1st zoo trip and more

Elli is doing great and is on her last day of antibiotics. I can honestly say I've only had to wipe her nose a couple times within the past week. This is a huge change for us since she had been sick for at least 5 weeks. Antibiotics are amazing and has made life so much easier for all of us!!

Elliana continues to be a picky eater, but will try new things. We found out this weekend that she enjoys ketchup and will even dip her chicken/fish sticks in it herself. Such a big girl! She understands so much these days and it is fun to see her learn new things. Elli still takes 1 nap a day and sleeps about 12 hours a night. We've noticed a trend the past couple months with her sleeping when visitors are here :/ Elli tends to have a somewhat rough night when other people besides us are staying in our house. Typically she wakes up a couple times throughout the night and sometimes has trouble getting back to sleep. Luckily, she only does this when visitors come....I couldn't handle it if this was a weekly occurrence. Hopefully she'll grow out of this soon.

Sarah and Travis gave us a call a couple weeks ago to see if they could come visit this past weekend to see Elli. We were excited to have them spend 2 days with us and even experience Elli's first zoo trip. The zoo was a lot of fun and Elli LOVED it. Elli got a zoo membership from my parents for her birthday.....this gift will be used over and over again! We lucked out with some pretty good weather on Saturday! Elli loved looking at all the animals....ducking through the fences to see them. She would point and laugh when she saw the animals :) Here are some pictures from our trip...

I didn't mean to post this picture, but this was the polar bear exhibit under the water. They bears were standing on the glass playing with each other.

I thought it'd be a great idea to let Elli ride on the carousal. Ha! Sarah, Travis, and I sat and watched as Scott rode with Elli (we would have taken a ride also, but it cost money and Elli was free). She enjoyed sitting on the horse, but as soon as it started she jumped into his arms for the rest of the ride. I was surprised she didn't like it seeing as how my Dad introduced her to the penny horse machine at Meijer last weekend (luckily she has forgotten that she liked this and hasn't asked to get on it when we've been grocery shopping).

Thanks for coming over, Sarah and Travis! We had a great time! We'll see you in Vegas in a month!

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We decided to take Elli to the YMCA to go swimming on Sunday to get out of the house. She was a little scared at first due to all the kids in the pool, but ended up having a good time. She's getting better at putting her face in the water, kicking her feet, and splashing all around. It was a little cold, so we had to end the swimming trip a bit early....I could only look at her blue/purple lips for so long :/

She's got her new suit on for our swimming trip!

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Elli and Scott came upstairs and this is how I found her. Of course....she had to have something on her head. This time she decided her pj bottoms were the appropriate head-dress.

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She fell asleep at lunch again....

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Elli loves going outside and always watches Bella when she goes out to go to the bathroom.

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I know....there are a lot of random pictures in this blog, but it is late and I wanted to get this written.

Scott has an extended weekend coming up! Scott is taking off work on Friday to watch Elli, as I have a conference to go to all weekend. I'm actually really excited about the conference and am hoping I get all my continuing ed. hours so I don't have to worry about them when the new baby comes. I worked for a couple weeks to try and find someone to watch Elli, so he wouldn't have to take off work....clearly, I didn't have much luck....I actually think this is working out better because he is pretty excited about spending the day with her on Friday! He is already planning their day. I think a trip to the zoo will be in their plans as long as the weather cooperates.

We are finally feeling better! Elli and I are both on antibiotics and I can tell they are working! She is sleeping great and her appetite is definitely back! I just hope we can keep all other germs away! I was so glad to finally have some energy to clean today, as I've definitely been slacking lately on those responsibilities!

Elliana seems to be into everything these days....it is definitely getting harder to take still pictures of her! Our living room typically looks like a tornado by the end of the day (yes, still working on the playroom downstairs for her). Today, her and I discussed the fact that there is a baby in my belly. Obviously she doesn't understand what that means yet, but she gave the baby multiple kisses.....until she got bored and moved onto the next activity! Speaking of baby....Scott and I compromised and decided that we will in fact find out the sex of the baby next Tuesday. Our compromise?? Well....if we have another one after this (definitely not thinking about that anytime soon or for the next few years for that matter)...we will wait until delivery to find out the sex. Sounded good to me!

Here are some pictures of us playing the past 2 days....as you can tell she loves to have things put on her head.

She had to have goggles on her head and the baby's diaper bag around her neck.....

Thinking she is pretty funny. She was biting Ernie's nose and then cracking up (with her fake laugh)!

Doing her fake laugh

Real laugh this time....she was throwing Bella the ball and thought it was SOOOOOOO funny last night (and it was pretty funny to watch her).

The goggles once again

1 year pictures

I've done a pretty horrible job lately at taking pictures and told myself the other day that I'd take plenty of her on Monday and Tuesday for the blog. Well....both Elli and I then got sick and that never happened. Yep....that's right....we are sick again! We both have fevers and are just feeling not so grand. We originally thought Elliana's was from teething, but the nurse assured me today that a fever of 101.5 wouldn't be caused by teeth. They wanted me to hold off for another day to bring her in to see if she gets any better. I got lots of snuggles today! She pretty much spent all afternoon on my shoulder....this was great for both of us as I had no energy to play (There are not a whole lot of meds that I can take with me being pregnant). We are both staying home tomorrow and I will work on Friday instead of tomorrow. Here's to hoping this will be our last week of being sick!!

Since I don't have any good pictures to post....here is a slideshow of Elli's 1 year pictures....

http://video214.com/play/aObC2iG6Ffd91yqVzi0X1Q/s/dark

OR....If you'd rather look at them 1 by 1....click on the below link and sign up with a user name and password.

http://amysuzannephotographic.lifepics.com/net/Pro/EventInfo.aspx?event=elli1year


By the way....Scott you should know if you read this-I know I just told you this, but you're pretty amazing for taking care of everything tonight!!

A few pictures

Just a couple pictures to post today! Elli got sent home from daycare last Wednesday with a fever. Luckily, Scott was able to stay home with her on Thursday while I went to work. I ended up getting whatever she had this weekend and am still dealing with it today. It seems that sickness has flooded our house lately and at least 1 of us is sick each week. We are looking forward to spring and were disappointed to see the snow falling last night. HURRY UP SPRING! So....instead of spending her naptime blogging or cleaning, I'm actually going to just sit and watch a movie! But here are a couple pictures from this week....

Elli tends to give us huge smiles while eating!

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We try and take advantage of every warm day we've had recently! Going outside to play on Friday!

Happy Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! Elli and I have had such a great Valentine's day! We spent the whole day playing and then Elli took a marathon nap (2.5 hours) this afternoon!!!!

Elli will have quite an exciting week. I picked her up from daycare last Thursday and found a sign on her locker saying "Congratulations, your child has met her milestones and is ready to move up to the toddler room." I told Scott and he said the exact thing I was thinking "Can Miss Maureen move up with her?" Miss Maureen is one of the teachers in Elli's room. She LOVES Maureen and instantly goes to her once we drop her off. The transitioning will begin this week and it will probably be a couple weeks before she is in the toddler room full-time. I hope she will enjoy this room.

These days, Elli's favorite things are playing with her baby and watching videos on the computer. She especially loves watching Sesame Street clips (don't worry....she only spends a couple minutes each day watching them) and skyping on the computer. All I have to say is "Do you want to see Nana and Grandpa" and she runs into the office smiling and staring up at the computer.

Scott came home today and brought us all Valentine's gifts.

Bells got a bone.


Elli got jewelry. I wish I could have gotten her reaction on video. She squealed the second Scott showed her....had a huge smile on her face and started dancing all around.

Scott got me a pregnancy massage!! I can't wait to use it!!
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Just some pictures from the day....

Elli spent a lot of the day riding around on this. She had to have her bear come with her.

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So....the dr. had told me a couple weeks ago that Elli would probably drop down to 1 nap during the day. The past couple of days/weeks her naps have been 2 short naps (about 45 min. each). I figured I'd try and see how she did with 1 nap today. She did great!! She was so tired at lunch that she ended up falling asleep! BUT....she slept for 2.5 hours and was in such a good mood when she woke up! I'll be interested to see how she sleeps tonight!

Lunch....I kept having to call her name to wake her up. Falling asleep picking up a banana

Banana is in the mouth....trying to chew it but asleep again.

And she just couldn't do it anymore

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This is how she likes to crawl up on her chair

Show me your tongue, Elli
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It was finally nice enough to go outside on Sunday and Elliana loved it. She walked all around.

Waving to me. If you know Elli....you know that she LOVES to wave and will wave to anyone and everyone!

Scott had to go pick her up and carry her back because she kept turning around wanting to walk further.

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Last Friday, Elli was really into walking all around the house with not 1, but 2 coats on. She HAD to have both of her coats on :) She's so funny these days!!

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.

Elli's Stats

Last Friday we went to he dr. for Elli's 1 year check up. The dr. was really pleased with her development and was especially excited that she is free of bottles and pacifiers. Our main concern was that she is getting to be a picky eater, but he said it was completely normal. He told us that she is now at the age where we can offer her what we are eating and if she refuses then it is ok....we just shouldn't offer her different foods. I'm hoping this will help and she will soon grow out of this stage. Elli got an eye exam at this visit and she has an astigmatism. Right now I don't think there is anything they can do for it, but they referred her to an opthamologist.

She is weighing in at 18 pounds and 8 ounces and is 28.5 inches long. Elli is in the 25-50th percentile for both height and weight.

And while Elli continues to be growing, our next babe is just over 2 inches long and weighs a half an ounce. Wait....What....Huh?? Yep....that's right. I am expecting and I assure you, if you are surprised, we were too! No....more like shocked. But....although I still tend to get overwhelmed from time to time at the thought of having 2 kids 19 months apart....we are excited. Especially when I go back and look at pictures like this....

Elli was just a couple days old in this picture....when did she get so big??

I am due August 16th and we are looking forward to hearing the baby's heartbeat here in a couple weeks. We had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago and got to see the heartbeat. This pregnancy has been a lot different from Elli's. I was so sick with Elli, but haven't had too much morning sickness with this one. I've only gotten sick a couple times this time around and the nausea has been manageable. These days anything sweet sounds good and I'm pretty sure I'll have my 1st cavity once this pregnancy is over (my candy drawer is filled with gummy worms, twizzlers, etc....YUM). I have had a lot of food aversions, but I always manage to find something to eat. I have been extremely tired, so I'm hoping that I'll get some energy back as I am nearing the beginning of the 2nd trimester.

As of now, I'd like to hold out to the end to find out what we're having. Scott on the other hand is insistent that we find out in March whether it is a boy or girl. We really don't have a preference....

So....that is our news....Elli will be a big sis!