18 months old

HAPPY 18 MONTH BIRTHDAY ELLIANA!! The past 18 months have flown by and it doesn't some possible that Elli is already a year and a half!

Elli continues to have quite the personality and is constantly on the move. She has the sweetest little giggle that often comes out more when her 'Dada' is around. He can always get her laughing! She still loves her jewelry, putting on make-up, getting her toenails painted, and her purses. Her thing now is she'll pick up a bag or purse, put it on her shoulder, and tell me "bye" while waving and walking away. Here recently she has also picked up a new love for airplanes. She is constantly listening for them while we are outside and is the 1st one to point out that she hears one. Elli also loves looking through Scott's airplane books. We typically look through this at least once a day. In addition to airplanes, Elli also loves tractors. I'm pretty sure her love for tractors comes from the fact that she gets numerous tractor rides from her Papa's while we are in Indiana. She continues to have a love for all animals and isn't so shy anymore when she sees one. Dogs are her favorite and she is always pointing them out. Elli is really into reading and always wants to read a book. Ever since our weekend with baby Avery, Elli has been carrying around her baby, giving her a bottle and rocking her. She loves taking care of her little baby.

Elli's speech continues to develop. She is gaining quite the vocabulary; however, Scott and I are some of the few people that can actually understand her. She is leaving off all final consonants in words which makes it hard for the unfamiliar listener to know what she is saying. However, we can understand her probably 75% of the time given the context we are in.

Along with her sweet personality, she also is pretty strong willed. Elli has already been given many time outs. Her time outs aren't really timed. She is able to come out of time out after she has calmed down, said she was sorry, and gives a hug and/or kiss. These time outs have worked best at altering her behavior when she doesn't act appropriately.

Elli can now smile on cue which is pretty funny. Most of the time she doesn't give a huge smile, but rather an "awkward....I'm nervous in front of the camera" type smile. Here is one smile at lunch today and the picture below was before church on Sunday (the "awkward" smile)....

Please take note of Elli's dress. My mother-in-law taught me how to sew this past weekend. Although I still have a long way to go, I do feel like I learned the basics.

Here is what we made for Elli and the new baby. Now they will have matching outfits for pictures after he is born!!

One last picture of the dress with a smile....probably because we had told her we were going to get doughnuts!! We've been wanting to get doughnuts before church for quite some time, but have never made it out the door in time. Elli woke us up bright and early on Sunday morning, so we had plenty of time before church. She's never been so good in a restaurant before! She was loving every bit of eating her doughnut in the restaurant!

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Every kid should learn to drink out of the hose....

Elli saw bella drinking out of the hose the other day and had to join in! We thought it was so funny!

She also stuck her face in the pool to try and take a drink after she saw Bella do it!

We made an impromptu trip to the zoo on Saturday (and were one of the few crazy people that did this in this heat) after our 1st choice of going to the pool was ruined due to thunder. We had a good time and Elli always loves seeing the animals. Above is a picture of her intently watching the fish.

Elliana also experienced her first ride on a train. As you can see from the picture above, she was a bit scared when it started, but I think she ended up enjoying it. Notice who she has her head on...Elli has a special place in her heart for her 2 Papa's. She was attached to her Papa Lindvall all day Saturday.

HAPPY 18 MONTH BIRTHDAY ELLI BELLY!!