A New Year!

It's been a while since I updated!  I've been hastily preparing for my return to work from summer vacation.  I've said it to various people in the past few weeks.  I am entering this year with a new, optimistic attitude, ready to conquer life as a mom, a wife, and a teacher.  I'm ready for this new challenge.  As hard as it is leaving Ellie each day, I know that I need to do it, and I've stopped spending every waking moment trying to figure out how to stay home with her.  It's just not doable right now, and that's ok.  She knows I love her, even if I can't home with her 24/7.  She went back to daycare today and totally blew me away!  She did great...played hard, ate well, and napped like a champ!  Such a big girl! 

Crazy Cousins!

Dave's sister, her husband, and our nephew, Jonathan came up from North Carolina this week for a visit!  Jonathan will be three in October, and is LOADS of fun at this age!  He absolutely LOVES his Uncle Dave, and had a blast playing with him in the sprinkler. 

Playing with Uncle Dave in the sprinkler!

Action shot!

Jonathan chasing Uncle Dave!

Pushing Uncle Dave in the sprinkler!

Love that boy!

Gotcha!

Taking a break to show Kirby some love.  He was NOT loving the sprinkler.

Muscles!

All boy!

I think Jonathan was less than impressed with his cousin, Ellie.  She kept "wrecking" his cars and eating them, leading to a little bit of sulking on his part.  I was amused nonetheless.  My little wrecking ball stayed true to her reputation and knocked every car off of the table, stopping here and there to taste a truck or two.  What a great day!

Checking him out!

Leaning in for a kiss!

Oh, I'll just eat his whole face instead :)

Playing nicely together...

My favorite picture of the day!

Taking a break to taste a few trucks...

Jonathan is getting a little antsy...haha...

What'd I do?

"She's wrecking them!  She's wrecking them!"

Her newly acquired skill...

Look, ma!  I did it!

Playing "SO BIG" with Aunt Becky!  Notice the

oh-so-cute 23 week preggo belly :)

Loving Life :)

I just received the photos from our Montana trip, but seeing as though there are nearly 400 pictures, I'm going to give everyone a family update while I contemplate how to share those photos.  It's been a relatively quiet couple of weeks.  I've been spending lots of time at home with Ellie, watching her explore every inch of our 1100 square foot condo.  She's into everything these days, and I'm loving watching her discover new things each day.  Here are some updates on the little things in our lives...

Ellie...

Eating Habits:  Ellie's eating new foods all the time!  She's still nursing 4-5 times a day, one of those feedings being a bottle of about 7 ounces or so.  Yes, the baby who caused me all of this stress because she wouldn't take a bottle has now decided that the bottle is ok.  She's eating a breakfast and lunch of solids, and has added yogurt and eggs to her repertoire of foods.  She's eating a lot more finger foods and less of the pureed fruits and veggies.  Ellie is such an independent little girl already! 

New "Tricks":  Ellie's mobility is increasing each day.  She's crawls around every inch of our house, searching through the carpet for treasures (ex.: pieces of mulch that the dog dragged in), climbing on furniture, and cruising on everything and anything she can.  It's hard to believe that she'll be 9 months in just a few days.  Along with the mobility, Ellie's voice is developing more and more each day.  She seems to acquire new sounds every couple of days, and sure has no problem sharing them with us!  She is one loud little chica!  An exciting new "trick" on Ellie's list is that she is now waving hello and bye-bye!  It's too cute!

Sleep:  For months, Ellie seemed stuck on the same overnight schedule.  Not that it was bad, she just didn't seem any closer to sleeping completely through night.  She'd go to bed between 6 and 7, wake around 4am to eat, then go back to sleep until about 6:30am, when she woke for the day.  Since we returned from Montana, she has been sleeping just about through then night!  She sleeps from 6 or 7pm, wakes around 5:30am to eat, then goes back until 6:30 or 7am.  I don't feel the need to make her sleep through that feeding.  I figure she'll drop it when she's ready.  In addition to her night sleep, she's napping twice a day, each nap being anywhere between 1 and 2 hours.  We can't complain!

Dave:  Dave is finishing up his Field Training this week, so we should know his permanent schedule here shortly.  I'm so excited because Ellie will likely be in daycare only 3 days a week this year since Dave will most likely be able to stay home with her for 2 days a week.  I'm so proud of Dave.  He's worked so hard to be successful in his new job, and he's doing so well. 

Me:  I've been enjoying my time with Ellie so much.  Surprisingly, if I block out the fact that I have to leave my girl each day, I'm feeling optimistic about this school year.  I am optimistic that it's going to be a great year.  A new classroom, a new group of kids, a full year to look forward to are the makings for the fresh start that I'm looking for. 

Here are some recent pictures from life with the Welch family:

My new hobby is making headbands for Ellie.  I LOVE this one!

"Mum Mum!"

She doesn't think I know that SHE was the one who made

the mess in her closet.  Sneaky one!

She loves her new toy!

"Really, mom?  Do you ever put that thing down?"

Playing with her new activity table!

Kirby looks so thrilled...

Ellie loves the swings!  We went to the playground 4 times this week!

Kirby joined us at the park!

\

Now that Ellie is cruising around the playground,

she has a new pair of kicks to protect those tootsies!

Crawling on the bridge!

Looking through the bars on the playground!

She thought it was so funny that I was underneath the bridge!

"Weeeee!"

"Can I have another piece of watermelon, please?"

We went outside to try her dino bike.  She thought

the grass was way more interesting!

More fun in the grass!

"Hi, mommy!"

"Eeeekkk....the sun is bright!"

Another "no more pictures" face :)

"Riding" back home with daddy!