6 Months Old!

This may have been the fastest 6 months of my life!  Although my days are busy and my evenings are busier I love my little bear so much!  She amazes us every day!  Today the pediatrician told me that she will be walking EARLY - when I told her how mobile she is already.  We sure do have our hands full all the time now!

At 6 months old Ella is moving all over the place, she is always on the go - most often towards things that she isn't supposed to have.  Like the fireplace tools.  Or the Christmas gifts.  Or the cat toys.  So she is under constant supervision!  She sits up by herself and rarely falls over, although she hasn't put herself in a sitting position yet.  She has started even pulling up a bit - she can stand holding onto things for an extended period of time.  She babbles and giggles all the time - which is the absolute best.

She has 1 tooth in and a second tooth on its way - I miss her gummy smiles, but the little teeth are pretty cute too!  She weights 15 lbs, 6oz and is 25.75" tall!  She is still in size 6 months clothing but I'm starting to put some 9 months on her now too.  She is in a size 2 diaper.

She has met Santa, and has been the best little girl this year - so I know he is going to be very good to her :)  This will probably be the best Christmas ever and I can't wait!

Learning to Stand

Another video for you today, and a blog post 2 days in a row, what is going on here?!

It should be noted that she is standing on her own this whole vido except for the part where she "falls" into Nick... such a big girl!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

A little lunch time laughter for you all

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we hosted our very first Thanksgiving!  Mom and Dad and Mel and Steve all made their way around the lake so we could celebrate together :)  We had a very nice day and enjoyed a really yummy meal!

Nick and I are so thankful for our little sweetie!

And yes, she is about to put a vintage locker basket in her mouth... along with everything else these days!

5 Months Old!

Today our little Ella Bear is 5 months old!  She seems like such a big girl now, I can't imagine how it will seem when she is a whole year old!

According to Great Grandma Boehm's baby scale Ella weighs 15 pounds and is approximately 24.5" - although it is very hard to measure an active little girl!  She is wearing 6 month clothes still and still Costco size 1-2 diapers.  She has started to sleep through the night regularly again - which makes for happy mornings and happy parents!  She always wakes up with a big smile on her face!

Our little girl had a big day yesterday!  Not only did she try some sweet potatoes for the first time she also started crawling!!!  She is a girl on the go!  She loved the sweet potatoes, although she did look pretty confused at first - but she quickly decided it was a good thing :)  She has been on the verge of crawling for weeks and finally figured it out last night!  She needs constant supervision now.

And to wrap it up... a look back...

Sleepless Nights

Life has been tiring and busy these days.  This weekend my parents were in town and had some fun playing with Ella, Mom had Monday off so it was great that they were able to come out to see us!

Playing in my door jumper!

The exhausting part has been that although Ella has always been a rockstar of a sleeper... she now does not want to sleep.  Unless she is in the car... or napping in the day occasionally... or on a walk.  So needless to say, Nick and I are a little sleepy these days while we figure this phase out.  As Nick said the other morning "Ella, I was so mad at you last night, but then you smiled at me this morning"

Bundled up for a walk around the neighborhood

This weekend we also started Ella on some rice cereal!  She didn't quite know what to do with it yet, but she sure did love playing with the spoon, and I think a little bit ended up in her belly :)

And to wrap it all up, our little snuggle bug after a bath
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Ella and Her Jumper

Out little girl just loves playing in her exersaucer lately, she looks around at all the different toys and likes to get as many in her mouth as possible.  This weekend we got a little video to prove it :)  She also loves to look at the pretty fire - almost as much as Mommy and Lucky love laying by the fire!

Little Mover

Every day at day care they tell me how much Ella is moving around these days and playing with all the toys!  I finally got some video of her rolling and even maybe (eek!) trying to crawl!  This video doesn't really show it very well, but when she is on her tummy she has started pushing her butt into the air and trying to push forward.  I'm not sure we are ready for such a mobile baby!

Eleven

That's how many hours Ella slept last night!  You better believe we all feel well rested in this house today!

Watching her play these days is so fun, she is so much more interactive now! She will roll from side to side (sometimes all the way over) to reach for toys and pick them up and then (of course) bring them to her mouth to chew/suck on.

She also really plays in her jumper, she is reaching for the toys and even bouncing up and down.  She seems so big now and I just can't imagine how big she is going to seem in just a few more months!

Weekends

Weekends are my favorite, and this one was a perfect one.  It is some great fall weather out!  Ella let us sleep in until about 8 both days which feels amazing.  Yesterday we got going and hit up Costco for some "necessities" which happened to include Halloween candy and Christmas wrapping paper.

And we also stopped at Target because we have tons of 6 month clothes for Ella but not many long sleeve things?!  So now we have some extra's... plus Ms Anna asked me to bring a sweater for Ella to keep at day care.  After that we watched the Michigan and Michigan State football games... one of which was good, and one of which was terrible :(

I'm a little too small for this Dad!

Today Nick did some yard work - we have a lot of leaves down already - and I have done a lot of laundry.  I also went through all my clothes and cleaned out and organized and now have 2 big bags for donation.  I cleaned out Ella's closet too, washed all her 6 month clothes and packed away some 3 month things that she won't wear again in the cooler weather.  6 month clothes are still a little big on her depending on the brand, but she is almost out of 3 months!  We are definitely in transition though which I just can't believe!

Ella hasn't rolled over since the once, but I know she will be regularly soon, she gets on her side all the time.  Today she rolled on her side and picked up her toy and rolled back!  She has been playing with her rattle ball too, she likes to put it to her mouth and stick her tongue through the holes :)

In other news, I found this picture on Nick's phone from our cabin vacation and realized that Mom and I are twins :)

Can't believe tomorrow is Monday already!  We are going to be in Michigan again before I know it!

Ella ROLLS OVER!

Today is a BIG DAY!  Ella figured out how to roll over for the first time!  She didn't know what to do when all the sudden she ended up on her stomach!  She stayed with her face into the carpet for a bit before she finally picked her head up and gave me this cute face.

We also had another good conversation tonight...

Such a cutie pie!

2 Month Weigh In

Today was Ella's 2 month appointment!  She is still a big girl but has dropped to the 75th percentile instead of the 90th so she is tapering off a little bit which the doctor says is just fine.  She officially weighs 12 pounds, 5.5 ounces and is 23 inches tall!

Tummy time with Mortimer the Moose!

She did receive some vaccinations today as well, but she is a trooper!  She cried for just a bit but was smiling just a few minutes after.  She has been a little sleepy today but if that is the worst side effect I'll take it.

We got out the exersaucer awhile ago, but Ella has really been enjoying it lately, I think she loves "standing" on her own and looking around.  She is quite content in there for awhile.

Just lounging around!

This weekend was pretty low key around here.  Nick and I did manage to get some yard/house work done, but we mostly just relaxed and cuddled with Ella, it was a great weekend!  And I must confess that I am failing miserably at operation deep clean.  I have gotten a handful of rooms done but have not stuck with the one room a day concept at all. :/  So much for using the blog as motivation!

Ella has turned into a great sleeper, she has been going 8-9 hours at night.  She makes me so happy because when I go to get her in the morning she gives me a great big smile to start the day!  Makes it much easier to get up in the morning :)

Shortly after we returned from vacation I found Zoe and Lucky in Ella's room being cute.  Zoe was all sprawled out in the glider and Lucky was apparently having a discussion with Mr. Bear.  It was pretty cute!

Port Washington

We had a really nice day today!  Nick got some yard work done while I got a little housework done and Ella had some tummy time.  Her head control just keeps getting better - plus her little expressions are just so cute!  I didn't quite capture it in the video but I'm sure my mom will enjoy it anyway ;)

Ella fell asleep while playing on Mommy and Daddy's bed today with Daddy.  I thought she looked like such a big girl here!  I just love her little chubby legs!

After dinner we took a sunset outing to Port Washington to walk on the pier.  It was a great evening and the breeze was very refreshing and Lake Michigan was beautiful - reminded me of home.

Sunset and marina behind us

Ella slept in her carrier the whole way.  I have tried out her carrier around the house but this was our first outing with it and it worked great!  I know Grandpa Boehm isn't a fan - but we would have never made it out on this rocky pier without it.

Beautiful view, calm lake

At the end of the windy pier

It was strange to realize that the sunset would not be over the lake, I still have a hard time remembering that in Wisconsin Lake Michigan is to the east since all my life Lake Michigan has been to the west.  I really struggle with directions here for that reason because it is engrained in my memory to say/think that the lake is to the west.

Port Washington has several charter fishing boats that dock there and when we got back to the marina one had just gotten back their catch, it was fun to see some of the bounty of the Great Lakes.

We are home now relaxing and watching some Olympic action!