Every passing month is more grand than the last with little Ellie! I love my time with her.
Ellie is 27 inches long. She grew an inch this month and continues to remain in the 96th% for height. She weighs 15 lbs and some odd ozs.
We started solids this month! She is currently eating Baby Oatmeal every morning and a veggie for lunch. The only veggies she has had thus far are butternut squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are her favorite. We are doing all orange/yellow veggies first, then we will move on to greens next. So far she loves everything I have made for her. I make my own baby food and I am in love with the process. I love knowing what is going in her food and I love doing this one small task for my growing daughter. I love cooking for my family.
She lovessss kisses. Kisses make her smile and giggle and it is the sweetest thing. In fact, she makes a "kissing cool and her cheeks eat her eyeballs she smiles so big with excitement!
Ellie is teething. The drool is insane. So. Much. Drool.
She prefers to stand instead of sit. She can do both. She stands well when holding a stationary object and she is still perfecting pulling up. She LOVES doing sit ups. She intentionally lays on her back and lifts her head up as high as she can and holds it there. I help her just ever so slightly to sit up a little more and then on her own only using my fingers as a stationary object, she goes from not quite sitting up, to her bottom, then up on her feet in a standing position. Her eyes get huge, her mouth gets this determined little "O" shape, and she screams in delight and smiles bigger than her face when she is standing.
She is a rolly polly these days. She is laid on her back in her crib, but she rolls to her tummy immediately and passes right out to sleep.
She has started advancing in her crawling progressions this month! In just a couple of days, she went from scooting, to getting up on her knees and straightening her arms all on her own, rocking back and forth when on her "haunches" and advancing forward. She gets about 3 big crawls in a row then flattens out. But the past two times we have worked on this she has significantly progressed further than the previous day. She is crawling!! Just slowly and with me in front of her to encourage her and catch her if she gets crazy! So now she scoots, rolls, crawls slightly, and is slightly pulling up and sitting up. Strong girl!!
She went from 9 mos clothing into 12 mos truly almost over night. Her limbs- even fingers and toes- are all so very long! My 4 month old was wearing 12 month clothing. Now she is 5 months...how much longer until she is in 18 months clothing?! I'm guessing spring.
This girl I think has natural athleticism in her genes. It is so amazing to me to watch her discover and learn. I get so much joy when I see her achieve something...when I see that her mind has grasped a new concept, when it is evident she is communicating something more intentionally and clearly to me. I love seeing who she is and I love helping her become the person God created her to be....even just by beginning with colors and shapes and mechanical processes. I am so thankful I get to be part of her journey of life!
Ellie continues to love books and reading. She seems to really love stuffed animals...maybe because she has dogs and loves the soft fur. She is not allowed to watch TV before she is 2...and even then it will have to be a case of she requested to watch it and she will get no more than 30 mins a day. Who wants to watch TV when you could read books or go outside and explore or go to the Children's museum or go painting and crafting and to see fun places?! I am so thankful she is a lover of books and the outdoors already. I hope to always help her to love them. Stories and story time are so special. She touches the pages and looks at the characters and animals and she responds to the different voices I create to make the pages come alive.
She got to have several play dates with several friends! She loves to smile at her friends and watch them. She learned that mommy's "twin," LaLa, is having a baby girl and we are so so soooo excited!!! We were jumping up and down and squealing together! She is excited to share her clothes, toys, and books with her new little best friend coming early June!! She also got lots of precious cousin time, this month! That is so important to us as they are basically her siblings.
Eric and I went on a "Christmas date" before attending a Christmas party, and we did some shopping for Ellie's first Christmas! That was the most fun I have ever had in a toy store. I know most moms only want to de-clutter and rid their homes of all the toys they can...and I am the queen of hating toys all over the place...but something about it being my baby's first Christmas had me totally not caring...especially in our rental house as I am not decorating a stitch of this place. I am so thankful we were able to provide our daughter with a memorable first Christmas. It is actually humbling to see her toys everywhere and to think what a blessing it is to be able to provide this for her. I wish all children had these opportunities. I praise God that He allows me to "spoil" Ellie and I pray we can teach her to have a sharing and giving heart to bestow upon other children what grace God has bestowed upon her.
She had her 4 month shots. She did even better both in reaction to the pain and to any symptoms afterwards. She is a tough cookie. I am so proud of her. I still managed to cry when they stuck her legs. Does this get easier? I don't know how my parents handled me as an infant having multiple open heart surgeries and all the sticks, cuts, pain, and machines I was put in. When I was 4 years old and had my most recent surgery, I told my mama she was a mean mommy for letting them do this to me. My mom must be tough as nails. Allowing nurses to poke tiny needles in Ellie's legs breaks my heart every time but this is what makes loving mothers strong. Allowing what needs to happen to happen and being strong for your baby because it is what is best.
Ellie went to the library with some more friends and listened to lots of Christmas stories. She even had Santa come and read to her one day! That was super fun! I love getting her out and taking her to fun learning places to expand her mind and bond with her.
Ellie had her first ever snow!! Eric texted me 3 miles away from the house just after his last exam for the semester. I knew my sister had already several inches in Georgia but we only had "talk" of it here. Eric said, "Snow in pville!" Ellie and I dashed to the window and sure enough, big, fat, chunky, fluffy snowflakes were drifting down from the clouds as if they had little wings. We wasted not another moment. We ran upstairs and threw on Ellie's new snowsuit Mimi and G-Daddy bought her. Size 9 months. Fit perfectly. I put her "russian" fur hat over her little fuzzy head then quickly dressed myself. As I dug through our snow bucket in the clost for a hat, scarf, and gloves for my own body, Eric arrived home and came through our bedroom door bursting with laughter at the two southern belles donned in cold winter attire. The yankee laughingly explained how it was not even accumulating yet nor were it cold enough for all this gear. But, Ellie and I are belles and we knew better. Sure enough, it was very cold. This did not stop the yankee from walking outside in his flip flops. We let Ellie explore the snow. She was quite interested in the big flakes as she looked up to the sky as high as she could. She was entertained by Blondie who was playing in it as if it were dog bones falling from the sky- and Cajun who acted as if this were pure torture and was licking himself clean of each flake that landed upon his fur within the screened in patio. We took some pictures for her memory book and then came inside as we didn't want her in the cold for too long a time. It was such a wonderful day. School was over for Eric for a little while, Ellie's first snow, and a date night out in the snow for mommy and daddy.
The next day, we were to go to Traveler's Rest to watch the Christmas Parade. I do love a good Christmas parade. However, due to the snow, it was cancelled. Yankee man had a field day with making fun of us southern folk. "This is perfect weather for a Christmas Parade!" And I must say I had to agree with him. The roads were fine. Still, we took Ellie to TR to attend a Christmas Market and to meet Santa Claus for the very first time!! It was freezing. Eric and I obviously went hungry because we bought many Christmas goodies and then ate at The Whistlestop cafe after. Ellie had no opinion of Santa. She just let the white bearded man hold her like it was G-Daddy. After our lunch, we went home so Ellie could nap. Then we took her right back out again to my hometown, Williamston, to the Mineral Spring Park to meet the Santa in the log cabin I grew up visiting and to see the Christmas lights. Once again she gave no opinion of Santa one way or the other. She simply sat and looked at the camera. But, Eric and I were thrilled to have her met Santa as many times as we could. I always loved visiting the different Santa's with my nieces and nephews and discussing which one may be the real deal and which one may just be one of Santa's helpers.
Ellie celebrated Christmas with her cousins at my mom and dad's house the weekend before Christmas. My whole family was there including Grandmommy Murphy. It was awesome. I got to see my baby's joy opening her first present and to see all my precious nieces and nephews joy as well. She also celebrated Christmas with my extended Clardy relatives! She was blessed with so many wonderful things she needed and things she loves playing with!
Ellie went to another Christmas party with mine and Eric's Sunday School class at the Gordon's house. It is always a precious and good time of food and fellowship there and I am thankful Ellie has such a wonderful Christ-like family to be part of!
Then, Christmas Eve and Christmas day arrived!!!! The two days I have most been looking forward to since we had Ellie!! I got to incorporate all of my favorite old family traditions and mine and Eric's traditions and together make a wonderful first Christmas for Ellie! The only thing that I would have changed was for her to have been experiencing this day in her brand new forever home! Hopefully by next Christmas we will be in and settled! God willing! But it was truly perfect!!! On Christmas Eve, Ellie and Eric and I went to lunch with my Murphy family at Olive Garden! She got to see her cousin Drake! I love him so much!! Then we came home and began the Christmas Eve traditions. We had to start early since Ellie bathes at 6 and is asleep by 6:30. We ate some carrots and took a small bath in the sink because she was covered in those things! Then, after her first sink bath, we put on her Christmas pajamas!! We made cookies. Normally... we would actually bake cookies but this year we needed less hassel and Ellie could not actually really help....but next year we will actually bake them and use Christmas Cookie Cutters and let Ellie decorate them! However, we sat her on the counter and talked to her about the cookies, which she took quite an interest in. Then, Eric read from Luke chapter 2 about the birth of Jesus by the fire. Then I read "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Then Ellie played a little and I stuck her in her real bath...as not to throw off her routine. Her nightly bath soothes her so. I fed her a bottle and Eric and I "tucked" her in and told her Santa would be coming soon!!! She slept in very late on Christmas. The one morning I actually want her up early so we can play...she decided to sleep until 11 a.m.!! What in the world!? I think she was trying to listen for Santa all night long. But boy oh boy when she did wake up!!! I ran upstairs and quickly cleaned her up and dashed back down the stairs and excitedly we got started opening gifts Santa had brought her, first!! The newness and excitement and wonder wore her slap out. We put her down for a nap and she was ready after an hour for round 2! Then, we opened gifts from under the tree! She loved her presents. The dogs loved theirs and helping Ellie to unwrap hers. We played he remainder of the day. That evening, Eric and I ate steak and potatoes for our Christmas dinner. My favorite! Everybody slept so hard that night!
Then we rang in the new year with Ellie....early, obviously as she had to go to bed on routine!
Now to wrap up with some other random photos from her past month!
