I purposely started writing this over a month late (and just now finishing it before she turns 21 months...HAH!) so we could get Ellie's stats from the doctor. Just kidding...I always am at least a little behind, but I'm trying to be a easier on myself. For goodness sakes, it's not like I am lounging around all day! So here's our ONE-AND-A-HALF-YEAR-OLD, who's not really our baby anymore. We're over halfway to her second birthday, so I'd better get that party started too.
18 Months Old!
Weight: 28 lbs. 2 oz.
Length: 35 inches
1. Eating?
She's a great eater...What can I say!?! Ellie IS our daughter! She's discovered many new foods, and her favorite is probably mac n' cheese. But she's also discovered the deliciousness (tee hee) of Momma's cooking, and enjoys chicken and noodles, chili, and soups, all which have veggies hidden. PARENTING WIN! And she is learning and getting better everyday at using a fork and a spoon! She looks so proud of herself when she does too.
Though she drinks whole milk, she's still nursing about "1 1/2" times a day: sometimes in the morning, and usually at night. I never thought I would breastfeed this long, but I love the time I have with her each day. The goal is to be done by her second birthday, and start the serious weening after Christmas. I'll miss it, but then that means we're one step closer to another baby!
2. Sleeping?
Sweet girl is a good sleeper, also like her parents, and sleep about 12 hours each night, as well as one to two naps a day, totaling 3-4 hours. I love nap time: a guaranteed break each day! WAHOO! And she's so cute when she sleeps too. Still snuggles with her swaddle/sleep sack on, but has started wanting her feet out. Soon we'll stop that too. What a big girl!
3. Milestones?
Well she is an EXCELLENT walker now, and more of a runner, and we've enjoyed watching her learn to navigate playground equipment, bumpy ground under the grass, and toy-scattered floors at home.
Ellie has also developed quite an opinion, and makes sure to let us know when she wants something or when she's unhappy, which has led to her first time-outs. She gets particularly "opinionated"/grumpy when she's tired or hungry, so she'll often hit, scream, or push. Oh how lovely! So timeout is a learning curve we are all on; sometimes it works and sometimes not.
She's learned a lot of new "tricks" these past few months too. She knows most of her body parts (my favorites are her shoulders that she shrugs and her eyes that she blinks), about 10 animals sounds (my favorites are: cow says "muuuhh" and monster says "RAWR!!!"), and can say "bye!" in a sweet Okie accent, "no!" with determination, "ball" and "shoe" (she's well-rounded), "cheese" for pictures, "Lucy" to call her sister-dog inside, and a few others here and there. Eloise continues to use some of her signs for "more", "food", "please", "drink", and "help me". We're still working on "thank you"!
Pretend play/mimic
A couple other funny things she's started to love to do: color, pick the fuzz from between her toes and giving LOTS of kisses. Coloring seems pretty developmental and has discovered where ours are stored here at home, and she also loves to do so at restaurants. YAY! But the toe fuzz thing is something I loved to do as a little girl (weird, I know), and even went as far as wanting to put my socks back on, as my parents we're trying to get me in the bathtub, so that I could "make more fuzz". Crazy woman! And the kissing even has a "kissy face" to go along with it...She'll give kisses to most anyone on demand, and often gives voluntary kisses too! She loves to give kisses so much that we've muttered words we never thought we'd have to, "Don't kiss the toilet Ellie!". Now THAT is ridiculous.
This summer/fall she went on her first bike rides for the Full Moon Bike Ride with Momma and Dadda. She rode on my bike with me, which totally stressed me out, but I think she enjoyed it. Ellie makes sure to remind me she's there by patting and tickling my bum the whole time too. Silly girl.
She is one wild girl these days with her personality shining through, but she really cracks us up everyday as she hams it up for us. I'm not sure where she gets this from either? ;)
4. Activities and adventures?
My oh my...So many to list here! So even if this isn't in order, I'll try to categorize the past few months...
Tiger Cub Club Events
Throughout the summer, I wanted to get the Tiger Family and Cubs together to play and have fun, since we've all been through a lot together. I really enjoyed watching Ellie play with my friends' kiddos, and it was nice to get out and experience things with just my girl. There was lots of library-time, splash pad splashing, swimming, park visits, and adventurous eating out. We even had our second annual Tiger Cub Club Picnic, with once again, a great turnout. What a fun summer with friends!
Summertime Swimming
Playing in water of any kind was one of Ellie and my favorite things to do this summer, and boy did that girl get brown! I loved swimming as a kiddo and so glad she does too, so we can share this together. We went to White Water a few times with the Bullers, Andy Alligator's with the Brockmans, then the Bullers, swimming at the Lewis Family's pool, the apartment pool I have borrowed for a few years, and anyplace that would let us, as well as various splash pads here in Norman and at the Myriad Gardens with friends and family.
Picnics, Park-Time, and Movie Nights
These are a few of my favorite things...and so we did these as often as possible together as a family, and often with friends. We LOVE the Myriad Gardens and attended several movie nights there, as well as hosted a few ourselves in the backyard. There were also lots of opportunities to listen to good music at Norman's local parks through Jazz in June and Summer Breeze Concerts. It was such a mild summer, and we soaked up as much of the sun as possible together! And picnics in that fall are just as awesome too! OU's south oval is our favorite fall picnic spot.
Science Museum and OKC Zoo
We wrapped up the summer with a few visits to both the Science Museum with the Bullers, Harrises, and Mimi, as well as a special trip with Auntie Ashley. We loved going to the zoo one more time with the Basset gals too, before tiny Nataly arrived!
Cousin Sleepovers
The Hawaiian cousins visited for a few weeks in July, and of course, we had to have them over to spend the night! We loved getting to spend time with them shopping, eating, and just playing with them.
We also had to have our first cousin sleepover with the Harris cousins before Baby Olive's arrival. It was an adventure with three little ones, but we had a great time with them, and hope to have more sleepovers in the future!
Momma's Birthday
I turned 31 in August, and my favorite part about my birthday is spending time with my friends and family. So that's exactly what we did! We had our families over for one of our favorite summertime meals, got to spend my actual day doing all the things I love, and had an evening at the Myriad Gardens to celebrate with friends. It was a great birthday!
Back to School...
We are watching Cash again this year, which provides a fun daily playmate for Ellie. She's also learning about sharing and not hitting, which doesn't always work. But we're trying! :) And we also are picking up the Gilstrap kiddos too. Each day is different and exciting, and even the crazy days are just another part of our adventures!
New Baby Girls
Eloise is no longer the baby of the family because we welcomed the Harris Family's little Olive Margaret! She's a cutie and Ellie loves to try to hold her and feed her goldfish crackers. I know they'll love playing together someday very soon.
Two friends had sweet little girls this fall too: the Bassets welcome Miss Nataly Paige and Katie and Will Lentz welcomed sweet Olivia Grace. Lots of little girls for Ellie to play with soon!
State Fair Fun
Ohhhh State Fairs...We loved you well this year! We took a little family vacation to the Kansas State Fair, where we also get to meet up with some of our favorite native Kansans. Mimi went too, and we loved staying with Aunt Jayne and Uncle John, as well as playing with cousins Emma and Riley and their momma, Sara!
The Oklahoma State Fair was special this year, because it was our first time to go to Disney on Ice, thanks to Mimi and Papa! The Harris Family went too, with each kiddo dressed up in their own Disney themed costume. Ellie was a girl Sully, of course, or as we called her: "Sully-ette". We didn't get to eat much there, so we had to go again later on in the week to taste all the interesting food and shop around in the buildings.
Autumn Festivities
FALLLLL! How do we LOVE FALL!?!? It has been filled with visits to pumpkin patches, fall flower tents, Pumpkinville at the Myriad Gardens, OU game day experiences, and OU Alumni Band events. Here is just a sampling of what we got to do, and we LOVED it...
Well she is an EXCELLENT walker now, and more of a runner, and we've enjoyed watching her learn to navigate playground equipment, bumpy ground under the grass, and toy-scattered floors at home.
Ellie has also developed quite an opinion, and makes sure to let us know when she wants something or when she's unhappy, which has led to her first time-outs. She gets particularly "opinionated"/grumpy when she's tired or hungry, so she'll often hit, scream, or push. Oh how lovely! So timeout is a learning curve we are all on; sometimes it works and sometimes not.
She's learned a lot of new "tricks" these past few months too. She knows most of her body parts (my favorites are her shoulders that she shrugs and her eyes that she blinks), about 10 animals sounds (my favorites are: cow says "muuuhh" and monster says "RAWR!!!"), and can say "bye!" in a sweet Okie accent, "no!" with determination, "ball" and "shoe" (she's well-rounded), "cheese" for pictures, "Lucy" to call her sister-dog inside, and a few others here and there. Eloise continues to use some of her signs for "more", "food", "please", "drink", and "help me". We're still working on "thank you"!
Pretend play/mimic
A couple other funny things she's started to love to do: color, pick the fuzz from between her toes and giving LOTS of kisses. Coloring seems pretty developmental and has discovered where ours are stored here at home, and she also loves to do so at restaurants. YAY! But the toe fuzz thing is something I loved to do as a little girl (weird, I know), and even went as far as wanting to put my socks back on, as my parents we're trying to get me in the bathtub, so that I could "make more fuzz". Crazy woman! And the kissing even has a "kissy face" to go along with it...She'll give kisses to most anyone on demand, and often gives voluntary kisses too! She loves to give kisses so much that we've muttered words we never thought we'd have to, "Don't kiss the toilet Ellie!". Now THAT is ridiculous.
This summer/fall she went on her first bike rides for the Full Moon Bike Ride with Momma and Dadda. She rode on my bike with me, which totally stressed me out, but I think she enjoyed it. Ellie makes sure to remind me she's there by patting and tickling my bum the whole time too. Silly girl.
She is one wild girl these days with her personality shining through, but she really cracks us up everyday as she hams it up for us. I'm not sure where she gets this from either? ;)
My oh my...So many to list here! So even if this isn't in order, I'll try to categorize the past few months...
Tiger Cub Club Events
Throughout the summer, I wanted to get the Tiger Family and Cubs together to play and have fun, since we've all been through a lot together. I really enjoyed watching Ellie play with my friends' kiddos, and it was nice to get out and experience things with just my girl. There was lots of library-time, splash pad splashing, swimming, park visits, and adventurous eating out. We even had our second annual Tiger Cub Club Picnic, with once again, a great turnout. What a fun summer with friends!
Summertime Swimming
Playing in water of any kind was one of Ellie and my favorite things to do this summer, and boy did that girl get brown! I loved swimming as a kiddo and so glad she does too, so we can share this together. We went to White Water a few times with the Bullers, Andy Alligator's with the Brockmans, then the Bullers, swimming at the Lewis Family's pool, the apartment pool I have borrowed for a few years, and anyplace that would let us, as well as various splash pads here in Norman and at the Myriad Gardens with friends and family.
Picnics, Park-Time, and Movie Nights
These are a few of my favorite things...and so we did these as often as possible together as a family, and often with friends. We LOVE the Myriad Gardens and attended several movie nights there, as well as hosted a few ourselves in the backyard. There were also lots of opportunities to listen to good music at Norman's local parks through Jazz in June and Summer Breeze Concerts. It was such a mild summer, and we soaked up as much of the sun as possible together! And picnics in that fall are just as awesome too! OU's south oval is our favorite fall picnic spot.
 |
| Watching "Frozen" with the Harris Family at the Myriad Gardens |
Science Museum and OKC Zoo
We wrapped up the summer with a few visits to both the Science Museum with the Bullers, Harrises, and Mimi, as well as a special trip with Auntie Ashley. We loved going to the zoo one more time with the Basset gals too, before tiny Nataly arrived!
Cousin Sleepovers
The Hawaiian cousins visited for a few weeks in July, and of course, we had to have them over to spend the night! We loved getting to spend time with them shopping, eating, and just playing with them.
While the Hawaiians visited, we also got to do some school clothes shopping thanks to Memaw, ate together many times, and just got to spend time together! It was so fun to see all the kiddos interact and play.
Momma's Birthday
I turned 31 in August, and my favorite part about my birthday is spending time with my friends and family. So that's exactly what we did! We had our families over for one of our favorite summertime meals, got to spend my actual day doing all the things I love, and had an evening at the Myriad Gardens to celebrate with friends. It was a great birthday!
Back to School...
We are watching Cash again this year, which provides a fun daily playmate for Ellie. She's also learning about sharing and not hitting, which doesn't always work. But we're trying! :) And we also are picking up the Gilstrap kiddos too. Each day is different and exciting, and even the crazy days are just another part of our adventures!
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| Ran into some friends at the park when we watched Cameron for a day too! |
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| First Day of School! Both wearing their tiger orange... |
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| Water fun in the backyard...HAHA! |
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| Crazies! |
New Baby Girls
Eloise is no longer the baby of the family because we welcomed the Harris Family's little Olive Margaret! She's a cutie and Ellie loves to try to hold her and feed her goldfish crackers. I know they'll love playing together someday very soon.
Two friends had sweet little girls this fall too: the Bassets welcome Miss Nataly Paige and Katie and Will Lentz welcomed sweet Olivia Grace. Lots of little girls for Ellie to play with soon!
State Fair Fun
Ohhhh State Fairs...We loved you well this year! We took a little family vacation to the Kansas State Fair, where we also get to meet up with some of our favorite native Kansans. Mimi went too, and we loved staying with Aunt Jayne and Uncle John, as well as playing with cousins Emma and Riley and their momma, Sara!
The Oklahoma State Fair was special this year, because it was our first time to go to Disney on Ice, thanks to Mimi and Papa! The Harris Family went too, with each kiddo dressed up in their own Disney themed costume. Ellie was a girl Sully, of course, or as we called her: "Sully-ette". We didn't get to eat much there, so we had to go again later on in the week to taste all the interesting food and shop around in the buildings.
Autumn Festivities
FALLLLL! How do we LOVE FALL!?!? It has been filled with visits to pumpkin patches, fall flower tents, Pumpkinville at the Myriad Gardens, OU game day experiences, and OU Alumni Band events. Here is just a sampling of what we got to do, and we LOVED it...
5. Favorite item?
With Ellie's learned love of swimming, I loved her little floatie thing she used this summer, especially at White Water. It gave her the freedom she wanted, but kept her safe too. Can't wait till next summer when we can use it again!
With Ellie's learned love of swimming, I loved her little floatie thing she used this summer, especially at White Water. It gave her the freedom she wanted, but kept her safe too. Can't wait till next summer when we can use it again!
6. Favorite moment these past months?
I really can't say...because looking through the pictures there are so many "favorite" moments. Can I say my favorite moment is ALL OF IT? I guess I make the rules for my own blog, so YES! There were difficult and challenging moments, hours, and even days, but there are so many memories we've made.
I really can't say...because looking through the pictures there are so many "favorite" moments. Can I say my favorite moment is ALL OF IT? I guess I make the rules for my own blog, so YES! There were difficult and challenging moments, hours, and even days, but there are so many memories we've made.
7. Looking forward to these next months?
THE HOLIDAYS!!! As much fun as this summer and fall was with our growing girl, I can't wait to watch the wonder in her eyes as she has new experiences. Every first of her first year was fun to watch, but also somewhat stressful, in that I felt the need to document each one. Now, I am able to just enjoy watching, and maybe document. Or probably document. You know me, but it's just not as overwhelming as it all was a year ago. THANK YOU JESUS!
8. Visitors?
No new ones buts LOTS of time with friends and family. What's the point of all the hard-work if you don't take time to have fun? And we love to have fun! Even when it's more work or makes us tired. It's always worth it, and always will be.
THE HOLIDAYS!!! As much fun as this summer and fall was with our growing girl, I can't wait to watch the wonder in her eyes as she has new experiences. Every first of her first year was fun to watch, but also somewhat stressful, in that I felt the need to document each one. Now, I am able to just enjoy watching, and maybe document. Or probably document. You know me, but it's just not as overwhelming as it all was a year ago. THANK YOU JESUS!
8. Visitors?
No new ones buts LOTS of time with friends and family. What's the point of all the hard-work if you don't take time to have fun? And we love to have fun! Even when it's more work or makes us tired. It's always worth it, and always will be.
9. One thing I've learned:
I've really learned how to enjoy time with my Ellie-girl, and how to better balance everyday demands with fun time together. Our summer was so much fun, and though I didn't want it to end, I have loved fall with her, as she is like a little sponge, soaking in every experience and learning new things each day. It is amazing to watch her learn and grow, and I am loving it. It is great to be in this place that I am right now, and I am so thankful to have learned how to let go a little more and have fun!
I've really learned how to enjoy time with my Ellie-girl, and how to better balance everyday demands with fun time together. Our summer was so much fun, and though I didn't want it to end, I have loved fall with her, as she is like a little sponge, soaking in every experience and learning new things each day. It is amazing to watch her learn and grow, and I am loving it. It is great to be in this place that I am right now, and I am so thankful to have learned how to let go a little more and have fun!
10. My message to Ellie:
My beautiful growing girl...You certainly are the bright spots in my everyday! We have loved the fun we've had with you this summer and early fall, and we can't wait to see what the wonder of the holiday season brings for us. Your smiles, hugs, and kisses are my favorite things, and I love that I get to spend each day with you (even when you make me crazy). Ellie-girl - you seem to surprise us everyday with something new that you've learned and your personality is coming out more and more too. I love you so much little lady! Thanks for making me a momma!
And a few more favorites...
My beautiful growing girl...You certainly are the bright spots in my everyday! We have loved the fun we've had with you this summer and early fall, and we can't wait to see what the wonder of the holiday season brings for us. Your smiles, hugs, and kisses are my favorite things, and I love that I get to spend each day with you (even when you make me crazy). Ellie-girl - you seem to surprise us everyday with something new that you've learned and your personality is coming out more and more too. I love you so much little lady! Thanks for making me a momma!
And a few more favorites...
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| Fun at lunch with Lola! |
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| Big sister MC and Ellie playing at Uncle Darin & Uncle Tai's house! |
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| Our Sully-Ette! |
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| 18-month mirror selfie, as always! |
Thanks for reading friends! Until next time...
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