The Great MN Get Together!

Elly being a good shopper.

Look at those teeth! I've never been able to get a good teeth shot. Thanks Abbey!

Bundled up. It was a little windy that day.

The shoppers! Elly, Ivan and Lily

Boy, have I gotten behind on posting!

First of all, I have started working again, just part-time but between that and 2 kids, I feel like I don't get much time to sit down.

Anyway, this is going to be a quick post while Elly is eating breakfast. Lord knows, soon the food will be flying and I'll be up and at 'em again. :)

Last week we headed to MN for a visit with family and friends. It was so great to see everyone and spend some time visiting and catching up with everyone that we hadn't seen in so long.

These pictures are from my visit with my 2 friends, Miranda and Abbey. They both have children that were born within 3 months of Elly so it was so fun to get us all together and let the babies stare and gaa-gaa each other.

O.K. The food is starting to fly and Elly's ready to rip from the confines of the highchair. I promise to post more later...

Standing!

Elly standing up and letting go!

Elly standing up!

Elly--9 months old

Elly at the dishwasher.

Sleeping angel.

So first of all, let me explain the dishwasher picture since I'm sure this is one that I'd like to keep in my memory.

So, a week or so ago, I'm standing at the sink washing some dishes and loading up the dishwasher. Well, Elly has started to follow me wherever I go. I had forgotten how once they become mobile, your privacy has basically been eliminated. Need to go the bathroom? You now have a partner. Need to get dressed? Get used to having an audience.

So anyway, Elly ventures in to the kitchen on all fours. She loves being allowed into the kitchen, mind you, because she can crawl super fast on the slippery floor. Anyway, I hadn't noticed right away that she was in there. So, all of a sudden I hear this clanging and I look down and there is my little "helper" girl. She pulled herself up on the dishwasher door and proceeded to eliminate all the silverware from the washer.

Sidenote: I took this picture right away and immediately removed all the forks and knives. Do not worry Grandmothers, she did not impale herself, nor was she hurt in any way. :)

Now, in the other pictures you will see that we have moved on to standing. I fear that walking is coming quicker than I can stop it. She pulls herself up everywhere and where she used to grip on to whatever it was that she pulled up with, she now has discovered it is much more fun to let go and see how long she can stand.

I fear the gig is up around here.

Watch Out World! Here She Comes!

Elly in a bowl. Aidan put Elly inside a big bowl and was pushing her around like it was a car.

Here she comes!!

Elly's new "get-away" stance.

Valentine's Day Sweetheart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

O.K. So I am about 3 weeks late in posting this but we officially have a CRAWLER!!

About a week before she turned 9 months old, Elly finally figured out how to get a move on. I first noticed it in the baby class that we attend. We sit on big mats, so they are nice and slick enough for her to figure out how to get her legs moving. Then she would do it on any hard flooring. Finally she's mastered crawling on carpet and she's moving all over the place now!

Thankfully she hasn't gotten too fast. Yet.

We had Elly's 9 month checkup a couple weeks ago. Her stats are now: weight- 19 lbs. 14 oz. (which is 60th percentile) and height- 28 inches (which is 70th percentile). So her percentiles actually dropped becuase her weight at her last appointment was in the 80th and her height was in the 70th. The doctor says this is totally normal though, especially because as they become more mobile, they lose that "baby fat".

Khari and I were a bit surprised at her weight though, we both guessed her over 20 pounds. At her 6 month checkup she weighed 18 lbs. 2 oz., so it was surprising to see she really hasn't gained that much weight in 3 months. She's still not eating a ton yet though, so I guess it wasn't too surprising.

Other than that, not too much excitement here. We are keeping busy, busy, busy. Aidan is over halfway through the school year now, so they are really bumping up the homework which keeps us busy at night. Elly and I are attending baby class every Friday morning and having a blast with that and I'm going to be starting a part-time job at Target next week. I expect life will continue to just get crazier and crazier.

More pictures!

Hands and knees, trying to crawl!

Rubber Ducky, you're the one, you make my bathtime oh, so fun...

Up on her knees! Happy as a clam.

After school. Aidan playing his DS and Elly watching Elmo.

Standing up! Not so sure about this...

I am so far behind in posting the random pictures that we take daily that I'm doing an extra post to include some of those pictures.

You can see in these pictures the progression that Elly has taken in just a month. She is up on her hands and knees and she has begun the beginning stages of crawling. We do see her sneak a little crawl in here and there, but she hasn't really figured out how to keep going. She mainly ends up turning herself over and over until she gets where she wants to go.

Then you see that she can get up on her knees by herself. This is something that she loves to do when she's excited. Typically when she sees Elmo on TV. :)

Now she has begun to stand. She has a little play table that she absolutely loves to stand. The picture was actually taken the first time she stood at it, so she looks unsure, but now loves it and she's learned that she can even let go and stay standing for about 15 or 20 seconds.

I have a feeling we are just a few short weeks away from her being all over the place!

Fun at the Dells!

Daddy and the kids at Wisconsin Dells

Daddy and Elly floating down the Lazy River

Aidan and Elly--of course as soon as he got settled, she started crying. :)

Exhausted after a long day at the waterpark.

Aidan warming up in the family hot tub.

I'm finally taking the time to post the pictures from our trip to Wisconsin Dells.

We stayed at the Wilderness Hotel & Waterpark. For anyone looking to stay in the Dells, I highly, highly recommend this place. We will definitely go back there. For one, we were able to get what is called a "Double Suite" which was 2 queen beds and a pull-out couch which was separated from the queen beds by a 3/4 wall. The room also included 2 TV's, which was crucial for us as typically Aidan wanted to watch something different than the adults in the room

The hotel itself is massive and included 3 indoor waterparks. We never even made it to the 3rd one, as we enjoyed one in particular and visited it twice during our stay. Aidan and Khari hit up all the waterslides, including the Hurricane. At age 7, Aidan is already braver than his mom. He loved every minute of it and we were all exhausted at the end of our stay. In fact, after our full day there, Aidan requested to go back to the room and ended up falling asleep at 7pm and slept until 7 the next day!

Elly even hit the waterpark, however the water was a little cool for her. She did enjoy sitting in the swings for a little bit and watching her big brother splash around, along with the other kids.

Lucky Number 7!

Aidan with his new LEGO Star Wars The Clone Wars Gunship

Aidan with his presents

Aidan and Elly on Aidan's 7th Birthday

Aidan blowing out his candles

Aidan and his Speed Racer birthday cake.

January 12th marked Aidan's 7th birthday. I honestly can hardly believe that it has been 7 years since he was born. You really realize how quickly time passes once you have a child. In some ways I can't remember what my life was like before he and Elly were born and in other ways it seems impossible that I can be old enough to have a SEVEN year old. Before I know it he's going to be driving a car, hanging out with his friends and leaving for college!

Aidan decided that instead of a party this year, he really just wanted to go to a waterpark. He LOVES swimming and the water, so it was the perfect idea for him. His actual birthday was very low-key since it was a Monday. He went to school and got lots of attention there, then I showed up to pick him up with a bunch of balloons (which he loved--he secretly loves the attention) and we headed home to quick do homework, etc. Then we headed over to the birthday dinner of his choice, Red Robin and back home to open presents.

I will post about the waterpark in my next blog post. My daughter seems to think it's time for her to get some attention. :)

Elly 7 month pictures Part Deux