Ellie is 1!

Can you believe that Ellie is ONE already? I can't. I keep reminding myself that today is her birthday.  Our birthday plans are to just take it easy today (we will be doing a cupcake smash though) and then tomorrow we will have a handful of friends come by for a birthday breakfast.

In case you find yourself wondering all about Ellie, I made an info-graph* for her first birthday. It's packed with information about Ellie's first year and all of the things she has come to love so far.

*I have seen infographic charts for babies first birthdays on Pinterest and loved them, but they are expensive! So I decided to try my amateur hand at anything computer design-y and actually had a lot of fun learning some new tricks and hopefully will get better with more time and practice.

Ellie @ 11 months

Each month we are figuring out more and more about our little Ellie Hazel. She's still so sweet and cuddly, but sleeping a little less and getting into trouble more (oy vey). Ellie enjoys doing things that either endanger her life or things she knows she's not supposed to do. I joke around that she's going to be our E.R child because where Maisie is filled to the brim with caution, Ellie is not. I love that about her, but I get truly scared at least once a day because of her antics. Outlets? Let me put my fingers in one. Outlet covers? Let's just take those out, put one in my mouth, gag on it and THEN put my finger in the outlet. Our brick hearth? Let's climb it and attempt to crack my head open on the edge. She's constantly finding things to climb, get into or eat choke on. Life isn't dull that's for sure and between my comedian and my Knievel it's an out right circus in the Lee household.

Today before church.

Don't let the coy smile fool you, this girl is trouble, but the cutest kind.

-Tricks: waves, claps, points blows kisses, gives real kisses and makes kissy noises.

-Prefers her pluggie (pacifier) upside down. Even when she's on the verge of sleep, she will rotate her little wrist until it's in the right spot.

-Still taking two naps (mostly. She's just now starting to phase out her second nap.)

-Still no teeth and I'm not complaining because not only does she eat real food now (lots of it too) she's still nursing like a champ and being toothless helps keep that going.

-Officially walking everywhere. She can also stand up from a sitting position without pulling herself up on something, turn in circles, bend down to grab something and correct herself perfectly when she gets a little unstable. This girl is a champion walker. She's already starting to experiment with going faster, so I'm guessing not much longer until she tries to run.

-Lately she's been sleeping in this strange position- it's like this hybrid downward dog thing where her bum is in the air and her head cocked to the side. Its really funny and I can't imagine to be very comfortable.

-Words: hi, Mama and Dada

-She is a full fledged trouble maker (see above) not only does she know when she's doing something she's not supposed to, do but if you call her out on it she will glance over her shoulder and smile as she decides to do it anyway. It's equal parts cute and infuriating.

Conquered the step ladder.

-We are chasing her around every where we go. She's a busy body and likes to keep moving so my life now insists on chasing my child everywhere.

-Loves when Maisie plays with her by tickling her belly or playing from behind/under the door. Big belly laughs every time.

Their under the door game.

-Has been throwing mini-fits. Austin is convinced she learned some of these things from Maisie, but I just think it's her determined and adventurous spirit. She doesn't like to be interrupted or stopped from her goal (which sometimes I think is a one way ticket to the hospital).

-Favorite toys: Sebastain (yes the crab) duplo block, a gold glitter ball and pink cell phone toy.

-Favorite foods: blueberries, bread, yogurt, Annie's mac and cheese. This girl will eat anything and everything, which is odd seeing how she refused food for so long. I have yet to find something she actually hates. She is indifferent to mashed potatoes- weird huh?

-Firsts: 1-peanut butter experience because Maisie left a peanut butter spoon in reach of Ellie's grasp- I nearly had a heart attack and was expecting some horrible life threatening reaction, but thankfully we dodged that bullet. 2- Swimming at Rexburg rapids (photo above). First sip of cows milk (today) and she loved it so I think we will start giving her some in a sippy cup soon, but I'm not ready to wean yet, so we will phase it in gradually.


-Likes: bike rides, sitting in Maisie's blue chair, trying to use the teeter totter in the backyard, climbing in the vegetable garden (much to my dismay), wagon rides and climbing everything she sees.

Getting ready for a bike ride.

If you cant find Ellie and the bathroom door is shut I.E she's not in it, here's another spot she has come to love. I can't tell you how many times a day she will just go to this chair and proudly sit there while Maisie destroys plays in their room nearby.

Just wishing someone her size would come teeter totter with her.

Oh you know, just sitting on a squash blossom. 

Wagon ride with Ava.

-Dislikes: 1- the vacuum. She legitimately hates it. It may or may not have something to do with big sister chasing her around with it (gah). Even when it's not on she can't stand to be by it and will often hide under the desk or insist on being held until it's put away. 2- When we don't give her a bite or sip of something we are eating/drinking. She whines pitifully or semi-politely yells until you give her the thing she seeks.

I can't believe Ellie is going to be ONE in 5 days!! Ah!

Ellie @ 10 months

This post is a few days late due to our Vacation to Arizona, so here it is now while she's technically 11 months now (what!?) these pictures and happenings are from her 10 month old days.

Ellie is showing us more and more who she really is. I feel like this month especially. She's as sweet and mellow as ever, but theres some sass deep down inside. And boy, is she an adventurous little one. Austin and I were talking while the girls were playing with some friends in the backyard, I can't remember how it got brought about, but I said something like "Ellie is such a watcher". Austin then disagreed. I was wrong because Ellie is a doer if there ever was one. She's brave and not afraid to fall and get dirty. Maisie was always so cautious and while she's a ham, it took a lot to push her to come out of her shell to try new things, mostly physically (learning to walk, climb, jump). Maisie would get on a stage and sing her heart out without hesitation, but climbing up stairs or getting down from a high spot? No way... at least not until recently. So it's so funny to see that there spiritedness is so different. 

Maisie: high energy, social butterfly, performer, cautious and hilarious.

Ellie: mellow, go with the flow, quiet, adventurous and brave. 

They are complimentary to each other and it makes me so excited seeing how they will help shape each other and become better because of it.

Anyway, back to Ellie can you believe she's going to be ONE in less than a month!?

likes:

The kitchen, but more specifically the dishwasher or water dispenser:

Pointing at things.

Trying to put her fingers in our mouths. She especially loves doing it to Maisie because Maisie will actually open her mouth for her. She even tries to forcibly stick her finger in my mouth when I'm nursing her, which makes me laugh and so she wins.

Food... finally! yayyyyyy! She will pretty much eat anything we give her now, she mostly likes real food I.E whatever we are eating, but she has also come around to purees. Mostly fruit mixes, but hey I'll take it!

Hiding in the bathroom and trying to climb into the tub, she tries to hoist her little leg over the side, but she's still too short. I can't tell you how many times we have found her like this:

Music of any sort, she loves to enthusiastically bounce up and down, shake her head and stomp her little feet.

Exploring outside the more dirt, sticks and leaves the better she likes it:

Dogs- Maisie even at this age, was terrified of dogs. 

Where there are dogs there is a water dish and where there is a water dish, there is Ellie.

Being held. She still likes to cuddle a lot which I am totally fine with :)

Swimming. She loves being in the water, trying to drink the water and float around in her floaty. If Maisie or her cousins push her around the pool the better:

Birds of any sort, but especially the pigeons that have decided to make their home in the rafters above our porch and deck. If only we liked them as much as she does, but we don't... so they are about to meet their demise if they don't choose to relocate soon. 

Sitting in the stroller without being in her carseat:

dislikes:

hot cars

More than 2 minutes of wrestling with Maisie.

Diaper changes (still).

Too many hugs, kisses, back pats from Maisie. Ellie is pretty vocal when she's not in the mood for playing, but Maisie is persistent so this leads to Ellie screaming dramatically until someone rescues her or she manages to escape her big sister's grasp.

activities:

First trip to Arizona where she finally met her Nana and Papa (my parents) hence all the swimming and how we discovered that she likes dogs and hates getting into ovens hot cars.

Loves the song "the wheels on the bus" but the wiper part is her favorite, she happily swishes her arms and shakes her head. She also does the arm movement and head shake if we say "P U" as in she has a stinky diaper, but she scrunches her nose and squints her eyes. It's really cute.

She's calmed down on her walking a lot, I was convinced that she was going to be full on walking soon, but I think she realizes that she gets around a lot faster by crawling because she will start taking a few steps and then will purposely fall and crawl to her desired destination.

Falling asleep on us. She will just crawl over and lay in our laps and fall asleep. Even with maisie running around or with the tv on. It's pretty surprising and its making me wonder if its contributed by the following:

1)The warmer weather and our lack of ac? It does get toasty.

2)That I am failing to see her tired cues? Probably.

3)She prefers to cuddle over being alone in her crib? I mean, who can blame her for that one?

Regardless, I love it. Maisie was always so particular where she slept and couldnt have any distractions because she always wanted to be apart of the action. Ellie showed early signs of this too, mainly because Maisie would make her excited to play, but I think the novelty of it is starting to wear... or it could be that Maisie really likes forcing Ellie to wear something, go somewhere or wrestle past her limit... sooo maybe Ellie is sleeping on me for refuge. haha

Asleep on Daddy:

Asleep on Mommy:

More sleeping pictures because who doesn't love a sleeping babe?

sleeping at Nana & Papa's:

sleeping at the hotel:

We all just love Ellie to pieces. She's our little buggy, bah-bah (Maisie has called her that since we first brought her home from the hospital) and muffin. We're so glad she is apart of our family.

First Steps

Well it starts...

On Friday (the twenty-ninth) I was helping Maisie with cleaning up the girl's room when I was busy putting books away on the bookshelf. Ellie was cruising along the outside of her crib, happy as can be. After a few minutes of going back and forth along her crib, she came to the edge where I was only a foot or two away and she let go (she's been standing for short periods of time for about a week or so now) and I looked at her contemplating if she should step forward. In my head I thought "no way will she do it" but she boldly placed one foot in front of the other and then while attempting to place the other foot, fell into my arms. I couldn't believe it. My TEN month old (who face it, looks like a five or six month old) took her first steps! I know each kid goes at their own pace, but I always assumed Ellie would kind of follow Maisie's timeline. That couldn't be further from the truth though, but for some odd reason I am still surprised when Ellie does things differently than what her big sister had. For example, Maisie wasn't pulling her self up on things until around ten months and didn't take her first steps until she was fourteen months old, but Maisie was already a lot more chatty by this age.  

When Austin came home from work, we sat a few feet away from each other while Ellie practiced her new moves. Within a few minutes she was up to four steps while we all cheered her on. We are all so proud of her and can't wait to see where her sweet and mellow, yet adventurous spirit takes her.

Ellie @ 9 months (& stats)

This month has been a rougher one. Ellie has taken a turn for the worse sleeping wise. She has come to the conclusion that she is only comfortable snuggling in mommy and daddy's bed and is back to hating her crib (oh joy). This is mostly my fault for bringing her into our bed to nurse and then just letting her stay because I was too tired to put her back in the crib. Oh well, as much as I adore sleep I will never regret baby snuggles.

Ellie had her 9 month appointment on Maisie's actually birthday (the only day our doctor was available) and it was another double appointment because Maisie was having some stomach issues that we wanted to get checked out (all is well there, she just has to take miralax every day haha). Ellie is still small, but still consistent in her weight/height percentiles. 

Here are her stats: 

birth:

 7 lbs 8 oz & 19 (?) inches

5 days:

7 lbs 9 oz & 19.5 inches

2 weeks:

7 lbs 14 oz & 20.5 inches

7 weeks:

10 lbs 8oz & 21.7 inches

9 weeks/ 2 months:

11 lbs 6oz & 22.3 inches

4.5 months:

14 lbs & 24.3 inches

33% in weight & 22% in height

6.5 months:

15.7 lbs & 26 inches

30% in weight & 33% in height

9.5 months:

16.7 lbs & 27.2 inches

20% in weight & 21% in height

Maisie was also pretty little as a baby, so I was comparing Maisie's and Ellie's stats and Maisie at her 9 month appointment was a whole pound and inch bigger than Ellie is. I guess Austin and I just make some petite children haha! I have a few theories on why Ellie may be smaller though...

She is much more active than Maisie was. Ellie is doing stuff now (cruising furniture, standing up by herself and climbing on things) that Maisie wasn't even doing until after she turned one. Maisie was never a climber though, still to this day she is very cautious and doesn't enjoy climbing up or down things. Ellie on the other hand is a little monkey- there's not much she can't do... Well except walk and run and... Well I guess there's a lot she can't do, but you know what I mean. The jist of it is that Ellie burns a lot of calories for a little 9 month old.

Also she still doesn't enjoy most solids. This month she has been doing so good in comparison to the months before, but compared to other 9 month babies (Maisie included) she's not eating much. But hey, it's improvement and I'll take it.

Another thing being that they are completely different individuals. I think I had it in my mind that Ellie would be so similar to Maisie (probably because that's all I have ever known) and other than their looks, they couldn't be more opposite than each other. Which I'm happy about because I feel like I have the best of both worlds between their personalities.

---------

Ellie at 9 months:

Loves:

Climbing up and onto the dishwasher door.

I have yet to take a picture of her sitting on the door mostly because I'm too worried she's going to fall and hurt herself, but this picture will have to do.

Pulling all of the magnets off the fridge.

Finding anything that she could possibly choke on and trying to eat it (I can't tell you how many times a day I have to do mouth checks/sweeps and vaccuum the house).

Playing with Maisie's Duplos (especially the people- The Little Mermaid's prince Eric is her favorite.

Not prince Eric, but another Duplo man that she likes.

Gram crackers (or any kind of cracker for that matter), strawberries, Annie's white cheddar mac and cheese shells, rice and bread.

Side note: it's hilarious to me that with Maisie I didn't give her anything except homemade fruit and vegetable purees. And now with Ellie I just give her anything (within reason and usually something we are eating already) and just hope she likes it. Trust me I have tried the fruits and veggies, but Ellie- she's a carboholic... 

Playing in the grass and rolling down our little hill.

Baths... Boy, does she like baths, especially when big sister is taking one at the same time.

Drinking through a straw.

Firsts:

 Hiking trip

Time going on a bike ride (she and Maisie sit in our bike trailer)

Sleeping in the same room as Maisie (more on that in a future post)

Time standing up without holding on to anything.

Dislikes:

Her crib (again) as mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Most foods, but she's getting better!

When Maisie holds on to her clothes preventing her from moving about freely.

When Maisie takes her pluggie out of her mouth, or just any toy for that matter.

Skills:

When I change Ellie's diaper I always say "Pew Ellie!" And I wave my hand in front of my puckered face. Ellie now copies me. Whenever we say pew now she shakes her head and waves her hands back and forth. It's so cute!

Sleeping in the most peculiar positions... 

Jelly bones.

Getting on top of the dishwasher door and proudly sitting on top while pulling Maisie's brightly colored cutlery out of the silverware compartments.

Crawling super fast when she knows she's not supposed to be doing something. It's a guilty crawl if I ever did see one.

If I sit on the floor she will always come crawl on my lap and cuddle. Today she had a cold so she was extra cuddly. She pulled herself into my lap 4 different times today and fell asleep in my arms. I was sitting in the middle of the kitchen with a sleeping baby on me. That's what motherhood is folks.

This was her today, right before her nap in my lap in the kitchen. Have you ever seen a more pathetic looking baby with a cold? Poor girl.

Ellie @ 8 months

*Ellie will be 9 months tomorrow (what!?) so with these monthly posts I think I will keep going along with how I have been doing it...unintentionally waiting until the month of said age is close to being over (or like last months totally over) I'll shoot for the last day of that month. I feel like that will be the best way to truly document what's really happening at that age.*

Likes:

Pulling herself to a standing position by holding onto anything within arms reach... couch, bench, tub, sister's back (sometimes hair... ouch!), mama's leg. You name it and this girl will use it to stand up.

Crawling- boy, is she a good crawler! I sort of miss the rolly poly she used to be, but Ellie is so happy to get to see the world as it was intended to be seen (right side up) that it's hard to be too sad about it.

Eating anything that is not meant to be eaten. Paper, grass/twigs/leaves, dirt, plastic. pretty much anything that she could choke on or anything that is just not advised to eat the more she enjoys it. The picture at the top of this post, if you look closely you will see the dirt on her face that she tried to eat before the picture was taken.

Taking baths without her baby bath seat.

Sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed... we only allow it in the early morning (for her last meal of the night) when she briefly wakes up to eat. She sleeps like a dream in our bed, unfortunately I do not when she is in it... she sleeps like a starfish.

Playing with the letter magnets on the fridge.

Sneaking off to the bathroom hoping to find some paper to eat- this has now started a closed door bathroom policy.

Being carried in the babyhawk.

Finding me when I leave the room. Say if I am in the kitchen she will come find me and when she does she lets out the proudest little giggles.

Having a reliable schedule. She has been sleeping so much better since we have been proactively keeping to a schedule. We still like some flexibility so give or take an hour seems to be just fine.

Sleeping on her belly! We've got a belly sleeper now!

Rubbing her eyes and tugging on her hair (sometimes pulling little handfuls out) while she is nursing.

Being read to.

I found her in the hallway like this- Maisie is always trying to dress Ellie up.

Dislikes:

Food- apart from the occasional organic baby puff things or a few cherrios here and there.

Having her mouth fished out when she is inevitably eating something she should not be.

Being constipated. who knew that was even possible from like 3 cheerios?!

Getting dressed after the bath.

Having a stuffy and runny nose- baby girl got hit by a terrible cold. It was 3 extremely rough nights and dare I say even rougher days. She cried for hours from being so uncomfortable or from sheer frustration. She is now gradually getting back to her pre-cold schedule and will hopefully catch up on all the lost sleep.

First face full of water... yeahhh she wasn't too happy about the feeling of water in the nose.

Legs stuck in the crib slats.

Skills:

Signs: "milk" and "more". Now we are working on the signs "all done" and "please".

Claps and waves.

Can drink with a straw.

Holds out her arms to be held.

Starting to say dada more to Austin.

Firsts:

Eating in her high chair- she only manages to eat a couple bites, but we're trying.

Visit to the duck park:

Learned to crawl and pull herself up on things.

Time swimming.

Trip to Utah.

Things to remember:

How she gives the biggest open mouth slobbery kisses.

Her breathy surprised laugh.

Her happy almost pant-like quick breathing.

The way she whispers.

How happy her voice sounds when she says "mama"- it goes up like a whole octave. 

The certain giggle she reserves just for Maisie.

The way when she's upset or hurt how she will immediately crawl to me for cuddles.

Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit

We were having a hard time with Ellie's sleeping (or lack thereof) it seems the older she gets the worse she sleeps. I was getting more sleep 2 days after being home from the hospital than I was getting a month ago. She started waking up 4+ times, wanting to eat sometimes, but mostly just up for random reasons. There were quite a few culprits involved. 

1- She was still sleeping in her rocker. While she didn't outgrow it size wise, she was strong enough to pull herself up and almost overboard. She would also twist until she was pinned face down and that was enough right there to scare me to death, so we knew our rocker days were over. Maisie slept in the rocker until she was10 months old and never attempted to crawl out, so we were a little surprised by Ellie doing so.

2- She still very much liked being swaddled. It was a sure way trick to settle her down. Although she is strong enough to break the swaddle, I was scared to put her swaddled in the crib because I wanted her to have access to her arms at all times.

3- she hated/still hates (remember this post?) food. So I am her complete source of nutrition. Breastmilk  is only filling for so long, and since she's burning more calories now than ever, I am nursing twice as much now than when she was a newborn.

4- Her hatred for the crib. Her rocker had a slight incline and was snug to where she felt cozy and safe, but her crib is spacious and flat and since we didn't feel comfortable swaddling her in it, we didn't, so the lack of swaddle wasn't helping anything.

Austin and I were THIS close to start sleep training because we were so beyond sleep deprived, but every time we talked about it we felt unsettled, nervous and dread. So we decided that was out of the question for us now. All we knew is that we needed her to be in her crib, that she needed to be safe and comfortable, but we didn't know what we could do to get her comfortable being in her crib, let alone sleeping.

So one day I was browsing the internet (not even looking for sleep solutions) when I was reading my lists of blogs that I follow, when one of the bloggers I have followed for a couple years explained that her 8 month old is progressively becoming a worse and worse sleeper, I was intrigued. The things she was describing about her daughter was almost exactly Ellie to a T! I was relieved that I wasn't alone and yet still had no solutions. The same blogger wrote a follow up post a couple weeks later and with the suggestions from commenters on her "no sleep" post, decided to try "Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit". She was skeptical yet desperate. So she ordered one. The first night her daughter used the suit she slept 10 hours straight. I felt hope! I was no where expecting Ellie to sleep that long, but even just going back to 5 hour stretches would be a luxury. We had a lot more factors going into it (list above) and after reading the FIRST Amazon review about someone's baby who wouldn't sleep in the crib and surprise, surprise, it was because of the SAME rocker Ellie was sleeping in- anyway the review concluded that the sleep suit was indeed magic. I called austin at work and told him we had to try it. He hesitantly agreed because of the cost, but I had some Amazon gift card money left over and used it for that.

A couple days later the suit arrived just in time for Ellie's third nap. I put her in the suit (took some pictures because she was so cute) and after rocking her and singing a couple songs placed her in her crib pretty much wide awake. Within 5 minutes Ellie was sleeping! In her crib! I didn't even have to trick her by getting her to sleep in my arms first and setting her in her crib. It was all her and the suit.


3:41 pm


4:02 pm

Ellie is now only waking up twice to eat- once around midnight/1am ish and the other around 4:30 or 5am. The best part? She has been sleeping in her crib for weeks now- NO ROCKER!! All naps and nighttime sleep has been in her crib. The rocker is actually packed away now. We are still using the suit because Ellie is cozy and warm, but probably in the next few weeks we will start using it less and less.

Ellie @ 7 months (a late post)

likes:

the broom. watching and trying to grab it and chew on it to be exact.

this song

Anything in a wrapper- last night she played with a wrapped Almond Roca bar for hours.

rolling underneath chairs.

picking up tiny microscopic carpet lint and then trying to eat it.

the itsy bitsy spider.

3/1when i sign "milk" she smiles so big. she sometimes does it while she's eating, but has yet to do it to tell me she wants milk. UPDATE 3/9 she signs milk now to tell me shes hungry!! she giggles every time she does it and i respond with "would you like some milk!?"

chewing on my hair. or just pulling it. it feels awesome...

loves feeding herself- i gave her a slice of a nectarine and she throughly enjoyed mashing it all over her body and getting small amounts in her mouth. which of course made her gag.

playing "where's Ellie?" under her blankets. she's so good at ripping the blanket off her face.

trying to watch tv. Baby girl will crane her neck in very unnatural positions to get even the slightest glimpse of the tv.

Maisie/people watching.

being swaddled... STILL

Outlets... time to baby proof those bad boys.

dislikes:

Almost all food apart from Greek yogurt (especially strawberry) and little bits of bran toast.

Getting stuck underneath chairs or any tight spot she can't manage to get out of.

The crib.

When maisie takes toys (mostly unsafe ones) away.

Not being able to see any one when she's in a room.

When i save her from some precarious position... it's like i ruined her fun, but baby girl doesn't have any self preservation skills, so I have to do that part sometimes and sure, sometimes it makes me look like the bad guy.

When maisie yells really loud... about who knows what. Maisie isn't quiet.

She is starting to experience some separation anxiety, when I leave the room even if Austin and/or Maisie is in the room with her she will pout.

Firsts this month:

First nap in crib- she woke up 30 minutes later LIVID!

First pony tail:

First movie theater experience- for my birthday we went and saw Big Hero 6. After a good nursing session within the first 10 minutes she was out like a light pretty much the duration of the movie.

First time saying mama knowing it gets my attention. She usually only does it when she's upset and wants to be cuddled, but I'll take it. It is the most pitiful little vies for attention "aaaa mama!! Aaamamamaaaa".

First time falling off the bed... oops! Thankfully we have a low bed.

First time sleeping in her crib at night without being angry.

Ellie's 6 1/2 Month Stats

Here are Ellie's stats from birth to her latest Doctor's appointment just a few days ago.

birth:

 7 lbs 8 oz & 19 (?) inches

5 days:
7 lbs 9 oz & 19.5 inches

2 weeks:
7 lbs 14 oz & 20.5 inches

7 weeks:
10 lbs 8oz & 21.7 inches

9 weeks/ 2 months:
11 lbs 6oz & 22.3 inches

4.5 months:

14 lbs & 24.3 inches

33% in weight & 22% in height

6.5 months:

15.7 lbs & 26 inches

30% in weight & 33% in height

I still am having a hard time wrapping my head around how fast time has flown by! Every day Ellie is a little bigger and a little more silly. Her personality is coming out more and more and we are discovering that this mellow child may also have quite the stubborn streak (see this post). I wonder who's going to win the stubborn-ness battle between the sisters.... that could get interesting. 

Ellie bug/ Hazelnut/ muffin is just the most content baby I have ever met. She is effortless to love and makes me feel like I know what I am doing. She is predictable and easily soothed and such a stress reliever to hold, squeeze and kiss. When I get a little wound tight from trying to keep up with home maker duties and being the mommy to a spirited/energetic/down-right-tiring 4 year old, sometimes the best remedy is a chubby baby hug, or a relaxing nursing session. She forces me to slow down and for that I thank her so much. 

Anti-food?

Oh this solid food endeavor has been crazzzy. I have tried homemade. I have tried store bought. I have tried purees. I have tried rice teether/cracker things. I have tried baby rice, baby oats and any/all baby cereals and I still have yet to please her pallet. Yogurt drops? She hates them. Small unadulterated bits of banana and peas? Hates them. Applesauce? She gags.

The thing is she's interested. Like really, really, interested. She LOVES watching us eat. Shoot, she even gives it an enthusiastic try, but it seems like she is just as disappointed that she doesn't like it as we are shocked.

I took it into my hands to do some troubleshooting. When I would make her baby oats I always mixed it with a generous amount of breastmilk. There's no way it could taste like anything other than the liquid gold she loves so much. I even made the consistency super runny so it would almost be like her drink of choice. Still she gags. 

bananas- gags.

acorn squash- gags.

sweet potato- gags.

all of these were mixed with copious amounts of milk.

I tried giving her a spoon and having her go to town "feeding" herself, but still, it inevitably ended up like the previous attempts... in gags (this time on the actual spoon she was trying to shove down her throat though). 

This is when I got sneaky. I gave her straight up breast milk via spoon... any guesses to what happened? Yup... she gagged. WHAT!?

So maybe she's just anti spoon/chunks/textures?

Last night she finally managed to eat something and even a really good amount of it... we have finally found her so far, only favorite food: THIS. And thank goodness for it because I thought I was going to go crazy after every failed attempt. I just held the pouch while she sucked out its contents... maybe it all had to do with method of delivery? Because she prefers taking in solids just like she does her milk. She ate 1/2 a pouch and was feeling rather full after.

Now I am scared for the inevitable constipation that will follow with digesting her first REAL food. But hey, she ate! Finally at just a week shy of 7 months!

Ellie Hazel is 6 Months Old!

This little girl is a half of a year old!! Time continues to fly by faster than ever and I find myself torn between feeling like it was just yesterday that she was born and with the feeling that she has been here all along. Theres something about how she feels in my arms that's so familiar- like I have always known her. She is just so cuddly and feels so good to hold- she's sturdy, yet tiny. Squishy, yet strong. Did I mention kissable? Above all else she's so darn kissable. 

Here are some pictures of Ellie at 6 months:

Just finished up a nursing and nap session in the mother's lounge.

first sister bath

Patiently putting up with Maisie's dress up antics

LOVES mirrors. She wakes up each morning to stare and giggle at our stand up mirror.

Lately when I am nursing Ellie she stops and just smiles at me, I have been wanting to get a picture of it for a couple weeks, but never had my phone around me. Finally I got one. She's not smiling per se, but she's lovingly staring and gosh, is she cute or what?

Happs:

Ellie learned how to sit up a few days before she was six months old, but she can now, slightly controlled, get onto her side and roll away from a sitting position. Even when she takes a tumble she has yet to cry (very opposite of Maisie as a baby).

Still has no interest in solid food despite many, many attempts.

Enjoys a sippy cup, but ends up just letting all the water run out of her mouth leading to an outfit change.

Loves pulling herself up when she's holding onto our fingers. She gets the proudest smile whenever she does it.

Said "Dad" last weekend. We were prompting her to say "dada" and finally she belted it out. It made Austin happy, but she's been saying "mama" for a couple months now, so take that Austin!

Still adores being swaddled.

Since Christmas she has been waking up twice each night to nurse. It doesn't bother me very much because she is such a fast eater and falls asleep right after.

Ellie is so mellow. She is alert, but very calm. She can go days, even weeks without crying. If she needs anything she usually complains for a second or two to remind us she's hungry or tired. 

She falls asleep for all her naps by herself. After I swaddle her, nurse her and sing her songs, I put her in her rocker tired, but awake and she falls asleep quickly without a peep. Austin enjoys rocking her and singing to her for a bit at night so most of the times she falls asleep in his arms, but she does just fine going down by herself then too. 

HATES her crib...  any tips for how we can transition her? She still prefers her rocker because it's much cozier.

Favorite toys: Como Tomo Teether and the Munchkin twisty teether.

Favorite songs: "Why I Love You" and "Edelweiss" also any and all songs Maisie sings to her.

We just love our little Ellie baby. She is the perfect compliment to our family.

Ellie @ 5 months old + 4 month appointment

Seriously Ellie? Could you be any sweeter?

I'm a little late on posting Ellie's 4 (and a half) month appointment, but all went well. Little girl is indeed little, but still healthy and happy. This round of shots hit her harder than last time. Sore legs, fever, mostly sleepy, but she handled it like a champ- lots of snuggles and lavender baths helped.

.:stats:.

birth:

 7 lbs 8 oz & 19 (?) inches

5 days:
7 lbs 9 oz & 19.5 inches

2 weeks:
7 lbs 14 oz & 20.5 inches

7 weeks:
10 lbs 8oz & 21.7 inches

9 weeks/ 2 months:
11 lbs 6oz & 22.3 inches

4.5 months:

14 lbs & 24.3 inches

33% in weight & 22% in height

happs:

Ellie around 4.5 months started being able to wiggle her arm out after she rolled over onto her stomach. She didn't put too much effort into trying to roll back over.

January 4th Ellie skipped just rolling back onto her back and instead started continuously rolling... ie "log rolling" and it's been nonstop from there.

wearing size 3 diapers - mostly because we bought a big pack of diapers from costco and we were afraid that she would out grow the pack of 2s before running out of diapers. she could definitely still fit in 2s.

likes:

fake sneezing noises- almost always cracks her up, but never fails to make her smile.

roaring (man, can this girl roar), blowing spit bubbles, chewing on every thing

diaper changes

talking- favorite/current sounds: mama (yay!), baba,boba, gaaaaa. raaaa

watching people eat... every bite she watches from plate to mouth.

Pokey the hedgehog that Maisie got her for christmas.

the bouncer at grandma and grandpa's- she was always so happy to have a spot of her own where she could watch all the action and jump at her leisure.

christmas lights

sucking on her fingers

white noise

obsessed with her Nuby teether

still LOVEs being swaddled, but we are going to have to start doing something else now that she's "mobile".

dislikes:

coughing not necessarily when she coughs, but when others do. It scares and/or wakes her up every time!

the trumpet- scared to death of it

her crib- one bad experience rolling into the bar and hitting her head and she wants nothing to do with it. I think she also feels exposed- any tips on how to transition her from her rocker/bassinet to the crib? Little Hazelnut loves being cozy.

applesauce- I gave her the smallest bite of some today and she HATED it. Other than that she hasn't had any "real" food yet. Thinking about trying some oatmeal and acorn squash this weekend though.

The beginning of fairies...

“When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.”-J.M Barrie (Peter Pan)

Ellie is a serious little baby. Happy, but serious and I love that about her, but getting her to laugh has been tough. She smiles like crazy (she even has two very specific smiles) and has since the beginning. She would even make smile noises- you know, like just the first breath of a laugh and I guess if we wanted to we could count that as a laugh, but we were holding out for the real deal. 

WELL...

Today she laughed her first laugh! 

And it was glorious.

There we were eating our Sunday breakfast when Maisie decided mid bite to take a little break to jump around the table and it was just too difficult for Ellie to contain her glee. She busted up, complete with a couple happy squeals and a Maisie-like chortle (those of you who knew maisie when she was a baby, know exactly what I am talking about). I have thought about that darling little laugh all day. It makes me excited to hear it more often, but at the same time it was a sweet reminder to take joy in the little things. 

I truly hope that I never take for granted the giggles that fill our home.

3 months

Ellie is 3 months old today. It's unreal. I remember time passing rather quickly when Maisie was a baby, but this is just ridiculous! Tell me, does time seem to pass more swiftly with every additional child?

 Let me just get this out there so it can actually start to sink in...

Ellie. Is. Not. A. "Newborn". Any. More.

What!? I no longer have a newborn? Is this real life?!

To the second, 3 months ago I was beyond exhausted, in the hospital and proudly cuddling my sweet baby. And I was in love then, but boy, do I love her to pieces now. To a degree I am mourning the newborn stage, but as Austin says "this stage is so much better because we actually know Ellie and her personality" I suppose he's right, but I already miss those newborn flour sack snuggles.

But this? Yeah, I'll take this any day.

What's Ellie been up to?

The Basics:

Ellie is chubs. Thigh, arm and wrist rolls days.

She's fairly long- her 3 month footies are already almost too small for her.

Her hair- she still has it! Including the darling tuft of swirls on top.

Her eyes are now blue and almost identical to Maisie's true blue, but just a little darker.

Skills:

chewing and sucking on her hand and fingers. This inevitably leads to lots of cute baby gags, but thankfully no spit up.

Scooting on her back by pushing her legs out.

Talking. Boy, does chattiness run in our genes.

I have never met such a gassy baby. Seriously, she's the queen of flatulence. I gave up dairy almost two months ago thinking she might have a sensitivity, but it seems unchanged. Her gas doesn't seem to bother her and we all, Maisie included, think it's pretty hilarious.

She can roll onto her side from her back, but then gets stuck.

Loves:

daddy's whistle.

Being swaddled.

The swing we are borrowing from our friends.

Her pluggie (pacifier)

Mornings. Oh blissful mornings. Happy babes in mama and daddy's bed.

Diaper changes- she's all smiles when she gets her diaper changed.

the tv (even though we don't let her watch it, she sure does try.)

her schedule.

Baths especially if it includes lavender essential oil.

being in her "birthday suit".

This song from The many adventures of Winnie the pooh, Austin started singing it to her one day and she always smiles as we try to make her "exercise".

Chewing on her dragonfly teether.

Dislikes:

Being sick. Little girl is just getting over her very first cold.

Waiting to be fed.

When Maisie screams "BOO!" really loudly. Which is more frequent than you'd think. Halloween is Maisie's favorite holiday after all.

Any long interruptions to her schedule, but we value flexibility around here, so sometimes we don't exactly stick to schedule.

Getting her neck cleaned out (yuck!)

Nasal aspirators. Enough said right?

Any oral medications or vitamins. Maisie LOVED any form of medicine (I mean it's usually sickly sweet so of course kids love it) but Ellie HATES it. I mean full on. If I do manage to get any in her mouth she will hoard it until she can let it dribble down her chin. And if by any extremely rare chance she swallows any, she will spit it up and she never spits up. Now that's stubborn. How am I supposed to give her the Vitamin D drops?!

Things to remember:

The way she shuffles her feet and does her excited smile (wide eyes, crinkled nose and mouth wide open) when she's about to be picked up.

When she's "talking" (it's more like squawks, squeals and some variegated babbling- but we like to pretend she's telling us stories) it inevitably ends with her complaining. Complete with serious eyebrows.

The way she watches Maisie. It's like she already thinks Maisie is the coolest thing ever. 

Her beautifully pathetic bottom lip when she's crying. She does the full on puppy dog pout and as sad as it is that she's upset, that little turned down lip just is so darn cute.

The way she's so comforted by simply holding her hand or placing a hand on her stomach.

The way she softly opens and closes her hands while she's eating. Or even better, the way she contently smiles after she's full.

Her profile. She has such delicate and teeny features, but they're combined with the most scrumptious cheeks that when I look at her sweet profile being held up by her tiny, but strong neck I just die. She's incredibly kissable people. I dare you not be tempted to smother her with kisses when you see her.


What is it with sleeping babies that make me melt? I mean to this day when I see Maisie sleeping I feel like my heart is about to burst and now I have double the heart melting moments. Nothing beats a baby who is so comfortable being in your arms that they fall asleep without any work from you.