Watch me grow

Ellie is ONE!!!

Where has one year gone??? Seems like yesterday I became a mommy. To commemorate the birthday, I rocked my little one to sleep on Septmber 5th for old time sake, cried some tears of joy, and reflected on year one of being a mommy. The next day was full of birthday fun. Breakfast with a candle topped pancake, after lunch cake mashing, and dinner with a candle topped Olive Garden breadstick! We had fun even if Ellie had no idea what was going on and why she was getting so much attention. As for her party........


I spent a lot of time, and by a lot of time, I mean like, oh, um, 3 months. I made the decorations with help of some great friends and made her outfit with some help also! Giraffes were the theme since for a few months there, Ellie was OBSESSED with Sophie the giraffe. You remember the facebook posts, I'm sure (especially the one where Sophie #1 was ran over). Anyway, on to birthday fun.......we had her party at the Keller Smithfield Activity Node, a park here in town. It was hot. Heat index 107. But the kiddos didnt care and thats all the mattered. Jana made the cake with painstakingly care. Missy took the pictures for us - probably one of the most thoughtful and gracious gifts ever. Thanks Cody and Sarah!

The pictures speak for themselves!

What a great celebration!

PS - at Ellie's one year pediatrician appointment she weighed 20 pounds 5 ounces and was 30 inches tall. Still long and lean. She is walking and learning new words everyday. Baby is her favorite word and while she used to distinguish between baby and doggie, now everything is "baby." She also says ball and duck (dup) along with her usual daddy and mama. She is growing and changing everyday and is helping me realize how great life is! God has truly blessed us and I am working hard to remember that everyday!

Photo credit http://www.melissaellenstudios.com/

Psalm 91

It all happened about two weeks ago. Ellie, our normally sound and peaceful sleeper started waking up screaming. Screaming bloody murder, on all fours, with eyes closed. Talk about scare a momma. I mean, what could be wrong? She seems asleep because her eyes are closed yet she is screaming at the top of her lungs as if something hurt her. Jon or I would have to go up in her room, pick her up and rock her back to peaceful sleep. After that, she seemed to be fine....would sleep through the night and wake up happy. I began to pray for peaceful nights but nothing seemed to be working. I was to a point (after two weeks of constant weird waking up screaming) where I didn't know what to pray for anymore....I didn't even know what was wrong. I was frustrated!

On Sunday, I dropped her off in the Barnyard Room at church and the lady asked if we had any prayer requests. Immediately I said, yes, pray for her night terrors (or whatever they are). That night, she woke up once again. I put a CD player by her door and played a God Made Nightime CD for her all night. I was trying to ward off whatever was frightening her. On Monday night I took her back up to church, to the Healing Room and she received prayer once again. The two people who prayed for her, prayed the blood of Jesus over her, prayed protection over her, annointed her, and commanded me to annoint her crib. I was also encouraged to read Ps 91 over her once she falls asleep. This is a Psalm of of protection. So thats what I did....we did it all. And so far, no more night terrors! Praise God. I also had to get to a point where I had the mindset of trusting God, having faith that He would protect her. So there we are! Ellie is safe and mommy is learning to have faith even in the little things.

Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge-
10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.

A conversation with Ellie

Me: "Mommy"

Ellie: "Daddy"

Me: "Mommy"

Ellie: "Da doo"

Me: "Mommy"

Ellie: "Daddy"

***ugh**

lately.....

Whats been going on with us you might ask? Well we have been busy as usual. Raising a kid is hard work.

Recently I took Ellie to a local farm in Keller. Homestead Farms. They raise goats and chickens and have fresh produce. We came away with some Goat's Milk. Yum. Not. But Ellie doesn't seem to mind it. I just add some to her bottles everyday. She's had it straight and at first made a face like, um what is that. But then she kept coming back for more. tee hee. Why goats milk? Because I am not sure whats all in cow's milk after its been pasteurized and all of that. I mean, what is left? What nutrients were whisked away in the process. Alas, the goat's milk. And yes, it is too early to give her milk but oh well. A friend of mine and Ellie's mom away from me (her care taker) introduced me to goat's milk and so there we are.....I give my kid goat's milk. So it sorta seems like I am writing like I talk. Oh well, thats probably because I have been having this conversation a lot -- the one regarding giving goat's milk to my child. I know, its weird. While we are airing out dirty laundry I also forward face her in the car, give her Mott's sugar free applesauce, let her sleep with stuffed animals in her crib, and tonight I put her to bed with a bottle. **gasp** At least half of those are against the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations. Oh well, she looks healthy right???

She is also taking a liking to more table foods. She's had Annie's organic o's (basically spaghetti o's), Annie's cheese ravioli, lamb, pita bread, chicken, cheese slices, crackers, beans, and much more. She used to gag on them or just spit it out. But now she's a big girl!

Lately, like the past week, Ellis has been falling asleep ok but then waking up screaming. Like horrible scream. I have to go up there, get her out of her crib, and rock her to settle her down. It is heart breaking. I am not sure what is waking her up. Jon and I are very quiet downstairs. Who knows if she is waking up scared, having night terrors, or what. I am going to hopefully take her to the healing room at church. If I remember correctly it is a place, or more like a set aside time for you to go and receive prayer. I have emailed a few people to find out when and where so that I can take her. I always pray over her when this happens but I still feel like I should take her. There are a lot of gifted people out there with a huge power of prayer and intercessory (is that a word). Anyway, will keep you posted.

Ellie really cuts into my blogging time....

Tee Hee, but really it is true. I am a horrible blogger because of her. But who wouldnt want to spend every waking moment with a sweet angel like her? Its ok, I'll forgive her. I guess the best way for me to sum up our lives these days would be to make a list....

1. Ellie is now walking along the furniture, unassisted

2. Ellie follows me into the kitchen, by crawling in there (kind of a long way for such a little girl)

3. Her (late) 9 month appointment stats were 17.5 pounds; 28 in (my long & lean girl)

4. She still looooves to swim, she is seriously a fish

5. We started her on "chunkier" foods, aka Stage 3 foods. I puree the food less.

6. Also, she is taking to "solid foods" At first, she didnt like chopped up whole green beans, but

now she is better at it. I put peas and cut up mandarin oranges on her tray and she feeds

herself :)

7. We are starting the weaning process **tear** I'll spend some time explaining that one.

Originally I planned on breastfeeding for the first year. However, when Ellie was 7 months old, I developed mastitis (infection of milk ducts) and my supply took a hit. I spent a month building it back up only to get it again last week. So down goes my supply again. Plus, she is at the age where she would rather play than nurse. And....she is eating more solids now and drinking less milk. But the main reason is that when I am pumping now, I am not able to express all of the milk. My body just isnt responding to the pump anymore. So needless to say, whats the point? I cannot replace what she eats when I am at work. Thus, the weaning process begins. This week I took away the 1200 nursing session. When I am home from work, she gets a bottle of half EBM and half formula. I do not pump. Next week, I'll drop the 1600 feed and the following week I'll drop the 0800 feed. In the meantime, whether I am at home or at work, her bottles are a mix of EBM and formula until I run out of my stored frozen EBM. She'll be on 100% formula in 3 weeks. I am sad. I cried when I gave her her first bottle (from me) on Monday. I know that I'll always be her mom and she'll always need me.....but this is like the last bodily connection. Gosh, first the umbilical cord then the breastfeeding ;) Now I am ok. Still sad, but so thankful we made it 10 months and that she is doing well with it. She is tolerating the formula just fine and isnt crying or refusing the bottle, wondering why isnt mom feeding me. Thank God for that. Ok now back to the list....

8. She has her 2 bottom teeth...came up at the end of May. She was such a trooper! Didnt seem

to affect her too much.

9. She loves to take big girl baths. If she tumps over, I can usually let her figure out how to get

back up.

10. She gets so excited to see the dogs. I think that she has always liked them but now they pay

attention to her. She even shares her food with Raider. He takes it so gently from her hand

and she laughs at his tickling tongue.

11. Jon can really make her laugh these days. There's nothing sweeter than a baby's little laugh.

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! :)