I'm 9 months old!

Mommy is letting me write this post! I wanted to tell you how EXCITED I am to be 9 months old! And what a great 9 months it has been... People tell me I'm growing so fast and I'm getting a lot more hair! We're not sure what color it is going to be yet. Sometimes it looks blonde and other times it looks red!

*

I'm learning to do lots of new things these days, too! I started crawling up a storm a few weeks ago and now I am pulling myself up on things and cruising along furniture. I am VERY curious and love to explore new things. I've gotten really good at opening cabinets and taking everything out of them, pulling books off of the bookshelf, trying to take buttons and knobs off of things, and playing with electrical cords and outlets. I still haven't figured out why Mommy and Daddy will quickly dash towards me and say no and make me go a different direction. The cords are so much fun!!!

Here are a few things that Mommy says are true about me right now...

• I love to play with paper and pens.
• I have this strange ability to know what I'm NOT supposed to play with and those are the most interesting things to me!
• I am almost always happy, I love to smile and I love all people.
• I'm a major extrovert, so I have a lot of trouble going to sleep if there are people around cause I don't want to miss a thing!
• I don't know a stranger!
• I'm a night owl and love to sleep late in the morning.
• I LOVE bathtime and splashing and getting Mommy all wet.
• Much to Daddy's dismay, I am not a snuggler at all. I have quite the personal bubble and need my space... Daddy says this will come in handy with the boys someday.
• I don't fall asleep when being held or rocked. I like to be laid in my bed and left alone. Mommy says that I am a very good sleeper, just pretty independent! :)
• When I wake up in the morning, I love to just play in my bed and make happy sounds. When I'm ready to get up, I stand up in my crib and have learned how to start jumping in my bed. Mommy and Daddy think it's pretty cute and I'm pretty proud of myself!

Those are just a few things that I can think of. I might add more later! Thanks for checking in on me!

Growing...

Hi all... just a short post right now. More to come! Today is Ellie's 9 month birthday, so we took a few more pictures! ha! Mommy and Ellie got a pic taken together by the same tree we took one in front of right after her first Sunday at church... I can't believe how much my little munchkin has grown over the last 9 months!!! She won't be my baby for long... I'm cherishing every day...

Ellie's 1st Easter!

What a wonderful Easter!!! We had a double gift today... the gift of Resurrection Sunday AND our first Easter with our little Ellie... Two years ago today, we were experiencing the heartbreak of our first miscarriage on Easter. Last year, we were anticipating Ellie's arrival... and this year, we got to celebrate Jesus with Ellie HERE! It's been such a good day! Thought we'd share some of our pics with you...

catching up...

Hello everyone! So sorry for the blogging slump. Now that little Miss Ellie is on the move, I seem to have less and less time to be on the computer! It's amazing how much less productive I seem to be. I just get started, look over, and Ellie is into something! :) Ha! But it's so worth every minute. She's always cracking us up!

One of Ellie's favorite new pastimes is pulling herself up on things and starting to "cruise" around them! The biggies are the chair and a half, the bookshelf, and our bench in the living room. She thinks she's pretty big stuff now that she can get around so well! Every morning, she's standing up in her crib looking like such a big girl!

Last weekend, Joel took us to Kansas City for a weekend away and we had SUCH a good time. It was so nice to get a couple of days to relax and spend as a family. Ellie got to go swimming for the first time. Notice her cute little suit! She had such a good time swimming with Daddy and Mommy got lots of pictures and video for sure!

We also got to shop, hang out at Barnes and Noble, have coffee, go to a movie (yes, Ellie sat in the theater through an entire movie! She did amazing!!!), eat at some fun places and just enjoy time together as a family. It was a wonderful weekend!

We're loving this stage of life with little Ellie! Not long now and she'll be walking and really "on the go"! Thanks for checking in. I will try to be better about updating!!! Have a wonderful Easter!