Father's Day 2015

Father's Day was a little lost since we were in San Francisco, but I wanted to be sure to document how I am beyond lucky to call this man mine. From day one he has been an incredible daddy and an amazingly supportive partner, and there is no one I'd rather be on this crazy ride of parenthood with. The way Ellie's face lights up when he comes home from work says it all - your girls love you, B!

San Fran & Father's Day

Brad had a conference in San Francisco, so we loaded up and Ellie got to take her 5th trip - this kid has now been on 10 airplane rides! Brad worked for the first few days and so E and I got lots of one on one time exploring SF, as well as hanging out with my friend from college, Amy, and her 9 month old daughter, Hadley. We hadn't seen each other since Amy's wedding in 2012 - it was so wonderful to reconnect.

The weather was absolute perfection for these desert dwellers - lows in the 50s and highs in the 60s - a much needed respite from the 115 degrees in Phoenix. Mommy got to wear jackets and scarves (a big win in my book), and E finally got to sport some of her cute 3-6 month long sleeves and pants (which if she wasn't such a petite peanut, would have been worn earlier this spring).

The trip happened to coincide with Father's Day, so we celebrated SF-style with an afternoon hanging out on the lawn at the Presidio enjoying food trucks, music, cool bay breezes, and sunshine. All in all, a fabulous little getaway. Here's a link to all photos from the trip. 

Big girl moves

For a baby that doesn't get very many bottles, she's getting good at holding them up!
Such a big girl!

Double the Ellie, double the fun

I continue to be so happy with my decision to put a mirror over the changing table. 

She just loves it!

More Beckett love

Brad finally got to meet the little man - we cannot get over how GIANT E looks next to a newborn!

Watching the Cardinals. Notice her hand placement. And mommy MELTS. 

We caved...

Although some might argue it's too early, Ellie has really proven she's ready for her first cell phone :)

Business in the front, party in the back

We've had this going on for quite awhile (I want to say since she was around 3 months old), but I'm posting now so I don't forget this amazing E quirk. The child has a SERIOUS mullet. Her hair is so darling from the front, and then you turn her around and BAM! Rat tail city. It makes us giggle all the time and is just one more thing that makes Ellie, Ellie.

28 weeks!

Well, it was only a matter of time before Ellie realized the big owl next to her was more than just a prop and could be (gasp!) a TOY! She is officially a human eraser - the poor owl never stood a chance. The upcoming weekly photos should be interesting with our newly discovered chair buddy.

Unmistakable consonants

Ellie's baby babble has taken a new turn as of about a week ago - instead of just random sounds and squeals, she has started babbling actual consonants. This is so fun to witness because it's the beginning of what will become actual words. And how exciting for mommy that her first consonant just happens to be 'ma'. Now, I know this is purely coincidence and that she's not actually associating the word with me, but holy cow what hearing her say 'mamamamamama' over again does for my soul. Pure mama bliss.
Two video accounts of the 'mama' below. The first waiting for our plane to take off from SF to PHX a couple of days ago, and the second was bedtime that same night.

Beckett Steven Del Chiaro

I had the privilege of meeting 3 day old Beckett Del Chiaro yesterday, and oh. my. LORD he is a precious, perfect nugget. It's so weird to see E next to a brand new baby - she looks like a giant! I know she was once that small (actually smaller!) but it's already so hard to remember her that way.

This is the first new baby I've held since Ellie was born and holy cow. We're by no means ready for #2 yet but with him in my arms, try convincing my ovaries that! Babies are very powerful little people. 

Lucky to have this family of 3 in our lives, and looking forward to many fun joint family outings in the future. 

Grandma Sandy was feeling very lucky to have two babies to love on!

Daily dose of happy

I was in the company of one HAPPY baby this morning. 

I'm fairly convinced baby giggles are the solution to all the world's problems -
there is just nothing better. 

Grandpa Brownie turns 80!

Ellie and I took to Wichita the weekend of June 5 to celebrate my grandpa and her great grandpa Brownie turning 80 (her fourth trip by plane!). My mom's side of the family is BIG and all of his 5 kids and 16 grandkids were able to come back except for two grandchildren (and two corresponding great grandchildren - he has a total of 9!). The party was a success, and he had a wonderful time.

It was also a great opportunity for E to meet her extended family on my mom's side, as she'd met her family on my dad's side on our last visit. She LOVED her great uncle Marc, as well as her second cousin Tiffany (my first cousin Nathan's wife) and her four daughters (Ellie loves to watch big kids).

My cousins Sam and Andie (Aunt Lori's two youngest kids - 18 and 15) had never held a baby, which we quickly remedied by tossing an Ellie their way. (Andie's indoctrination was actually pretty funny - we were setting up the buffet prior to everyone arriving, and I was trying to mess with crock pots while holding Ellie, which wasn't working. Andie was standing there, so I said "here, take her while I do this". She looked at me like I had three heads and said "oh, I've never held a baby." To which I replied, "well, it's high time you learn" and handed her off. Ellie may not have been the most comfortable she's ever been, but she certainly wasn't going to be dropped which was all that mattered :)

We also got to spend the day on Sunday with Papa and Gigi, and even though I forgot her swimsuit, after some time on the step, we finally just stripped her down and she took a short swim in their pool.
A quick trip (hard to do solo with a baby) but a very, very good one. Photo below as well as a video of E with her Great Uncle Marc.

A link to our photos from the weekend is here.

27 weeks!

I love my piggies!

See, Mom! It says so right there: 27 weeks old.

Okay, okay, hold on the pics. I need to check out this toy. 

I must ask her where she got her bow...

Done taking pictures already?! But I look so cute today!

E being E

Two videos of E being E because it's my blog and I'll post videos if I want to :)
The first is more of her amazing talking and awesome sound effects, the second is typical Bug while out and about with mom and dad (she LOVES her toys!).

Drama Queen

Miss Eleanor is turning into a bit of a drama queen (again, I say KARMA). When she does fuss and cry, it's usually not because she's genuinely upset (this does happen, but rarely), but because someone has stopped paying attention to her, or she's bored, or it's just evening time and she'll cry if she wants to. Her types of cries are now very obvious to us, and we have a hard time taking her drama queen cries seriously, as evidenced by the video below. A perfect example of "it's evening time and I'm just grumpy because I can be but I'm not really upset because I'll stop and start crying on a dime for no reason at all." Oh, bug...

Belated 6 month birthday present

I splurged a little and got Ellie a fancy new personalized her-sized chair for her 6 month birthday (okay, so maybe the 6 month birthday was just the perfect excuse to get it since I've been wanting to see her little buns in this mini chair for quite awhile :)

She loves it - it helps her sit upright and it's so unbelievably adorable to see her in a chair just her size. And of course, a video of her first time in the chair is below. 

3 am shenanigans

Ellie is sleeping through the night (hallelujah!), but sometimes still wakes up fussing once or twice, which just requires someone to go in a do a little back rub and paci insertion to get her back to sleep. The other night, I heard noises on the monitor, looked at my phone and saw that it was around 3 am, the normal waking time should waking occur. I quickly realized, though, that she was not fussing, but rather "singing" and babbling to herself quite contentedly. I was immediately wide awake and cracking up. Brad rolled over, heard the noises and started laughing, too. So here we are, at 3 am when we'd normally be less than happy to be awake, laughing in bed at this little girl who decided it was a great time to be awake and happy. She jabbered on for about 7 minutes and then promptly fell back asleep, no fussing, no grumps, just stopped making noise and was immediately in dreamland. Man, I love this girl.

6 months old.

Eleanor Claire turned 6 months old on June 9, 2015. Where oh where has the time gone? Has it really been six whole months since my heart started living outside my body? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was in pj's all day in a nurse-every-2.5-hours, sleep deprived, newborn blur? This little girl is the light of our lives, and brings so.much.JOY everywhere she goes. She has so much energy, so much life in every single thing she does. She "talks" all the time and makes some killer noises (we are partial to the pterodactyl and her "singing" which is really a very high pitched squeal). She engages, knows what's going on around her, loves her toys and loves her mom and dad.
6 month stats and more of what's making her special these days is below, along with a video of some 6 month chatter:

As of 6/9/15...
Weight: 15.4 pounds (33%)
Height: 25.5" (42%)
Loves: mom and dad, being held, avocados, pears and bananas, her exersaucer, dogs and baths (ie: splashing), her feet
Hates: dirty diapers, being tired
Doesn't mind: diaper changes, clothes changes, being held by others as long as mom is in sight
Size: FINALLY firmly into our 3-6 month clothes. Sheesh! And firmly in size 2 diapers.

-Rolling all over the place and always sleeps on her tummy
-Incredibly vocal - all over the octave ranges from intentional low grunting to super high pitched squeals and everything in between
-Loves toys and throws things around with serious intent
-Has tried: baby oatmeal, avocado, pear, carrot, banana, peas, prune, and sweet potato
-Smiles at strangers as long as mom or dad is near
-Brave. She lets dogs lick her face and she laughs and laughs. She loves water and splashing even when it's in her eyes and she can hardly see - she just giggles and keeps splashing.
-Bedtime around 7 pm
-Three naps a day
-Often wakes up from naps and in the morning happy - will squeal and talk to herself for awhile before she decides she needs company

Dad's favorite things about Ellie:
1. Her pterodactyl noise
2. Smiles in the morning
3. How she watches Penny so intently
4. When she grabs my face
5. Her laugh

Mom's favorite things about Ellie:
1. When she really gets going with her talking (usually also involves lots of raspberries)
2. Her expressions when she tries a new food
3. How happy she is to see me when she gets up from a nap
4. How she rubs my arm and stomach and reaches for my face while she nurse
5. Smiles

Next up in solid food

Ellie's making awesome progress in the food department! So far she's had:

-organic baby oatmeal

-avocado

-banana

-pear

-carrot

-peas

-prunes

Prune face!

At her 6 month check up she got the green light to eat just about anything other than honey and chunks of meat. I worked on her next batch today:

-sweet potato

-apple

-peaches

(Plus some more avocado - it's her favorite!)

Introducing Ellie to solid food has been such an unexpected joy - I love watching her wheels turn as she experiences new flavors and textures. It's so fun! 

A cloudy day for a swing

A perfect cloudy morning to do a little 6 month swinging!

26 weeks!

Which coincides with the 6 month birthday!