Happy Halloween!

Eating Like a Big Girl

Ellie enjoying a pumpkin pancake

Lately we have begun expanding Ellie's diet with more finger foods. She is doing pretty well, although she definitely still prefers her baby food most of the time. So far some of her favorites have been plain toast, Ritz Crackers & Goldfish (the graham cracker kind). She loves bananas, but hates the slimy texture so most often than not I end up putting it in the mesh feeder for her to finish off. The other day for lunch I gave her tiny pieces of a chicken tender and cooked carrots. She gummed the soft chicken, but wouldn't swallow it...I guess she's used to eating things that mostly dissolve in her mouth. It seems like it will take a little while before she gets used to swallowing things like that. Monday night we made pumpkin pancakes and I gave Ellie some on Tuesday morning. She ate the whole thing up (it was small)!


I will say that this has been and will continue to be a somewhat scary process for me. I have worked with many infants just learning how to eat and swallow finger foods, but it is so different when it's your own child! I will be thankful when this transition is over and I won't have to watch her so much.

8 Months

It's hard to believe that Ellie turned 8 months old on Sunday. She continues to grow like a little weed and now weighs 16.5 pds (according to the scale at the fair). This month she has learned so much and we are having fun playing together as Ellie becomes more mobile. We are in full baby-proofing mode now as Ellie has just started scooting over the past few days as well. This month Ellie also started eating puffs and wagon wheels and she is loving feeding herself. She is still nursing 4 times a day, although she would rather be playing. One thing I love is how she has learned to turn the pages when we read together...so sweet! Ellie is also talking pretty constantly now. Her favorite sounds to make are blah, blah, blah. I keep on encouraging Ma, Ma, but nothing yet! She is such a fun little girl and so full of energy. We are loving every second of being her parents!

Here she is looking sporty in the Puma outfit that her Aunt Leah gave her.

One of Ellie's favorite activities is pulling all her socks out of the bin.

Here she is practicing her crawling...we're in trouble now!

One Tooth Wonder

Ellie's first tooth finally popped through about 3 weeks ago and I finally got a good picture of it yesterday. Here it is...

It officially feels like fall.

Today Brad, Ellie and I went to pick out some pumpkins. We got a large one for us and two small ones for Ellie (because I couldn't decide which I liked better). I had visions of getting some great pictures of Ellie amongst all the pumpkins while we were there, but it just didn't happen. It turns out our little "pumpkin" wasn't in one of the best moods so we took a few pictures, picked out our pumpkins and headed home. On our way, we stopped by a local nursery and picked up a few mums for our front porch. In my mind nothing says fall is here like pumpkins and mums...oh, and falling leaves, of course!

Ellie Eating Puffs

Ellie has begun eating a few finger foods over the last few weeks and she is loving it! This week I added pieces of banana and crackers to the list. It looks like Ellie is following in her parents footsteps...so far she loves to eat!