In preparation for our first taste of solids tomorrow...

...we thought we'd give our high chair a test drive. She loved it!! And I can't get over how teeny she looks in there!

SO happy after sleeping

This is typically what greets me every single time I walk in her room post nap...

Precious moments

Moments like this don't happen all that often anymore. This peanut must have been completely tuckered out if she fell asleep this hard post-milkies. 

Thought about putting her up in her crib so I can tackle dishes, but I think I'm going to sit and enjoy this for awhile. Little in this world feels better than this girl snuggled on my shoulder and that little hand resting on my chest. 

Solids prep

At her 4 month appointment, our pediatrician asked if we'd thought about starting solids. I said that we would likely wait until we were back from our trip to Wichita, around her 5 month birthday. He asked if she was starting to seem interested in what I was eating, which seemed like a funny question. 

How do I know?

Oh, you'll know. 

Ffwd to a few days shy of her 5 month birthday, and yep, she's interested. In the last week or so she's started watching SO intently as I eat, especially when she's on my lap. And so, this weekend we'll begin our solids journey! 

I am strangely really excited about this and am so excited to start pureeing all kinds of tasty fruits and veggies for little miss to try. I hope to instill a love of healthy foods in my baby girl. 

I spent yesterday evening working on my first batch, and we now have peas, bananas, avocado, pears and mango frozen into cubes and ready for defrosting! So fun!! We also have some baby oatmeal we'll try out as well. 

Let the messy face highchair photos commence!

21 weeks and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Since we were away from her things at home for the last 10 days, it's been amazing to see how much she's grown and changed! She went from sort of grasping what toys were to full on enjoying them, holding them, and of course, putting them in her mouth. She's also a MUCH bigger wiggle worm as evidenced by this week's photos and video below. And her new favorite trick (which she does a LOT) is to stick out her tongue and blow raspberries. She is SO engaging these days and absolutely cracks us up. We just adore this amazing little person so, so, so much.

PS: 21 weeks coincided with Cinco de Mayo, as noted by mom's attempt at drawing a margarita on the owl board. A little wishful thinking, I believe ;)

Blowing raspberries

Oh hey friend! Maybe you're alright after all...

Wichita!

Ellie took her first trip back to Wichita last week and we met so many people! We started at Mimi's house where Uncle Evan and Josh came down from KC to hang with us for the weekend. There were lots of toys generously shared by Chris Gunderson, so Ellie had all kinds of new things to play with. E met Chris and her Great Uncle Mitch. It was a relaxing and wonderful 5 days!

We moved over to Papa and Gigi's house for the next 5 days, and met more friends and extended family. Ellie got to spend time with Uncle E and Josh again, along with Great Uncle Meek, Great Aunt Secely and cousin Allie. Great Gram and Grandpa came down as well! She also met Sue Snodgrass (and feel asleep on her shoulder, which she rarely does anymore - she must have the touch!).

Papa and Gigi threw a lovely Open House for E and so we were also able to introduce her to a lot of their friends. She even got to take her first ride in a golf cart (the first of many to come, I'm sure).

Before we left town we were lucky to get some time with Great Grandpa Brownie who was recovering from surgery - we've now seen 4 generations on both sides of our family, and it's pretty amazing - we feel very lucky.

An album of our time in Wichita is here, with some highlights below.

20 weeks!

The big 2-0! (And mom cheated a bit taking the photo on Friday of last week as we're in Wichita on her true 20 week bday. Can't miss an Ellie and the Owl!)

The most accurate pic - EVERYTHING goes in our mouth these days!