Sunday, July 31, 2011

Random-ness....

I have decided that I am NOT a good blogger - I always put it off! But, I L.O.V.E. reading everyone's blogs and know people enjoy ours...so here is a bunch of RANDOM pictures from the last two weeks.

Elle had a friend come visit for the weekend. Chloe and Cami - Chloe and I have been BFF's since Preschool/Kindergarten. We did everything together as kids and I love that we stay in touch. Chloe and I are only 8 days apart - Cami and Elle are only one month apart! It is so neat that we have girls the same age.

We took a HOT walk over to visit the goats. The mommy goat just had babies, and they are (surprisingly) cute! Yes, I live in city limits, but there is a little ranch across the street with goats and a horse. It is the neighborhood's "main attraction" with the kids!

Elle and Cami enjoyed "watching TV" in Elle's crib. Okay, it isn't a TV, it is the fishy sound machine where the same 10 fish swim past every 5 seconds! Elle looks thrilled to have someone else in her crib doesn't she?!?


It never failed, Cami and Elle would trade sippy cups. Chloe would hand Cami hers, I would hand Elle hers and then they would trade. At least they were keeping hydrated in the heat! :)

We spent some time outside, it was SO HOT that weekend, our time was limited and usually involved water! The next picture is classic, something you would see on a Noah's Arch billboard! We put Elle's slide into the pool...Elle was super excited....and this is what her first (and only) trip down the slide looked like! BAHAHAHA Luckily, she did NOT hit her head, she did NOT cry, but she was done swimming for the day! :)

Elle and Cami even took a bath together. Just capturing another photo for Elle's graduation!!! Cami was trying to teach Elle that you SIT in the bath tub, thanks for the lesson Cami. She still insists on standing...urgh.

What do you do try escape the heat? Go play at the mall, of course. We met our neighbors at the mall one afternoon. I have learned from a few wise mother's before me - don't put $$ in the rides, just let them climb and pretend. Elle thought it was great! :)

We weren't the only one's who had this idea, the mall toys were packed! It took Elle a little while to warm up, she sat on this tree stump for about 15 minutes watching all of the other kids.

We finished swimming lessons and on our last day of lessons, we met up with some other mom's and kids. Surprisingly, we are all teachers and we all have girls ranging 1-2 - Elle being the youngest. Claire, Elle, Danaka, and Ellie - it was a busy morning at the park!

Elle continues to enjoy the water, she loves being on her tummy floating - we are still working on being on our back...

We helped Finley celebrate his golden birthday! He was one lucky boy - a real fire truck came to his house! Firefighter Elle!

It has been a summer of BIG house projects. This past weekend, we roofed the house (we as in Dave, Papa Bill, Uncle Adam, Grandpa, and Patrick, I stayed in the house and cooked)! It was a big job and if it wasn't for the HEAT and RAIN, we would have been done Saturday evening. It is now complete and looks great! Thank you EVERYONE who helped and a big thanks to the Sullivan family! Let me know when we can watch the kids! ;)

Elle had her one year check up. She is a healthy baby girl weighing in at 20.5lbs. (50%)and 29 inches long (50%). She did have to get 4 nasty shots - but she did remarkably well.

After being told she was a healthy girl, Elle came down with strep throat. Who knew a one year old could get strep. She was running a low grade fever for three days, so I decided to take her in and see if it was something else (besides her teeth). Sure enough, she had strep and was put on antibiotics. We have been so fortunate to have such a healthy baby, this is her first 'illness" - not even a runny nose before this!! She is back to her happy, healthy little self!

What does our one year do these days:

  • LOVES to read books - The Wheels on the Bus, Farm Book, Dogs, Eight Silly Monkeys, How Big?
  • LOVES to play with her babies - feed them, kiss them, push them in her stroller or high chair.
  • LOVES to play outside - swing, slide, play in the sand, swim, play with the hose, I could go on!
  • LOVES to talk on the phone.
  • Do anything you are doing.
  • She is still kind of a picky eater, but is getting better; Here are a few things we KNOW she will eat: grilled cheese, hot dogs, mac-n-cheese, pickles, pineapple, peaches, pears, fruit cocktail, toast, waffles, yogurt, chicken, any kind of cracker, and cookies (who doesn't).
  • NO more bottles! She drinks from a sippy cup - even before bed!
  • NO more formula! She drinks 1% milk. That was question for the Dr. - she got REALLY gassy and wouldn't drink whole milk. Our Dr. said it might be to fatty for her little tummy to digest, and to try whatever we had in the house.
  • She is saying a few words: mommy, daddy, baby.
  • She can sign: more and all done.
  • She has transitioned to ONE nap a day. Aprrox. 1pm -3pm
  • Bedtime is at 8pm and she will normally sleep until about 8am! 12 hours, lovely!

We are packing all of our "gear" and heading to the County of Door this week. Our families annual camping trip! We are soooo excited! Our next post will be of vacation!

Thanks for checking in and sorry for the untimely-ness (I don't thing that is a word) of my posts.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Our Little Lady is ONE!!

Where did the time go??? I still cannot believe that our little girl is ONE!! It feels like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday.

Our first family picture - July 11th at approximately 2am!

Heading home from the hospital July 13th in a HORRIBLE rain storm!


7 days old - professional pictures by Mary Moua



We had a wonderful celebration on Saturday with family and friends. The theme - "Our Little Lady-bug Turns 1". Dave and his Dad took care of the grilling - Yummy food!

While we waited for the food, the kids played in the yard. Thank goodness the mosquitoes weren't too bad!

Lots of visiting...


Filling up on the good food!

The boys had to eat too! I think they had potato salad for dinner....okay maybe next year! :)


Stacy and Andrew (neighbors) helped Elle celebrate her 1st birthday. Stacy is also the wonderful lady who made Elle's adorable cake - picture below!

Elle tried a brat and sauerkraut! Her mother likes neither - but if she likes it, game on! She was a little tired for her party, as she only napped for about 45 minutes ALL day (that is another story, for another day!)

Elle was spoiled with wonderful gifts, thank you everyone for being so generous!

We decided to move the gifts outside, more room for all of the helpers! Elle is very lucky to have such wonderful friends and cousins to help her open presents

This picture cracks me up - Elle isn't even paying attention to the current gift being opened...but her "helpers" were! Maybe next year she will know what is going on! :)

She was more interested in the paper that stuffed her ladybug purse full, than her new toys...

Until her slide was put together. She L.O.V.E.S. her new slide. She is able to climb up the little climbing wall and slide down. Thank you Gramma and Grampa for the slide!

Now that things have calmed down (and everyone is gone) she LOVES all of her new toys! She loves pushing anything and this new stroller is perfect! She now has 3 different babies to push around the house! What more could a girl ask for?


Elle shares too....I think every kid took a turn pushing the stroller!


We all know Dave is a talented man, but he took it to the next level. While we were opening gifts, he was video taping to capture the event. He also had a beer in his hand, when he noticed a tiki torch was falling over....Video camera (which he kept steady) in one hand, beer in mouth and tiki torch in the other hand! Nice work Daddy, you make us proud!!! ;)

Aiden wore his party hat! And the look on his face is because he wants his Dad to put his party hat on too...

Check out this adorable cake!!! Thank you so much to Stacy for making this yummy cake!

Elle got her own little cake to destroy! While we sang Happy Birthday to her, she held one finger up!

And then she dug in with both hands. She didn't really eat much, but loved the feeling of squishing it between her fingers! Great sensory activity!


Off to the tub to clean up!


Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate Elle's first birthday. Elle is one lucky girl to has so many wonderful people in her life.

On her actual birthday - Monday, she woke up to a "new ride" in the living room. She was a little confused at first, but then jumped right in.

Road kill...she slipped through the bottom and got stuck. Of course the wonderful mother that I am took a picture first, then rescued her! :)


Elle also started swimming lessons on her birthday! She enjoys being in the water, but 30 minutes of swimming lessons is LONG enough to be contained. She would much rather splash on her own.

What does a one year old do at swimming lessons:
kick, blow bubbles, float, glide (push off the wall), sing songs, and have fun!

After swimming lessons, we stayed to play for a little bit and had a snack at the pool. Hopefully next week's weather will be warmer - 66 degrees is NOT ideal for swimming! :)

We took Elle to McDonald's for her birthday dinner. She got her first Happy Meal and ate ONE chicken nugget!

Yummy french fries...


Then she played in the play area. There were a few "big" kids, so she didn't venture far!


When we got home from McDonald's Elle finished opening her gifts from Mom and Dad.

We got her (among other things), her first Cabbage Patch doll. She feeds her baby Kaia, kisses her, rocks her, and pushes her in the stroller. Adorable!!


In other news....

We finally hooked up the Burley to the bike. OMG - you can't even tell it is behind you! Elle rides great and Daddy and I enjoyed the ride. We took another ride last night and only got about two blocks away when I ran over a piece of glass and popped my tire....URGH!!! I was sooo mad, but good thing it weren't too far from home. So we will have to wait a few days to ride again.

One of my summer projects was to "restore" my play kitchen for Elle. This is a very special kitchen that my Grampa Wamboldt made me. I have lots of memories of this kitchen and I am so excited that Elle will too!

Before....


After...

Another busy week - but I am enjoying every minute of it. I love being home with my family!!