26 Weeks!

Yesterday was Ellie's half birthday...that's right she is now SIX months old!!  We went to the doctor yesterday, so I have some new updates on our BIG girl!  Yesterday was also my mom's "__th" birthday, so happy birthday De De!!  I thought she looked so sweet in her cherry pj's that I didn't even change her before I took her picture this morning!

18 pounds--90th percentile

27 1/2 inches--95th percentile

Head measured 43 cm (I think)--75th percentile

Dr. Amy also gave us the go ahead to start on solids.  After naptime, I decided to try sweet potatoes.  I think it's fair to say that this girl LOVED THEM!  She ate the entire jar with no problems at all. 

We are going to stick with sweet potatoes for this week and then probably move on to another yellow veggie next week.  I bought all fresh sweet potatoes, squash, and baby carrots at the farmers market this weekend and plan on making and freezing my own baby food.  I will let you all know how that goes!  She will be eating jars this week just because we are going out of town and I haven't bought ice cube trays to freeze my homemade.

It seems like she is starting something new everyday now.  I finally decided to be brave and just see if she could sit up on her own, and to our surprise she did!  I guess I never knew if she was ready to sit up or not, because I had never let go of her long enough to let her actually try.  Sunday in Greenfield at Don's mom's house, she was starting to kind of do an army crawl with her knees, just no hands.  It was so funny to watch her try so hard to move, and then get tired and lay her head down.  She is closer to being mobile than I thought.  STOP time, STOP!!!!

Look who...

Is SIX months old!

And SITTING UP!!!

And riding in her stroller like a BIG GIRL!

Where has the time gone?  

She has gone from this...

To this....

In a flash!

25 Weeks

It's Tuesday again, so you know what that means!  Another week has flown by and we are now at 25 weeks.  I cannot believe next week Ellie will be 6 months old!

I did a list of updates last week, but I forgot a couple of things. 

Ellie, you:

• SLEEP ALL NIGHT!  Like, 9-7:30 all night.  YAY!!!
• Still have no teeth.  I cut my first tooth at 5 months.  I know it will be anytime now with all of the drool and chewing. 
• Take 2 great naps pretty much every day.  In fact, you are down for your afternoon nap right now!  You take about an hour nap in the morning and at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  I try and be productive while you are napping:)
• Have more clothes than I do!  Thanks De De and her fun friends for the cute outfit in these pictures.  You have 4 Christmas outfits, your birthday dress, and even your Easter dress for NEXT year waiting on you. 
• Are the happiest, sweetest, cutest baby on the planet.  You bring us such joy each day!  Your smile melts our hearts and we cannot stand to hear you cry.  You may be a tad bit on the spoiled side, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  We love you SO SO MUCH!!

Good News

Yesterday Ellie had her hearing test at the West Tennessee School for the Deaf.  We could not have asked for a better experience!  The doctor that saw her was wonderful, she passed the test with flying colors, and this facility is run by state tax dollars which meant it was free!  Apparently the antibiotic gentamycin that she was on in the NICU for 7 full days is some pretty powerful stuff.  The doctor said that they only use it in extreme cases and don't even worry about the side effects (such as hearing loss) because they are more concerned about the baby and getting rid of the infection.  She also said she consults with doctors at St. Jude who are more familiar with gentamycin and they have not seen many hearing loss cases but more issues dealing with balance.  I was starting to get worried about why she was not sitting up yet, so maybe this is why.  Daddy seems to think she is just held too much and has NO desire to do it on her own yet (and he is probably right!).  I know when she is ready it will happen, but I am kind of ready for her to be sitting up on her own!  We will still go back every 6 months to have her re-checked for the next couple of years and I am ok with that.  We will also be watching her closely to see if we notice any changes.  So good news...YAY!!!

While we were in Memphis, we were able to visit with Missy, Kevin, Maddie and Turner.  Here are some pictures of Ellie with her sweet cousins!

Today...

Tonight we are all packing up and headed to Memphis for Matt and Rachel's Bachelor/Bachelorette weekend!  The boys are headed to New Orleans in the morning and I am off to Hot Springs on Saturday. Even though she will be in GREAT hands, I am going to miss my girl like crazy! 

Get this...MY DAD, and uncle are even going to the party.  Can we say SCARY?  I don't even want to know what happens.  All I said to Don was that the only 2 guys married with children that are going are him and my dad, so they better behave!!  But I do hope they have fun and enjoy some "male bonding" or whatever you want to call it.  I hope those boys brought their earplugs!

Last night, we finally got to meet Mr. Will!  He is so sweet and cuddly:)  It was so hard for me to picture Ellie being that small almost 6 months ago.  I can't wait to get a picture of them together.  Will was sleeping most of the time while we were there so I didn't want to disturb him. 

And since this is already a random post...here are some pictures of Ellie and Minnie.  Ellie has really taken a big interest in Minnie in the last week.  I have to admit, it makes me a little nervous, but Minnie has been so good.  She just sits there and lets Ellie pull, pet and tug on her.  It's kind of sweet!

24 weeks

24 weeks?  Really?  I can't believe it!  We are having so much fun with her at this stage! 

She is so interactive, "talks" ALL THE TIME, squeals, kicks like crazy, plays with toys and is just an overall joy!

A few updates:

• Still taking 5 (sometimes 6)  6 ounce bottles of Enfamil AR for spit up formula
• Wearing a size 2 diaper
• I packed up (SO SAD!) all of her newborn to 3-6 clothes.  She was running low on PJ's so I went through and found about 7 new pairs in her closet.  Shocker!  It's like she has a new wardrobe every few months!  So she is officially in all  6 month clothes, some 6-9 and even a few 9 month PJ's.  BIG girl!
• She eats rice cereal once a day...2 tablespoons mixed with formula and Apple/Prune juice blend to assist with the ongoing tummy issues. 
• She is literally laughing out loud at everything!  Hearing her laugh makes me laugh and it is such a sweet sound.  She really cracks herself up!
• Still not sitting up on her own, but she's close! 
• Rolling over when she's in the mood, not as often as it was in the beginning.
• Loving the exersaucer!  We still have to put a blanket behind her to keep her steady, but she's having fun playing.
• Spit up is better, but definitely not gone.  We refilled the Prevacid prescription and it is helping.  I am ready for her to be off of that stuff!

We go to the West TN School for the Deaf next Monday the 19th  to have her hearing checked again.  The NICU scheduled this appointment for us after she was born.  They said the antibiotics she was on could cause hearing loss so this is just a precautionary measure.  I know she can hear just fine, but I am still a little anxious.  Just the thought of us having this appointment in the first place is a little unnerving.  De De is coming with us for moral support!

The following Monday, the 26th, is her  6 month well baby visit!  More shots, more stats and more fun with Dr. Amy!  I promise to have a follow up post with all the latest info. 

Our Saturday

We have had a pretty exciting Saturday!  Ellie woke up around 6 to eat and went back down until around 8:15, so I got to sleep in!  I let Don sleep since he had worked until around midnight and decided to cook him breakfast...a rare treat!

After we had all eaten, the plan was for us to meet Emily at the pool for some fun in the sun.  Our plans changed a little, however, because I got a text from Leigh saying they were at the hospital and her water had broken!  I could hardly believe it!  So I hopped in the shower and got ready so we could all head up to the hospital before Don had to go in to work at 2.  Leigh was so calm but very anxious for Baby Will.  It is 5:45 now, and we are still waiting to hear the news of his arrival.  I hope he comes soon so we can go back up there to see him before Ellie's bedtime!

After we got home from the hospital, Mammie called to say she was in town and wanted to stop by for a visit!  I am glad she got here before Ellie went down for a nap, I would have hated for her to come all the way here and not be able to see her:)

The rest of our afternoon has consisted of a lot of cereal eatin', bottle washin', laundry foldin', exersaucer playin', and just lots of fun!  Earlier I was thinking in my head what I would have been doing on this Saturday if Ellie wasn't here, and I really couldn't come up with anything too exciting.  Wow I was boring!

Now we are waiting on Auntie Em to bring dinner and hang out with us...looks like we've got a little girls night in planned!

22 & 23 weeks

Here is a combo post of Ellie's 22 and 23 week pictures.  I am horrified that I am posting pictures of her wearing a stained onesie, but she had just woken up (from a 2 hour nap!) and I was about to feed her so I didn't want to dirty up another shirt.  I do enough laundry!!  As you can see, I am about to have to come up with a new way to do these weekly pictures.

 I did last week's in her Pottery Barn chair, but I had to wash the cover (told you I do enough laundry!) so I had to resort back to the crib.  The signs were bent and torn and covered in drool by the time we finished.  It cracks me up because she puts her hands on everything these days!

This girl knows what is good...she was REALLY wanting some of my homemade chocolate ice cream at my parents house yesterday.  She was grunting like crazy and pulling at the cup!  She is a girl after my own heart for sure:)

the 4th

We had a great weekend full of family and food!  Unfortunately, I was so busy that the only pictures I seemed to get were of you know who.  HA!

Saturday we worked in the yard and I went to Brownsville to pick up Ellie from my parents.  She had a great time with them and Granny and Grandonna and was super spoiled I am sure!  Saturday night Don worked so we helped Auntie Em move into her new apartment.  Unfortunately the apartment isn't in such a great area so we may be helping her move again soon.  That is ok with us, we just want her to be safe!!

Sunday morning we went to church and then got ready for all of our company Sunday night!  We grilled out, played corn hole, and shot off so many huge fireworks that I was afraid we were all going to jail.  Luckily everyone stayed safe and Ellie slept straight through them all.

Monday morning we got up and drove to Memphis to have lunch with my parents, grandparents, and Matt and Rachel.  The wedding countdown is officially on...25 days!!!  We had a great time visiting with all of our family over the weekend.  Ellie was sure loved on and held by everyone!  I am glad she has so many sweet family members that love her SO much!

Here is Miss America herself all dressed and ready for lunch at De De and Peeps house!

My grandparents bought her this jumperoo so she would have something to play in when she came to visit.  She LOVES it!  She fits perfectly in it and plays with all of the toys so well.  I wish we had room for one! 

Holiday Weekend

I realize I have slacked with Ellie's 22 week post this week.  I will just make up for it next week with 2 separate weekly posts.  She is with my mom today so Don and I can get some things done after work.  We have joked about being popular this 4th of July because we have gotten 3 or 4 different invitations to do things on Sunday...everyone wants to hang out with us now what we have a baby!

We ultimately decided to stay home and not drive all over the place this weekend.  I could just picture a bedtime meltdown right when the fireworks started and us driving home and missing out on it all anyway.  So Sunday Don's mom, sister and cousin are coming over to cook out with us.  I am also going to invite my friend Emily (Em, if you are reading this--this is your invite!) since she moves to J-town tomorrow!  So we are looking forward to a low key cookout with our family with some burgers, dogs, an American flag cake and maybe even some homemade ice cream!

And of course Miss Priss will be decked out in her holiday gear...I promise to have lots of cute pictures after the weekend!  Are these bloomers not the cutest thing?  They came FREE (along with a cute flower headband) when I ordered some pink bloomers just like them for E's 6 months pics.  I can't wait for another little photoshoot!  Happy 4th!