HALLELUJAH!!!!

We had a successful night in the sleep department! We put Ellie down at 9 p.m. and she slept until 6 a.m. (unswaddled the entire night)! She went down awake watching her fish mobile, flipped onto her belly with her hand in her mouth, and was out! She stirred a few times, but not enough to warrant either of us checking on her! Thanks for all your comments and prayers! Hopefully we'll have another successful night.

Does this look like a newborn, or 5 month old???

Last night sure reminded me of those sleepless newborn nights... Ellie went down around 9 p.m. and we were UP at 11 p.m., 12 a.m., 2:30 a.m., 4 a.m., and 6:30 a.m. She is getting over an ear infection, but the sleepless nights have been going on for 6 weeks now! We've tried crying it out, feeding, just changing her diaper, swaddling, not swaddling, sleeping on her stomach, etc... She will only sleep great in our bed, and I refuse to put her there! I pray this ends soon! My prayers do include "Please Lord, let Ellie sleep through the night" every.single.night...

Best Friends

We may have the best dog in the world. Sophie was my wedding present from Jay and looked like a cotton ball when we first got her. She is the most loving, and patient dog I have ever been around (little bias, but others that know her would agree). She isn't the smartest dog, but I will take sweet over smart - especially with a baby! I wasn't the least bit worried about bringing Ellie around Sophie. She's been around my nieces and nephews and has always been great with them.

Ellie started to "notice" Sophie around 3 months. She would stare at her but not really interact much. This past month, Ellie has really showed some interest in her "Big Sister", and thankfully Sophie shows the same interest in Ellie! I couldn't ask for a better pup!

Sophie always lays close to Ellie w/o getting on top of her

Ellie LOVES touching Sophie... I think she likes her soft fur

Love her little feet getting lost in Sophie's fur...

Look at that sweet, patient face...

I promise Sophie enjoys Ellie's feet in her face ;-)


And we are ROLLING all the time! Every time we lay her down now, she quickly rolls to her tummy. She rolled a few times at 3 months, and then decided she wasn't interested. MeMe started working with her during our ski trip and she's been rolling ever since!



Yes, that is all the nasty dog hair from having her sister on the floor with her

Vacation!

We had a great vacation to Park City! I feel like I need a vacation from vacation... We enjoyed every minute of skiing, and can't wait to plan our trip for next year. My legs were definitely hurting after the first day... Maybe going back to the gym is a good idea!

Ellie did pretty good on the plane. I was SO thankful that MeMe and Pap were with us to help out SO much. We skied every day and met up with Jay's parents for lunch and dinner. I wish so bad we were in the same town as one set of grandparents... maybe one day!

Enjoy the pictures!

On our way to the slopes!

Hanging out in the snow

On the lift

Yes, we broke this sign... together!

Hanging out in my baby Uggs

Snowing outside

Meeting Mom and Dad for lunch

Brrr... take me back inside

Waiting to board our plane home

So glad to be back in my bed... maybe I will sleep through the night!

More Peas Please!

Ellie had her first vegetable... green peas! She seems to really like them. We decided on Gerber Organic. Our paediatrician recommended Earth's Best Organic, but our Kroger doesn't carry Earth's Best Organic... We are going to try sweet potatoes this week. I HATE sweet potatoes, but Jay loves them. It's a vegetable I have always wanted to like. They smell good. They are good for you. They make a delicious-smelling casserole. I just can't stand them. I hope Ellie finds a taste for them.



Update on sleep... We let her cry it out one night, and then another she cried for one hour straight... Thanks for all your comments and emails. We are definitely trying anything and everything.

This is a big week for us. We are going SKIING! We leave Thursday, and we are SO excited. I am very nervous about Ellie on the plane, but I will have plenty of help. Jay's parents have graciously agreed to go with us to help with Ellie. I hope we are not "that family" on the plane with the screaming child! Ellie has started squealing A LOT lately. We are guessing she has found her voice. I will post a video later this week (if you can stand to hear it). It's funny the first 2 minutes.

Any suggestions...

...on how we can get back to this?

Ellie was doing great in the sleep department until about 3 weeks ago... We had heard about the 4 month growth spurt. She is waking up every morning between 3 - 4 a.m. We were feeding her every time, but now we are just changing her diaper and putting her back down. Any suggestions on other tactics to get back to a full night's sleep?

We started rice cereal 2 weeks ago, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick! She does okay with it, but doesn't love it just yet.

What a week!

We had a very busy week and weekend! Sorry for the delay in blogging... I have been doing my daily blog stalking, but not updating my own blog...

Ellie is talking and squealing up a storm! She started this last week, and we'll back and forth if you participate with her. It's so funny. She is also smiling and laughing a good bit. She is STILL waking up at 4 a.m. We started a new routine tonight in the hopes of getting a full night's sleep.

We started rice cereal, and Ellie really seems to like it!




We were on the road to Auburn for a few days, where we played and played with MeMe, Sophie, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jonathan. Jay was out of town and I had to work on campus. Thanks goodness for grandparents!
Sophie is SO good with Ellie...



Daddy had a very exciting weekend with his CD Release (more to come later on this)!!!



Jay's family was in town and we soaked up every minute with this rascal!




And we were spoiled rotten by MeMe and Pap!