The start of something...

For several years I have wanted to screen print designs on shirts and more so on onesies (and now I have a little one to dress all cute!). Several years ago we did have access to a screen printing machine and played around a little, but didn't do too much. With working full time and other things, I didn't put forth time to really get serious about it. Then when I could get serious, having a machine of our own, we moved to a different state, had different projects to focus on and then we had Ellie, whom I definitely wanted to focus my time on. Now she's almost a year old (insert heart eyes, along with tears of sadness-she's growing, too fast) and do have more time on my hands, plus we finally got all restocked on what we needed to actually screen print with. I can do it! There have been sketches and drawings in my art book for quite awhile and I am so excited to finally get them on clothes. And thankfully I have had plenty of friends having babies, or close to having, to gift them onesies with my designs on them.

I don't know what this will be the start of...
Maybe just that, giving clothes to friends and family with littles ones...or maybe a small business from home...
Whatever it is, I am so excited to do this. And I'll be sharing final pieces soon!

11 months

Size: 3 diapers, but I think she'll be in size 4 soon. Wearing clothes ranging in sizes 6-12 month still. I'm constantly putting away clothes she doesn't fit into anymore though! Her next appointment where we'll get her updated weight and height is next month. 

Eyes: I think her eye color is here to stay...a dark blue/green/grey with some hints of brown. People comment on how uniquely pretty they are!

Hair: Her color seems to be lightning up a little bit. So it looks like a shade in between Steven and I's...medium/auburn brown?! It kind of looks like she has an A-line haircut, and it likes to stick out and/or curl out sometimes, especially if it gets a little wet. And boy does she have some awesome bed head when she wakes! Curls and craziness galore! Plus, her hair in front, bangs if you want to call them that, goes past her eyeballs, so she tries to rub/move them out of her face. It's like she's due for a hair cut already! (I'm not doing that yet though!)

Sleep: A couple weeks ago Ellie was taking longer to fall asleep for bedtime, so we decided to push it later by a half hour and therefore that had a ripple affect to her other wake/sleep times. We start her bedtime routine around 7pm now, and put her down between 7:30 and 8. She usually sleeps till 7:30am and we wake her if she's not awake already. We are so amazed she continues to sleep completely through the night, despite us traveling for the holidays and maybe teething? Morning nap target time is between 9:30/10am and we won't let her go past 11:30am. We have kept her afternoon nap the same (she needs it that way); putting her down between 2/2:30pm and waking her by 4:30pm if she's not awake already. So all in all we still have some control over her wake/sleep times, but it keeps things consistent and works best for her!

Eating: Ellie absolutely LOVES to eat solids and she lets everyone know it! She makes a yummm type sound pretty much with every bite of food. It certainly entertains anyone within hearing distance. She  also moves her hands and legs with excitement a lot of the time when you show her food and is first getting fed. I haven't introduced many new foods, except some that are mixed in to her puffs, which are broccoli and beets (not in the same kind of puff, that would be weird!) and salmon. She didn't like salmon the first time I gave it to her, but she took it the second time. I have given her more stage 3 foods (the lil' bits), fruit ones that is. She does not like the veggie or dinner type ones, I believe because of all the seasonings they put in them. So I'm trying other foods to give her, because she is definitely not satisfied with just a single stage 2 container! AND no teeth yet! I shouldn't complain because I'm still nursing her and I know that could be lame with teeth! Yesterday I started to wean her down one nursing session (she had still been nursing 6 times a day), and I will continue to drop one every week or two from here on out. I am so glad I've been able to nurse as long as I have, but I feel like it is time to work away from it.

Milestones/Accomplishments:

• Walks super great with holding just one of our hands. She has so much confidence when she's got that one hand grasped. But when you let go, she will only take one or two more steps on own, and then bends to floor to crawl. 
• Getting braver by bridging the gap between furniture with a step or two, without any hands
• Has taken up to 4 steps all on own
• Pushes/walks with her little toy stroller
• Puts her hands in the air when you say "yay!" and she'll kind of say it sometimes, too
• Claps when you ask her to, or will just clap after you start clapping
• Hugs her toys up by her head! It's so sweet! And the other morning she put a little blanket on top of the baby and rocked the baby, like I showed her!
• Will put a blanket over her face and then put it down, playing peek-a-boo
• Signs 'more' (looks like the sign for 'again' though), 'milk'-sometimes (does understand what it means when you sign it, without you saying it)
• Drinks out of her sippy cup on her own...but only one cup in particular

Likes:

• Making a type of roar sound when we are playing. Like instead of saying "boo" I would roar like a lion (oh the things you do to make your kid laugh!) and she started copying me
• BANANAS! She gets so excited when you get one for her and loves eating them
• When you stick your tongue out at her. She will want to try and grab it and sometimes she will copy you, by sticking hers out and plays with hers, like what is this thing?

Dislikes:

• Getting shampoo rinsed out of her hair. She does not like laying back in the water anymore, so trying to wash the soap out of her hair without it getting it into her eyes is quite the task. It's natural, tear free etc, but she does not like water going down her face, understandable. I try getting her to tip her head back, I tired the cup thing that molds to their foreheads, but those don't work well. If Steven is there to help it goes better, but I want/need to give her a bath without him sometimes!
• Refuses to give kisses any time other than when we are cuddling before sleep times. She will give lots of kisses then, but will ignore your request for them other times

Things to remember:

How she waves hi all the time! Will raise her eyebrows when she's talking all serious to you. How she snorts sometimes when she laughs super hard! The way she lights up when she sees her daddy. When I am putting her books back on the shelf, she'll stop what she's doing to come back over and "help" by putting them back on the floor.

Only one month left and then I will say we have a one year old!?!? Wow. It's shocking, but going to be good! 

Christmas celebrations

I'm back tracking a little bit due to traveling for Christmas, birthday and New Years celebrations! Busy, but wonderful last couple of weeks!

So, first about our little Christmas for three..

With us going to Alaska for Christmas I wanted to do our little family Christmas before we left. Lugging all our gifts and stockings, on top of all the other gifts we were taking for family, wasn't something I wanted to worry about. So we woke up early (as usual with Ellie) on the 17th and opened stockings and gifts! We Skyped with my mom and step dad while we opened their presents to us and it was nice being able to "be with" each other during that.

Ellie doesn't really understand opening presents just yet, but she was intrigued by bows, strings and wrapping paper trash. Then was interested in the presents once opened. I loved experiencing Christmas as a family of three. Last year I looked forward to what it would be like to have our girl with us and I couldn't have pictured a more fun morning with her. I think it will get better and better each year; experiencing this holiday season with a little one!

Then on the evening of Monday the 21st we headed out to Alaska! Basically all of Steven's side of the family live in Fairbanks and we were looking forward to spending the holiday with them! Ellie did so great with flying once again (wonder how long that will last for?!). There is a 2 hour time difference and I was wondering how she'd adjust, and right away she did fabulous. More and more she seems able to be flexible with her waking, nap and bed times and life in general. Makes these trips easier to do that's for sure!

All week we were spending time with family and met up with some friends we've really missed. Plus, it was the first time my brother-in-law Bryan, the newest little cousin Arya and my friend Ashley got to meet Ellie! It warmed our hearts seeing her interact with all of them (and the rest of the family)!!

We were there about 5 days and played in doors a lot...due to it being 2* (above) to -20* outside. But we did make it out several times still; eating at some very yummy restaurants we love, visiting people, some last minute Christmas shopping, Christmas Eve service, church again and then post Christmas sales. I also got to rummage through my nieces clothes they've grown out of; we've scored with hand me downs for Ellie (thanks girls!). Her cousins loved on her and gave her more attention then one could ask for. I'm so glad they love on her so much! And our nephew even said she was the cutest baby ever, and not to tell his sister! hahaha. There were many adorable moments shared during our time there. One in particular, because it happened several times, was when Steven and Jaxon (our nephew) were play wrestling, Ellie wanted to get in the action, crawling over to them and trying to maul them...or she was trying to rescue her dad! Either way, it was really cute! And then getting the kids pictures taken was eventful to say the least. Four kids ranging in ages 10 months-5 years old, yeah, you can imagine how easy those were to take...you'll see down below.

I could share more stories, but I'll just say celebrating the holiday with family was very special and memorable. Thanks to everyone for the love and generosity you've shown the three of us, not just on this trip, but all year round. We love you guys!

^^ passed out on the plane!

     

 

^^ all immediate family together!

^^ niece Ava wore herself out!

^^ the littlest cousins together...

both petite girls (Ellie almost 11 months and Arya almost 6 months) 

and they suck on the exact same fingers, on the exact same hand...

And Ellie was patting Arya's head in the pic on the right! haha

^^ grateful for these in-laws who are amazing grandparents to Ellie. 

And Ellie adores them.