911!

I have always had a fear of what I would do if a child called 911! I imagined them learning about 911 at school or at home and then when in an "emergency" situation, deciding to call it. I have heard terrible stories of this. For instance...I heard a story about a girl that decided to call and say that she was being abused because she was not allowed to go out that night because of being grounded....the police showed up at the house and had to get it all straightened out! For real!!!! Well, I didn't think this call would be made at such a young age, but Ellie has figured it out. I don't let her play with my phone anymore, do to this instance, but as I went to put her in her carseat the other day, she grabbed my phone so quick and I immediately took it away and set it on the floor while I put her in her seat. I looked down and it said "emergency call." I figured it just meant my phone wasn't working right again. Well, not even 10 seconds later 911 called me back and asked if I was okay. I am sure that I sounded like I was in distress by my shocked voice, but I assured them I was okay and was extremely embarrassed. My mom heard that if you hold down 9 on your phone, it will automatically call 911??? Not sure if that is true, and I'm definitely not going to try it! But, if you have kids....watch out! As much as I hope, I am sure this will probably not be the last time in my life that something like this happens. Anybody have any 911 stories to share, I'd love to hear them!?!

9 Months!

Wow, time is seriously flying by. I can't believe it, but Ellie is already 9 months....well...she was 9 months on March 7! Love the picture above....it is rare that we get a non moving picture these days! We had her 9 month check up on March 15 and she is once again doing awesome! She is now 18lbs 4.8oz and 28 inches long. I knew she had gotten quite a bit taller because her pants are all starting to fit in length much, much better. Here are some things she is doing:

• She has been quite the little entertainer lately singing and jabbering constantly, especially when she is eating, or really tired. Patrick always jokes that she is like me because she can't stop talking right before bed and then she will just conk out. It is pretty funny
• She is into EVERYTHING! She crawls awesome and pulls up onto everything, she especially loves the stove, refrigerator and dishwasher. When I am doing dishes, she will pull herself up and loves to play in any water that is on it. I know....gross! She has just started to move a little around the couch or whatever she is holding onto, but not a lot.
• She loves to climb on everything. If I am sitting on the floor with her, she will climb up me and get on to the couch, chair or bed. She is always so proud of herself also. The first time she climbed onto/into something was into her carseat. Can't you just see how proud of herself she was?
• She enjoys having screaming wars...not because she is upset, but just because. If I scream or lately anybody else....even on the tv screams, she will scream back. It is hilarious! Although, it wasn't quite as funny during church...perhaps this will need to be stopped shortly:)
• She loves peek a boo and thinks its so funny when we put a blanket...or anything...over her and she will pull it down and just giggle.
• I say Uh Oh a lot when she drops something or falls....etc and she will say part of it, either Uh or Oh. The other night in the tub, she dropped a toy, and said "Uh Oh!" Patrick and I both cheered and she was so happy with herself!
• She loves to blow raspberries, I mean all day long, even when she has a mouth full of food.
• She eats so well and is currently eating 4-5 6oz bottles a day and baby food twice a day with snacks in between. She will eat pretty much anything, especially fruit. Yesterday we tried real pears which she loves. She also will eat strawberries, apples, bananas and peaches. She eats bread and really likes banana bread. We gave her Mac n Cheese yesterday and I am pretty sure that will become a staple around here:) She has also really gotten the hang of a sippy cup. The first couple of weeks, I didn't think she would ever get the concept. Now she does great, but she doesn't like to tip it up, I usually have to help with that.
• She has also started climbing the stairs. She does really good at this and climbed up the whole set by herself. However, when she gets distracted or tired, she will just sit down....and since it is a stair, there is nothing to sit on. Good thing we never let her go up by herself:)
• She is still a great sleeper. She had a cold a few weeks ago and was waking up a lot during the night, but is back to normal:10-12 hours a night! It is awesome. She doesn't do a lot of napping during the day, but I usually get 2 30-45 min naps. Here is a great nap picture. She will often be so tired but not want to sleep and this is how I find her:)
• Patrick does horsey rides a lot of nights. She thinks this is awesome! Here is a picture we got of it. She seriously just giggles and giggles. I ever taught her to kick his sides with her heals to make him go faster:) Luckily, she doesn't quite understand that...yet!
• Ellie absolutely loves shoes. This has become a favorite place to play. The other day I had closed my bedroom door(evidently it didn't close completely) I had the gate up so she could get even close to the stares and went into the bathroom for a minute. I came out and found her in my closet....with all the shoes! Please....PLEASE don't look too closely at how extremely messy my closet is....and how much laundry had piled up.
• Ellie has always liked faces. She likes to grab your cheeks, nose and eyes. Lately she has become really fascinated with eyelashes. She really likes to play with them, especially when she is going to bed or down for a nap. It is funny because she becomes so focused and sill just run her thumb over them so gently.

I am sure that I could go on and on, but that is all I can remember for now. On March 18 we went to Charlie's for some ice cream! She couldn't get enough of it(We didn't give her very much, but she loved it!) I have been loving the weather lately and we have been going on walks, which Ellie really enjoys. She loves to be going, anywhere and does a great job. She is usually pretty happy as long as we are out. We got an umbrella stroller and when we go to the library or mall we get that out instead of lugging the big stroller and she has a ball. I think she enjoys being able to see more and kick her feet all around. She really likes the play place at the Mall, but it's hard if there are lots of older kids, because she doesn't really understand the concept of moving out the a large kid jumping right above her:) She has so much personality and is a little social butterfly. She is so much fun and I love having her in our family!

Life Is Great!

I know I haven't posted anything for a while, and I have so many things to post, but for now....I just have to post about how grateful I am for my life. I love it! I am so happy with everything right now and just can't help but see the best in things.

Patrick is such an amazing husband and is doing so much for our family right now. He is so busy and stressed to the max, and yet he is always happy and loves to play around with Ellie when he's home. She just loves him so much and lights up every time she hears his voice on the phone, or when he walks in the door. He is currently working full time and doing 3 credits in grad school which is very time consuming. I have to say though, he does a great job at work, and he is actually enjoying school this semester. The Lord must be blessing us for that:)

Ellie is such a joy. She is always happy and smiley and is learning so many things. I will post lots and lots more about the things she has recently been doing(ie calling 911-for real I still can't believe this and was so embarrassed, and starting to talk) She is 9 months old!

A couple months ago we switched over from the student ward we have been in for 5 years....and into the family ward. We were really worried, but I just know it was the right thing for us to do. I feel so comfortable and there are so many people in the same boat as us. The first Sunday I counted at least 10 kids the same age as Ellie. The first Sunday we were there, they asked Patrick to help with the Sacrament and then also asked him to say the closing prayer. He is always a target in wards:) I am so glad he is willing to do things! I am making friends and really enjoying the ward. I did get a calling already, Visiting Teaching Supervisor. Patrick and I just had to laugh because I have this calling in every ward. I have had it 6 times already, I must not be doing something right....anyways, I am actually really excited about it and really trying hard to help this time because visiting teaching doesn't seem to be a priority for anybody in this ward. We will see how that goes.

I feel so grateful for my family growing up and am really glad that they are members of the church and I grew up that way. I think about what I would be like had I not grown up a member of the church and I wonder how I would have turned out. The gospel is such a big part of my life and I can't imagine anything different. I am also so glad for the way Patrick was raised. He has such a great family that I love being part of. I feel so welcomed and just fit in with them.

Lastly, it's been raining a lot the last week or so and although a lot of people really don't like the rain, I LOVE it. For some reason I have always really like the rain, I feel happier just waking up to the rain. Maybe it's all the times my mom and I would sit on the front porch in the rain and watch the lighting and thunder. I especially loved the hail storms.

I hope everyone is having a great day and I will for sure post more when I get the chance. I have tons and tons of pictures...and maybe, just maybe I will finally get a video on here:) Until then her is a picture of a little over 9 months ago! I can't believe how the time is flying!

Ellie the Model

Patrick is taking a photoshop class right now and has done some really cool projects. These are two of them that I thought were really cool! And....what better model than this cute little girl:)

8 Months!

Ellie is 8 months old as of yesterday! I can't believe how the time is flying. I love being home with her and watching her grow. Here are some of the things Ellie is doing now.

• She started crawling on January 27th. She started out going onto her knees and then she would scoot backwards, but she finally got going forwards and is now into everything. She is getting pretty fast now too. Last night we were playing a game where Patrick would chase us and we would crawl away. She is just so funny.
• Talks and talks and talks....she loves to make noises. She will say dada and mama(not sure she really knows what she is saying, but it's cute) She talks a lot when she is tired also(Patrick says she gets that from me) She will wake up in the morning and just sing and talk for a while. It is really cute. The other day I would say pee-yew in a high pitched voice and she would try to mimic me. She also loves to squeal.
• Ellie giggles all the time. She is such a happy smiley baby and loves to play peek-a-boo. We will play and she just giggles. She loves to play like she is going to get me and I will chase her to get her. A lot of times when she is laughing she gets going so hard that she snorts!
• She is a really great eater. She will eat pretty much anything we give her. She is getting really good and putting food in her mouth by herself. On Saturday we had ice cream cones and we gave her a little and her eyes lit up and she just kept begging for me. She has also tried snickerdoodles(not sure about those), bread and turkey. She surprisingly really liked the turkey.

I am just having so much fun being a mom and seriously never realized just how much I would love this little girl. She is a blast and just makes me laugh. I am so glad that I have her. Here is a picture from 8 Months. It is getting really hard to get any pictures that either aren't blurry or have her not even looking at you. So much moving....constantly! Happy 8 Months Ellie! We love you!

Help in the Kitchen!

Patrick is always so willing to help me with almost everything:) One thing that he always helps me with is packaging chicken.

Each time I buy chicken, I like to buy a lot and then freeze it. I don't really do this to save money, although it probably does, but I do it because I absolutely HATE cleaning chicken. I have to have every little piece of grossness off of my chicken(I got this from my mom) and I find that if I do this the day I am going to eat it, I have hard time having the appetite to actually eat it. So, I buy a lot and then freeze it. Lately I have been trying to save time by chopping some of the chicken before I freeze it. I use a lot of chopped chicken in recipes and it really helps the process of cooking dinner. Patrick always holds the baggie open for me to put the chicken in so I don't get it all chickeny:) Then I wrap it in foil and write what it is and how much. He decided to go above and beyond and do the wrapping and writing this time. Wasn't that so nice of him? Here is one of the finished products.

Yep, it says CHOPPED ROOSTER! I found all of the chicken with funny names like this. Another one said, Hacked Bird Meat....I am serious! He just makes me laugh and I had to share.

More Bows and a Good Deal!

My parents came up on Saturday and spent the day with us. We had a lot of fun just hanging around. They of course took us out to lunch/dinner at the Olive Garden....yummy! Then my mom and I went to Sugar and Spice. They were having a 40 percent off sale and I also had a 10 dollar coupon for joining the email list! Here's what we found.

And....guess how much I spent.....$10.68. How cool is that.

So....I have seen so many cute bows going different places, and decided I wanted to learn how to make them. I wasn't sure on a couple of them, but while at Sugar and Spice, they had some, so we decided to take a peak at how they were made. Last night and tonight I thought I would try it out. Here are the finished products. I love these!!!

But am still not too sure about these. I think I will keep trying and see if I can get them a little better.

I have a couple more projects I want to make in the next couple of weeks that I'm really excited about.

And....here are a couple of cute pictures of Ellie.

This is how I found her sleeping during a nap one day! January 15, 2011

Also after a nap one day I came in to see her playing like this. She must really like to use the bumpers as a pillow! January 14, 2011 We got some cool shelves for her room to help organize a little bit. Here she is helping us put it together. This was the first time she pulled herself up to standing. She hasn't done it again, but I can feel it coming. Once she gets going...she is going to be in to everything! January 15, 2011 She loves carrying things in her mouth, especially socks. We were laughing so hard at this....which made her keep doing it, then she would giggle and the sock would fall out. She is just so much fun! January 22, 2011

Another Giveaway!

I know I am going crazy with giveaways, but I really want one of these, and it can't hurt to try to enter. If you would like to enter to Win a free Silhouette Machine Valued at $395. http://tinyurl.com/4kk2xyh @iheartnaptime. Good Luck!

Ribbon Board

I have been wanting to make one of these for a while, but couldn't decide which design I wanted. I saw ones that had ribbon hanging from a cute sign that held the bows, or frames with ribbon in them to attach the bows. This one caught my eye the other day and I knew it was what I wanted. Plus, it was so much easier and a lot cheaper! I got the fabric and ribbon from Hobby Lobby for $6.00 and the board was a scrap piece from Lowe's that they charged me 25 cents for! What a deal. I got the idea from Sister Stuff. I really like how it turned out and it was a lot of fun to make.

Then I decided that I would try my hand at making a bow. Here is the finished product, a little blurry, but you get the idea. I love them!

I am definitely going to have to make more bows and try some new kinds. Anybody have any good websites I can look at for ideas?

Seriously Soooo Good!

I found a recipe for cake for one from a friend Katie's blog. I tried it last night and it was seriously so delicious, I had to post it. I am not a huge fan of cake, but especially when I have an entire cake for just 2, it's way too much and we end up either eating way too much or throwing it away.....or both:) This turned out so good and was super easy.

Cake for One (in under a minute)

• 1 box Angel Food Cake Mix
• 1 box Regular Cake Mix(I used milk chocolate)
• Chocolate Chips (if desired)

That's IT! Just mix the two cake mixes together and store in an airtight container. When you are ready to indulge in some instant happiness, measure out 1/3 cup of mix into a microwave safe cereal bowl. Mix with 1/4 cup water. Sprinkle with chocolate chips for an extra dose of chocolate. Microwave for around 50 seconds(I ended up doing 60 seconds), and ENJOY!

Katie also has a bunch of tips on her blog if you want to check it out. Thanks so much for posting it Katie!

Giveaways!

There area couple of giveaways at Tatertots and Jello that I wanted to let everyone know about. The first one ends tonight and is a giveaway for a couple of really cute rugs from Downeast! The other one is from a place called The Ribbon Retreat and they are giving away $50 to their store. They have lots of cute ribbon and fabric. Head on over and enter.

Sad Day!

I have always been one of those people that didn't like kids, well really little kids-babies, to play with my phone...I didn't want any buttons pushed that could mess it up, or cost more money. Well, since becoming a mom, I have found that I really don't care about a lot of things I thought I would. One of those being that I have been letting Ellie play with my phone. I just open a text and she holds it and ends up pushing buttons. No big deal....right? Well, the other day after she was slobbering all over my phone, I decided that was enough for the day. Shortly after I went to send a text message and the buttons were all messed up. I kept getting a lot of h's every time I pushed different letters. Then when I would try to send, the letter h would be there and send a few times:( I tried calling Patrick and it was extremely fuzzy and not very loud. I didn't panic....I just calmly turned off my phone and dried it out. Still no luck! Patrick took it in the the store and they basically said...."Sorry there is nothing we can do, except of course sell you another one":( Being the cheap, well lets say frugal, person that I am, I decided to wait and see if we could get it working. By the end of the night, the buttons were all working again, and the volume works fine when I'm talking to anybody, but the ringtone doesn't work any more. There is no sound to my phone. After a couple of days, I started to notice that the battery dies halfway through the day and I have to recharge it. I am not glued to my phone all day long, but I am a little saddened by this because I don't want to have to pay more for a phone:( Well, needless to say, I am back to my old ways and don't want babies to play....SLOBBER on my phone anymore!

You Know its Cold Outside When.....

Your husband goes to leave for work and comes right back in holding a broken off car door handle. Yes, the handle just snapped right off when he tried to open the door. It would be so nice to have a garage. Anyways.....$154.00 later, we are the proud new owners of a brand new Toyota Camry....door handle:) Gotta love car repairs!

7 Months....Christmas....Random Pics I have to Post....6 Months....Did I Miss Anything:)

Warning: Super Long Post... With Lots of Pictures!

7 Months

Man, time is just flying by so fast! I can't believe that Ellie is already 7 months old. She is learning so much and looking more and more like a little toddler rather than a tiny baby. While I am sad that she is growing so fast, it is also so, so much fun to watch her grow. I keep saying I love this stage the most and then the next one comes and it is awesome too! I just love having her in our family and can't imagine life without her!

I took this picture today and thought it was so funny(I know I'm mean cause she is crying) But it was so fake and just describes her whineyness on some days.

Some of the things she is doing right now are: Rolling over everywhere. She scoots backwards. Turning while sitting. Reaches to be picked up. Jibber Jabbers all day long. Can sometime get food to her mouth:) Slobbers and drools constantly-still no teeth though. Reaches for everything. Does push ups. She is eating peas, carrots, bananas, gr beans, pears, applesauce, white grape juice, sweet potatoes, peach yogurt melts, banana puffs, peaches. She will eat all of them except still not the pears. It took a few time to get applesauce, green beans and carrots down, so I am sure pears will come. She loves trying to drink from a glass and will always reach for whatever you are using. She stands with support and will shake her little bum(trying to get her balance), which is so cute! Her hair is finally starting to come in more and more on the sides and is very long on the top and back. She has only rubbed a tiny bit off of the back which is awesome! She does really well with things in her hair and I hope that will continue to be the case(As I try to get better with doing girl hair)

Christmas

This is Christmas morning. I love this picture. She was so excited with all the hussle and bussle of everything. It was fun.

And we had to get a picture with all the bows. She enjoyed eating them more than having them in her hair! We had Christmas at Patrick's families this year. Here are all the spoils...for being only 6 months...she sure got a lot:) From Grandma and Grandpa, 3 outfits, Jammies, key's that she loves cause they make cool sounds and light up and a Johnny Jump Up that she loves to bounce all around in. From Aunt Kru bowls, spoons, bath letters and numbers and a cool ball that she can hold really well. From Santa she got 2 tights, a small xylophone that you just push the buttons and they light up, a toy that sticks to her highchair, stuffed elephant and stuffed kitty cat-Marie from Aristocats, peach yogurt melts, books, bubble, sippies, and these cool mesh food holders.

This has been Ellie's favorite thing for some reason....sticking out her tongue. She is so funny about it cause she will look right at you and poke it out. She especially loves to stick it out while eating. This was awesome cause she was showing off for everybody and when we would laugh she would get this huge grin on her face. Love it! She doesn't really do this anymore. It lasted for a couple of weeks. She does still stick out her tongue with the frog song for daddy:) We went to my parents for New Years and I didn't take any pictures:( But here are the spoils from that Christmas:) Ellie got 3 outfits, 2 jammies(one that is a blanket sleeper and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set that makes her look so old), a sleep sack, a Winnie the Pooh phone toy that she loves, bibs, a really cute skirt, a swimsuit and swim cover up for Summer and a ball that lights up and plays music. My mom got Patrick a frog pod....It hangs in your shower and holds all of the bath toys and soaps...etc...yes it is for Patrick:) He has loved it ever since the first time we saw it and my mom had to get it for him. It is awesome! He also got a couple of shirts and Despicable Me...IT'S SO FLUFFY!!! I got a book I have been wanting for a while and lotion, body wash and spray that is so yummy, Midnight Pomegranate. We had a great weekend with my parents.

1-11-11

This is Ellie's new high chair. I love it! I always seem to fret about little details and then realize they really don't matter. I am really glad we went with this high chair though. I love the little owl pattern on it as well. She really likes it too. She is holding on of the mesh food things. It has a banana in it. You put the food in and she can just chew on it and not have to worry about choking. She goes at it. She loves bananas in it and ate a half of one this morning! We have also tried frozen peas and she seems to like them, but they were a little bit harder to get out.

This is how I found Ellie during her nap today. She had her little bum in the air.1-10-11

Extreme Hair!!! I couldn't believe this. She is a crazy sleeper and wakes up with crazy hair...just like her daddy...She had just had a bath the night before too, she didn't have a pony tail or anything. I thought this was definitely picture worthy:)

This was a nap yesterday. She is always on her tummy, lately she has been turning all over during night and naps. I thought this was great that she had her hood up over her head.

Ellie loves to chew on anything, but especially her binky. Not sucking on it, but chewing. She likes to chew on the little thing that pokes off of the back of it and yesterday she found a way to get both the front and the back into her mouth with the binky all folded up somehow...I think it kind of scared her cause she hurried to get it out and had this look on her face that seemed shocked or worried:) Then she proceeded to do the usual, chew on it. The difference was that she put her thumb into the back and was chewing on that too. When I went to pull out her thumb after a bit, it was suctioned into the binky. She thought it was so funny and kept putting it in and then pulling the binky out with her thumb.

Last night we were playing with her on our bed and she was having a ball. She kept doing push ups and lifting her whole body in the air, then she would fall to the side and roll over. She kept going all over the bed to get toys and each of us. She was just giggling and I thought this face was hilarious.

She still loves her toes, but is now able to really suck on them.

She also loves being held upside down. Patrick has started doing this and she instantly loved it. She likes to be tossed around and flubbered and nibbled on too. She has so much fun with her daddy. One thing he has started doing are piggy back rides. She just gets a huge grin on her face and then pulls his hair...and sucks on his head. It is really funny.

1-6-2011

One day while I was getting ready I left her with all of her toys around her. I came in to find her with everything piled on her. She was just hanging out.

1-3-2011

She loves Patrick and when he comes home he always plays with her for a bit. She just wanted to snuggle this night. I had to take a picture.

12-14-2010

This was the start of playing with the binky instead of sucking on it. She thought it was hilarious to put the back in her mouth and hold it there. So funny!

6 Months

12-13-2010

I completely missed posting about her being 6 months. We had her check-up on December 14th and she is as always....Perfect! We go to Dr. Horkley and really like him. He is so nice and helpful even with my dumbest, being a first time mom, questions. This time he gave her a book. I guess he will be doing that at each appointment from now on. I think that is a really great idea. She had her next set of shots and this time was so sad for me. She actually new more what was happening and just screamed.....but once again as soon as I picked her up, she was fine. It didn't seem to bother her much. I noticed she woke up for the next few days once during the night instead of sleeping all the way through like normal. She wasn't quite as happy either and went through a few days where she only wanted me...which was terrible because my sister came to visit the next day and it took a few days to get warmed up to her. We left one night to go out to a movie and she screamed for an hour:( Well, she is back to normal at least, but very much starting to be way attached to me and Patrick and takes a little more for her to want to go to others. Here are her 6 month stats.

Weight:16lbs 12oz 49th percentile

Length:26 inches 56th percentile

She is average on everything. She has such cute little rolls on her legs and around Christmas I noticed they seem to be thinning out. She is moving so much more and I have a feeling they will slim right down when she starts crawling. Sad....I love those little pudgy legs!

WOW!