Ellie Grace : Birthday Girl

Better blog about my big one year old before she hits 13 months!!

On June 8th, my baby girl turned one.

The week before E's birthday, we drove to Idaho and my very talented cousin took some fantastic pictures of little miss.  Here are a few of my favorites.

On E's birthday, we woke up and had pancakes.  Clay told me I had to make special pancakes for Ellie - they had to have chocolate chips in them or be shaped like Mickey Mouse.  The only chocolate chips I had were mint flavored, and I have never done Mickey pancakes, although they don't seem that hard.  I have a butterfly shaped cookie cutter, and I decided I'd make butterfly pancakes.  Fail.  Good thing E didn't know any better.  

Then she and I made cupcakes for her party.  

I love my naked baby.  I never have her in clothes anymore.  

And later that evening, her whole family came over for a birthday party.  I had so many cutsey decorations - but our party was outside and it was a little windy so I didn't get to use most of them.  We had dinner - pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, chips, salad and watermelon.  And then E opened her presents. 

On her elephant from Grandpa Bill.  Too cute.  

Ellie didn't really care about opening presents - so I ended up opening most of them.  (And of course, she got spoiled rotten.)

Clay met a wonderful lady named Denise when he served his mission, and she told me about something she did for her oldest son's birthday when he turned one - a time capsule.  I loved the idea - and asked all of Ellie's family to bring something to put inside her time capsule that she will open either when she graduates or gets married. (I can't decide when).  

And then - we ate cake.  We had cupcakes and ice cream sandwiches.  

Ellie's cupcake tower.  I didn't get the best picture of it.  :( 

Ellie didn't care about her cupcake very much at first - and then as we were cleaning things up, she ended up with pink frosting EVERYWHERE.  And of course, I didn't get a picture.  :(  

However, we did end up with these gems : 

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

And this one when we came back to the apartment and let her at her own ice cream sandwich : 

Her birthday was a great day.  :)

She's still in size three diapers, still in 12 month clothing, and still sleeping through the night (most nights).  She still takes two naps a day - and boy, if she doesn't get those naps - she is a cranky bugger! Our church is in the middle of when she usually takes her second nap - and today, we ended up leaving after sacrament because little miss was a hot, cranky mess.  I guess when you are such a busy bee, naps are pretty important.  

When we took her to the doctor about two weeks ago she weighed 20 pounds and 6 ounces, and was 29 inches tall.  She's so tall and skinny!  

I always knew she was smart, but the last few weeks she has done things that continue to open my eyes as to what a smarty pants I have.  I'll catch her with my makeup brushes trying to put makeup on.  I caught her with a q-tip this morning trying to clean her ears.  She throws things away.  She shakes her head "yes" and "no".  You ask her to fold her arms, and she does it.  My dad swears he's heard her say "thank you" and "what's that?"  She points to everything.  She will brush my hair with a hair brush.  She will try and hand me whatever she has in her hands, and then when I reach towards her to take it she shakes her head "no", pulls it away from me and giggles.  She does all the actions to "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider".  She has to help push the grocery cart at the store.  She's got stairs down.  This weekend, she started saying "mom".  

She runs.  I kid you not - runs.  She is SO fast.  She has started putting her hands on the ground and standing on her head.  She is constantly dancing - if she hears music - she dances.  If you ask her to "shake her booty" she does.  And boy, does that girl know how to wiggle her little hips.  It's so hilarious.  She has also decided she hates the bows I put on her head.  She rips them off and has figured out how to use the elastic part of the band and flip them across the room.  She loves the bath.  When she hears me draw her bath she screams - and it's a happy scream, haha.  She's also started being very wary of strangers.  If anyone she doesn't know gets too close - she has a full on melt down.  (She's had a few little temper tantrums....I hope we don't experence the "terrible twos" early, haha.)  A few days ago, she was drinking a bottle and walking and dropped her bottle on the ground.  Instead of reaching down to pick it up, she had a VERY dramatic melt down and acted as though her life was ending.  Not gonna lie - it was pretty funny.  (I'm such a bad mom, hahaha).  

She is the sweetest little thing.  Me going to work has been tough on her, even though she has so much fun with her aunts and her grandma.  When we make it back home after work, all she wants to do is snuggle.  She's started giving the best loves and kisses.  She got a stuffed puppy for her birthday from her Aunt Whitney, and she will walk around the house hugging it and kissing it.  

I can't believe my little girl is one.  At this time last year, she was three weeks old.  Now she's walking and talking and making messes and is a PERFECT part of our little family.  I can't imagine my life without her.  She IS my reason - for everything.  

I love you baby girl.  You have my whole heart.  

P.S. Not that I'm a great consistent blogger, but it might be awhile before the next one.  I think we are moving and life and stuff.  :)  xoxoxo

Ellie Grace : 11 Months & Picture Dump

Once again, I am behind on this blog.

I've started my new job, and I haven't quite figured out how to be back at work full time.  It really is exhausting.  Work is insane, and then I come home and chase E around for a few hours, try and get the house picked up and feed the family, get E in bed and by then I'm more than ready for bed myself.  It's going to take some adjusting, that's for sure.  Oh, and Clay started his new job.  We've been busy.

Ellie turned 11 months old two weeks ago.  And two weeks from today, my baby girl will be one.

(I sort of figured out the issue with my computer, so I'm going to dump a few pictures into this post and probably call it a night.)

I worked the day Ellie turned eleven months old, so I assigned Clayton picture taking duty.

Most of his pictures turned out like this, bahahaha.  She's a handful! But he ended up with a few cute ones.   :)

Yawn? Smile?  I'm not sure.  See those jeans?  Those are the first pair of skinny jeans E has ever worn.  We've always done jeggings.  The first few days I had her walk around in real jeans, she kept falling down.  She's now gotten used to them, and they are so cute on her.  

This face.  

Ellie is still floating between 9 month and 12 month clothing.  We won't have a doctor's appointment until July (I totally spaced making her 12 month appointment....ooops.) So I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is.  We are still in size 3 diapers.  We'll probably be moving into size 4 soon.

Yesterday, we tried to get Ellie to drink cow's milk.  She wants NOTHING to do with it.  If anyone has any tips on how to make this transition easier, we'd love to hear them.  Haha.  So I guess we'll still be buying formula for awhile.  She loves french toast, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs and cheese.  She gets really offended if you try to make her eat fruit or veggies, and they often end up on the floor.  She loves popsicles.  She's still figuring out the chewing thing, but has been doing a lot better.  

She still takes a morning and sometimes an afternoon nap, and still sleeps mostly through the night.  She's been getting up between two and four almost every night fussing, but will usually put herself back to sleep.

Ellie has turned into quite the character the last few weeks.  She is constantly screaming at the top of her lungs.  When she eats, she has started squeezing her eyes shut into the cheeziest smile, then bursts into giggles.  She has decided that Tangled is her favorite movie.  She will watch it over and over and over again, and dances/screams/giggles through the whole thing.  I've probably watched Tangled five times this weekend, and it was all so I could get in amazing baby snuggles with my girl.  It's the only way I can get her to sit still.  She's started giving the sweetest hugs ever.  Every animal says "mooooo".  Except chickens.  They "bawk bawk".  She has loved the warmer weather and absolutely loves being outside.  There have been a few times she and Clay have met me at my work, and she loves to walk around the mall like a big girl.  When you tell her no, she wiggles her finger "no".  When you tell her she stinks, she waves her hands in front of her nose.  She now knows where mom's eyes and mouth are.  I'm not proud of this - but she knows how to unlock my cell phone, and knows if she has it upside down.  I caught her swiping through the pictures in my picture gallery the other day.  Ellie loves other kids.  Loves them.  Tonight, she chased a little girl across our apartment's side yard pointing and wanting to play.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't baby hungry.  I'm so excited to make Ellie a big sister.   However, life has thrown some obstacles in our way lately, and that probably won't happen for awhile.  I'll live. :)  

And now, a photo dump.  

We went to Mike the Headless Chicken Days in Fruita, Colorado last weekend.  It was a great little vaca, and Ellie had a blast with her cousins.  

Grandma Kari bought Ellie a tye-dye hat and some Dippin Dots.  

Great Grandma Tina got to love on Ellie, and loved every second of it.  

See Zachary back there?  He won that dollar beating me in a Peep eating contest.  He was pretty proud, but the poor kid looked like he was going to vomit afterwards.  

E playing with Grandma Kari in Great Grandma Tina's back yard.  

She loved playing in the dirt. 

Emma followed E around the whole time we were there.  Ellie loved her, and they had so much fun together.

Yesterday, we went to the zoo with Brandon, Whitney and John and three of their nieces who were here from St. George.

Ellie rode an elephant on the carousel.   

And remember those pictures I tried to take of Ellie in the park over Easter weekend?  Well, I finally got some of them onto my computer.  Long story short, raw files + MacBook Pro = no dice.  I seriously hate Apple products.  But that's a rant for another day.  

Most of the pictures ended up like this.  She was not a happy camper.   

Don't mind us all squinting into the sunlight.

One of my new favorite pictures.  (I swear I say that every month when a new cute picture of E and her daddy appears.) 

I love these two.  So much.  

I'm not going to make any promises about my next post.  I hope it will be in two weeks when Elliot turns one.  It's been the fastest, craziest, hardest and best year of my entire life.  

P.s.  Tomorrow, three years ago, Clay asked me to marry him.  Best decision I ever made. 

 

We were such babies.  

P.s.s.  I miss this.

A Wedding, Easter and Changes, Changes, Changes

We are still here!  (And sorry in advance for the shoddy cell phone pics.)

I swear I say this every time I update the blog, but MAN.  We have been insanely busy the last several weeks.  I seriously do not remember the last time we had a night at home, just the three of us with no where to go and nothing to do. 

Clay's little brother Collin got married on the 12th.  We spent a few nights up in Syracuse with the fam to help get ready for the big day.  It was a really busy weekend, and I think Ellie is just barely getting back to normal as far as her sleep schedule goes, but the wedding itself was beautiful.  We are really excited to have Miranda join the family - we think she's pretty neat.  Especially Ellie.  I don't know what it is about Miranda, but Ellie LOVES her.  It's adorable.  

Might be my new favorite picture of all time.  I love pictures of Ellie and her daddy.  They melt me.  

Baby Elliot. 

My sister-in-laws, Bekah and Cia, and E, right before the ceremony.  

Easter weekend came and went.  On Saturday night after work, we headed over to my Aunt Janae's house for a barbecue and an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Ellie would pick the eggs up, but didn't understand the concept of sticking them in her basket.  So consequently, she didn't end up with very many eggs.  But she loved being with the other kids and we had a really good time catching up with everyone.  (Plus, my Uncle Adam does a mean barbecue.  Yum.)  I don't have any pictures of this.  I know, I know.  It was Ellie's first Easter egg hunt.  My camera battery was dead, and with all we've had going on I didn't think to charge it.  I don't even think we took a picture with the cell phone cameras. 

The next day (Easter Sunday), I was awoken with a phone call from work asking where I was.  Apparently I had agreed to work from 6 am to noon, but for whatever reason didn't write the shift down in my planner.  Soooo... we woke Ellie up, she opened her Easter basket on our bed while I put makeup on, and I ended up at work from about 930 am to 2 pm.  Clay dressed Ellie in her Easter dress (which just so happened to be the same dress she wore to her Uncle Collin's wedding, haha), and off to church they went.  Later that night, we met up and went to my mom's house for Easter dinner and got to catch up with Grandma Tina, who was here visiting from Colorado.  I then attempted to take Ellie out to my mom's back yard and take some cute pictures of her in her Easter dress, but my step dad had fertilized the yard, so we decided to go to the park to take some pictures.  Ellie wasn't having it.  She was mad.  All in all, Ellie's first Easter was a success.  I can't wait until she gets a little bit older and we can start teaching her the meaning behind these holidays. 

E and her Easter basket.  

Happy Easter!

Taking her irresponsible mother to work!!

There are going to be some huge changes coming up in our lives.  And I'm excited and terrified and loving it and hating it all at the same time. 

First, Clay was offered a position with Sandy City PD.  We are beyond excited for this move and he is so happy to finally start his career.

Second, I received a promotion of sorts at work, and will be moving within the same company in a different position to a different center...  City Creek Shopping Center in Salt Lake.  This promotion is requiring me to go full time, and is a ton of responsibility.  I'm not terribly excited about going back to work full time.  I'm not excited about being away from Ellie at all, but unfortunately it's what's required at this point in our life right now.  The only reason I've been able to stay home with her as much as I have is because my amazing husband worked so much overtime with the Department of Corrections.  Those overtime opportunities aren't going to be available with his new job, so back to work I go.  However, the position itself I'm excited for.  I think it will be good for me.  And in time, I know this will benefit the whole family.

It's worked out kind of nice - the new job for me kind of appeared at the same time the new job for Clay did.  Almost like it was meant to be.  My step mom will have Ellie during the summer while I start work and Clay goes through the Academy.  And starting in the fall we've found someone wonderful to watch Ellie three days a week (who has a little girl just older than E) when we work, and I'm actually really, really happy about that. Happy that I can trust who I'm leaving her with, and happy that it's only three days a week I have to do it.  Plus - Ellie will get some much needed socialization time.  It's going to be an adjustment for us all - but I think the pros outweigh the cons, and that's what I have to remember.  We have really been blessed lately, and I'm grateful.  

If I'm MIA for awhile..... that's why.  I'll be balancing two jobs for the next two weeks, while Clay gets ready to change jobs entirely.  I'm hoping the next time I post will be when E is eleven months old.  The last month before she is one.  I might cry.