedule and timing is going to work out...definitely a God thing.

My other range of emotions include guilt, excitement, and about fifty other things that are hard to put into words. I am lucky that I have a lot of working mothers to look up to...both at work and in my personal life.

This has been the best summer of my life. I love being a mommy. I love that God blessed me with the child He did - Elli - who is such a good and sweet baby. More than anything I would say that this has been the summer of us...and such a blessed summer it was.

Nicholson Friday Family Fun

2008-09-23T05:06:00.000-07:00

We are starting a new tradition at our house...Friday Family Fun Night. I was mentioning to my accountability partners that it seems like Greg has been so busy since school started and he's going to get even busier once coaching starts. One of them suggested that I get really intentional about family times as well as date nights for just Greg and I. I kept thinking about this idea and asked Greg is he was up for a weekly family night for just the three of us. He was game and we created a few rules...

1. The whole family has to agree on all of the rules.

2. No boxing, sparring, fighting, arguing, etc.

3. At least two Fridays a month must be dedicated to just the three of us hanging out.

Sub-rule: Pizza is encouraged, but not mandatory.

We ended up walking about a 1/2 mile to a little pizza joint by our house...the Pizza Shack by the Tracks. It is truly a shack and the service was about as hole in the wall as it comes, but the food was yummy and Elli was awesome on the walk there (on the way back Greg carried her most of the way...she must have been tired of her stroller by that point). Once we got home we put Elli to bed and Greg and I busted out the Monopoly game. We had so much fun...and I took Greg for all he was worth...literally! Having all four railroads was my key to success. :) We tried to take a silly picture to commemorate our first Family Fun night. Not sure if you can tell but Elli was not thrilled about this pose.

SUPER FUN ELLI NEWS: She rolled over yesterday! Elli seems to really enjoy laying down and being talked to (i.e. on her changing table) so I put her on a blanket in the middle of the floor yesterday morning and as we were playing she rolled over on her side a few times. I went over to my sister's to hang out with her, her kids and my mom yesterday afternoon and as Elli and Owen were laying on the floor together she rolled all the way over. I wasn't sure if it should officially count because her arm was stuck under her, but my sister said it did and my sister has been my baby coach for the last year so I take her word for gold. Elli showed Greg when he got home from school yesterday...although it wasn't as good as her roll at Ehrin's. She's getting so big, and of course she's a genius and way advanced physically and mentally for her age (written like a proud mama, huh?!).

We celebrated Greg's birthday with his family on Sunday afternoon (bummer about the Bears). The Nicholson's were very gracious about my futile attempt to cook a big meal (the meatloaf was overdone, the potatoes were underdone, but the deviled eggs were delicious - yea!!). Addie enjoyed our jumperoo...she was jumping like crazy and quite adorable. We were so glad to be able to spend some time with her. She just gets cuter and cuter.

As I was cooking dinner last night I glanced out the window to see what Greg and Elli were doing and saw them on the hammock. I think both of them were pretty near a nap. When I saw them together my heart gave me love pangs (an articulate way of saying that I got overwhelmed with love). I'm the luckiest girl in the world...being a mom is the most amazing thing and having Elli has made me love Greg even more, which I wasn't sure was possible.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2008-09-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Greg's birthday. All he really wanted was a Bears victory. I'm so bummed for him that it didn't happen. We do, however, have some cute pictures of Greg and Elli sporting their Bears outfits. I put Elli in her Chicago Bears cheerleading outfit for church this morning to suprise Greg (he gets to church early to practice with the worship team). We thought she looked pretty cute.

We hung out with my parents and sister's family on Saturday. Grace's preschool participated in a parade on Saturday afternoon. She was too cute...and grandpa was quite a sport pulling her in the wagon. Grace was great at flashing her big blue eyes at the other parade participants to collect candy. We had quite a pile by the time it was over. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures of Grace (I was taking video instead). Here's a cute picture of Ehrin and Owen as we were watching the parade go by.

Babies, babies everywhere...

We had pictures taken at our church for the directory on Sunday afternoon, so we snapped a few pictures of Elli in her robe as we were getting her ready.

Elli's 3 Month Pictures

2008-09-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

We took Elli to get her three month pictures on Monday morning. After a late night of screaming on our victorious Bears I wasn't sure I was ready for it...thankfully (I'm being very selfish here) my parents plans were cancelled and they came to offer me moral support. Unfortunately, the pictures ended up being when she should have been napping and she was super sleepy and then super mad about it. Despite Elli's not so happy mood I think we got some really great pictures. I am a tad bit biased, I do realize this.

If you are interested in seeing the pictures I'm hoping you'll be able to log-in using the following information...

To get started, click below and enter your Customer Name (Carrie Nicholson):https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0567102541JCP or go to http://www.smilesbywire.com/ and enter the following:Customer Name: Carrie Nicholson
Access Code: LTPP0567102541JCP

You'll note that you have to spell my first name wrong in order to get in to the site. Let me know what you think! I will have the pictures on September 20th so I'll be passing them out in the next couple of weeks!

Weigh-ins and giggles...

2008-09-05T12:13:00.001-07:00

I took Elli to be weighed in this morning and she is officially at 10 lbs. Woo hoo...double digits! I've been tracking her weight gain for the last couple of weeks and she's been exactly where she should be. Yea! I finally feel like we can breath easy...it's been a struggle to get Elli to gain weight but this last month has felt so much easier...and Elli has a leg roll! Greg and I celebrated that leg roll! I keep telling her this is the one time in her life that thunder thighs and lots of rolls are quite adorable, but I respect the fact that she prefers a slim figure. Hopefully she has her daddy's metabolism.

I was raising holding Elli up and laughing today and she giggled at me. I kept doing it and she would give me a short laugh each time. She giggled a couple of weeks ago at Mamaw Sally. I loved it.

Here's a picture of Elli during her tummy time yesterday (which she pretty much hates...it's only second to when I read to her...unfortunately for her, I'm not going to stop doing either). It's hard to believe that she is going to be three months tomorrow!!

It's official...we are now bloggers!

2008-09-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I swore I'd never be a blogger because our life isn't that interesting that someone would actually want to go online to read about us...and then on June 6th our life became so incredibly interesting with the addition of our beautiful baby girl, Elliot Rose. Elli is amazing. Every day she confirms how incredibly blessed we are to have her in our life.

I was so hesitant (for lack of a better word) for her to start growing...I wanted the baby stage to last forever. A good friend of mine told me that I needed to stop thinking that way and to enjoy every moment as every stage in Elli's life will get better and better. She was so right. Elli is so strong - she's been holding her head up since about day 10, loves to 'walk' across the floor with Greg's help and loves to watch the world. She smiles and coos...Greg and I savor it every time.

Having Elli has made me truly realize how blessed we are to have the family and friends we have. Elli loves her grandparents more than anything...it's so great to see her with them (and a nice break for mommy and daddy). We are looking forward to the day when Elli and her cousins become BFFs. We love our nieces and nephew so much and it's been a great experience to go through everything with Ehrin and Sara.

Elli's not going to have much choice but to be a Chicago Bears fan. Her wardrobe of pink is gradually become more orange and blue. She's already seen the team in action at the Chicago Bears training camp. Elli and I are both hoping that they have a good season...Greg just seems so much happier when they win. :)