Ellie's one year pictures

My friend Bev is so great!  She is alwasy willing to take pictures of Ellie for me when I ask.  She took pictures of Ellie when she turned one.  They turned out so great!

Our baby turned one!

Ellie Grace turned one today. We are still in shock that we have a one year old. she is getting so big and has all of a sudden turned into a toddler. We love this little girl so much it is crazy! On her birthday we got together with immediate family. She shares a birthday with her uncle Shawn so it was fun to celebrate his 40th as well.

At one year Ellie:

• Walks around things like crazy and can sometimes stand on her own.  She seems very unsure of the whole walking thing though.
• Says: Mama, Dada, ow, hi, hello, tickle tickle (not even kidding and it is so dang cute), uh oh when she drops something, OOHHH, moo like a cow.
•  shakes her head no, waves bye, blows kisses, gives kisses, crawls over and climbs up on our legs,  gives high fives, gives hugs, feeds the dog, makes many many noises with her tongue and trys to mimic everything we do.  She also raises her hands above her head when we say so big.
• Is getting a preference when it comes to foods she likes.  Her favorites are: Bread (any), cereal, fruit snacks, vegetables, any fruit, ravioli.  She doesn't like:  Mac N cheese, eggs, and deli meat.  LOVES LOVES LOVES milk.
• Loves reading books.  She loves to sit for hours and flip the pages.
• Loves Sesame Street and the Backyardagnes. 
• Loves music and always dances when a song comes on.
• Is no longer taking a bottle.  Didn't even phase her when we took it away.
• LOVES her pink and white blanket.  She is also still a binky baby.
• Still a big girl although she is thining out.  She was in the 90th for everything at her last appointment.





Ellie's Eyes

            This post has been a long time coming.  I wanted to make sure things were for sure before writing a post about it.  You have probably noticed in pictures that Ellie's eyes are a little crossed.  At about four months, we noticed that her eyes just weren't straightening out like they are supposed to.  Since things like lazy eye run in my family, I immediately became worried.  I asked my mom and other people what they thought, and they suggest we get it looked at.  I took her into her pediatrician and told her everything we have noticed and how things like this run in my family.  She told me that they don't normally look at their eyes until six months but because of our circumstances we should definitely get a second opinion (thank heavens for good doctors.)  We scheduled an appointment with Doctor Petersen who is one of the best in the state and just happens to be my sisters eye doctor.

            Our worries were confirmed and he told us at the moment her eyes were just far sided (she can't see things up close) but he wasn't too concerned about lazy eye.  He wanted to wait until she was nine months to see how things played out, so we scheduled another appointment and waited. We took her in at nine months and the change was so drastic that he suggested we get glasses.  She is still just far sided and luckily we aren't looking at lazy eye.....yet.  He gave us a prescription and we went to get her glasses ordered.  She got them the weekend I ran Ragnar so I wasn't there to see them the first day but they were sending me pictures to let me know how cute she looked in them. We took her again last week and her eyes are showing so much change with the glasses that we don't need to worry about surgery or patching yet.  This makes us very happy.  We are so thankful for good doctors who didn't just push us aside and really took the time to look at Ellie's eyes.  They sooner we get her in glasses the better her eyes will get.  Hopefully they continue to work and we don't have to worry about surgery or patching.

She does look pretty dang cute in glasses:

Since getting glasses, many people have asked us questions so I figured I would answer them on here.

1.  How long will she have to wear them?  If everything goes as planned and we don't have to deal with surgery or patching, she could be out of glasses completely by the time she is twelve.  Just in time for Junior High.
2. How did the doctors know that her eyes were bad?  I have no idea how it works.  They measured her lens and other parts of her eye.  One thing I do know is that they are excellent at their jobs.  They went to school for it so I figure they know what they are doing.
3. How do you keep them on her?  We don't.  She has to be really distracted or they come off the minute we put them on.  I was working extremely hard to try and keep them on ALL THE TIME.  As you can imagine I was exhausted.  I told the doctor this and he told me I was working way to much and that as long as she wore them for an hour each day, they would work.  Needless to say I am not as stressed.
4. How are we handling this?  I think I am more emotional about it than A.E. but I have surprised myself.  I thought I would be way upset but I guess I figure there could be way worse things wrong with her.  On a scale of bad this is minimal so we are just thankful for that.

Hopefully they continue to work and her eyes get better fast.

Ten Months.

Ellie,
You are now in the double digit months. We can't even believe it.  You are really starting to grow up into a fun little girl.  Just this month we notice that you are not a baby anymore.  You are thinning out and losing your rolls.  You talk all the time and are getting more mobile by the minute.  Your sweet personality is really coming out and you are still charming everyone you come in contact with.  We love you so much and can't believe you have been ours for this long.  We can't believe you chose us and feel like the luckiest parents in the world.  Love you little stinker.
Love,
Mom and Dad

• You started crawling today for real.  You are now a speed crawler and love that you can get anywhere you want to go. 
• You pull yourself up to your knees and love to grab at things that are in your reach.
• Speaking of reach, we have to be fast or anything and everything goes in your mouth.
• You love drinking from a sippy cup and eating everything we give you.
• You now say Mama, Dada, Hi, Hello, Ow.  Your little voice is so cute.  You also wave hi and goodbye and give kisses.
• Whenever you hear Daddy you get SO excited.  You are such a daddy's girl.
• You are so so so ticklish and giggle like crazy when we tickle you.
• You ride in a toddler car seat still facing backwards though.  You outgrew your other car seat.   You love this one way more.
• You are so fascinated with earings and things on people's heads.   You will anything in your power to touch whatever is on their face, ears, head, etc.

finally.

Ellie started army crawling last Saturday....*sigh*.  I was really okay with my baby staying little for just a little bit longer.  I am happy that she is progressing but I guess without her crawling it made her seem little still.  Oh well.  Time to baby proof (I was really enjoying not having to do this.)

Seven month pictures.

My wonderful friend Beverly took pictures for me again when Ellie was seven months old.  They are fabulous.  She did a great job at capturing Ellie's sweet personality.  Thanks friend!  You are the best.

Swimming.

 We took Ellie swimming for the first time on June 4th.  We were pretty certain that she would like it and thank heavens we were right.  She loves to swim even when the water isn't that warm.  She even cries when we take her out.  I am so glad we have a little fish on our hands.

Don't let this picture fool you.  She had just woken up so she was not happy.

Nine months.

Ellie,
These past nine months have been beyond amazing. We can't believe that in three short months you will have been ours for an entire year. Our love for you grows more and more with each passing day. You are the best part of our lives. We love you chub a lub.
Love,
Mom and Dad

• Say hi to anyone that will pay attention.  You say it in the most adorable little voice.
• Have started getting stranger danger only towards men when you are tired.
• Some days you just want mom and dad.
• Still an excellent sleeper.
• Not crawling yet but you sure do find a way to get aroun.  You try to call but you haven't figured out that you have to put your arms out in front.
• Pull your self up on things.
• Took you swimming for the first time this last month... you are in love.
• Will eat any food that we give you.
• Charm the pants off everyone and everyone seems to be in love with you.  We don't blame them.
• Your Exema is getting better.

Weight: 23.6 lbs (97%)
Height: 28.5 inches (90 %)
Head: 18.5 (95%)
You are big but your doctor says at least your are symetrical.

Eight months

Ellie,
You are getting more fun than ever.  Everyone is completly amazed at how happy you are and how much you seem to love life.  You are still our little chub chub but you seem to be thinning out a bit which makes us sad because that means you are growing up.  We love you so much Ellikins and we still can't believe you are ours.
Love,
Mom and Dad   

• Have developed a hyper squeal.
• You scream really really loud when you are mad.
• Do anything you can to move.  You do this adorable scoot backwards when you get on a slippery surface such as wood or tile.  You aren't crawling yet but we don't really see you being a crawler. 
• You love people especially those that pay attention to you and those people with glasses.  You will go to anyone.  We are so thankful for this.
• You love LOVE love Jennifer (your babysitter).  You can't get enough of her and are always excited when we get to her house.
• Love any and all food.
• Love skyping the Grandparents.
• Have started putting arms out to be picked up.
• Put any and everything in your mouth.
• Love watching Mickey Mouse club house.  This is rare that we let you watch TV.
• Don't really know what to think about grass.  If we lay you on your back in the grass, you put your arms and legs straight up in the air.
• You are a mover.  You love to dance, jump, shake, etc.
• Have developed a love for one blanket.
• LOVE books.
• You have horrible Exema.  It doesn't seem to bother you though

Easter 2012

I only managed to get pictures of Ellie on Easter but that is our life.  She looked adorable in her dress that my parents bought her.  We also skyped my parents in Dubai and they got to watch Ellie open up her Easter basket from them.

After church we went to A.E.'s parents house and had our annual Easter egg hunt.  His mom does an amazing Easter egg hunt every year where she hides money.  We made out with sixty dollars combined.  It was awesome!  Somehow A.E. always manages to win.  We then headed up North to be with my extended family.  Overall Easter was a success this year.