Ellie's a Water Baby

You know how it is like, oh, 90 something degrees in Texas right now?!?!? Well since its getting hot, it's high time Ellie learned how to spend some of these hot summer days in the pool. Jon and I bought Ellie a little backyard pool one day and about a week ago we put her in it. She has been taking a "big girl bath" so "swimming" in a pool was no different. Well, except for the pool water is cooler. Anyways, she loved it. I put some bath toys in there and she sat there, splashed, crawled around the pool, all of that fun stuff. I am sure she is going to grow up loving the pool.

Today, I took her the the real pool. She loved it! Even though the water was a tad cold. It was mid 80's out today; I guess because it was overcast. We went anyway. We went to Wendy's neighborhood pool, threw the floaties in the water and put the girls in 'em. Both Ellie and Hayden seemed to enjoy the water. Both splashed and laughed. We though that we'd keep them in the kiddie pool, but for whatever reason the kiddie pool water seemed colder than the regular pool water. They stayed in for a little while and then got out to have snacks. Baby Mum-Mums of course. It was high past nap time, so we left. But since both the girls did great, we'll be going back soon. Ellie was so wiped out from the fun that she went to bed at 6:30 pm and is still asleep (it's 11:00 as I type this)

It is so much fun to watch her grow up and get to do all of these things. I am so blessed to be able to show her the world. Speaking of growing up.....Ellie now crawls (very well, I might add), pulls up on things into a standing postion (funny to watch), and is eating a TON of food. She still mostly eats purees but the amount she is taking in is crazy. She also gets snacks now - Baby Mum Mum's (melt in your mouth cracker things), baby puffs, and cooked baby carrots. She's an eater for sure! :)

TCU and Texas Tech Spring Games

Every year Jon and I go to the spring games for the two schools I went to. The spring games are like a practice football game that fans can attend. The games are totally rigged but it is still fun. Afterwards, the players usually sign autographs, that Jon proudly displays on his game room wall. If you have ever been to our house, you know what I am talking about.

This year, the TCU game was first. Jon's parents came as well and I spent very little time watching the game and more time paying attention to Ellie. Ellie was really good and enjoyed watching real life players run all over the field, as opposed to on a TV screen. We pulled her stroller down to an open aisle and she just hung out. She even ate her baby food. A big wow since she is usually easily distracted. Unfortunately, she was not sporting a TCU onsie because she has grown out of her only one. We of course, bought her a new one when we were there!

The weekend afterwards, we all made the trek to Lubbock, TX. Jon booked us a room at The Overton Hotel - the latest and greatest thing to hit the other cow town. Usually we stay at some less than par hotel because, well, that's Lubbock, TX for ya. But this year was a treat! We stayed on the 13th floor of a 15 floor hotel and had to scan our room key to even get the elevator to take us up to that floor. (Sarcastic tone here) --- We were hiiigh rollers. We had separate breakfast from floors 1-12 and had a special turn down service where we got cookies and they turned on a sleeping sound machine. LOL. Ok, all sarcasm aside, it was a really nice place and within walking distance to the football stadium. When we rolled into cow town, the weather was very unexpected - cold, windy, rainy. Needless to say, we had to make a trip to Babies R Us and the mall to get proper clothes for Ellie and I. We also bought a rain slicker for Ellie's stroller. We were hoping that would protect her from the elements and she would be able to enjoy the spring game. Wrong. When we got there on Saturday morning, it was soooo windy that I could barely stand it. There was no way that I could safely pull Ellie out of the stroller without her for sure getting sick! Her and I stayed at the spring game for oh, about 15 minutes and then made our way to the car to play there. Jon stayed at the stadium and froze but still enjoyed himself. Ellie and I just hung out in the car, but we didn't mind. I kept us busy by nursing her, playing with her, teaching her how to use her sippy cup, talking on the phone to Wendy, driving Ellie around when she took a nap.....and then Jon was done and we left. He he :) Too bad I didn't get to show Ellie off, because she was the cutest Red Raider I have ever seen! She had a TTU onsie and a cute red and black hat. We ate out, shopped for Tech gear and just had a fun time as a family. It was really great! The only down side was giving Ellie a bath in the small bathroom sink because all they had was a shower, no tub. She did not enjoy. And then I had to do it again at 1130 pm because she threw up in her sleep (random). She enjoyed that sink bath even less. She was like, uh mom why are you putting me in here, I was sleeping?!?!?!? I let her sleep with us the rest of the night and then took a shower with her the next morning. There was something about that fast 1130 pm sink bath that just didn't get all the nasty off. Boy, did she looove a shower. I was afraid she wouldn't like the water hitting her, but nope, she loved it. Of course I had to have Jon's help because she got slippery fast. Anyway, her favorite blankey was ruined by throw up and the hotels laundry service was only M-F. Boo. Jon had to clean the blankey in the shower and then wring it out frequently so that it would dry for her by Saturday night. All this wringing out made the blankey extra long. So now Jon says she can use it until she is 18 :) Anyway, I leave you with some pics from the weekend.

We love her soo much! Our sweet, future Red Raider!!!

Man, it has been a while

Little Ellie has been keeping me so busy, obviously! It has been over a month since my last post. I am going to try to be better, I promise. Ellie has been dedicated to the Lord, she's turned 6 months, she's had her first Easter, and much more!

Her baby dedication was in the middle of March, at our church home Gateway. It was during the morning service and a lot of her family came to see it. We stood up at the front of the congregation with many other families who were dedicating their little ones to God as well. She was prayed over and loved on by many family members.

Here is Ellies 6 month picture. Every month, I take a picture of her and it has been fun to see her grow. As I am writing this (very late) I am laughing because now her pictures are taken sitting up. I am not quite sure what I am going to do when she is too big to sit in the Boppy.

Ellie's first Easter was great! Except for me scheduling myself to work ALL weekend. Luckily, another nurse agreed to come in early for me on Saturday, so we could still go to church as a family. Ellie had a very sweet pink and white dress and enjoyed her first Easter basket. On my way home from work on that Saturday, I realized I had forgotten to get her a bow that matched the pink of her dress. What a bad mommy. Thankfully, there is a place very close to our house and on the way home that carries bows! I rushed in, matched the pink and made her look adorable. She loved holding onto that lamb stuffed animal (given to her by grandparents in an Easter basket), but quickly Raider mistook it for his doggie toy lamb and her lamb was toast!

This post is getting a little long for me to work with, so I'll close for now and pick up where I left off!

Since the last time I wrote....

......Ellie has mastered the back-to-front roll over and we have ventured into homemade organic baby food.

I'll start from the beginning. Ellie learned the back-to-front roll over one day while she was home with daddy and I was at work. **tear** I missed it. I kept waiting and waiting for her to do it for me. Dang it, it took about a week and a half for me to witness it with my own eyes!! Now she is a rolling machine, moving all over the place. It was even waking her up in the middle of the night. I guess she would roll over on her tummy and then not really know how to get back, even though she mastered the front-to-back roll first. Whatever it was, it was waking her up and sometimes she'd go back to sleep and sometimes not. I'd have to go up there and flip her back over and she'd be fine. During the time I was waiting to see her roll over with my own eyes, I walked into her room to find this --

Now Ellie is a rolling machine! Ok next topic. Even back to when I was pregnant with Ellie, I knew that I wanted to make her food. And I knew that I wanted it to be organic. My friend, Wendy was given the Beaba BabyCook Baby Food Maker. I had heard of this food processor, or sorts and decided to get one for myself too. They retail for $150 but I got mine on Ebay. It came with the food processor, cook book, and 2 food storage containers. Together, those retail for $210 but I got it all for $120. I was so shocked and thankful to God for providing me with this deal! Sweet potatoes are what I tried out first. I had to make one potato at a time, but all in all it took about 10-15 minutes each. All you do is, peel it, cut it, steam it, mash it, and viola! I dished the potato out into the storage things to freeze them. The storage container is silicone, so once frozen, I popped them out and transferred them to a storage Ziploc. I have yet to use the BabyCook again, but Ellie is still learning to eat, so we haven't used that many servings. Pics below are of the process. Ellie helped by riding in the baby bjorn while I drank and glass of wine and made pureed sweet potatoes. What an evening!

So far, Ellie has eated Oatmeal (not homemade but still organic), Sweet Potatoes, and Peas. She loved them all once she warmed up to the idea of eating solids. So far, no weird reactions to foods. At first, I thought they were upsetting her tummy because she was gassy and I had to sleep with her one night (she seemed to be in so much pain and the only way I could get her to fall asleep was with me). Who knows if it was the solids or not?!?!? Want to see some pics of her enjoying solids? She is so cute!

Day of Love

snow day....2010

Supposedly it was the most snow North Texas has had in 35 some odd years. It was crazy, the snow just kept coming and coming and coming. All day long. I bundled up Ellie and took her out there....just to take her picture. She's too little to be out there for real, you know. Every house with a kiddo had a snowman. They were so cute. I cant wait until Ellie is old enough to play outside like that. She is the love of my life, I am blessed to be her mommy and see her grow up.

5 months old

It's sooooo bittersweet with each passing month. I cannot believe that Ellie has been a part of my life for 5 months now. She is growing so fast and is a constant reminder of God's love for me. I love her so much and know that I am one of those people who could stay home with their child all the time. She is at that age where I dont want a break from her. **Just wait until she is 2, then I might need one** Haha! Anyway, she had her pictures done the other day..... rough starting out but then her sweet side came out. Ahhh, I just love her so much.