Surprise!

Baby #2 is on the way! I'm due in the middle of June which means Ellie and baby #2 will be exactly 2 years apart! Lets just hope they don't have to share a birthday. :) I just have to give a huge shout out to all of the wonderful people around me for helping me over the last month. I have been really sick with this pregnancy and as people have found out they have helped me tremendously. I am so blessed with the wonderful people in my life...and a WONDERFUL husband for helping me with Ellie. Seriously, he pretty much does everything. Anyway, we are very excited, but I'm definitely glad I still have 6 more months because Ellie has to learn how to walk before the baby gets here!

An Update!!

Finally I have an update on what has been going on in our lives recently! Ellie started her physical therapy about a month ago and it really seems to be helping. She will "stand up" holding onto the coffee table, but you have to be right there because she is not sturdy and starts tipping over after about 20 seconds. She will only stand there if there are toys or food. :) Her left foot rolls to the side when she stands up which they think is just because her left leg is not as strong as the right. For those of you who have seen her crawl you know that her left leg stays in the air, so I don't think she has exercised that leg enough. I bought her some hard soled shoes so hopefully that helps. We also work on climbing the stairs and going down the stairs throughout the day. She is getting better so I'm beginning to see the light. :) I'm just crossing my fingers that one day she will see that same light and decide to get up and walk!

I took her to her 15 month check-up the other day and here are her stats:

Length: 31 3/4 (75%)

Weight: 21 lbs. 10 oz. (25%)

Head: 45.5 cm (25%)

Everything is pretty much the same, but she dropped down in weight.

Now on to the good stuff...pictures!!

I love this picture because I think she looks like a tourist.

I took her to the park yesterday and she discovered that she LOVES the swings!! The sun was totally in her eyes, but this was the face she gave me every time she was close to me. She was laughing and saying, "Wee!" the whole time.

I know I've said it before, but Ellie LOVES Marie's girls/cousins. (She also loves Mac & Cheese which is what is on her hand.) :)

Camping in Washington

Last week Ellie and I drove all the way to Washington to go camping with my family. Unfortunately, Greg didn't go because he had to work, which we were really sad about. He and Lindsay were the only ones not there. :( The drive took 14 hours to get to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Monroe, WA, which is about 30 minutes from Seattle. Ellie did amazingly well, but she only slept a total of about an hour and a half out of the 14 hours! I don't know why she does not sleep in cars. Once again, thank you Baby Einstein for keeping my baby entertained!

The next morning we drove another 2 hours up to the gorgeous Cascades to go camping there. Our campsite was so beautiful. The forests there are so thick and green. We camped Monday - Thursday and had so much spending time with my family. Ellie slept like a champ the entire time, but was sad because all she wanted to do was crawl around. Luckily, I went to DI before we left to get her some clothes that I really didn't care if she got dirty. I let her crawl around a couple of times and she was in heaven, but this was the result...

I laid down that blue tarp for her to crawl on, but all she would do was head straight for the dirt. I eventually gave up and let her roam all over the campsite.

On Tuesday we decided to go for what I thought was a nice leisure hike. Keep in mind that we had 7 little kids ages 6 and under. Well I must have forgot that my brother, Wes, is a major mountain climber (he just climbed Mt. Ranier!) and his idea of a leisure hike is completely different than my idea. He wanted to do a 6 miler, but the road was closed so that 6 miler would have turned into 8 miles. We all decided against that for obvious reasons and went on a different hike instead. Here is Ellie and I right before we began.

Before we started we noticed A LOT of flies everywhere. I thought they would go away once we started hiking, but I was wrong. The hike was really pretty, but the flies ruined it. Seriously everyone started going crazy. I'm pretty sure that the only child that didn't cry was my nephew, Jacob. There were biting flies too which bit a couple of people including my poor little niece. She freaked out and wanted to turn around. I wanted to too, but nobody else did for some crazy reason so we kept on going. Finally everyone had enough of the constant cloud of flies flying around each of us, so we turned around. It was so nice to get back in the car with AC and NO flies!!

Anyway, we had tons of fun up there! I love being in the outdoors because it reminds me of camping with my mom and dad when we were little. We drove back to Utah on Friday. Ellie took one 30 minute nap and then slept from 9 -10 p.m. We didn't get in until 3 a.m. which means she was up from 10 until 3 a.m.! I put her right to bed and she didn't wake up the next day until 12:15. We are back to normal life now and done with vacations for a while. Thanks family for going and making the trip fun! Now I know that I can camp with a baby and without my husband, but I would much rather do it with him!

Bryce Canyon Half-Marathon

This morning Marie and I ran the Bryce Canyon Half-Marathon!! I have been training for it for a couple of months now and am so glad it is over! The race was beautiful and the first 6 miles went by so fast because it was pretty much all down hill. The last 7 were killer and I wanted to quit so many times, but I didn't and finished in my goal time which I was happy about. Thanks Marie for training with me and encouraging me when I wanted to quit which was pretty much every day. :)

The day before we went on a hike to this cool little waterfall. It was fun and beautiful but REALLY hot!

Another AZ Trip!

Last week Ellie and I went to Arizona with my Aunt Shirl, cousin Austin, and my sister Marie and her two girls. It was fun to spend time with my family again. Marie took Ellie swimming and she still is not a fan of it. I don't know why because she LOVES bath time. I think maybe there is too much water and she doesn't know what to do with it.

Ellie is obsessed with Marie's girls. She gets really excited every time she sees them. Kalie came up to Ellie while she was in the high chair and made Ellie crack up.

The reason why we went down to AZ was to go see the musical WICKED!!!! I have been dying to see it and it did not disappoint me. I loved every second of it and almost started crying when it was over because I was so sad for it to end. I brought my camera, but didn't take any pictures. Oops! I can't wait to see it again and hopefully that won't be too far away.

Poor Ellie started cutting 3 more teeth while we were down there, which brings her total to 10! She is getting her second molar right now and all I have to say is bless Motrin! Hopefully the teeth will come in all the way soon so I can get our happy little Ellie back.

Peek-A-Boo

Ellie finally started to play peek-a-boo with me today. She was so excited about it that she even did it for the camera! (You might want to turn down the volume a little so my shrieking voice doesn't hurt your ears.)

Happy Birthday!!

My baby turned ONE on June 11th! I cannot believe that a whole year has already gone by since we brought her home from the hospital. I remember thinking after the first week of having her home that we made it a week and we were all still alive. I'm glad that we've made it one year with our little drama queen! Ellie is "crawling" all over the place these days, but still not bearing any weight. I called Kids on the Move (physical therapy for kids), but I'm still waiting to hear back from them. They are going to come to our house to assess her and then hopefully will have some good ideas to help her use her legs. The doctor did not have an explanation for why she is not bearing weight because usually babies that can't bear weight can't crawl, sit up, etc. She can do all of those so we know it is not a muscle tone problem. I think it is an attitude problem and the doctor said that is probably what the case is. Oh Ellie...

Anyway, we had a little birthday party for her at the park with some of her friends.

Here are the babies chillin on the blanket.

Gracie and Ellie playing with some of her new fun toys!

My Little Beauty

A fabulous girl in my ward, Shannon Hadden, took some adorable pictures of Ellie last week for me. They are her 12 month pictures and I'm in love with them. Here are a couple of my favorites.

I loved Shannon and would recommend her to anyone! She has a blog with some of her work if you want to check it out. http://shannonhaddenphotography.blogspot.com/

I'm taking her to her 12 month check-up tomorrow so I'll update again with her stats and what the doctor says about her non-bearing weight legs.

Look Who Is Moving

Ellie FINALLY starting moving forward on Friday! (Yes she is 11 months old just in case you were wondering.) She has been good at the backward thing and going in circles, but never could really get the forward thing down. :) On Friday the crawl was really awkward and looked like it took a lot of effort. It looks a little less awkward today, but she still is kind of slow at it. I'm so excited that she has learned how to move because she seems to be a lot happier now that she is a little bit more independent. Now if she can only get the bearing weight thing down...

(Sorry the video is a little long and you have to hear my voice.)

Easter and Tulips!

We went up to Idaho to spend the Easter weekend with my fabulous Aunt Shirl and Uncle Winston. It was so nice to get away for a couple of days and just relax. I'm pretty sure I gained 20 lbs. because of Shirl's great cooking skills. Seriously, that is pretty much all I remember doing. Okay, not really, but we definitely did NOT starve that's for sure. I didn't take that many pictures, but here is one of her eating one of her favorite meals, Mac & Cheese. (Notice how the only pictures I have are of her eating.)

Today the weather was in the 70's and so we took the opportunity to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Side note, Utah is so weird because last week we had snow and 40 degree weather. It was awful!! Then this week it is supposed to be SUNNY and in the 70's! I can't get too excited though because knowing how crazy the weather is here it will probably be snowing next week.

Anyway, the Tulip Festival is absolutely gorgeous. I didn't take any pictures of the scenery, so I stole this from my friend's blog. (Thanks Heather. She doesn't even know :))

 

My favorite tulips...

I know what you are thinking, Ellie's head looks huge in this picture! 25th percentile my butt! And Poor Gracie was done.

I had to throw these pictures in because I love the dress she is wearing in them. Jill gave this to me for my baby shower and I have been waiting forever for Ellie to finally fit into it. She wasn't cooperating very well, but trust me, she looked so cute! Thanks Jill!

Gap Toothed

Ellie has been pretty miserable the past couple of weeks because she is getting 4 teeth on top! Poor little girl. Two have broken through now so the past couple of days have been a little better for her. I love it though because I'm pretty sure that normally babies get the middle two teeth first. Leave it to Ellie to do something her own way on her own time (bear weight, crawl, etc.) The two middle are coming in too, but have not quite poked through. Here is the unveiling of the Gap Toothed Princess. Excuse the food all over her face.

 

In other news, Ellie's hair is finally long enough to do something with. Marie was watching her the other morning and when I came back she had put her hair in a little pony! I tried to do it the next day and it did not look as cute when Marie did it, but it still was pretty cute. I guess I just need more practice. :) The other pictures are just because she is a cutie.

Oh, in case you were wondering, she still is not bearing weight on her legs. She has shown some slight signs of improvement, and I mean slight. She touches down with her tip-toes every now and then, but mostly she throws her hands up in the air, pushes her little bum out, and sticks her chest out. I'll have to take a picture of it because it is hilarious. One more month until therapy...

9 Months Old!!

I know what you are thinking...2 posts in the same day! I feel the same way! No, but seriously I cannot believe 9 months have already passed! I am starting to feel like she is not a baby anymore because she seems so big to me. We had her 9 month check-up last week and here are her stats:

Length: 28 1/2 in. (75%)

Weight: 18 lbs. 7 oz. (50%)

Head: 43.7 cm (25%)
Basically, she is still long (no longer 90th percentile), average weight, and a small head. I don't believe the small head thing because in every picture it looks way bigger than the rest of her body. By the way, sorry that every picture on here looks the same, but I was getting sick of Blogger and trying to upload pictures. Next time I will have some better ones. Oh and I didn't know how to edit them on Greg's computer.

These are just a few pictures that shows her crazy hair. It is very thick and I think it is starting to get some curl. I love her hair!

Oh, Ellie still does NOT bear any weight on her legs. She is way behind considering that is a skill most 4 months old do! Come on Ellie!! Personally, I think she is just being lazy and will do it on her own time. The doctor gave me a number to "Kids on the Move," which is physical therapy for small children. If she still doesn't bear any weight by the time she is 11 months old I will have to take her to therapy. Everyone pray that she does. I bought her some cute little shoes from Target for her to walk in this summer, but Greg kindly reminded me that she will probably not be walking by then. I mean she can't even bear weight, let alone stand up holding onto things. How will she ever walk?! Oh the stress you put me through Ellie. :) Good thing you are cute.

If you look closely you can see she has her bottom two teeth! I thought she was teething while we were in AZ during December, but she didn't get them until last month. Oops! She actually is getting two more on top. Don't worry they are not the two front teeth. They are the ones on the side so she will have a major gap in the front. I can't wait to take a picture of them! I love my little Ellie!

St. George!

Ok, I have been a horrible blogger! Sorry! Thanks for the kick in the butt by a few of you...you know who you are. :)

We actuallly went to St. George a couple of weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to post about it. Oops! Anyway, we went to St. George (southern Utah) for a weekend. It was just what I needed. I had been feeling tired and overwhelmed and in desperate need of a break. St. George provided just that for me. The weather was beautiful and I loved the people we went with! This is a picture of Ellie eating at In-n-Out. Unfortunately she didn't get to enjoy a hamburger, but she did get a delicious turkey and rice baby dinner. Sorry Ellie.

One of the days we went out in the desert to this beautiful red rock place. There was a little sand pit that the little kids went to town in. It was funny because at first I was holding Ellie while all the other kids dug and threw sand around. If you know me, you know that I am a little OCD when it comes to being clean. It drives Greg crazy, but I can't help it! I couldn't stand the thought of Ellie being covered in dirt and sand for the rest of the day. I know it is ridiculous. Finally I talked myself into letting her play in it and I'm glad I did because Ellie loved it! She picked it up and then would drop it and yes, occasionally eat it. She didn't like the taste, but that didn't stop her. Luckily, the sand was very soft and very easy to brush off. Just my kind of dirt! I loved St. George and will for sure be going back sometime.

Brilliant...

So my brilliant mother-in-law gave me the best idea while we were staying with them over Christmas break. I was helping her make tuna sandwiches for a family party for the kids. She gave me a can of Dill Relish to use for the pickles. I'm sure some of you may have already thought of this fantastic idea, but personally it had never crossed my mind to use relish in my tuna. This is such a fabulous idea because it requires absolutely NO pickle chopping! It is so fast and very yummy. (I have to have lots of pickles in my tuna.) I dare you all to try it. I know you will think it is brilliant too!

Catching Up

I haven't posted in a LONG time and a lot has happened since then, so this is going to be a long one. Well in December Ellie turned 6 months! I have to say that I love this age. She is so much fun to play with and is such a happy little girl. She also has gotten a hang of sleeping which makes me a happy mom. :) When I took her in for her 6 month check-up she was in the 50th percentile for weight (her cheeks make her look a lot chubbier), 90th percentile for height, and 25th for head circumference. Apparently she has a small head. This month she has definitely become Daddy's little girl. We went to AZ for the holidays and she got so attached to Greg. I hate to admit it, but I was a little sad because I took a back seat to Greg. That has never happened. I'm very glad though that she knows now that I'm not the only one who can take care of her. :)

We spent 2 1/2 weeks in Arizona for Christmas and New Years. I had so much fun and loved being able to spend time with friends and family. It was pretty depressing when I left AZ on Monday when it was sunny, clear, and 60 degrees and came back to freezing cold, windy, and snowy Utah! Anyway, Christmas Eve we spent with the Andersens. There of course was a nativity that the little kids reenacted. Ellie was an angel, but she never really got to go on stage. Maybe next year.

Then there was a visit from Old St. Nick himself. I was totally shocked because Ellie LOVES Santa!! If you know her then you know that she is picky when it comes to who is holding her. She's a drama queen already! Every time she was put on Santa's lap she was totally fine with it. She would play with his coat and beard and was totally a happy baby. We will see how she is next year though. :)

This picture was from the Merrill party a few nights before. She loved Santa so much she sat on his lap while other kids came up to talk to him.

Here are most of the Andersen grandkids with Santa. There are 21 (soon to be 22) grandkids 8 and under!

After the party we went to my dad's to spend the night so we could have an early Christmas morning with my family. Ellie needed to go to bed and couldn't wait for everyone to get back, so we opened her jammies before everyone else was there.

Notice how she is sitting up! This is her new trick.

I can't believe how old my little sisters and brother are.

We opened presents with my family and then headed back over to the Andersens for a delicious Christmas breakfast and more fun. Unfortunately, Ellie slept through the Andersen fun, so I didn't get any pictures of that.

I have to throw this picture in because I think it is hilarious. My little niece, Sarah, was so tired from all of the fun activities that she fell asleep while Lindsay was painting her nails. Oh the life of being a girl.

We are back now in Utah trying to get back to normal life. Thank you everyone for letting us spend time with you!

Oh, Ellie had her first "big girl" bath tonight since she can sit up now. She will be 7 months old on Sunday. Stop growing Ellie!!!