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.

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?

Parker at 3 years

There is just know way I should be writing about my 3 year old boy. He just can't be 3 already! He has done so much growing up over the past year.

• Stats: 35.6 lbs  40 inches tall. Yep, he's a biggun. I'm going to be looking up to him one of these days.
• His interests: trains, cars, planes, generally just things that move, riding bikes, puzzles, books, hide and seek, jumping, tumbling, water, music
• Favorite shows/movies: Word World, Caillou, Curious George, Wild Krats, Cars, Thomas the Tank Engine, Toy Story
• Favorite color: green
• Favorite foods: spaghetti, broccoli, cheese, raisans, rice, salsa, tacos, black beans, corn, bananas, pretty much any fruit
• Foods he doesn't like: mashed potatoes, any potato unless its french fries or sliced thin and crispy, tomatoes (unless it's salsa)
• He loves the water! He took some swimming lessons this summer and was quite the water bug. He would jump in without holding anyone's hands. He wouldn't hesitate to put his head under water. He would have been content to stay in the pool all day.
• His speech has improved greatly especially in the past few months although people who aren't around him much might disagree. He's talking a lot more and it is becoming easier to understand what he is saying.
• He's very social. He will make friends with other children when we are out and about in places where there are other children.
• He loves music and dancing. He has some interesting dance moves. Sometimes he will even "break dance." He just roll all around on the floor and hold one leg in the air while he's in the bear crawl stance.
• He's still a daddy's boy. He tries to be just like Paul.
• That being said. I'm his comforter. I'm the one he goes to when he's upset or hurt.
• He's such a loving, snuggly little boy. He loves to snuggle up with us on the couch and wrap up in a blanket. He gives some good hugs and kisses. He makes sure you get kisses right on the lips. He doesn't settle for a cheek.
• He likes to be a helper. He does a good job helping me around the house and taking care of Ellis.
• He is such a good big brother. He looks after Ellis and plays with her. Of course like every brother and sister, they have their squabbles, but for the most part they are great companions.
• He has yet to have his first hair cut, but soon it's gonna have to happen. He doesn't have a lot of hair, but it just needs some trimming and shaping in some places.
• He's convinced that he is a six year old boy.
• Most days his attire consist of only underware. Some days I can manage to convince him to put on some clothes.
• He has a pair of green crocs that he wears a lot. I don't know what we are going to do when he grows out of them.
• He can dress himself. I just love to see what outfit he's going to put together.
• He thinks band-aids and kisses make any boo boo better. However, lately he also thinks any boo boo should warrant a trip to the doctor. His reasoning is that "doctor's fix."
• Doctors may fix boo boos. But Parker thinks Paul can fix anything that's broken. I mean anything.
• I love his little toddler sense of humor. He will just laugh and laugh at some of the silliest things. Sometimes I'm not even sure what makes him laugh.
• He loves to put together puzzles. A new puzzle can keep his attention for a loooong time. Even an old puzzle can keep him busy for a while. At church on Sundays, he will spend most of the worship hour time in the nursery putting together every single puzzle in there.
• He has pretty much given up his nap. Every once in a while he will take a nap in the afternoon, but if he does, I limit the amount of time he sleeps or he would be up waaaay late at night.
• He loves to color and is very good at it. He actually colors objects on the coloring page. He doesn't just scribble all over everything.
• He is potty trained except for at night. It may be a while before he's in underware at night.
• He just absolutely melts my heart. I could just bunch him up and squeeze him and kiss him all day long.

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.

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.

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!

Day 2, 3, and 4

So I have to admit things aren't going as well as I hoped. Ellis is quite the stubborn little thing. She cries and cries before she will finally fall asleep and still only sleep for maybe 30 minutes. Of course, I haven't helped. The past 2 days I have gone over to my sister's for supper, so therefore she has taken her evening naps in my arms. I know that consistency is the key, and that doesn't help with the consistency.
As far as Parker goes, yesterday and today he's been in diapers. He wanted to wear diapers so I let him. You maybe thinking, "You're the parent. It's not about what he wants."  Yes, that's true, but I also know that toddlers love to do what you don't want them to do and hate to do what you want them to do. So, I'm playing it cool on the potty training thing, like it doesn't matter to me if he wears diapers or underware.  We'll try again in a few days, and see what happens.

Day One of the Kid's Resoutions

So I made some resolutions for my children this year. I made some for myself as well. Well, I made goals. I like to say goals rather than resolutions. Anyway...
If you've read my previous posts on Ellis, you know that she is not a good napper. She wants to be rocked to sleep and then she doesn't sleep very long. I know that she has the ability to fall asleep on her own because she does it at night and sleeps all night long. So, my goal for her is to get her to fall asleep on her own for naps. I can't really control how long she sleeps, but that will get probably get better on it's own since she is starting falling into a more regular nap schedule.
My goal for Parker is for him to be potty trained. I haven't really worked hard at potty training him yet. He has some underware that he has worn occasionally, and when he is interested, he uses the potty. But I'm ready to cut down on buying diapers, so we are cutting out diapers except for when he's sleeping or we are out and about.
Day one results:
For Ellis, she cried for a little over an hour for her morning nap, then only slept for about 20 minutes. For her afternoon nap, she cried for less than 15 minutes and then slept for an hour and a half! I was so amazed. I guess she was so tired from her morning nap protest. She cried or I should say screamed for 30 minutes for the evening nap and then I got her up because at that point it was pointless for her to take an evening nap. I just put her to bed early. All in all, not bad for day one.
For Parker, I'm currently washing almost all of the underware we have for him. He wet every pair that he put on except for the last pair that he had on before bedtime. But that said, he did well. He would start to go and then realize it and he would come and get me and finish in the potty. The first couple of times were the only ones where he went enough for it to get on the floor. So, he made progress throughout the day.

Ellis at 4 months

I can't believe it! Ellis is 4 months old!  I promise it's true because she had her 4 month check up yesterday. Here's some little bits you might want to know about her right now. (They change and develop so, no too, quickly.)

• Her stats: 12 lbs 13 oz; 24.5 in. She's in the 50th percentile for both.
• She continues to be a good night sleepler. Sometimes a complete 12 hours. Sometimes she wakes up after 9 hours, eats, and goes back to sleep.
• She's not a good napper, unless she has fallen asleep in her carseat after a trip out somewhere. Then she'll sleep for hours. Otherwise, it's usually about 30 minutes in her crib. I can't complain though because I'd rather her be a good night sleeper if I had to pick.
• She has started reaching for and grabbing things. She doesn't really try to put them in her mouth though.
• She has started the beginning process of rolling over. She will turn her body to her side. I feel a little guilty that I don't give her a whole lot of floor time. I would love to spend all her waking moments playing with her on the floor, but...there's a house that needs at least a little attention.
• She has celebrated her first Halloween although she didn't get dressed up.
• She has celebrated her first Thanksgiving.
• She really wants to be able to sit up on her own. She tries to pull her head up when she's sitting in her rocker. She can hold herself for a few moments when she is on my lap.
• She's definately a mommy's girl. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts because I know the day will quickly come when her daddy will be the one, just like Parker.
• She loves to watch Parker. He makes her smile and laugh. I can't blame her. He makes me smile and laugh too.

Speaking of Parker, it's 4:30pm, and he is still napping. If I don't go wake him right now, going to bed will be a difficult process tonight. I'm probably too late already.

Ellis's Birth Story

I know not every one is like me, but I always find it interesting to hear stories of baby delieveries. So, if you're not like me, sorry, you'll just have to skip this post. On Monday, I had my weekly OB appointment. The doctor wanted to check me to see if anything was happening and talk about scheduling an induction since we live an hour away from the hospital and because my first delievery was pretty short. When he checked me, his eyes got big. I was 4 to 5 cm dilated. He suggested that we come back the next day to be induced unless I went in to labor before then. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions since the middle of the pregnancy, and they had been getting stronger. Paul and I decided to walk around the Sumter Mall to see if anything would happen before we drove home. We got up at 3:15 am Tuesday morning to get ready to go to the hospital to be there by 5. I didn't really sleep between the sometimes strong contractions, indigestion, Paul's snoring, frequent bathroom trips, and just plain not being able to get comfortable. When we arrived the nurses were very prompt at all the preliminary work up. I told them about my rather short labor with the first so they decided that it would be best to get the epidural catheter in place before they started any Pitocin. I had to wait for them to get the blood work results and the proper amounts of IV fluid in before they would do the epidural. Finally, about 6:30 the anethethist (don't know how to spell it but I mean the wonderful person who gives out the amazing pain meds) put in the cathether for the epidural. He told me my blood lipids or something like that was on the border line of being too low for the epidural. I was so thankful that it was at least above what it needed to be so that I could have an epidural. I had to wait another hour after that before they started the Pitocin because the doctor had some things she needed to finish up so she could be ready as she was expecting a pretty quick labor and delivery. Finally at 7: 30 am they started the Pitocin drip. My contractions started to get stronger after a little bit. About 8, I was ready for my dose of epidural. At 8:10, I got the meds. At 8:11, Dr. Latham broke my water. I was measuring 5 to 6 cm at a -1 station. About 30 minutes after that, I was feeling strong painful contractions in my abdomen so I asked the nurse if I could another dose of epidural meds. When the anethethist came in to check about it, the nurse checked me, and I was complete. It was time to start pushing. She had me push one time, and she stopped me. She said we need to get Dr. Latham in here this baby's ready to come out now. I had to wait through another contraction for the doctor to get ready. I was just thinking, "please hurry up. I really need to push." Next contraction, I pushed one time and out she came. She was beautiful and tiny. I was expecting her to be at least 8 lbs considering how big Parker was. All the nurses were so surprised at how easy the labor and delivery was. They told me I was made to do this and I should have about 10 more. Ummm....I don't think so. She checked out perfectly healthy. I was so greatful that we didn't have to go through another NICU stay like we did with Parker. Speaking of Parker. He is not quite sure about this whole big brother buisness. Right now, he pretty much ignores her and is glued to his daddy when he comes to visit. I'm hoping that he will adjust quickly when we get home. I'm very excited to be a family of four now. I know it will be an adjustment for us all as we settle in at home and get to a normal routine.

I'd like you to meet...

our beautiful daughter, Ellis Reign Camp! She arrived at Tuomey Hospital at 8:55 am on July 26. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and is 20 inches long. She has the blondest of peach fuzz on her head. (FYI: The old wives tale about heart burn/indegestion means a baby with a full head of hair is not true. I had very little with Parker and a whole lot with Ellis and both were practically bald.) So far she has been a very laid back baby. In fact, most of the time I'm having to wake her up to eat. Her name Ellis came from my grandaddy, Ellis Padgett. Ellis was also his mother's maiden name. Ellis is a form of Elijah which can be translated "the Lord is God" so her name means "The Lord is God who Reigns." We really like her name and the meaning of it. Our prayer is that the meaning of her name also becomes her reason for living. We pray that the Lord God always reigns in her life.

Just Sayin'

I'm so sorry that it has been forever since I have posted. I'm going to try to catch you up on Camp life lately. It probably will take a few posts to do that.

I wanted to share a little of Parker's growth lately. He has left the baby stage behind and is now a toddler, which makes me so sad and excited at the same time. One of my favorite accomplishment is Parker's new words. I could tell for a while that he understands what we are saying and can get his point across using gestures and babbles, but now I'm catching some words. I wanted to write them down before I forget these firsts. Of course, he says "mama" and "dada." Now he says... "ba" - ball "pupuh" in a whisper voice -puppy "lie"-light "key"- kitty "bu-bye" - bye-bye He also moos like a cow and does some sort of a meow. Of course, he doesn't perform on command so if you ask him to say some of these things he might just look at you like you're crazy.