Cameron & Kyle: 5 months

5 months. SOOO late... but here we are! Hopefully I'll add pictures later...

5 months has been rough. Teething has started with Cameron, Screaming, crying, napping strikes happened, bedtime strikes. you name it. We were exhausted, we cried, I cried, they cried, we all cried.

Cameron:
Started rolling over more from his belly to his back.
Pushes up really well
Smiles and laughs more
Talks and is social
Loves to play with his toys
Thinks his sister is silly
Loves to play in the jumperoo
Loves the door jumper
wears 3-6 month, and size 3 diapers. Still fits into some 0-3 month clothes.


Kyle:
Rolls all over the place
Pushes up well
loves to smile and laugh
is ticklish on his belly, neck and feet
Loves to play with Ellie
Loves to chew on everything and especially sophie the giraffe
Doesn't like to be set down
is a cuddle bug
Loves the door jumper and jumperoo
at 5 months he wore 3-6 month clothes, and size 3 diapers.

Eating:
Cameron and Kyle both eat every 3-4 hours during the day, and if they're not sick, then every 4-ish hours at night, but it's been  bad lately with colds, teething and who knows what else.

They both take good naps at 9, 1, and a cat nap at 5. Bedtime is usually around 7:30-8 depending on how quickly we get everything done, and if it's a bath day!

They're growing up so much, it's insane, and I can't believe they're SO BIG!

We love them so much and can't imagine only having one baby! Twins are definitely the way to go for us, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Cameron & Kyle: 4 months

Late again, but I'm going to catch up anyway!

Another month older! I can't believe it's going by so fast, but at the same time it seems like we've been in the baby stage forever. These two little boys keep me tired, happy and on my toes. Here's some things about them at 4 months that I want to remember:

Cameron's stats at 4 months:

Weight: 13 lb 11 oz - 15th percentile
Height: 24"- 8th percentile
Head size: 40 cm - 8th percentile

He's my tiny guy!! He's getting more and more fun lately!

• He wears size 2 diapers, barely fits into size 3-6 month clothes, and his feet are probably still smaller than a 1.
• He nurses every 3 hours or so during the day, and 1 or 2 times at night.
• He takes 2 sometimes 3 naps a day, and is starting to sleep better at night. Still working on that one!
• He sleeps in the swing, but we're trying to wean him off it slowly.
• Loves bath time
• Getting better at tummy time, and occasionally rolls from front to back.
• It's not so easy to make him smile
• loves to talk and make noises, but is very quiet when talking, which is funny because he's SO LOUD when he cries!
• Loves to jump in either the doorway jumper or the floor jumper
• Loves to stand
• tries to sit when you hold his hands
• loves to eat his hands, and anything he can get his hands on
• he still loves the binky
• He takes a bottle really well, and sometimes pukes less when he's had a bottle.
• Loves to hold soft toys, and minky blankets, especially when he's tired.
• He's starting to play with toys more and more.
• Starting to kick his feet when he gets excited more and more.
• He will giggle when you tickle his neck.
• He likes to play with Ellie and loves to watch her.
• He gets fussy easily, and sometimes he can be hard to calm down. We're still trying to figure him out.
• He sort of acts like he might be getting some teeth, but nothing yet.

Kyle's stats at 4 months:

Weight: 15 lb 11.5 oz - 55th percentile
Height: 24" (I think more like 24 1/2") - 21st percentile
Head size: 42 cm - 61st percentile

Kyle's a big boy, and seems even bigger when he's next to Cameron!

• He wears size 3 diapers, 3-6 month clothes, but his feet are probably size 1.
• He nurses every 3 hours during the day and 1 or no times at night.
• He takes 2 or 3 naps a day, and has been sleeping through the night more lately. Even in the crib!
• He's a lot more aware of toys, people and things lately..
• He does NOT like it when you set him down and leave the room! He gets a big fat pouty lip and cries a ton.
• He loves to kick when he's excited and when he's playing
• he also loves to jump in the doorway jumper or the floor jumper
• He still hates binkies most of the time, but sometimes when he's really tired, he'll take one to fall asleep
• He giggles when you tickle his neck and belly
• He LOVES to talk and eat his hands. Mostly at the same time.
• He loves to watch people. Especially Ellie. And Ellie is always happy to play with him.
• He goes to bed pretty easily, and is really the easiest baby on the planet. Only cries when he's hungry, needs a diaper change, or tired. It's awesome.
• He smiles at ANYTHING and EVERYONE. Seriously, this kid is a little grinner. It's adorable!
• HE LOVES taking baths, and loves kicking and splashing his feet in the tub.
• He favors his right side, so we have to kind of force him to look left sometimes.
• He can roll from tummy to back, but still hates tummy time

I'm sure I'm probably missing some other details about the boys, but this is what I can think of right now.

These little guys bring us so much joy! And YES my hands are full, but so is my heart!

Cameron & Kyle: 3 months old

January's over (thank goodness) and that means Cameron and Kyle are one month older!

Cameron:

• LOVES it when mommy sings the itsy bitsy spider to him and does the hand motions
• still pukes buckets, but is happier about it than he used to be
• he's wearing size 1 diapers, size 0-3 month clothes and is still a little squirt
• he's no longer taking Prevacid, OR Zantac! Woohoo! He's not too bad without them, either!
• He's starting to "talk" and coo so much and he LOVES it when we talk to him or make faces at him
• He takes about 3 naps a day, and wakes up once at night to eat.
• On a good night he sleeps from about 9-2 or 3, then again until 6 or 7.
• He nurses about every 3 hours during the day, and once at night. He's a guzzler, and I have to stop him every 5 or so minutes so he can burp, otherwise everything he just ate comes right back up!
• Tummy time is not his favorite, but we try to have him do it anyway.
• He LOVES sitting in the bumbo!
• He also loves playing in the bouncy seat and watching the bubbles and lights move.
• He generally loves to suck on a binky and takes the gumdrop or nuk kind
• He likes being held, but only in certain ways, and he's not super cuddly
• Being outside is probably his favorite thing ever.

Kyle:

• is such a little smiler! He will smile and coo at you all. day. long! We love it!
• He hates tummy time. Like REALLY hates it. Working on that...
• He's a little chunker, and he's growing out of some 0-3 month clothes, but still fits in a lot. He wears size 2 diapers.
• He likes to nurse more often than Cameron during the day, and sometimes eats every 2 hours, however he sleeps MUCH longer at night, like usually from 9-4 or 5, then again until 7 or 8.
• He also takes 3 naps a day.
• He talks a lot and loves to look at everything and anything
• He follows us when we walk across the room and gets SUPER sad if we walk by him and don't pick him up.
• He's a little softie and gets his feelings hurt easily
• He has super sensitive skin, and we've found we can only use a really expensive organic baby wash on him.
• he HATES binkies, but sometimes when he just won't go to sleep I can force one on him and it gives him that extra push to get to his sleepy place

Updates:

• Now that it's two weeks later, C man is sleeping longer at night!!
• Kyle takes a latex Nuk binky selectively
• Kyle can roll from front to back
• Tummy time is better for both boys
• Cameron does better with pumped milk since it doesn't drown him
• They both love the jumper
• Cameron loves to be outside
• Kyle doesn't fit in 0-3 much at all anymore

I'll update more with pictures soon!!

And probably more things I remember!

Ellie's 2nd birthday: part 2

On the day before Ellie's birthday, we took her out to breakfast to Cracker Barrel. She had a ton of fun & loved looking at everything in the store!

The morning of her birthday, I made pancakes, and I made a Mickey Mouse shaped pancake for her. She LOVED it!

 

We had some fun and played with her during the day, but it was a pretty typical day.

We had Mexican casserole for dinner, which is her favorite meal, and she ate a TON of it, like always.

I made her a boiled black cake, and we FaceTimed with Grandma & Grandpa Timothy so they could help sing Happy Birthday to her.


 

She loved the attention and only wanted the ice cream (just like last year!!) until her hands got way too cold for it!



We had a great low key day and had a lot of fun with our sweet little girl! Happy Birthday, Ellie! We sure love you!

Ellie's 2nd birthday: part 1

We celebrated Ellie's birthday while we were at the guest house in Oneida, and we had a lot of fun with everybody.

Ellie is really into Minnie Mouse, so we let her wear her Halloween costume, which is a Minnie Mouse dress, and she loved it. We let her open presents & she got so many fun things from her cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents & mommy & daddy. 

We sang to her and had cake and ice cream, and she had a GREAT time!!

Here are some pictures of her birthday party in Oneida:

Grandpa Grigsby, Grandma Grigsby & Ellie

 Having so much fun opening presents!

Precious moments 2 year figurine

Brave coloring book

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

 Lego Duplo set

 Maggie and Ellie playing

I had planned to do a cute cake & maybe cupcakes, but we left Oneida early for a few reasons, so Ellie's aunt was nice enough to pick up a cake and balloons from Wal-Mart and we celebrated anyway!

It was a great day, and Ellie loved being the center of attention, maybe even a little too much! I'll have to come back and add the video later, when I get it uploaded. She was hilarious to watch!

Cameron and Kyle: One Month Old!

Cameron and Kyle turned one month old on their due date. How fun!

I took them to their one month check-up on the 4th and they are doing so well! My little guys are thriving and doing great!

Let's start with Mr. Cameron:

• He's up to 7 lbs 3 oz and is 19.5" long. His head is 36 cm. He's only on the charts for his weight and is currently in the 3rd percentile! At least he's on the charts! :D He's been having issues with spitting up a huge amount, arching his back, being extremely fussy and inconsolable and acting like he's in pain for hours on end. He was diagnosed with reflux and prescribed some Zantac. It has already started to help him, and he's sleeping better, eating better and keeping his food down better! hooray! This makes me very happy, since he is my little guy, I'm always concerned about his weight gain!
• He eats every 3ish hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night. 
• He's becoming a better sleeper, but he takes a while to calm down. He hates being wrapped up tightly, but needs to be so he will relax. 
• He has periods of happy awake time and we're glad he's happy! He loves to look around and explore his world. 
• He is wearing size nb clothes and diapers.
• He sleeps best when he's really warm, and loves to sleep in the bouncy seat or swing.
• He hates riding in the car seat, and usually screams for a good portion of the ride to wherever we're going.
• He sometimes likes bath time.
• He is extremely easy going with Ellie's poking/prodding and bugging. It's wonderful.
• He likes his binky most of the time and it's our favorite when he's being fussy.
• He has really strong neck muscles, and sometimes tolerates tummy time.
• He may be small, but he's loud and he'll let you know when he's unhappy!

Now for Mr. Kyle:

• He is 8 lbs 8 oz, 20.5" long and his head is 37 cm. He's in the 25th percentile for weight and 10th for height! He's pretty much the size of a normal one month old! He's my chubby guy.
• He's VERY mellow, and thank goodness. With Cameron's reflux and colic, I don't know that we could handle a fussy Kyle, so thank you, Kyle for being a SUPER easy baby!
• He eats every 3 hours as well, and 3-4 hours at night.
• He likes to snuggle a LOT. 
• He loves to be next to his brother, even when it seems Cameron doesn't care ha ha.
• He sleeps best when he's snuggled with one of us!
• He doesn't have as much awake time as Cameron, but he's starting to be awake a little bit more now that he's past the due date.
• He will sleep pretty much anywhere. He falls asleep relatively easily, but gets very upset if he has the tiniest of bubbles in his belly.
• He is wearing nb and some 0-3 month clothes, and nb diapers.
• He likes the car seat, and falls asleep very quickly when riding in the car.
• He hates bottles and binkies. 
• He is also easy going with Ellie.
• He hates tummy time, and doesn't do too well lifting up his little head yet, but he'll get there.

Life with twins is a roller coaster. Some days are easy and seem like we've got a good handle on things, then there are days like yesterday when they wanted to eat every hour-hour and a half!! At least they slept well last night!

They are such a joy to have in our lives! I can't imagine life with just one baby. It would be so easy ha ha! I wouldn't know what to do with all the extra time I would have!! I'm thankful that we've made it to my goal (almost) of nursing for at least the first 6 weeks! Things are going well though, so I don't think we're quitting any time soon. Sometimes they eat at the same time (daytime only) and at night I always feed one right after another.

Life is busy, but it's a joyous kind of busy because having two adorable little boys look up at you with their little baby faces makes all the tough times worth it! They are so much fun, even though I hit my breaking point and hit my exhaustion limit every single day!

We played around with the camera the other day and here are some pictures (none of them are edited...that will come when I have more than a few minutes...Also I was using my phone's camera...my real camera died. Next month I shall plan this out better!!)

Ellie: 23 months

Less than one month and my baby girl turns two!? How has time gone by that fast!!?

Ellie's a sweetheart, and we love her to death! She has really grown up these past few months since I was on bed rest and the babies got here. She is a good little helper and at times she throws the biggest fits, but hey...she's 2...

Here are some things about Ellie at 23 months:

• She wears 24 month clothes, size 5 shoes and size 4 diapers.
• She loves to eat bananas, apples, clementines, dried apricots, raisins, peas, green beans, yogurt and pretty much any other fruit! She's starting to eat meat more, and loves rotisserie chicken.
• She's very accommodating and has done surprisingly well with the twins' arrival.
• She no longer uses a binky! WOOHOO! Mostly due to the fact that my mom was strict with it while she was here. There were times I wanted to give in, but my mom wouldn't let me and now I'm glad because she's off of them!
• She sleeps in a twin size bed and LOVES her bed!
• She loves to talk all the time and most of the time we have no clue what she's saying.
• She loves to hold her brothers and help out any way she can.
• She also loves to scream when they scream and mimic them. It's super annoying.
• She loves to dance and play with anything.
• She has great rhythm and likes to tap her toes to the beat of a song.
• Netflix is her best friend and she totally knows how to play stuff if it's already turned on. This is a good and a bad thing.
• She frequently plays baby with her dolls and loves to put them in the swings, car seats and bouncy seat.
• She waits until we go get her to get out of her bed in the morning and for naps. It's amazing. 
• She sleeps from about 8-9 and usually takes a 2-3 hour nap.

My time is limited, but these are the most memorable things I can think of about her. She is a sweetheart even though she keeps us super busy. I love that she is getting better at listening, even if it's just for a short time! We love her so much and are so happy she's a part of our big little family.

Ellie: 21 months

Now that half of October is over, I suppose I should update about my sweet baby girl who isn't much of a baby at all anymore!

She turned 21 months old (gasp!) on Oct. 1st and seeing as I was in the hospital at the time, I didn't update ANYTHING about her on the blog. And because of circumstances being as they are, I have virtually NO pictures of her for the month! I need to have David take some of her so this month isn't completely lame! ha ha

Here is one pic I managed to get before going on bed rest.

Ellie LOVES to play with her baby. She takes such good care of it and loves to put it "night night" and take it with her everywhere. She also loves to put it in the doll swing we have and push it around in the doll stroller. She's such a girl! :D I'm hoping since she loves her baby so much she'll love her little brothers!!

She is growing up so much and loves to chitter chatter ALL DAY LONG! Don't get me wrong, it's cute, but sometimes I want to just say, Ellie, can you just stop talking for five minutes!? Totally my child! She's rambunctious and very full of energy. She keeps us on our toes most of the time and she's always thinking one step ahead!!

 Pic at the hospital when Ellie and David came to visit me! Daddy even did her hair all by himself. I'm proud.

Here are some notable things about Ellie at 21 months:

• She is about 31.75-32 inches tall and weighs ~24.5 lbs
• She's fits into size 18 month clothes, but due to weather changing we've had to put her in some 24 month and 2T, and while it's big on her, it's not too bad.
• She wears size 4 diapers and size 5 shoes. (And size 6 and 7 and Mommy's size 8)
• She's obsessed with shoes. She loves to put them on and take them off but if she gets frustrated she will scream and bite the shoe or bang her head on the floor. I wish I knew how to stop the head-banging. We've been trying lots of different things, and I think it's getting better somewhat. She just doesn't know another way to show her frustration, darn it!
• She loves to watch shows but boy is she picky. She'll throw a giant fit if you didn't pick what she wanted. She also may or may not know how to run Netflix and the Wii remote...oops!
• She is incredibly smart and pays attention to detail. She likes to organize her blocks in a particular way then knock them down. 
• She's still a picky eater, but we're branching out to some new foods! I need to get her to eat more veggies, but with all the stress that's going on in our family right now I don't want to freak her out more by trying to change up her eating.
• She had her 1st dentist appointment at the end of September and her teeth are perfect! She hated going to the dentist and cried a ton when they were checking her teeth and cleaning them. Poor girl :( Hopefully she doesn't remember the next time we have to go! She at least got an awesome big red bouncy ball for going!
• She loves to make up little songs and hum them all the time. It is super adorable, and if you hum a tune to her, she can hum it back keeping on tune. I'm proud she has my ears and possibly my sense of pitch! Yay.
• She gets very intrigued watching complex things, like someone playing the piano, the Drs. and nurses at the hospital doing anything. She also loves to take pens apart and tries to put them back together. It makes me think she has her daddy's engineering brain.
• She's a champion sleeper most nights as long as she's not feeling sick or teething. Only 5 more teeth before she's done! Hallelujah! She goes to bed at ~7:45 and gets up anywhere between 7 and 8:30. She usually takes a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. 
• She loves to give hugs and kisses and will give them to anyone willing to accept! Yikes! 
• She especially loves to come give hugs and kisses to mommy's belly and talk about the babies!

She's a sweetheart, and we love her so much! Despite all the naughty things she's been doing lately, she is handling the stress of everything going on so well. I feel guilty for having to be on bed rest and let David's mom take care of her, but I know she won't remember me not doing things for her and she'll have plenty of mommy time someday again!!

Videos of Ellie

Ellie: 20 Months old

Ellie just keeps growing up and I can't believe how fast it's happening! Yesterday, she turned 20 months old! I can't believe she'll be 2 in 4 months! That also means Christmas is in less than 4 months! CRAZY! This year has FLOWN by!!

 

Ellie has started a few new phases that I'm not particularly fond of. One of them is when we ask her to be nice, she will do the exact opposite and start throwing things, hitting things, you name it! No idea why the sudden change from real nice to mean "nice" started. Another phase she has really been into lately is throwing things when she's upset. Not just like picking it up and dropping it, either. I mean like FULL-ON throwing something across the room. It's annoying. I don't see her growing out of them any time soon, so I guess we will just try to figure out how to deal with her bad phases and get her to be good!

Here are a few things about Ellie at 20 months old:

• She loves to watch TV. However, if you try to turn something on that she DOESN'T want to watch, you better watch out...because she will throw a huge fit. For example: if I start Super Why! and she really wanted to watch the Cat in the Hat, she will scream NO and "HATTIE!!!" until I change it to what she wants. Ugh.
• She is almost done getting her 4th molar, and she has gotten so many teeth in the last month it's crazy! Yet, she still has no I teeth. They'll come, I'm sure.
• She can fit into size 3 diapers still, but we've moved her up to size 4 for the times she's in 'sposies and not cloth (which to be honest is more now that I have less energy and desire to deal with washing diapers)
• She wears size 18 month clothes, but can fit into some 24 month clothes depending on the brand and size 5 shoes.
• She is getting really good at communicating with us and is learning lots of new words every day.
• She can recognize 5 different letters, B, E, I, O and Q. Who knows how Q got into the mix...I think it was either Super Why! or Leap Frog Alphabet something or other on Netflix. Hey, at least I can feel less guilty for letting her watch shows when she's learning from them.
• She loves to scowl if she's the least bit upset with something going on, and it's hilarious. It's always hard not to laugh when she gets mad because she makes the cutest mad face.
• She's obsessed with the Talking Tom app and asks for it EVERY day!
• Eating has become better in the last couple of weeks. She's been willing to try new things (especially if I make sure she hasn't had too many snacks before lunch or dinner) but she is still obsessed with her regular foods: bananas, blueberries & strawberries.
• She is still super clingy most days and wants "monie" not daddy. I wish I could get her to let David do more things for her, because I have no energy by the time he gets home from work! 
• Her favorite place to be is outside exploring.
• Her favorite animal is a cat and she will meow at a picture of a cat for what seems like an eternity.
• She loves to look at a flashcards app I have and repeats every word and animal it says. It's really quite impressive!
• She loves to sing nursery songs and dance to just about any music. Although LMFAO Party Rock is still her favorite!
• She loves babies and every time she sees a baby she says, "Baby. Cry."
• She is a sweet little girl and she is nice to everyone as long as she gets what she wants! HA HA!

There are so many more things I could write about Ellie. She's such a joy to have around and I'm so happy to be her mommy! I am slightly worried about how she'll react to the twins coming, but I know she will love her little brothers and help mommy when she can!

Ellie's 18 month stats

We finally got in to the pediatrician this morning for Ellie's 18 month check-up. Don't worry, she's almost 19 months old ha ha. Oh well!

She weighs 23 lbs 15.5 oz and is 31 1/2 inches tall. Both of these put her right around the 50th percentile mark. She's still my little girl, that's for sure! Her head was just over the 50th percentile, so she's very proportionate.

Everything looks good with her development and growth and she didn't have to get ANY shots today! Bonus! She did have to get her finger pricked for some blood though, but she did remarkably well with that. They will call us if anything is abnormal, so let's hope it's not!

I wasn't 100% impressed with this pediatrician, because he wasn't very thorough. He asked me only a couple questions, but I felt like he was rushing us, which I hate when going to any Dr. Maybe we'll try someone new for the next visit?

All in all, our little Ellie is healthy and doing well. She's going through some anxiety with sleeping in her bed and I think it was triggered by taking the side off of her crib. She did super well the first night, but then she wouldn't take a nap in her bed or go near it. We put the side back up, and she STILL didn't want to go near the bed!When we got back from our early appointment, I made her take a nap, because she didn't go to sleep until 11 and was up at 7! She screamed for a while because I put her in the crib but hopefully this phase passes because she's always been a GREAT sleeper, and I'd hate for that to end now!

Time to go do something productive (or maybe just look at things on pinterest to make...)

Ellie: 18 months

I can't believe my little Ellie is 18 months, but she is! She's getting to be such a big girl and is growing up more and more every day!

She's a busy little girl that keeps me on my toes 90% of the time and I just love her!

Here are some things about her at 18 months:

• She has 9 teeth now! One tooth came in right as we were going to Utah at the end of June, and she's got two molars coming in.
• She is addicted to her binky and has to have it everywhere. I was hoping to get it away from her by 18 months, but no such luck. Maybe after this round of teething is over?? She calls it her "ginky" and always knows where we hide them!!
• She has recently become a picky eater, but will still eat goldfish, grapes, bananas, cheese of any kind, turkey lunch meat, bread (sometimes), pretzels, peas, rice, pasta of any kind (except mac & cheese), watermelon, apples and sometimes bell peppers, cooked or raw. She won't eat much meat, especially not beef! I have no idea why.
• She is wearing size 4-5 shoes, size 3 diapers and 18 month clothes (though the few 12 month things I haven't put away yet still fit).
• She can say a big variety of words and is now especially good at saying "mine" since our visit to Utah. She and her little cousin who is almost 2 years older than her didn't always play super well, and she picked up mine pretty quickly! She loves to say "hewwo" when picking up a phone, remote or anything else she thinks is a phone. She jabbers all the time, and sometimes I can understand what she wants/needs.
• Her favorite show is Curious George (thank you, Netflix!) and sometimes it allows me to get some quiet time for 20 minutes/clean up uninterrupted, do what I need to do!
• She always wants to go "buh bye" and if we forget to lock the front door, that's exactly what she'll do!
• She loves giving hugs and kisses and isn't satisfied unless she gives you a kiss on the lips.
• She loves to sing and dance and twirl around the room.
• Her favorite toys are her stuffed kitty, her baby and the doll stroller. She will push that thing around forever, and also try to get inside it, too!

She is a silly girl and we love her so much! I still have to make her 18 month appointment, so after that, I can update with her stats as far as weight/height go. I'm guessing she's about 23 or 24 lbs.

17 Months: Ellie

I've been pretty terrible at updating about Ellie as she gets older, but here's to hoping I will do better now that we're a bit more settled in!

Ellie turned 17 months old on the 1st! I can't believe she's that big, yet sometimes she acts like she's so much older!

This is the ONLY picture I have of her this month so far...

 She loves to wear headbands, and take them off...also she loves to run around in just a diaper :P

Here are some notable things about Ellie at 17 months old:

• She LOVES to draw with crayons, pens, pencils, ANYTHING...and she loves to draw on anything, too! We bought her a coloring book, but she prefers the coffee table, random papers she finds around or things she's not supposed to draw on!

• She's got 6 teeth! Woo hoo! 

• She weighs between 22 and 23 lbs

• She wears 18 month size clothes, the tallest setting of her cloth diapers :) but size 3 of disposables, and size 4 shoes. 

• She's a great sleeper, sleeping 12-13 hours at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap every afternoon.

• Outside is where she loves to be most, it's just unfortunate that we don't really have a place for her to play here, and the grass is just full of weeds. And it's also unfortunate that her pregnant mama has a hard time being outside in the heat for more that 5 minutes!

• She loves to run around our living room, especially with a blanket on top of her head (no idea where she got this idea...)

• She's become a picky eater lately and only wants to eat "papa" (pasta) "ish" (fish-goldfish) apples, bananas, "chsss" (cheese), peas, sometimes steamed broccoli and carrots and any kind of cereal. Occasionally, I can get her to eat chicken, if it's mixed in with other things. 

• She says quite the variety of words but her new ones are, Lemonade, birds and more. I can't think of any but those 3 right now but she also says lots of names, like "Hay Hay" (our neighbor Harrison back in Utah) "essca" (Jessica, also a neighbor in Utah) "NorNor" (Friend Norris) "Nena" (Friend Brenna), "Mama", "dada", "Papa" (Grandpa. Grandma is always Papa, too...)

• She loves to sing and dance and listen to my iPod when she gets her little hands on it!

• Whenever she makes messes or does something she knows she isn't supposed to, she says, "No No No No No!" It's funny, but not all at the same time!

• She goes to Nursery now, which is SO nice and she totally loves it! The only problem is that we have church at 1, and she usually doesn't take a nap before church, so by the time church is over at 4, she is SO ornery and worn out that the second we put her in the car to go home, she's out. She usually stays asleep when we bring her in though, and will sleep until we wake her up!

• She loves to play with anything and everything, especially bowls and cake pans from my kitchen cabinets! 

• She will watch ANYTHING on TV. Seriously, anything. It's no good. Though we only let her watch for up to 60 minutes a day. That may seem like a lot, but sometimes when I feel like dying or falling asleep, I can lie down on the couch, turn Netflix on, and she'll be a good little girl and sit with me while we watch Shaun the Sheep or Curious George.

We love her SO much and she's such a joy in our lives. I don't know what we would do without her...life would probably be much more quiet and not nearly as much fun!

Ellie: 13 months

Ellie's another month older, and she's just seeming bigger and bigger to me! She's learning to say some words (in her own language of course) and has so much personality, I can't even stand it sometimes. She is mostly happy, except for right now, because she's sick! We went to the dr. yesterday for her ear-tube surgery follow-up and found out that one of the tubes was plugged with fluid, and the other probably had some fluid. Both her ears were full of fluid, and he didn't like that. We hadn't seen any drainage yet, (which is when you start putting antibiotic drops in her ears) but he says we would have seen it in a day or two. Ellie's been pretty awful the last few days, so I hope these little ear drops do the trick! If not, I'll be taking her to her pediatrician for a hefty treatment of antibiotics...the exact thing I thought I wouldn't be doing less than 1 month after having ear tubes put in...

Ugh. It seems we just have the worst of luck here in the Grigsby residence. At least with sickness we have bad luck.

Anyway, here are some things about Ellie at 13 months:

• She can say ma ma, da da, papa(grandpa), wow, go and kick.
• She loves to jibber jabber.
• She loves to sing the theme song to the Backyardigans.
• She loves to dance to any and all music.
• She loves other little kids.
• She barks whenever she sees ANY animal. Especially cats and dogs. They're her favorite!
• She LOVES to walk outside and if we let her, she'd probably just take off and wander around for hours!
• She loves to eat and is doing better at eating a variety of veggies.
• She loves to wear jewelry. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, you name it.
• She also loves to wear clothes on her head.
• Bath time is still one of her favorite activities.
• Her best friend is our little neighbor, Alexis, and she runs to the door when you ask her if she wants to go see Lexi.
• She's got 3 teeth and will soon have 4! The bottom two have been around for a while, but she only has the top right so far.
• She takes 2 naps a day, but sometimes they're not very long. Naps have been crazy lately, with the sickness, and all!

She's such a cutie pie and we love to have her in our family. I don't know what I'd do without her. Life would be pretty boring. She keeps us on our toes and we're so thankful for that!

p.s. this blogging thing is not for me lately. I haven't felt like writing anything down for the longest time! That needs to change, though. I think once I get over this cold completely, I will take the time to write about Christmas, Ellie's surgery and anything else that's going on in our lives!

12 Months

Ellie is 12 months old! I can't believe that a year has gone by with our little sweet pea! It sure went fast, but we've had lots of fun with her throughout the fastness!

At Ellie's 12 month appointment this Monday, we found out that she had terrible ear infections in both ears, and I felt bad for her because she had had a hard day on Sunday, so I figured something was up. Her doctor looked her chart over, and when he realized that this was her 4th ear infection in 4 months straight, he decided it was time for tubes (HOORAY!)! He gave us a referral, and I called that evening and got Ellie an appointment for Wednesday. I was excited to get her in so quickly, because I knew the sooner we got her in, the sooner she'd start to feel better and stop having ear infections!

Anyway, her 12 month appointment was good, but she is on the small side. Dr. Nielsen isn't too worried about that though, because she's been consistent with her small-ness! She's currently 19 lbs 13 oz which puts her in the 27th percentile for weight. She's 29 inches tall and in the 43rd percentile for height, and her head is 17.6 inches around which is the 37th percentile. She's very small, and this is the smallest she's been with weight in a while.

We started giving Ellie whole milk a few days after she turned one, but she didn't really like it until lately. She's still figuring it out but definitely prefers nursing still. She is a good eater otherwise, but has started to become a bit picky.

Anyway, here are more things about Ellie at 1 year old!:

• She's wearing size 12 month clothes, but still some 6-9 month jammies.
• She wears size 3 shoes, but is getting close to growing out of them.
• She Loves to play with all the new toys from Christmas and her birthday, especially her puppy, activity table, corn popper, and school bus oh and her blocks, too!
  
• She takes 2 naps a day, but I can tell the morning nap is going to fade out soon!
• She goes to sleep at about 7:30 and wakes up around 7 or 7:30.
• Her favorite foods are blueberries, sweet potatoes, string cheese and saltine crackers, but she eats almost anything we give her.
• She LOVES to play with our neighbor's baby, Lexi and the are the bestest friends.
• She can say, dada, daddy, mama, na na (banana, or food in general) and hi. She doesn't say mama very often, but she'll come around ;)
• She loves to drink water from our camelbak water bottles.
• Bath time is still probably her favorite thing to do.
• She is hilarious all the time, and loves to be silly and dance to any music and sing the beginning to the Backyardigans theme song.
• She's the cutest little one year old there ever was, and we love her to death!

Look for another post about her 1st birthday party, which was of course ALL PINK! :D

But here's a sneak peek of what she looked like at her party!

We sure love Ellie, and we've had such a fun time being parents to her. She's the best decision we ever made, and I'm glad we took a leap of faith to start a family, because I would be so bored without her in my life!

Ellie: Eleven months old!

Has it really been nearly a year that little Ellie has been with us? It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but at the same time it seems like it's been forever!

Ellie's such a fun little girl, and she's exactly that now--a little girl! Not a baby! I can't believe how much she's turning into a toddler lately! From nearly running, to starting to say words, to just her little mannerisms.

Poor Ellie's been hit with the sick bug WAAAY too many times during the past month or so, but that hasn't stopped her from being happy and cute most of the time. Today we went to the doctor again for her ears. She has been struggling to sleep through the night and last night she was up all night screaming which meant just one thing to me--ear infection. I was right. Though this time, it's only a mild ear infection in her left ear. I'm hoping and praying that she gets over it quickly and that this antibiotic does the trick!

I'm nearly done planning every little detail for Ellie's 1st birthday party, and I'm way excited about it. It's going to be a lot of fun! It'll be so cute to watch Ellie open presents, eat cake and ice cream and just have fun. I'm also very excited for Christmas this year and watching Ellie figure things out.

Well, here are some things about our little sweet pea at eleven months old:

• She's wearing almost all 12 month clothes, still some 6-9 month outfits here and there
• She wears size 3 diapers, is just now fitting into size 3 shoes and she's got enough hair for some cute and elaborate hairstyles!
• She weighs 19 lbs 1 oz and is 27 1/2 inches tall!
  
• She's got two teeth on the bottom and her two top teeth are looking like they'll be here within a couple of weeks
• She eats all table food and will only let you spoon feed her applesauce and yogurt, but still has to stick her fingers in her mouth and make a mess with it!
• She loves goldfish crackers, puffs, cheerios, peas, sweet potatoes, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, mangoes, bread, pasta and pretty much anything else you try to feed her.
  
• She's still nursing at least 4 but sometimes 5 times a day (and she doesn't bite! Thank goodness)
• She has a little bit of a temper when things don't go her way, and sometimes she will bit her own hand, your hand, or whatever she's near if she gets upset at you for telling her no, taking something away, or taking her away from something.
• She can say daddy, but doesn't say it very often.
• She loves her little stuffed kitty, but I think she thinks kitties bark like puppies because every time we give her the kitty or ask her where the kitty is, she barks like a dog. (oops!)
• She loves animals, and gets very excited about playing with them, petting them or even seeing them
• Her favorite thing to watch is the Backyardigans, and I only let her watch less than 1 episode a day when I need to get something done, or if she's super ornery
• She is still taking 2 naps a day and goes to bed around 7:30-8
• She loves to listen to us read books
• She loves to turn the pages of any books, and is very gentle with them for the most part

Seeing as how many sicknesses we've dealt with in the last month or so, she's such a happy well-behaved little girl and we are SO thankful for that! She's so curious and loves to figure things out. It's super cute. We're so happy to have you in our family, Ellie!

(sorry no photos at the moment. Maybe soon. Today was NOT the day to take pictures of Ellie...)

Christmas time

This time of year is my favorite for many reasons, and I am so happy that I've got 90% of my decorations up! The only thing missing is a tree. This year, we're opting for a small 4 ft or so tree to save money, and because we're going to be in Roosevelt for Christmas.

As I have grown older, I have realized more and more the importance and true meaning of Christmas and I can't help but say that I feel I have been blessed beyond all measure throughout my life. Even when I feel like times are tough and I may not be able to have everything I want, I am so thankful to have the basic necessities of life. I have definitely taken this for granted, and I hope that as I continue to mature and age I can realize the tender mercies and beautiful blessings around me more.

One thing I am extremely grateful for at this time of year is my family. I am so thankful to have all of my family within a few hours drive. It brings about a sense of security that I didn't know I had until we moved all the way across the country for the summer.

Our future is very much up in the air right now and I want to be able to have no regrets about the time I have left living so close to family and having that support near-by. Because this may or may not be our last Christmas in Utah, we are trying to do many fun things here and spend a lot of time with family and close friends before we're off to other adventures!

I'm looking forward to the upcoming month of December. I am so excited to start some traditions of our own with our little family and teach Ellie the traditions we each have brought into our family. I'm extra excited for Ellie's reactions to things like the Christmas tree once it's all decorated, the present opening and the toys that Santa will be bringing her!

This year went by SO quickly and as I think about how November is leaving us and December is knocking at the door, I'm feeling very bittersweet because that means my sweet little baby is turning 1! I am so thankful for her and every single day I get to stay home with her and watch her learn and grow!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and you all get to do amazingly fun things this year!

Ellie ten months old!

Time just keeps flying, and Ellie just keeps growing up! She's 10 months old today, and she's such a big girl! As each day goes by, she's becoming more and more independent and more of a toddler instead of a baby. She's so fun and has so much personality!

We got her dressed in a cute outfit & went to put her in the crib to take some pictures and she thought it was bedtime, so she cried and cried! Then we just scratched that idea!

Here is a little about her at 10 months:

• She sleeps from about 8 to 8 most nights, which is AWESOME for us!
• She takes 2 naps a day, varying in length from 1-2 hours.
• She has just learned to "give loves" to things, and is frequently hugging her stuffed animals and us.
• She likes to give kisses to you if you ask for them.
• She's wearing 12 month clothes, but they're still pretty big on her. She's also wearing size 2 & 3 shoes & size 3 diapers.
• She nurses 4-5 times a day, eats 3 "normal" meals consisting of bread, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, peas, sweet potato fries (home-made & her favorite!), cheddar-broccoli nuggets (home-made), string cheese, yogurt, water, chicken, and just about anything else we let her have. She LOVES food, and I'm always amazed at how much she can really eat!
• She stands up for up to about 1 minute at a time and has taken a couple steps here and there, but isn't really interested in learning to walk.
• She loves to point to her nose when you ask her where her nose is.
• She loves to play in the bathroom, and if the door isn't latched, she'll go in there and put anything she can in the bathtub.
• She's just started to climb (UH-OH) and we had to take the shelf off of our coffee table, because she can climb on to it! She's starting to climb into the bathtub (another uh-oh) and tries to climb onto anything else she can reach.
• Getting into the kitchen drawers and pulling everything in them out is one of her favorite pass times.
• She can say "mama" "dada" "uh-oh" "baba" "whatsthat" "go" and "nana"
• She's still learning to say mama and dada to the right person, but she's getting close!
• She STILL doesn't have any teeth, or any signs of any teeth...
• She weighs 18 lbs 7 oz
• She loves to turn the light switches to "off" whenever I carry her out of a room
• She is starting to point at things more and talk as she points
  

She's such a joy to have around, and we love her so so much! She's such a blessing and we're so thankful we get to be her parents!

Today she climbed in her toy bin and I covered her with her toys. She thought it was pretty fun. p.s. check out that yellow ring mid-fling!

Giving her kitty "loves"

Standing and pointing. When she points it's usually like this and super quick with her pointing and then putting her arm back down.

Standing up all by herself but too timid and busy to take a step!

Happy ten months old, Ellie!

Crazy week and other events

This week has been insane! I feel like we've had to rush through it/do so many things this week that we haven't had time to just sit back and enjoy life!

Monday-Doctor with Ellie, ear infections (YUCK), David's birthday, David's sick, Running errands like crazy because David was home with sleeping Ellie (YAY!)

Tuesday-David had to get to campus relatively early, had class from 10-7!! My mom & FBLA came to stay at the Marriott that's like 3 blocks away, Dinner @ the Mall w/my mom to visit & catch up.

Wednesday-Play with my mom and go shopping, sheet-music buying, go visit grandma, go to lunch, David gets a call from BMPC about them wanting to recruit him for a Crew Training Engineer position (In Charleston, SC) clean the house after playing with mom, thaw & frost cake (we all know how THAT turned out...) make random impromptu dinner, party w/cake and ice cream & friends.

Thursday-Catch-up day, David comes home sick AGAIN! Walk to Macey's to get some groceries/get exercise, Temple Recommend Interviews, prepare talk for Sunday.

Friday-Clean house, do laundry, go BACK to the doctor because Ellie's not really getting any better, go visiting teaching, carve Ellie's pumpkin with her, Go to Sam's to get Halloween candy, Have friends over to carve pumpinks, finish writing talk.

Saturday-Pick up bountiful basket, David intramural game at 12, David AICHE relay race 2 p.m., make soup for Trunk-or-Treat, 5:30 Trunk-or-Treat pre-soup potluck & then Trunk-or-Treating. Go over talk again.

Sunday-Give talk.....RELAX!

Busy week we've had/are going to continue to have until SUNDAY! I hope things start to slow down!

On the happy side of things, here are some pictures of our adorable little Ellie just being herself!

Shoes, Shoes and MORE SHOES! This girl loves to chew on shoelaces, flip flops, high heels, you name it. It's disgusting, so we usually hide our shoes...


Ellie's not afraid of anything, this fat lip sure proves that!

She was not wanting to go to sleep, then when I went in to check on her, this is what she was doing. Comfortable? To Ellie it is!

Ever since she had enough hair to do piggies, we do them as often as possible to get Ellie used to sitting and getting her hair done. She loves to hold the elastics while I do her hair.

I never EVER want to forget this hilariously cute face that Ellie makes when she gets excited about something! I'm so glad I caught it on camera!

Big girl!

Walking is just around the corner, folks!

Check Ellie out!