Family Photos

We had a local photographer take our family pictures back on November 19th. Of course the weather was windy and cold and wet, so we ended up with my hair all crazy a lot of the time and poor Ellie only lasted about 15 minutes, but we still ended up with some cute pictures. Here are most our decent pictures.

We started out with pictures of just the two of us so Ellie could stay warm in the car.

Then we got Ellie out of the car and got some CUTE pictures of her on her own.

Did I mention it was cold? Yeah. It was.

And then family shots.

This was actually at the very end of the shoot trying to warm up an unhappy baby.

This is probably my favorite of the family shots.

So there you go family, new pictures for you. It was fun working with this photographer, so we'll probably use her again since she's so reasonably priced, but next time we'll wait until a time when we won't have to fight the weather so much! But, I'm still glad we got some pictures of Ellie at this age when she is so much fun. Mission accomplished.

REAL WALKING!

We are so excited! Ellie started taking a few steps at a time on her own the last couple weeks, which was a relief after about a six week plateau. Then this morning I was watching Ellie noticing she kept taking those couple of steps which we normally only get once or twice every couple of days. And again. And again. She was walking around me on the couch taking steps around me to get back to the couch. And I thought, this is awesome. She's walking a lot today!

Then she moved over to the coffee table. And started doing laps around it - that's new. And then those laps started to have a few steps in them. And then she was walking the straightaways of our oval coffee table with her hand hovering above the table. And then she did a whole lap of the table with starts and stops without ever getting down or touching anything! We were jumping up and down like idiots at this point...

A few minutes later I walk over to the hallway and see her walking down the hallway! She probably practiced walking around the living room, hallway, and coffee table for a solid 15 or 20 minutes today! We were giddy by the time she got tired and I realized I should grab the camera. But, she did let us get one walk on video before her nap. And here it is! With a little preview of her crawling and doing her famous knee-walking to begin with.

Now that you've watched our girl, go back and enjoy watching her Daddy jumping up and down in the background. You'd think that little girl is loved or something.

Now we have to decide if she keeps progressing what to do since the people we were referred to by the local developmental center are supposed to come evaluate her Friday - since she can't walk yet. Hmmm..... This little girl just loves making us look like we have no idea what we're doing. And to be fair..... She's pretty much correct on that one.

Recent Pictures

So, here are a few pictures of Ellie from the last week that were just too cute not to share. First, this is her dressed up to go to a band concert at Steve's school on Thursday. She looks so big! But sooooo cute!
Friday she sported her University of Idaho pride and was awfully cute doing it.
This is her FAVORITE game currently. Peek-a-boo happens about every 15 minutes in our house right now...
Oh, and as of the last couple of days, these are the teeth Ellie has now cut or have come in. The left side is all the teeth she should have by the time she is 2 and a half or 3. The right side shows she's committed to being an overachiever and getting it all out of the way as quickly as possible. Good thing this girl is so tough and handles it all like a champ!And tonight after church and her nap. Does this girl know how to accessorize or what? The goggles really make the outfit. Guess she just wants to be as cool as her mom...
In other news, Ellie is FINALLY starting to stand a little on her own, although she won't stand up on her own, but has stood about once a day for a solid 5-10 seconds, and today even took a shuffle or two forward at nursery at church! Maybe she'll be walking by the time she's 18 months. I don't know where she gets those stubborn genes from!

Ellie's Halloween

It's funny to look back at pictures of Ellie last Halloween where it was Sunday and she was all dressed up, because here is how I took her out shopping today.

Oh, and here is how Daddy went to work today. Just call him "House".

But, we did plan on doing something festive. Our ward didn't do a "Trunk or Treat" this year, so we crashed our old Prosser Ward's activity Saturday night. Ellie loved seeing everyone in their costumes, walking around everywhere with decorated cars while we tried to direct her through the traffic to the candy, and eating said candy. By the end of the night she knew what her trick or treat bag was and kept an eye out in case it was ever unattended. Like the bum that I am, I realized too late we didn't have our camera with us. But, we did take pictures of Ellie in her monster costume today before we headed out again.

We had planned to go to "Safe Treat Street" in our city before I had to go teach swim lessons, but when we got there with about a half hour to explore after Ellie's nap, there was about an hour long line just to enter. So, that option was out. Instead, we turned around and walked to the mall to see if anything was going on there.

Some of the stores were handing out candy to kids trick or treating in the mall. That gave us just enough candy to feel we'd at least introduced Ellie to the concept of Halloween and then I had to go to work. Apparently while I was in the pool, Daddy was helping Ellie feast on her spoils. And that only continued when we got home.
This sucker actually started out as Daddy's and ended up as Ellie's. She came over begging till he shared, then stole it repeatedly till he surrendered. Yup, she LOVES her candy. And I think she finally crashed about 10:45 or so... Yay sugar rush! But, when a monster is this cute, who could really begrudge her 4 or 5 pieces of candy?!I know, right? So cute it's ridiculous.

Most of the way and half-way

So, since about mid-September, I have been on a mission to lose weight. I haven't always pursued this mission daily, or even weekly, but I am making an effort. I lost some weight just going back to work and swimming, so I continue to swim at least a 300 every day I work, and I am trying to stick with Jillian too, although don't ask me how I'm doing on that lately. So, when I weighed myself last week, I expected bad news. Instead, I found out that I was down 8 lbs from the beginning of September! That only leaves me about 2.5 lbs left of pregnancy weight to lose! Ok, so admittedly, I don't look the same as I did when I was this weight last time, having a baby will apparently do that to you. But, I am losing weight, and if I stick with it hopefully some redistribution of weight will follow. The other great news is that I am about half-way to my target weight that I would love to achieve by New Years. I know, that gives me some time, but if I can continue a slow and healthy weight loss averaging about 4 lbs a month then I can still enjoy this process and hopefully not give up. As a celebration (and because I was down to one pair of jeans) I went and spent some of my birthday money to buy some new jeans today and got a top too. The jewelry and flower in my hair (trust me, it's there) are from a company called Paparazzi that I was recently introduced to and LOVE because they're most expensive jewelry sets are $5!

This may be how I look.

But losing weight makes me feel like this!
Totally pretending to be trendy with the side pony, but I kind of like it with the clip. Welcome back 80's. I never knew you then, and I hope not to know you very well now either.

October 15th Part 2: Tolovana Beach

After we left the Astoria Column, we tried to go see a lighthouse, but the new Washington State Parks prices are so ridiculous it would have cost us over $50 to walk a few hundred feet to see it and stop at an interpretive center. So instead, we charged down just south of Cannon Beach to have lunch at the world famous Mo's. They're clam chowder is pretty darn good (and I HATE seafood), and Mo's are only on the Oregon Coast, so Steve and I always make a stop when we're there.

It's also fantastic because Mo's is literally right on the beach, and unlike Seaside and Cannon Beach just a few miles away, the beach is not nearly as developed or crowded. So we really enjoyed walking on the beach and letting Ellie play.

Tolovana Beach

There is just something so wonderful about walking along the beach and listening to the ocean. It's just so peaceful and tranquil. We watched people fly kites, play with dogs, looked for seashells, and just soaked in the whole place.

Ellie of course loved playing in the sand again.

And now the story Steve would probably kill me if I didn't tell and will exaggerate for the rest of our lives. According to my husband, this is the story of how I "abandoned my child, leaving her for dead" or some such dramatic title as he sees fit for the retelling.

So, this is how the story begins. We were walking Ellie down to the water to see what she would do with the waves since she was so unpredictable a few months ago with how she'd respond - all of which reactions were highly entertaining to us.
And then, Steve and Ellie and I stopped and looked at the water. And Steve stood there waiting for the waves to come hit them and see what Ellie would do. And I realized I had my shoes on and - uh, needed pictures of them in the water. Well it's true! I did want pictures! (And maybe some dry feet.....) So, I promptly dropped Ellie's hand, made sure she was still steady, and ran. And took the two following pictures.
Alright, lets analyze this situation for a moment. Our little girl is in the ocean at this point, which parent seems more qualified to protect our little girl from the ravages of the sea? A) Mommy, who happens to be a certified swim instructor and life guard or B) Daddy WHO CAN'T FREAKING SWIM?! If you answered A) congratulations you made the logical choice.

Unfortunately what happened is with the ocean bearing down on our little girl Mommy screamed and ran away faster than Obama has run away from his campaign promises; and Daddy (WHO CAN'T FREAKING SWIM) sat their and braved the cold ocean water with his daughter........Yup, Steve wasn't real impressed. Hard to tell, I know. But to be fair, he complained the rest of the day about wet shoes, but here is another picture showing him running back from washing off shells for the 3rd or 4th time, not to mention showing the waves to Ellie earlier. It's not like his feet were dry when we walked Ellie down to the water to begin with.....
Anyway, we had a fantastic day, which ended with a VERY tired Ellie who napped about 30 minutes the whole day up to that point, and was ready to cuddle up with Grandpa's hat (he gave it to her to block the wind on the walk back to the car) and go to sleep. She slept well on the way home.And no matter what your Daddy tells you, Little Girl, I did not abandon you. I promise. I lovingly entrusted your care to your father for a short time. That's what marriage and partnership is all about.