Mid August Moments

Happy Birthday Peyton! He is one!

Our new face and some yummy Birthday cake!

Let's try some rice cereal. We tried it and Ellie really didn't like it.

Our new face! Say make a face and this is what you get!

5 months

Ellie finds her thumb and loves to roll over and over!

One, two, three, four, five... FIVE! Today Ellie Belly is five months old. Here are five really cute things about Ellie.

• She loves to talk. She talks all the time. And, hearing her little voice is so cute. In the morning when she wakes up she just talks and looks out the window.
• She is very strong... she doesn't want to sit. We are working on sitting up and all she wants to do is stand. She loves it when we hold her hands and let her stand.
  
• She smiles so big whenever Hadley is around her. She looks for Hadley and knows when she is coming over to her. Her face lights up. She loves it when Hadley sings to her. When I need just one more minute to finish something, I ask Hadley to entertain Ellie by singing and she usually does. Her favorite song to sing is Twinkle Twinkle little star.
• Ellie's favorite place is the be outside. She enjoys when the trees sway and likes to stare off into the sky. We can put her outside in her chair or lay her on her mat and she is just calm and cute.
• She is really doing well on our schedule. She basically formed her own schedule, she wakes up around 7-8am and eats - then she eats around 10am, 12-1pm, 3-4pm, 6-7pm and then a little snack before she goes to sleep at 8ish. I then hold her for a bit or a while and put her down to sleep in her bed. Then around midnight, 3am and up again around 7-8am.
  

Twinkle Twinkle

Marshall weekend

Happy 30th Birthday Chad! Way to go little brother. Last weekend we decided to head to Marshall to visit Chad since it was his birthday. We left Isle around 2:30pm on Friday and we made it there by 7pm... checked into the hotel and swim suits on... okay... Robert and Hadley had their swim suits on. That evening we swam, met Chad's girlfriend Laura and relaxed. Grandma and Grandpa went out to dinner with Laura and Chad. We stayed back at the hotel and had a Papa Johns pizza... it was super delicious... chicken, spinach, tomato, alfredo... and only $12.50 delivered for a large.... wowza!
Saturday -
We decided to swim in the morning after our FREE breakfast... which was actually really good. Then at 11:00 we got ready and went to downtown Marshall. Okay, not really the greatest downtown. We looked around a shoe store, a bike shop, a flower shop and a cute little gift shop. We didn't buy anything. We then took a break at a coffee shop and had some tea and snacks. Ellie needed to eat and that was where we notice she had pooped and it was streaked on my shirt as well. Just some poop streaks along my left side... no big deal! I am a MOM, that is what I have to deal with. So after the coffee shop break we went to the Lyons County Fair. It was $5 to get in and park. We actually saw someone we knew there... plunger and his Mom, (Joe's friend Andrew) he was parking cars. We said HI! Then we went to see the tractors, walked through the fair, checked out the animals, Hadley rode on the trucks and we finally had a late lunch...


Around 2 we were done with the fair... we went back to the hotel... Hadley and Robert napped. Grandma, Grandpa, Ellie and I went to kill time at Walmart.
When we got back around 4:30pm. Hadley and Daddy were up. We got suited up and swam for a bit. Then we got ready to go to Chad's girlfriend Laura's Mom's house to eat a birthday dinner. WOW... what a dinner we had... we enjoyed some yummy snacks... then for dinner we at pork chops and grilled pineapple, potato salad, fruit and more.

We then relaxed after dinner and they played bocce ball.


I attended to poopy diapers, and one pee episode. It was really fun! In a matter of an hour, I changed Ellie and re-dressed her, changed Hadley twice with poopy Dora pants and then watched her pee on the bottom of the deck steps and get herself all wet. At least she didn't get her dress wet, just her underwear. Obviously it is hard to go outside your element and keep up on the peeing. But, after looking back on the weekend she did really well. Not many accidents... probably more fault on the parents as they are sidetracked and forget to ask the little gal if she needs to go pee.

We sang Happy Birthday and ate a homemade German Chocolate Cake. Chad's favorite.
We left around 11 pm... it was late and even so, the night went okay. We slept great. Robert let me have the good pillow, what a change from the night before. He really is a great guy. That next morning, Sunday, we got up and grabbed a few munchies from the breakfast buffet. Then we went for a quick swim. Robert and Hadley like to tricks in the water. And, we even got Papa to swim! Ellie is a great spectator! She just relaxes and lets us swim!




We got dressed and went to Laura's and Loraine's for breakfast. It was again a feast to be had... great coffee, yummy pastries, a beautiful egg bake and more.
We hit the road at noon and made it home around 5pm. Two stops for our little angels.
All and all it was a great weekend that went very well. Better than expected!

4 month appt, T-shirt and Baptism

Today Ellie Belly had her 4 month appointment with Dr. Couture in Brainerd. We decided to move her to a pediatrician. Mostly because of her heart condition, I thought it would be best to see a doctor who specializes in kids. That way it is more common for him to know about heart issues. He was the pediatrician that saw her when she was born so we were able to just schedule an appointment. The pain in the butt about this is that we have to drive to Brainerd but the drive is habit now and only 50 minutes. Ellie was great during the drive... she started to cry a little before we got there because she was hungry. Grandma and Hadley came along. Grandma wanted to take Hadley shopping and out for lunch as a reward for going potty.

We arrived early for our appointment and of course the doctor was running late so I really second guessed my decision to drive North but after talking with the doctor I was happy I made the move. He is really nice and he knows most of the cardiologists personally from Childrens. That is helpful! It was a nice visit.

Ellie was a great sport waiting and so was Hadley. Grandma had to deal with poopy pants since Hadley hasn't gotten the concept to poop in the potty. But, thankfully Hadley was a good girl and let Grandma clean her up.

Ellie weighed 14 lbs 12 oz and she was 25.25" long. I looked back on Hadley's four month weight and height and Ellie is bigger in both. Hadley was 13 lbs 1 oz and shorter around 24". That was shocking to me because Ellie seems like she is smaller compared to Hadley at that time. I think the length on Ellie must make her seem skinny. Hadley was just chunky... we called her chunky monkey... looks like we better start calling little Ellie that.

After the appointment we went to Bonanza to eat. I haven't eaten there in years. It is a great deal. Kids eat free and get a free beverage. What a great savings! Then we went to Mills Fleet Farm. Hadley got to pick out some potty rewards. She saw bubbles and needed those. Then she saw an Aerial (Little Mermaid) T-shirt. I am pretty against these types of T-shirts because they are so commercial and I am afraid she is going to turn into that kid that has to wear it everyday. But, it was her reward and Grandma was buying it so I let it go. It is a green shirt, with a huge Aerial on the front of it. It is actually kinda cute. I just hope I don't regret this... I know that we have Dora pj's and she has never thrown a fit about having to wear them even if they are dirty. If they are clean she will wear them... so maybe the Aerial shirt will be dirty a lot!

Sunday, July 31st Ellie was baptized along with Parker. They both were great little babies. We has a lunch at our house afterwards. It was hot outside but at least it wasn't raining.