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!

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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Unintended Break!

Man!  I didn't intend to take blogging break, but I guess that is what happened!  Sometimes it is hard to find time during the busy work week.  I always say that I am going to blog over lunch but we only have internet explorer at work and there is no spell check.  And I can't spell.  So I don't like to do that!

Little Bear Hoodie

Ella is such a little mover these days!  She LOVES to look all around and always need to know what is going on.  She rolls over and somehow moves all around the floor.  It is so so fun watching her these days!  She is getting close to being able to sit on her own and doesn't really like just laying on the floor anymore because she can't see enough.  Every toy that we give her ends up in her mouth and she is drooling more and more.

All smiles to pick out a pumpkin!

This week she had another little cold accompanied by a cough, but she seems to be doing a lot better today.  We had one night of pretty rough sleep because of it, but thankfully we seem to be past that now :)  She doesn't calm down to go to sleep quite as well anymore and I think it is because she doesn't want to miss anything!

I found her in her crib like this one morning - ready to go!

The other day we were all sitting on the couch and Nick was holding her and she actually scooted all the way from him to me at the other end of the couch!  She would put her head down and push forward with her legs and then look up to see how much closer she was!  She kept doing this until she was all the way there - it was quite an accomplishment for such a little girl!

Ella and Daddy napping today

Today Mommy and Ella did a little shopping while Daddy did some yard work and then we watched the BIG MSU WIN!  Now we are switching between the Tigers and Michigan and have a little fire going.  A nice day.  And we are all set for Trick or Treaters tomorrow.  Which for some reason in Wisconsin is during the day.

Believe it or not - I'm worried this won't be enough!

4 Months Old!

Yesterday was Ella's 4 month birthday!  I can not believe she is already 4 months old - but I will probably say that every month (if I haven't already!).

I don't have her official weight and length as she goes to the doctor in two weeks.  But she is totally in size 6 months clothes, but I do have to roll up the pants and sometimes the sleeves, but 3 month are two tight on her body, she must have got her short legs from me!  She still wears size 1-2 diapers from Costco, but I have started wondering about when we are going to need to transition her to size 3.

She loves to grab her toes and roll all over the place, she prefers to be on her stomach these days and will roll over as soon as we lay her down on her back.  However, she still knows when it is bedtime and never rolls over at night, which is good for now!  As you saw in the last video she is starting to try and scoot around... we might have a crawler soon(ish)!

Our little princess is still sleeping through the night, although she doesn't go down quite as easy anymore, but she calms down pretty well.  We have started to try and eliminate her evening nap and that seems to have helped with bedtime.

The past 4 months have gone so quickly - we sure to love our little girl!

Post-Weekend Update

This weekend was pretty low key, it was very rainy and generally gloomy, so we pretty much stayed home, which was just what we needed.  Nick was still fighting a cold and I had a headache, so it was nice to stay inside!  I even lit the fire in the fire place.  I had hoped to get to the pumpkin patch, but that will have to wait until next weekend - hopefully the weather cooperates!

Ella officially can roll both ways now, which means she is a rolling machine!  Yesterday she rolled 4 times in a row, which ended on the hardwood floor and some tears to boot.  She was pretty quickly smiling and rolling again though :)

Yesterday I made some crock-pot baked potato soup which just may be the easiest thing I have ever made!  You just combine a bag of frozen hash browns with 3 cans of chicken broth and 1 can of cream of chicken soup.  Cook it on low for 6 hours and then an hour before it is done add a softened block of cream cheese.  It is SO GOOD!

We garnished it with cheese, bacon bits and green onion.  It is officially added to our meal rotation!

Now we are back to work and I woke up today with Nick's cold, so hopefully that goes away quickly!

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!

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!

The Big Day

Yesterday was a pretty big day around here.

I had to venture back to work, which meant that it was little Miss Isabelle's first day at day care.  It was hard but we made it with no tears!  I had a lot of anxiety on Monday but Nick reassured me that they would take good care of her.  For some reason the drive in was the hardest part but once we got there I felt ok about it all.  She was already smiling at Miss Anna by the time I left, so I think that helped.

It was one day payroll at work, which means super busy, so the day really went by pretty quick.  I hung up lots of pictures at my desk and even got to go out to lunch.  When I went to pick her up she was smiling and happy to see me!  They said that she did really well and was talking and smiling all day. :)  That night she was super talkative and happy and telling me all about what a good day she had - so I'm pretty sure she is in good hands!

Today would have gone just as well, except someone (AKA me) got all the way there and then realized the nicely prepared and labeled bottles were still at home in the fridge.  So I had to drive all the way home to get them.  In order to prevent making the same mistake twice I decided to enact the 'chip clip system' a la Grandma and Grandpa's View.

And in fuzzie news... a kitty thought that she found a good hiding place... fail!

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!

Weekday Adventures

The last couple of days have been pretty uneventful around here.  Ella and I have mostly been hanging out around home except I do try and run at least one errand a day to break things up a bit.  Yesterday we did some returns at Kohl's and found some great clearance dresses for next summer (she already has her 4th of July outfit of course).  Daddy forgot to tell us that they just did markdowns (I wonder why?) so there was a lot to choose from!  I also packed away all her newborn size clothes already (how is that possible?!!).  There is a little more room in her closet now.

Getting ready for a beach fire in 1 week!

Today we ventured out to the Mom's Group that our hospital offers.  We hung out for about an hour, it was nice to socialize and have some adult conversation during the day.  There were about 4 other moms there plus the woman from the hospital who runs it.  It may be our only trip though since they meet on Friday's during the day and I will be up north (!!!) for 2 of the remaining 4 that I have left.

After that we picked up some things at Target and Home Depot.  I plan to re-paint our dressers (again) this weekend, so I had to get some supplies.  Hopefully that goes smoothly!

Sleeping through our shopping

This weekend we will also hopefully be going to the Wisconsin State Fair to get the world's best baked potato!  YUM!  It is only supposed to be 79 on Sunday - I sure hope that holds true because if it is 90 I am never going to convince Nick to go to a packed fair ground!

Little Cabbage Patch

We had a rough night here last night, Ella decided that she didn't want to sleep.  She took a long time to finally fall asleep last night and then was up at about 3 for an hour and half, and then just about every hour after that.  Needless to say, I'm a tired mommy today!  Here's to hoping for much better results tonight!

So, we had a pretty lackluster day around here, however Ella was wearing some adorable overalls so I took lots of pictures!

I thought she looked like a little Cabbage Patch doll

Today she discovered herself in the mirror and made some smiles :)

She has discovered that she LOVES "standing", she is very strong and pushes her self up and stay that way for awhile before sitting back down for a break but then she will pop right back up!  Standing her up is a good way to get her to stop fussing these days.

And if shes not standing.. she's sitting like a big girl...

Another favorite is "football hold" with Daddy...

And a little video for Mom :)

Happy 1 Month Ella!

Although her birthday was one week ago, today was Ella's 1 month doctor appointment!  She is doing really well and the doctor said she was a really good baby and that we were very lucky - but we already knew that!

Ella at one month you weigh 11 pounds and are 22" tall - this puts you in the 90th percentile!  You wear size 3-6 month clothes and a size 1 diaper.  You have started smiling and cooing and you are happy to see your daddy when he gets home from work!  We love you very much!

Yesterday I woke up to this big smile!

We have switched Ella to soy formula because it turns out she is lactose intolerant like her mommy was.  She seems to be doing much better now so hopefully she will continue to be a happy little (big?) baby.  The last couple of nights she has been sleeping in 6 hour stretches so that has been amazing!  She is holding her head up more and more now and loves to look at the ceiling fan (which is a nice distraction in the morning so Mommy can get ready!).

Sporting some cute cherries!