Hiya from Pudsey!

Well, we made it! And we're even on our way to getting over the jet lag. Ellie was a champ on the way over -- she snoozed from Dallas to NJ, LOVED exploring the airport in NJ (no wonder since she loves bright colors and lights), and then slept almost the entire flight from NJ to Manchester -- she fell asleep before the drinks service was over and didn't wake up until we arrived at the gate. We lucked out and had an empty seat between us so we were able to set up a little cave/den for her like we did last time -- the blanket over the tops of the seats made it nice and dark for Miss Ellie. Unfortunately, for Mommy and Daddy, Ellie is quite a bit longer than she was last time so Daddy got kicked the entire flight and Mommy ended up with Ellie's big head taking up over half of her seat. ;-)

Yesterday, we went straight to Auntie Emma's house. Ellie had a great time watching her cousins,Thomas and Joseph -- it's probably the only thing that could have kept her awake and happy given how tired and sick she was (her cold has gotten quite a bit worse -- I'm sure the long flight didn't help). Nana came over (bringing delicious scones and cookies with her) and Uncle Brian even took a dinner break from work, so it was great to see them. We'll see Auntie Georgina later this week on her day off, and then we'll see Grandma Sue and Auntie Sarah next weekend.

Last night, we got settled in at Peter and Sue's house and after a few false starts, Ellie slept from 11:00 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. -- not bad! She took a nice nap this morning (2 hours...1 1/2 of them with me) and is in the middle of her afternoon nap. I'm guardedly optimistic that we're on our way to figuring out what time zone we're in.

Ellie is loving her new environment! She gets to sit in her travel highchair in the kitchen while we're cooking, cleaning up, and eating...she thought it was VERY fun to sit right next to Daddy during breakfast this morning (and Daddy enjoyed the prunes that Ellie wiped on the back of his arm)...and she was happy to see her old friend, the weeble-wobble duck that Nana got for her.

Oh, and in case all of that wasn't exciting enough, Ellie had her first bite of banana today! I was eating one while she was playing on the floor and she kept reaching for it. I thought, "what's the harm? She'll just put her mouth on it and enjoy (or not) the taste/texture." Wrong! She took a HUGE bite of it...and loved it (although I did fish it back out of her mouth). I don't know why that surprised me -- I should have known that she wouldn't cautiously gum/lick it like a lot of other kiddos would. I think we'll have to get some of those netted teethers that let kids gum food without swallowing large pieces.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow!

Ellie's 6-month pictures/Snaps are funny!

Today, we went to the mall to have Ellie's 6-month pictures taken. Unfortunately, she still isn't feeling great so she wasn't quite as smiley as she normally is, but we still got a few cute ones (the first one has the photographer's glasses in it -- oops!).

After taking pictures, we cruised the mall with Hillary & Jackson and Lindsay & Ivan. It's great having such wonderful stay-at-home mom friends -- it has made a world of difference! I absolutely love being with Ellie, but she's not a great conversationalist just yet so it's awesome to have two other moms to chat with, compare notes, etc. And Ellie loves Jackson and Ivan -- I see a love triangle in the works already!


I was working on this blog entry when I heard what I thought was screaming/crying. I ran upstairs to find Ellie just cracking up at Damian! She absolutely adores her daddy -- he is the only person who can make her laugh like this (if only he had been with us at the photographer's today!).

Ellie's bellying up to the bar!

We just got a travel highchair to take to the UK and Ellie thinks it's pretty fun to sit at the breakfast bar. She just loves banging on the counter and watching all of the action in the kitchen...oh, and sucking on the shoulder straps.

Poor little Ellie is still under the weather today. She has a stuffy nose, an upset tummy, and a fever. :-( Hopefully she'll feel a lot better tomorrow! in the meantime, she's getting lots of extra hugs and kisses.

In addition to having an sick kiddo, we have an injured puppy. Gracie cut her foot during our morning walk and had to have it glued back together (stitches would have required general anesthesia) and will have a bandage on her paw for 2-3 weeks. She definitely didn't enjoy the trip to the vet, but the fistful of treats that she got afterward seemed to help her get over it pretty quickly.

Happy Half Birthday, Ellie!

Wow! It is so hard to believe that Ellie is already 6 months old! Time is passing so quickly.

Ellie had her 6 month check-up today. She weighs a healthy 20 pounds, 1 ounce and is 27.25 inches long, putting her in the 95th percentile for both. The doctor thinks she's so cute that she should be in commercials...that comment earned him major brownie points! The downside of the appointment was the shots. Little Ellie was very brave, but ended up feeling yucky all afternoon. Poor girl -- that's no way to celebrate a half birthday!

Ellie's famous

I just found out that Kimberly Wylie (the photographer who took Ellie's newborn pictures) put several pictures of Ellie on her website: http://kimberlywylie.com/index2.php?v=v1 Pretty cool!

Now that's my kind of teething biscuit!

It's just so hard to tell whether she's teething!

That's hysterical!

Ellie thought that just about everything Damian did today was hysterical! Coughing, sneezing, playing with Tiger...you name it, it was belly-laughing funny!

Yum...Teething Biscuits!

Ellie had her first teething biscuit tonight and it was a big hit! She had a hard time holding onto it (pureed avocado can make a girl's hands slippery!) and it wouldn't go into her mouth sideways like she had hoped, but she still thought it was delicious...and fun.

You can also hear Ellie babbling a little bit in the video. She just started doing that yesterday. Damian is convinced that she's already said "daddy" several times. ;-)

Tonight, Ellie is having a sleep-over with her best buddy, Jackson, because Hillary is in Austin and Jay needed a little back-up after keeping up with Jackson all day. Damian is being a good friend and helping him unwind with a cold beverage by the pool!

Which one is not like the others?

Damian noticed that Ellie looks just like a Cabbage Patch Doll. I don't remember any of the Cabbage Patch Dolls drooling so much, but I definitely recognize the cheeks!

I'm sorry, did you just growl at me?

Sweet little smiley Ellie has developed a bit of an edge. She can intimidate even the toughest kid when she growls and bares her gums!

Ellie, the Amazing Sea Lion

One of Ellie's all-time favorite activities is swimming with Damian! They swim almost every night, right before she goes to bed. She has always loved the water, but at first, she didn't like being on her back. Tonight, she decided that floating on her back isn't too bad. Like Damian said, she looked just like a sea lion, holding on to her diving ring!

Hi Everyone!

Well, Hillary convinced me that it's not too late to start a blog for Ellie, so here it goes. Miss Ellie is almost 6 months old and changing every day, so I suppose there will be plenty of material to write about!

Today, Ellie and I went to the gym with Hillary and Jackson. When I went back to pick up Ellie from the nursery, she was sitting on the floor (eating her dress) and one of the staff members said "is she really just 5 1/2 months old?" I thought "here comes another comment on how big she is," (not that I mind them, of course) but instead, she said, "we just can't believe how well she's sitting up!" So finally, Ellie has a trick that is more noteworthy than her big eyes, cheeks and thighs. ;-) She really is sitting up well -- she loves to sit on Daddy's tummy/hip while he is laying on the floor -- it gives her a good opportunity to practice her balance and she likes to try to stand up too.

The other new news in Ellie's life is solids. She now eats avocado, prunes, peas, sweet potato, and oatmeal (in any combination, she's not fussy). She's especially hungry in the afternoon and usually ends up having seconds -- it's a good thing we have a Sam's Club membership -- she's training hard to beat her Grandpa Ellis's record of weighing 20 lbs at 6 months...my money is on Ellie.