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...