Teeth and Texas

Big news! Elliott finally cut her first tooth! At a little over 8 months, we were wondering if it would ever come in. Yes, I had to get her to cry so I could see it (although 4 hours strapped in her carseat on the way to Texas was a sure way to do it!), but I got a good picture of it. The trip to Texas was a spur of the moment trip to check on our rent house there. We had old tenants moving out and new ones moving in next week. We haven't actually seen the inside of the house since we moved out 3 1/2 years ago so I was a little nervous, but it looked awesome! Everyone has taken great care of it for us. We went down on Friday and got a hotel room. We thought we'd have to use all day Saturday cleaning the house and the carpets, but it was already done for us. So . . . we got to visit my favorite and most missed place in Texas . . . the Allen Outlet Mall! It was beautiful weather for outlet mall shopping! We just took our time, ate some good meals, and visited with our friends, Danny and Toni. It was a great time! Elliott hung with us so well. Poor baby . . . we just shuttled her around from place to place, getting her in and out of her carseat. That was the only time she was able to nap, but she was so good! Good to know she'll be easy to travel with in the future. Here are some photos from our trip (and a few before we left):

The tooth! Refusing to smile for the picture

She loves to play with Pistol Pete . . . good sign!

"Wait a minute . . . I can move now . . . I'm outta here!"

Waiting on Dad to come home from work

With her best bud, Wylie

At our house in Texas

I love this profile picture.

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks???

Enjoying the 76 degree weather!

Standing on her own

Happy girl!

Modeling Daddy's hat

Elliott at 8 months

Elliott turned 8 months old last week. If you haven't seen her in a few weeks, you'd think she was a different baby! She's doing all kinds of cool things now. Here are some facts about Ellie at 8 months old:

-She weighs about 19 pounds and is about 27 1/2 inches long (based on our measurements).

-She babbles and "talks" a lot! She says and repeats words that sound like "da da," "momma," "dog," "bye-bye," and "num-num" (for yum-yum). She says "num-num" when she's ready for another bite or when we are eating something in front of her.

-When she is somewhere confined like her changing table, carseat, or highchair, she'll stiffen her body and grunt in frustration (over and over again!).

-She can pull herself up to a standing position, let go, and stand by herself for several seconds. She also "cruises" around her activity table or the coffee table. And of course, she is crawling everywhere!

-She feeds herself finger foods and her bottle very well now. She concentrates very hard to pick up her snacks with her pointer finger and thumb as to get it in her mouth as quickly as possible.

-She's learning to wave hi and bye.

-She moved up to a bigger carseat.

-She loves to play with anything that is not a baby toy: doorstops, pens, phones, remotes, dog bowls, cups, shoes, the computer keyboard, and any type of small plastic bottle are just some of her favorites.

-She loves to eat and having no teeth doesn't stop her from that! She loves cheese, avacado, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, mashed carrots and green beans, small bits of tortilla and wheat bread, yogurt, oatmeal, and puffs or mum-mums. She does not like the meat baby food (who can blame her?) or cottage cheese.

-She's beginning to get more attached to her pacifier now and after reading some recent posts of friends with 2-year-olds, I may regret that. But, I figure 2 years worth of soothing at naptime will be worth 2 weeks of pacifier withdrawal in the future . . . maybe????

-She loves to listen to music and dance. She loves for me to sing "Tony Chestnut."

-She's beginning to understand the word "no." When she's fixing to get into something I'll say her name and then "no." She'll stop and sit up and look at me with big eyes. Then she gets in to it anyway. :)

"Hi, Mom!"

She was feeling very brave this day. . .

She LOVES to play with these doorstops!

We've now taken them all off because she pulls

them off and puts the small caps in her mouth.

After hearing, "No, Ellie."

Nothing stands in her way when she's crawling!

I love to see her standing like this. She looks so little,

but yet so big!

Visiting Nini and Papa Dean (my grandparents)

She has officially shopped 'til she dropped!

I know how she feels. I wish someone would cart me

around Wal-Mart, buy my food, and let me sleep through it all!

Big girl carseat!

I have to brag on Kyle. He built this table and painted

the butterfly on it freehand. We still have to pour a

protective topcoat on it, but I love it! He did an awesome

job, and now Ellie has a one-of-a-kind table and chairs.

Happy 8 months, Ellie!

You're growing so fast!

Is it possible . . .

that Elliott might walk before she ever cuts a tooth? At this rate, I think so! She has been practicing very hard . . . crawling all over the place, pulling herself up any chance she gets, standing on her own, and walking with dad all over the house. But, no sign of a tooth yet! All I know is that I have to watch her like a hawk! She had her first bump on the head. She picked up a fast food napkin somewhere along the way and had it in her hand when she crawled onto the tile. She bumped her head pretty hard and it left a knot and bruise. She was tough, though! She only cried for a minute. Mom, on the other hand . . .

Here is a video of Ellie standing up on her own while we were playing in her room.

Love this ornery look!

Watching "Handy Manny"
Yum! Sharing guacamole with Dad.


I think she's storing some up in those cheeks!

Taking a nap in Dad's recliner

Right after bumping her head.

You can't see the bruise very good here, but it's there!

(She looks like she's in a lot of pain.) :)

"Mom. I do not need an ice pack."

Ellie and her silly faces . . .

My new favorite face!

She does this all the time.

She's really into Wylie right now-

his collar, pulling his hair, ears, and tail, poking him

in the eyes, etc.

I can't believe she'll be 8 months at the end of this week!