Ellie's 18-month appointment

We just got back from Ellie's 18-month check-up and she's in perfect health (her ears are even clear -- woohoo!). As we suspected, Ellie has had a bit of a growth spurt, growing two inches in two months -- she is now in the 98th percentile at 34.5 inches. Her head is in the 95th percentile, and she's thinning out a bit -- she didn't gain any weight since her last appointment, so she still weighs 27 pounds and is now in only the 82nd percentile! We almost stopped at McDonald's on the way home to get her a double cheeseburger. ;-) Actually, the doctor wasn't at all worried about her growth -- he said that it's normal for kiddos to go in spurts, growing taller without gaining weight, and then gaining weight without growing taller. So we'll see what she does over the next six months.

Ellie's BFF

Today, Jackson came over for a playdate and Ellie was SO excited to see him! She jumped and danced around the playroom while Jackson worked intently on making a necklace out of some big plastic beads (I've never seen a kiddo his age work so intently on a project!).

Checking out Jax's handy work:

I told Ellie to go sit by Jackson so I could get a picture of them together and she apparently thought this meant sit on his lap -- she kept trying, but Jackson couldn't be distracted from his task:

Still trying to sit on him:

Finally! Jackson accomplished his goal:

Btw, you may have noticed that Ellie is in various states of undress in all of the recent pictures. She seems to have some sympathy side effects of this pregnancy and she's always hot...and sweating. I can't turn the air down low enough to keep us both comfortable, so she spends most of her time naked or close to it. If only it were more socially acceptable for a big old pregnant woman to do the same!

Olathe sweet corn

I previously thought that Ellie didn't like corn, but learned last night that she just has high standards -- she only likes Olathe sweet corn! And boy does she like it! I cut some off of the cob for her, but she preferred eating it straight from the source.

Proving that she is my daughter, she meticulously picked each and every tiny piece of silk off of the ear of corn:

More fun with the tutu!

This Week in Words, Part VI

1. Hat
2. Sorry (we're getting lots of practice with this one because Little Miss Temper has taken to hitting if she's not getting 100% of my attention...or if she gets frustrated for any other reason or for no reason at all)
3. Where Mommy? Where Daddy? etc.
4. Shower
5. Water (she was saying "wa-wa," but now she actually says "water"...and I'm kind of sad about it)
6. Nemo
7. Dora
8. Where it go?
9. Hillary (Hillwee)
10. Cody (She actually started saying this during the family reunion, but I can't remember whether I put it on the list. Now she points to the picture of Cody on our refrigerator and says "Coo-y")
11. Puppy

"Hillwee"

Hillary is such a lifesaver! She watched Ellie on Sunday so Damian and I could tour the hospital where we'll be delivering BH2.0, and then watched her again yesterday so I could go to my doctor's appointment. Ellie absolutely adores Hillary! As soon as we see her, Ellie will lunge out of my arms to get to her and even when I get back from my appointment, Ellie won't leave Hillary to come to me. And of course, Ellie loves playing with Jackson. When I told her yesterday that we were going to see Hillary and Jackson, she said "Hillwee, Hillwee, Jahjin, Hillwee..." over and over again until we got to their house. And both days, she cried almost the entire way home when we left -- I think she wants "Hillwee" to adopt her! ;-)

Babies are fun!

Our friends Alison and Baby Jack came over for lunch and a playdate today. Ellie was so excited about having a baby in the house (hope she keeps that attitude in another couple months when there's always a baby here!) -- she spent most of the time jumping and dancing around and telling Jack about her books. She only slowed down enough to get one picture of them together:
Jack sat in Ellie's old bouncy seat while we ate and Ellie was very anxious to get in it herself -- perfect fit, right?! ;-)

Fun with Daddy

Ellie has been loving getting in the pool with Daddy. And who can blame her? Doesn't this look like a nice way to spend a morning:
I know the censoring rectangle looks a little strange, but it just didn't seem right to post a naked picture on the internet!

Happy Birthday, Cousin Alex!

We love you! xoxo

BFFs

Gracie has forgiven Ellie for pelting her with tampons and I came upon this scene today:

Ellie just loves being close to (preferably on top of) Gracie. She will sit down on top of, or right next to her and "read" book after book to her. It's so sweet.

Teeny, tiny fruit

Our little garden is really starting to take off! The cantaloupe and basil are taking over everything nearby and the watermelon would be growing across the driveway if we weren't redirecting it along the fence. Yesterday, I noticed that we have our first tiny (and hairy!) watermelon -- it will be so exciting if it actually gets big enough to eat! It's hard to see, but it's just above the flower in the bottom of the picture:
And we have a couple itty-bity cucumbers. Yum!

Nesting?

Mom and Jamie say that I'm nesting because I'm feeling this overwhelming urge to do various creative projects. I don't know if it's nesting (I was hoping for the clean-the-house-from-top-to-bottom variety), but yesterday I woke up convinced that Ellie needed a tutu, so I made one today (it's hard to tell from the pictures, but it's purple, lavender, and white):

Incoming

Until now, Ellie has been content to torture Gracie by sitting on her, standing on her paws, etc. Today, she found a creative new way to inflict terror -- while I was packing and getting ready for my girls' weekend (my first time away from Ellie -- agh!), Ellie chased Gracie around the bathroom, throwing tampons at her. Some might ask why I allowed that to continue, but only those who haven't been around Ellie long enough to realize that sometimes it's easier to clean up the mess afterward and be able to actually get some things done than to get her to understand why it's not okay to use an entire jumbo box of tampons as missiles against the "enemy"!

Eventful meals

Ellie had two eventful meals today -- she fell asleep during lunch and learned that yogurt-covered hands make cool noises during dinner.

I think Miss Ellie is teething, so her sleep has been pretty disrupted. She just couldn't quite make it through lunch -- but who can blame her? She looks so comfy with her feet propped up on the tray!

During dinner, Ellie gave up on the spoon and dipped her whole hand in her yogurt, and then discovered that if she made a fist, her hand made a cool squishing sound AND splattered yogurt everywhere within a 4-ft. radius. Science experiments are so fun!

Captain Destructo

Captain Destructo got her cape (a big ol' maternity swimsuit) today:

This week in words, Part V

1. Splash
2. Pool
3. Grandpa ("Ganpa")
4. I see you [she learned this phrase from the super-fun talking Easter egg that Auntie Jamie got her]
5. Down
6. Ashes, ashes [she has started singing the nursery rhyme]
7. Juice [funny because she doesn't drink juice]
8. This [unfortunately, she thinks "this" is a proper noun (probably because I constantly ask her, "do you want this?" when she's asking for more), so anything delicious is "this" or "Sarah" (it used to be Gaga, but she's moved on to Sarah)]

More reunion pictures

I just got some more reunion pictures from Louise (thank you, Louise!)

Miss Ellie with one of her favorite "dadoo's", Rusty. Sadly, Rusty passed away last week. We'll all miss him and it makes these pictures that much more special!

Shouldn't this cute kiddo be in a J. Crew catalogue or something?!

Gaga and her girls

Papa, Gaga, and the grandkids

Auntie Jamie, Cousin Alex, and Uncle Daddy