Ellison-6 Month Update

We had Ellie's 6 month appt. today.  She weighs 16lbs 13oz and is 26 inches.  They went through the checklist asking me what she can do, and I said, and she can crawl and pull up to standing.  The nurse joked, are you sure this isn't her 9 month appt?!?!  um, no, my baby is crazy. just look at her.........

I love how she hooks her little toes under the tray, just like Whitney used to do
(that's a plastic cookie, give me a break people!)

why sit down and play when you can stand?!?!

Over the weekend Ellie learned to pull up, on E V E R Y T H I N G!!!  She's a little dangerous.  Correction, she's a lot dangerous because she is so little and unstable yet.  She has no fear of consequences and is already cruising a little bit too.  She lets go of what she is hanging on to and you can see her thinking, "where can I go next?"

Her favorite thing to do right now is stand, and after that is to play with balloons and her sister.  She's not digging her bouncer any more I suppose becasue she's trapped and can't go any where.  She will stand at the outside of it and play, but God forbid she have to play inside of it.

Who knows what I will post at her 7 month update, walking?????  Now that would be really crazy.

Today's Funny

Now that Ellie is crawling Whitney is just dying to ride on her back and asks me all the time, "can I ride on her?"  No honey, she is too little.   One day I even found Whitney sitting on her back.  Fortunately she knew better than to put all of her weight on her back.  Yes, I'm sure she looks like a fun little ride scootin across the floor, but please stay off of your sister!  :)

Five Minute Friday

Ahhhh, that is me breathing a sigh of relief that it is friday.  The girls are asleep and One Life to Live is on.  This is not going to be my typical friday post where I ramble on.  We have been trying to keep extra busy as Wade is gone to help the days go by quickly, which they surprisingly have.  The girls have been on great behaviour, minus Whitney's attitude at my sister's house.  I don't know why, but she seems to be at her worst when we go there, even though she has so much fun.  Maybe she just gets worn out and cranky???  I do want to give a little rant about an ornery guy at a garage sale who sent Whitney into an hour long tantrum.  I was driving home this morning and saw a garage sale sign the next block over so I circled around and pulled up to the garage sale.  They had all kinds of kid stuff set out, other people were stopping.  I got Whitney out and she was so excited to see all the toys and this man comes down the drive way, "we don't open until 11.  we're not open yet!  we're not open until 11" as he is herding us back down the driveway like cattle.   Another car pulled up and he went up to their window and very rudely told them "we don't open until 11!"   serious????  it was 10:30, everything was set out and they were all outside.  do you want to sell your crap or what?!?!?  So, Whitney was devasted that we didn't get to look at all the fun toys and she cried about it and I couldn't find another garage sale to take her to.   fun.   thanks ornery guy, we're not going back to your house. 

all the grandkids love gramdma and grandpa, again, I did not get any pictures of Lawton, ugh!

Ellie loved the pool this time, it certainly helps that they keep it warm as bath water!

this is my little groove girl.  I tried to tell her that Ellies pants were too small, but go ahead and put them on.  Well, they fit, only as capris.  then she wanted to wear her socks pulled up with her sandals (she's not crying, the sun was just really bright)

this is how we do our daily strolls

Ellie thinks she is little miss stander.  she can pull up to the leather couch because she can keep her grip on it.  she is trying to pull up on EVERYTHING, she doesn't realize she is only six months old with the ambition of a ten month old

Too Tired for Temper Tantrums

I put her in her room for time outs, this afternoon she was just too tired to keep whining.

Ellison- 6 Months

I have a six month old!!!!!  I just love her right now.  She is so happy, chubby and just darn cute.  She has the sweetest little voice as she experiments with different sounds.   This is the baby stage that I love.  She is so easy going and hardly ever throws little fits, unless I am changing her diaper or trying to get her dressed.  She eats well and does really good with playing by herself and kind of exploring around.

Sleep-  Totally sporadic.  She has been completely messed up as we pick up cold after cold this summer.  She either takes two good naps a day, or three short ones.  Her bedtime is between 8 and 9.  She knows her routine and wants her bottle just after she gets her jammies on. 

Eating-  She drinks breast milk and formula if needed. I haven't decided what I am going to do with pumping now that I made it to my 6 month goal.  I have dropped down to pumping 5 times a day.   She generally drinks about 4oz at a time.  She eats baby food well but I think she prefers vegetables over fruits and really doesn't care for bananas.  We have tried puffs and yogurt melts, broken into smaller pieces and she likes those.  I have tried a cracker and she did okay with that.

Size-  size 3 diaper, not necessarily because she needs that size or protection, but she's close enough and it's easier to have one diaper size in the house.  She wears 6-12 month clothes.

Milestones-  crawling, gets into sitting position, pulls up to standing on things that are lower to the ground, starting to make different sounds besides aahh, but it is only vowels sounds,  oooh, e, o, a.

Her eyes are still blue and her hair is still blonde.  She is such a happy baby and people comment on that all the time.  I am truly lucky, as my first child was not so easy going and is still not.  She loves watching her sister and laughs at her all the time.  She may be easy going, but that doesn't mean she is not busy.  She is not much of a stroller baby or a car seat rider, though she is far better compared to Whitney as a baby.  She does not have any teeth yet, but I suspect one will be popping through in the next week or two.  She still has stranger danger and prefers her mom.  She does okay with others holding her if I am not around.

I hope to get some recent pictures up soon and to add more about her development as I think of it.   We have her six month appt. next week.

 

Picture Update

at dairy queen with Grandma Cathy, Ellie even got some and loved it!

I got some beads and pipe cleaner for Whitney to do special crafts while Ellie is sleeping

at Lake Sundown with Grandma Cathy.  We succusfully "camped" but I don't think I will be doing any more camping until Ellie can walk is off the breast milk.  Monday we closed on more land.

trying a ritz cracker for the first time

Where's Ellie?  She is starting to venture off so I never know where I will find her when I come back into the room.

she is trying to pull up already, yikes!

Five Minute Friday

My children are sick AGAIN!!!  Poor things, third time in about two months.  With company from last weekend it is unfortunate that the cousins end up sharing a little more than toys.  Whitney's symptoms started monday morning and for the most part she is unaffected from the cold symptoms, besides a little extra crankiness in the morning when her nose is stuffed up from the night.  Other than that she is herself and can still sleep just fine.  Ellie's cold symptoms started wednesday.  She just wasn't quite her usual happy self.  Unlike Whitney, Ellie cannot sleep through a cold.  Last night was AWFUL!!!!  We got little snippets of sleep as I tried to prop her up on pillows in our bed to keep her comfortable.   But, as soon as she realized I was around she would want to nurse, so she ended up sipping and sleeping all night long.  I hope this passes soon.  Just when she was sleeping goood and up to 8 hrs, it will be back to sleep training (again) since she will probably get in the habit of waking and nursing again.   Knock on wood, I do not have the cold (yet).

As I mentioned we had a garage sale last weekend.  It was a huge success and we ended up with great weather all weekend!  We all got rid of lots of stuff and have minimal to put away.  Lee and Jess did especially well raking in more than $500!!!  You should have seen the trailer they unloaded!  We have had three garage sales in about a year and a half, so it should be a while until we have one again.

Wade left yesterday for a 10 day antelope hunting trip to South Dakota with his Dad, Brother and Cousin.  Wade has been planning this trip for months, no joke.  He has been on the phone and internet relentlessly, so thank goodness the trip is here, I about couldn't take all the planning any more!  I think my SIL will agree! 

All the plants in my house are dying except for one arrangement I got from my old boss in Manhattan KS.  I suppose it's better that I neglect my plants than my children.  And we can never get into a house that has good lighting for them.

New Tricks, New Problems

Ellie quickly mastered getting into the sitting position from her hands and knees.  Now last night she woke up and I was letting her cry because it was way too early for her to be waking up, like she had only been asleep like 3 hrs.  She started crying a little too loudly so I knew something was wrong like maybe her leg was stuck through a crib rail or something.  No, she was just sitting her crib crying, like "I'm tired but now I'm sitting here and I don't know what to do!"  She did this twice last night.  Ugh, it's always something.  I remember when Whitney learned to stand she would pull up in her crib and stand there and cry like she was stuck.  Just when we were getting some shut eye at night......

Five Minute Friday

I feel like it should be five second friday.  We have so much to do today, but I'm pumping so I do have five minutes and I may as well be doing something.     We are having a garage sale today.  We had two successful garage sales last year, so don't ask me how we have so many things again this year. Along with my two SIL's, we come up with a lot of stuff!!   I guess I do have all my baby stuff up to 6 months that Ellie doesn't need any more.  A friend came over last night to pre-shop and asked if it felt sad to be getting rid of all of the baby stuff.  You know, it didn't even cross my mind so no, it doesn't feel sad.  I am in such clean out declutter mode, that it is like good riddance!!  And a majority of the clothes was my sister's so maybe I don't have such an attatchment because I didn't actually buy the stuff??  I keep saying stuff, it's not stuff, it's good quality belongings.  Maybe that's how you tell yourself it's okay to sell things, you call it stuff and not belongings.  Now I am rambling.

I thought Ellie crawling early would be really awesome, you know, less carrying her around (which I do a lot because I have mommy guilt when I leave a room without her) but she is dangerous because she is so curious yet clumsy!!!  Yesterday she hit her head on our fireplace bricks and smashed her forehead on the bottom shelf of our coffee table. (don't have heart attacks grandma's, she'll be okay, my mother in particular, and yes I did raise the crib rail)  It is not very safe for me to leave the room or pump while she is on the loose!  I guess practice makes perfect and I don't remember it being so dangerous with Whitney because I had about every second of the day to keep my eye on her. 

Ellie finally slept 8hr 15min last night!!!  I think she has done that once so far!!  The not so fun part was that at 5:15 she felt pretty refreshed and it took her an hour to decide she was sleepy again. 

Whitney has been less whiney this week.  I have been trying extra hard to give her more attention and patience.  She really needs hugs and kisses ALL THE TIME to be a good girl.  Her new favorite saying when we ask if to do something or if she wants something, "no way!"   "uh uh"    or if she does want something  "okay okay"  "yeah sure"  Silly goose!  Instead of whining all the time she has taken to asking "can I do that" or "can I help".    She wants to do EVERYTHING, she can even crawl up into her car seat by herself now, thank goodness the Xterra has a step rail, it is one less step for me to put her up into her seat.

Ellie is Crawling!!!

Ellie is crawling!!!  Just yesterday she has really taken off.   She went length wise across the room, about 15 feet.  She is getting faster and more aggressive each day.  Not the greatest video, but you get the idea, I'll get a better video eventually.

Five Minute Friday

I am so tired of whining.  Don't mistake whining for winning, no, no , no.  I did not have a typo.  Whitney's whining is out of control and I'm at my whit's end (ha, no pun intended, seriously).  It is nails on the chalk board whining like one of those old wind up sirens, it just increases in intensity.  We are pretty diligent about asking her to speak nicely and she can turn it off and ask nicely.  It that doesn't work or I simply don't have the patience to work with her she goes to her room with the door shut.  It's worse when we are at home.  I can recongnize the contributing factors to this whining  She is bored of being at home and jealous of the attention that Ellie requires.  Whitney is a huge cuddler and craves physical contact.  We stay busy, even during the recent heat.  We go to the park 3-4 mornings of the week and again at night if it is cool enough.  We go to the library, shopping, play outside in the hose, eat popsicles, etc.  She is pretty spoiled with everything I try to do for her (maybe that's the problem)  We are busy with family nearly every weekend and she adores her grandparents and cousins on both sides.  I gather I'm not alone, but someone with older kids, please tell me they grow out of this!

Ellie is sleeping really great now.  She goes to bed around 8:30/9 now and wakes up like clock work at 4:30, eats and goes back down for a few more hours.  She has learned to crawl.  Yep, she is 5 1/2 months and crawling.  Insane.  Not crawl across the room crawling, but she is on her hands and knees, alternating hand, leg, hand, leg.  Total text book crawling.  She only goes 2-3 feet before she gets wiped out and it will take her a minute or two to go that far.  I suppose it is mentally and physically challenging for her age.  She also can just about get into a sitting position from her hands and knees.  Again, insane.  We worked with Whitney to get her to crawl and she was just shy of 8 months before she crawled.  With Ellie it seems instinctual.  Whitney excelled with her vocabulary and early walking and I guess Ellie with her active ambition for motion.   Thank goodness Ellie is such a good and happy baby while I am dealing with a tempermental toddler who replies to everything with "NOOOO" even if two seconds later she means yes.  Then it's, "I DOOO IT!"

And I must say, I seriously love One Life to Live.  I look forward to the one o'clock hour every day.  I just may cry when it goes off the air.

Welsh Family Reunion

I did horrible about getting pictures, just too busy I guess.  It was a great weekend with great weather and great company.  A picture of the Welsh clan and Ellie with "Uncle Poppa"

Blank Park Zoo, Round 3

My parents came for a visit a few weeks ago and I am finally getting some pictures up.  We went to a small lake saturday morning for some swimming and then the zoo on Sunday.  Our membership has paid for itself and then some.  I don't anticipate us going again this month, but Sept when it has cooled off some will be nice.  And maybe Ellie will start to notice the animals, maybe?  Yeah, probably not yet.

the grand finale of the zoo.  we were feeding the swan in the above pictue and it latched on to her finger.  I was feeding it too so it was biting me, so i doubt it hurt her.  She STILL talks about that darn swan biting her finger!!