10 Months Old

Ellie is 10 months old today, or as Ben says she has hit the double digits. So much has happened in the last month. She is eating more and it seems growing more. She is crawling, attempting to wave bye-bye, talking more, loves playing peek-a-boo with anything she can find, smiling more, discovering Maggie more and her new thing blowing raspberries. With crawling comes more climbing. She has gotten 2 teeth this past month. She continues to be a little girl with a developing personality and a sweet spirit. She is more and more independent every day and loves to play on her own and can entertain herself for long periods of time. She is extra squirmy now that she has discovered the ability to move on her own, so being held is becoming a thing of the past as she is too busy to sit still and lets you know by squirming. We love to watch her explore more things every day as she crawls around and sees things from a new perspective. We love to observe her as she explores on her own what this world is all about. We can't wait to see what happens this next month!

Ellie Trying to Pull Up

Now that Ellie is crawling she is trying to pull up on everything!

Helping Grandpa

My parents came to visit last week just for a very short visit to see Ellie get dedicated. Of course while they were here they had to buy her a new toy! We think Grandpa might spoil Ellie more than anyone around :) Ellie decided to help Grandpa put her toy together. It was good thing she was there :)

Silly Girl

The other day Ellie emptied all the toys out of her toy box and decided inside the toy box was a great place to sit!

Look Who is a Big Girl

Ellie got her big girl car seat last week. We usually try to go neutral with most big purchases, but we found a great Labor Day deal and had to take the pattern they had. She loves her new car seat and the new perspective it gives her!

Swing Time

Ellie loves swinging. Last week I took her to the park one evening so she could enjoy the swing.

Wagon Date

Ellie had a little wagon date last week. (Shh, don't tell Daddy!) My neighbor and friend Caroline and her little boy Ethan love little Ellie. We have a great time hanging out and love that they live just across the street. Last week we went on a walk with them. Now Ellie gets to ride in the wagon with Ethan while Mayli rides in Ellie's stroller. It is so great of Caroline to help us out with our walks and the moms get some great time together too.

We have a little crawler!

Ellie has been getting around for a little while by rolling, scooting and lunging, but last weekend she started really crawling. I got it on video for all the family to see! She is so much faster in just a week and is already using things to pull up on. Watch out world!

Little Miss Independent

I stepped out of Ellie's room for a second to come back and find this. She was apparently showing Mayli how to get the toys out all by yourself. She doesn't need any one's help anymore to make a mess! Next step: teaching her how to clean it up by herself :)

Doing Some Thinking

The Beach

We recently took our first family vacation to the beach. We had a wonderful time and had much needed family time. We never take a vacation that is only us and it was nice to start this tradition with Ellie here now. We did lots of swimming, the pool in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. Ellie had a great time in the pool and loved being pulled around in her float. She also loved sitting like a big girl in her own lounge chair eating her snack. At the beach she loved sitting on my lap at the edge of the water and feeling the water and sand. She also loved the sand and especially loved eating it, but she didn't spend much time in it this time since her Daddy didn't like her getting it all over her and eating it. Next time we will spend some time playing in the sand a little more :) Ellie and I got colds while we were there, but nothing too bad and Ellie was a trooper and didn't let it bother her and luckily Ben didn't get it until on the way home. We are so thankful to our friends for letting us borrow their beach condo, it was a wonderful trip filled with many wonderful memories!!!