Big Brother stayed in Tallahassee with Grandmommy and Pop Pop while Daddy and I got some alone time with our sweet baby girl. She is just too much sweetness. Over the top. She's pure sugar...
Our first night in NOLA, Daddy surprised us by taking us to pretty much the most beautiful restaurant I've EVER SEEN. Hands down. And it was pretty much the best dinner of my life. It was grouper...oh wait, this post is about Ella Grace. I need to do a New Orleans post. Anyway. I overheard a couple talking about Ella Grace in the restaurant, saying how cute she is. And then the woman said "and she dresses her to the nines, too." hehe:)
Here she is getting ready for bed!
On another night, we went to a place featured on "Man vs. Food" called ACME Oyster House. Here she is waiting for her grilled oysters. I think she looks like such a little drooly princess in this pic:)
It was chilly on our last couple days there. Here she is...our HAPPY girl...all bundled up and ready to go watch her parents eat the best breakfast they've ever had!
I mean...how could one look at that picture and not love her? She's just too fun! :D (She has a pretty sweet "Capital D" smile, just like her big brother did at this age!)
I love my little girl's face in her adorable getup in this pic!
And I also love this expression...paired with the saying on the onesie in the background!
When we got back to Tallahassee, we went and visited my Dad and Cheryl (getting a photo with them is impossible. How could such a picture fanatic be the daughter of someone some anti-pictures? A question maybe the universe will never be able to answer...), and then we went and visited Beth and Chris and our nieces. Here is my Bethy holding her sweet baby niece: (btdubs: she's not a thumb sucker-- or much of a paci-sucker for that matter--...maybe she was for 2 seconds while I snapped this pic)
Remember how in her 5 month post I said how she had started sitting up already (though she was still a little shakey)...well, at the beginning of her 6th month she was a certifiable PRO! She sits up like it's nobody's bitness. (These pics from Leap Day!)
This last month she really got into playing with toys! (goes along with the sitting up territory.) I remember when Julian was able to sit up, I looked around and thought...um...he doesn't have any toys? (Just the little car seat ones we'd had from the beginning.) So we went & and got him a few things. It was nice this time around to not have to worry about that...just pulled them out of storage! Along with her starting to play with toys for the first time, this month I've also gotten my first glimpses of my children playing together...it's been so sweet to watch. Heartwarming. Really, right now it's Julian showing her how to do things with the toys...but she watches him intensely and smiles at his every move. (Except for when he grabs something out of her hands she's playing with...gotta work on that!)
And here she is making her debut on the first day of the first month of March she's ever experienced. Isn't she lovely, folks?
Oh, you wanted to see more from this photo shoot? Well, why didn't you just say so?!
They opened a new park right by our gym, and it is just. so. cute! It has little crooked play houses in it. We spent a Saturday morning there as a family at the beginning of March. Julian had so much fun, and Ella Grace had a BLAST pushing him on the swings! She seriously thought it was the time of her life. I wish we had better pictures of her to prove it!
Despite being an avid viewer of all of the munching that goes on in our household, she has not shown any interest in taking any munches of her own...(Julian started showing interest at 5.5 months, so that's when he had his first solids!) (I love her eyes in this pic! Love that natural light!)
Now we all need to ask ourselves a serious question...so here goes: what am I even supposed to do with this?! Seriously. I'm totally conflicted. How can I do anything but smooch her cheekies all day long?!
Well, one obvious hindrance to my ability to that would be that her daddy would fight me for cheek time:
When you pair pretty-in-pink with kissable little cheeks, we're pretty much done for...
those cheeks are mighty squishy & kissable!
I found the dress below with my MIL at a consignment shop in Lake City. I just LOVED it! It's some French brand name I've never heard of, and the size of it says "2" so it was somewhere in the back of the closet until I took it out this last week to take another gander. I'm so glad I did...it fits her now! And it's just too adorable to go unworn...if I could have this dress for her in every color scheme, I totally would.
Out and about on a beautiful almost-Spring day!
The second weekend in March, we ventured out to meet our friends the Carrs in Orlando for some kiddie-swapping and temple trip time! We went to Downtown Disney while we were there, and Ella Grace just wore herself out completely getting excited over every little thing there was to see! This moment reminded me of this moment. Also, potentially the cutest thing I've ever seen...
On the Wednesday before St. Patrick's Day, we hosted a St. Patrick's Day playgroup at 10 AM. We had so much fun! Unfortunately, Ella Grace slept through most of it because she goes down for a morning nap everyday around 10:30. But she did her civic duty and complied to be my little leprechaun fairy, so we decided to let her sleep;) (I need to do an Orlando post and a St. Patrick's Day post all their own...!)
She woke up once the guests had left, and plopped down next to this printable and modeled for me a little bit. :)
After our festive photo shoot, I decided to give solids a try with Ella Grace! Even though she hadn't shown much interest, AAP says to introduce solids between 4-6 months...and being that she was just 4 days shy of being 6 months old, we gave it a go! Instead of using just water with the oatmeal cereal (like I did with J), I decided to mix in formula (and water). A big part of me hoped that she would like it & that it would get her more amiable to the idea of drinking a bottle. But a huge part of me just knew she wasn't going to like it. She doesn't want anything but the good stuff, and it can only be directly from me (she won't even take breast milk in a bottle!)...so I was prepared for what I thought would be the inevitable spitting out of food joined by a look of complete and utter disgust. So you can imagine my excitement and surprise when instead, I got this:
this is more of a look of "hmmm...this is interesting...? look" rather than "YUCK!" She really ate/ swallowed a good bit of it! And her #2's changed afterwards! So I know she got a good bit down. I was so excited! (the things I get excited about these days...)
Right away, she just wanted to feed herself! She wanted that spoon and she wanted to put it her mouth! ha!
I'm so embarrassed by the boy-ish bib. Don't judge me. ;)
Remember how I said we went down to Orlando with the Carrs to do a kid swap and go to the temple? Well, major bummer: Stace and I didn't get to go in! :( I was pretty sad because I have been feeling a serious hunger in my soul lately for some one-on-one time with the Lord in the temple. I was still so glad we got to see Mary Ann and J and their sweet kids...they are truly some of my most favorite people on the planet, and I was also so glad we got to watch their kids so that they could go in together. But of course I was a wee bit sad, too. Well, random of all randoms: our friends Hannah & Chris called on Wednesday and asked if we wanted to go to the temple and do some names for them this Saturday, and that they'd watch our kids! What a blessing. Even though we had to do some fancy footwork with the plans we'd already had in place for yesterday, we jumped at the chance! Let me tell you: it was so. good. to. be. there. in the temple. (Again, another post for another day!) Here are Ella Grace and I after Stace and I got out of the temple:
We rushed back to Gainesville after our session to get to the ward Pot"luck" of the Irish (the YW were in charge of some of the games). Despite our rushing, we got there and they were already breaking down tables...and the games ended up not even happening! Bummer...well, at least I had another excuse to put her in her leprechaun fairy outfit...
oh, and don't you worry. There was an another excuse...6 month pics!
...and one next to Daddy. I like this one because it shows how small she still is. I'm excited to take her to her 6 month checkup this week to see where she falls percentile-wise. A part of me thinks she's average...but then she's also little and petite...but maybe I'm saying that because I'm comparing her to the boys who are her age at church. :)
This month was a really big month for baby girl! Remember how I said she wouldn't take a bottle?! That changed on Friday night! My amazing babysitter (a 12 year old who is the 2nd oldest of 7) got her to drink several ounces! Maybe the formula in the rice cereal really did help her take it!
Also, 2 weeks into this month, she slept through the night in her crib for the first time! This is another thing she's done earlier than Julian. She slept a total of about 7 hours in her crib a few nights, and then this last week...whaabam: She slept ten hours in her crib...like a champion. The people in this household really like their sleep! Before she graced us with her presence, before I was even pregnant with her, I would say I just knew our next baby was gonna be a stinker when it comes to sleeping (I think I even said it on the blog), because Julian was such a good sleeper. I am so happy to report I was wrong! Still, I know the insomniac child is coming. I can feel it in my bones...
Ella Grace loves it when I sing to her. She always gets this big smile on her face when I do...like she wants to play, even if the tempo of the song is very soft and slow...it's like she wants to dance! haha. Silly girl:) This baby is the bounciest little wee one you ever did see. I've had multiple friends tell me that who also have children! She just LOVES to bounce on your lap and smile with her whole face simultaneously. She's so fun:)
I think Ella Grace might have really tiny feet. Cute. But not ideal when it comes to shoe shopping! I've thought this before as size 0's were falling off her feet at nearly 5 months, but my thought on the matter was further punctuated last week when I bought her a pair of adorable white sandals from Baby Gap with my 40% off coupon. I stole away and got to go to the mall by myself to pick them up. I looked at the size 6-12 month pair, which I intended on buying because...hello, she's 6 months, but I thought "there's no way those will fit her...!" So then I looked at the 3-6 and bought them instead, even though I worried she'd outgrow them right away...she was 3 months old 3 months ago! Well, much to my dismay, the 3-6 months are HUGE. Falling off her feet completely. What in the world. Amelia took one look at her feet today and said "yeah! Ayla's feet are that size!" (Ayla is 1 month old.) welp. That stinks because those white sandals are so cute. They'll probably fit next winter. ha! As for all her other shoes... we got them before she arrived, and they are all also way too big! So she's a barefooted fashionista. ;)
I wrote this last week, but never got around to posting it:
I can't believe I have an-almost-6-month-old. I really don't want that to be true. She'll have her monthly post next week when she turns 6 months, but I just couldn't stop myself from writing a little about her now as I reflect on how amazing she is. She is just the sweetest thing. I can't put it into words. Today I had my visiting teachees and companion over for breakfast, and my companion said "Kim, I just don't believe she cries. Does she ever cry?!" This is not the first time I've heard this. She is just so happy and chill. Over the weekend we were with our friends the Carrs, and Mary Ann was just smiling at her & talking to her, and Ella Grace gave her normal response to that (crazy excitement and bouncing up and down and huge smiles), and Mary Ann said "she's just so happy! Is she always so happy?!" Stace and I both shrugged, smiled and said "yeah, pretty much!"
We are so lucky to have her in our family. She's so gentle. She's so patient. She's in love with anyone who gives her the time of day. All the time I get people stopping to look at her and say how beautiful she is. Over the weekend, I told myself to really take that in, and appreciate it every. single. time because that compliment should always be graciously & thankfully accepted. Of course, as a mama you think your child is the most beautiful thing in the entire world (“There is only one beautiful baby in the world, and every mother has it.” -Chinese Proverb...if the mother has more than one baby, of course, she has the two most beautiful children in the world, or three, etc;), so it's always nice to hear people tell me either of my children are beautiful because I know I'm biased! (I know ALL moms can completely relate!)
Ella Grace is special. I think often how glad I am that we ended up giving her the name that we did, because it seems to fit her perfectly. I just did a Google search of what her names mean:
Ella: "bright light"; "goddess"; "beautiful fairy woman"; "pretty"
Grace: "virtue; "good will"; "blessing"; "grace"; "eloquence or beauty, kindness, mercy"
I feel like she is and will be all of those things. Thank you sweet baby girl for coming to our family.
Here they are before church on her 6 month birthday. Julian is telling Ella Grace to smile, per ushe...
2 comments:
For what it's worth, I used breast milk to thin the cereal I fed to CJ. If you pump a little, that's an option. I work full time, so pumping wasn't an option for me, but she was right at Ella Grace's age when we introduced solids. She couldn't have rice cereal- it backed her up too much. But All Bran thinned with breast milk seemed to do the trick perfectly- until she was a year old.
What a fun month for Ella Grace! I loved all the pictures of your little cutie. We will have to do an actual foot-to-foot comparison of the girls tonight at moes :)
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