Bunches of Pictures!

I know, I know - it's been forever! Sooo, there are many, many pictures here, about 1 per week for the last 12 weeks on average, with a few weeks doubled up. Ellie has been walking now since the week she turned 9 months, has had a full mouth of 8 teeth since her 8th month (and more on their way right now, I believe!), and is constantly chattering or screaming these days. Tomorrow she will turn 10 months! How crazy for me to believe!

I must say that the recent weeks and even past 2 or so months have been such a blessing with her. She is SOO interactive, fun, silly...I absolutely love just watching her play sometimes now. Right around her 9 mo appt, she started carefully and intentionally putting small objects into slightly larger cups, watching them for a minute, and carefully pulling them out...or sometimes dumping the object, only to start all over again. It's fasinating to watch HER fasination!

She also waves "hi" and "bye" on command now, eats all the "big girl" food she can get her hands on, and full-body tackles Symba (the moody cat) with 2 fists full of skin and fur that she pulls...and he lets her do it! One of these days I might manage to get it on video!

We were a bit late getting the 9 month pictures done, so I don't have those yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a few good shots because we waited too late in the day to do them. But, I'm sure this mommy will think they are all beautiful and wonderful of her! In the meantime, enjoy these for now!


Giggling at the silly cat who was swatting at her from above.


My intense little girl - somehow she manages to give hugs, squirm around and squeeze you all at once.

Had a garage sale a few weekends ago...needed to have her out there with me before a friend came to pick her up, and we just felt the need to be very specific about what is and what is not for sale. Precious cargo! No way!

Ellie continues to love Wheel of Fortune - plus Mommy rationalizes just this one TV show for her to watch...surely she's learning her A, B, C's, right?

The entire face-full of a smile makes me melt all the time....

Blue, BLUE eyes, eh? :)

Yup, I left her alone for just a few minutes, thinking, "She'll never be able to get the lid off that container." Not only was I clearly wrong, AND her mouth and fists are FULL of the Puffs, but the expression is priceless!

Everything in the mouth...even a dirty potato. What you can't see here is that she DID bite off a sizable chunk and was a little disappointed and what she was chewing for a while.

Check out this mischievous look! She was SO proud of herself for crawling under it!

One of Mommy's favorites of the two of us.

Our little park excursion on her 8 month 'bday.' The look pictured here is exactly what happened next: "Hmmm...which one do I bite first?" The one in the left hand won out.


More fun at the park. Ellie loves going as high as possible, that is, when she's not posing for pictures.


What can a mommy say? LOVE this picture!


I think this was around 6-7 months - she was so proud of carrying things in her mouth while she crawled. Such a multitasker, and always prepared with the bottle with her for whenever she needs it!


One of her first tries with a Puffs several months ago. The big blues and silly face make this mommy melt!

Guess who wants to send this in to see if we can get a commercial deal (and some college money for a little model)...or at least a lifetime supply of toilet paper? That would be Mommy....

Ellie's 6 Month Pictures & Photoshoot!

We are almost at the 7 month mark, so these pictures are a little "old!" Nonetheless, I just HAVE to post them - our cutie just warms our hearts, and David took such amazing pictures of her! Trust me when I say that this mommy worked hard to narrow down to "just" these pictures...I love ALL the ones we took for her recent 6 month marker. We had a lot more pics to choose from than most people because Daddy is the photographer!

Also, our "little" girl continues to grow BIG - 28 inches long and 18 lbs at her 6 month appt...her height puts her in the 55% percentile for a NINE MONTH OLD, meaning, she isn't registered on the charts for a 6 month old! Crazy, huh? She is comfortably fitting into 12 month clothes at six months. Also, the top 3 teeth have finally broken through and we're just waiting on the 4th to show itself.

Cool pic, huh? This is so typical of Ellie - always grabbing for things these days!

She had on a Daddy's Little Monkey shirt, so we thought it made sense to bring along Mojo the Monkey. Aren't they cute pals?

Mojo says, "I got your back, kid!"

LOVE this green chair with E's pretty eyes...and yup, she was standing up for this picture (OK, Mommy was holding her little behind steady for a few seconds)

"Mommy! Mommy! Do you SEE my favorite giraffe?! He's right behind me! I can't hardly stand it! I'm so excited!"

"Yup, we're both cute. Yup, I can make the same face and sit up tall just like Mr. Giraffe. Why do you look so shocked? I'm a big girl, and I know it."

Mommy thinks Ellie looks angelic in this pretty picture!

Cool eyes, huh?

Here's our little champ, ready and excited to walk (with a little help of course)...

So, the amazing thing is that we managed to get this smile out of our little one while it was 106 degrees with the heat index outside and wearing a hat!

I love the left hand just sitting there on her hip....

How funny that this was only 2 1/2 weeks ago...already Ellie is mostly-crawling everywhere and now has figured out how to sit herself up, crawl again, and then sit back up. Sometimes, that's how she pivots herself to head a different direction. :) See the next picture....

You may have to zoom in on this one...this is the "growth chart" that David does for babies. Pictures are shot from the same distance at each milestone to show the growth. Our little one was already super long at 3 months, so it's difficult to tell, but she definitely couldn't sit up at that point, so we know she's growin'!

GO BULLS!! How do Chicago people like this one!?

Many Pics and Updates!

Sorry for the massive blog full of updates - life's been hectic, and I still tried to pare it down as much as I could (being a mommy and all...it's tough!). I'll need to get a couple of videos up...no promises on when that'll be, but I'll try to do it soon! Also, this coming week, Ellie will be SIX MONTHS!! So, we'll be taking more pics at the studio and I'll post as I can! I'm so excited to see how they turn out.

These last few weeks have been fun, for the most part (minus Round 2 of the teething episodes). All of the sudden, Ellie started LOVING her Exersaucer and jumps up and down in it...and now, she's sitting up all by herself and even catching herself when she leans to the side or back most of the time...and just these last few days, we've seen the legs come up and her little bum scooting forward, with a few tiny crawls in there! Funny how we are so anxious for her to starting crawling, and yet, we'll have our hands full even more than we already do trying to keep her out of everything. Oh! And just today, she finally "got" how to jump in the jumper-thing that hangs from a doorway...hilarious!

And, as for the teeth? Yup, the top 4 are trying to come in! We can see the teeth on either side of the front (top) two, but have been able to feel the front two for months...nice 'n sharp. :)
Well, there are still bunches of pictures on David's work camera, too, that I still haven't even seen! Maybe I'll get those up soon, too!

Stay tuned...videos, more pics, and 6 month updates coming in the near future!




Mommy decided to pack all that she needed for her trip to Chicago - Baby Ellie! :)

Ellie at 21 weeks (and after her first airplane ride!)

The last time Kelly and I saw each other, I was at the exact same point in my pregnancy...and we didn't know SHE was pregnant (I know, hard to tell that she is pregnant here, if it weren't for my hand on her small tummy). It was crazy to both of us that 6 months after seeing each other, I had a 5 month old and am a mommy, and Kelly was right behind! (Only 6 days after this pictures, Kelly had Baby Logan about 6 weeks early. He was a tough little guy from the start and Mommy and Daddy are now enjoying him at home with them!)

I love this little smug look...she was all proud of herself because the stuffed frog had "attacked" her (meaning, she was laying on her back, pull him up over her face, and couldn't immediately figure out how to get the frog off)...and she figured out that she could roll over and defeat the frog! Hooray!

This is the "Mommy, I KNOW I look cute in my little flower skirt and my monkey t-shirt," picture. I think there was also a bit of "Ahhh...you finally figured out to give me the nice, cold teething ring for my poor sore gums! NOW I have something to smile about!"
















Asleep on Daddy's shoulder while he tries to get some work done....












Ah...the delight and proudness of Ellie's first time "swimming." We had a blast with our friends Scott and Kristi and their daughter Rainey (about 2 1/2 wks older than Ellie) as the girls tried out a kiddie pool in the backyard for the first time. They both loved the water!








"Look, Mommy!! I'm walking! Aren't my pants cute?" :)




























Round 2 of "swimming." This time, we got an inflatable frog (she loves frogs and giraffes) and she and Daddy played for a good little while in a pool together! She squealed and squealed....

The best of both worlds: being held by Mommy and still watching what everyone is doing....

Smitten by Grandpa Cerven and all his wacky noises.

Always excited to see the fun musical giraffe from Aunt Karen.... And, then....













Sometimes, you just can't help but to POUNCE it and chew the heck out of its face! :)

Lots o' Pictures...

Finally gettin' some more of these uploaded! I think there are still more on my camera since I'm only up to 17 weeks on here, and today marked 19 weeks! WOW!! Anyway, see below for silly pictures of our little girl! :)

Ellie's first Easter...made it all the way through the service, until the last 5 minutes.

Ellie's in her Easter dress...and Mommy was being silly and putting soft, snuggly BUNNY SLIPPERS on her feet to complete her outfit!

This was just 2 weeks ago (17 wks old) - my, oh my, she looks LONG on the couch, huh?








Ellie was giggling with Daddy, and we were giggling at her silly PJs that had huge frog feet on 'em! These PJs are 9 month old size! They are only a tiny bit big on her, but mostly in width...not in height...and they haven't been washed yet for the inevitable shrinking to occur.









Smiling with Mommy on Mommy's birthday!

Daddy dressed Ellie in one of his favorite outfits....









Daddy's just wanting Ellie to get a good feel for the basketball early on!

Ellie in her Bumbo seat...funny - this was 4 weeks ago and I barely got the picture taken before the squirming and fussing started, and just as of this week, she's been fine to sit in that thing for up to a half an hour! Mommy's excited about that because it helps strengthen her neck and back muscles! (and for a little while, it keeps her somewhat stationary!)