an early Christmas with friends

Last night we celebrated Christmas early with some of our friends. This year makes it our second Christmas season in Idaho and second year celebrating early with a few of our closest friends.
The evening started with sharing some tasty food at our friends house. Then we headed out to the botanical garden's, Winter Garden aGlow.
A few of us were especially excited to see the garden lit up with 300,000 sparkling lights! And we weren't disappointed. It was beautiful and despite it being chilly, we enjoyed ourselves. Thankfully there was some hot cocoa, cider and little fire pits disperesd around as well, to temporarily thaw us out. Ellie was intrigued by the lights and it was neat to see her focus on the little, and big, ones intwined around the garden. Sometimes she would crane her head around, as well as arch her head and back to look at the lights. I love how having a kid makes things more exciting and makes you appreciate more. This was just many of 'firsts' for her and we can't wait for all the others she will experience.
After walking around for awhile we headed back to the house to put Ellie down (she's such a champ going down in the pack n' play somewhere else). And us adults could finish the night off in a warm house! Some treats were put out and then we exchanged gifts with some holiday music playing in the background.
Fun night with some fun people! We appreciate them all and are grateful for their friendship which is the best gift of all, not to be cheesy...but it's true!

Sadly there weren't ANY photos taken at the house, but we did capture some shots at the garden.

^^Not the greatest of shots, but here's a bit of the garden!

^^We aren't totally set up on winter gear for Ellie, so we were piecing together things for her wear. Funny enough I had some old school mittens from when I was little she could wear. 

So don't judge that awesome outfit of hers...

see those lovely brown, red and beige mittens peeking out?! 

And I love how she was arching her back so she could get a good look of the lights around!

Thanksgiving in Oregon

I had wanted to get this posted last week. But I needed to recoup from the trip and within a couple days of being home, both Ellie and I came down with a cold. Stuffy/runny noses, sore throats and some coughs got the best of us and our girl needed some extra attention. Plus, my brother-in-law came to town for a few days. So, life got the best of me hence the late post. But I wanted to get it documented! Here it is...

For awhile now I wanted to make it back to my home town in Oregon for Thanksgiving. We already had plans to spend Christmas in Alaska with Steven's side of the family, so who knew when there would be a prime chance to have all my family on my moms side together. But, Steven had to work the grave yard shift Thanksgiving Eve and was "on-call" to work part of Thanksgiving Day, and then work his normal Friday-Sunday shifts. Of course I wanted to spend the few hours we would have together for Thanksgiving since it was Ellie's first; I wanted it to be spent as a complete family. But after having more talks with Steven and my mom, we all decided it would be good for Ellie and I to spend it with my family in Grants Pass. Even till the day of Thanksgiving I was torn and a little sad to not be with Steven. He however isn't as sentimental as I am and he stayed strong for the both of us ; )
I also hadn't flown alone with Ellie (we had all flown to Alaska when she was 4 months old). I do don't like flying for the most part. My ears get plugged a lot of the time and I always think of the movie Final Destination where the plane blows up, the show Lost where they plummet thousands of feet to a "deserted" island (I know, I know, we weren't flying over the ocean, but still...), and any other show or story I've seen/heard of planes crashing. Irrational I know, since flying is the safest mode of traveling (they say), but when there's an accident it seems more terrifying then another. With all that said, I get stressed and kind of freak out inside if there's any turbulence. I said many little prayers leading up to our flights and during. My focus was on Ellie the whole time, wanting to make sure she was well taken care of, and she did better than what I hoped for!!

Both going and coming back, the flights were during her second nap time. I thought it could work out great or totally back fire-having a restless/crabby girl on my hands. She landed sorta in between both of those; fighting a nap for only a minute and staying asleep for 20-35 minutes. If she sensed the elevation changes, she didn't show it one bit. I was able to keep her occupied and entertained with nursing, feeding her puffs, letting her play with the window, and introducing a new book and toy. Plus she interacted with the people we sat next to (she's a shy and friendly girl). Altogether the flights are only a couple hours and they went fast. AND there wasn't any turbulence (thank you Jesus!). I was amazed with how well she did and am grateful. It could have been a loooong couple hours.

Once we landed, family time seemed non-stop all week(end). I have a decent size family and they are fun, loving and crazy! There is no shortage of laughing when you're together and us girls felt loved. 4 generations were together to celebrate the holiday, which was pretty special. Ellie likes being around people, but can take a little bit to warm up. She just watches people for awhile and doesn't let out her normal personality till a little later. If I stayed close by, she did well with letting others hold her, but she didn't give out a ton of smiles. However, boy did she get excited a couple times when her cousins were around. It's like she knows they are young and wants to be close by them.

I also wondered if her schedule would be messed up with there being a one hour time change and if she would have a hard time winding down for nap/bedtime. We were also sleeping in the same room and I wondered if she would realize I was close by and have a hard time falling back asleep if she woke and saw me. The time change didn't faze her and she woke and slept like she normally would (i.e. waking between 6:30/7am like she does at home). I was also able to stay hidden in the bed while she slept/woke in the pack n' play. People had fun watching her through the baby monitor, while she wound down for sleep; her standing/rolling around and talking can be entertaining.

Every day we were there was spent hanging out with family and we soaked it up (missing Steven all the same). The three of us were able to FaceTime a couple times, which Ellie was only intrigued with for a few moments. It was fulfilling none the less.

Thank you mom and step-dad for making our stay enjoyable and memorable! I am so glad we've been able to see family the same amount of times, if not more, this year than adding the visits we had over the last 6 years!

Lots of posed family pictures where attempted. But with all that was going on around us, it could be hard for everyone to look at the camera at the same time. And usualy if Ellie was really happy, she would be a blurry mess, moving with excitement. I think in the future, more candid moments should be taken, because lets be real, getting kids (especially a 10 month old) to "cooperate" for pictures is hard work! Here's just some of the pictures from our trip...

^^ 4 generations of ladies together for Thanksgiving

^^ Ellie's First Thanksgiving

^^ playing with her new toy bee Grammy and Grandpa got her.

It would say bye-bye before it turned off and Ellie would wave bye-bye to it!

^^ Ellie had her first bath in the kitchen sink! This is after and I love this face!

^^ With her Great Grandpa

^^ Another 4 generations together!

^^ Great Grandparents

^^ Great Uncle and Aunt (and literally)

^^ Ellie's second cousin

^^ more Great Grandparents

^^ another Great Aunt (and literally)

^^ hanging out with some of our cousins

^^ Ellie's Grammy 

^^ Flying champ right there. We were really happy to be going home to her daddy!

10 months

I posted way more photos than I normally do because I couldn't pick and wanted you to see some of the many faces of Ellie. Enjoy!

 

 

Size: 3 diapers. She's in most her 6 month clothes still (but has grown out of some) and then in clothes ranging in size to 12 month! When she stands or is laying down, she looks soo big, even though she's still petite for her age. No appointment this month to update her weight or height.

Eyes: They seem to be staying dark blue/green/grey with some hints of brown...maybe a shade of hazel? They are unique that's for sure and aren't like Steven or I's.

Hair: Long, long, long, auburn and a little wavy! More is growing in around her hairline, too so...maybe she won't have as big of a forehead (ha). And all I can seem to do with it is put it to the side with a clip or up in a side pony. It's really hard to get her to hold still, no matter what we do, or try to distract her with. Therefore, those two hair styles will have to do for now!

Sleep: This section is basically the same as last month. One thing we are able to do is talk through the baby monitor, telling Ellie to lay down (if she has been playing/standing in crib for 15 minutes or so) and she will listen and stay down (most of the time)! The first couple times we did it, she knelt down peering through the crib rails like she was caught and looked out to see who was in the room, and then she'd lay down after a few seconds. It was hilarious and when she plops down now, it's pretty amusing. Such a good listener and sleeper! There has been a few times where she's whimpered/cried in her sleep for a few minutes, like she was having a bad dream. It was of course sad when it happened and I've gone in a couple times to rub her back, soothing her. Overall, she is amazing at sleep and I try not getting irritated those days where she won't nap superb. Plus, she has a cold right now, so getting completely comfortable has been hard for her the last few days, understandably.

Eating: Her appetite has certainly gotten bigger. I'm still nursing her 6 times a day and feeding her solids 3 times a day. But the amount of solids she wants, has increased; she acts like we starve her! I haven't introduced many new foods besides oranges, strawberry and spinach. I'm needing to get creative, because she loves and swallows the stage 2/sitter foods like they are liquid (which they basically are) and would eat more, BUT she's not a fan of the stage 3/crawler foods. I think because of the texture and taste. They also seem to put a lot of seasoning in the dinner type ones and the chunks are weird/hard for her to "chew"... still NO teeth (?!?!?!?). We have given her some soft/small pieces of our food and she likes that. But she seems to be particular about the texture; she'll kind of gag even when they are tiny pieces mixed in with the pureed food. So I just need to experiment with what foods she will try and like. It hasn't been an easy transition and there's been plenty of wasted food : /
(I'll take any advice anyone has to offer!)

Milestones/accomplishments:

• Kneels on one knee and kind of sits on the other leg, like she's getting ready to stand
• Has stood up in the middle of the floor on own
• Has taken one and two steps at a time, several times! We think she'll be totally walking be her first birthday!
• Can walk with just holding one of our hands
• Waves hi and bye bye, but not consistently 
• Added more words to her "vocabulary": mama (my heart bursts when she says it, even though I don't think she's made the actual connection, but I'll take it), bye bye (be be), dog (doh), banana (nana), more (mo). None of these are consistent either and can take a lot of coaxing to get out of her. But at least she is trying to repeat us!
• Points at things and babbles
• Knows when you hide something under a blanket or pillow and gets it. Things aren't really out of sight and out of mind now

Likes:

• Taking sunglasses off your face and playing with them
• Her dads hat. She takes that off of him, too and plays with it/eats it
• When we say "I'm going to get you!". She crawls away super fast, or if she's standing along the furniture, she tries to walk along it fast. Her laugh and squeals are adorable!
• Riding in carts at the store
• Pulling books off the shelves
• Clapping

Dislikes:

• Something getting taken out of her hand; she's getting an opinion about things 
• Getting diaper changed (unless she's got a full belly or a cool toy in hand)
• When we're eating and she's not

Some additional things I want to remember:

How her middle and ring finger tips (on just right hand) seem to be permanently wrinkled from her sucking on them during naps and bedtime. How she'll sometimes crawl into my lap, lay her head on my shoulder and suck her two fingers, all on her own, when it's close (or time) to go down for nap or bedtime. Her cuddles before we put her down for sleep. The way she steps/digs her right heel down when we help her walk. How she curls in her bottom lip sometimes when she says "mama". How she sits on her knees and bounces up and down. How she'll laugh when other people are laughing. Gets shy around newer people sometimes (she'll smile and then bury her face in my shoulder). 

I know I say this a lot, but I can't believe in 2 months she will be a year old!?!?!? It's been so fun watching her learn and take in the world around her. Being a mom has been so fulfilling and an amazing gift.

9 months

Size: Wearing size 3 diapers still. As far as clothes, pretty similar to last month; a few 3 month pieces, mainly 6-9, and a few pieces labeled 6-12. Weight is 15.81 pounds and 27.6" long.

Eyes: Holding strong with the unique shade of blue/green/grey.

Hair: The color is now a golden/reddish brown; still looking more like my hair than Steven's. And sadly it kind of looks like she has a toupee on because it is really long on top, but then has gotten thinner underneath. And I have to either put it up in a pony or to the side with a bow/clip to keep it out of her eyes!

Sleep: Right after her 8 month update, going down for naps and bedtime became playtime a lot of the time, anywhere from 1 minute to 40 minutes. Since she can sit and pull herself to standing so easy, playing in her crib became something she wanted to do before she finally slept. There's been a handful of times we've had to go in to her room, lay her down and remind her it was either nap time or bedtime (we do this if she has been playing/talking for about 25 minutes). Usually she doesn't get back up and gives in to sleep after that. So her schedule now is waking between 6:30-7am (we'll wake her if she's not up at this time-so it doesn't affect the rest of her days "routine"). We put her down for her first nap between 9/9:30am and this nap has been shorter; lasting on average an hour and a half (but if it's an unusual day and she naps longer, we won't let her go past 12pm). Then she's ready to go down for her second nap between 2/2:30pm (and if it's an unusual day, and she goes longer than her average 2 hour nap we won't let her go past 5pm). Then we still aim for her to go down for bed between 7/7:30pm. She still sleeps, on average, a solid 11 hours! I don't think I've shared this, but we have had the same nap/bedtime routine for the last few months. I believe it really helps her wind down and learn the cues for sleep. And we have her fall asleep on her own, in crib, every time. There are some days where she is fast asleep in our arms, but we wake her before we put her down. Sometimes you wouldn't even know she was ready for sleep because she is so easily stimulated and doesn't really show signs of being tired, until it's way late or you start doing the routine. If you wait too long to do nap/bedtime there will be whining/fussing/and even a little crying. And since we, or anyone for that matter, don't want to have a whining/fussing/crying little girl on their hands, we start the process around the same time, every time and she thrives off of it. I will also add she can be flexible, like on Sunday mornings for church and Thursday night for our small group. But if we throw her off for several days in a row, it doesn't go well.

Eating: Ellie continues to nurse 6 times a day and has solids 3 times a day. Introducing more solids into her diet has been going really good. In addition to the foods listed in her last update, she has had blueberry, carrot, chicken, turkey, corn, pears, pineapple, prunes, rice, tomato, peas and yogurt melts. We have to make sure everything is mashed/pureed really well since she still has NO teeth! Every day we are checking her gums and still nothing! What the heck, right?! Where are they?! Wish us luck with teething because she's probably going to pop four out at the same time : /

Milestones/accomplishments:

• Shortly after her 8 month update she started hand and knee crawling consistently every time
• Pulls herself up to standing with literally anything she can get her hands on; even using the wall, ALL the time
• Goes back down to sitting from standing 
• Side steps along ALL the furniture and around her activity table 
• Picks up little things with her forefinger and thumb and brings to mouth
• Has stood all on her own for up to 10 seconds a couple times
• Tries to repeat some words. Nothing is too clear as day, but she has repeated: hi (iiii), yay (aaaa), fish (ish), book (ook), drum (dru), thank you (ta yu), shoe (sho) and dada. And when the Alphabet and fish counting song come on her activity table, it sometimes sounds like she's trying to sing along to it
• Understands when you are being firm and saying no thank you to something she's doing. But won't always continue to listen-she's too interested in whatever it is she's going after!

Likes:

• When you help her walk around by holding her hands 
• Anything that is plugged into the wall...but of course we pull her away before she actually gets her hands on it!
• Any funny noises you make with your mouth. And she really likes it when you copy the noises she makes
• The song 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', with the motions of course
• Patting things; toys, the furniture, your arm and back. A-dorable
• Giving high fives (but not to everyone, she's kind of shy sometimes)
• Helping turn the pages of her books
• Drinking water out of our cups

Dislikes:

• When other babies cry-she will start getting sad or cry as well
• Eating peas and chicken by themselves
• Us getting the boogies out of her nose
• Drinking water out of sippy cups. We have been trying to encourage it every day for several weeks, but she's not a huge fan. So since she likes water out of our cups, that will do for now

9 months has come so fast. We seriously can't believe we will have a one year old on our hands in three months! Say what?! It's going to be here before we know it. She has taught us so much and will only teach us more. We smile so much because of her.

First pumpkin patch!

Earlier this week the three of us went to our first pumpkin patch! Every year I've seen pictures of people going and I was always a little envious. Last year we could have gone, but we didn't, and the previous 6 years...well, were in Alaska...nuff said. Plus, I think it's more fun when you have a little one. So let's just say I was pretty excited enough for the three of us to be going this year. Steven could have just picked a pumpkin from any ol' store, or could have gone without a pumpkin for that matter, so he was a nice husband and put a smile on his face for me! And I did make him truly smile when we got there and I kind of squealed like a little kid (yep).
Ellie was intrigued and happy to be around so many people and activity. That girl is stimulated easy with all that goes on around her.
First on the agenda was the corn maze! Steven has been to both a normal and haunted maze (no thank you!), but I had never been and find them crafty. It wasn't no hedge maze, like in the Goblet of Fire (all you Harry Potter fans know what I'm talking about), but it was fun none the less ; ). The little miss really enjoyed being on daddy's shoulders, laughing and smiling lots.
Next, the pumpkin patch! We hopped on the hay ride and had the wind in our hair - literally. The temps are starting to cool down, but we had Ellie bundled in her jacket and wrapped in her daddy's arms. She was mesmerized by the corn stalks we passed and then the several different pumpkin patches. When we got off the ride I wanted to find a little pumpkin for Ellie first. Once we found a good one we let her hold it and she was looking like, what is this thing? This is what you were so excited about mom? Ha. And it was a little hard to get her to smile for the camera because she was so focused on the pumpkins and surroundings. She wanted to walk around, play and sit on the ground with anything and everything there was in reach. We love watching her take in the world around her and it's only going to get better.
I would say our first visit was a success and I hope to make it an annual tradition!