Celebration in the Oaks & Louisiana Christmas

Aaron, Ellyson and I decided last minute to take a trip to New Orleans to see Aunt Lala and Uncle Eric (and Bubby and Uncle Ray too) as well as go to Celebration in the Oaks. The weather was supposed to be somewhat decent and we thought Elly would enjoy it.

She definitely had fun running round Aunt Lala and Uncle Eric's house (that long hall way was meant for her) and really liked the train ride and seeing the lights. 

Loving her new baby angel

Giggling with Aunt Lala

Selfie of the girls ;-)

On Saturday, Angela, Ellyson and I went to visit Maw Maw Garrett. Ellyson wouldn't stay still long enough for a good picture so this was the best we could do. 

Maw Maw opening her calendar for Christmas

 My good friend Mike came to visit while we where there. I think Ellyson wanted to make sure she showed off all her tricks. Everyone got a little taste of all of mom's bad music choices on her i-phone as Elly kept dancing and changing the songs. 

I couldn't get them both to look at the camera at the same time. She was being such a wiggle worm

On Sunday we went to Celebration in the Oaks. We got there about 30 minutes before it opened and had already purchased our tickets to get in and ride the train online (Thanks Aunt Lala for that tip). We stood in the line to get in but it moved really fast. First thing we did was jump in line for the train. That was another smart move of the night. Ellyson waited patiently and actually took a little nap while we waited int he train line. 

Patiently waiting in line

Just woke up from my nap and got on the train

Loving riding the train and seeing all the lights

Chilling with Daddy

 

 

Family picture

Elly and Aunt Lala

There was so much going on that it was hard to get her to look at the camera. She was watching the people and the lights.

We also took a little walk through StoryLand after the train ride. 

Sitting in the pumpkin

The "queens" sitting on the throne

Petting the cow on the moon

We had so much fun visiting New Orleans that we can't wait to go back and share more of the culture with Ellyson! Until next time......

Squishing Elly

21 Months

21 months going on 16 years old :-). Ellyson is becoming such a sweet little girl. She is growing like a week and has the cutest personality!

STATS

We won't go back to the pediatrician until March and she won't stop long enough for me to see what the home scale reads, so this update will just have to go without a weight/height updated. Though I would say she is still long and lean. 

18 month recap

Weight: 22.8 pounds

Height: 32.5 inches
 

We are still working on having her eat a bit more. She is one picky eater and REALLY would prefer to eat snacks. For breakfast we have been doing mini muffins or yogurt as she stopped eating her mini pancakes. Pending if she wants it we will offer her some fruit. We tried mini chocolate donuts and she liked them for about 2 days then said never mind. Elly still likes cheerios but is not a big fan of milk - she will spit it out if its in a sippy cup. For lunch we are pretty consistent with a peanut butter sandwich, pouch and fruit cup and dinner is either mac n cheese (Kraft instant mac n cheese is all she will eat) or rice (really depends on her mood here). She had been eating more chicken and enjoyed happy meals from McDonalds and kids meals for Chick fil a. Now she doesn't like to sit down when she eats these and usually stands up in the booth to look around and talk to people. She still is a big fan of veggie sticks and gold fishes and recently we have found her LOVE for cake. I think she is going to have a sweet tooth. 

Yummy cake from daddy's birthday

Chick fil A at the mall .... standing in her chair

She still drinks 1 bottle of milk before bed and she drinks water and juice throughout the day. At this point I am going to let her keep the milk until she eats more throughout the day or she doesn't want it anymore. 

Elly is definitely a girlie girl. She still likes bracelets and necklaces and now she has found my make-up bag. She takes by blush brush out and tries to "put on" the blush. One day I was folding laundry in my bedroom and I knew she was in my bathroom. I figured she was just stacking bottles as that's one of her FAVORITE things to do. NOPE, she decided that she wanted to put some make-up on. 

She still is a little daredevil and really likes to climb things. She has climbed on our bed and started to jump and "fall down". Elly will open the closed door and go in there all by herself, in the dark. She also decided to climb into the baby swing at the gym nursery on her own, climb up in her high chair and a few weeks ago turned her hamper over and climbed on her changing table. 

Just hanging out. No big deal.

Elly wanted to take a ride while mommy was in spin class

Yeah I did this all by myself

Elly still loves technology - iPad or iPhone....she's "All about the Music" :-). That girl will jump from one song to the next and entertain herself for quite a long time. Now she has a short attention span so don't expect to get to listen to the whole song but it's so cute watching her dance, jumping from a country song to a rap song back to an 80's throw back. Now I will say that it's hard to go for a run since I get to listen to the same songs over and over and over again at home. I just might have to figure out how to put a private playlist on my phone...but then I am sure she will figure out where it's at. She also likes to watch PBS kids on the iPad. Now again, don't expect to watch a whole show. You just get the opening theme songs to all the shows. 

She still likes to color and here lately she has chosen not to color on the paper but on other things - cabinet, walls, counters. Elly has gotten into lots of trouble for not listen and continuing to do things we have asked her not to - ie climb on things that she shouldn't. We have tried time out and spankings and nothing seems to phase the little rascal. So I will hope that this is a phase that she grows out of. She definitely knows what she is supposed to do and not do. She is already testing us to see what she can get away with.

Throwing all the plates out the cabinet

Dumping all my toys out - Don't mind her outfit, Aaron thought it matched and was summer....it was 40 degrees outside

Clothes are still all over the place, though for the most part we are in 18months. Elly can still wear some 12 month dresses that either run big or I turned into a shirt since she is tall but not chunky. We are officially in a size 5 shoe according to Syke's in Homewood where we got her little silver Keds. She has some 4s that fit her well. I bough her some slippers and UGG style boots and she can't keep either one of those on her feet. Hopefully she will be able to wear there soon before the winter is over with. She is also not necessarily liking to wear clothes! We have found her on several occasions completely naked, including the diaper being off. She even decided to take her shirt off at the Dick's Sporting Goods store. We have had a talk about how little girls keep there clothes on. Let's hope that starts sticking.

Sporting her new Keds

She is still LOVING school. Ellyson even points to the school when we pass by it and gets made when I don't stop and turn in. Her teachers (she has 4) says she does great, listens and is always happy! I will take it for sure. 

Dancing with friends at school

Getting a visit from the firemen and playing in their truck.

We still struggle with sleep. I thought we had finally made it to sleeping through the night but then the times changed and that was all she wrote. Ellyson was back to waking up every hour and a half to three hours. This went on for quite a while and we are just NOW (December 29th) getting back to sleeping through the night. We have tried just about everything. I think Elly thinks that she is going to miss something and she is so restless when she sleeps. I am hoping that we are back on the right path to keep it up. Elly also isn't a big napper. She used to take a good 2 hour nap after she got home from school but now I am lucky if she takes an hour an a half. While it gets interesting to juggle sometimes I feel so bad for her as I know she is tired - you can see it in her eyes. 

We have also begun to potty train a bit. She seemed interested so we have set up the little potty and will begin to try to make a routine out of it. 

The last three months have been lots of fun! Ellyson has the best personality with a side of strong willed! I can't wait to watch and see what the next three months bring. I can't believe she is almost 2!

Visit with Pops

We were finally able to make a trip to Brandon to visit Pops (my dad). I was going to for a Christmas party in Brandon and it worked out that dad was off and I could leave Elly for a few hours. We had so much fun getting to play and for Elly to show off all her dance moves. Pops and Elly had WAY too much fun while I was at the Christmas party - a little nap, lots of playing and lots of hugs and kisses.

We hope to get to make a visit again soon!

Pops and Elly taking a little nap!

Elly is showing off her hair

LOVE my POPS

We can't wait for another visit and hope we get to stay a bit longer next time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has come and gone but we have a great day with family celebrating and being thankful for all that God has blessed us with.

We usually don't travel for Thanksgiving but we were trying to make it work to go to Austin with with the rest of the family. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it work but were so glad to get to spend Thanksgiving with Aaron's family.

We went over to Gramma Bea and Grandpa Bill's house (Aunt Ali's mom and step-dad) for a late lunch and Aunt Ali, Uncle Justin, Lily, Hen, Paulette and Margaret all joined us. The food was great and Elly and Lily really enjoyed playing with each other. ESPECIALLY on the piano!

The girls had so much fun and Lily was showing Elly how to play chopsticks :-)

It was a great day and we love when the girls get together and play. Though we didn't get any group family pictures or even a picture of our little family, I did get this one with the little cutie.

Happy Thanksgiving!