Out as long as In!

9 months old? My little sweet pea is 9 MONTHS OLD?? Seriously, where has the time gone?

I can't believe it but it's true, so we'll just move on to fun and exciting things about Ellie and how much she's grown in the last 9 months!

We aren't having a 9 month well child check, since we went so close to 8 months to catch her up on immunizations. So, I measured her myself last week and she weighs 18 lbs, she's 27 1/2 inches tall and her head circumference is 17 1/4 inches.

According to the app that I plugged her measurements into, she's in the 50th percentile for all of her measurements. So, she's still on the small side, but I'm OK with that. She's such a little joy to be around and is happy about 95% of the time!

On an average day, Ellie and I sing and dance to primary songs, play with her toys & anything she decides to make a "toy" (pens, xbox control, empty no. 10 cannery can, her comb & brush, and her shoes). We eat breakfast and lunch together (and Ellie usually makes a HUGE mess because baby food is evil and only finger foods will do for her!) and boy oh boy can this little girl eat. She LOVES food. Mostly, she loves anything I'm eating and gets very upset if I don't share with her. Her favorite foods right now are peas, pears, toast, shredded cheese, sweet potatoes, yogurt, strawberries, bananas and blueberries.

She's got SO much personality and make hilarious faces almost all the time. She likes to copy whatever we do and say and likes to say "uh-oh" when I drop something or she throws something off her highchair tray.

She's standing every now and then for about 5-10 seconds at a time, but has only taken 2 mini-steps (2 separate times). I'll give her another week or so before she's finally getting the courage to take a few more steps, then take off! (p.s. I'm not ready for that to happen, but I know it's inevitable!!)

Here are some more things about Ellie:

• She loves it when we crawl towards her and play with her
• She loves to dance to any music
• She loves the Backyardigan's theme song
• She's wearing size 3 diapers, size 3 shoes and is in 6-9 month clothes and some 12 month clothes
• She sleeps from about 8 to 7:30 without waking up!
• She likes to carry anything around in her mouth like a puppy and crawl all over
• She is pulling herself up on anything and loves to walk along things
• She loves to play with books and turn the pages
• She loves to listen to me or David read to her
• She likes to listen to anybody sing
• She likes to find my flip flops and chew on them (YUCK!! I am always in awe at how she finds where I hide them so quickly!!)
• She hates being wiped off after making a mess while eating, but LOVES bathtime!
• She is still super friendly and loves to meet new people
• She likes all other kids and thinks little kids are hilarious

I am so thankful for her to be a part of our lives and for the joy she brings to us every day! We love her more than anything else and it's been so much fun to see her learn and grow!

photos taken at FotoFly. Best. Place. Ever!

Gathered thoughts?

I've started about a million and one blog posts in the last week, and none of them feel right. I can't seem to get out the thoughts that are in my head lately, and it's really starting to drive me crazy!

So here's to hoping I can finish THIS post. Because frankly, this is getting ridiculous!

One of the posts I started spawned from listening to and thinking about the song, "You're gonna miss this" by Trace Adkins. I have been thinking a lot lately how fast the time has gone since Ellie joined our little family and I can't believe that a) Christmas is only 3 months away b) that Ellie's turning 1 in 3 months and c) that Ellie's just about to start walking! Seriously, where has the time gone??

As more and more people I know are finally having babies, or have just had babies, I start to miss Ellie as a sweet little sleepy baby, and I marvel at how much she's grown in (nearly) 9 months time! She is so sweet, and she's becoming such a cute little girl! She's not a baby anymore, and it's so hard to let the baby things go! I want her to stay my little baby forever, but I know that's not fair to anyone. She has such a huge personality and her smile is so contagious. She's a very happy baby 90% of the time and being around her makes me happy (when she's not destroying all in her line of sight...).

Another post I started a while back was about being a stay at home mom. I am extremely grateful every day that I get to stay home with Ellie to teach her, help her learn and grow and to be there to watch her accomplish little milestones. When we were in New York, I really loved staying home with Ellie, and the thought of leaving her to go back to work really broke my heart this time because I think it would be harder to leave her now because she really knows who I am, she is doing more and more fun things every day and she is always sad when I leave her anywhere. The fact that we can squeeze by with me staying at home is such a blessing, and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for providing us with what we need so I can be with Ellie to nurture her and teach her the things she needs to know to return to Him.

Being a mother is one of the most fun/exhausting/trying/emotional things I've ever done, but I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be Ellie's mom! It's such a rewarding thing to do!

I'm still feeling bleh about this post, but that's OK, because I'll just move on to more exciting topics and maybe things will become less "bleh"?

Last week was a CRAZY week in the Grigsby home. It was career week at BYU, and David had something EVERY DAY and that meant that he had to go to school dressed up all week because he'd be talking with recruiters and potential employers. He had a few interviews and I even got to attend a dinner with him and recruiters from Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, The Navy, IM Flash, and Celanese. It was a fun opportunity except for the fact that there was a fiance of one of the chemical engineers there that just talked and talked and talked and TALKED AND TALKED AND TALKED! I thought that I was going to go insane, because she wouldn't let ANYBODY say anything because she had to know EVERY little detail about EVERYTHING that every company did. It was annoying and I'm still upset about it because she butted into a conversation and David didn't get to talk to one of the recruiters for Dow, which is one of the companies he'd most like to work for. Anyway, moving on before I get more frustrated about it. On Friday, David played in a golf tournament with various recruiters, and his team tied for 1st place! They didn't win anything tangent, but it was cool to know David's good at golfing (well I already knew that) and that his team did well. He was very pleased about that and so am I.

Besides all the jobs he applied for during career week, he's been applying to basically anything and everything out there. We're hoping that we get positive news back from at least one company because knowing that he'll have a job when he graduates will be great and will relieve a lot of stress for us!

Just in case anybody is wondering, the jobs are basically all over the east coast. From Texas and over. There are a couple companies in Utah that he could work for, but he doesn't think he'll get a job at them, so we're probably not staying here. Though I really want him to get a job with IM flash because then we wouldn't have to move until we needed to because it's just before the point of the mountain and he could easily commute to work every day. Here's to hoping that happens!

Like I said, life has been crazy lately, but it's fun and we're so excited that David's ALMOST finished with school!

Also, I'm very excited for General Conference this weekend! The Relief Society Broadcast was amazing, and I honestly felt like all the talks were written just for ME. Especially President Uchtdorf's talk! Talk about amazing and spiritual! I hope everyone enjoys conference weekend, and that you hear something that you need to hear to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ.

Life as of late

Here are some pictures of what's happened in our lives recently...

My brother Boyd invited David to go to the Coach's show @ Lavell Edward's Stadium before the BYU v. Utah game.

Ellie's hair is super long! So it sticks up if you put it in pigtails wet and pull them straight. Love it! Also, she loves this bottle of Velocity Facial Cleanser. Silly girl loves to go into my bathroom, find it and run away before I take it away.

This girl seriously loves the Xbox control. Like A LOT! She likes to push the middle button and turn the Xbox on. I turn it off multiple times a day, then I'll turn my back and it's on again. Silly girl! She also likes to lounge with her daddy on the couch while eating the Xbox control.

Hiking the "Y"

Ever since we moved to Provo, I have wanted to hike the "Y" and we finally did it!

We left our apartment a little after 9 and got started up the trail at about 9:30. The weather was perfect & the temperature was just right so it wasn't cold, or hot!


David carried Ellie in the Kelty backpack & she LOVED it. She loved looking out at all the different things along the trail.

It took us almost an hour to get up, and I thought I was going to die for a part of it (I'm still very out of shape from having Ellie...) but once we got to the top it was worth it! We took a few pictures, got Ellie out of the backpack & took a little rest, then headed back down.

We made it!


On the way down, Ellie fell asleep in the Kelty. It was pretty funny, but it seemed SO uncomfortable, so I folded my jacket for her little head to rest on.

(also, she plopped the binky out of her mouth on the way down, & we lost it :( we're sad about that)

We ran into a guy I went to USU with & worked on ATV News with. Random, but cool. It was good to quickly say hello & catch up briefly.

David was exhausted by the end of the hike, but I was feeling great (because I didn't have to carry an extra 20 lbs!!)!
David & Ellie at the trail head AFTER we hiked :)
We tried to keep Ellie asleep once we got to the car, but it just didn't work. She woke up when I put her in the car seat, then didn't take another nap until later that afternoon.

It was great to get out and enjoy the outdoors while the weather is still nice! I'm hoping to go hiking every Saturday until it's too cold to do so, so stay tuned for more pictures of more fun hikes around Utah Valley!

Random pics

A few random pictures from my camera that make me giggle.

Ellie loves this box.

It provides hours of entertainment...which is why I haven't unpacked it yet.

I let Ellie listen to a movie on the way to Roosevelt. She watched it for a little bit before she wanted to just eat my iPod.

Ellie stands up!

Labor Day Fun!

As I mentioned earlier, we headed out to Roosevelt for Labor Day weekend!

In my family, we have this tradition of going "up the mountain" (as we call it) to Pole Creek (pronounced "crick") Cave on the Monday of LDay weekend. It has been a lot of fun every time I've gone & this year was NO exception.

Two of my brothers, Jason & Jared, my sister Tyra & their families were all there, in addition to my little family & parents. We were also joined by my Grandma Holman, Uncle Logan and his two kids Laurel & Drake. It was a nice big crowd, which makes things like this even MORE fun :D

We packed our vehicles & headed to Pole Creek with the hopeful idea that we'd be able to get inside the cave & that it WOULDN'T be full of water. We knew that since it was such a wet year, our chances were very slim.

Once we hiked down to the cave entrance, we quickly discovered that our plans were indeed thwarted by mother nature and the cave was full of water! Random fact about this cave, nobody has found an end to it, because you can only hike into it until you reach water...it would be interesting to send some kind of under water night vision camera to see if you could ever find the end...

Ready to hike down to the cave

Aunt Tyra playing with Ellie

Because we were in the most beautiful mountains in the world, we were able to still have a lot of fun! We hopped back into the vehicles & drove up to the Sinks. The Sinks are awesome. BEAUTIFUL waterfall & a pool of water that swirls around and disappears. Nobody knows where the water goes...it's been a mystery for who knows how long. Super cool!

Perhaps the BEST part of the Sinks are the wild Raspberry plants. They were loaded this year and SOOOO tasty!

Ellie really enjoyed the sinks because David took her by the waterfall & let her splash her hands in the water. It was super cute, & I believe my sister in-law has some pictures.

After we had our fill of picking Raspberries, we hiked back up to where all the cars were parked & had a picnic. We made a fire, roasted hot dogs & ate LOTS and LOTS of tasty food. The children played & the adults visited & told stories. It was a lot of fun and I love spending time in the beautiful outdoors! I especially loved this outing because it could be my last labor day spent with my family at Pole Creek & the Sinks, since we're not sure where we'll be moving in May!

Tyra & Ellie playing

The only bad part was that my mom was stuck on crutches & couldn't get up and walk around. But, that's another story...

More pictures to come when I get them from other people!

731 days of wedded bliss...

On Sunday, we had officially been married for 2 years! I asked David & he said it was a better 2 years than his mission (thank goodness :D :D)

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary first, by attending the Temple. What a great way to celebrate being married! We hadn't had the opportunity to go to the Temple since February, so it was GREAT to go.

The Friday before our actual anniversary, we went out to dinner without Ellie (Thanks again, Hillary!!!) to P.F. Chang's. I'm not HUGE into Chinese, but this was spectacular. Lettuce wraps. MMM I think I could eat those every day. After dinner, we ran home to grab a blanket & to leave our car at our apartment so we could walk to the Roof Top Concert Series. It was a blast & a nice low-key evening out with my sweet husband.

The only picture from that night. ha ha

I made David a gift basket full of fun things & he got me a couple cami's that I've been dying to buy for the last few months!

We headed to Roosevelt the next day for Labor Day weekend, & we had a fun time there. Post about that to come soon!

Some days it feels like we've been married for years and years, but at the same time it feels like we were just married yesterday! Marriage is my favorite thing ever & marrying David was the best decision I've ever made. The 2nd best decision was having Ellie :)

8 months

Ellie turned 8 months old a week ago, and she is getting to be such a big girl! Since we were in NY when she turned 6 months old, we had her 6 month appointment when we got back, & she's super healthy & growing well! Her head has finally decided to grow & catch up to the rest of her body. ha ha!

She weighed 17 lbs 9 oz and was in the 46th percentile for weight, she's 26 1/2 inches tall (I think?? I misplaced the paper with her measurements on them!) & is 64th for height and her head is in the 42nd percentile!

She had to get 3 shots when we went in, and she was NOT happy about them! She cried a lot, but calmed down not too long after. Because she's such a healthy little girl and because she was almost 8 months when we went in, the doctor doesn't need to see us back until she's 1! That's some good news for us :)

Ellie's really funny lately & her little personality is shining through more and more each day. She's starting to stand on her own for small periods of time (AHH ALREADY!?!?!?) and I'm sure she'll be walking before we know it! She eats pretty well during the day, but sometimes is just too distracted for nursing & I've contemplated quitting, but then I just don't want to give up quite yet.

Here are more things about Ellie at 8 months old:

• She loves to eat finger foods & thinks it's lots of fun to drink from our Camelbak water bottles.
• She loves her oatmeal in the morning & pretty much all baby food we still give her. She's eating more table food now though & she likes it a lot.
  
• She's wearing size 3 diapers & some 3-6 month & 6-9 month clothes. There are only a few outfits in the 3-6 month range that still fit her so we're just about ready to put them away.
• She is starting to walk along the furniture & she can get around pretty fast.
• She knows how to say dada & is just learning how to say "uh oh" but it usually comes out as "uh uh".
• She gets super excited about her 3 little duck bath toys & takes them with her all over.
• She likes to dance to music & likes to watch Fantasia.
• Outside is her favorite place to be.
• She LOVES animals. She was obsessed with my sister in law's little dog, Annie & chased it all over while we were visiting my parents last weekend.
• She doesn't have any teeth yet, and it doesn't seem like she's going to have any in the near future.
• She takes 2-3 naps during the day & goes to bed around 8 & wakes up at 7 a.m.
• She's still waking up 1-2 times a night, but we're working on that one...
• She loves to crawl into the bathroom and stand next to the bathtub & hit her hands on the sides of it to make noise.
• When she gets tired, she gets super silly & likes to ram her head into your chest & cuddle.
• She loves to play with other little kids & thinks they're hilarious.
• She likes to pretend she's a big girl & would rather sit in a booster seat than a high chair to eat!
• She loves to sit and listen to us read books with her & sing to her.

She's growing up so fast & I can't believe that she'll be one in just 4 months! Ah! That's crazy! We love her to death & she makes life fun and interesting every day!