Evil Ellie

Looked in the rear view mirror today and saw THIS. I have never seen this look before and it was so scary! Turns out she was just about to fall asleep and not plotting to kill me. Haha!


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1/2 Birthday!

UPDATE:  
Height: 26.5" (70th percentile)
Weight: 16 lbs 3 oz (48th percentile)
Head: 40.9cm (8th percentile)

Updates on our Ellie girl - SO many accomplishments.  I am one proud mama!

• She sits up!  I felt like she was never going to sit up on her own, but here she is  sitting up like a champ!  I still like to keep a pillow behind her because she likes to throw herself back sometimes.
• Little girl acquired two, yes TWO, teeth this month.  June 7th we discovered her first tooth had come through and only a week and a half later she cut her 2nd.  No wonder she's been fussy lately!
• Ellie is her "grabby" phase.  She wants to touch, squeeze, grab, shake, and eat EVERYTHING.  You have to be careful when she's in your lap at the table because she will grab anything she can (including the table cloth).
• She LOVES her walker now that she's tall enough for it.
• She LOVES swimming.  I feel like we have been so busy with the big move that we haven't got to take advantage of all the swimming pools at our disposal (including the one at Grammy & Pop's!)
• Still going strong on solid foods.  We're feeding her twice a day and I even started making my own baby food.
• She figured out how to use a straw and is using her Zoli Bot almost every day.
• She wants to crawl SO bad.  She will lay on her tummy and stick her booty in the air and try to push off.
• She loves to bang things against the floor or table.  
• She likes to eat her feet.

Every single day we are truly amazed at how blessed we are to have such a sweet, smart, funny, beautiful daughter.  We still can't believe that we are parents and it's been 6 MONTHS!

On the night of Ellie's 1/2 birthday we had a little celebration with Eleanor's Aunt Shannon, Uncle Andy, Grammy, and Pop.  Here are a few pictures:

Nicknames

When you become a parent you basically lose your mind. You will do any and everything it takes to entertain your baby (and yourselves) even if it makes you look like a blithering idiot. Enter: Nicknames.

We call Eleanor a variety of "normal" nicknames, Elle, Ellie, Elles, etc., but it's the ridiculous ones that make us laugh and think "were we always this insane?". Here are a few examples (most of these are "had to be there" to understand/get it):

Ellie Bean
Bean
Beanie Baby
Elle Belle
Ellie Belly
Smelly Ellie (praying this one doesn't come back in middle school)
Peanut
Peanut Butter and Ellie
Ellington
Elleeeeeeeez
Ellie Ellie Oxen Free
Snoodle
Snugs
Bug
Peep
Peepers
Big Girl
Nugget
And my personal favorite:

Nuggetron the Destroyer.



Doesn't she totally look like a Nuggetron the Destroyer???

Have a great week!



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To Ergo, or not to Ergo

I have been using a friend's Ergo baby carrier for the past two months and at first I HATED it. Too bulky, couldn't get comfy, and I felt like it splayed Elle's legs too far apart. I was CONVINCED I was going to get a Beco Gemini instead. As Ellie gets bigger I am liking the Ergo more and more and I'm wondering if this isn't the way to go. Here's a picture of us shopping at Lowe's today:


Usually she's smiling and being silly, but she was about two minutes away from a nap at this point.

I think Ellie and I might need to take a trip over to the Nurtured Family to try out the Beco.

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Will's Pirate Party

Our sweet friends Val & Tim's little boy Will turned 2 and we had a blast at their Pirate themed birthday party!  Here are some pictures from one of Ellie's first birthday parties to attend.

 As you can see from the pictures, Tim and his brother built an AMAZING pirate ship for little Will called The Becky's Revenge and the coolest part is that they designed AND built that thing by hand.  No plans, no nothing.  That is SO cool.  I can't wait for Ellie to get bigger so we can built her something this awesome.

Val explaining the name of the ship "The Becky's Revenge"

The gargantuan ship

Casey & Ellie trying to beat the heat

Our little family minus the two boys

Our First Home

We bought our first home!  Last week ( June 7th, technically 2 weeks ago now that I'm finally finishing this entry) we closed on a beautiful house in The Woodlands and are SO excited about yet another new adventure for our family.  We made the big move on Saturday with the help of some WONDERFUL family members and friends.  So far our favorite things about the house are the neighborhood (tons of young families AND several of our friends live in the area), the floorplan, and the nice SHADY backyard.  The pups are adjusting well except for a scare on Sunday when Riley saw a cat in the backyard, the cat jumped the fence, Riley found a hole in the fence, and chased the cat.  Luckily we back up to a green belt and Riley is an extremely obedient dog so I just yelled at him and he came right back.

The move was long, but fairly painless (for me at least) and the weather cooperated nicely.

We are settling in and excited about making some improvements, before and after pics to come!  Here are some pictures from the day of closing:

Us at closing with a very sleep Eleanor

Our first picture in front of the house!  (Ellie was still asleep)

WOW!  We just bought a house!

 

Ellie Update- 5 months, 3 weeks

This week in Ellieland: playing her piano, cut her 2nd tooth in 2 weeks, wore her AWESOME Wonder Woman onesie Auntie Bakes got her, eating pears for the first time, and sitting up like a champ.


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