NEW BLOG ADDRESS

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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: