9 Month Stats and Other Updates...

I feel like we have so many updates! First off, Ellie went for her 9-month checkup on Monday, and she's still growing like a weed! She weighed in at 22 lbs 14 oz and measured 29 1/4 inches. That would be 94th percentile for weight and 93rd for length. I was talking to Lollie, and she reminded me that I was never even on the chart throughout my entire childhood so at least Ellie is on the chart! Seriously, I never made it for weight or heighth so I guess her Daddy's genes are kicking in at least a little. Everything else went great. She only had to get 2 shots including her 2nd dose of the flu vaccine which was a piece of cake compared to the 5 she got at her 6-month appt. So she was only a little puny on Monday afternoon. She actually sat still for a good 10 minutes in her chair watching Noggin. Did I mention how much she loves this chair?! She crawls up in it w/ her blanky and pap and looks up at us like, "do you see me?" Thanks Lollie and Poppy! And also, thanks Daddy for letting us add back the premium channels...we were missing some Noggin around here! Look how engaged she is! Is this bad at such a young age? Sometimes it's the only way I can keep my sanity!

*Rebecca Lamb Beckham...recognize that blanket?? It's Ellie's new obsession!! We thank you for this awesome gift which helps with our "quiet time" right before naps and bedtime!
I wanted you to be able to see the entire picture!
*Please disregard my disastrous living room! And yes, it pretty much stays this way 24/7.

As for her eating...she is doing great! We have introduced so many new things, and we have yet to discover anything this child won't eat. Literally, not one thing! I can't even think of any "favorites" that she has because she LOVES all food! I mean really, everything! She has even learned to do the "more" sign all by herself. I started using "all done" when she was about 4 months old and "more" when she was about 8 months old. Well, about 3 weeks ago she started signing all by herself out of the blue. It's the cutest thing I have ever seen! I was able to capture her in the moment...this is not clapping...it's Ellie's version of "more!"

"More please..."

She usually gets real intense and serious when it comes to food.

"Ok, I've had it! More, now!" "Enough of these stupid pictures!" I just love it!


THANK YOU AVENT!!
So, when I introduced the sippy cup back when Ellie was about 6 months old, she thought it was the coolest thing ever! Now that it's actually time to start transitioning, not so much! I have been really worried lately about her lack of interest. I suddenly had a revelation a few days ago. I remembered that all Avent products are compatible with each other. SO, I took the top from her Avent sippy cup and put it on her bottle and Wa La, it worked like magic!! She had a little "wa wa" in it, and we are going to try her formula like this too! I'm feeling much more optimistic now!

Maybe it's a bit early, but I just couldn't help myself. Aunt She She, Ellie, and I went out for a little shopping this past Saturday, and I got talked into buying Ellie a 3-pack of bows. I LOVE bows in little girls' hair, but I am really weird about letting her wear them too early. I have resorted to letting her wear them around the house because I think it's hilarious!

Some of you may already know this, but my sister keeps Ellie for me every day at our house along with her little friend Mallory, who is just 3 weeks older than Ellie. This arrangement has just worked out wonderfully, and the girls have so much fun together every day. They each have a playmate and look forward to seeing each other. They like to get into trouble together! Going in Ellie's room and taking EVERYthing out of her baskets is such a blast!

Best buds. (Look at that bow)! We won't wear this out in public just yet!

Lastly, we always have bath time right before bed....

Silly girl playing in the bathtub!

And we now have an addition to our bedtime routine. I admit when it comes to taking care of Ellie's teeth I have been a little bit of a slacker. A couple of weeks ago I decided we would add the teeth cleaning to our nightly routine. Well, every time I would try to clean them with a washcloth, the little stinker would bite my fingers! My friend Kelly told me about a little rubber thingy that you put over your finger that has little bristles, and I found one that comes with toothpaste. It works great! Of course all Ellie wants to do is eat the toothpaste!

1st time to brush our teeth!

"Mommy, I got it. I can so do this by myself!"

What happens when I sit down and try to do a new post...

This is what happens when I leave Ellie alone for literally 2 minutes! I knew she seemed awfully quite so I went back to her room to check on her, and this is what I found! All I can say is that I think I have a long road ahead. Someone seems to have her daddy's little mischievious personality!

On another note...Ellie has decided she is over this...
and ready for this....
Yes, Lollie (she was here for a visit this weekend), She She, Ellie, and I spent well over an hour at Publix yesterday trying to find new things for Ellie to eat! She has decided she is way over this baby food and ready to eat "big" people food! I will say baby food is much easier, but it's just time for a change around here. I am very pleased with the selection of organic products at Publix. They even make organic mac and cheese! Who knew???! I have been slaving away in my kitchen this morning cooking for the week for my sweet girl. So far she'll eat anything we put in her mouth, and I'll be curious to see how she likes some of the above choices! I can't wait for her to try the avocado. I'll keep y'all posted!

We also had another HUGE milestone around here this week. Rusty/Daddy turned the B-I-G 30 on Friday, January 16th!!!!! My grandmother came into town on Thursday, and her bday is Jan. 19th so we did sort of a duo celebration for them! We headed to Leonardo's (Rusty's fave..Italian) for dinner and then came home for some cake! Rusty (and I) LOVE some strawberry cake from Edgar's so that's what we had. Rusty is man enough to enjoy a pink cake on his bday! He then headed to Arkansas on Friday morning with my dad for some duck hunting (this by far was definitely the way he would have chosen to spend his bday)! I also surprised him with a weekend to Chateau Elan for some golf, massages, good food and relaxation!

The bday duo!

Shelby and I headed to dinnerRusty and I headed to dinner

The best cake ever!

Rus blowing his 3-0 candles out!

Happy birthday Daddy! We love you so much!!

Brrrrrr....

We're all bundled up for a cold week around here!

Do you see those 2 front teeth coming in???? We also wanted to show you those! She didn't ask for them for Christmas, but she should have since they started coming in about 2 days after!

Practicing standing up all by herself!

We also went down to the cabin this past weekend!

It's a whole new world around here....

This crawling thing is keeping Rusty and me on our toes for sure! Ellie is suddenly into EVERYthing around here. She does keep us quite entertained though. You never know what she's going to do next...like yesterday when I opened the fridge she crawls over (she can go really fast now!) to it and starts trying to decide what she's going to have for breakfast...hmmm...

"Hmm...I wonder what's WAY up there???"

Well, I think she made her selection.....

Then she crawled over to the backdoor to look for Lilly & Riley...

Then we had nap time...notice anything missing in this picture below????

Yep, you guessed it...the blue plate! The little stinker finally discovered that she could pull the plates off the wall. I will have to say I have been wondering when she would start this. I knew a year ago when I decided to put these plates over her crib that she would eventually start pulling them off the wall, and it looks like the time has come at 8 1/2 months. Luckily they are very "baby friendly" because they are plastic so they aren't harmful to her, and they won't break!

"Look Mommy...I found something to entertain me instead of taking my nap!" She's napping right now, and when I went in to check on her I found the same blue plate on the floor in between her crib and the wall. Never a dull moment around here!

Happy New Year!

We had a little bunny come to visit us this week...Piper Kelton! Clay, Rebecca and Piper all came on Tuesday afternoon to hang out with us for New Years. As always we had a great visit with them. Thanks for coming to stay with us Keltons!

Piper and Ellie love each other. Piper is 4 1/2 months and Ellie is 8 1/2 months.

"Gentle Ellie, gentle." I have a feeling I will be saying these words a lot in the upcoming months.

We had a fun New Years Eve at our housewith the Keltons and Gammills. Rusty made a gourmet meal for us which was delicious!

Uncle Josh came to visit Ellie on New Years Day.

I got a new camera for Christmas so I have had so much fun taking pics of Ellie!

Now that Ellie is mobile she is discovering all sorts of new and fun things. In the midst of getting ready for our New Years bash, she found the toilet paper on Weds night! The first of many things I'm sure she is going to get into.

Ellie's 1st Christmas

We had a very busy Christmas, but I will have to say it was one of the best ones I have ever had. Rusty and I thoroughly enjoyed spending Christmas with Ellie. She had a blast, and I can honestly say she was truly appreciative of every single thing she opened. It's like she knew what to do! The festivities began the Sunday before Christmas at my grandmother's house in Anniston. From the minute we put a present in front of her she knew what to do and started ripping, tearing, and eating the paper!

Opening her very first gift from her great-aunt Shannon!

Just the beginning of the paper eating!

Sunday night Rusty, Ellie, and I opened gifts from each other (so we wouldn't have even more to take to Atmore)! Rusty surprised Ellie with a "My First Christmas" ornament.

We headed down to Atmore on Monday afternoont. Our next stop was down to Foley on Christmas Eve to celebrate with Rusty's dad.

Ellie and her cousins...Mallory, Madison, and Mary Mykal. She LOVES her cousins, and they all have so much fun together!

Ellie opening her gifts from Paw Paw Roger.

We went to church Christmas Eve with Poppy, Lollie, my brother and sister and then headed back to Poppy and Lollie's for a little get-together with their friends. After everyone left Ellie and I made sure to put cookies and milk out for Santa! Ellie had a little trouble settling down because I know she was so excited about Santa Claus, but she eventually passed out and had a good night's sleep.

Bright and early Christmas morning...ready to go see what Santa brought her! (Santa came to Poppy and Lollie's house this year however he will be coming to Ellie's house in Bham next year).

Ellie checking out all of her loot from Santa!

This little inside riding toy definitely is one of her favorites from Santa!! She kept crawling back over to it wanting to ride some more!

Ellie and her new luggage from Poppy and Lollie. Not so exciting to her, but Mommy sure was excited!

Sitting pretty. Another favorite...her new anywhere chair!

Checking out all of her stocking stuffers!

Our next stop...Meme's house (Rusty's mom).

Ellie and her cousin Mary Mykal.

Ellie and me with her soon-to-be aunt and my soon-to-be sis in law, Susie!

Next stop, my grandmother's house!

Momese (my grandmother and Ellie's namesake) gave her the neatest castle piggy bank that even had her name on it!! As you can see she loved it.

Last but not least...we headed to Rusty's grandmother's house on Christmas Day night. We were all worn out by this point, but as you can see Ellie hung in there for us.Definitely her most favorite gift of the day...her new pink car from Maw Maw!! Look at both of those hands on that steering wheel. Hilarious is all I can say.

By this point she felt comfortable enough to steer one-handed. Cruisin around with her cousin.

We are back home and somewhat settled. Recovering from a long, wonderful Christmas week! We hope all of you had a great Christmas! We certainly did!