Camp Family Update

 I have been such a terrible blogger lately. I hope to do a better job, but I'm not making any promises. I wanted to give a little update on what is going on in our life.
As of January 2, 2014, we have been in New Orleans for a whole year. This past year has flown by. Sometimes I am just overwhelmed at the fact that we are here. It's amazing to see God working in our lives. It hasn't been easy, but we have sure been blessed through all the hardships and adjustments. God is good.
Paul just began his third semester working on his M.Div. in Counseling.  He is still working as a manager at Chick-fil-a and as the youth pastor at our church, FBC Norco. Yes, he's a very busy man. I am so proud of him. Getting his M.Div. has been something that he has wanted to do since I have known him. Of course, he originally thought he would pursue his master degree right after he graduated from college, but God had different plans. It would have been less stress to not have to worry about providing for a wife and 3 children if he had gone straight from college. He sacrifices so much for us, and we are so grateful for all he does.
The kids and I are enjoying our time at home together. Baby #3 is due February 14 but could come anytime now. We are so excited about adding this precious baby girl to our family.
Parker and Ellis are growing up too fast. They are learning so much. They are best friends and enjoy playing together. Of course, they have their moments where they aggravate each other, but they really enjoy each others company.
I'm going to try to do a better job of blogging. Of course, I can't wait to make the announcement that baby girl has arrived.

Ellis's Prayers

Ellis is our little prayer warrior. She wants to pray a lot which is not a bad thing at all. I just love to hear her little prayers. They mostly consist of the same pattern.

"Thank You so much for Daddy at Chick-fil-a.
Thank You so much for Daddy at church.
Thank You so much for Daddy at the mall (I have know idea where this one came from.)
Thank You so much for Daddy taking a shower.
Thank You so much for Daddy wonnerware (underware).
Thank You so much for Daddy shirt.
Aaaaamen!"

Daddy gets prayed for a lot. I hope her desire to pray never wanes but continues to grow.

Camp Family Update

I've been a terrible blogger lately. Between first trimester yuckiness, taking care of 2 kids, and having to share a computer with Paul, I just didn't get around to blogging. But I'm going to get better.

I haven't announced this on my blog, but I am expecting baby #3 due around February 14.  We hopefully will find out the gender on September 26. The morning all day sickness I had was worse this time around than with the other 2 pregnancies and lasted longer. Most of it was nausea but I did throw up many times too. I'm very thankful to be past that part of the pregnancy.

Since our family is growing, we are moving to a bigger apartment on campus. Since this will be our fourth move in under 3 years and it's such a short move, I have little motivation to pack. However, I'm making myself pack a lot of our stuff because it will make for an easier and quicker move. Paul is very busy with school, so I want to make this move as easy as possible for him. The worst part is we're moving to a 3rd floor apartment so you can imagine that alone makes moving difficult. We will be getting a great work out.

Paul started his second semester at school, and right off the bat has been swamped with lots of reading and projects. To add to the busy semester, he has been promoted to manager at Chickfila and started as the Student Pastor at our church.  He is very excited about working at First Baptist Norco. He loves working with youth, and we love our church. Paul is very busy, but he still makes time for us. We enjoyed having all the extra time with him that summer gave, but we came here for Paul to go to school.

I started homeschooling Parker. Since he's four, I'm just making my own curriculum with the help of the vast amounts of internet resources.  Ellis joins us for some of the stuff we do. There is a great homeschool group on campus. I'm really enjoying homeschooling. Although I have to admit that I haven't been the most consistent with it, but once we get moved and settled I plan on making more of a consistent routine.

We really enjoy living in New Orleans. It's such a unique place. There really is no other place like it. Home will always be South Carolina, but we have made our home here in New Orleans for now.

Easter Pictures

My family was looking pretty good on Easter Sunday. Although that's far from what Easter is about, I wanted to share our pictures for our friends and family far away. Plus, I had excuse to take boogoodles of pictures of us all dressed up looking cute. Normally, Paul doesn't tolerate such things.

Getting a picture of a 3 year old and a 20 month old together is nearly impossible.

It's nice to have a picture of just me and my love. Thanks Elise!

MiMi and Poppy came to visit.

My precious babies!

Girls Just Love to Talk

I've always been told that girls learn to talk before boys, and although I know each child is different, that has been true with my children. Ellis quickly started talking and her vocabulary just keeps expanding. She copys what we say, puts sentences together, and just contantly jibber jabbers all the time. I wanted to record some of what she is saying so when I'm old and she asks me how she talked when she was a baby I can look back here and tell her.

Some of the things she says:

• baaabee (baby)
• pay (play)
• I eat
• miiilllk -she draws it out like a true southern girl
• caa-ker (crackers)
• I unnn... ( I want ....)
• I unnn dat (I want that)
• kitty (cat or squirrels or anything small and furry)
• I wing (I swing)
• I unn owt (I want out)
• wa wa (water)
• choo choo (train)
• chiiiiyups (chips)- notice the nice southern draw she has
• no - one of her favs; it's her answer to almost every question
• mine - another toddler fav
• ca-car (Parker)
• ca (car)
• no (nose)
• i-ya (eye)
• eh-r (ear)

She will say more, but that is just what she uses most. I just love when she looks me in the eye and just jibber jabbers away like I know exactly what she's saying or when she has "conversations" with other little kids her age. She is soaking up so much of the world around her.

Handprints

Last night was a rough night for Ellis and therefore me as well. Ellis woke up just as I was getting ready for bed (I admit that it was really late like 1:30. I was waiting on Paul to go to bed.) She would not go back to sleep. She screamed and screamed when I put her back in her crib. I finally gave up and put her in the bed with me which meant I "slept" with Ellis on top of me practically all up on my head. At 3 am, I had enough of the uncomfortable sleeping condition and I put her back in her crib. Again, she screamed. I angrily told Paul, who had gotten some sleep during all this, "it's 3 o'clock and I haven't gotten any sleep if you don't want to hear her scream then you can go get her because I'm done." He groggily goes to get her and claims that she has a poopy diaper and angrily asks where all the diaper changing stuff is. So I angrily get up, get Ellis from him, get the diaper changing stuff, and change what turned out to be just a pee pee diaper. I hand her screaming back to him. Two minutes later he brings her into the room to try to get her to sleep in the bed with us. As he walks into the room, I angrily think to myself, "I know how this will go. I guess I will be sleeping with a baby on my face." Sure enough. Ellis ended up on me all nuzzled up on my face. At 4 o'clock, she was finally restful enough to lay her beside me in the bed to sleep. So, I got about 3 hours of sleep, but the kind of sleep where you feel like you are sitting on pins and needles because your nervous about the child in the bed with you.

You may be thinking, "what does this story have to do with handprints as the title suggests?" I said all that to understand the fatigued state this mama and her husband were in this morning. After feeding the kids, because you have to keep your children alive no matter how tired you are, I crawled back in bed. Paul got up and was taking care of the children. I don't know what happened the next couple hours, but at some point in time Paul came and crawled back in bed with me for a few minutes. Just a few minutes. That's when it happened because a few minutes later we had two precious children come in our room proudly showing off their colorful hands. Parker's hands looked like he had smacked a smurf and Ellis hands were black (although after further exploration, they were actually a deep purple). That's enough to spring a fatigued mama into action. I jumped up looked down the hall the finger paints looked untouched. I was just thinking, "did he get ahold of a marker and break it?" Then, it hit me. I let out a gasp and ran into the kitchen and found it. There lay a puddle of food coloring where four bottles of color had been emptied and mixed. Paul got to work on that clean up, and I put the kids in the bath tub really just to contain them to a single spot. After getting them in the bath, I noticed that Parker must have tried cleaning his hands off because my pretty hand towel had blue stains all over it. I got to work using the trusty rubbing alcohol to get the hand print marks off the walls. It really could have been worse. The hand prints were mostly contained to the bathroom and the sheets of our bed. For the most part the evidence has been wiped away, although a few marks still remain. I guess we are going to have to do a handprint art project so I can show the children the proper way to leave their mark.

Ellis's handprints on my bed. I was in panick mode so I didn't think to take pictures until I got to this.

Ellis at 14 Months

My baby girl is growing up too quickly! I need a pause button.

•  This little girl is unstoppable. She will walk and climb anywhere she wants.
• She continues to add words to her vocabulary.
• She loves to mimic sounds people make. She has no fear to try out her vocals.
• She believes 100% that she's a big girl now and that she can do whatever any other kid can do.
• I've seen some mini temper tantrums. I'm hoping that these don't accelerate into full blown temper tantrums as she grows closer to the terrible twos.
• She loves playing in her kitchen. She hasn't gotten to the point where she's pretending she's cooking. She likes to open and close the doors, put food in and out of the bins, and bring me some food to pretend to eat.
• She and Parker have become great playmates. Sometimes Parker instigates trouble, but I love to see them playing together.
• She loves to wrestle. If you are laying on the floor, you are fair game for some sneaky wrestling moves.
• She's so adorable. I just love to watch her in amazement. She's growing up too quickly. She's loosing the babiness and is growing in to a toddler.
• She just a sweet bundle of cuteness. I could just love on her all day.

Ellis at 13 Months

Ok...so I'm late again on posting the monthly update. So much so that I confused myself about which age, 13 or 14 months, I was supposed to be posting on. You may have noticed that I haven't done a lot of blogging lately. I'm gonna get better. I had been focusing on Paul's mission trip to Peru and then while he was gone, we distracted ourselves from missing him by spending some time in the upstate and then doing some fun activitives around home. Alrighty then, let's get to the subject at hand.

• Ellis may have struggled with weight before, but she is making up for it now. She is eating like crazy! She will eat and eat until her belly is swole.
• She finally got her confidence and started walking.
• Along with this new found confidence, she decided that she should be able to climb Mt. Everest. I thought Parker was bad about climbing when he was little, but Ellis wants to climb everything.
• Ellis is quite the talker. Me ma (pick me up), cup, ball, I eat are just some. She says all kinds of stuff that you have to listen to catch what she's saying.
• She loves to play Pat-a-Cake. Before I get to the "throw it in the pan" part, she will throw her hands up and say "throw it."
• She also loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She does the motions to it and will sing "how I." So cute!
• She has moved up to 18 months clothing. She is finally in the clothing size she should be in! Yay!
• She wants to explore her world. She wants to be down and walking around.
• She already has a little rebellious streak in her. When we tell her to stop doing something that she shouldn't, she just smiles and keeps on doing whatever it is. Oh my!
• She is such a sweet little hugger and kisser. She can just melt your heart unless you a little person. Then she will attack you with hugs as she lays on top of you on the floor. (Poor Perry he experienced this many times when we were in the upstate visiting.)
• She has a little lovey that she calls baby. She sleeps with it and will carry it around with her.
• She's so fun to be with. She loves to interact and try to copy what you do.
• She thinks she's a big kid now. It's like she thinks now that she can walk she can do anything that all the big kids do.
• Have I mentioned before that she's the most adorable little girl in the whole wide world and I love her so much more than I could ever describe?

Ellis at 12 Months

Well, since Ellis is actually 13 months now. I figure I better post about her 12th month of life. We've been dealing with reaaaallllly slow internet lately so that has put my blogging on the back burner. It's just too frustrating to deal with. However, today it's faster so I've got some catching up to to. Without further ado...

• Stats: 19 lbs 1.5 oz  27 3/4 inches long. She has overcome her failure to thrive and is holding steady between the 10th and 25th percentile. I found Parker's measurements at this age and he was little over 6 pounds heavier and 6 inches taller than her. I guess I'll have a big child and a small child.
• She can now say mama, dada, poppop (my daddy), meemaw (Keri's mother-in law), mimi (Paul's mom), hey, kitty, ball, baby, night night, peek-a-boo, and she meows like a cat.
• She can't walk yet, but I think it's more of lack of confidence than lack of skill. She has taken some steps and can stay upright, but most of the time will sit down when we stand her up to walk.
• Her favorite toy is a push walker. She can manuever it all around and go back and forth almost running down the hall while pushing her walker. She does this all day long.
• Her favorite tv show is Super Why. (Don't worry. I'm not plopping my one year old in front of the tv.) When it happens to be on that show and she hears the music, she crawls over to the tv and is glued. She dances to the hip hip hurray song.
• She loves to dance. Whenever music comes on, she starts dancing away. She really gets into it.
• She still only has two teeth. I thought for sure she was going to get her top two teeth for her birthday, but it didn't happen. They are so close. Her gums have had that swollen look all month long. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to bother her, but she does chew on a lot of things.
• She gave up the paci this month. I had planned on getting rid of it at 12 months, but the actual doing it happened more by accident. I was laying her down for a nap one day and was about to get her paci out from under the crib when my phone started to ring. I took the chance and decided to leave her without her paci, and she did fine. So that was the end of that.
• She likes to climb. Yikes! I often see her hike her little leg up onto something that's close to her size. She likes to climb up onto Parker's bed. She is so proud of herself sitting up on it, but she just hasn't figured out how to get down on her own yet. It's a good thing she is around the 10th percentile for height.
• I think she is going to be our little sensitive child. It doesn't take much for her to break out into tears wails. Oh my, the teenage years are going to be rough.
• She likes to point. She will point her chubby little finger in all directions wanting you to look or go in that way.
• She has been working on feeding herself with her spoon. She wants to be so independent. I'll put the food on her spoon, and she will get it to her mouth. She is growing up too quickly.
• She's so busy learning and exploring her world that she doesn't want to go to bed at night. A lot of nights, even though she's tired, she will fight going to sleep. She will scream when I put her down. When I go in there to console her, she will arch her back to try to get me to set her free to roam. I hope this passes quickly because I miss the no fuss bedtime.
• She will hold up her finger when you tell her that she's one. She's such a smart girl.
• She likes for you to touch your finger with her finger, and then she giggles. I don't seem what's so funny about fingers touching, but I think her reaction is adorable so we laugh together.
• She gives some really cute looks, and she has some beautiful blue eyes to back them up. She's going to be a heart breaker.
• She is such a joy to be around. She's so loving and bubbly. Just absolutely precious.

Dear Ellis (a special first birthday letter)

My Precious Baby Girl,

What a joy it has been to have you in our lives this past year! I can't believe you a one. You should still be this tiny, cooing baby fresh and new in a brand new world. You have been a brand new challenge in parenthood. Not because you were a difficult baby because you weren't, but because I am now a mother of two. This brings all new fears. Will I love you just as much as I love Parker? How can my I have such a great love for both my children? Will there be room in my heart? I found out the answer is yes, and it wasn't hard to do. The day you were born my heart swelled with love for you, and it has only grown deeper and more expansive over this past year. I don't know how it happens; it just does. It has been incredible to watch you grow and mature into such a precious and full of personality little girl. I just melt as you play with my hair as you hug me and hold me tight. You love me so dearly. I love to snuggle with you although most of the time you are too busy exploring your world. You are curious and smart. I can foresee a life full of continuous learning in your future. You are so proud of yourself when you accomplish a new milestone. And you should be! You are a very determined little girl. I pray that as you continue to grow that you would develope a great love for our Savior. I pray that the meaning of your name "The Lord is God reigns" will be true in your life. I don't know what your future holds, but I do know that we have committed your life to the Lord. When the time comes that you understand what Jesus Christ has done for you, our prayer is for you commit yourself to Him and grow into a deep and intimate relationship with Him. As much and your Dad and I love, Jesus Christ loves you even more. We are so proud of you! Thank you for being such a wonderful daughter.

Love,

Mama

Ellis at 11 Months

Since my baby girl will be turning one in 2 days, I thought I better write her 11 month post. But before I do that, allow me to freak out a bit that my baby girl is turning one in 2 DAYS! 2 DAYS! and my baby girl will be TURNING ONE! Ok, I got that off my chest.

Ellis is growing and developing by leaps and bounds. I can't even blink or I'll miss something.

• Stats: 17 lbs 1.5 oz! She packed on 28 ounces in 21 days at the beginning of the month which put her back on the growth curve. Yay for the 5th percentile. She has been packing on the weight since then so I'm curious to see what she will be at her 12 month check up.
• She can now pull up like at pro. At first, she could get her self up, but she was scared to drop back down. She would fuss and I would come save her. She finally got the hang of it and can pull up and sit down without problems.
• She has been crusing around the furniture. She will also walk behind her push walker thingy. I'm sure it won't be long and she'll be walking. I have to admit that makes me kinda sad. She's growing up.
• She has stood up, completely on her own, out in the middle of the floor for a few seconds one time. I freaked out when I saw her do it. She often will stop in the middle of crawling and push her butt in the air like she wants to stand up.
• She now says mama, dada, baby, kitty (she says it in a very high pitched voice and the t sounds aren't completely distinct, but you know that's what she's saying), nigh nigh (night night). I have heard her say no copying Parker. Her brother is already causing trouble! Haha!
• She likes to copy sounds we make. I would write them out but it's kinda hard to translate silly sounds into words.
• She will occasionally blow kisses. She will hold her hand on her mouth and blow out to where it makes a kinda pooting sound. I know that doesn't sound cute but like I said it's hard to put sounds into words.
• She will play Peek-a-boo and she will cover up her eyes and go "peee" in a squealy voice.
• She still only has her bottom 2 teeth, but her top gums are so swollen. Maybe soon those top teeth will finally make their appearance.
• She spooks really easily. For instance, at Chick-fil-a one day, the cow came around and she freaked out.  Another time, she was around a cat that was the "I'm friendly, but I could bite you without a moment's notice" type. After rubbing around her stroller, it stretched up to get closer to her and she freaked out. I can foresee Halloween being terrifying for her.
• She likes to put things inside of things while playing like she likes to put balls inside cups.
• She really enjoys eating table food. I have to watch her to make sure she doesn't put too much in at one time. Although when she's full, she'll start tossing food overboard.
• She likes to nod her head but when she does she also lifts her eyebrows. It's too cute.
• She can get a little attitude with you if you take something from her that she really wants!
• When she's waiting on her food, she will squeal to let you know to hurry up.
• She sleeps with her butt up in the air. Again, so cute!
• She is making the transition to one nap much to my dismay. There are days where she will still take 2 naps, but most day now she only takes one.
• She loves to play in Parker's room. Sometimes this means arguments between her and Parker when she gets into something that he's playing with.
• She is so smiley and laughs very easily. She gives good hugs and kisses and is just oh so lovable!

Of course I may be a little biased when I saw this but she is just the most precious little girl ever! She continues to bring so much joy into our lives. I don't know how it is possible but I love her more every day.

Spaghetti and What?!?

While watching the latest Olive Garden commercial about the 4 course special, they explain that one of their entrees to choose from is spaghetti and meatballs.

Parker: I want bootballs.
Me: You do? Those meatballs look good don't they?
Parker: Uh huh...I want bootballs.

I'm not sure how delicious bootballs would be but Parker really wants some. We've had the above conversation several times. So, today I opened one of those nasty (ok they aren't terrible, but when I think about how unhealthy they are I just think nasty) cans of Aldi brand spaghetti rings and meatballs. You really can't compare the two, but Parker really enjoyed his "bootballs."

By the way, Ellis was not impressed with the spaghetti and meatballs. Apparently, she has a sophisticated palate and is holding out for the good stuff.

Rewind: Beach Vacation

In May, Keri and her family went to the beach on vacation, and they invited us to come along. The kids and I went for part of the week, and we left Paul home to work. This was Ellis's first trip to the beach. She didn't like the beach at all. When I would put her in the sand, she would cry. So most of the days, we went to the beach while she stayed at home for her nap (don't worry. Keri's father-in-law was there with her.) We had a great little get away, but of course, we missed Paul.

WARNING: If you don't like to look at a bunch of pictures of cute children, then you might want to skip the rest of this post.

Ellis posing in her cute bathsuit.

Such cuteness!

Hannah and Ellis are having a serious conversation.

One of their favorite activities- wrestling!

Watching a little TV. Gives the adults a little peace and quiet.

Adorable!

Everyone, except Ellis, loved playing on the beach!

Hugs!

So beautiful.

They made a friend. Hence the strage red-head in the picture.

I love this little boy!



I just absolutely love Zoe's chubby thighs!

Ellis at 10 Months

I told myself that I wasn't going to wait until the end of the month in order to post about Ellis at 10 months, but here I am again on the day before Ellis turns 11 months creating this post. So, here we go.

• Stats: 15 lbs 7 oz and 27 in. She had lost a couple of ounces from when she got her weight checked last month so the doctor told me to focus more on giving her the cereals and mixing it with pedisure and give her yogurts and puddings to help fatten her up.
• She's a fast crawler. When she's got somewhere to go, you better move out of her way or she'll run you over.
• She is pulling up on her knees. Sometimes she'll just bounce up and down on her knees.
• She says "dada," "mama," "hey," and "babeh" (baby). Mostly she repeats them after us. This morning I got her up and brought her to my bed to nurse. She looked over at Paul's side and said "dada." He wasn't there because he had fallen asleep on the couch reading, but she knew he should be there.
• She celebrated her first Father's Day. She is also starting to love on Paul more.
• She is starting to come out of her shell and be more social with other people. In fact, when we were at a family reunion, she went to a complete stranger (at least he was to her) and let him hold her for a while and I was even right beside her. That's amazing! Although when she's sleepy all that goes out the window and no one else will do except her mommy.
• She's so nosy. Really she's just curious and is soaking up the world around her. She doesn't want to miss a moment of the action around her. She may be sleepy, but she won't give it up if we are out and about. She has to be in her bed in order to go to sleep.
• She rode her first ride. Well her first ride without a parent holding her. She rode the piggies at Dollywood with Parker while we were there on vacation. She was not happy about it at first especially since it jerked when it started but as it went around she enjoyed herself.
• She is now eating table food. I still give her the pureed food too because I want to make sure she's getting enough to eat with her weight issue. She's was ready to feed herself and she let me know it by always trying to take the spoon away from me.
• She loves sweet things just like me. I've given her a few treats of sweets and she gets so excited. She will scream at you if you don't hurry and give her another bite.
• She and Parker play so well with each other. If he lays on the floor, she will climb on top of him like she's wrestling him. Her favorite place to play is in his room. Parker wants her to always be awake to play with him. I know as they grow older they are going to have some fun times together.
• She is so giggly. It doesn't take much to make her laugh!
• She has started to do this head nod thing. She'll just be sitting and playing, and she will start nodding her up and down.
• She has a picnic basket toy that she loves to pull things out of. I will put all sorts of little toys in it and give it to her, and she will be entertained for a while.

Ellis, you are an abosolute joy in our lives. I couldn't imagine our family without you. You are a blessing! You are growing up way to fast. I can't believe that you are almost one year old. You are such a precious girl, and I love you so much!

Ellis on her first by herself ride.

Look at those beautiful baby blues!

Ellis at 9 months

Ok...so I'm way late on this since Ellis turned 10 months old 3 days ago. I swear I just blinked and the month went away. Ellis has had a busy month growing and developing!

• She is gaining weight and growing, but her weight and length stats vary from the pediatrician and the GI. At the peds, she weighed 14 lbs 14.5 oz and was 26 in. A week later, she was 15 lbs 6 oz and 27.5 in. So she's somewhere in that range, but at both offices she had gained and grown and that is all that matters.
• She learned to crawl, and she is so proud of herself. She wants to explore the whole house on her hands and knees.
• She can wave bye-bye. She actually does it facing out like adults do instead of the usual facing toward herself like most babies start off doing.
• She learned to clap and enjoys playing Pat-a-Cake.
• She hums when she eats throughout the whole meal.
• She has started to warm up to other people. She will actually reach out and go to a select few people from me! To top that, she let one of our youth walk around and hold her while I was near her. I was shocked! However, when she's sleepy, she wants only me.
• She still loves to jibber jabber. Boy, will we be in trouble when she can say actual words. She's going to talk our ears off.
• She can pull up to her knees. She hasn't figured out how to pull up to a standing position but she's working on it.
• She will repeat "dada" after us, but I don't think she has made the connection of calling Paul "dada."
• She can have a temper. If you take something from her that she is very interested in, she will let you know that she is not happy with you.
• She and Parker have begun to play with each other. She will follow him and he will lead her to his room or somewhere to play. They will "talk" to each other. She will laugh at Parker.
• She is more sensitive to tastes and textures than I remember Parker being. She doesn't like her food to have little chunks in them, and when I gave her cinnamon in her applesauce, she didn't seem impressed. I hope that this doesn't mean she's going to be a picky eater.
• She's getting close to having two teeth. That second tooth is just waiting to break through the surface.
• She began picking up stuff with he pincers. She loves eating puffs. When she gets some more teeth she will be able to eat some table food.
•  She had her first trip to the beach. I'll post pictures sometime although I don't have many of her on the beach because she didn't like it.
• I celebrated my first mother's day as a mother of two thanks to her.

She is a sweet girl and generally a happy baby. She has brought so much joy to our family. I love watching her grow and develop (although I have to admit that it makes me sad that she will be one in 2 months). I can't wait to see the person she becomes. My prayer is that she will live her life for Jesus Christ.

Ellis at 8 Months

I figured I better right this post now since Ellis will be 9 months old in 3 days.  I usually do this post at the beginning of the month. I had planned on taking some more pictures of Ellis to go along with this post and I never got around to it so this post got pushed back too.So, without further ado here's what is going on with Ellis at 8 months.

• Stats: 13 lbs 12.5 oz, 25 inches, and 16.5 inches head circumference. After 1 week of nursing her every 2 to 3 hours and filling her up with solids, she had gained 8 ounces. Then, when we went to the GI doctor she was almost 15 lbs but that was with a wet diaper.
• Although she isn't crawling, she can sure make her way around the room. She rolls all over, turns herself around, and does this kinda sorta army crawl thing.
• You can tell she really wants to be mobile. She's working on getting on her hands and knees. Sometimes she lays on her belly and kicks her legs and arms in and out like that's going to magically pump her body across the room.
• Her teeth are getting very close to poking through her gums so she's chewing on everything.
• She still loves to jibber jabber and she loves to squeal.
• Parker really makes her laugh. It's so cute!
• When she gets mad, one of her veins in her head bulges out and her birth mark on the back of her head gets really red.
• She is still a mama's girl.
• She is a good eater. She loves carrots, sweet potatoes, apple sauce, mangos, and pears to name some.
• She loves to sit up and play and is working on transitioning from sitting up to laying on her belly. She can do it but it takes her a little bit of work to do it. She ends up with one leg straight out and one leg bent back. I think she looks like a cheerleader.
• She loves to sleep on her side. Sometimes she sleeps on her belly, but has her legs turned to the side so it's like half and half.
• She's becoming more social, but she's a little cautious to give a smile to someone other than family talking to her. Strangers can still send her to tears if they approach her in a way that she is not comfortable with.
• She's very good at independent play. She will have her moments though when she's in a clingy mood. Those are the days I get little done except at nap time.
• She's going to end up being a tough little girl. Parker will roll her around on the floor, try to pick her up, hug squish her, and give her kisses that seem almost inappropriate for brother and sister (I've been trying to explain to Parker that mommies and daddies kiss differently than others.)
• Ellis gives some good open mouth slobbery kisses. They are quite sweet but very wet.
• She continues to wedge herself deeper and deeper in our hearts. I don't know how she does it since I love her so much, but my love for her continues to grow and grow.

Please continue to pray that Ellis will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. So far, the doctors seem to think that the cause of her failure to thrive was lack of calories. We have an appointment with and endocrinologest (sp?) tomorrow since she has some cousins with a disorder of that nature. However, it would be almost impossible for her to have the same thing although I guess there's a possibility that there could be something related. I will also take her for her 9 month check up for them to monitor her growth. We are praying that she is growing and will soon catch up to what she needs to be.

Good News!

Ellis had a follow up doctor visit to check her weight and get the results of the lab work. She had gained 8 ounces in a week. Also, all the lab work was normal. The doctor said that it doesn't appear there is anything major wrong with her. We still have appointments with a pediatric GI and endocrynologist in order to make sure there is nothing further wrong that could be causing her failure to thrive. The GI will also be able to help us figure out how to help her gain weight and grow.

We are so thankful to God for this blessing of good news. We are grateful for all the people who prayed for us. Please continue to pray that Ellis continues to grow and gain weight.

Ellis at 7 Months

So I'm a little late with this one, but better late than never. Here is Ellis at 7 months.

• She's sitting up like a pro. Well, occasionally she will get so involved with slobbering all over some toy that she will topple over.
• She's finally started to eat solids. She took after her brother on this one. After a month and a half of gagging on rice cereal, she decided this eating stuff thing ain't so bad. So far she's tried rice cereal, apples, carrots, bananas, sweet potatoes, and avacadoes. She's like them all except the avacadoes.
• She likes to jump in her jumperoo. I have to admit that it looks quite fun and they need to make an adult version.
• She is extremely attached to me. When she's tired, no one else will do as long as I'm near, not even her daddy.
• She has the cutest little baby voice, and in her jabbering she even says "da da."
• She loves her feet. They are the greatest little can't loose baby toy.
• She LOVES her paci. She's really good at getting her paci into her mouth. It's her absolute favorite toy. If I put several toys in front of her with her paci, she always goes directly for the paci. She chews on it, twirls it in her hands, and talks to it. She better enjoy it while she can because she only has 5 more months with it before it disappears!
• She's down to 2 naps now. She held onto that third nap a little longer than most children.
• She makes some of the cutest faces.
• A couple of days ago I moved her into size 6-9 months clothing. She fits well in the 3-6 months, but I was ready to pull out the new clothes since I was switching everyone's winter to summer clothes. They are a little bit big, but not too bad. It's so weird to have such a little child after having Parker because he was sooo big.
• She's starting to grow a teensy weensy little bit of hair on the front.
• She just gets sweeter and sweeter!

Ellis at 6 Months









Tear! It has been a half a year since I first held my beautiful baby girl. She just continues to light up our lives more and more every day. Here are some fun facts about Ellis this month.

• She weighs 13 lbs. 14 oz. (between the 10-25th percentile) and is 25 inches long (25th percentile). I was worried when they first weighed her and she had only gained 2 oz. since her 4 month check up, but the doctor says everything is great.
• She's working hard at trying to roll over back to front. She gets so frustrated as she's on her side trying desperatly to reach the toy that has caught her eye.
• She sits up on her own really well, although not to the point I would just sit her down and leave her. She will still fall over is she's concentrating hard on something.
• She loves to sit in her Bumbo (Thanks Aunt Mollie and Uncle Michael for letting us use yours!)
• Some of her favorite toys are crinkle money, rattles, links, and soft blocks.
• She twirls her feet. I think it is the cutest thing!
• She has some serious stranger anxiety. If a stranger or someone she doesn't see often talks to her she starts screaming. I mean SCREAMING. It's really funny to see people's reaction when their sweet hellos are only met with a loud scream.
• Her and Parker are beginning to play with each other. Well, as much as a sixth month old and 2 1/2 year old can. She really enjoys Parker. Parker is really good with her.
• She has gotten much better with her naps. She rarely cries now when I lay her down or just a little bit, and she is sleeping much longer.
• She is still not interested in solids. Although she improved a little the last time I gave her some, she didn't gag but still made some awful faces.
• She loves to jump, especially as someone's holding her. She gets those legs just a-going.
• She has discovered the joy of squealling.
• Although I still think seeing a tooth in her mouth is a little bit away, she is chewing things like crazy. You can see where the teeth are in her gums, but they are not to the point where the gums are red and puffy.
• She's a very sweet little girl, although she will let you know if you do something she doesn't like. I guess you can say she's not afraid to express her opinion!

I Just Couldn't Help Myself

I had to share a few adorable pictures of an adorable, little girl.