Elsie Marie-14 Months

Well another month has gone by!  These days seems so fleeting!  And she is seriously doing something new everyday!  I LOVE this!  Of course she is a busy busy little girl which makes it hard to get some pictures but I got a few this time...and she is even smiling.  They might be a bit fuzzy but she is smiling!  Taking her pictures this time around started out good until she saw her pacifier in her bed and then just HAD to have it!  

Throwing a fit because she wanted her pacifier...

Happy because I gave in...

But only for a little bit...then I tricked her into giving them to me and I hid them.

GROWTH
Every day I look at Elsie and can't believe how much she is growing and how she is no longer our little baby girl but a full blown toddler!  It is just unreal to me.  I measured her against the wall this month and she reach 30.5".  Also she was weighed at the doctor when she was there for her ear infections and was 19 lbs 13.5 oz.  I can't believe she hasn't hit the 20 lb mark yet.  Close though.  For clothes she is wearing 12-18 month dresses and shirts, lots of pants but some are starting to get a tad short on her so we have started moving into 18-24 month pants.

EATING
Boy this girl can really eat!  Some days I can't believe how much food she puts into that little body of hers!  This past week her appetite has been at bay due to a double ear infection but normally I feel like I can't put enough food on her tray for her.  She still prefers meat/grains over fruit and veggies but overall she does pretty good.  She is loving avocado right now.  I would say this is her favorite food this month.  Not much has changed in her eating schedule.  She is back to signing "more" when she wants more and is finally doing "All Done" the right way.  She would sign "milk" when she was all done but now has figured it out.

Yummy snack of avocado and animal crackers

SLEEP
Sleep has been pretty consistent this last month except when she wasn't feeling well.  Morning naps were a bit of a struggle one week and we thought maybe she was ready to drop her morning nap but she worked herself out of that and is back to taking her normal morning nap.  She is taking a 45-60 minutes morning nap around 9:00 AM, a 60-90 minute afternoon nap around 1:30PM and still goes to bed around 6:45-7:00 PM.  She still goes down wonderfully with very little protest. We are still on the same routine too...I am sure we will continue this well into her toddler years...it seems to be working.  She sleeps through the night for the most part.  Occasionally she will wake up in the middle of the night trying to find her paci and then gets upset when she can't find it because it fell out of the crib so we have to go in there and give her a new one.  And she still mainly wakes up around 5:30 AM.  We will then bring her into bed with us and she will sleep for another hour or so.  About 1/3 of the time she will sleep in her own bed until 6:30 AM.

DEVELOPMENT
This girl is practically running around the house.  I can't believe how fast she is!  She is also now a climber!  She loves to climb up on everything.  She really enjoys standing on her chair so she can look out the window.  Climbing also means falling so we are constantly watching out for that.  This also means we bolted everything that could tip to the wall such as her dresser, bookshelf, and her wooden play kitchen.  This was well overdue anyways but the fact that she is trying to climb up makes it even more dangerous.  She also wants to do everything that I do.  The other day I mindlessly set my coffee down on the end table (thank goodness it was not hot) and she grabbed the mug and it spilled. So I went into the kitchen and got a towel of the drawer to start to clean it up.  She then went into the kitchen and pulled the towel off the oven door and started to help me.  It was so cute and I was amazed how she found the towel by herself and thought to do the same as me.

She has also started to point to her body parts when we ask her to.  The best is when we say "where's your belly" and she pulls up her shirt and points to her belly.  She also points to hers (and our) nose and mouth and hair.  She also does a great job at following directions.  She will put her paci on her bed through the slats when we ask her to, she will go get just about any toy we ask her to find (we did this for like 20 minutes one night and I had like 15 different toys on my lap), she will sit down when we ask her to, and give us hugs, kisses and Eskimo kisses when we ask :).  We have also noticed how she will hide behind the shower curtain, the living room curtain or put a blanket over her head to "hide" for hide and seek. Another new thing I noticed her doing lately is helping to pick things up and put things where they belong.  With all of our colds going on we were even working on blowing our nose and she was doing it for a little bit yesterday...progress haha. Oh she is also "blowing kisses" with sounds now.

Being naughty...you know you are supposed to sit down in th big chair.  

TEETH
Well another tooth has popped through.  She now has her bottom left molar for a total of 11 teeth. So I had no idea how long it would take for those molars to come through.  Last month I saw them and thought they were through but those teeth are huge!!!! Looking at them now I can tell they aren't completely thought yet after a whole month!!!  The bottom one has come in much fast and is completely through.

SPEECH
Previous Words: mama, dada, woof-woof, uh-oh, up, hi, night night.

New Words:  Nice-she does this when petting Cinder or with her stuffed animals, Aubrey-sounds more like "Ah B" and Hopie (referring to Hope-a little girl at daycare), down, out, bye-bye when waving, and no.  This last one "no" I have a feeling will be her favorite.  She even told the doctor "no" last weekend haha.

PLAY
She loves putting toys in things such as my boots or my slippers which are boot like.  There have been a few times I have gone to put on my boots to find little toys hidden inside.  She also LOVES going downstairs these days.  A few weekends ago we set up our camper mattress downstairs for some friends that were going to be staying with us and now Elsie LOVES to play on it.  It is just the right height that she doesn't have to climb up on it and she can bounce and play on it and it is easy access to the loveseat and the couch. Also what I love is that she "asks" to go down.  She will stand by the basement door, reach up for the door knob, look at us, and say down.

She is really enjoying reading her Llama Llama books-we can now read paperback books instead of board books.  I also love how in the car she will "read" her books.  She has them open on her lap and is talking which I am assuming is her reading.  She still loves playing in her kitchen (see below).  The other day she threw a fit until we went outside to play (looks like I am not the only one getting cabin fever), and of course still loves to play with Cinder.  Now she likes to "climb on her"  Thank goodness Cinder has patience.  

Still loves her books!

I love how she gets up on her tippy toes to try so hard to reach things that are out of reach.

It has been a pretty good month...some sickness thrown in there but she is definitely our little toddler now!

Dierks and Miranda

Last Thursday I had tickets for the Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert Locked and Reloaded Concert.  I was so excited and had been looking foward to this concert for months.  Well in the beginning of the week the meteorologist were predicting a major winter storm headed our way for Thursday during the day.  Normally, I get worked up and worried about winter weather but there was a whole week for the weather to change.  Which it did...all week predictions were changing and were all over the place.  By the time Thursday came they said the snow was going to come in the evening at a rate of 1-2 inches an hour.  Kari and I debated what we were going to do.  We contemplated having John drive us over and pick us up but in the end Kari drove us over.  On the way there it had started to snow but the roads weren't too bad.  Thanks goodness.

We decided to stop at Applebees for a drink.  We split a delicious perfect margarita.  Yum I haven't had one of those in forever.  We sat at the bar.  We weren't there for more than 5 minutes and this girl in the picture above sat down beside us.  Crazy, small world.  Amber is one of my sister's friends and was actually a bridesmaid with me in my sister's wedding.  Her and her hubby (who is cousins with my good friend Erin) drove down from MN for the concert.  It was fun to see her and visit with them.  The we headed to Hilton Coliseum for the concert. 

Oh my goodness, the concert was so good!  Dierks was AWESOME.  I knew going into it that I would enjoy Dierks more than Miranda and that was true.  His songs are so much fun!  I went to Gary Allan the other weekend and his concert was good too but Dierks can work the crowd WAY better than Gary.  Plus Gary's songs are a lot more depressing.  Miranda's half of the concert was good too but I am just not as familiar with her songs so it was more difficult to get into it.  We had pretty good seats in the lower level.  Thanks Kari for going with me!  I had such a good time.  It was a good thing that we ended up going and didn't back out because the roads weren't even that bad and we made it home safe and sound!  

Week in Review-2.22.13

Not too much exciting here in our household...it was a nice and quiet week.  I recapped our weekend already in a previous post and beside the big snow last night it was a quiet week.  Here are a few things that happened.

1.  Elsie had a follow up appointment for her ear infection.  She still had fluid and one was just a little irritated but since she has no fever, is in a happy mood, and has a good appetite we are just going to keep on keeping on.  No more antibiotics for now which I am okay with.  She goes back in a month for her 15 month appointment so he will check them again.

2.  Elsie hates her doctor.  Or maybe just going to the doctor. She just screamed when he was listening to her lungs and it was even over her shirt so it wasn't even the cold she was upset with.  I wish there was something I could do to make the visits easier.

3.  I started the 30 day shred this week.  Let me tell you I am so sore!!!! Guess that means something is happening right?  I started Wednesday and have done it three days now.  I am keeping a log that I plan to post when it is all said and done.  I know I won't proabably do all 30 days straight, in fact I know I won't because we will be gone on vacation before then.  But every day makes a difference.

4.  Dierks And Miranda Concert was awesome! More on that to come.

5.  This week  I made a delicious batch of ham balls and was so excited for Elsie to get her first taste of all the yumminess.  Before moving to Iowa I had never had ham balls.  I tasted them for the first time when I was a nanny for a family here shortly after John and I got married.  They are soooo delicious!  It was very disappointing for John and I when Elsie would not touch them.  She put it in her mouth and would spit it right out!  We could hardly believe it!  Too bad...guess that just means more for John and me when I make them.

6. The meteorologists predicted a wallop of a snowstorm and that we would get 6-9 inches and it would come down at a rate of 1-2 inches an hour. They had been talking this storm up all week long It had me worried that I was going to miss the concert in Ames and we postponed our trip to Omaha until Saturday. Well we only got about 4-5 inches of snow and it came in later than planned so I made it to the concert. We also changed our reservations at the hotel back to Fri-Sun. Omaha here we come!!

Christmas Celebrations-John's Family

We celebrate with John's immediate family the weekend after Christmas.  In the afternoon it was just Our family, John's parents and John's sister's family.  It was a great day!  After we celebrated together later in the afternoon/evening John's extended family came over and we were able to see his cousins who live in Ohio.  

Look at all those presents...we are all so spoiled :)  These weren't even all of them...

Elsie finally got into opening presents and wanted to open them all.  

Her new little popper 

I think these might be a little too big for you Emma :)

Trying to squeeze into the boxes

Elsie's present from Grandma and Grandpa-a wooden play kitchen.

All the cousins (well really they are the children on John's cousins)

Olivia with Daniel, Emma with Elsie, and Katelyn and Tommy

Someone is really excited about the summer sausage

Snuggling with Grandma before bedtime!

Our Quick Weekend in MN

This past weekend we made a whirlwind of a trip up to Minnesota.  It was originally going to be a Friday-Sunday trip.  We had a concert at Treasure Island Casino on Saturday night with Piper's baptism on Sunday morning but due our sicknesses things changed.  First of all we ended up waiting to leave until Saturday morning.   And I actually thought it was only going to be Elsie and I that went up since John was still feeling under the weather on Friday night.  But I got everything packed up and ready to go.  My sister ended up cancelling the baptism and rescheduling for a later date since she didn't want us sickies around her two young kiddos (which is understandable) so we knew now that we didn't have that going on but I still really wanted to go to the concert.    Elsie woke up nice and early at 5:00 on Saturday morning so we got ready and then around 7:00 I woke John up and asked if he was feeling well enough for the trip or not.  He said he was so we waited and left around 8:00 am.

Somehow we made it up to my parents in less than 3.5 hours which is unheard of.  I never stopped or slowed down and traffic was light in the cities.  Elsie slept for the first two hours and kept herself entertained for the rest of the time.  She had a snack on the way up.  It is so nice now we don't have to stop to feed her. She has her little bowl of cheerios and sippy cup of water and she is happy.  I love how in the car she will read her books.  She will have the book open, holding it up and is chattering away as she is looking at the pages.  It is so sweet.

Well we arrived at my parents in time for a delicious lunch.  We played for a little bit and then Elsie laid down for a brief afternoon nap.  So did I :)  Then we got ready and were out the door again for the 1.5 hour drive to Red Wing.  We had tickets to a Gary Allan Concert at the casino and I was really looking forward to it.  We were meeting Marc and Amber there. John and I grabbed dinner there, gambled a little bit and then went to the concert.  It was really good.  He played for about 2 hours.  We have seen him a few times in the past and his show was just as good as all the years past.   He has just released a new album so he played a few of his new songs off that and of course all his older songs too.  We took a couple pics at the concert but with the lighting they didn't turn out too great.

John and I both still felt a bit under the weather so we didn't drink too many beers :)

Amber and I.  We missed our friends Adam and Ruth and wished they could have been there at the concert with us!  They went with us the last time we saw him at the state fair!

After the concert John and I stayed a little bit and gambled a little more.  John won some money, I didn't so overall we broke even ;).  OMG I couldn't believe how bad the smoke was in that place.  It was disgusting.  Our eyes burned and the smell on our clothes after we left was enough to make me sick.  Ugh! We drove the 1.5 hours back to my parents and got home a little after 1:00 am.  Elsie woke up around 4:40AM just upset.  It took all of us including my parents to calm her down.  In fact she didn't want anything to do with John or I and wanted to go to my mom.  She eventually fell back asleep around 6:00 AM for an hour and a half so I got a little bit more sleep.  In the morning my mom and I ran some shopping errands, had a delicious turkey dinner for lunch and then hit the road by 2:00.  Elsie was so tired that she was out before we even left the driveway.  She slept for about 2.5 hours on the way home.  She did a great job in the car again.  I just love listening to her.  She was "talking" with her stuffed dog in the car and I think it is so cute.  

We got home in about 4 hours and ate some dinner, had bathtime and it was time for bed.  Elsie loves all of her "Friends".  She had a little bit of trouble deciding which friends she wanted to have sleep with her that night.  

She ended up with only the two small monkeys and her owl lovey we call "Hootie".

All in all it was a great weekend.  Although it was a bit of a whirlwind it was nice to see family and get to the concert.

Our Week in Review 2.15.13

Wow this week has been a doozy!  Nothing has gone quite like we had planned.  Here is what we have been up to the week of 2/9/13-2/15/13.

Lots of snuggle time with Elsie
while she was sick

1.  Last weekend we ended up taking little Elsie in to after hours clinic on Saturday.  She had a cold but then she got a fever so they thought we better take her in.  This ended up being a good decision since she ended up with a double ear infection.  Poor girl!  Her fever continued to linger until sometime between MOnday and Tuesday.  Monday night it spiked to 103.7 and then went down from there.  She seems to be feeling better and is so much happier being at JoJos with her friends than home with Mommy who is also sick.

2.  John and I had a very romantic Valentine's day.  We had a double date to the local doctor which included a trip to the pharmacy for a round of antibiotics for both of us.  John is feeling pretty crummy since Tuesday with head congestion and a fever that goes up and down.  I have been trying to fight through my symptoms since someone needs to take care of Elsie.  I have had a low grade fever the past few days.  This afternoon I seem to be feeling a little bit better.  Our Valentine's day got even better as I got to spend the night on the couch for the second night in a row.

My flowers from John

3.  In all reality we had a decent Valentine's Day.  John planned ahead and flowers were waiting on my desk yesterday morning for me :)  Elsie got some fruit for her kitchen and a new book and Valentine's tiger from us.  I wish we would have felt better to do something special to celebrate.

4.  Oh my gosh I can't believe how Elsie is picking up on a new words.  Just between yesterday and today she said two new words-bananas (nanas) and Bye Bye.  We have been working on bananas for awhile since she eats one just about everyday but last night she was playing with her new banana toys and was walking around saying nanas.  This morning I dropped her off at JoJos and for the first time as she waved good bye she included "bye-bye" along with her wave.  Last night during bath time I told her I was going to wash her hair and she took her hands and rubbed her head after I told her that.  Another new body part learned :).  Seriously every day is something new

5.  I think I am going to stop making plans during the winter time.  Between sickness and bad weather so much of what I have planned has be cancelled or screwed up.  In January my game night was cancelled because Elsie and I were sick, friends were unable to come down and visit because of icy roads, and I skipped going to Book of Mormon in Des Moines because of bad weather.  So far in February we missed Dance Club last week because Elsie and I were both under the weather, our plans this weekend are in jeopardy if John doesn't start to feel better, and now there is bad weather with lots of snow forecasted for next Thursday and Friday which will impact a Miranda Lambert/Dierks Bentley concert next Thursday and weekend plans too.  Ugh....I am so ready for spring and summer!

6.  This week we were teased with some good weather.  Elsie and I made it out for some afternoon walks around town.  Wednesday was especially beautiful. I can't wait until the weather is consistently nice.  Elsie loves going out for walks and I do too!

7.  With all these sicknesses in our house I have not exercised since the run except for the walks with Elsie.  I feel so gross.  I can't wait to get back at it.  I think I am going to try to start the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred next week.  :) We will see how that goes.  I also need to plan to find my next 5k so I have a new goal to work towards.

8.  Happy Birthday to my sister today!  I can't wait to see her and her family and celebrate with them!  I love you Tam!

Rosy Cheeks Run 2013

This past weekend I did the Rosy Cheeks Run.   I have planned to do this run for a few months and actually started trainin (jogging) for it starting the first week in January.  It had been probably before Elsie was born that I ran as much as I did in January and I did it routinely at least three times a week.  I know this run is what motivated me to do it.

Kara and I at the start of the race

I actually found a "Couch to 5k" app on my phone but it was for 8 weeks and I only had 4 before the run so I tweaked it a little to work for me.  I LOVE that I have a treadmill and I know that I wouldn't be doing any running if I didn't have one but the time can seem to drag on.  The longest I ran at one time was 2 miles straight.  Otherwise I would do some walking to mix things up and keep it interesting.  Seeing as I only had ran 2 miles straight I was a little nervous about doing 3.1 miles.  My friends Heidi and Kedra said that if I can do two miles on the treadmill I will have no problem doing it outside...I wasn't so sure.

Going into this race I was nervous for a few things...
1.  That I would take FOREVER to do it.
2.  That I would be way too cold.  This was something I became more nervous about as the day got closer since it was supposed to be in the low teens at race time.
3.  That I would dissapoint myself.  I know I hadn't ran very much in the last two years but I really wanted to run the majority of this race.  When on the treadmill I was jogging at the 12 minute mile pace.  I was hoping to at least do this but I figured that I would do some walking so if I made it in that 12-13 minute mile pace I would be happy.

Kara and I at the end of the race

Turns out that I didn't have anything to worry about.  It did not take me forever, in fact it took me 33 minutes and 46 seconds to complete the race which is 10 minute 52 second mile pace.  A whole minute a mile less than my goal.  I know that is not a super awesome time but it is definitely a time I am happy with, after all it was faster than my 12 minute/mile goal.  Also, I was definitely not cold.  Actaully after the first mile I had to take my top layer off.  I am actually glad that I had a headband and not a hat because I was a bit warm.

All in all, I had a great time doing this.  I am so thankful that I had Kara there to run with me :)  After we enjoyed a free pancake breakfast for participants and they gave away a ton of drawings.  Kara won a free pizza and I won a free burrito :).  I think this is a race I would definitely do again.