7 months

Ellie turned 7 months on Memorial Day. I never believed parents when they talked about the months flying by, but it's so true. I find myself wanting to soak up every minute I can with her and wish time would stop right now. She cracks us up with some of her facial expressions and melts our hearts with her sweet smile. I think Sophie is her best friend. Sophie is never far behind when we're playing on the floor, eating, taking a bath, or checking on Ellie when she gets upset.

Things happening at 7 months:
Still loves bath time - enjoys splashing her hands and loves putting her hand in the stream of water
Loves looking at herself in the mirror
Started waving and blowing bubbles
Laughs when Sophie barks, or sneezes
Loves being outside swinging or swimming
Loves her DVDs
Loves her exersaucer
Loves her bumbo
Eats 3 solid foods a day
Takes 5 6 oz bottles a day
Still nursing and pumping
We think she is teething
Sleeping 10 - 12 hours a night - Praise the Lord!
Started babbling - BA BA BA BA
HATES getting out of the bath and being dressed for bed
HATES long car rides without her DVDs
HATES green peas, and spinach/potatoes - gags
Loves seeing her Mommy and Daddy
Loves the remote and cell phones

I put her in her high chair this morning while I was getting her breakfast and bottles ready for the day... This is what I found when I looked over to check on her. That is all of our mail from the weekend...

Wrong team, Ellie... We have a cul de sac full of boys. They swarm to Ellie when we are outside and she eats up the attention. They make her laugh so hard. This is what I found while they were playing one day...


New post below...

The last few weeks... Memorial Day and Bama Jam

I had every intention of catching up on my blogging this weekend... that is until I forgot my power cord for my computer with all our pictures. We've been busy the last few weeks and weekends. My parents came over for Memorial Day and we had an impromptu cook-out with some neighborhood folks. Not to brag, but Jay can smoke some amazing ribs! We had a good time catching up and loved having MiMi and Pop in town to help out with Ellie! We were able to enjoy some couple time and had dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants, Steel. If you live in or around the Atlanta area and like sushi, check this place out! We had some time to kill before heading to break down Jazz Fest so what do you do after dinner when you want to kill time... head over to Krispy Kreme for a HOT doughnut (or for several hot doughnuts). This totally goes against my bootcamp workout and diet... Oh well, it was definitely worth every bite(s).

This past weekend we headed down to visit the other side while Jay RV'ed it at BamaJam. Ellie did great riding down and back in the RV. Thank goodness for Baby Einstein/Praise Baby DVD's and the bumbo seat! She thought she was something, and loved not having to be in her car seat the whole way. She slept great for MeMe and Pap, and I was able to enjoy BamaJam each night. Thank goodness for wonderful grandparents that love spending time with their grandbabies.
Big Smile

Riding the lawn mower with my Daddy


Playing in my room

Swinging with MeMe

Pool Time


Watching my videos in the RV


and sleeping in the RV...

Love, Love, Love...

this 12 1/2 hour sleeping angel...

Restful Weekend

I hope I am not jinxing myself... Ellie has been sleeping GREAT the last week and especially great over the weekend. She slept for 11 hours Friday night and 12 hours Saturday night AND took great naps both days! MUCH needed sleep for me too! I pray this continues. Sleep makes such a difference for her, and me ;-)

We met precious Timothy Harrison last week, and he is such a sweet baby! Can't wait to see him and his mommy again soon!


Jay was out of town this weekend, so we loaded up and headed to spend some time with my family. We did absolutely nothing all weekend which was so nice. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Hanging out with MiMi and my cousins - Eli and Gavin


My new bathtub


Playing




Heading to church



Reading the paper

Hanging out and Relaxing!

We had a pretty low key weekend and week so far... Ellie has been giving us some GREAT sleep (for her - 10 hours)! We are not getting our hopes up, but we'll take it when we can get it. She has been so happy and smiley this week too. I am loving this stage because she recognizes us, and gives us the biggest smile every morning. Such sweet moments. I feel myself wanting time to SLOW down. I feel like it's rushing by and makes me sad to think she's almost 7 months old. I am still nursing, and pumping. People are constantly asking me how much longer I am going to do it. The answer is I really don't know. I honestly didn't think I would last this long. I told Jay he should work for the La Leche League because he is such a breastfeeding fan. He did a lot of research before Ellie arrived and even went to a breastfeeding class with me. When they talk about needing a supportive partner so that you'll make it through breastfeeding, they aren't kidding. I probably would have given up a couple of times if it wasn't for Jay encouraging me to keep going.

Hanging out with my friend, Sawyer

I have started bootcamp 3 days a week at 6 a.m. This means getting up at 5 a.m. to pump, eating a quick breakfast, and heading out the door. The first week I thought my body was going to kill me. It hurt to sit down, roll over, walk, carry Ellie, etc... I stuck with it and we are in week 2 and feeling much better. I really do enjoy it, and it's by far the hardest work out I have ever done. This bootcamp is part of a CrossFit gym. Anyone that knows about CrossFit probably knows how hard and intense those workouts are. I like this workout because every day I feel a new area (or muscle group) that is sore which means I am working out something different each time! I am not as worried about the weight loss as just toning up - especially before bathing suit season - YIKES! I am thankful a friend in our neighborhood called me about joining. We both just had babies and knew we needed something besides walking to get us back on track!

In my boy pajamas


We are heading over to hang out with MiMi and Pop this weekend, and visiting with friends back home! I am so excited and LOVE being my family and close friends.

Love my rattle and bumbo - she'll sit on the table and look outside. She loves when Sophie is at the door!

Mother's Day, Beach Trip, and Graduation

Caution: VERY long post with LOTS of pictures.

If I don't combine these posts, I am afraid I won't post for a while and then when I do this stuff will be old news!

I had a great first Mother's Day by celebrating at the beach! Ellie did a great job on her art work at daycare for me... She was so excited, she even held the picture for me! She also surprised me with sewing lessons! She (and her Daddy) knew if they didn't give me the lessons, I would never go! I am so blessed to have an incredible mother and mother in law! Love you both very much!


We spent a lot of time eating great seafood, enjoying the beautiful weather and water, and hanging out with MeMe and Pap.






First time in the pool. She loved splashing around and preferred the inside part b/c the sun was so bright! We figured out that the bumbo seat is a pretty good seat inside the water too!






I thought she might not like the beach that much with the sand, but I was wrong. Her favorite part was the sand. The ocean was still a little cold, but she did much better than I thought. I am glad her Daddy was ready to brave the water with her!








We also were able to watch Aunt Kelly graduate from Pharmacy School! We are so proud of her (we'll have to steal Kelly and Heath's family pictures). Ellie did enjoy playing with Turner. Turner wasn't too amused with Ellie...