Big Girl

Elliana is becoming such a big girl! This past weekend we turned around her carseat and she LOVES it. It has made running errands or going places much easier! We still use her infant carseat when I pick her up from daycare on Wednesdays since she still fits in it, but soon we will be taking that out of the car and storing it for the next baby. Her eating still continues to be inconsistent. She is a good eater at some meals and doesn't eat much at others. Scott took her and I out on a date on Saturday night and we were shocked at how much she put away! She especially loved the ice cream we gave her at the end (she loves all kinds of sweets)! Elli has been drinking out of a straw now for a while and it is so nice to not have to pack a sippy cup for her, as she can just drink out of a straw at restaurants. She typically only drinks water and milk throughout the day and doesn't care for juice. Elli is completely on whole milk now which she loves. It has been great not having to pack sippy cups of formula for daycare. She gets regular whole milk at daycare and organic at home. I am so used to spending so much money on formula that spending an extra few bucks per gallon on organic doesn't bother me at all. I figure one day I will switch her to regular whole milk, but for now I like knowing she's not getting all those hormones with the organic.

Elli loves to play with her toys and we typically play with all of them it seems throughout the day. Her toys are taking up our family room. We are going to get her toy room set up in the basement the weekend of the 18th when my parents come for a visit....hoping they will be keeping her busy while we get to work!

She is understanding so much more and doing a great job following directions ("give ___ to bella" or "go get ____"). She loves to play with her baby doll and gives her doll a bottle, pacifier, or sippy. If I am holding baby, she ALWAYS has to come sit on my lap....sometimes she lets baby stay with us and other times she throws the baby on the floor (this might cause some problems come August).

Elli loves putting things on her head (or having us put them on her head) and walks all around. This is a game for her....we put something on....she walks around and takes it off.....and then she wants it on again.

Bella's collar is a favorite headband

because she can shake her head and the tags make noise!

Princess Elli!

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I woke up on Friday and felt like I had so much more energy than I'd had in the past 6 or so weeks. I definitely welcomed the energy!

So we celebrated on Friday by making finger paints! Elli wasn't a fan of getting it on her hands (ha....what's the point of finger paints then?), but she did enjoy banging the spoon on the table for awhile :) My hope was that we could make some valentine's. We were able to get one made for the #1 man in her life (which Scott later found and let her play with....now we can't find it :) ). We'll try finger painting some more when she gets a tad older.

Obviously it was edible....I knew she'd try and put it in her mouth.

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Elli was such a big girl at church this past Sunday. She got moved up to the toddler room and actually enjoyed it! We dropped her off and immediately left to try and eliminate tears. We waited and watched through the window for a bit to see what she would do. For awhile she just stood there staring, looking completely shocked. We both felt so bad for her and I even got a little teary eyed (it kind of felt like dropping her off at daycare for the 1st time when she didn't have any clue what was going on). BUT......she stayed in there the whole service and when Scott went to go get her she was sitting at the table playing with a doll. They said she did great.....we were so proud of her!

Giving Bella hugs....she loves Bella!!

Playing with Daddy! She loves playing with Scott and he can usually get her laughing pretty hard. She doesn't like him leaving for work in the mornings, but will reluctantly send him off with a wave.