Ella is Nine Months Old!

What a precious, sweet daughter we have! It's truly hard to believe that Ella is now nine months old. She smiles all the time, giggles often (especially at her brother), and is now on the move! Within the past week, Ella has finally decided that sitting around and watching Nolan play is not near as much fun as getting into the mix of it. She's so proud of herself that she will often stop and clap for herself. She's just too cute for words!

A few things I want to remember about her at this age:
*says Mama all the time!
*eats most anything, including what we're having for dinner (blended up, of course)
*has two bottom teeth, and it looks like there's three more on the way
*sleeps about 10-11 hours at night, takes two naps a day, with the morning nap being shorter than the afternoon nap
*is super flexible with her schedule and is willing to adapt to whatever the day may bring
*she will self-entertain for decent periods of time
*is very alert to her surroundings and wants to be a part of whatever everyone else is doing
*she's quite sensitive and will easily cry if she hears Nolan cry
*sadly, she's had recurring ear infections and sounds like she's congested almost all of the time
*she's still so bald, but bald is beautiful!
*will sign "all done" and "more"
*is simply a joy
*her bright blue eyes are striking
*her smile will light up the room

We thank God for this beautiful blessing!

I caught her crawling a bit at the beginning of the video. Then Nolan decided he needed to be a part of it. I love to watch them interact. Sweet siblings!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!
So this post isn't catching up from all of the stuff I've failed to post over the past six weeks or so, but in the interest of not falling further behind, here we go...

What was I thinking????
Yesterday I had the bright idea of making a family evening out to see fireworks. (I have such fond memories as a kid of going to a fireworks show with my family.) The City of Arlington had big festivities around the lake, concluding with a firework show. Sounds like fun, huh?

Well, we decided to park at a nearby church that the City was running a shuttle from. Nolan was super excited about riding a school bus!

Once we got there, we kind of checked it out for a bit, listened to music, and then headed to the bounce houses. Craig was a such a sport. Nolan chose a bounce house he was interested in playing in, they waited in line, and just as it was Nolan's turn, he decided he was too scared to jump. (Where did this timid side of my no-fear son come from??? This is a new development lately.) Long story short, they went through this charade about four times, all ending with Nolan never jumping in a single bounce house.

For whatever reason, I figured the fireworks would start as soon as the sun went down. To my surprise, they didn't start until 9:45! Fortunately, both kiddos were doing just fine and enjoying people watching, so we stuck it out.

We didn't have the best view of the fireworks, but that was probably best, seeing as though Nolan was kind of scared by them. (You'll have to see another post I have yet to write about our trip to the baseball game; that explains his fear of fireworks.)

So as soon as the fireworks were over, we packed everyone up, which is no easy thing when you're traveling with a 2-year-old and an 8-month-old! We finally got going, just to stand in line for about 30-45 minutes to catch the shuttle back to our car.

Holy cow! It's about 11:15 before we made it back to our car! What were we thinking??? Nolan and Ella were both such sports and seemed to enjoy our family night out. As soon as we got home, we quickly bathed them and put them to bed. Our babies didn't get to bed until close to midnight, which is ridiculously WAY past our bedtime, especially for two babies!!

I think we'll skip the fireworks show in the future (at least until they're much older), and we'll aim for catching the July 4th parade in the morning. As exhausting as it all was, it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable evening.

Where does the time go?

It's July already, and I just can't believe it! I'm so behind in posting, and now that I'm so behind, I'm just overwhelmed with playing catch-up. I'll soon go through the many pictures I've taken since mid-May and take the time to post and document what we've been up to.

I hate to admit it, but this blog really serves as my scrapbook. I love the idea of scrapbooking, but to actually do it just isn't my thing. I love the simplicity of blogging; it's black and white with a few pictures thrown in. Scrapbooking is fun but overwhelming to me. There's just too many choices; fancy scissors, different sizes and colors of paper, stickers, embellishments that I can't even begin to name, etc.

My goal this month: To get everything documented that's documentation-worthy, which is quite a bit, and to stay on top of it!

Until next time,
Julie

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Craig!
Fatherhood has brought out the best in you! You're so loving, patient, and a hands-on Daddy. You genuinely enjoy spending time with our children. I couldn't ask for a better father to our babies.
Thank you!

He lets Nolan drive the boat!

He does fun stuff to make us laugh all the time!

I am grateful for the man that you are! Thank you, Poppy (whom I don't have a recent picture of to post) for having a hand in raising the man that I love.

I also want to pay tribute to my Dad, who is always a loving, supportive and giving Dad, too. You have instilled so many wonderful qualities in us! (Top row left to right: Rebecca, John, Julie; bottom, Dad and Mom) Thank you!

Soon to come

I know I've been out of the blogging world for quite some time. We've been super busy, including a formal gala event, boating, out of town, first foods, a visit to River Legacy Living Science Center, swimming, sliding, painting, baseball, and a special photo with someone famous. That ought to bring you back for more!

Please check back soon. I promise to post a little bit of everything in the next couple of days.

Thinking

This is a picture my Dad captured this past weekend of Nolan and Jessica, the next door neighbor's granddaughter.

Notice how intent he looks. I wish I knew what he was thinking when this picture was taken. You can just see the wheels spinning in his head!

Will my sister ever be old enough to run around and play with me?
Man, I think you're pretty, Jess.
Do you want to pull each other in the wagon again?

Any other ideas on what he could be thinking?

6 Months

Yes, it's true, Ella celebrated her half-birthday on Monday the 12th. It's crazy! I can't believe she's already six months old. Where does the time go?

She is such a happy, content, joyful little girl. Her smiles will melt your heart, and that giggle she gives (mostly to her brother when he's being super silly) is just so catchy! What a delightful infant she is.

I took her in for her 6 month checkup this morning, and she's definitely packed on the pounds since her last well-baby checkup at 4 months old. At 4 months, she weighed just under 9 pounds. Today, she weighed just under 14 pounds! She's gained 5 pounds in two months! Way to go, Ella! The doctor is very pleased with her weight gain.

Unfortunately, she still has some fluid in her ears. She's had a couple of ear infections, one that persisted over several weeks. So since she doesn't have a full-blown ear infection now, we're going to see if her ears will drain on their own. I'll take her back at the end of June for another ear check. If the fluid is still there, we'll do another round of antibiotics. (That will be the fourth round of antibiotics for her!) If that doesn't seem to completely clear her ears, then we'll be referred to an ENT to see what they recommend we do next. Please pray for this situation as, of course, we'd prefer that her body can clear up the fluid on its own.

What a beautiful daughter we have. I try to treasure these precious days, as they grow in a blink of an eye! We love you, Ella!