Cuteness

Just a few cute pictures today!

Baby Pictures

Many months ago when I was pregnant, I spent a lot of time trying to picture what Ellie would look like.  It wouldn't matter regardless when she was born if she looked more like Wesley or me, I think I just wanted to put a face with her name that we had finally chosen.

I looked through both my and Wesley's baby pictures.  Last night, my mom posted a comparison of Ellie and I on Facebook, so I thought it would be fun to put up both Wesley and I's comparisons with her here.

^^Me circa 1989

^^Me and Ellie

^^Ellie and Wesley

^^Ellie and Wesley

Goldilocks

^^Her face when you animatedly say "Mmmmm...tasty!"

^^ "Yeah mom, it's not that tasty...."

I had every intention of waiting until Ellie was 6 months adjusted age to start her on any type of solid food.  Her pediatrician and I had talked about how that would be ok since she is still so small and is currently getting everything she needs while nursing.  As I began reading about starting solids in my myriad of baby books at the start of January, I realized that she was pretty much displaying all of the signs that she was ready for this next step. 

So I few days before Wesley and I decided to take the leap, I let her play with one of her green spoons while I was eating to get her used to it.  As you can see above, being handed the spoon to play with is her most favorite part of "dinner time."  She even tries to grab the spoon when a spoonful is on the way to her mouth.  Wesley is already going through withdrawal of her wanting to be more independent.  In his head it is rice cereal today... prom dress shopping tomorrow.

She likes the rice cereal much better than I thought.  We are still entertained with her "what is this stuff?!?" faces but she does eat it without too much protest.  However, it does have to be just right.... too cold or too hot, too soupy or too thick and our Goldilocks won't have it!

Seven Months

My baby is seven months today! I have loved scrolling through all of our pictures today looking back on how far she has come.

Ellie is over 13 lbs and 24.5 inches long now.  She sits up well assisted, and loves to lock her knees and stand up (And would probably just go ahead and walk if she could get her hips under control!) She can raise her whole chest up while on her tummy and now tries to reach for toys in front of her.  She seems to still not have any interest in rolling over, despite going from tummy to back a handful of times.  However, she does at times flail her arms and legs while on her tummy that looks like a valiant effort at swimming.  It's really adorable when she does it on her blue fuzzy blanket that we have downstairs!

She sleeps through the night, has started rice cereal, and only eats 4 times a day.  We are still working to get her down to 3 naps a day.  She has figured out how to suck her thumb and now plucks the passy out of her mouth when you try and give it to her.  Its adorable and convenient that she can soothe herself now.  We have conquered the "letting her cry it out" milestone (well, hopefully we have.  She has Wesley wrapped around all ten fingers and toes and when I'm not home, he will pick her back up and rock her more if she cries.  !!!!!!)  She can smile for the camera and laughs when you pretend to eat her.

We love you sweet girl!!! 

Changes

 Smile, sleep, play, repeat!

Our new year has brought several new changes.  Ellie is now almost 5 months adjusted age (where does the time go?!?)  She is mostly sleeping through the night now (yay!!!). We seemed to turn that corner last week after a few restless night after getting her latest synergis shot.  Now she sleeps till 5:45, where on the dot she wakes up squealing with joy in her bed.  Like with our history of dealing with all of her nighttime awakenings since she was 6 weeks adjusted age, we wait 20 minutes to see if she goes back to sleep.  Sometimes she does, and sometimes she doesn't but after a quick feeding, she goes back to sleep until 7.  We are also in the in-between phase where we are trying to go from 4 to 3 naps

She is also learning to fall asleep unassisted.  It is heart wrenching to hear those cries at the end of a long day, but she has to learn how to do it.  At the transition from 4-5 months babies start to act more like adults and start off in non-REM sleep instead of REM sleep.  She does pretty well as long as she can find her thumb...sometimes her pajama sleeves get in the way so we have to remember to roll them up!

And we are now eating solids!  I though we would hold off completely until she was six months adjusted, but she is acting so ready that we went ahead and have begun the adventure of eating rice cereal.  She is doing really well!  She only eats probably a tablespoon in total before she is ready to stop, but she loves eating from the spoon and smiles when you say "Mmmmm tasty!"

As we settle into all of these new changes, hopefully we will be able to be a little more consistent on our updates!