Ella Update...6 Months old

And YES it IS the same OUTFIT but NOT the same BABY. The Pic below is Mia 4 yrs ago.

Little Ella at 6 Months:

13 lbs

Still in the 10% for weight

25% Head

30% for Height

So growing right on track and chubbing up just like she should. :)

The last two nights she has given Mommy the wonderful gift of a whole night's sleep! I'm crossing my fingers that it continues.

We are getting ready to start some solid foods. She is rolling over. Almost sitting up (we used LOTS of reinforcements in the pictures....but she's getting the idea) :)

We've heard a few little chuckles from her but are still waiting for a full on laugh.

And she's just a sweet, happy, easy going little baby (at least for Mommy I must add) We have discovered that she is very much a Mommy's girl and also very much going through the stranger anxiety thing. If she can see Mommy life is good if she can't, well that's a whole other story. :) It will be interesting to see how long this phase lasts. I figure when you spend your whole first month of life AWAY from your Mom and with tubes and other things poking and prodding you all day long then you've earned the right to be a little Mommy attached and I won't complain however I can't say I won't be excited when I can at least leave her with Daddy every once in awhile. :) And on that note...we've also started to try and give her a bottle. It didn't go well the first week but tonight she actually drank almost the whole thing....so I feel like we're on the right path to SOME independence. Haha. Now we just need to get her to take a bottle from someone other then Mommy.

I'm a Big Girl Now!

When we got home from Seattle Maddi continued to show interest in Potty Training so we decided to give it a go and she's really started to figure it out. I've only changed diapers for ONE child all week and it's been wonderful. :) It's wierd to think of her being SO old and to see my little toddler dissappearing.

On the Way to Preschool

I have started doing a little coop preschool with 3 other Moms here in Spokane once a week. Mia is the oldest by a year (at least) and with it only being once a week for 1 1/2 hours we are definately doing it more for the social aspects but it's fun because both the girls can go together they have fun with the other kids in the class, and Mia has really taken to being "the leader of the pack!" and having other kids follow her around. We've also tried to create our lesson themes around science based things so that we can do lots of hands on projects. :) The week it was my turn to plan the lesson I did find myself missing MY little Preschool. It was a lot of work, but one of the most worthwhile things I did last year.

Playing Soccer

Fun in Seattle

Mia and Ella look so similar as babies that it's really fun to dig up some old pics for comparison. The pics above are from a visit we had with my brother's family 4 years ago with cute little 2 yr old Luke and Mia (at 6 months) and the pics below of course are from our trip at the end of September with again Luke (wearing ironically enough the same color tee shirt) but this time with Ella.

Cute little Mercedes feeling so sad about not being Big Enough.

Mia was very inspired by Luke and his Bike Riding abilities and I was amazed how fast she was pedaling on her little bike. We took a walk to the park and while coming down a hill and across a cross walk Erik said Mia came up on the curb and went right over her handle bars! Thankfully she didn't hit her head because as you can see I am the awesome Mom who remembered to pack the bike but forgot all the safety gear!.

Cute Jodi! We never seem to take pics of the adults so I have to throw these in. :)

Mercedes and the girls Dressing up and Posing!

Lance had a conference he had to attend at Purdue the weekend of his Birthday and it worked out nicely that he was able to fit in a Game night with his friends from Purdue, Go see the Purdue vs. Notre Dame football game, and hang out with our good friends and neighbors from Indiana who were so nice to throw a little party for him. The girls and I were sad to not be able to tag along but living close to family now, it's a nice consolation that we can stay in Seattle for the weekend and hang out with my family. For this trip we stayed with my Brother Erik and my sister-in-law Jodi and had a blast just hanging out. The girls just played and played, Ella LOVED watching the kids run circles around her, and Maddi decided she wanted to be a big girl and use the potty sporadically throughout the trip (funny how they always pick the most awesome times for things like this!)

My only regret was having to visit my sister Jen in the hospital rather then at her home. For those who know her and haven't heard, she just recently had Brain Surgery to remove a cavernous malformation that was causing her to have some really debilitating symptoms. The surgery went well and she is now in recovery (which is slow process) but we're glad she is recovering. The week I went to Seattle she had just been admitted to the hospital and they had just decided to do the Surgery so it worked out well that I was able to see her once before.

Lance's Birthday

Lance had to be in Indiana for a school conference the weekend of his Birthday so we celebrated a little early right before we all left for Seattle. Mia was very excited to help with all the Birthday plans. She picked out the cake and helped mix it all up. She also decorated a very LARGE Birthday card for Lance and then insisted that we surprise Lance when he got home from work by hiding behind the couch and jumping out when he opened the door. Very fun.

Maddi's FIRST haircut

The other day I went to get my haircut at a friend in the ward's house and the girls tagged along with me so we decided to cut their hair as well. This was Maddi's FIRST offical haircut. She was a little nervous at first (funny for the child who isn't scared of ANYTHING) but after watching Mia she was good to go. And it was hillarious when we pulled up at home because they were both just prancing in the house to show Daddy their new looks. :) I could tell Maddi felt very big!

Sacagawea

So after reading about Sacagawea in a "Fancy Nancy" Book, the girls became really interested in her so we went to the library and got a bunch of Sacagewea books to try and learn more about her. It was a lot of fun and at the end of the week after reading lots and lots about her, I told the girls they could pretend to be Lewis and Clark and go on expedition to learn all about the "new land". They were excited about playing along but they both decided they needed to be Sacagewea so we strapped their babies to their backs (Maddi opted for the baby car seat), and with their "journals" in hand they set out into the wilds of our backyard (there are some pretty interesting parts of our backyard!) They each had little bags to collect the things they found and when they were all done we put everything on a long piece of paper so they would report their findings to President Jefferson (aka Mommy). It was a fun and easy little project and it cracked me up listening to Maddi walk around saying "Sacagig-jwea".

Maddi Enjoying a Book