And We're Off . . .

Wow! A lot has happened since our last blog entry. Ellie turned 11 months old last Thursday and decided it was finally time to start walking! She's been cruising since October and started taking small steps here and there a couple of weeks ago but this week, she's just walking all around! Last night we went to the mall for our usual Friday night outing with my mom, sister, Brian, Joey and Emma and the kids went to play in the new kids play place. Ellie walked around the entire time just in total bliss surrounded by all of those noisy, busy kids. People kept looking at her in amazement and asking how old she was since she is so tiny. Yes, despite her love of eating big people foods and breastfeeding a lot, she is still just a tiny thing probably still weighing 17lbs or so. I can tell that she is growing though and I think her features are starting to change and mature-our little baby will be one in just a few weeks!!! Here are two short videos of her taking some steps.


* Kitchen Escape * Toddler




Speaking of changes, Ellie will be moving up to the next room at daycare in one more week. I have been talking with her new teacher and visited her new classroom last week. She will be in a room with three other girls who are just a couple of months older then her. There are only four babies so the numbers are nice and low. They each have their own crib still but sit at a tiny table and chairs for lunch and various projects. The biggest difference in this room will be that they now have a lesson plan and set schedule. They go outside twice a day or play out in the big long hallway if the weather doesn't cooperate. They go on wagon rides outside, have an art project everyday and on Tuesday's she will start going to chapel with Pastor John. He tells stories, plays his guitar and sends them off with a hug blessing. I'm so excited for her and think she is going to have so much fun in her new big girl class.







Other than walking, she is really staring to get her personality now. She does things now to make us laugh and is purposefully (an not so purposefully) being silly. She is talking a lot, although most of it is still gibberish but now and then a few real words are popping out. Her favorite term right now is "hi da-da!" but she can say ma-ma, da-da, uh-oh, and no, no, no. Here is a video of her saying no (which we find ironic as we have been very deliberate in not using no for every little thing!) Anyway it is cute, at least for now!






Speaking of cute, Ellie has now attached herself to a lovey for the first time. She hasn't used a pacifier forever, never cared for a blankie but has fallen in love with her bear from Aunt Sharon. She picked a good lovey as he is made from extremely soft, squishy material and is super cute to boot. For a few weeks, she was desperately holding onto him when we went out of the house or when she went to school. It didn't take long for his nice pink outfit to start looking a little black and gray and I worried about what would happen if he were lost or needed a bath so I went ahead and bought two more identical bears which we now rotate often and have back-ups. Every once in a while she will see them all together and seems overwhelmed with love and affection!! Her infatuation is not as intense these days but she still prefers to have him close by and will stop, lay her head down on him and say "ahhhhh" if she passes by him while playing.





Otherwise, we are enjoying the warmer weather and being outside again. Ellie LOVES taking walks in her stroller and going to the park. She often cries when we get home and go to get her out and she will point or go to her stroller when we go by it as if to say-let's go! Spring break is the week after this coming one and hopefully we can find some fun, outside adventures to get in to! We welcome your comments and feedback!!

Spring is in the Air!

Yesterday we got our first taste of SPRING and it was glorious! The temperatures were in the 60's, the sun was shining and everyone was out and about soaking it up! Sherry, Ellie and I were feeling the urge to get outside so we headed out on a walk to our local park. This park is actually in the affluent Oakwood neighborhood and is two blocks from our house (our neighborhood is called "Oakwood View!") Ellie had not been in her stroller since last summer and she really didn't care for it then more than 15 minutes at a time. Yesterday, she LOVED it! She sat up like a big girl, kicked her feet, smiled at everyone we passed and just looked at the world around her. I have been waiting for the day to take my own kids to this park as it is so cool. Joey and Emma have longed loved it. It has a huge sandbox; play gyms and swings for little and big kids; a picnic shelter; basketball, handball, and tennis courts; a baseball diamond; restrooms; and the coolest thing is the wading pool which is staffed with a lifegaurd in the summer! While most parks have all these things, this park is right in the middle of a little neighborhood, surrounded by houses and is contained in one block and has no parking lot. It's a fun place, close to home and a short walk away. I though Ellie would love to try out the baby swings and boy was I right! She LOVED the swings and LOVED looking around at the other kids and babies running all around her. Here's a video of her swinging.

This past week was rough as Ellie was sent home from daycare Monday with diarrhea which then continued for the rest of the week. You would have never known she was sick as she never fussed or acted cranky or tired. Brian stayed with her Monday and Tuesday and then I took my turn on Wednesday. I woke up Wednesday morning not feeling too great and it progressed quickly to full fledged, knock out illness that had me on the floor. Poor Brian had to leave work yet again to come home and take care of both of us through Thursday. Friday we were happy to all return to work and school but the daycare called again due to Ellie having goopy eyes so Brian was back home again! Ellie was cleared by the doctor and hasn't missed a beat this week. She is even more verbal, "talking" all the time and took a few steps the other night. She's an eating machine and while she still loves to nurse, she is a big fan of big people food too. She found a pack of girl scout trefoils the other night and proclaimed them good with one in each hand and a smile on her face (cookie schmootz too!)

It's almost Ellie's first birthday and we can hardly believe it! We had the pleasure of celebrating our friend Beth's birthday yesterday with a surprise birthday party at Spaghetti Warehouse-Ellie's first surprise party! A good time was had by all and Beth really was surprised. Speaking of birthdays, today Ellie has a special message for her Grandma who is out in New Jersey taking care of the triplets and Emre:

Three and a Friend

I have had little time to update the blog so obviously we haven't had any snow days lately! Two weekends ago we FINALLY got to visit with Meva and Chuck and their triplets Ryan, Sarah and Perrin. This was the first time for all of us to see each others babies! We had babies everywhere and luckily Ellie was the only mobile one. The triplets are 8 months old (around 6 months adjusted age) and are all bigger then Ellie already! They can all roll over and pull themselves around and are very sociable and cute. Brian and I seemed to already have parent amnesia about that immobile stage as we kept trying to sit them up or stand them up on the floor-which of course didn't work! Ellie seemed interested in her new friends and would kiss them and pat them on their heads. Here is a video of Ellie kissing Sarah. Ellie especially enjoyed checking out her new surroundings and toys and seemed to have a knack for finding the grossest things possible to chew on such as Gus the dog's rubber duckie and Ryan's snot sucker! Ewwwww! She also showed a subtle bit of jealousy. If I held another baby on my lap, she would crawl over and climb into my lap also, right on top of the other baby!




On Sunday we took oue maiden voyage to Ikea. I LOVE Ikea and am excited that we are getting one very close to us in Spring 2008 but I had never been to one yet. Meva and Chuck live about 15 minutes from one and we decided to make a visit with all of the babies. It was a fun adventure getting four babies ready to go, including all of their gear. We all fit into the mini van quite nicely and I had the privilege of sitting in the back with all the babies. I had a very attentive, smiley, adorably cute audience for most of the trip until the babies one by one fell asleep. Here's a video of the napping car. Ikea was awesome and I had so much fun looking at all the cool things and had to restrain myself in only getting a few smaller items. Our gaggle of babies seemed to attract quite a bit of attention as we moved through the store, especially with Meva pushing her big triplet stroller. We heard the words for three and four babies in many different languages as people walked by and tried to guess whether they were triplets or quadruplets. When we were asked, we would reply "triplets and a friend!" It's amazing the questions and comments people would make, some very personal!! The babies were all very good during our excursion and all in all it was successful and enjoyable.
Our visit with the Kennedy's was great but not nearly long enough. We know there will be many trips and visits in the future as our babies become great friends just like their mommies and daddies!

If you want to read more about the triplets, visit their blog here. Below are a few more pictures from our weekend. There were too many cute ones to post them all! Enjoy!!