9 Months Old!

Ella turned 9 months old today!  I tried to take some pictures this morning to commemorate the occasion before we headed off for daycare but she was quite displeased with the whole ordeal.

But then she started to warm up to the idea.  We bought her some shoes while in Houston the other day and these cute flip flops were the last pair at Old Navy.  She wasn't too sure about these but they lasted on her feet for all of 45 seconds.

We are also having trouble picking her up from daycare.  This whole week she starts to cry when I pick her up to take her home.  And it's horrible!  Yesterday was so bad Ms. Stewart, the owner, walked us out and put Ella in the car seat because she was acting so distraught!  I know she is just tired and teething and cranky but it's so hard to deal with.  It's not even whimpering, it is a lip full out, wails and tears experience.  But she acted a lot better once she got home today.  We ate and had a bottle and teething gel seemed to help a lot too.  She definitely has a tooth coming in, we can feel it and hear it when she is biting on something hard.  We just can't see it.  Oh, I hope it comes in soon!  Until then, Happy 9 Month Birthday!

Summertime Projects

So way back in May I decided I would make a headband holder for Ella's room.  I figured this would be my summer project and it literally took me all summer to complete.  It wasn't anything crazy difficult but I just never had the time to sit down and do it.  Then Hobby Lobby had an amazing sale last week and I scooped up some frames and completed another project!  See what you think of 'em.  I think they'll become family heirlooms.

Terrible Teething

Ugh!  So we are expecting the arrival of some new baby teeth at any moment in the near future.  At least that is what we are hoping for.  Otherwise, our sweet precious baby girl has turned into a screaming, whining, crying, drooling, chewing, fussing child.  She has been showing the "classic" signs of teething for about 5 months now but she has upped the ante these past couple of days.  She is chewing on EVERYTHING, drooling profusely and being extremely fussy all day long.  We've been giving baby Tylenol and Hylands gel for those baby gums and Drew and I both swore we saw two possible teeth under her gums.  But then later that day we couldn't see anything.  So what did we see?  We have no idea.  I tried to take some photos while she had her mouth open but the results were inconclusive.  If this isn't teething I don't know what it is, but seriously, they need to come in already!

She also is standing on her own (a bit).  I began walking at 8 months so I thought it would be really neat if she did too.  But it doesn't look like that is going to happen.  She has a toy piano that also has wheels so it can act like a walker.  However, it is hard to walk behind it and play it at the same time, which is what she has been trying to do so far.  Oh well, she has until Friday to walk at 8 months! :) But even is she doesn't I'm okay with that.

This summer has gone by so quickly.  Spending time at home with Ella has been so great, for the most part anyway! :)  And really, other than the teething, we have enjoyed a wonderful summer.  Some things I (Ella) have enjoyed over the summer are....

Pooo!  You are going to have to click on this collage to see it in all of its glory.  That's disappointing, if you only knew how much time that took!  :(  Oh well, take a look.  I still rather like it.

Mum-Mum's

So Mum-Mum's were brought into our lives yesterday!  Grandma brought them for Ella to try and the verdict is in...she loves them!  They are a bit messy and sticky and almost disgusting to look at when they are all mushy and dissolving on her hands, arms & clothes...not to mention my hands, arms and clothes; but she likes them so that's kind of all that matters.

Thirsty Thursday

eh, not really. I just wanted some alliteration.

I can't believe how fast this summer is flying by and that my last post was from April!  Really?!  No wonder I only have 3 (count 'em 3) followers!  :p

Ella is now army crawling with a vengeance!  She can really move and really wants to get into everything!  She also is pulling up and standing all by herself!  She will be 9 months old next week, which is incredible.  As Drew so eloquently stated, she's almost been alive the same amount of time she spent cooking.  :-p

And because it's so unbearably hot, we've been taking advantage of our kiddie pool.

Sunday Blues

Sunday night is always such a drag knowing you have to go back to work Monday!  I can get used to being off!

So I've created a list of things I will be working on this week:
1) feeding Ella solids EVERYday for dinner
2) eat healthy foods myself everyday
3) getting up and doing the 30-Day Shred every morning (*keep your fingers crossed*)
4) take and post more pictures of Ella because she is growing up soooo fast!


The last one I can at least solve right now:

 Go Aggies!!

 This is serious business.

Not a Fan

So squash, rice, and just plain eating from a spoon did not go over well.  We were not a fan, although we did enjoy our highchair at first and having daddy talk to us.

 Before

After

4 Month Checkup

Today is my first day of Spring Break and to celebrate I took Ella to her 4 month checkup!  I was actually excited to go to see how big she has gotten and to ask our doctor a ton of questions.  Her appointment was a bit overdue because we had to reschedule 3 times!  So finally she was seen today and it went great.  She is in the 75% percentile for her height and weight and 98% percentile for head size.  She doesn't look out of proportion but her head does feel super large.  We were also told she could begin solid foods now.  This is extremely exciting!!  We went straight to Target and bought some squash, peaches, mangos, prunes, and bananas.  I can't decide what to start first!!  I just realized I may need to buy some more since you're not supposed to introduce new foods all at once and I only bought one package of each food.  Oops.  I plan on making my own baby food (we'll see how that goes) but for today and we will try one of these store bought ones.  I think we may start with bananas.  I also bought some rice cereal to add to her formula and spoon feed to her.  I can't wait!  We will probably do that tonight once Drew is home so he can watch her eat solids for the first time and then we can get some pictures!  I almost bought these:

  

for the obvious reason but they were pretty expensive.  I went to their website and realized this company is based out of the UK so that might explain the higher price.  Plus it has more than one ingredient in it so I gave it a pass and bought the good 'ol Gerber brand.  I really hope this goes well!


Speaking of pictures, (from earlier)  here's some of our St. Patrick's Day outfit.  I saw so many other little girls on facebook wearing this exact outfit but it was still pretty darn cute even if it wasn't one of a kind.

2011

I can't believe both 2010 and my maternity leave has ended!  It's horrible.  Even though I said I felt ready to go back to work I'm still lamenting the fact that all this time spent at home with Ella is almost over.  I've enjoyed being with her these past 8 weeks.  I feel so lucky to have been able to take off that amount of time and get to know her during her first weeks of life.  Granted not all of it has been wonderful, there were many days where I felt completely overwhelmed and frustrated and I was unsure if I could even make it to the end of my leave; but I feel like I got through it pretty well.  Now I have to go to school tomorrow to make sure I have everything I need for Monday and then that's it; it will be over.  I will have to get back into the same old grind and head back to work Monday.  :( 

Tomorrow I am also starting a new diet.  I know I know, a diet at the beginning of a new year is so cliched but I tried to start it back before Christmas, actually the week of Christmas, which was a big mistake...huge.  It's not even a diet per say, it's more of an eating healthier lifestyle.  I have very high hopes for this one.  A friend of mine has lost nearly 70 pounds!  I hope it can be that successful for me too; that would be FANTASTIC!

So here's to a new year, one that I hope is successful, productive, and just plain fun.  Happy New Year!

'tis the season

I am normally super stoked about the holiday season.  I love love love Christmas, but this year I've been pretty apathetic about the whole thing.  I'm pretty burnt out on everything it seems and I'm actually [almost] looking forward to going back to work because I can get out of the house and be around other people.  Plus, Ella's been colicky lately...and that's been pretty rough.  I have a feeling we may be luckier than we think because the Happiest Baby on the Block book has really worked with her crying fits and usually works pretty quickly.  Still every night around the same time she still cries and cries and it just; well I can't tell you how it makes you feel.  So now it's almost Christmas and if I didn't have a tree up I wouldn't even know it was almost here.  I just haven't been in the Christmas spirit this year and that is totally not like me.  I'm ready for things to get better.  I'm also ready for a happy post!


Three positives for the day:
1.) I have an absolutely adorable baby
2.) My sub sent me cards my kids made telling me congratulations on my new baby, they were so cute
3.) I had a good time hanging out with some great friends tonight. :)