9 Months Old

Another month gone by and as with every other thus far, this age is our favorite stage :)

Her 9-month appointment went great! The doctor said she was impressed with both Ellie's physical and social skills as she waved and babbled and explored every inch of the room. She measured at 27 3/4 inches long and 17,6 lbs.

MOBILE--- About a week after Ellie turned 8 months old, she was very motivated to play with her toy teapot and crawled! Both mommy and daddy got to witness the milestone, which made it even sweeter! Like most things, when she figured it out, she was all in and is now crawling allover the house and exploring every inch of our home. Our pup Bailey has recently become her favorite 'toy' to chase after. Thank goodness Ellie shares enough of her meals so Bailey tolerates her ;)
Just this last week, our little lady began pulling up on everything within reach! She wants us to help her walk across the room and has begun pushing her activity table across the room on her own. There's no stopping our busy little lady now!

Schedule Change--- Our 3-a-day nursing didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Elizabeth began to eat a LOT at lunch (when we'd cut out the noon 'bottle'), so I could tell she was quite hungry. She also stopped drinking as much milk at each feeding, so that confirmed the need for more at some point; thus, we're back to 4 'bottles' per day. She nurses at roughly 8--12--4--8 and we do solids at about 9---1---6. She seems less and less interested in nursing each day. We're down to about 5 minutes total. We've tested it out with a bottle and she only seems to take about 3-4 ounces from those. To make up for this, we've started adding more milk to her oatmeal for breakfast and giving her milk in her sippy throughout the day.

SIPPY CUP---She LOVES her sippy cup! Our big girl would rather drink out of our water bottles than anything else though so we've just ordered her a straw sippy cup. She's only had this a couple days but so far, seems to be confused with the difference in her own cups. She has mastered the straw from our cups but she still tries to tip up her own straw sippy. I have no doubt she'll have them figured out in no time.

8 Months...already?!

When they say the time flies by, it's no joke! I cannot believe our baby girl is already 8 months old! 

Eating---She's a big eater! Making Ellie's purees myself has been going great. I typically find the time to cook/prepare/freeze it all during naps, after she goes to bed or on the weekends while Steve plays with her. She's not a big fan of too many veggies on their own so I've been mixing them with fruit purees (heavier on the veggies usually). I need her to get servings of both anyway so it doesn't bother me much. She's not too interested in meats like chicken or ham and anything off mom or dad's plate is always better than what she's getting! Among her favorites are sweet potatoes, cinnamon apples, combos of avocado/banana or kale/banana/pear.
On the note of making your own foods, I highly recommend talking about your trials and errors with other friends who also make their own! It's helpful to get tips and new combo ideas from others---- just like swapping recipes :)

Schedule Change!---Our girl is very routine like her momma! I could tell you almost on the dot when she'd be hungry, ready for a nap, likely to wake up, etc. But a couple weeks ago when we decided to switch it up on her when she began refusing a bottle. We're thinking that with her eating every two hours that maybe she just wasn't hungry enough so willing to wait until she got what she preferred (aka, mom). Though I'm extremely grateful I am still able to nurse and absolutely love being with Elizabeth constantly, I know there are times a bottle will need to be or will be the only option. Particularly, Steve and I signed up for a marriage retreat with our church in a few weeks, room already paid for, and really didn't want to cancel because our stubborn darling needs her momma for food. Instead of her typical 8, 12, 4, 8 nursings (also getting solid meals at 10, 2, 6), we cut out the 2 feeding and swapped nursing at noon for solids. With her nearing a year and the inevitable weaning process, I figured now is as good of a time as any to steer away from eating every two hours (which to me seems crazy!). Surprisingly to us, she seemed to adjust to the new feedings rather well! Her napping was a little off in the afternoon for a couple days (I think because she was confused), but she's now transitioned to her new schedule quite nicely! She eats her solid meals about the same time we do to also (hopefully) help with the weaning process later on this year. After a few rough attempts by a relentless Steve, hiding momma and stubborn baby girl, she's now taking the bottle again!
For the record, moms, I did not come to this schedule change easily! If you're like me, I wondered how moms are able to wean their baby so easily or how I know she's actually eating enough! Rest assured, you're not the only one who stresses over this! I consulted with several friends about what their schedules were like and how much their baby was eating. Unfortunately, I found that the annoying phrase we hear over and over again sheds its light on this one ---"every baby is different." I've found the best I could do was give it a try and see how she did. I can only do my best for Ellie and that's what I will continue to do and try to focus on with both her schedule and every other decision Steve and I try to make for her.

Teething---Talk about wanting to start the new year off with a bang! Miss Elizabeth woke up New Year's Day with two adorable bottom teeth! The poor girl has had a horrible time with pain as they broke through and is quite hesitant to let our fingers anywhere near them but they're so adorable when she smiles big and we see them gleaming through. I just love them! She's been restless at night, a little more fussy, and chewing on her thumb---all signs before her first two teeth---so I have a feeling we may be seeing another tooth in our near future. Fingers crossed that we can make it through the next few months without her trying to bite me :/
On that note, breastfeeding is still going well! Our efficient little lady only eats for about 6-9 minutes at a typical feeding then wants to talk or play around. I've been pumping a little extra in the mornings before she wakes up for her oatmeal and to freeze at week-end. My goal is to make it to one year before I begin weaning her off the 3 nursing sessions she has. I'm honestly getting a little nervous about it already---partly because I'm worried of how she'll transition but mostly because I know I'll miss the bonding with her. Ellie is very busy and active (and she's not even crawling yet!) so while I'm nursing is the most snuggly she ever is and it's just 'Ellie and I' time. I cherish my quiet moments with my favorite person.

Waving and clapping are her new favorite things to do this month! She waves at Bailey constantly! We are of course constantly coaxing her to do them both because it's just so darn cute! She's also been very fascinated with sticking her tongue out for the last couple months. We think it's the cutest thing! (as if we think anything she does isn't cute?)

I've been stocking up on next fall/winter clothes! With it being the end of the season, I've hit up several good deals! The Gap has some awesome deals on winter apparel right now. Let's just hope my estimate for 18-24 month clothing next fall/winter is accurate :)

Ellie's first trip!

Elizabeth went on her first vacation the weekend after Christmas! We took the train to Chicago with my side of the family and had such an amazing time! The babies did wonderfully on the train ride and for the entire trip! We went to the Shedd aquarium, out to eat, the boys went to the Bulls game and Steve, Caleb, Lauren and I braved the cold for the Bears/Packers game while Grandma and PawPaw had some quality baby time! The best part of the trip were the times we all just hung out at the hotel watching the babies play and chatting. It was relaxing and fun to be together! I'm so thankful for such an amazing family :)

This trip definitely was encouraging for future vacations with our great little traveler! We look forward to many more with both sides of our family as well as on our own!

7 Months!

Well, I'm behind on the blog, oops! Elizabeth's seventh month was a whirlwind full of the holidays, family time and lots of fun! Our baby girl was shown an overwhelming amount of love from her family and friends this season--- so much so that I think we should have taken out stock in a toy store :) We are so grateful for the new wardrobe and entertainment Elizabeth was showered with but more than anything, are blessed to have spent the holidays with our amazing family.

We shared and began some holiday traditions with Elizabeth for her first Christmas--- watching her mommy's favorites---Rudolph and Elf, helping her daddy put the star on top of the tree, opening a gift on Christmas Eve of holiday pj's and a movie to watch as a family after reading the Christmas story with her (it's never too early to teach her the real meaning of Christmas!). She was more interactive with opening gifts than we expected. She was excited about the boxes and eating the paper mostly but was anxious to look inside boxes and see what her cousins were opening throughout.

We took Ellie to get her picture with Santa this year by herself and with both her cousins. At Christmas, as throughout the rest of the year, we're so happy to see her and her cousins play together and are anxious what future holidays will hold for them.

Elizabeth experienced her first snow this year as well! We got about a foot of snow for her to play in and more than enough for her daddy to make her a snowman! We didn't keep her out long to prevent her from being too cold but she seemed fascinated with the flurry white stuff that was out of her normal scenic view :)

These days, Elizabeth loves sticking out her tongue, helping with the laundry as she wants to play underneath and peek through the holes, Harry the Bunny, her singing Rudolph and smiling!

A few holiday pictures as well because they're so darn cute...

Helping daddy with the star...

learning to open her gifts...

hiding under the basket...

she LOVES books! 

she loves her cousin Landyn...

PawPaw reading the Christmas story...

Rudolph with Mommy...

she also loves her cousin Jax!

6 Months

6 months...little behind but better late than never!

Our lady is still growing like a weed! We had her checkup and again, the doctor tells us our girl is perfect--- as if we didn't know that ;)  She measured in at 26 1/4" and 15.7 lbs--- skinny, long-legged lady! As usual, she showed off for her doctor too--- sitting up like a big girl and talking away! The doctor swore she said 'hi' to her. I knew it was just her adorable cooing but it's still good for my ego to hear her commend Ellie!

Sitting up--- Ellie's sitting up like a big girl! She gets more stable everyday but still topples over every once in awhile. I've been placing a couple pillows behind her so the falls don't scare her as much as they used to. I do let her fall though and just say 'uh oh!' instead of getting worked up. I want to get a good start on learning to walk/play and teach her that falling is okay. We just get back up again!

Eating--- At about 6 months, I started breaking up Puffs for Ellie to snack on. We started out breaking them into thirds and feeding to her but she's starting to get the hang of grabbing them herself. The puffs have been a great way to keep her occupied while we're eating. When we eat, she wants it, so anything helps!
She's pretty funny about them though. Tonight I put a pile of them on her bumbo tray. Ironically, everything goes into her mouth yet she can't seem to get incredibly coordinated with putting the puffs in her mouth. To solve that problem, she just put her mouth straight to the tray tonight to pick up the puff pieces! Smart girl!
I started letting her sample some of our foods this week as well. For example, on Saturday she had pieces of a tomato and this morning, I gave her part of my muffin. She loves food! I'm pretty picky about what I give her for now but gradually, she'll get a pretty good variety.
We gave her her sippy cup a couple weeks ago as well. It's become one of her new favorite toys. She chews on it and plays around with it. I think she's starting to figure out how to get the liquid out of it though. At first, she saw the water in the bottom and started to chew on the bottom. I think that's pretty smart, but obviously, it's not getting the job done. I've started drinking out of a lidded cup so she can watch mommy drink the way she needs to. Today I put some Pedialite in it and the level did go down some so she's getting there. I usually only put a few ounces of water in the cup though and try to wash it every couple days since those slobbery germs can build up.

Unfortunately, she caught some sort of viral tummy bug. She had diarrhea 5 times over a 40 hour period combined with some fussiness and restless sleep. The poor girl! I'd be miserable if I had that. She didn't have a fever or many other symptoms, so I was recommended to put half a capsule of Culturelle on her food and some Pedialite.

Sleeping--- Ellie's still sleeping great! She goes down around 8ish at night and sleeps until about 7:30-8 the next morning! She typically naps a couple hours in the morning 10-12 then an afternoon nap as well that ranges from 45 mins-2 hours. She's eliminated her evening nap lately depending on the length of her second nap. Playing in the jumper tends to wear her out and put her to sleep easier!

Moving!--- We do have wood floor and she plays on mats more often than the carpet making it much easier BUT our girl has started a little bit of scooting! She pushes herself around in a circle and backward in small amounts to get to the toys she wants. She sometimes forgets she call roll, which seems odd to me. She'll roll randomly but when she gets frustrated she just fusses until I help her. When I do help, I use it as a teaching moment like we did in the beginning instead of just doing it for her. I'd prefer to help discourage laziness :)

Our beautiful little lady is still as happy as ever! She gets more beautiful and more personality everyday! We're absolutely loving watching her grow.....

I have to include a picture from Ellie's first Halloween as well! She was the cutest little bunny I've ever seen!

5 Months

How does each month seem to fly by faster than the last?! Our little girl keeps exceeding our expectations of development and cuteness!

Pacifier update--- Our girl LOVES her pacifier! Sometimes she wakes up and as long as she gets it back, she falls back to sleep. This prompted us to teach her to put it in her mouth herself. We started working with her by using her own hand to find the pacifier and guide it back to her mouth. If she wants it, we hand it to her instead of simply putting it in her mouth. She caught on pretty quickly. Sometimes she still has trouble twisting and turning to get it straight and if she gets too frustrated, she won't but she's getting really good with it! If she didn't wiggle so much during the night, we'd load her crib with them in the night for her to find herself.

Starting solids--- We started on solids when Ellie turned four months old. She'd been watching us eat for too long and had begun waking up once during the night for 'the party in Ellie's crib' as I call it (she'd wake up and just play with her feet and talk for several minutes before falling back to sleep---pretty entertaining but not a habit we'd like to continue at 2am). The doctor seemed to think she might be starting to get hungry and starting solids would help. We started with rice cereal in the evening for about 10 days. Unfortunately, our usually regular baby became quite constipated. We decided to switch to oatmeal and see if it would help---it did! After the 10 days, we stuck with oatmeal in the evening and started veggies around lunchtime. We wanted to begin with veggies before fruit so she wouldn't refuse the veggies after receiving sweet tastes. So far: green beans are a no- she literally cried; peas- one day, no and the next meh; carrots went well; sweet potatoes are a hit; acorn squash- no;  avocado- good. We're going to circle through the veggies again before we start the fruit and hope they go well!
I've been making my own food so far and am pretty happy with it thus far. I don't mind making it as I can find the time in the evenings and am already buying the food for Steve and I. This way, I know exactly what is in Ellie's food and it seems to be cheaper so far.

Sitting up!--- Big girl decided she wanted to sit up last week! We were watching the Little Mermaid (which she loves!) and I usually hold her up, but this day, she wanted to do it herself. She leans over on her hands and stays for a short time but I have a feeling, it'll be no time at all before she's really sitting up on her own! She's growing way too quickly!

Everything goes straight to her mouth these days!

Big girl : )

Heaven gained a new angel...

This week we will say goodbye to my wonderful Grandma Chism. I've dreaded this day and none of us were prepared for this so soon. Last Thursday was likely one of the hardest days of my life and I know when I see her at the funeral this Friday will be worse. It came as a complete shock causing all the thoughts of "I wish I had...."
I talked to my grandma more than some of my best friends. We were incredibly close and spoke every couple weeks just to check in and catch up. I didn't see her as often as I would have liked but she was a huge part of my life. It's always the little things that mean the most--- eating Krispy Kremes until we felt sick when I had a random craving while pregnant (about 2.5, ha), she taught me to make her famous caramels, bonded over our love for scrap-booking, swapped recipes and cleaning tips (cleaning tips always came from her; Dad would say that Grandma mopped the floor until the water in the bucket was clean!), and just chatting like friends.
My grandma was certainly one of a kind! You never had to wonder what she was thinking; she told you. You never had to wonder if she approved; she let you know. I never wondered if she loved me; with all her heart. My grandma certainly did her share of complaining and didn't get along with everyone but goodness, the woman knew how to love. She thought the world of her sons and grandchildren and would tell any stranger how they all walked on water. I can remember taking her to a doctor's appointment while I was pregnant with Elizabeth. She couldn't contain herself from telling a stranger on an elevator that I was carrying her precious fifth great-grandchild and what a wonderful mother her granddaughter would be. After Ellie was born, she told me every time we spoke what a great mother I am. It means so much to know I made her proud.
While I can regret not taking a picture the last time my grandma held Elizabeth or calling her last week for the last time, I am trying my best to focus on all the wonderful times we spent together. I did learn to make her caramels so I can make them at Christmas for grandpa and our family to enjoy. I told her I loved her and heard her say it often. I have a picture of her holding my baby girl. I know she's now at peace and in paradise.
I could not be more thankful that Elizabeth and Landyn met their great-grandmother. Elizabeth snuggles with the blanket she made her each night and my brother and I will be sure they both know what a wonderful woman she was. My grandma loved Elizabeth and Landyn and couldn't wait to watch them grow. I'm thankful my grandpa will be able to do so. I have no doubt that we will all see her again one day in Heaven. I miss you already, Grandma and hope you're living it up pain-free with your mom and dad in Heaven. Wait for us. We'll see you again someday :)