Quick Pictures

I know that there are a couple of people that check this blog on Friday evenings (Hi Grandma and Aunt Jan!) and I don't want to disappoint them, so here are a few pictures of Ellie from this past week:

Hanging out at our friends' house with their daughter, Emily.

"Reading" Stephen Colbert's book I Am America (And So Can You). This was Daddy's idea...

At the park, with Daddy. Too bad this shot turned out blurry.

With Mommy at the park. Daddy did a better job taking pictures. His did not turn out blurry!

Ellie loves this slide. We sit on one side and let her sit on the other, then we go down together (with Mommy or Daddy hanging on tight, of course.)

Never a Dull Moment

Ellie is such a joy these days! She has really come into her own since she has become mobile. She has always had her own opinions about things, but now she is very good at communicating what she wants and where she wants to be - which is usually doing something she isn't supposed to and going somewhere she isn't allowed! If things get quiet, we know she is being "naughty!"

Here are some pictures of Ellie being herself:

Discovering the washing machine. Look at all the pretty colors, and they spin too!

What do you mean shoes are dirty and shouldn't be played with?

In the exersaucer is not nearly as fun as under it!

Christmas started early here (a post on that later) and Ellie enjoyed shredding tissue paper. If anyone is wondering what Ellie would like for Christmas, a bag of paper would suit her fine!

The latest way to carry something from point A to point B. When your hands are busy helping you crawl and stand, where else are you supposed to hold things? She has seen this method work for the dogs, so why not her, too?

Standing and creeping along furniture.

Pumpkin Pictures

Here are the promised pictures of Ellie and her pumpkin. I was determined to find a pumpkin big enough to put Ellie in for her first Halloween, because, hey when else can you fit in a pumpkin? So here is the chronology:

Ellie standing beside her pumpkin before the carving started.

Pumpkin guts are fun!!!

Look at me! I fit!

Nine Months Old (Last Week)

Ellie turned nine months old last weekend. She also happened to be 40 weeks old as well - the same length as my pregnancy (okay, it was technically 41 weeks). Ellie has officially been a part of the world for the same length of time that I carried her in my body. Pretty amazing! I can't believe that 18 months ago the beginnings of what would be our little girl were just starting to form. How far she has come!

How Ellie has changed over the past month:

• Crawling!!! Ellie is mobile, and into everything. Nothing is safe anymore!
• Clapping. All we have to say is, "yea!" and the clapping begins.
• Waving "hi" and "bye-bye" to everyone, it makes the grocery store take a long time.
• Still babbling tons, adding sounds everyday. She still only says "Mama" or "Mom" consistently, but she seems to be saying something that sounds a little like"Baba" for Daddy. She also says "hi" sometimes when you wave at her, but I don't know if it is just a coincidence. She is constantly talking, so it can be hard to know if she really said a word, or if she was just stringing a bunch of sounds together and happened to make a recognizable word.
• Pulling up on everything. Ellie loves to stand and tries to climb on things. She has a lot of fun climbing up stairs.
• She won't sit in her Exersaucer for very long anymore, so we have started putting her in a playpen while we get ready in the morning. She tolerates this much better, since she can crawl around in there.
• Finally back to only two nursings at night. It took us a long time to get back down from three after our trips last month.
• Ellie can sometimes be put to bed or down for nap awake now and get herself off to sleep. This is a major milestone for our not-so-great sleeper!

Events of the last month:

• We bought Ellie's first pair of "walking" shoes. Tim and I have a bet going about when she will walk. I say by December 11th (one month away) and Tim says January 1st. We'll see who wins!
• Ellie's first flu shot.
• First major "boo-boo" from falling after pulling herself up on her toy box. She cut her lip and got a small bruise over her eye. I'm sure it is the first of many bumps to come.
• Trick-or-treating for the first time.
• Carving her first pumpkin (pictures will be coming).

Ellie saw the pediatrician for her nine month check-up last week. Here are the stats:

• 16 pounds, 3.5 ounces (10th percentile)
• 27.25 inches long (50th percentile)
• I forget what her head measured, bu it was the 40h percentile

The percentiles have remained fairly consistent since she was born, always near the bottom in weight and about average for length and head circumference.

I Am a Terrible Blogger

Two posts? TWO? In an entire month? Yes, I am a terrible blogger. I will try to do better this month. So, here goes the Ellie update:


Crawling! Yes, our little baby is mobile. Nothing is safe. Not even the dogs. They do not quite know what to think now that this little creature can follow them. And pull their tails.

Ellie still doesn't regularly say any words other than "Mom." She uses this word to mean absolutely everything. It means she wants to be held, fed, nursed, played with, talked to, and so on. My favorite is when I am right in front of her and she yells, "MOM!" and I try to explain to her that "mom" means me, and I am right there so she doesn't need to yell...


She has picked up several "baby signs." She waves hi and bye, signs that she wants a drink from her sippy cup, and that she is all done eating.

She claps! She learned that on Halloween while we were eating dinner. Suddenly she stopped what she was doing and started clapping. She thought it was great when she would clap and we would say "Yea!"


Ah, Halloween. Ellie was dressed as a lamb. The only pictures we have of her in her costume right now are ones taken at Tim's work in the middle of the day. We did take her out trick-or-treating with all of the alley kids. She got scared when a woman answered the door in a gorilla mask, but overall she enjoyed it.