Day 3-Rice Cereal-Success!

Three days ago, November 15, we decided it would be fun to start Ellie on Rice Cereal and see how she would do. The first day we did it in the evening just after nursing. As I mixed the cereal with some formula, it smelled so gross(the formula). We haven't ever used formula, so I really don't know what it smells like, but does it really smell gross??? Well, this is the response we received from the first serving. Ellie did really good and opened wide and...of course....wanted to help and grabbed the spoon many times. But then this is the look that she gave us.

After this, her lips were so tightly pressed together that there was no chance of getting the food in. It was hilarious. The next night, we tried it with breast milk instead of formula, and tried just before nursing, and didn't really get a better reaction than the first night, except she didn't throw it up five minutes later:)

Well, today we decided to try it during lunch time instead of dinner time. We tried a couple hours after nursing, and I used breast milk again, and warmed up the cereal a little bit. SUCCESS! She opened right up and tried it. She still tries to suck and all the cereal comes out, but it was much better and didn't even have a disgusted look. She ate/tried to eat a lot more this time. It was so much fun to see her trying something new and getting so excited to 'help.' Here's a picture from today after she was done. She just kept moving all over...as usual...and I couldn't get a great smiley picture:)

We will keep trying different ways, slowly...I can't wait to try some foods with actual flavor:)

Here's a picture after bath time.

11-13-2010

She just looked so cute all wrapped up. I can't believe it, but these towels are getting so snug. Ellie is growing so fast. I can't believe it. She is also getting so smart. She grabs at everything and puts her binky in her mouth all the time. She is chewing more and more on things(everybody always thinks she is teething, but I don't feel or see anything yet). She still isn't quite turning over, but is so close. She rolls to her side and back to the other side constantly. She can twist and scootch to places, but not roll over. It is nice that I don't have to worry about her rolling and getting into things quite yet, but it will come any day now. She wiggles everywhere and when on her tummy her little legs will come up under her and she pushes her bum in the air. When she starts crawling, she will be into everything!

Ellie has really started to whine more. She will do this little whimper when she wants something and gets this look on her face!

11-16-2010

It is just so sad, and takes so much effort. She is definitely going to have a little attitude in her and use any means to get her way;) It will probably work with daddy too, she's had him wrapped around her finger from day 1!

We are having so much fun with Ellie and love watching her grow and learn new things.

Halloween Happenings...and Zeppe's!

I haven't posted quite a bit, and I really want to get everything on here. So...there may be a few....I mean a lot of pictures:)

First...we went to the pumpkin walk. I love this tradition. They had so many great scenes this year. I am always amazed at how much work goes into everything and how well it turns out. My parents came up and went on Oct 23, Patrick couldn't make it so we went again on the 25th.Both days were pretty cold and rainy/snowy, but we happened to make it just at the right times to be out of the bad weather. Here are a few pictures.

Isn't this little hat so stinkin' cute?

My Parents and Ellie

At the end of the pumpkin walk there are all these cut outs(can't think of what you would call them...oh well) We just had to get a Harry Potter. After the pumpkin walk, we went over to carve pumpkins with Steve, Lacey and Ivy. We had a great time and I think all of the pumpkins turned out wonderfully!

Ivy had a great time playing with Ellie. She loved pulling out the binky and then shoving it back in:) Ellie smiled a lot and didn't seem to mind. Ivy really likes babies and does great with her. Patrick's Pumpkin My PumpkinDon't they look awesome all lit up! Left to Right:Steve, Lacy, Patrick, Nicky

I found the cutest...I mean scariest...looking cookies on this website. I thought they were so cute and just had to make them...well, they were a little harder than expected when I tried to put them all together. These were actually the only two that made it. So many of the legs broker and the inside frosting kept leaking everywhere...but these 2...look wonderful:)

We decided to head down South to visit our parents for Halloween. We couldn't miss dressing Ellie up for her first Halloween!

Isn't she the cutest little monkey ever?!?

She sort of seemed to even like being dressed up:) All smiles! Ellie's latest thing she can't get enough of is playing with her feet/toes. She has been doing this for a while when she had shoes on or cute jammies. But now it is constantly with her toes:) Every time I turn around her feet are sticking straight up and she's grabbed onto her toes. I even went in to check on her after she was sleeping and found her feet in the air...she's so funny! These pictures are from November 1, 2010. She also enjoys sucking on her feet. Yummy!A friend of mine told me about a new place her called Zeppe's. It sounded like fun, so we went and tried it last night. It was pretty good, a little expensive, but fun to try. It is an Italian Water Ice and custard place. They have lots of different flavors and change them each day. I had mine mixed together for a shake and Patrick's was in layers. Patrick and everybody else....my dad....Patrick's mom...all want to give Ellie everything to try. I am not quite ready yet....but I also want to see her reaction when she does try things(I don't want it happening behind my back:), so, I have to say, we slipped Ellie the tiniest bite of the Italian ice, she wasn't sure what to think about it...just kind of smacked her lips. I also tried to put her hair in a little ponytail. You can't tell very well from the picture, but it was so cute. I just love all of her hair! Well, that is whats been going on with us lately. I finally have our pictures back too, so I will post them soon!

5 Years Ago

5 Years ago today, Patrick proposed to me!

It had been an extremely long day of studying for both him and me. We both had huge tests the next day, and I was a little sad when I was getting ready for bed and hadn't seen him all night(he had been studying with a huge group) I thought for sure he was going to propose that night. (I need to back track a little-earlier in the day, I had received a text from Patrick, he was explaining exactly how he was going to propose and I was so confused and didn't know if I should tell him he had sent it to the wrong person, or just act surprised! Yes.....so smart:) Well, after calling my friend, I decided to just act surprised. Little did I know she was the one helping him and was supposed to receive the text.) Well, just as I crawled into bed, I heard him at the front door. Then all of the sudden, I was being blindfolded and carrying to the car, in my pajamas... He drove around for a long time and I kept trying to figure out all of the turns and try to guess where we were going. Well, when I was completely lost, he pulled over and left saying he would be right back. He took a really long time, but then finally he was back and guiding me out of the car. We walked for a ways and he sat me down. Then the blindfold came off and I was at a picnic table at Adams Park(I think that's the name of the park...I know I'm terrible) There were candles and pumpkins and flowers, etc....)Then I turned back to him and he was down on one knee, with a ring. I was so excited! It was the best feeling in the world to know that you are going to marry the man of your dreams. It was perfect....

I can't believe it has been 5 years already. When I got home tonight, I found these on my pillow with a reservation to the Melting Pot!!! I was so surprised at everything and I absolutely love surprises(so much that I never even once tried to find Christmas...birthday presents growing up, I really wanted to be surprised). Patrick is not very good at surprises, as you can tell from the beginning of the story:) and is not always the most romantic guy in the world and we often joke about it, so this really was a huge surprise. Daisy's are my favorite and I have been hinting for a while that the only thing I really wanted to do for our anniversary was to go to the Melting Pot. We are planning a trip in the Summer for our 5 year anniversary, but can't do it over our actual anniversary because I don't want to leave Ellie for that long when she will only be 6 months old. Anyways....how sweet and I just wanted to say I love Patrick so much! He amazes me all the time with how much he does for our family. I am so glad that even though when he first met me I wasn't all too nice to him....he still asked me out. I can't imagine my life without him and am so happy to have such a great guy!

Recipes

For those of you who wanted the recipes for dinner in a pumpkin and caramel apples here are the links.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Caramel Apples

We use Symphony with toffee and almonds for our chocolate and then didn't put the colored chocolate melts on. But that would be really yummy if you did:)

Limeade

Mix one frozen limeade using lemon lime soda in place of the water. Add green food coloring. Niki and Jason used orange kool-aid for the hands.

And....here's a few pictures of Ellie...just because:)

October 18-She loves to pull up her shirts....and usually proceeds to suck on them until they are drenched:)October 20-binky in one hand, toy in the otherOctober 25-I laid her down and she somehow managed to turn 90 degrees:)October 25-20 Weeks Today

What Happened!?!

Today I took out the insert in Ellie's car seat. This was a big step for me:) The last few weeks when I put her in she just seemed squished, but I couldn't imagine she was big enough to not have the infant insert in the seat. Well....today it came out. She is growing so fast and I can't believe that my tiny baby is now 4 and a half months old. Wow! What happened!?!

Old Spice Spoof...#2

I don't know...I just think the Old Spice Spoofs are funny :)

Annual Dinner in a Pumpkin and Caramel Apples!

A few years ago we started a tradition on doing dinner in a pumpkin and making caramel apples. We love it! Here are some pictures for this year.

Dinner in a pumpkin....it really is good:)

Breadstick Bones

Limeade Hands

Delicious Dessert

Yummy Caramel Apples

We had to make a couple extra...in honor of the Hughes! Wish you were here:)

The Whitmer's were able to come up with their cute Lydia. So good to see you guys. We didn't get a picture of the Staley's, but its always fun to have them here too.

I love Halloween so much! I have always liked it, and Patrick LOVES it, so it's even better. I really like all the fun treats that we make/get from others. I am going to try some cookie spiders next. I will post those soon...if they work out:) Happy Halloween.

4 Month Check Up

We had Ellie's 4 month check-up yesterday. She is once again doing great. She is growing and is healthy. She now weighs 14lb 6.8oz and is 24 inches long. She is average across the board for percentile. She had more immunizations and did great. She screamed a little harder right when they were giving them, but then calmed right down and was her happy self. I hope this continues to be this way and she gets older...we can only hope:) She is such a cute little girl and we love having her in our family so very much! Here are some thing she is doing right now.

*Rolling to one side-she doesn't do this often, but every now and then.

*Laughing, giggling, talking...all the time. I love all of her noises. She especially loves it when Patrick flubbers her neck. She is starting to make new noises too each day. She is going to be a talker.

*When I sing to her, she will sing back. It is seriously so dang cute!

*Grabs onto everything and anything you giver her. Then it of course goes straight to her mouth. She will grab and pull on her play mat...thingy...to make the music go. I don't know that she really knows that if she pulls it, it will make music, but she pulls it anyways. She loves toys, especially these rings that Patrick got her. I also made her a tabby blanket that she loves. She will poke her fingers through the tabs and put them straight in her mouth:)

*Holds onto her feet when she has jammies on.

*Plays with her ears.

*Wiggles all the time.

*Hold her head up all the time. We just got her a bumbo and it is her new favorite thing.

*You can pull her into sitting and then she always wants to keep going till she's standing. She is really strong and seems so proud of herself when she does this

*Follows objects all over the room. The other day I put her in front of the mirror, because she just loves seeing a baby in the mirror and as I would turn, she would turn her head all over to make sure she was still looking in the mirror

*Pushes her self up on her tummy. She holds her head up really great doing this and gets her chest off the ground for a while.

*Is notorious for smiling so huge, but as soon as the camera comes out, she just glares at it:) Its awesome when we get a good smiling picture:)

I can't think of anything else right now, but overall she is just so happy all the time. I love being able to stay home with her and watch her grow and explore all the new things that life has to bring. She is an amazing little girl and we love her so much!

PS I asked the Dr about her crying so much when she goes to bed and he said that it is very normal and happens at this age to a lot of kids. They have developed a little more and just want to take in everything and not sleep. He said that we just need to keep trying and maybe put her to bed a little earlier, before she is too tired to sleep. Try to be really boring before bed, so she doesn't want to stay up:) We can try letting her cry it out-I hate this, but we do try and she just cries and cries(he said if she still does this at 6 months then we should try letting her cry longer till she falls asleep) He did say that it usually only lasts a couple of weeks and she will probably get used to everything and start a more normal routine with naps etc..

This is from this morning. I just think she is so cute! I love these jammies and Grandma found this little witch hat. Here she is lovin the Bumbo.

How Cool is This?

This was a total accident. I think it's pretty amazing!

Okay, I will post more than this....even though that is pretty dang cool! We haven't been up to a whole lot lately. Just everyday stuff. Patrick is working and going to school and doing great at both. He amazes me everyday. He is such a great daddy and I'm so glad to have him as a husband. Ellie is growing fast as ever. I went and visited a friend the other day with a new baby and I couldn't believe how much bigger she was compared to him. I guess I just don't notice it as much because I see her everyday.

The last few days have been a little rough. For some reason she has decided that sleep is just not an option for her. I'm not sure if there is just so much other fun stuff to do or what, but it is getting pretty old:) She gets so tired and then just screams....tonight for instance she just fell asleep after an hour and a half of crying. It is just so not like her. I give props to all you out there who have a colicky baby. You're amazing!

Okay, so of course....here a few pictures. We have a video camera full of video's that I will post sometime, but for now I don't want to try to figure that out..... Ellie is 18 weeks old. We have her 4 month check-up tomorrow to see how everything is going. Maybe they can shed some light on all the crying, or at least give some advice. She seems to be so healthy and a happy little girl. She is so much fun to have around and we just love her so much. Here is her 18 week picture...all decked out for Halloween...and the shirt is very TRUE!

October 1

I laid Ellie down for a bit while I did a couple of things and when I came back here is the look I got. I LOVE it! She just makes my heart melt. She also does this look at 4am....which makes it extremely hard to be unhappy that I'm awake at such an hour. Hopefully that won't last long. I read somewhere that after kids have been sleeping through the night they sometimes go in spurts and will wake up a lot at night. I am hoping that spurt is almost over....at least for this time.

October 2

She found her toes. Most of Ellie's jammies have something on the feet. She loves to look at whatever that something might be and grab at it. She doesn't do it as much with her feet, just the jammies. Ellie did so great during conference. I was a little worried we wouldn't get anything out of it this year, until after re-reading all the talks, but she was so good and just played quietly and slept a lot. Here she is with daddy.

October 4

She has also found her ears. Some people say to watch for ear infections, but she isn't ever grabbing at them or crying over them. She seems to love to just hold onto them. She loves to hold onto anything and everything, especially faces. They must just be interesting. She fell asleep like this the other day. Holding an ear in each hand.

October 5

I just thought this was funny. We have some polka dot socks....this is what her feet looked like after they came off. I guess they might just be a little small now:) I love cute little feet! We tried out a Johnny Jump Up at a friends house and Ellie loved it. She was so excited to be able to move around freely. She is still a little small for it...as you can tell by her arms going pretty close to straight up....but she enjoyed herself for a few minutes We are going to have to get one now.

October 10

My parents stopped by on there way back from Oregon and hung out. Here are the boys....while my mom and I made yummy pumpkin cupcakes. They were so good. I will post the recipe at the bottom in case anyone would like it. These don't have the frosting on them, but it was really good too. I love having family visit. Hopefully one day we will live closer to both our parents.

October 13

We made our annual trip to the Paradise Pumpkin Patch. Doesn't Ellie just look like she's chillin'? A few years ago I found this patch and we have loved going out there every year since. We go to Paradise Farms because they have a nice, cheap pumpkin patch, yummy apples and apple cider. It is an awesome tradition and I would recommend it to everyone. We waited a little too long this year and there wasn't a huge selection, but we still had fun. Luckily there is a patch across the street that I think the youth puts on. The pumpkins are a little more, but we founds some great ones. We did however decide that it would be a wonderful idea to lock BOTH sets of keys in the car....with everything inside...all of Ellie's stuff, wallet, etc. So, we walked back to Paradise Farms and they were kind enough to let us borrow a phone book and their home phone(we had no cell phone service) to call Beazer Lock and Key. I have to say that Beazer was really great. They took about 30 minutes to get there and even though it cost us $40, they were very efficient and quick. They even let me know that if I bring in my receipt, they will make an extra copy of our key for us. How cool is that! It was about 6:30pm and getting a little cold, so we had to improvise a little.Well, that's it for now. We are loving life and being parents and all that fun stuff. So excited for this time of year with all of the fun holidays coming up.

Pumpkin Cream Cupcakes

1 pkg Spice Cake Mix

1 pkg (3.4 oz) Jell-O Vanilla Flavor Pudding

1 Cup canned pumpkin

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 Cup sugar

1 egg

Heat oven to 350F. Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Add dry pudding mix and pumpkin; mix well. Spoon into paper-lined muffin cups.(It says 24, but the first batch sort of overflowed...I would make a few more and not fill the pans too full) Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Blend in sugar and egg; spoon over batter. Swirl gently with a small spoon.(Not sure what they really mean, but there picture just had white in the middle. Mine ended up all over the top, but they still tasted yummy, so no big deal.) Bake 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 min in pan and then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

Stir 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg into 1 and 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip; spread over cooled cupcakes. Keep refrigerated.

Love It!

Finally!

Our little mouse "friend" took his last breath in the night. Hallelujah! Hopefully he didn't bring any little rodent friends with him...but...just in case we are leaving the traps set for a while. I'm so glad Ellie isn't crawling yet.

Yuck!

A mouse just ran across my floor:(