Friends

Here are a couple of pictures I took last night while all the kids played in the alley and the moms talked - all waiting for the daddies to get home. This is Ellie and her friend, Jamison. She loves it when he comes and sits by her. See how happy she is?



This is usually what ends up happening. Although, Ellie is getting pretty good at grabbing his head back!

Lots of Firsts

Ellie has had a lot of "firsts" over the past few days.

On Saturday she played in an outdoor swimming pool for the first time. Our neighbors were having a birthday party for their kids and rented out a city pool for the evening. Everyone had a great time, except for Ellie. She did not like the pool at all - a big change from the last time she was in a pool. I got in with her and splashed around; she cried. We did not get any pictures, but just imagine a screaming baby and you get the idea.


Sunday we took Ellie on her first real hike. Though it was short by our standards, especially Tim's, we had a great time. The dogs also went along. Ellie rode in the backpack carrier and enjoyed looking around. She only fussed when we first put her in; once we got moving she was happy as a clam. She dozed a couple of times on the hike and even did pretty well in the car on the way there and back. These pictures are in the wrong order - the one of her in the carrier on the ground is when we were just getting started.





Lastly, Ellie got her first tooth yesterday. It isn't up far enough to see it well enough for a picture, but the pointy little top is definitely through her gums! Yeah!

Here are a couple of pictures of her playing. The pillows behind her aren't to hold her up, just to catch her when she randomly pitches backwards!

Roseola

Ellie has come down with roseola. As far as childhood illnesses go, this one is pretty mild. She woke up with a fever early Friday morning; it finally broke on Sunday. During the time she was sick she acted pretty normal, so we blamed it on teething. Well, Tuesday as I was changing her diaper for her midday nap I noticed she had some pink spots around her waistline. I pulled her shirt up and discovered that they were everywhere. The rash extended to her back and neck, and ultimately on top of her head. I put her down for nap and called the doctor.

While I waited for the nurse to call back I got on the Internet (you know me) and had it diagnosed before the phone rang. When I described the symptoms the nurse confirmed that it sounded like roseola. Unless the fever returns, the rash gets worse, or the rash doesn't disappear by tomorrow we don't have to see the doctor.

It is thought that 90% of kids have roseola by the time they are three. I was a bit surprised that Ellie picked it up already, being as she isn't in childcare. I wonder if it is coincidental that she came down with the fever 7 days after her well-baby check-up...?

What's My Name?

Ellie is getting really good at responding to her name. We call her a million different things, and rarely is it ever "Elizabeth." Which brings up Tim's concern that she will never know what her name really is, what with all the nicknames we have for her. Here is a (partial) list of the things we call our daughter:

• Ellie - most common of the nicknames
• Ellie Belly - a holdover from what we referred to my stomach as when I was pregnant
• Belle - derived from the one above, most often used by Mommy
• Boo - Daddy's name for her
• Ellieroo, Bellyroo - hence the blog URL
• Elzie Bellzie - not quite sure how this one should be spelled, so I spelled it how it sounds
• Punkin Head, Punkin, and Punky - most often used by Mommy
• Sweet Pea - usually called this when we are feeding her (you guessed it) sweet peas

Here is a new picture of our Punkin Head doing tummy time, with the help of a bolster pillow to get her tummy up off of the floor so she can pull her knees under her. Her collar is a disaster because I let her eat lunch without a bib (which drives Tim crazy).

Petting Zoo

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend taken at the petting zoo at the county fair. She seemed to really enjoy it. (As any child of mine would...)

A little unsure at first...

Reaching out to pet a baby camel...

This is the white pony she really liked. He just stood there patiently while she pet his head.

Six Months Old

Wow, has it really been six months? Ellie is more and more interactive and entertaining each day. Tim was just commenting yesterday that for all the things we haven't done in awhile (hiking, going to a movie) we sure get to do some pretty fun things that we never could before, like watching our munchkin splash in the bath and blow raspberries!

It is true - we have never been happier (even with all the not sleeping).

Latest stats from her six month check-up:
Weight: 13 lbs, 6 oz. She has moved from the 5th percentile to the 10th! Yeah!
Length: 25 3/4 inches long. 50th percentile. You can't get more "average" than that!


How Ellie has changed over the past month:

• She is very good at blowing raspberries, in fact the spit flies when she does it now.
• Sleep has deteriorated... She is getting up 4-6 times a night now. She nurses two or three times and I rock her the other times. We are currently reading several "sleep solution" books and plan to implement some kind of sleep training in the next couple of weeks.
• Ellie has perfected sitting. She can sit without using her arms for support. She can now hold toys and play with them and sit up all by herself!
• She now eats some solid foods at each meal. Her favorites are prunes and pears. She also enjoys oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and sweet peas. She tolerates carrots, bananas, apples, and rice cereal.

Events of the last month:

• Ellie slept through the night twice, then her front teeth started moving up and that was the end of that!
• We took Ellie to the fair and she got to pet the animals in the petting zoo (we cleaned her hands really well after). She saw and/or touched the following animals: ducks, sheep, goats, a baby camel, pot-bellied pig, and a pony. She especially liked the pony. She kept reaching out for him.
• "Swimming" in an inflatable pool in the front yard. She wasn't sure at first, but then she got very excited and had a great time.
• Most evenings Ellie plays with the other kids who live on our alley. The moms chat while we wait for all the dads to get home from work. She especially likes watching Jamison, who is 13 months old, and he in turn likes to pull her hair... Tim and I think that they will be good friends as they get older.

Zombie...

That is what I have felt like for the past week and a half. Ellie began teething in earnest and hit a growth spurt all at the same time. The end result is that for about a week she was literally waking up to nurse every single hour. She would either want to nurse for comfort to ease her teething pain; or she would want to nurse because she was hungry and needed to stimulate an increase in my milk production. Whatever the reason, the nights were long and exhausting. I was sleeping 15 minutes at a time between ending one feeding/comforting session and her crying to start another. By the time Tim would get up and take over at 5am I was absolutely beat. I would crash until 8am when Tim left for work. Then Ellie and I would take her morning (and sometimes mid-day) nap together.

The growth spurt seems to be over and we can see white dots where two bottom teeth are trying to poke through. Hopefully they will make their appearance soon!

We're ready to head to the doctor for Ellie's 6 month checkup (and shots...). We'll let you know all her latest stats in the next post.