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!

Happy Halloween

Halloween has come and gone. I will say that it's not a holiday that I particularly enjoy (Aaron and I aren't big costume people), but it was a lot of fun getting Elly dressed up and seeing all the little kids. Elly dressed as Piglet for her first Halloween. I made her costume and really enjoyed getting to be crafty. She had a little pick t-shirt that I ironed on hot pink rick rack, hot pink leggings, a hot pink, light pink and white tutu with a tail and some pink ears! She really was precious and didn't mind having the tutu or the ears on.

Little piglet

We started off the evening going to see Aaron's parent's, Hen and Grampy. Elly had so much fun getting to see them and play for a little bit.

F

Flying piglet

After we left Hen and Grampy's we met up with the Latham's and let the girls enjoy a little trick or treating. Elly was a little unsure at first of Sarah because she didn't recognize her with her cute pumpkin hat on....and it was dark outside she didn't know what was going on. Once she warmed up a bit she had a good time watching all the kids trick or treat. It started to rain a bit but Elly was well covered.

Warming up to Sarah and her adorable pumpkin costume!

Piglet ready to trick or treat....Pacey and all.

Happy Halloween from Piglet, Wonder Woman and the Pumpkin :-)

Elly even scored a great Halloween bucket with lots of goodies from Hen and Grampy!

Looking for all my goodies

These look like fun

All gone!

We all had a great time and can't wait to celebrate more holidays!

Happy Halloween from the Fingars!

First trip to Phi Mu Headquarters

As most of you know, I volunteer for Phi Mu working with our newest chapters as well as we don't live very far from Phi Mu's Headquarters in Peachtree City, Georgia. So last week, Elly, Mrs. Mary and I made a day trip to PTC to do a little work with the headquarters staff and consultants. It was the first time that Elly has been to the HQ! She was a doll!!! It's about a 2.5 hour drive and for the most part she slept the entire way there and back. Elly played on the floor, ate, helped answer the phone with our receptionist, Sue, and got to meet lots of Phi Mu sisters. Different sisters would come and get Elly and then next thing I knew, they had disappeared somewhere in the building. Thanks to everyone for taking a little Elly time so I could get some work done!

 Overall we had a very productive day and Elly seems to enjoy the trip. Can't wait for the next time that we get to visit. By then she will probably be running the halls of the building! (And hopefully we will get a few more pictures next go around. Just to busy getting work done!)

Happy Fall Y'all - 7 months

Elly's Stats & Accomplishments

Weight:  

16 pounds (on our home scale)

Height: 

27 inches (mommy measuring)

  Six month recap:

Weight: 15 pounds, 11.5 ounces

Height: 

26 1/2 inches

 

Attacking the 7 month sticker

Bright eyes

Attributes: We still aren't sure what color hair Elly is going to end up with. I swear it gets a little more red each day depending on the light that we are end. Here's hoping that I get to keep my little red head.

Milestones: Elly is off and crawling! She loves to go exploring around the house. Her favorite was crawling in the hall and playing with the flashlight that stayed plugged in as a night light. Needless to say that has been replaced and a plug cover put over the outlet. However, she still crawls in the hall and plays with the cover now. She has also started pulling up on things. One morning I walked in to get her up and found her standing in her bed, in her swaddle sack. That girl is a mess. Aaron also put up her pack n play for her to play in a little during the day while I was out of town for work....he calls it baby jail ;-).

Daddy's Baby Jail

She also stills LOVES to jump! She will jump on you, in the basket at the store and of course in her Baby Einstein bouncy. 

Enjoying the fall weather at the park.

Clothes: Elly is mainly wearing 3-6 month clothes but she does still have a few 0-3 month ones that she wears. We do have a few 9 month cloths as well but again for the most part because of her length we are in the 6 month clothes. We are still trying to find shoes to fit her but so far not a lot of luck. I think we have 1 or 2 pairs. She isn't the best fan shoes, especially on the right foot ;-). She can't keep that foot on.

Sporting my KEDS

Eating: After a few days of not feeling well she is back to eating like a big girl! She eats apple/banana cereal with 1/2 of #2 fruit and occasionally a little bit of milk. At 11:30-12:00 she has 8 ounces of formula. At 3:00 she has 6 ounces of milk. For dinner she has normal rice cereal and 1/2 of #2 vegetable. At 8:00-8:15pm she has 8 ounces of formula before bed. We are looking forward to starting some other snack foods and finger foods the next few months. I think Elly is really going to enjoy eating them. I will say she is like her daddy in that she is done eating in 2.2 seconds.

Sleep schedule: Elly still isn't a great sleeper but we are improving! We started self soothing and Elly still wakes up in the middle of  the night but makes comforting noises and eventually goes back to sleep. Hopefully she will start making it threw the night. She is still taking a few short naps during the day (15-45 minutes) and then one long nap around 12:00, pending if she is at Mother's Day Out, for 2-3 hours. Hopefully as she gets older she will continue to get better with her sleep. I just feel so bad because sometimes I can tell she is so tired but just won't go down to sleep. 

  Since I was gone for her birthday, Aaron decided to celebrate with her! Such a good daddy. 

Birthday present from daddy - Monkey book!

Birthday hat and balloon

First Family Vacation!

Elly finally made it to the beach! We traveled to Seaside, Florida the middle of September for a little family vacation with the Latham's - Jeff, Lauren, Anna Kate and Sarah. We had so much fun and it was perfect timing - not to mention the best weather! We had 2 great days and then on Saturday it rained most of the day - but by then I was OK with that having been to the beach and pool for two days with a six month old! Elly loved the pool but was a little bit unsure of the beach and sand. When she was in the pool and you told her to kick her feet, she definitely started to kick. I can't wait for next year when she is a little bigger and can enjoy it a little more.

Bikini babe!

Checking out what this ocean is all about with Daddy

Loving the pool! Daddy flipped my hat up to start a new trend.

Day 2 at the beach - I got this!

Playing in the sand....and maybe tasted a little bit of it ;-)

Elly really enjoyed getting to play with Anna Kate and Sarah and we are looking forward to getting to do it again. I can definitely see Elly and Sarah getting into all sorts of things as they get older!

Sweet Anna Kate swimming with Elly

Taking a break and sitting in the shade while on the beach

Pretty Girls

We tried to take some family pictures one night but it was so windy! We got a few but everyone's hair was all crazy...well just mine. 

A remarkable woman!

This past weekend we traveled down to Louisiana to celebrate the life of one remarkable woman, Granny Vi or better known to Elly as GG Vi. Though we wish we had a better reason to head to Louisiana it was nice to see all of our family.

Elly and GG Vi 

4 Generations

The celebration of life was a great remembrance of how special Granny Vi was and how she has impacted so many people. Through her 90 years of life, she has left a legacy of service with over 50,000 hours that she gave volunteering at Slidell Memorial Hospital as well as all the organizations that she has been involved with over the years giving of her time, money and talents - American Red Cross, Slidell Women's Civic Club, Ozone Camellia Club, International Order of Rainbow for Girls, just to name a few. We have all been blessed to get to have her in our lives for so long. Her love to dance and have a good time has been passed down to us all, including Elly. It's funny but even at 7 months, I see some of Granny Vi in Elly. They both LOVE to watch the weather and of course wouldn't miss Wheel of Fortune. I feel very fortunate that Granny Vi was able to meet Elly. And though Elly might not remember GG Vi as she gets older, I know that the stories and pictures that we show her are priceless.

All of Granny Vi's grandchildren at Angela and Eric's engagement party in May

Mother's Day 2013

Grandchildren celebrating Mother's Day in 2013

Granny Vi having a blast "singing" with all the usher's from my wedding

Partying it up at the Slidell Women's Civic Club Mardi Gras Ball in 2011

We will terribly miss Granny Vi but know that she is dancing away and keeping a close watch over all of us to make sure that we are protected! We love you Granny Vi!