Love Them!

I love them when they get along and play together. Lee has always been amazing with LC and playing with, sharing with and helping her. I know my days are numbered before the bickering and fighting starts, so I'm enjoying every moment right now.

The other day they had a bath together. I took lots of sweet pictures of them like this...

Oh and then there was this picture... ;)

Happy Birthday Elsie!

You are officially 1 year old now.

You point to everything and say "this".  You started saying "kiyee ka" (kitty cat) when we were in Las Vegas over Christmas.  Aunt Amy and Uncle Matt have 2 cats and you found them highly amusing.  You are quite the drama queen.  You do not like to be told "no".  Just saying the word "no" to you will usually end up with you crying. 

You like to clap your hands.

You love to cluck your tongue.  You always are following what other people are doing.  You watch everything.  You also like to imitate everyone.  The other night at dinner, Papa went "mmm" after taking a bite of food, and next thing we know you are saying "mmm" to everything.  If I clap, you will clap.  If I squeal, you'll squeal.  If Lee laughs, you laugh too.

You love looking at pictures and point to all the people saying "this?"  meaning "who's this?" and we go through all the people.

You will lay down and snuggle on any blanket on any floor.  You will then follow it up with a "aww" in your cute teeny tiny voice.

 

Dr. update: 19.4lb   30" tall

We love you so much and can't believe it's already been a year.  Happy birthday El's.

Visiting Santa

Ha, ha, ha!  I love this picture.  There's a good story to this.  We were visiting Steve's family in Las Vegas (we stayed with Matt and Amy) and went to Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef one morning.  Santa just happened to be there, so we payed a visit.  Here's where the story begins.

For the whole month of December all Lee asked for was "star wars toys".  That's all he wanted from Santa.  Everyday was "star wars toys".  We go to see Santa, who happened to be at the shark reef, and Lee tells him "I want a telescope".  WHAT??  Santa = failed, because he brought... (drum roll) ... Star Wars toys.  Has not mentioned a telescope since visiting Santa however, so that worked out good!

Fast forward to this week (2 weeks after Christmas).  We're at a friends house that has a "red airplane".  Insert 3 continuous days of how Lee "has to have" this red airplane.  Steve and I are not buying anymore toys... for a long... long... time.  Lee then said he was going to ask the next person that came to our house for a gift card so he could buy the red airplane.  NO!  <-- our response.  Lee then was throwing a little fit over this "red airplane" and said "why couldn't Santa have brought me a red airplane?" 

Me: Because you wanted Santa to bring you Star Wars toys. 
Lee: ACTUALLY... I asked Santa for a telescope and HE didn't bring me one. 
Me: Um... ahhh... ya.

Elsie is walking!

Look what my baby girl can do! She start to officially walk more than 3 steps on January 5th. She just gets so proud of herself, I love it! I love her smile.  She is such a sweetheart.

Happy almost 1st birthday.  Only 12 more days!

10 Months Old

I cannot for the life of me think where the last 10 months have gone.  Where on earth could they have gone?  Today for the 2nd time, you said "all done".  It sounds like this "ahh do".  But your hands are straight up in the air and you are kicking your feet ready to get down.

You still have no teeth... not a one.

You hate having your diapers changed.  It is a battle every.single.time.  

There are lots of first these past few weeks.  I'm not sure how much I've documented everything so let me start a few weeks ago:


Oct 11: Started saying "mama"
Oct 22: Growled at us for the first time (something you still love to do)
Oct 26: 9 month check up
Oct 27: Climbed the stairs for the first time.  This is something you are now scared to do, thank goodness.  
Nov 4: Said "dada" for the first time
Nov 8: Clapped your hands for the first time
Nov 17: Waived for the first time


You really like to give Daddy a hard time in the evenings.  For the first few months I put you to bed every night because Lee wanted Steve.  Ever since then, you have been a Mama's girl.  Daddy has the hardest time getting you to eat, sleep or to change you.  Maybe you can work on this a little bit.  He tries really super hard and does love you lots!  I feel bad for him.


You can cruise now crawling and walking along furniture.  You let go all the time now and just stand there clapping.  You love to stand by yourself.  Your pretty good at it too, but I don't think walking is in your near future, but I do think you will walk before Lee.


You have started stranger anxiety too.  You don't really scream when people come up to you, but you don't want to go to them either.  


Where ever I'm at, you follow me around.  If I'm sitting on the couch, you are right at me feet.  When I'm cooking dinner, you are right at my feet.  When I'm walking somewhere, you are usually right behind me.  It's pretty cute, but I am so scared I'm going to step on you sometime.  


You love to feed yourself.  You love finger foods that you can gnaw on and to lay down by yourself to drink your bottle.  


That's about all I can think of for right now. This month was just a blurr, I'm not really sure where it went to.  I love you and though I can wait to see what you are like as a little girl, I do wonder somedays what you are going to be like.

 

why I don't take my kids pictures...

Lets recap my recent attempt at taking my wonderfully sweet little angel faces pictures.  Just look at all that adorableness that couldn't sit still for one... stinkin... picture.  I mean, there are just so many options to choose from, however will I decide???

Picture 1: Lee being cheesy, LC watching Lee to see what the heck he's doing.
Me: Lee, smile normal... LC... look at me!
Picture 2: Now THERE'S the smile I was hoping for (rolls eyes).
Me: Lee, um, not that smile.  LC, look at me, look a stick!
Lee: Ugh are we done yet?  
LC: looking at stick.
Picture 3: Lee sees 2 little kids running to the park that is 20 feet away.  This was his reward for taking a good picture.
Picture 4: ... (do I really need to recap what Lee is thinking in this picture??  Or LC for that matter...)
Picture 5 & 6: Lee telling me how unfair it is that he can't go to the park NOW and take pictures LATER.  He just doesn't understand.  Why we can't play first.  Blah, blah, blah... LC is really enjoying those fingers.
Picture 7 & 8: Lee giving LC a hug and squishing the daylights out of her... awesome!
Picture 9: (this is about 4 minutes in taking pictures) Lee was just watching the 2 kids at the park, and now LC wants nothing to do with Lee after the hug... she crawled away.

END.OF.SESSION!!

A little unsure...

I am taking this picture of LC.  However, what you don't see, is for Halloween I painted my face to look like a kitty cat to match LC and she now doesn't recognize who I am.  This is her "Oh I completely trust you" face.  Ya... this is what look most people get when she first sees you.

How to feed your baby doll!

 Please refer to the picture above.

Box 1: Seems like a perfectly normal situation.  Elsie chewing on a toy.  That happens to be a baby bottle.

Box 2: Elsie trying to feed the baby doll.
 

Box 3: When baby starts drinking, poke her in the eye.

Box 4: Hmm, I wonder what this baby's milk tastes like.

Box 5: Let's try it.

Box 6: I'm not getting anything, poke baby in the eye again.

Box 7: Still drinking, what did you get out of this bottle?

Box 8: Still nothing...

Box 9: That's it, I'm leaving.  I'm taking the milk with me!

Elsie, I could watch you play all day long. You are usually so quiet that I forget that you're there. Then, you start "talking" and you are SO loud. You have two volume's. Loud and silent.

Today you were playing with Lee's baby doll. This is the baby doll that you got him when you were born. Do you remember it? You were fascinated with feeding her today.  See this baby doll will make drinking sounds when you put the bottle up by its lips.  It will also giggle when you touch her belly.  You liked both these features.

However, I'm not sure stealing other babies milk and poking them in the eye is the way to make friends.  You might want to reconsidering this.

Love, 

Mommy

LC is 9 Months Old!

  El's you're 9 months old now.  How fast the time is flying by.  You have brought so much sunshine and laughter to our house, I am so thankful every day to have you.  You and Lee get along so well together.  He is starting to realize you're growing up and is not put up with you as much anymore.  However, he is still the first person you see every morning because he loves going into your room to "wake" you up.

 I haven't written in here for awhile, so I'm going to catch everything up to date hopefully. 

August 4th - Sat up for the first time by yourself.  You really didn't know how to "sit", but you could sit yourself up, try balancing for a few moments and then finally topple over to do it all over again.

August 22nd - Start army crawling.  You have the perfect army crawl down!  You are fast too.  You can get across a room in just a few seconds.

You officially started crawling just last week.  Now that is mostly what you use to get from point A to point B.

August 31st - Started eating puffs and got the hang of it.  You would put a puff in your mouth and spit it out because it was different.  This day, you really started taking them in your mouth and chewing them. 

Although as of today, you still don't have any teeth.  You can eat quite a bit of food though. You tried cottage cheese today for the first time and loved it!

September 6th - crawled 4 crawls on your hands and knees for the first time.

Shortly after this is when you started pulling up on furniture.  I don't have the exact date :(

September 27th - Started walking along the couch.

Your first word was "Mama".  You started whining quite a bit when we were feeding you.  So I started teaching you sign language so you could maybe start telling us what you want.  It took only a few times and you got "more" and "all done" down.  So now when you want more of something, you will sign "more".  When it's not the right thing, you will shake your head "no" at us until we get it right.  When you're done and ready to get down, you'll throw your hands in the air and sign "all done".  I'm shocked that at 8 months old, you had this concept down.  The whining while eating has for the most part, stopped.

During meal times, you will drink from a sippy cup.  You haven't really started giving kisses yet.  However, M'Liz taught you how to do bonks, so you ever so gently bonk us on occasion and start laughing.  You think it's hysterical.

Dr. Update:
Height 28 1/4"    Weight 18lb 4oz    Head 44cm

Happy 9 month birthday my sweet beautiful girl.  I love you :)

5 Months Old

5 Months Old

You have been such a happy baby (unless we are around a crowd of people or a stranger talks to you, then you scream like your legs are being ripped off).

You have the cutest little smile and laugh.  I love making you smile, so I'm pretty sure you think I'm the biggest dork on the planet.  Lee and Daddy do it too, Lee is actually pretty good at getting you to smile.  You follow him with your eyes where ever he goes.  You took a toy away from him the other day (you've been very big on rolling to where you want to go) and I was cringing waiting for the backlash, but he just laughed at you and "petted" your head and said, "ok, I share with you Elsie".  It was really super cute and endearing.

(My sister Kelly and Elsie)

Remember before when I mentioned that you like to scream when a stranger comes near you?  Well, we were at Target and a nice elderly lady just wanted to say hi to you and you screamed your head off.  Next thing I know, Lee is crying too.  I had 2 kids, crying like crazy.  I asked Lee why he was crying and he said "I don't know, but why is Elsie crying?"  So we had a small talk about how you don't know how to react with strangers and that Lee should be a good example and not cry.  Well see how that goes.  

The other day Lee was sitting next to you playing with a toy and it fell over and hit you on the head.  You started to cry and I came over to console you.  I looked down at Lee and he had these huge tears in his eyes and then started crying because he hurt you.  I want to document 2 things right now... 1. I know for sure this will not last forever and you two will be fighting over toys soon enough.  So here's proof that your brother does love you!  2. If Lee turns out to have a soft/gentle heart ever, I owe it all to you.  You have that little boy wrapped around your fingers.  He was yelling at me this morning because we were going to a movie and he wanted to leave earlier than when we needed to, he looked at you, smiled and gave you a kiss.  I get screamed at and you get kisses.

You have started to dislike hate your bottles.  You will drink a little bit of milk and then hold out until you get baby food.  You are liking LOVING your baby food.  You will eat oatmeal and sometimes 2 jars of baby food in one sitting.  It's crazy to me how much you can eat of that stuff, but refuse your bottle.  The very first time we started feeding you with a spoon, you had it down pretty good about the 5th spoonful. 

(Your first day eating oatmeal - May 27, 2010)

(These were taken her 1st time eating with a spoon - May 27, 2010)

We went to your first movie in the movie theater today.  You didn't really care for it.  It wasn't a big deal, but I did have to stand with you for most of it.  We saw Kung Fu Panda.  Or Panda Chinese Food as Lee calls it.  Whichever.

We set up your jumper and you LOVE it!  You can be in there hours at a time!  You can jump pretty high now too!

You are a rolling fool and sitting up is starting to get better.  You rolled over to the DVD player the other day and started playing with the buttons.  Lee came over to gently help you remove you from this situation as you were about to turn off his show and picked you up and then just dropped you to the side.  He was sitting and you didn't cry, just so you know.  There was no damage done.  Although, Lee got a talking to about picking you up.

You started playing with your feet too!  It's so cute to see you stare at your hands and feet.  I love it!

You can bring home dogs from Alaska with your high, ear-piercing squeaking you do.  I'm serious when I say that it's ear-piercing.  Lee holds his hands over his ears and screams for you to stop.  I just laugh, because you're only doing it when you're at your happiest.  He pretty much hates it though and it's funny to watch him sit next to you with his hands over his ears, pleading with me to make you stop.

Did I mention your two favorite things right now are eating anything but bananas with a spoon and rolling around on the floor?

Happy 5 month birthday baby girl.  We all love you SO much!

Ms. Elsie - 4 Months Old

The time is flying by... you can now roll over from back to front and front to back.  You are loving being on your belly though and it almost seems like you're scared to roll onto your back sometimes.  Ms. Liz watched you today and she checked on you 2 different times while you were sleeping and you were sleeping on your stomach.  You are just loving your belly.

You've also taken up a new found interest in your knees.  See the picture above.  You can't get to your feet yet, although you know they are there... you can get to your knees.  They are pretty scratched up.

This past week we started you on baby oatmeal.  With your pooping issues we've had, I skipped rice cereal all together.  You are not a big fan of oatmeal yet.  Tonight I gave up the good fight with you and just opened green beans.  You ate half the jar.  It's pretty funny how you eat... I wedge the spoon in your mouth and you kinda slurp what's on it and eat it that way.  We'll have to teach you to open your mouth all the way.

You grab everything in sight now.  You have very, very slow, but meticulous still the same.  You do not give up, that's for sure.  You'll be laying under your play mat on the floor scooting and scooting to get to the toy that rattles.  You can get from point "A" to point "B" if you need to.  

You are still perfectly content to be left alone on the floor by yourself.  You prefer to hang out down there actually.  You love to sit in your car seat too and watch everything going on.  You are just a very laid back baby girl.

M'Liz too this picture of you the other day.  I think she's taken more pictures of you than I have.  I'll try and get better about that.  Thank goodness we have her!  This picture just melts my heart when I see it!  Thank you so much again Liz!!!

I have a video of you rolling over ... i'll try to post it soon!

4 Months Old

I can't believe you are 4 months old already, time is sure flying by.  You are just the sweetest baby girl.  You hardly ever cry and just lay back and take things in.  You grab at everything now and when I hold you, you hang onto my shirt.  You helped me flash everyone at the mall the other day!  That was fun!

I started cloth diapering you this month.  You don't care either way.  Your little legs are getting so chubby ;)  

4 Month Dr. Update:

13lb 15.5oz (75%)

25.5 " long (95%)

41.2 head cir (average)

The Dr. said you are doing great and sleeping REALLY well.  He emphasized the "really".  He said I can start you on solids anytime now.  I just don't know if I want you to be that big yet.  I think you're really going to like it though and maybe I should give it a shot.  With your brother, I was always pushing him to the next level (although as independent as he is, it doesn't take much pushing) ... I think for you, I'm going to be holding you back because I want to keep you my baby forever.

Swaddling

Last night was the last night that you were swaddled.  You are no longer liking it as much and prefer to chew/suck on your hands and fingers while trying to fall asleep.  You are also becoming very good at self soothing and putting yourself to sleep.  Your bottom 2 teeth are just about to pop threw.  We'll see how long they take to come in.  You are just the sweetest, most content baby.  You lay on your blanket and just watch the world around you.  Very seldom do you cry.  Mostly when you are tired or poopy.  Good-ness you cry when you have pooped.  WOW!  It's ear piercing!  Ha, ha.

You also started this week rubbing your eyes when you get tired.

Laughing...

Elsie Started laughing today!  She has the cutest most adorable laugh ever!!

Here are the things that make her laugh...
- peek-a-boo
- pretend sneezing
- scaring her (BOO)
- Lee laughing
- Steve making her dance
- Liz and Spencer talking to her
- Shaking your head saying "no,no,no"

El's you are just way, WAY, way too cute!

3 Months Old

My sweet baby girl. You are just so, so sweet. I love going to get you in the morning because you are all smiles. You smile all day long. You are quiet and watch everything to take in. You love your big brother. I can already see you following right behind him in all his mischief ;)

You're starting to teeth. I can feel your two bottom teeth right below your gums. They are RIGHT THERE. It's made you pretty crabby though. Not crabby all the time, but just more crabby when you get tired. Tylenol cures that pretty good though.

You are sleeping 12-13 hours every night now, straight through. You do amazing! Every 4th night you wake up in the middle of the night for a catch up feeding. You still have 3 naps a day, but your wake time is just about 2 hours now. You are also eating about 6 oz at every feeding too. Sometimes though you like to do 3 oz and confuse us, but mostly you're doing 5-6 oz every feed.

I'm still swaddling you and I'm wondering when you're going to give that up. You really do love it though... so probably not anytime soon.


I love you my little Elles Bells. Please don't grow up too fast. Ok? Thanks!

2 Months Old

I can't believe you are 2 months old already. You are growing by leaps and bounds but I'm thankful that you're not growing as fast as your brother. You went to the Dr. on Monday and you weighed in at 11lb 8oz. You were 23" tall. You are the sweetest baby I have ever met. You love to be cuddled for a bit and then you love to lay down and look around. You also sleep and nap amazingly! You're still a bit fussy in the evenings, but nothing that's too bad. During the day you are all smiles and completely content.

Here's a few things that went on this month:
- Eating 4-5oz at almost every feeding.
- Sleeping 11 hours straight through the night.
- You still love to be swaddled.
- You love watching TV
- Mommy took you and Lee out by herself for the first time this month.

Lee loves you so much and is always looking out for you. He always runs in your room in the morning when you wake up. He will walk by and give you a kiss on the head. You and Lee were watching Snow White and Lee came over and told you "it's ok baby sister, it's not scary" when the evil witch was casting her spell. When you cry he will find you a bink and give it to you. He has tried jumping over you, but was stopped by Papa just in time. He still isn't really into holding you but at this moment, that's ok with Mommy.

Your schedule now (and it's been this way for over a month now) is:
8am - Wake up, drink bottle
9:30-10:30am - Nap
Noon - Wake up, bottle
1:30pm - Nap
4pm - Wake up, bottle
5:30pm - Nap
6:30pm - Wake up, bottle
8pm - bottle
9pm - Bedtime
*You fall asleep almost 1.5hours on the dot from when you woke up from nap.

A Smile is Worth...

Everything!! You started smiling yesterday! I went to get you out of your crib and you gave Mommy this HUGE smile. I fed you your bottle and another smile. Than last night as I was getting you ready for bed... like 10 more smiles ;) I love it! My heart just melts everytime.

Belly Button

You lost your belly button tonight while Mommy was changing your diaper. YEAH! Now you can officially have your first bath and not just a sponge bath.

One Month Old

You are one month old and I can't believe how fast time is going. I try to hold you as much as I can because I know tomorrow, you are one day bigger.

This month has been pretty good, although we are finally figuring out your pooping issues. I've called the Dr. 3 times because you just seem like you're in so much pain. But as of 4 days ago, I think we have it all figured out. Who knew that a little bit of syrup could make a baby poop so much.

At 3 weeks we went to the Dr. and you weighed in at 9 pounds, 8 ounces. You were 19 inches still.

You have figured out your days from your nights. (Yeah!!). Last night was the first night of sleeping 7 hours straight through the night. You were up for an hour to eat and look around, and then slept for another 4 hours. Yeah for sleep!!

Swaddling is so-so. You sometimes love it, other times scream until we have unswaddled you.

You love to sleep on your tummy, but it makes Mommy nervous, so it doesn't happen very often.

We've had so much fun having you in our family! I can't wait to see what you're like as a toddler. I can wait... don't get me wrong... I can wait. I'm just saying, I look forward to that period, far, far from now ;)

1 Week Old

You are one week old today and I'm not sure where the time went. Although you've only been home for 4 days now, it feels like one. Daddy took you to your first Dr. appointment today and you weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces. You are back to your birth weight. We asked the Dr. about your sleeping so much and he didn't seem concerned at all. He said that if you were eating good, that you should be fine. YEAH! He was very happy with how much weight you have gained and how good you are doing.

Tomorrow we go and see the Cardiologist at St. Joseph to just get a check-up. Hopefully everything goes well and you get a clean bill of health. Right now you're sleeping in the pack-n-play in the living room and I'm just waiting till 11:30pm to wake you up to feed you before bed. I have to wake you up to feed you, that's how much you sleep.

Big brother Lee is still getting used to you. He'll occasionally ask who you are and kiss your head. Today he wanted to give you a hug, so he hugged the life out of you and you grunted. He thought that was funny. Other than that he pretty much keeps to himself and goes about his business.

We love you and hope you don't grow up too fast.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy