Happy 1st Birthday!

My baby is one!  I can hardly believe it!  She is growing and changing every day!  Her personality is starting to show and I love learning more and more about her every day!  We had a great time celebrating her first birthday with family and a few close family friends!  Elise did very well at her party considering there was an overwhelming amount of "new" faces to her and the fact that it ran into her afternoon nap:)  We are very blessed for the love and support we have had over this past year!  

Elise is full on walking!  She started walking in between 9-10 months!  She loves going outside to play.  Her favorite things to do outside are going for a walk in the stroller and kicking and throwing the ball around.  Every day when Ryan comes home from work, she grabs her shoes and heads towards the door!  

Elise can say mama, dada, and ba (which means ball, block, buddy and just about everything else).  She can sign please, milk, and all done.  She blows kisses on command and also for 'I love you' and 'thank you'.  

Elise loves playing with her toys!  She loves stuffed animals, especially her new teddy bear from her Aunt Katie.  She also loves dancing to her two snow globes, one from her Aunt Ang.  She loves shoes and clothes so it is a good thing her Aunt Carole has supplied her with plenty of hand-me-downs:)  Elise loves looking at books!!  She likes to flip the pages her self and carry them around.  She loves to go bye-bye.  We run lots of errands and travel a lot so it is a good thing she doesn't mind riding in the car and her carseat (most of the time).  

Elise has started at a new sitters.  We LOVE her and so does Elise.  There are no tears anymore when we drop her off and she has plenty of kids close to her age to play with.  She sleeps well and eats well there so it makes me feel soo much better when I am at school.  Not to mention two of my friends send their little ones their so she gets lots of time with them:)  

Elise has started giggling so much lately.  If you tickle her, she will crack up!  One sure way to get her to laugh is to play peek-a-boo or let her rub daddys hair.  

Elise also had her first hair cut just before her first birthday!  She sat so still and loved playing in the barbie jeep!  We treated her to dinner out (which we never do) and you demolished an entire grilled cheese and mandarin oranges!  Your favorite foods would include cheerios, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, chicken, black beans, carrots, and noodles.  You simply tolerate everything else we give you.  and MILK.  We could not survive without milk!  You have transitioned to whole milk smoothly.  We made it almost an entire year with breastfeeding/pumping!  I'm pretty proud of the fact that we never had to supplement with formula.  I feel blessed that my supply kept up and you were a great nurser.  But when you were done, you were done.  I'm happy that my supply held up while exclusively pumping.  I do not care for pumping so it was a long 2.5 months:)  

Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet girl!  You are such a blessing to us and we look forward to many more years ahead of us! :)

We love you to the moon and back!!!

<3 mommy and daddy

9 months

Well I must say that I can't believe it has been (a little more than) 9 months since Elise was born!  Some days I feel like time has flown by and other days it seems like it has been forever!  Either way, each day I just stare at Elise, trying to take it all in because I know tomorrow is never promised!  She is just so beautiful and I love watching her sweet little face as she looks at books or plays with her toys.  She is growing and changing every day!

She is talking/babbling all the time!  She says 'mama' and 'dada' and 'bye-bye'.  She will also point to a baby picture of her if you ask her where the baby is.  She will say 'bah' when you show her a ball too!  She has been pulling herself up for a while now and moving along furniture and standing by herself too.  Yesterday she also took 3 steps all by herself!!!  Thankfully Ryan caught it on camera because I was out running errands!!

Elise LOVES looking at books.  She pulls books off the shelves all day and will bring them to you to read!  She likes the touch and feel books with the soft fur and stuff.  She also will give hugs to a stuffed animal if you ask her too!  She is too cute!  :)  She has changed so much in these past 9 months and I can't imagine how much more will change before her 1st birthday....which is less than 3 months away!  I can't even believe it!!

Here she is the day she was born!

One month old

Two months old

Three months old

Four months old

Five months old

Six months old

Seven months old

Eight months old

Nine months old

SummerLove,

Liz

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there, but especially the three most important dads in my life.


My husband.  He is by far the best dad out there.  He is so loving and caring and sweet with Elise.  I love the way he talks to her, plays with her, and isn't afraid to be silly with her.  She watches him so intently and does what he does.  If he puts the bucket on his head, she puts the bucket on her head.  She is always full of smiles when he is around.  My favorite part of every day is watching her face light up when we look out the window to see daddy home from work.  And to watch her crawl so fast to him when he walks in the door.  

 See the bucket on the head?? haha

Happy Father's Day to my dad!  He is a great dad and a great grandpa to Elise!  I love seeing her smile when grandpa is around! I'm pretty sure he loves her more than me!:)

Happy Father's Day to my father-in-law!  I couldn't have asked for better in-laws!  As Elena always says, "He loves his girls":)

Happy Father's Day!  

My Baby Sister

Tonight, my little sister graduates from high school.  HIGH SCHOOL.  I simply cannot believe it!  18 years ago she came in to our lives whether we liked it or not!  (I was NOT happy about this because she was replacing me as the baby of our family, a spot I very much loved!) 

 Although she was one of the cutest little kids I know, I wanted nothing to do with her.  She took my spot and we were not friends.  We were sisters but nothing more.  I simply didn't like her.

 But as we got older, she grew on me.  We began playing together.  And sometimes having fun.  She learned very quickly and was by far one of the smartest little kids I knew.  She always had something witty to say.  I distinctly remember her about the age of the picture below and we were out to dinner.  The waitress came to take our order and my mom was getting ready to order Katie's food.  But Katie jumped in and ordered her own food.  It was pretty cute:)

 Katie began to be interested in things much different than Ang and I.  She was in dance class as a little girl.  She played soccer.  Then gymnastics.  Then volleyball.  Then cheerleading.  Ang and I were into volleyball, softball, and basketball.  And we did do cheerleading for a little while.  But we weren't nearly as talented as Katie.

 One of my favorite memories of Katie would have to be the day I sucked her hair up in a sweeper.  Yes.  I did.  She was laying on the floor, and I was trying to vacuum.  So I was teasing her by acting like I was going to sweep her up.  She hated it.  It made me giggle.  Until I actually did sweep her up.  Yep.  A huge chunk of hair got sucked up in to the sweeper.  She cried.  I got in BIG trouble.  I think it was a turning point for us:)

 I never imagined Katie and I sharing the same interests but as we grew older, we started to like the same things.  Now, she knows me better than I know myself sometimes.

 She has grown in to a phenomenal person and a talented cheerleader.  She has worked very hard at her tumbling, overcoming broken bones and her biggest fears.  I'm proud to say that she cheered in grade school, all 4 years of high school, and will be cheering next year at Ball State.  The first of us 3 to do any sport at the collegiate level.  Again, *SO* proud of her.

 Us 3 have come a long way over the years.  We still fight like sisters, but we know deep down that no matter what happens in life, who comes and goes, we will always have each other.  We are sisters by chance, friends by choice:)  Katie's famous in our family for always saying "I love you" before leaving the house or going to bed.  And making sure we all say it back to her!  And making sure we give 'real hugs':)  And her OCD-ness:)

 This girl also loves to dance.  I love Katie's sense of humor and her willingness to always act silly.  She knows how to keep things light and not serious.  Actually, she can't be serious.  It is funny to see her try to be serious.

 Katie is one of the smartest people I know.  She has learned how to be an excellent student while in high school.  Her grades have not always reflected how smart she actually is.  She has proven herself over the last few years and shown that she can do well in school.  Even making the honor roll the last few semesters:)  I am so proud of her!

 So basically, what I'm saying is that Katie is an awesome person.  And I'm proud to call her my sister.  But even more proud to call her my friend.  Love you, Katie Bug, and can't wait to see you graduate tonight!!!  You should be proud of yourself and your accomplishments.  MUAH!

These Boots are Made for Walking!

Elise is on the move!! She has been pulling her self up on everything and walking along furniture, baby gates and everything you can think of.  She is now pulling herself up on her walker and moving!! Love how happy she gets when she is walking:)

7 months

Time is just flying!! We are over the half way mark and 5 months away from my sweet baby girl turning 1!! I start to tear up thinking about it so let's just focus on the now!  Elise is growing and learning as any healthy little girl should.  She is definitely becoming a handful because she is getting into everything.  I guess I should first tell you her milestones!

Elise has been sitting up all on her own for a little over a month now!  It is so nice that she can do this!! It seemed like as soon as she figured out how to sit up, she was on to the next milestone!  

Elise began army crawling right around 6 months and then started crawling on all fours about 2 and a half weeks later.  She is now quick and knows how to get her self from one place to the next!  She is already figuring out those spots we don't want her to go (considering we live in a 770 sq ft apartment there isn't much room to go)!  She definitely hears the word 'no no' a lot!:) haha

Elise also learned how to pull herself up in her crib.  We looked on the monitor one day and there she was standing up!  We lowered the crib down and now she stands up all the time.  She stands up until the minute she is ready to close those eyes!  I must say I love walking into her room after naps and in the morning seeing her sweet little smile peeking over the crib!!  She is now pulling herself up on anything and everything.  Her toys, the couch, our hands, you name it, she is standing up and balancing herself really well.

Elise is LOVING her solid foods.  We only have her on baby food for now, and then she loves to eat puffs, too.  Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, pears, peaches, prunes, peas, green beans, and bananas. The only food she really doesn't care for is carrots.  I love introducing her to new foods!! She surprises me with how much she likes them right away!!  She also loves her puffs.  She is getting the hang of picking them up and getting them up and into her mouth.  They are a great distraction when we are out and about and she is getting antsy!! She is also getting the hang of a sippy cup.

We are so excited for summer time and all there is to do!!  We plan to make a trip to the zoo, splash parks, the lake, the pool, take lots of walk, play at the park, maybe a baseball game... anything to get us out and about!  She will also be starting swim classes in a week or so.  Ryan and I both love the water and hopefully she will too!

  Below is a video of the first day she was officially crawling on all fours.  She is less shaky now and much better at it!

I'll be updating this summer more when I'm not in school all the time!

Can't wait! xoxoxoxo

Spring Fever

With Spring approaching, and the amazing weather we had yesterday, we couldn't resist getting out of the house and going on a walk. We spent many days when Elise was first born walking and it was so nice to get out of the house. It also pulls Ryan and I away from work, school, and all other distractions and we get a chance to talk to each other. I love it:).

I love the neighborhood we live in. There are lots of areas to walk and we love walking down Main St. We also love walking to Circle K and getting a polar pop:)

Elise was excited to sit in the stroller like a big girl and see everything. I must say it wore her out:) and she dozed off while we were walking. I can't wait to have many more days like this when spring and summer arrive for good!!!