Eight Exciting Months with Eloise Marie

Wow! This fall has really flown by, or so it seems, but we sure have enjoyed it together, looking at and picking leaves and going on walks. One of the most beautiful falls I can remember! And we got to share it with this smiley baby. Now we are on to celebrating our most favorite holiday, Christmas! We are so excited to spend this very first one with our very first little one. 

8 Months Old! 

Weight: 16 lbs. 6 oz.

Length: 29 inches

1. Eating? Wellll…I had hope there would be more progress on the real food front, but alas, I have been a lazy momma and given in to Ellie's non interest in baby food. We tried some bananas and apple sauce this month, both homemade, and she seemed to like the apple sauce the most, but only for a few bites, and then she's over it. So with the craziness of the holiday season and much encouragement from friends, we will try again soon, but for now we're just continuing breast-feeding. I've gotten over the mommy-guilt on this one, and instead have chosen happy evenings with less crying, less screaming, and less throw-up. 

2. Sleeping? She is a great little night sleeper, just like her parents! The biggest improvement on sleeping this month is getting good naps in the afternoon, of about 2-3 hours. Oh what wonders that does for this momma! She often takes a shorter nap in the early evening too, which makes for a much happier baby for when Dadda comes home. And I attribute this new trend to a sweet 18-month-old boy, Cameron Hogan, who we watched this past month off and on. He entertained her so that she crashed when he left! Thanks Cam!

3. Milestones? This past month there hasn't been too many major milestones, except really trying food. Besides that, we've been doing a lot of enjoying the fall, taking walks to the park, and looking at leaves. 

4. Activities and adventures?
This year marks our 5th year of marriage, and 12th together, and we decided we would best spend it with our little family doing some of our favorite things. The past few years, we've made it sort of a tradition to go to Whole Foods and Cuppies & Joe on our anniversary, so we did the same this year. We bought a whole slew of goodies to take with us on our picnic that even Lucy was hoping to get a sampling of. We sat under our favorite tree on the South Oval at OU, snacked on our delicious treats, and enjoyed the moments with the baby (and dog) we've dreamed of having for so long that we would  share all of this with. It was a perfect day, because we were together.

Another tradition we continued this year on our anniversary weekend was our annual Valentas Fall Festival. We started this the first fall we were married and the first fall we lived in our house. It was meant to be a celebration of all things fall and to show our gratitude to all that were there for us to help us celebrate our love. It continues to be of the same accord, where friends and family from all walks of our life share an evening with us eating favorite delicious autumn treats and enjoying the fall. We are so grateful for being able to do this again. 

Homemade Pumpkin Butter!

The spread! WOW!

Some of the sweet people who were able to join us...

My Sweet Family

This past month we also celebrated Auntie Ashley's birthday! Ellie wore her "Cool Like My Aunt" shirt, we ate at Johnny Carino's, and had a homemade pizookie and gifts back at our house. It was a great day to celebrate Ellie's sweet Auntie!

With such gorgeous weather and amazing leaves, we took many walks this fall with some of our little friends and with our family. We love going to our nearby Lion's Park, which was a big draw to why we bought our cute home. 

Look at those leaves!!!

Sweet Aspen

The leaves at this nearby church called us to visit several times this fall. 

They were great climbing trees too!

Funny Ian!

Our fall lasted such a long time, and we knew it would come to an end at some point. But it ended with a beautiful frost over all the trees and plants! It was amazing because there were still so many beautiful leaves on the trees, and then with the ice/snow on top, it was gorgeous!

Lucy-dog and the beauty left on the ground from the leaves and snow...

This past month we celebrated Ellie's first Thanksgiving with our family! I love Thanksgiving because it is all about being with family, and it kicks off the holiday season. It's the culmination of my favorite time of year...both fall and Christmas! We had two days of Thanksgiving, with our first at Auntie Perla's in Guthrie. It was wonderful to not have to stuff ourselves and then rush away, but spend time relaxing, and of course eating. :) Even Ellie got to sit at the table and eat some baby food with us. She had pumpkin and sweet potato, of course. 

Having Thanksgiving over two days also allowed us to relax a little with our own family, and actually enjoy the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We made caramel apple pie and pumpkin-pecan pie for both Thanksgivings, and I was proud to make them both "from scratch". Will it ever happen again? I am not sure, but I was proud of my accomplishment nonetheless. 

And this year I made new place cards with all the tiny leaves Ellie and I picked while reveling in the beauty of fall. I made some years ago with tiny leaves too, and wanted to try again, so here they are!

On Thanksgiving Day, we went to Mimi's for my side of the family's Thanksgiving meal. We had a larger group this year, and we loved it! Ellie sat in a highchair with us and sample some goodies off our plates again. 

Finally had an idea for all the leaves we picked this fall...Eloise photoshoot! :) Aren't they AMAZING!

Mimi with her three youngest grandbabies!

A Thanksgiving tradition...Game time!

Crazy, cute,  and sleepy kiddos!

And with Thanksgiving weekend, brings Black Friday shopping! One of my favorite days of the year! We don't go crazy early to find all the spectacular deals, but we go later on in the day, and shop with family. It was so much fun getting to take our girl with us this year, and though we expected to have to leave at any given moment, she did great and lasted all day! What a fun time with our family!

I don't allow myself to start celebrating Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving, because I think it should have it's own time to be in the spotlight, but I cannot wait to get those Christmas decorations up after the turkey and pie are in our tummies! We decided to get our first live tree for Eloise's Christmas, and it is not only gorgeous, but also smells amazing!

Ellie with her Dadda, picking out our first real tree!

We got it in the house! WHEW!

The wonder in her eyes at our tree...I love it!

This is one of my very favorite pictures of Eloise and Chris. So sweet!

I love our home the very most this time of year...Makes me feel like we are bringing it back to it's former glory! And I think of the other wonderful Christmases this little house has hosted for other families. I am so thankful to have this beautiful place to call home. 

5. Favorite baby item? Perhaps the wrap that I finally used this month? With watching Cameron and going to the park, the wrap to hold Ellie in has been a lifesaver. It allows me to have my arms free to do other things, while keeping baby close/ And when I start watching Cash in a few weeks, I have a feeling it will also be invaluable to me. 

6. Favorite moment this past month? Again, the everyday moments and smiles are my favorites! We've really had a wonderful month with friends and family celebrating life and of course, fall. My favorite week of the year was this past month though…Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and then decorating for Christmas. I love it all so much because I get to do much of my favorite things!

7. Looking forward to this next month? CHRISTMAS!!! Experiencing all the first of this beautiful time of year with my sweet girl…decorating for Christmas, baking goodies, spending time with ones we love, visiting Santa Clause, shopping, wrapping gifts…I am excited to share this all with Ellie!

8. Visitors?: Again, no new visitors, but we got to see many of our friends and family with the Fall Festival and Thanksgiving. Ellie loves people, and is a friendly baby, often giving smiles like they're going out of style. That is, as long as Momma is holding her still.

9. One thing I've learned:
That having a baby makes you emotional. "Kiley...more emotional? Is that possible?", you might say. Yes. I am so much more emotional now. I can't watch anything with mommas or babies hurting, let alone dying. I even get teary-eyed when commercials share touching parenting moments! GAH! But the love I have for that baby grows more and more each day, when I could already melt just holding her. Becoming a parent changes you in ways you never see coming, and I love it. 

10. My message to Ellie:

Watching your little face discover all things fall these past few months has been truly incredible. I am so glad that I get to be with you everyday, but surprisingly, I still don't feel like I have enough time with you! But you have helped me slow down, and focus what's important. We've spent a lot of time outside this month, wondering at all the leaves. It has been a beautiful month with many firsts...We've discovered your love for leaves too! You are such a happy girl, and you bring joy to so many others. I love you little pumpkin! We look forward to sharing this next month of our favorite holiday with you... Christmas! Hooray!

Here are a few more of our favorites from this past month:

On our anniversary picnic...Our sweetie!

Our house and yard were so pretty this month! I couldn't help taking several set so pictures to help me say goodbye to the fall.

Our new doors look quite lovely now that they're all finished this fall!

Had to capture these trees!

What Heaven looks like to me...

With our Mimi, who helped take our pictures! :)

I think she's my daughter...

Learning to get on all fours!

Fun times with our buddy, Cameron, this past month! What a sweet little guy!

Love this picture of Cameron. Hopefully we'll get one with Ellie like this next year!

My favorites

What a beautiful month! Life is so much more vivid with our girl, and I am grateful that she makes us slow down and enjoy all the little things. Looking forward to another exciting month celebrating Christmas with my sweet family!