Christmas Came Early

My parents got Ellie Grace this really cool table for Christmas and I couldn't wait another month for it so they graciously gave it to us early. Here she is showing off it's versatility. 

It can be a bench with 2 side chairs.

It can be a desk.

And it can be a table. You can also turn the chair on it's side so an adult may use it.

I love it, love it, love it. I know we are going to get tons of use out of it. We have already been coloring up a storm on it and it is covered in crayon marks but they easily wash off. 

Thank you Mia & Granddaddy!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

More extreme cuteness this past Sunday. 

I love this picture of her. She looks pretty.

The way she's standing sort of reminds me of a prom picture. 

Kissing the bear bye before church.

strolling her baby before church

Ready to go!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Here is Ellie Grace from this past Sunday. There are quite a few pictures but I just couldn't help myself.

She is making sure she is on her mark. I told her to stand on her comb and she did!

She looks so old and like a little woman.

One last look in the mirror before she goes out. She really does like to look in the mirror when she puts a new outfit on. This concerns me greatly.

swiping a wipe from her diaper bag

she can't believe she did it either

Miscellaneous Cuteness Lately

Is this how a pillow pet is supposed to work? :)

rice play

giddy up

hot mess, as aunt whiwhi would say

18 Months Old Report

Ellie Grace turned 18 months old on October 19, 2012. A lot of new stuff is going on with her and we had a well visit with the doc so I thought I would do an update. 

~She weighs 24 lbs and is 31.5" tall. She wears mostly 12-18 months stuff. She can do 18-24 but it's pretty big. 

~She is drinking whole milk from a cup 3 times a day! I never thought it would happen but sure enough it did thanks to the great cup recommendation from our friend Amanda. 

~She eats okay. I would say within the last month she has gotten much more fickle in her eating and she likes to play with it more than eat it sometimes. We are working on fork usage and sometimes when she is able to actually stab something onto the fork she gets so excited and starts flinging the fork around that the food flies off to who knows where. Who can blame her? It is exciting to get food on your fork. When we are eating and she wants to use her fork, she says, "stab." This is because when I'm teaching her how to use it I say, "stab your food."

~She is a very steady walker, runner and climber. She tries to climb a lot. I am torn when she does it between stopping her and just letting her go so I can see what she can do. She is working on jumping and it's very funny to watch her try. She likes it when I jump.  

~She still loves shoes. She wants them on all the time and if there are shoes lying around she will try them on no matter the size. She gets very frustrated if she can't figure out how to put them on or if she does get them on but can't walk in them she gets frustrated.

~She says lots of things, too many to name. She has a very cute voice. 

~We have started coloring. It's not real fun yet. Her idea of coloring is seeing how many crayons she can old in one hand. The way she says color sounds like "caca."

~She is very attached to her lovie. She now has it all the time except when we go outside to play. She has about 6 very similar lovies that will comfort her but she has 2 that are her favorite. One is a bunny lovie and the other, a bear lovie.

~She likes to play, of course. She plays with her baby dolls and gives them hugs and kisses and burps them, complete with fake burp sounds. She has a toy kitchen that has a sink and faucet and out of the blue one day she started pretending to wash her hands in that sink and she continues to do that. She still loves to play with balls. She loves to swing and go for walks. She likes to ride the carousel at the mall. She likes baths. She likes to watch Barney and her baby video. She likes to play wrestle on our bed with her daddy. She likes to brush her own teeth. She likes to weigh herself on our scale. She likes to dance and it is very funny. She likes to play ring around the rosie, she doesn't always participate in the falling down part though, which is essential.

~She's much more into reading lately but she is very particular about which book she wants to read. But, if we manage to get the "right" book, she will sit and listen to it and participate in the reading. 

~She is still doing independent playtime in a pack and play for 45 minutes in the morning and most days does pretty well with it. Soon she will transition to independent playtime in her room, which will be interesting. 

~Something has happened in the last month that I have dreaded for a long time. She has switched from two naps a day to one a day. She now naps once after lunch and it's usually 2 - 2.5 hours. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. It is nice to be able to get out in the morning for a longer period of time. 

~She is very much in love with her paci. I am starting to try and only give it to her at naps and bedtime. It is a sloooow process so far as I am quick to cave in when she wants it. :) I have noticed her sucking on her fingers a lot when she goes for long periods without her paci. She is very skilled at talking and smiling with her paci in. She will also take it out and smile if I ask her to. 

~Just this past weekend, she spent her first night away. She did awesome and it was awesome for us. Distance really did make the heart grow fonder. She was so excited to see us when we picked her up from my parents that she kept trying to lick me. We'll need to work on that. :)

Ellie Grace, we love your sweet, funny little self and are so thankful God chose us to be your parents. 

resting on a bag of her old clothes

paci smile

no paci smile

What's up my Gnomey?

Ellie Grace dressed up as a garden gnome this year. It was so cute, as you can see. :)

I was really surprised that she kept the hat on. I think she knew that it was essential for optimal cuteness. We stopped by the festival at my parents' church and then went to the one at our church. 

sort of a "gnome in the headlights" look

pigeon toed gnome

rear view of a gnome

happy gnome on the run

The bottom of those shoes were so slippery on the wood floor and she almost fell several times. 

Toy Story

Ellie Grace got a new toy! I'm very much a toy person and love it when she gets a new toy, probably more than she does. Well, we have been playing a ton outside since she is taking just one nap a day now and we have more wake time together. Her favorite thing to do is hold 2 golf balls, throw them and watch me chase them so I decided we needed something else to play with out there. 

Hence, the Radio Flyer 4 in 1 tricycle! It's so cool. A child could use it from 9 months to 5 years old. I wish we had gotten it sooner since it's now turning cold. We will bring it inside and ride it, I'm sure. Right now I can push her and she just rides and can rest her feet on the locked pedals. (she can't reach the pedals yet, though) Then, you can take the push handle off, unlock the pedals and it turns into a real tricycle. Of course the safety harnesses come off as well when she gets older. So far it has been great fun. She loves it and calls it her bike. 

Something that is really funny is that the handle bars don't lock and she can steer it. So sometimes she figures that out and she gets to rocking it back and forth and I'm also steering with the push handle trying to fight her steering. That is one downfall to the thing. It makes things interesting though. 

By the way, she still wants the golf balls, she holds them while she rides or puts them in the cup-holder. Why did I ever let her hold golf balls? I guess it could be worse, chasing them is good exercise for me anyway.  :)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Here is Ellie Grace from this past Sunday. She is so funny. I think she is starting to get into having her picture taken. 

she's getting really good at smiling on command

"Hmmm, normally I'm not allowed to have pens. I wonder if he'll notice since he's behind the camera."

We did something funny Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately we have realized that Ellie Grace does so much better when I am not around. If I'm around she just wants me and fusses if she doesn't get me. So, when she woke up from her nap yesterday afternoon I hid in our bedroom until time to go to night church and she and Josh played. (aka Josh watched football while she roamed the house) She was so excited when I came out. It was funny because it was like she wondered where did I come from because I didn't come from outside. 

pardon my silliness

It seems that Josh as a strange aversion to putting her pajamas on correctly. This is how he had put them on when I made my appearance Sunday evening.  

And, since she was so seasonally appropriate last night I took her picture before night church.