Ellie + Hat = Cute

A visit with Anna & Charley

Last Tuesday night while Brad and Shawn were at the Duke game Ellie and I had a chance to hang out with Anna & Charley. Shawn, Anna, & Charley were visiting from Maryland and we were excited to meet each other's little girls for the first time. Charley is about a month and a half younger than Ellie and it was fun to see them interact. Every time Ellie is around a younger baby that is bigger than her I can't help but wonder if she's getting enough to eat. (Luckily her 9 month appt. was the next morning and the doctor eased my concerns that she is growing at a steady rate for her and is completely fine!) It was interesting to see the differences in Ellie and Charley's personalities...they are pretty much complete opposites, but they had fun together anyway. We had a nice visit and look forward to seeing them again the next time they are in town.

Early Christmas Present

About a month ago Brad and I bought Ellie's big Christmas present because it was on sale at Toys R Us. We decided to go ahead and give it to her now since she will be innundated with other new toys closer to Christmas. She really loves pushing all of the buttons and is really enjoying it so far.

9 Months Old

15.5 pounds

26 3/4 inches

It is crazy to me that Ellie is already 9 months old! This month she has really begun to take off and is now officially crawling! It has been fun to watch her slowly start exploring the house on her own, although she almost always stays as close to her mama as possible. She is getting more confident in her ability to pull up, but is pretty cautious still. We are currently working on teaching her to sit down from standing and she is getting better slowly but surely. She is such a sweet little girl but she has really begun to show a little bit of an attitude this month. It often happens when she can't get something she wants or we take away something she shouldn't be playing with. She continues to be a social butterfly, giving lots of smiles to mostly anyone who will engage her. She loves books with flaps (this usually keeps her entertained for a while), leaves, peek-a-boo, and her "lamby" that we keep in her crib.

Ellie is still nursing 4 times a day and is eating more and more table foods. Her favorites so far are bananas, pears, toast, and goldfish. The other day she picked up a whole handful of cheerios and shoved them in her mouth. Needless to say we are working on just picking up one or two at a time! She is still napping for 1-1&1/2 hours twice a day and sleeping for around 11-12 hours at night. She may be small, but she is full of life and energy!

Long Week

Whew! It's been a long week. Ellie has been sick with her first full blown cold this week and it has been tiring! Wednesday was the worst, she couldn't breathe out of her nose at all and couldn't suck her thumb so she just didn't nap ALL DAY! We took her to the doctor and luckily her ears looked clear. Nights have been rough as a result also and I am praying that she will go back to sleeping well now that she can breathe again. Oh yeah, and I'm the only one she wants to comfort her...with Brad she usually just screams louder. I must admit it's a little sweet, but not so much at 12:00 am. On top of that she's not nursing well either and I am thinking it may be time to wean to formula. Part of it has been the cold but she started having issues before she got sick. The problem is she doesn't like formula...at least she won't take it from me. Ugh! Luckily today is Friday and Ellie's grandparents are coming for a visit this weekend so I should get a little break. Ellie is feeling better and I realize that if a bad week means less sleep, a stuffy baby, and nursing issues than we truly are richly blessed.

Little Ladybug