1. Ellie turned 1!!!! Can’t believe it.

2. She loves loves LOVES the pool! (which mom is super stoked about cause she loves the pool herself)

3. She loves loves LOVES the beach! (double stoked)

4. She’s walking more than crawling as of this week.  It’s so cute!

5. I love the way she eats her food.  It just tickles me for some reason

6. She is getting molars

7. She’s totally talking, but it just doesn’t make any sense to us. The other day she dropped something and I picked it up and said “got it” and I swear she copied me and said it perfectly, but she would not repeat herself! She did the same thing with shoe, baby, bottle, and several other words.  I’m sure she is saying things, but I have never been good at deciphering baby talk and everything she says sounds like ta, da or ma and similar variations thereof. Oh but she totally says doggy. It’s cute.

8. We went to the beach for the first time a couple months ago and we had so much fun! she loved the sand, she loved eating sandy grapes, she loved climbing all over mom, she loved the water and the teeny tiny waves, and I was in Heaven! I was just smiling and laughing the whole time because I was so happy and we were having such a great time.

9. Her personality is such that if she can’t do something perfect, then she won’t do it at all.  She’s been this way with everything! rolling over, scooting, crawling, sitting up on her own, walking, and talking.  When she does say words they are super clear and perfect, but she only says them one time! I can’t make her say anything! She nods her head all the time though if we ask her a question.  ”Ellie can you say doggy?” Ellie nods in response.  Once she feels like she can do something well, she will be all gung ho about it.  Like walking.  She took her first steps a couple months ago, but would only take a few and every once in a while.  Now she feels more comfortable so she walks all the time.  She is a very cautious baby.  It’s super cute.  She really thinks about things and their consequences before she embarks on an adventure.

In other Beth and Cody news, Cody started his third year of med school which is amahzing.  He’s done the family med rotation and is on the psych rotation right now.  He’s not crazy about either of them, but he is enjoying his experiences.  The psych ward is a lockdown facility because patients will try to escape so he has to be buzzed in the building and someone else has to let him out.  It’s kind of like once he’s in, he’s in for a while. Kinda creepy to me!

We moved, yet again, to a different 2 flat in Oak Park and we love it! I’m so much happier here! there is more room for Ellie and Moby and there is a backyard and a garage.  There are only two floors and we are on the second floor so there is no one above us making loud noise and driving me crazy! I’m so happy.

I’m wanting to change the colors in our living room.  We have all brown furniture so I was thinking of painting the bookcases white and blue or yellow on the inside and back, and having light blue, light yellow, light gray, and accents of coral in our decorations.  What does everyone think? I’m not so good with the decorating so ideas are very welcome. I am just a little sick of everything being so brown and dark.  I want to incorporate some fun color into our lives! So give me some super cheap suggestions.

TTFN

P.S. Ellie and I saw the new Winnie the Pooh movie in theaters and it was so fun and unbelievably cute.  Ellie just sat on my lap cuddling and eating popcorn the whole time.  She loved it.  I can’t get over how cute she is.  Everything she does is so cute and fun!

 

We love him, we were trying to have both of us kiss his cheeks

 

can you find the baby?

I’m not so good at keeping up with this blogging thing.  And it’s been driving me crazy that my last post was misspelled so I finally fixed that.  Sheesh!

So, Ellie had to get a helmet because her head was lopsided from sleeping on her back and favoring one side when she slept.  It was super sad at the beginning, but we are so glad we did it because she only had to wear it for four months and her head looks amazing now!!! She is just the cutest little girl and she was in such a great mood for a couple days following the release of the helmet.  She is a generally happy baby anyways, but she was exceptionally happy getting the helmet off.

I went to Georgia for a few days in October because my sister in law was having a craft week, and even though I didn’t do much crafting I still had a ton of fun and it inspired me to do more! I love crafting, but I feel like I don’t get very creative ideas that often and I don’t particularly like just stealing someone else’s genius idea so that holds me back sometimes.  Despite that fact, I have sewn a purse, made some bows for Ellie, and made some topiary trees for decoration! The bows and the trees turned out well, but the purse…well let’s just say it was my first purse.  Great fabric pattern, but that’s about it.  I might have my mom help me fix it when she comes for Ellie’s birthday.

Thanksgiving with the Dickson’s was a lot of fun.  We played tennis with the Cluff”s and football with the Cotter’s and had a fantastic dinner.  I went to Arizona a few days before Cody so that I could spend a little time with my family and that was also really fun.  Ellie, of course, came with me early and she did great on the plane. (side note, the parrot that lives upstairs in my noisy neighbors apartment is singing happy birthday…and it’s funny)

Christmas in utah was a lot of fun! It was great to see my family.  It was Ellie’s first birthday and she is not going to remember it, but I think that she got the most presents out of everyone. hahaha she loved it.  She was just swimming in presents. Moby got to come with us to Utah and it was so fun having him there instead of in a kennel.  And it was a lot cheaper too.  He had a blast with London and Jonesy.

Cody has been pretty busy with school and I have been pretty busy with Ellie.  She finally started sitting up on her own when she was about 8-9 months, which was in January and she is scooting around now, but it is still not her favorite.  That kid has never liked tummy time.  She can also pull herself up to standing, which is probably her favorite thing to do.  She is getting into a lot more lately so it’s getting a little bit harder to keep up with her, but she is still so cute! She says mmmmoommm and mamamamamama but I’m not sure if she is talking to me or not.  I am pretty sure that a few time she definitely was, but I think the other times she is just jibbering. Gosh I love that kid. Everything she does is so cute.

She was so grumpy yesterday because she only got a 30 minute nap at church and would not sleep the rest of the day, but she was exhausted! So we ichatted/skyped/face timed with Sarah and David, the Dickson’s, and my mom to keep her distracted.  It worked for a little while.  We put her to bed at 6:30 because she just couldn’t take it anymore and she went right to sleep and didn’t wake up until 7:30 the next morning.  The last few days she has been sleeping in until like 8:30 or 9 and it’s been awesome!

She was throwing up for a few days and was so sick and sleepy and it was so sad! But she is back to normal now and it’s much better.

I’ve noticed lately that once I get started talking to other adults (or apparently blogging) I can’t stop! Maybe I’ve always been like this, but I didn’t think so.  I think that since I talk to Ellie all day, once I see another adult I just go crazy and can’t stop myself.  Also I don’t feel like going back over and reading this, so if there are typo’s please forgive me and I might correct them in a few months.

I am going to Arizona at the end of May because Cody is taking the boards in June and I want to give him some time to study for them without Ellie and I around to distract him.  He has been studying for them for months, but I want him to be as not stressed out as possible for them so we will be gone for a little over a week I think, and then he is going to meet us for his brother, Clint’s, farewell. Should be a fun time.

One last thing; I’m sick of not loosing weight magically so I finally started working out and eating better and I still can’t loose weight! It’s driving me crazy.  It takes so much mentally for me to work out because I hate it with every fiber of my being (Ashley that phrase was for you), so to work out and not see results is so annoying.  Because I hate working out I put it off until I feel like I can do it, so I usually don’t exercise until like 12-1 when E goes down for her second nap, but a lot of times I’m like “it’s so late so I just won’t do it,” but I do it at least 3 times a week. Which is pretty dern good for me I’d say! As a result of putting off working out and taking a nap when Ellie takes her fist nap in the morning (haha), I don’t totally ready for the day until like 2 in the afternoon!!! It is 2:07 right now and I am sitting in my pj’s unshowered, unready for the day.  Should I fix this? yes, I think so too.  I have gotten a lot of things done this morning though.  I’ve cleaned the house, did the dishes, did the laundry, took a nap, paid some bills, and now I’m blogging.

Anyways, this is taking a long time, so I’m going to go.  I will try to do this more often so that I don’t have to write an essay every time.

TTFN!

It has been a very busy summer.  Cody did officer’s training camp with the army and had a good time sleeping through the night in a hotel where the maid service made his bed every morning and he had all of his meals prepared for him.  Meanwhile, I stayed home with a new little baby and not getting very much sleep, move to a new apartment without the help of Cody, and drive down to Texas (a 16 hour trip from Chicago) with a baby that wasn’t too fond of her car seat and a dog that gets super antsy if he is cooped up for too long.  My sister flew out here to keep me company for a few days after Cody left so that I wouldn’t be too sad and lonely and scared staying by myself and I am so glad she came! it was a lot of fun and she was a big help.  Then my mom flew out for a week and helped me move and then drove down to Texas with me and I stayed there with her for four weeks while Cody was doing his army thing.  It was so hard moving without Cody! I didn’t know how girly I was until Cody wasn’t here to help me do manly things. My mom and I were so tired every night.  We were working so hard that by the end of the night we were too tired to take showers, and then when we woke up in the morning we wanted to get things done that we would forget to take a shower.  So I think that we only took a couple of showers each over like a week and a half! Disgusting! I wrote this next bit for our family newsletter and it explains that whole experience.

Since I am at my mom’s house this month I figured I would just add in my little blurb at the end of her RR since they are practically the same anyways. The highlight of the month was going to Utah to bless our little baby. I knew the experience would be so wonderful, but I didn’t know just how great it would be! It was so special to have Cody bless Ellie and I just had a strong sense of comfort wash over me of how perfect it is that we are all sealed together and that Cody is such a wonderful father and husband to us. I am so grateful that he was worthy to bless our baby and that he will be able to for forever. Everything he said in the blessing was so nice and it really just made me feel good, to state it simply.

Cody has been at officers training camp in San Antonio for the last 4 weeks and he has two more to go! I’m dying! I hate not having him home with me! But at least he won’t be gone too much longer. He seems to be having a good time though. It isn’t like basic where they get yelled at and don’t get much sleep. Oh no. Cody is staying in a hotel and has someone clean his room and make his bed and has a continental breakfast every morning. He has had to get up pretty early some mornings, but he is really enjoying it. He is out in the field right now and has to stayina50mantent,butitisair conditioned. It’s pretty much like he is camping for the next two weeks though. I do not envy him. I like camping, but I hate bugs and I would not like it for three weeks straight. Stinky.

Sarah came to stay with me for a few days after Cody left and before my mom came so I wouldn’t have to be scared and lonely. It was sooo fun! We went shopping on Michigan Ave a couple of times but the highlight of the trip was the 30minute zoo excursion. As you may know, Sarah loves zoos. There is a free one in Chicago but the parking is expensive anywhere downtown. However, we discovered that the first 30 minutes of parking at the zoo is free. So, being the cheapos that we are, we decided to take on the task. We took pictures as we were walking, she took pictures of me with her camera and I took pictures of her with my camera. Ellie had a great time, this being her first visit to the zoo and all. It was one of the most fun trips to the zoo that I have ever had! I am very glad she came to stay with me!!

Oh man, my mom and I worked so hard to get me moved out! It was ridiculous! There is no way I could have done that by myself and I am so grateful she was there to help. We had several pretty hardy laughs in the process, we being two girls doing some pretty manly stuff. My mom told you of some, but here’s another one: My mom had to run an errand and Ellie was asleep so I thought I would take apart the kitchen table. I climb underneath the table and loosen all the screws, and take them all off. There were bolts holding the table together still. I climb out from underneath it and wonder how in the world I am going to take the table legs off without the whole thing collapsing. I keep walking around the table assessing the situation, trying to come up with a solution. Then I realize, oh. I should have flipped the table upside down and unscrewed everything from the very start. We are talking I was thinking about this for like twenty minutes! Who does that?! A girly girl like me, that’s who. I even thought I was a pretty handy woman and could do simple tasks like this, but apparently I haven’t done them since I married Cody and forgot how to work. Sheesh.

One more example, I know this is shaping up to be a pretty long article, but what the hey. Ellie and I were taking a nap and my mom wanted to put her crib together. She thinks she completed the task successfully. I went in there after I woke up and the crib is a bit crooked and lopsided, but we can’t figure out why. We worked on this one for about an hour. We took the front of it off over and over trying to get it to align correctly. Then I finally realize that she made the same mistake I did with the table. I have no idea how she did this, but she put the crib together by herself with it standing upright, using her feet to prop up the sides while she screwed on the back part. You either need to lay it down to screw it together or have someone hold it for you for it to be screwed on correctly, and she did neither. Needless to say, we are unbelievably grateful for Cody and his handyman capabilities. I missed his help so much during this move. I kept texting him, “how in the world do you do this!” and he would sweetly reply and try to help me from hundreds of miles away. Later he told me that he thought it was pretty funny all the texts I had to send him to get the jobs done.

So that was June and July.  Cody came home at the end of July and it was a glorious reunion!  Ellie and I love him so much and it was good to have him home! It was really cute cause when Cody came home Ellie totally recognized him! She stared at him for a little while and then gave him the biggest smile! It was like she was thinking “I know I remember you from somewh…wait could it really be you? Are you really home?  It’s my daddy!”  It was presh.

We went to Florida with my mom and Billy and Ali in August.  Sadly, Sarah and David couldn’t come and they were missed.  We went to Disney World 4 days and went to the beach the other days.  It was so much fun!  I wasn’t sure how much fun we would be able to have with a baby, but she did great and it was pretty cloudy and rainy most of the time so she didn’t get overheated and I didn’t have to worry too much about her getting sunburnt.  I love Disney World/Land! It really is the happiest place on Earth.  We did all four parks and the water parks.  The Animal Kingdom was way cool and had some decent rides.  The animals there have much more room than at normal zoos so that was nice.  We went on the safari and it was awesome! We saw elephants, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, and so many other cool animals.  The water parks were a blast and Magic Kingdom was of course amazing.  We got Ellie a little Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal and my mom got her a Minnie Mouse rattle which she loves.  It was a really fun trip.

Cody has started school and everything is going great! I will try to update more often.  Oh and Ellie can roll over!!!!! From her tummy to her back.  She hates tummy time, so the second I put her there she rolls straight over.  Here are some pics and videos.

Ellie was a little jaundice after birth so we had to feed her every two hours and hold her by sunny windows to try and get her bilirubin counts down. Luckily it worked and she didn’t have to be put under that tanning bed light thing! She is no longer yellow and has gained a whole pound and grown an inch. The doctor was very pleased with her at her appt yesterday. She was also very dressed up and looked fab for her little outing. She even had a little bracelet on. She is just so cute and we are having a great time with her. My mom leaves tomorrow, which I am a little nervous and sad about, but it will be ok. Cody and I are naturals at this parenting gig! Well, truth is Ellie is just a really great baby and really only cries when she is hungry or getting her diaper changed.

So far, I have been projectile vomited on twice and Cody and my mom have both been peed on once. I have luckily steered clear of that one, but I am sure that it’s only a matter of time before I get hit.

I had a bit of a scare this week. I started bleeding really bad a few days ago. By bad I mean literally after 2 seconds I saw blood running down my legs. I was holding the baby in the kitchen when it happened, Cody was studying at the library, and my mom was in the bathroom (the exact place where I needed to be obviously). I walked quickly to the bathroom and said mom I’m bleeding a lot, I need you to take the baby. By the time she opened the door, only a few seconds, I was standing in a puddle of blood. I called the doctor and they said to come in as soon as I could. They weren’t sure why I hemorrhaged, but said my uterus may have loosened for a little bit which caused the bleeding. I also had a blood clot that was like 3 inched wide. They said if it happens again I need to go to the ER right away. So that was pretty intense. The doctor said I need to do half the activity that I had been doing, which basically means that I have to la around all day because I really wasn’t doing much of anything at all! I’ve been good ever since then so hopefully it won’t happen again. They gave me some pills that I had to take for a couple of days to make sure my uterus stays tight and contracted, so maybe it worked.

On the upside, Ellie laughed this morning! It was so cute! I was just holding her and Cody said her eyes were open, then I looked at her and she closed them. Then Cody said “haha she’s faking it. She was like yeah yeah I’m asleep.” Then she smiled and laughed! It was so cute and funny cause it was like she really was trying to fool me or something! I know it wasn’t like a real social laugh, but it was still a laugh and was unbelievably cute.

In other news, I’ve lost 24 pounds! woohoo! I only have 8 more to go before I loose all my baby weight. I want to loose more after that, but I am pretty happy with the way things are going so far. I don’t have much of a pooch either. I can fit into my jeans (granted they were a little big before and now fit well) but still. Ok sorry, that’s enough bragging. Hope you all enjoy these pictures.