Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had such a wonderful Christmas celebrating with Elly and our family! We had a Christmas photo shoot with Love Be Photography! Brittany and Elizabeth were both former students that I worked with at Birmingham-Southern College. They both are WONDERFUL photographers and I can't get over how AWESOME these pictures turned out. I can't wait to get Elly's 1st birthday pictures done with these talented women. Even with just getting over being sick, Elly did great. She definitely knows how to ham it up for the camera! Here are a few of my favorites!

Gram Lene and Auntie Chrissy came over for the holiday. It was nice to have them in town and enjoy Elly's first Christmas together.

We started off the excitement with a visit to see Santa Clause. Elly was so good waiting in the LONG line to see Santa. She was OK taking the picture by herself in the beginning but as Christian got in one with her, she started to get a little unsure of the white faced man in red.

Elly's first Santa picture

Aunt Christian, Santa and Ellyson

We went to Christmas Eve service and Elly did fantastic! She was such a little angel. We decided to open the majority of the presents on Christmas Eve since Gram Lene and Christian would be driving back home on Christmas Day. 

Elly wasn't a huge fan of hearing the tearing of the wrapping paper.

Present from Aunt Angela and Uncle Eric!

Christmas morning we woke up and Santa visited Elly and Christian. Elly LOVED her new infant anywhere chair and all the toys she had gotten from Gram Lene, Auntie Chrissy, mom, dad and Santa.

Elly started pushing her new toy from Gram Lene and Auntie Chrissy right away

Sitting in her new chair and digging in her stocking, while sporting her pj's from Aunt Angela and Uncle Eric

The one and only family picture that Aaron would take. :-(

Elly giving Auntie Chrissy kisses!

After we opened "Santa" presents, we all got dressed so that Gram Lene and Christian could get on the road and we could head over to Uncle Justin, Aunt Ali and Cousin Lily's house to celebrate Christmas with the Fingars. We decided we needed a few more pictures before they left.

We enjoyed eating brunch and continuing to celebrate Christmas with Hen, Grampy, Uncle Justin, Aunt Ali, Lily, Gram Bea and Grandpa Bill. Lots of good food and way to many presents. Aunt Ali had gotten the girls matching Christmas PJ's. They looked so cute. Elly was super tired and Lily was being goofy so these were the best pictures I could get.

Merry Christmas!

9 months

Elly's Stats & Accomplishments

Weight:

18 pounds, 4.5 ounces

Length:

27.5 inches

 8 month recap

Weight: 17 pounds, 11 ounces

Length: 27.5 inches

Attributes: So far I am still winning and Elly has kept her big blue eyes! Her hair is definitely growing and is looking to be a little more dirty blonde, though in the light is still has a red tint! Her hair is an interesting texture in the back....kind of fuzzy like. Aaron still like to put her hair in all sorts of designs after her bath.

Milestone: She is crawling all over the place and pulling up on any and everything that she can. Elly still LOVES to bounce and her new favorite thing is to bounce holding on to the coffee table. Needless to say when we tell her no or she gets a little pat to tell her "bad" she either just laughs at you or turns around and goes right back. I think we have a strong willed one on our hands. Elly is talking more and more and is recognizing connecting the words with the person - mama, dada, etc. We are practicing connecting words more with people and objects. When Aaron gets home from work, Elly stops what she is doing when she hears the alarm beep or him walk up the stairs. It's precious! Elly has started shaking her head no and I think is connecting it when she doesn't want any more food. She is one stubborn little girl who is EXTREMELY STRONG WILLED. I can only imagine what is in store for us ;-).

Elly taking a little nap with her daddy!

One of Elly's favorite things to do - Pulling all the diapers off her changing table. Mom picks them up at least five times a day!

Clothes: Well this is an interesting one! She ranges from 3 months to 12 months. It really depends on what the outfit is. For dresses she can still do a 3 month but really needs 9 or 12 month onesies for the length. We still struggle with shoes as she has a really narrow foot and her left foot NEVER wants to keep any shoes on. The doctors says it's OK since she isn't walking and it is probably best not to have any on her feet right now. Socks are also hit or miss. Elly really enjoys pulling them off right after you put them on her feet. We still joke that she has stinking feet (and she does) but Elly thinks it is funny and just laughs and laughs. 

Eating:  We have been introducing more things this past month. However the last few weeks Elly has not really wanted to eat her food. Food that she previously liked - her rice cereal, peas - she no longer likes and wants to eat. Elly still gets fruit and cereal in the morning, yogurt and puffies for a mid-morning snack and a vegetable or two with cereal if she will eat it for dinner. She gets about 21-24 ounces of milk. Elly isn't a fan of any juice yet but we will keep trying until we find one she might like. She in interested in other people's food so we have been giving her a few bits of biscuit, baked potato and french fry. She even got 1/2 of a gingerbread cookie at school and they said she gobbled it up. One thing we have learned with Elly is that if she doesn't want to eat it she will not! Elly still doesn't have any teeth (maybe one day ;-)) so it's a little tricky to figure out what we can give her to try and eat since she can only gum food.

Sleep Schedule: Well last month I was excited to announce that Elly was sleeping through the night and going down with no issues at all. Well we have reverted back. For the past 2 weeks or so she has woken up between 4-8 times during the night and won't just fall asleep like she used to. She has been crying when we put her down and wakes up crying in the middle of the night. Sometimes still asleep. We aren't sure what is going on and if it's a grown spurt, teething, but we are hopeful that we can get back on track here soon! Elly is still hit or miss on her naps. On a good day, she will take a 30 minute or so nap in the morning, a longer nap in the afternoon (around 12 when she is not at Mother's Day Out and 1:30 when she does) and will sleep about an hour an a half to two hours. Pending, Elly sometimes will take a 30 minute or so nap before dinner at 6:00pm. It's hard sometimes because I can still see how tired she is but she just won't take a nap or stop long enough to just chill. Aaron is really good at getting her to calm down and just sit still. If I am hope with her by myself and she is super tired, she will sit for a bit and watch whatever is on TV. Sometimes resulting in a nap and sometimes not. 

We are looking forward to Christmas and celebrating with our family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well I am a little late in the post as Thanksgiving has come and gone. We were down for about a week as Elly got the stomach bug and passed it to Aaron and I. Luckily we are all doing MUCH better now so I m finally able to post about Thanksgiving!

Elly had a great first Thanksgiving. Gram Lene and Auntie Chrissy came over from Monroe for the holiday and stayed until Sunday. We had all of Aaron's family over from Nanny to Cousin Lily and even Aunt Elaine joined us for a total for 17 people! We had LOTS of fun visiting with everyone and Elly enjoyed getting to play and see all her family. In actuality it wasn't as stressful hosting that many people as I thought it might be. I think it helped that everyone brought food and we ate on the fine china (aka paper plates ;-)). It was nice to have mom and Christian here and we even ventured out for a little black Friday shopping! Elly got some good deals.

Trying to get a family picture - Aaron is not too thrilled to take one.

Still trying......

Well third time wasn't a charm :-(

Elly and Lily Kate

Elly loving on her Auntie Chrissy

Hamming it up with Gram Lene and Auntie Chrissy

It was a great first Thanksgiving for Elly and we really enjoyed getting to spend time with family. Looking forward to the next few weeks with more family visits, Elly turning 9 months and celebrating Christmas!

8 months!

Elly's Stats & Accomplishments

Weight:  

17pounds, 11 ounces

Height: 

27 1/2 inches (mommy measuring)

  Seven month recap (All mommy stats):

Weight: 16 pounds

Height: 

27 inches

Such a big girl!

Attributes: She still has nice blue eyes. I am hoping that these don't change. Her hair is growing, slowly but surely. Aaron likes to give her a Mohawk after her bath every night. Still not sure what color it's going to be as it changes depending on what she is wearing or the light she is in. I definitely think their will be red somewhere in there. 

Aaron Junior!

Milestones: She still LOVES to bounce in her bouncy seat or jump up and down. I swear this child never stops moving! She is crawling all over the place and pulling up on any and everything. Elly has started to walk around the coffee table or down the couch and has even gotten a little ambitious and let go of what she was holding on to. We are still waiting on some teeth to pop up.....any day now....fingers crossed. Elly has also been talking ALOT more. She says mamamama and dadadada. She will look at Aaron and I when we say where is mama and dada but she hasn't quite connected it to saying it and finding us yet.

Standing in her chair

 (I know the bouncey video posted twice. It would not delete one of them!)

We have been having some great weather so we where able to meet up with cousin Lily at the park. Elly had so much fun playing with Lily, swinging and getting to go down the slide. We hope to get to do it again soon if the weather is nice again. 

Elly and Lily

OK, I'll give you a hug ;-)

Sharing a pretty leaf

Elly LOVED the slide!

Clothes: Elly is all over the place with the clothes. She can still wear newborn dresses but needs 9 - 12 month onesie. The pants really depend on what kind they are and the style. Those range from 3 months to 12 months. Thank goodness we have quite a few sizes to work with. We have been really lucky in that one of my sorority sisters has loaned us a lot of beautiful smocked dresses and bubble outfits that her daughter wore (the 8 month pictures is one). For the all in ones, some are a little big on her but she needs it for the length. We are still having trouble with shoes. We can't really find them to fit (skinny foot) and when we do, the right shoe/sock doesn't stay on. Good thing she is somewhat hot nature and needs to let her sweaty feet air out. 

Eating: Elly is still a good eater (when she is feeling well). She will eat cereal and fruit for breakfast around 7:30-8 and drink a little milk afterwards if she is not too full. At 11:30 she drinks 8 ounces of milk and 6ounces at 3:00pm. At 6pm she eats cereal again and vegetables as well as gets a few puffies. At 7:45-8 she gets another 8 ounces of milk. We also started a mid mornings snack of yogurt at 10:00 as she was interested in it when some of her classmates in Mother's Day out where eating more food. She has been a little sick the last few days with the crazy weather so she hasn't been eating quite as much. She will definitely let you know when she is ready to eat and when she is done. Pop (Elly's grandfather) says she looks like a bird when she eats as she opens her mouth so wide! We are still giving her baby Zantac for her acid reflux. It's one nasty medicine but she's pretty good about taking it...with a few faces. 

Sleep schedule: She is FINALLY sleeping through the night! It only took 8 months!! Elly goes down for the night after her bath and bottle, typically around 8pm. She is still not a good napper (unless we are moving) but is usually a very happy baby either way. We try to get in a 30 minute nap or so in the morning between 9-10 and then another short nap around 5pm. Her long nap is around noon on the days she doesn't go to mother's day out and around 1:30 on the days that she does. Those naps will last anywhere between 1-3 hours, just depending.

 Playing: Elly has also really enjoyed going to Mother's Day Out. She is still going Monday and Wednesdays when school is in session from 9:30-1:30. She gets so excited when we are walking in to building and she just LOVES her teachers, Ms Charlotte and Ms Brenda. 

Elly has also been playing in her room quite a bit more. She will go in their and play with her books,  pull her diapers off her changing table and entertain herself for a few minutes. Sometimes it gets REALLY quite in there and when I go check on her, she usually has a sly grin on her face like she is up to no good.

Which book shall I choose?

 It was Pop's birthday and Elly wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday so she asked to send this picture to him ;-).

We have had a busy month with lots of SEC football. Elly supported her Tigers against Alabama, even though they didn't get the WIN.   She did get excited with her other tigers beat Georgia in an AWESOME game. She can't wait for the Iron Bowl and hopefully see them stomp those big ole elephants.

 We had our first ridiculously cold day so we needed to bust out Elly's puffy jacket. She looked so cute all bundled up. Thanks to Margaret for letting us borrow her precious little coat!

We are looking forward to a great holiday season celebrating with friends and family!