Thursday, September 18, 2014

18 months



I can't believe we are celebrating 18 months already! Ellyson is growing and definitely coming in to her own personality. Here is what she's been up to lately!

STATS
Weight: 22.8 pounds
Height: 32.5 inches
15 month recap
Weight: 21.5 pounds
Height: 30.8 inches

We are still around the 50% for weight and height and her pediatrician was pleased with her growth. I do think that she will start growing a bit more now that she has more teeth (almost 10 and of that she has 4 molars....still missing the top front teeth). She is willing to try more new foods but it's been interesting in that she is better at trying them when she is with other people or we are out. Some of her favorites are pancakes, strawberries, bananas, instant mac n cheese (not crazy about homemade), rice, peanut butter sandwiches, cheese sandwiches. We started to introduce meat again and she actually liked it this time. She has had Vienna sausage (Aaron has to give it to her) and then some chicken. She also tried a piece of hamburger meat at a family BBQ but hasn't eaten any since. We have tried spaghetti but she's not a fan at the moment. She LOVES snacks. From Cheerios to Gold Fishes to Veggie Straws. If the girl could snack all day, she would. 

We are down to just a bottle before bed and she drinks water and juice throughout the day. She does not like milk in her sippy cup. She will drink one or two sips and then either goes to playing with it or spitting it out. Girl is picky. 

Elly has become obsessed with bracelets! Whether they are her play ones or her favorite, going into my jewelry box and pulling the all out, she will put 15 on at once and walk around the house with them up to her elbow. It's the cutest thing ever!
Playing with mommy's bracelets

Sporting bracelets and a necklace
 You can tell that Elly is getting older and entering into that Terrible 2 age group. She is definitely not listening very well and will look straight at you as you tell her no and do it anyway. I found her sitting on the dishwasher door one morning when I came back into the kitchen. Now she likes to open and close the dishwasher. Unfortunately ours doesn't have a lock and she's figured out where the handle is and just spends the day opening and closing it and pushing the buttons, even when she gets in trouble. Doesn't phase her one bit 

 
 She is really liking to color, stack blocks, dance, take pictures of herself with the phone and watch her PBS shows - especially on the iPad. I had to make her a play list on my phone so we could have "dance party" to her favorite songs. She is a HUGE Iggy Azalea fan along with Katy Perry, Eminem and Rhianna. It's an interesting mix of songs but her face just lights up with them come on...especially Fancy by Iggy. She also loves to grab Aaron or I's phone and then walks around the house saying "cheese" and smiling as she tries to take pictures. (Key word is tries as they are usually pictures of the floor, ceiling or no telling....but with her in them). Elly also likes to watch her PBS shows still, but this time she has figured out how to work the PBS Kids app on the iPad. Now she won't watch the whole show but scrolls up and down to the various ones she likes listening to the opening song and dancing. The girl is a mess!

Colorning

Doing some work at mommy's desk

Coloring and taking notes
 We are still all over the place with clothes. She can wear anything from a 9 month dress to some 2T t-shirts. MOST of her clothes that she wears on a regular basis are 12-18 months. She needs the smaller bottoms as most of the 18 months fall off of her. We are still struggling a bit with shoes as I bought a few pair and then her foot grew. She currently wears about a 3 as most 4 are a little too big unless it has a strap to tighten. Her hair is still light brown with a hint of red. I really think it's going to be strawberry blonde in the end. It is growing but more in the back than anything. AND she has the cutest little curls...in the middle with straight on the sides. It's gotten long enough to even put it in a ponytail. 





We are looking forward to seeing what the next 3 months bring and how much Ellyson comes more into her personality each day. She is strong willed and very hard headed but I wouldn't change her sweet demeanor for anything. She is for the most part always happy and smiling and will go and play with just about anyone. She is truly a joy to watch grow and the antics she comes up with. Elly will definitely continue to keep her daddy and I on our toes!



 

Beach Vacation

We were finally able to get to the beach for Labor Day! We weren't sure if it was going to work out but we were able to go for a LONG weekend and got to hang out with lots of our family. Gram Lene, Auntie Chrissy, Aunt Angela, Uncle Eric, Aunt Bubby and Uncle Ray were all able to join us for the holiday weekend. At first we thought the weather wasn't going to cooperate with us but it ended up being SO nice. I really don't think that we could have asked for any better weather. 
 
We arrived on Thursday which allowed us to go to the store and get settled. Elly was great in the car for the 4.5 hour car ride. You could tell she was getting a bit restless but she seemed to make her self at home. 


 
Since everyone else was arriving Friday or Saturday, we spent Friday morning hanging by the pool and Elly LOVED getting to play in the splash pad. 

Lounging in the pool!

Kicking with Dada

Showing Dada her swimming's skills that she learned at swimming lessons


She just LOVED the splash pad.


Friday afternoon we took a walk on the beach. At first Elly wasn't 100% sure about but once we started walking and seeing the birds, she was good. The water was really rough (red flag) so she really could only put her feet in (which is fine by me. I like the beach am not crazy about the ocean so I think I would have gotten majorly nervous for her). 

Walking down the pier with Dada. And yes his shirt says "Best friend and the stick man is holding a beer"

Pointing at the birds

Checking out those waves! But she is making sure that she had her daddy's hand.

Just LOVE those little feet in the sand

Leaving her mark.
 We were excited for everyone to get to Orange Beach so we could all swim and play in the sand. Elly really enjoyed getting to eat her breakfast on the balcony and even colored a few pictures outside. 









Elly had so much fun getting to swim with Aunt Lala, Aunt Bubby, Auntie Chrissy and Gram Lene. 


Elly loved getting to play with everyone in the pool!

She just kept wanting to move!

Having a little snack on the beach.



Cutie!


Enjoying watching the waves with Gram Lene and Auntie Chrissy

Selfie with mama

Diva sporting her yellow polka dot bikini and sunglasses

Selfie with Aunt Lala

While we were at the beach it was the first weekend of college football. Elly sported her Auburn t-shirt during the day and then of course had to put her cute LSU dress on. She decided she needed to lounge while Uncle Eric was finishing cooking dinner. 
 


While we were at the beach I finally got to meet sweet Lucy Babin as the Babin's were also at the beach. We met up with them at Lulu's and had a blast. Now the place was packed and it was interesting having 3 kids under 3 but it was so nice to see them, even if just for a short time. The food was great - even getting it to go! Looking forward to the next time that we can see them and hopefully we will have a little longer for everyone to play!
 
Hugs


Kisses

More Hugs

Fast friends and already sharing snacks

Friends for almost 20 years!


 We were sad for the trip to end and are looking forward to the next time we can all get together. 



 
Not the best family picture, but the only one we got :-(