Eloise May: 7 Months

Ellie you are SEVEN months old!  Er.  You WERE 7 months old three weeks ago.  Lol.  Oh well.  I don't have her official 7 month photo but I need to get this up or it will never happen.  Things are a little busy around these parts.  Turns out raising two little ones, making handmade stuff for my Etsy gig, AND babysitting occasionally makes for a busy life.  Phew.

That being said...let's talk about Miss Eloise.

Let's see...

• She sleeps horribly (ha!)  She's also getting teeth. But really....she slept awesome up until 4 months and then after that...it's been hit and miss.  I've handled it way better then with Jack.  I just don't mind so much.  Maybe too it helps knowing that Jack wasn't a great sleeper but by the time he was a year old he was finally sleeping through the night.  ha.  Tough times are very temporary in the baby world.  You definitely gain this perspective after you've had one child.
• She is a crawling, pulling up on everything machine.  She started doing it around 6-7 months old.  Can't remember exactly.
• She gets into EVERYTHING.  Like everything.  We never baby proofed with Jack and instead just taught him to not touch things.  Yeah, we are doing the same with Ellie but for real.  It's taking so much more work and awareness haha. 
• She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.  And I mean everything.  Another difference between Ellie and Jack.  Jack was not a mouthy baby.  Ellie most definitely is.
• We are getting glimpses of her personality.  Jack was our chill, calm baby.  Ellie is a goof and quite the spaz.  Already at almost 8 months!  haha.  Cracks me up.
• She is starting to say mama and dada.  She started off strong with Mama and now prefers to say Dada (stinker!).
• She loves toys.  And to play with things. 
• Her and Jack are beginning to build quite the relationship now and it makes this mama heart so happy.  He watches out for her at the park if kids get too close to her.  They crawl around on the floor and Jack let's her chase him.  They wrestle.  It's cute.  He also does a fair share of NOT sharing and pushing her around.  I guess that's what big brothers are for.  ;)
• She was slow going on the solids but man she loves food.  She does NOT like savory purees but DOES like savory table scraps ha.  But she loves all fruits, cereals, yogurts, puffs, pastas and etc.  We haven't tried any meat yet. 

 

And that's our 7 month Ellie update.  As incredibly late as it is!  :)

Eloise May: 6 Months

I am following my "at least one week late" trend on these things. But...Ellie is 6 months!!! I can't believe this girl has been with us for half a year already. Its so true. The first baby grows up fast...but the second...even faster. I can't even imagine what it would be like with more kids. You probably birth them, blink, and then they're two! Then ten, then graduating and then getting married. 😉😉

Anyways, our Ellie girl is quite possibly the sweetest thing ever. She is suuuch a happy little thing. So content. She smiles and kicks her feet 98% of the day. She loves to play on the floor and practice her crawling. She hasn't fully attained crawling status in its true form but she gets where she wants to go by the "rock and lunge" method. Ha.

She is enjoying the new world of solid foods. She can go from being on her tummy to sitting up.  She still adores Jack more then anyone in this house ha! Her sleep could be a bit better but...we're surviving.  She loves her milk, cuddling, Jack's trains, and our coffee table coasters. She actually loves all toys and the jumperoo.  This month she also had her first camping trip and first Halloween! :)

She is such a doll and daily I looks at her and think "Really God? What did we do to deserve these babies?" We are so thankful for our little family.

Happy 6 months Ellie girl. ❤❤❤

Eloise May: 5 Months

Apparently this blog exists to be a once a month place where I update you on my 2nd born and her growth.  Ha!

Also this is like 2 weeks late being posted.  I was just too lazy to upload all the photos but I've done it now so on to the update!!!

Oh Ellie May.  We adore you.  My absolute favorite thing is picking  you up into my arms after you first wake up.  You're so warm and relaxed and you just seem to melt into me.  I literally breathe you in and I just can't believe that you are ours.

5 months.  I can't believe we are already here.  It's gone by SO fast and yet I can't believe that half a year ago we were living our life without you in it...at least on THIS side of the womb.  ;)


So things to note:

Lots of rolling over.
The hand eye coordination is pretty good.  I should say the hand eye mouth coordination.  Because seriously..she sees it, she picks it up, she puts it in her mouth.  Always.
We have two VERY sharp little bottom teeth.
She loves toys.  Especially Jacks trains and cars.  She will literally lunge at it if you put it in front of her. She also really loves her little teething banana thing.
She seems to be less content to just chill.  I think she is getting impatient.  The day after she turned 5 months she got up on all fours and started rocking.  She has made many attempts since...she just doesn't know what to do with her arms...how to move them forward.  So maybe by 6 months we will have a crawler?
Sleep is ok-ish.  She actually slept better as a newborn funny enough.  She goes to bed at 7 and wakes up at 10pm...I think because we wake her up going to bed ourselves?  Then she will do one wake up around 3 or 4.  So not terrible...but I would love to ditch that 10:00 feeding.  But, like Jack, I'll probably ride it out and eventually she'll stop on her own.  ha!
She loves being held upright and has the spine support to almost sit on my hip which is one of my favorite "new tricks" a baby gains...especially with a toddler at my feet!
She has the funniest little husky sounding laugh.  She laughs some what often but the biggest laughs are still reserved for Jack.  Mama and Daddy apparently just aren't THAT funny.  ;)

Overall she is just the happiest little thing.  And we ADORE her!

Happy 5 months Ellie girl!   <3

Eloise May: 4 Months

Ok, so she's like 4 months + 1 week...at least.  Actually like 4 1/2 months ha!  Whatever.  What's up with 4 months huh?  I didn't do a 4 month post for Jack either.  But.  Here I am.  Documenting the 4th month of having our Ellie girl in our lives.

So what to say about this girl....

She loves love LOVES to roll.  All around her bed.  She is a definite tummy sleeper.

She is the happiest thing in. the. world.  She literally only cries occasionally in the car.  And when she's hungry. 

She adores her big brother.  Even when he physically rolls her over...rather roughly I might add...she just looks up and smiles at him.  So sweet.

Nursing is her JAM!  She was kinda meh about it for a while.  She quite likes it now.  :)

 

At her last appt she was 12 lbs which put her in the 20ish percentile
Her height?  90th! 
Her head is nice and big...just like her brother.  :)

I will say that she is a far more sensitive baby then Jack was.
She does NOT like most strangers.  At all.  She cries when they look at her hahaha.
She kinda has this intensely sweet but quiet disposition.  Which I think is darling.
I have great fondness for those quiet, behind the scenes people (my husband).
It's like a mystery package that you slowly get to unwrap.  :)

Granted she's 4 months old soooo....she might turn out super outgoing like Jack.  You never know!

And time for the photo bombbbb!  Picmonkey isn't working so I don't get to do my usual collage  :)

Make & Trade

Hello Friends!

Just wanted to let some of my readers know that we are organizing something fun!

Don't you just love handmade?  Wouldn't you love to buy ALL things handmade but don't really have the money to do such a thing?  Wouldn't it be awesome if we could make something, give it to someone else and receive something in return???  I've been thinking about this for a while and how to organize it and I thought LET'S GO FOR IT.  Why not right?!?

SO here are the details.

First, each person that agrees will be sent a survey via email that asks things like favorite color, how many children you have, gender, where you live and mailing address (don't make someone a beanie if they live in Arizona ahem haha), and etc.

Each person that agrees to participate then will receive someone else's survey and will make something (or more then one thing) that will equal a retail value of about $25.  Now keep in mind that this is how much something costs AFTER it's made.  For example, my felt items I sell do not cost me a ton in materials....but I sell them for more because of the labor involved.  So you may make a zipper pouch that was about $5 in supplies...but you could potentially sell it for at least $15.  So thus it's retail value is $15.  Got it?  If you are unsure as to how to value your item I would recommend searching Etsy and see what something similar sells for.  If you still aren't sure feel free to ask me and I can probably help you figure it out.  A month after everyone receives their secret buddy's survey we will send out our handmade items to the person that we were given.

Feel free to have as much fun with the box that you send out as you want.  Adding random Target dollar items is highly encouraged.  hehe. 

I think that the best way for this to be a success is to make it more about the person that you are sending to then what it is you are receiving in turn.  If everyone goes all out and has a ton of fun gifting to your secret friend then everyone will be rather happy in the end. 

Please note that this is a small financial/time commitment.  I am BUSY...and can be totally flakey.  I get it.  But to make it fun we all need to send the goodies out at the same time.  Sound good?!?

If you have already commented on my facebook post yay!  you don't have to comment here too.  If you are interested though leave a comment with your email and I will include you on the official group email!  :)

So excited!
Hope this works!!!  hehe  <3

Eloise May: 3 Months

Our little Ellie Bean is THREE months old!

Gah.  I just love this little lady so much.  I also apparently didn't take many photos between 2 and 3 months so I might need to get on that this month.  :)

Our little three month shoot kinda didn't go as well as planned.  Basically Jack wanted to be in all the pictures and then when I got him to finally stay out of them he started running circles as fast as he could around the blanket Ellie was on...which made her keep turning her head to follow him.  Then he started yelling and running and I think it was starting to just plain overwhelm Eloise and sooo...she started getting angry.  Ha!  Good times.  :)

 

So what's new in the world of Ellie Belly?  I really don't know how much she weighs.  I know over 11 lbs.  I feel like she kinda ate to survive there for the first 2 1/2 months or so.  Recently though I  feel like she has really taken to nursing.  She wants to nurse a lot more often and does it with a lot more gusto.  She is still a skinny little thing and we get comments all the time on how tiny she is.  I can tell though that she's starting to pack on the weight.  Or so it seems at least.

 

Other things to note...?  She sleeps through the night maybe 4 nights out of the week?  If she wakes up it's at 2am or so (she goes to bed at 8pm).  So yes...a pretty good little sleeper still.  We've managed to get her on Jack's nap schedule.  I thought it would be harder since babies usually need two naps and Jack just takes one at 11am or so.  She will doze in the car for her morning one if we are out and about.  It's usually pretty short and then by 11 or so she's pooped and ready to go down.  She usually takes a 2 sometimes 3 hour nap...and then a little siesta in the evening around dinner time.

First please note the hair...possibly my favorite physical trait of Ellie's.  I LOVE how it just sticks straight up off her head.  Ha!  Also, this picture is a little blurry but I was starting to get a little worried because Ellie wasn't doing very well with tummy time.  She would basically just struggle with her face smashed on the floor.  I asked a friend about it and her daughter was able to lift her head and chest.  I figured maybe I wasn't giving Eloise enough time on the floor to practice?  Sure enough...two days of purposeful tummy time and she's lifting her head and chest off...and getting really close to rolling from tummy to back.

Classic Ellie expression.  Ha!

All in all Eloise is such a sweet little thing.  She will give endless smiles.  She is just starting to laugh which is basically the best thing ever.  <3  She loves to play independently...and also loves to be held and snuggled.  She gets really excited if you stand her up so that she can feel included with the family.  She does this little dancy thing with her feet and squeals...darling girl. 

She is so fun and I am so thankful for her sweet little personality and disposition.  God has blessed us immensely.  :)

 HAPPY 3 MONTHS ELLIE-GIRL!

Perspective

Holy Toledo!  I honestly felt like it had been only a week or so since my last blog post but I guess it's been a bit longer. 

So!  We are back from our vacation that we took to California.  It was quite good.  We had a lot of fun, got to see family, and at the end of each day we were all exhausted.  Eloise started to sleep through the night while there.  Apparently she wasn't sleeping as well in her little cosleeper because of the small size and when she was given more space in the pac n play she started sleeping all the way through the night.  So there you go.  Jack played hard and slept hard.  It was such a change compared to what we were used to before with Jack.  Jack is/was a some what decent sleeper when he's not being thrown off by new babies being brought home (well, it was just one baby).  :)  He used to NOT sleep well though when he was away from home in his pac n play.  Holy cow.  We are talking 3-4 wake ups and then us finally letting him sleep with us out of pure exhaustion.  He's old enough and plays hard enough now that he sleeps no problem in the pac n play and what a welcome change that is!  Yesssss!  So good sleep was had by all!  :)

My wonderful parents treated us to plane tickets from Phoenix to San Francisco so that we could have some fun at our old stomping grounds.  We flew in and had to wait two hours for our rental car.  Once we finally got it we went and got take out at our favorite Chinese restaurant in San Francisco...and then made the trek down to San Luis Obispo.

I had told Jason that I had very few expectations regarding the trip.  Mostly I just wanted to be outside the whoooole time.  Because of the heat it's been a little hard lately here.  Of course part way through the trip we got rain.  Kinda funny considering they are in a drought and of all the days for them to finally get rain it's when we are there.  I was a little disappointed but there wasn't much to be done about it.  :)  It was also funny because it was HOT and muggy.  My in-laws house was hotter then our house at home and we keep it at 80 degrees during the day and 78 at night.  Go figure eh?  :)

Despite the weird weather we had a lot of fun.  The first day we were there we went downtown and had tri tip sandwiches and mini donuts at Farmer's Market.  It was super yummy.  :)

We were also able to go to the beach.  Jack had a blast!  Well, until I let him fall face first into the surf and he sucked up a bunch of water.  Oops.  He recovered quickly...but wasn't as keen on the water after that.  ha!

Miss Eloise sorta enjoyed the beach.  I don't think that she was thrilled about the wind.  I was having trouble getting her hat to stay on her but realized that the wubba nub apparently has multiple uses.  :)

Mama has some crazy beach hair!  And I'm totally okay with it.  ;)

At the end of our trip we were able to sneak away for a couple of hours (where we found out that Eloise does NOT like bottles...nope, nada, no way.)  Anyways, Jason and I were sitting in Apple Farm having our dessert and we started talking about our trip and SLO.  We came to the realization that while SLO/California will always have a special place in our heart...it's not the end all of happy existence.  I think that as of late I've been pinning for California and kinda had it built up in my head as this utopia where "I'll be happy if I move THERE" type of thing.  I realized while in California that by golly...I actually kinda LIKE where we live.  Like I could maybe stay here for a while and be okay.  I mean sure it's hot.  And sure this city lacks a little character in many ways...but it's not all bad.  The people are really and truly nice.  So friendly.  There are TONS of young families.  The town is very affordable and we might actually be able to buy a house one day...AND have me stay home with the kids.  What a concept.  :)

The hardest part is being away from family.  I wish Jack could see all his grandparents more often.  Also Jason's brother is starting to have kids too and it would be so nice to be near them and have our kids grow up together.  I guess for now, visits will have to suffice.

Anyways, God used our trip to California to some how help us see that we are where He wants us to be.  I thought that the trip might ruin me and make me miss "home" even more but in the end it didn't.  In the end it made me thankful and glad that He is active in our lives, directing our paths.  I know that Arizona is where He wants us for now.  For how long?  I'm not sure.  For however long though I think I'm more willing to accept this place as home...that is as long as we don't find any scorpions within a mile radius of our house.  When that happens?  Peace out Arizona.  ;) Ha!

Anyways, it was an awesome trip.  Thank you so much Mom and Dad for the extra bonus to San Francisco.  We had so much fun.  Jason especially loved the fog that was so thick it felt like it was raining.  Me?  Not so much.  I think I prefer the heat!  ha!