Vintage, Values, & Ventures: Fifteen Fancy-Free Months with Eloise Marie

Well, I thought I was done with these, but there's so much I want to remember, and started thinking that this was the best way. Maybe I'll do this until she's two, or maybe I'll do it for every birthday from here, but we'll just have to see how much energy I have with more babies! Haha! So even though this is almost two months late, I want to write about the rest of our spring and the beginning of our summer.

15 Months Old!

Weight: 24 lbs. 4 oz.

Length: 33.5 inches

1. Eating? Well Miss Eloise is now in the 91st percentile for weight, so I guess you could say she is one good eater, just like her parents. YAY! We tried to be healthy and give her only fruits and veggies until she was one, but when she turned one and we survived the first year together, we let out a sigh of relief and said... "Eat doughnuts! Eat mac n' cheese! Eat goldfish crackers! Drink whole milk!" We still give her the healthy stuff first, then the "good" stuff, and she keeps eating and eating! Her height and weight are now both in the 90th percentiles...She sure is growing! Crazy woman!

And as you can see, our preferred eating method for her these days is sans clothing of any kind!

2. Sleeping? What a difference a year makes. Thank you Jesus. She continues to sleep through the night most of the time, but has had a few teething-related midnight calls. She also is taking epic naps now, especially through this month of summer, and sometimes being 3 1/2 hours. Halllelujah! It has been awesome. And I am so thankful to be here now when just last summer I thought naps were never going to happen.

3. Milestones?
Our girl is a WALKING girl now! She did her usual milestone thing of trying it out once, then not really getting into it until a month later. She stood alone for the first time in May, then took a few steps intermittently in June, and just before her 15-month birthday, she found what fun walking can be during the two weeks of our California vacation and trip to Nebraska. Thankfully, those places had nice comfy carpet and grass to try out her new skills. Now if only this momma can not have a heart attack every time she falls! My goodness!

She LOVES loving on her stuffed animals now too.
Doesn't she look proud of herself?

4. Activities and adventures?
My oh my...There have been so many fun adventures this Spring and start of Summer! So let's start from the beginning...

We had family and Ellie's first pictures taken by a wonderfully patient, genuine, and kind gal, Sharlee Rother at Sharlee Rother Photography. She wanted to capture who we are and what our style is, and she certainly did! She values her customers and treated us with such thoughtfulness and care. We highly recommend her!

MY FAVORITE!

And boy were we all pooped afterward...Naps all-around!

The weekend we had pictures taken was also Easter weekend, which was Ellie's last first holiday. Wahhhh! I am still in denial a bit that my baby is turning into such a big girl. We celebrated Easter weekend with Journey Church's service at the Myriad Gardens. And then on Easter Sunday we headed over to Memaw and Poppy's house for lunch and an Easter-egg hunt, of course. Ellie got the hang of it right away, and we even got her to pose with the Harris cousins!

Grampa Larry visited a few weeks after Ellie's birthday, and
I was excited to capture this sweet shot of them sitting in the chairs my Dad made for us.

Our lovely Aunt Jayne retired from teaching this year, so we were thankful to get to celebrate her, and of course, spend time together! This is the infamous "Henry Women Pose", each trying to "hide" behind the other. We are silly girls for sure!

ANNNND Chris FINALLY graduated this year! Hallelujah! There were so many blips and loops to jump through that we were not sure it was happening until he was actually walking across the stage. SO PROUD of him and SO THANKFUL it is done. Whew! Way to go Team Valentas!

Mother's Day with some of my favorite momma's and their "babies"!

Last day with all four kiddos...What an exciting year!

With beautiful weather, the end of the school year, and more free time with just Ellie this summer, we were able to have so much fun together. There were lots of picnics outside, Summer Breeze concerts, park visits and walks, trips to the zoo with friends, splash pad fun, and our first swimming lessons. These everyday kind of things are memories that I will hold close to my heart!

First splash pad experience at the Myriad Gardens!

These four cuties...

I love this silly cheesing' face!

Belated Mother's Day picnic = PERFECT!

Heading out to the Summer Breeze concert for Father's Day! These two look pretty good together!

We love the zoo!

At the end of June, we were able to go with Dadda on a business trip (aka SUPER CHEAP!), and take our very first family vacation! Where did we go? I bet you didn't even have to ask...Disneyland! Though we did decrease our expectations and increase our patience, Ellie surprised us in all good ways on the trip. And we'd been preparing her all along without even realizing it: making her be flexible in nap times and bed times, listening to lots of Disney music at dinner, getting out and about with our girl, and giving her lots of stuffed animals. We had such a great time, and I am so grateful we were able to give her these new experiences and make memories together.

Ready for her first plane ride! WOO HOO!

We survived!

Ellie's first time to touch the ocean...And she wasn't a fan. But it was so beautiful!

Chris and I BOTH cried after this...A moment we've dreamed of and it couldn't have been more of a magical one.
They both were so excited to meet each other!

Sweet sleepy girl powering through...

This brave girl wasn't scared of Minnie or Mickey one bit! She actually wanted to hug them!

Cheesin' with cheesy goldfish crackers!

One of my very most favorites of our trip...
The wonder in her eyes at each new experience was worth all the hard stuff!

Ellie loved meeting Dug and even "barked" at him!

Perfect sign for these Disney lovers :)

The day after Disney is always tough, but our sweet family that we met for the first time made it so much better. Our cousins, Kelly, Lainey, and Russell Lowe, picked us up from the hotel and showed us around. The invited us to the beach for a bonfire and fun with their friends. It was so wonderful to meet them...They were so kind to us! This chubby smiley face says it all!

Dadda joined us at the beach for the sunset!

Chris had to stay an extra day to finish work, so needless to say, I was STRESSED about flying alone with Eloise. But this is what she did the whole time...SLEPT! Good job baby!

Less than 48 hours after we all returned from our family vacation, we headed to Nebraska for the Fourth of July. We stopped at our cousins', the Purdy's, on the way there for a much needed night of rest, and then stopped at Aunt Jayne and Uncle John's on the way back. It certainly helps break up the trip for all of us!

Sleeping sisters

Look at this girl go!!!

Love my little family

5. Favorite baby item?
We finally got a video baby monitor AFTER Ellie's first birthday, and LOVE it! It's synced with an app on our phones so we can see how she's doing at any time. Puts my mind at ease!

6. Favorite moment this past month?

7. Looking forward to these next months?
The rest of SUMMERTIME! There is still so much to do and so much fun to be had...Can't wait to see what this next weeks bring. And of course, fall will be here before you know it too!
8. Visitors?
Grampa Larry visited in April, and we were so happy to have him! We didn't meet many other new people, except for the Lowes in California, but that was new for us too! We enjoyed spending time with friends and family, and making new memories with them though. YAY!

9. One thing I've learned:
That I will NEVER get so darn stressed about a baby's birthday and party again!!! Maybe I shouldn't say "never", because when I do that I am guaranteed to do it...But really...Ellie's first birthday (which I have yet to write about but hope to find the time still) was so fun, emotional, exhausting, wonderful, overwhelming, somewhat disappointing because of the weather, crazy, and so much more. There were tears at her party for all of these reasons, and now that we're almost six months out from that weekend, I can better look back on it with just overwhelming gratitude. Will I have another big birthday bash for another Valentas baby? Probably. Will I get stressed out? Probably yes to that one too, but I know better to get THAT stressed again. Silly Momma!

10. My message to Ellie:
Whew! Recovering from your birthday has been quite a chore, but it was all worth it to show you how much you are loved. And not just by us! The generosity of others' time has amazed us, and there are so many people who love you. Don't tell your siblings, but you are a special one indeed. We are really looking forward to the summer "vacation" with just you, and really getting to share new experiences with you since you were soooo tiny last summer. I love your big cheesing' smiles, your happy hugs, and watching your little personality shine through more each day. Love you sweet girl!