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!!!

Stockings

The stocking I have grown up using is a long time Dyer tradition. My grandma made mine for me and I have used it since my first Christmas. I think the tradition started with my great-grandma (at least that is what my dad told me) and is still going on today. My grandma made the stockings until she got really sick and passed away, then my mom took over for our family. When she passed away my sister, Marie, and my sister-in-law, Amber, made the stockings. I decided that I would make Ellie's and had no idea what I was getting myself into. I definitely do not know how to sew. Luckily, Marie taught me how to do it and helped me a ton. Thanks so much Marie!! Anyway, I finally finished Ellie's stocking tonight! We also made one for my niece, Kaitlyn, since she did not have one yet. Amber, I'm shipping Kaitlyn's stocking to you tomorrow. :)

Here is the picture of our little family's stockings all hanging up. (I'm sad we don't have a fireplace to hang them up.) You can tell that my stocking is way older than Greg and Ellie's.

I'm excited to get to use them in a couple of weeks!! Feliz Navidad everyone!