Funny Little Girl

Our little one is getting quite the personality. One day Melissa shot this video when Ellie couldn't stop laughing at her little rattle. I got home five minutes later and shook the rattle in front of her and she acted like it was the most boring thing she'd ever seen. I guess it's only funny when mom does it.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

We are enjoying the beautiful 75-80 degree weather. It's been absolutely beautiful and a great time for Ellie to explore the outdoors. Today she experienced grass, and spent many minutes just rolling her fingers across it, feeling it and playing with it. She's definitely in exploratory-mode these days. She sees something and army crawls across the room or ground or blanket to reach it and play.



She always crosses her legs while she's laying on her tummy. So relaxed and just "chillin'."

Playing with a mirror:


My beautiful girl, scrunching her nose.

If you look closely, you can see her new tooth popping through in her bottom gums.

Marking a Minor Milestone

"This is her first time."

I looked quickly down as I said this, and started writing on the check-in sheet. I bit my lip to fight back the one tear trying to break through.

Ellie is five and a half months old, and this was the first time I've left her in the nursery at church. For some people, this may not seem like a big deal. And I know it's a blip in the radar of firsts and separation anxiety to come. I never thought I'd be one of those moms who can't be away from her baby for an hour. Or an hour and 15 minutes. But I was counting down the minutes, checking the time on my cell phone constantly during the church service and sermon (Sorry, Pastor James).

We have an amazingly great baby. And I know I'm the mom and I am biased, but seriously, she's one of the most easy-going, least fussy, happy, smiley, content babies I've known. This week she cut her first tooth and I was expecting a lot of fuss, since that's what all the books said to expect, but there's been virtually none of that. She continues to smile and be happy all day long.

But, despite all this, I was still nervous throughout the church service. I kept imagining that maybe she was crying or fussy, even though I knew she probably wasn't. And even if she was, she'd survive. Mostly, I just really missed her.

I dashed out of the sanctuary as soon as the last AMEN was said, and went to find my girl. She was sitting on the lap of one of the nursery workers, along with another baby. She was playing and smiling. She was fine. Happy. Unaware that I had been anxiously waiting to return to her.

"She did great. She was all smiles the whole time," came the report.

As I walked over to scoop her into my arms, I fought one more little tear. I felt a little silly for even feeling anxious. I knew she'd do just great. This whole process was the first of an endless number of situations where I will have to learn to let go as my baby continues to gain her independence.

Lucky for me, we can both take baby steps towards each new milestone.

Ellie Update

We finally bought Ellie a jumperaoo so she could play and stand. We tested one out at a friend's house and she loved it, so we decided it was time to get one for her.

There's a tiny mirror on one of the toys, and she loves to bend her head down and look at herself, like in this picture:


We were out running errands and Ellie was contently playing with a few toys, and gripping all of them at once in her car seat.


Ellie has been scooting all over the place. We usually place her on the big mat in the pictures below, and within a few minutes she makes it across the room, playing with toys, or going after anything that grabs her attention. Yesterday she went for the coffee table and was grabbing books off of the shelf underneath. I guess it's time to "baby-proof."





The other big Ellie news is that she cut her first tooth this week! We barely noticed because she really hasn't seemed to be in pain or fussy. She has been eating slightly less, but that's about the only indication that something was different, and suddenly we noticed her bottom gums were a bit sharper than normal! Ellie is such a sweet, pleasant baby. She rarely fusses and when she does it's usually when she misses her nap and is a bit overtired...but, aren't we all a little cranky when we don't get enough sleep?

First Trip to the Zoo

We didn't have a carrier with us, so Michael improvised.



She loves her giraffe toy, and got to see a real one!

Proud Parents

Sunshine and 70 Degrees

We are starting to have some beautiful weather in between the rain and cool days, so we are taking advantage of the sunshine when we can. I love my little girl and find myself taking pictures of everything, wanting to capture every cute look and expression and smile. I will be attempting to post more pictures over the next few days. She's growing up so fast!