The Seviers

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Cold Days and Warm Baths

CABIN FEVER! What I . . . and probably most other Oklahomans . . . are feeling right now. I have not left the house (not even to check the mail) since Sunday. We finally ventured out this afternoon to get a few pictures of our little snow angel. Other than that, Ellie and I are as ready for the snow to melt as we were for it to get here. Funny how that works . . .

Ellie didn't quite know what to think of the snow. She didn't seem to like the -22 degree temperatures, of course. But, she also didn't seem too impressed with the six foot snow drifts in our backyard. Maybe next year.

She did, however, enjoy a warm bath. Inside. Where you don't have numb toes and fingers despite the 19 layers of clothes you're wearing.

Just relaxin' in the tub

Dad even managed to brush that little bit of hair into a mohawk!

The view from our back porch

(actually our dining room . . . I didn't even open the door!)

Front porch

Side of the house

Ellie's first snow angel

(no, we didn't really lay her in the snow, but Kyle

did a pretty good job making it look that way!)

Those are some serious icicles in the background.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit.

All that playin' in the snow wore her out.

She passed out like this 2 hours before bedtime!

There's already more snow in the forecast for next week,

so get out while you can! I'm counting the days 'til spring!

Monday, January 31, 2011

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

Thursday, January 20, 2011

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!"