Blessing Ellie

On Sunday September 25, 2010 I got to enjoy watching my husband exercise his Priesthood for our family by blessing our daughter. I loved every bit of it. Most of both of our families attended (we each were missing a sister) even though it meant a lot of traveling and quick turn around time for most of them. We had family come from Idaho, Utah, Washington, Alaska, and Okinawa. We enjoyed a fun weekend with a chaotic home full of people, going to the hot air balloon festival activities with them, eating great food, and especially having so much family together at church.


We had a fussy 6 week old, so we didn't get out to see many of the hot air balloons as they take off around 6:45 or 7:00 in the morning, but many family members did enjoy watching them in the morning, or whenever we happened to spot one outside.We tried to go to the night burn. If you want to see what it's like, look at our post from last year. We enjoyed watching the hot air balloons light up as we walked to the stadium where it is held each year, and just as we got there - it ended. They called it on account of the wind. Somehow, I don't know that the kids really minded. They seemed to have a pretty good time anyway.
The next morning brought what everyone had come for. Baby blessings are especially amazing moments for me as our entire family attends church together. It means the world to me each time it has happened. Steve brought me to tears as I heard the love and emotion in his voice as he blessed Ellie Jaylin Bennett. It was a beautiful and special time for our little family.
Here are some pictures of Ellie in her Blessing outfit. I made her little bow just for her special day and was proud I could contribute by adding something personal. Now the whole outfit will be put away so that she can have it someday. (Minus the headband the bow is on - we only have a few of those!)

Steve declared that the only proper way to welcome a Bennett into this world was with the flesh of a beast - his words, not mine. So, naturally, we celebrated with a 16 lb. prime rib after church. It was so large the rotisserie couldn't turn the meat and we had to cut it in half and bake the second half. Most of the 16 lbs. was consumed that afternoon and all of it was DELICIOUS!
After lunch we took the kids to the Prosser park and everyone seemed to have a great time!
We really loved watching the families mix and adopt each other while everyone was here.We were especially glad to see these two become fast friends!
Sunday night we brought out the fire pit and everyone got to roast marshmallows.
It was a great weekend! It may have left us feeling like this...
But it was well worth it to have a moment like this.
Thank you to all of our family members who put in so much effort to be here for Ellie's special day. We love you!

Formal Pictures

My sisters and I don't make it to the same location at the same time very often. Every 2-3 years is about the best we do. So, whenever we are together we always get formal pictures taken for my parents. Ok, definitely for us too. Especially this time as I tagged along by getting pictures taken of Ellie. I would have loved to have gotten pictures of Ellie and I with Daddy too, but unfortunately silly things like adult responsibilities and work got in the way. I'm not sure what pictures family would want up, and since my family all has the pictures, I'll just post the ones of Ellie and I for the Bennett side to see. Our girl is beautiful! So enjoy!


Yup, thankfully our little Monkey is NOT like her mother in one way - she's photogenic! Hooray!

Too Many Rodents!

Did you know that a guinea pig can get pregnant again within the first couple of HOURS after it gives birth? US EITHER!


To be fair, they are even cuter than the last bunch, and at least there was no male in the cage after about a DAY after she had the last set, so we should officially be done with guinea pig babies now. These guys were born yesterday. So cute!

Baby #1
Baby #2Baby #3Needless to say we will be looking for some more guinea pig homes in about 2 or 3 weeks...

We also, ironically, bought two new rodents for Steve's classroom last Saturday. And of course, after a year of killing mice in our home and his classroom, we bought - mice! But, these are clean, and they have a purpose I promise. Steve is going to use them to teach genetics and punnett squares. They reproduce so quickly that he can have the kids predict what the babies will look like and then have the kids go back after the babies are grown and figure out which genes are dominant etc. And, even though some of you may think I'm crazy - these guys are cute too! The black one is the female and then we have an albino male.

This Monkey Rolls!

Ellie has been ridiculously strong for as long as I can remember. Steve could feel her kicking in the womb before I was supposed to be able to feel little flutters. She picked her head up for the first time when she was a day or two old, and at about a week old half rolled over. She can push us away with her arms, keep her legs so straight we can't dress her, and she now pretty much controls her head completely. For a while now she pushes herself up on my shoulder by standing on my legs, and yesterday at play time she spun herself 180 degrees by scooting around. Well, as of yesterday, our Monkey rolls!

Only one way - she still totters on the edge when she's going from back to front. This was her 4th roll and I finally got one on film! Too bad today both rolls were pretty quick from when she was put on her front, so I think she's starting to realize she can do it. Well, so much for the "lump" stage!

Way to go Monkey!

Sleep like Mom

So, after seeing that Ellie has Steve's cowlick, hearing everyone talk about how they think she looks like her Dad, and fearing she has the Bennett temper, we have been looking for something that makes Ellie like me. What do you know? Like someone we know...

She can sleep anywhere...
Through any amount of noise - such as at a football game with screaming fans, right next to the cheerleaders, and ignoring the air horn that announces the end of each quarter.
And in strange positions. (still need to get pictures off my phone if I can figure out how...)

And motion puts her to sleep.
I also came into her room to check on her the other day to find this...
Ellie has been able to get up on her side since she was about a week old, but usually just when she was flailing around or grabbed something. Apparently now she has started deciding that sleeping on her side when she's in my lap is not enough and has taken matters into her own hands.

Speaking of hands, Ellie is starting to take a liking to hers when they find their way to her face.
Ok, so I know most of the sleeping stuff applies to any newborn, but don't wreck a new mom's dreams. Even Steve doesn't want to think about how much trouble we're in if she's just like him!

One thing is for sure, just like Mom AND Dad, this girl likes to sleep.

LOTS of pictures of Ellie J

So, I've been telling myself (and family members - oops!) for over a week I'd get some pictures of Ellie up since we came home from the hospital. Finally working on that... I've only taken a few hundred pictures already, so I'm just going to share some of the best faces and important events. Sorry it took so long, but Ellie typically only gives me a few opportunities to get things done each day, and the blog wasn't really priority number 1 right away... Enjoy!

So, first we start off with a few Bennett family traditions. This is the Bennett bassinet. Steve, some of his sisters, and every grandchild so far has slept in this bassinet when they were first born. Ellie continues the tradition.
Ellie is really good at grabbing things with her hands, especially when she's upset, which means that often times her hats and hairbands end up pretty low on her eyes...
Another tradition on the Bennett side is that Grandma comes and stays for at least a few days to help out while Mom rests some. We really appreciated Reva coming and helping us. She also paints the toe nails of any female grandchildren before she goes home.
Next are just some fun pictures I took of Ellie.

Here she's wearing one of the really cute flowers that the Robert Clan sent us. Thanks!

One of the really cute outfits Aunt Julie sent from Japan.And Ellie in her carseat when we went to the Yakima Arboretum Friday August 20th while Reva was visiting. We love our carseat (thanks again Aunt Julie) and our cover (thanks again to the Roberts)!

This was the first playtime Ellie had - mostly because it's the first time she'd been very awake while we were home, on Monday the 16th. The Elephant blanket is from Aunt Kathy and it's great for playtime!She cracks me up with her funny faces every day. Especially when she goes cross-eyed.And Ellie enjoying her swing that the Gregorys gave us. We love this swing and she is starting to use it more! Thank goodness for our swing and bouncy seat so I can get things done even if she's not napping.

Precious Daddy time. I love watching Steve with Ellie. He is so loving and such a great Daddy.

This was Ellie's 3rd bath. The first one she protested, the second she seemed to enjoy, and this one she tried to sleep through! PS she has a bellybutton now instead of her blue cord stump. Much cuter...And a few more adorable faces.

I have some really great pictures on my phone that won't be great quality, but I'll try to get up before too long.

Just as a quick update as well: Ellie had her first check ups and is healthy and doing well. She still goes through diapers like crazy, but is putting on weight. In fact, we weighed her last night (well, Steve holding her, then without her) and she is over 9 lbs now! We double checked with me holding her because we couldn't believe it! But she is already so much longer and her head is fusing and getting bigger with chubbier cheeks every day. She already holds up and basically controls her head, will push herself up off my lap when she's laying against me, and gets halfway to rolling over. She also does hilarious things like projectile poop at us during diaper changes and spit out her vitamins on us. She is such a happy baby for the most part and we are loving every day with her! She is quirky and likes to sleep on her sides not her back, so we try to let her nap with us on her sides when she gets cranky about being on her back all the time. She also likes to sleep using her arms as pillows just like an adult which always makes me smile. She's already in the crib because she was shoving herself into the top of the bassinet at night by scooting along using her feet, she hasn't lost any of her hair, and she still makes great hilarious faces. She is also a clean freak about her diapers. She won't eat if they're too dirty, and we found out when she had a little diaper rash that she hates diaper cream - we think because she feels like it's a dirty diaper. Thanks to a suggestion from Aunt Kathy, we switched to baby powder and she is much happier making us much happier.

Here is what she looked like today napping in her bouncy chair.
We can't believe how much she's already grown and changed!