snaggletooth

There are things about motherhood that surprise me every day.  Little things.  Big things.  Simple things.  Usually I hate surprises, but these are the kind of surprises that put a smile on your face and a glow in your heart.

Perhaps one of the most unexpected was how much I loved Ellie's snaggletooth.  It only lasted for a couple of weeks, but they were a happy couple of weeks.  Every time she smiled, Tim and I just couldn't help but laugh.

Now I am just as surprised about how much I love the gap between her teeth and the way one tooth is a little longer than the other.

I love being a mom.

ellie's 9 month pictures

This post makes me officially caught up on Ellie's monthly "birthday" pictures.  For about two weeks anyway.  Mom of the year award, right here.

Have I mentioned lately how much she just cracks me up?  She has developed quite the little personality, and she makes me laugh every single day.  Whether she's fake-crying, being dramatic, letting things hang out of her mouth like a little puppy, giggling at random things, shaking her little bum to the music, or chewing us out in monosyllables, we just can't get enough of her.

She gets a kick out of pretending to share and pulling the objects back at the very last second.  We'll have to teach her the difference between "sharing" and "keep-away."

She still loves her dad, but she has become quite the little mama's girl.  She follows me around like she thinks she's my shadow.  When I leave a room, she cries.  When I walk away from her, she cries.  When she thinks I'm about to walk away from her, she cries.  It's almost flattering.

Not quite sure when she pulled that strap down over her ear...

Can you see those little teeth poking through on the bottom?  She's got two on top now, too, but she was being a little stinker and wouldn't give me a full smile.

She loves crawling up our stairs, but hasn't figured out getting back down.  Except for, you know, face-planting.  Or throwing herself back until I catch her and giggling with delight.  [Which kind of worries me, to be honest.]

She still waves constantly, and is just barely starting to figure out high-fives, thanks to her dad and her cousins.

She understands the word "no," but sometimes flashes a mischievous smile when I say it.  And then she'll proceed to do it anyway.

She would much rather eat things directly off our plates than that mushed-up baby food, and she'll even pull herself up on our chairs at the dinner table and "beg" for food.  Not that it takes much convincing.  You'd think we never fed her by the "please, Sir, can I have some more" look on her face.

We just can't get enough of our Ellie girl.

[And let's continue to keep our fingers crossed that I'll get all caught up this week!]

p.s.  Here's a sneak preview of Ellie's newly-painted nursery!  I still have some work to do - more decor, painting dresser knobs, etc - but I'm loving the way it turned out!

ellie's 8 month pictures

I did take 8 month pictures of Ellie.  Really, I did.

But there was just one little problem with them.

They weren't very good pictures.

No problem, I thought.  I'll just retake them later.

And now, one-and-a-half-months later, I think we both know that didn't happen.

Nonetheless, I will show you some of the ones I did take.

And because she is her father's daughter, more than half of the pictures made it look like she was high.

Even when she looks drugged, she's still the cutest baby I know.

I know, I know, I'm behind.  But by eight months she was crawling for real, as opposed to her "inchworm" movements across the floor.  Music became just one excuse for dancing all the time.  She also started waving, albeit somewhat vigorously, every time she saw someone new.  Pulling herself into the standing position, on literally anything she could find, became a favorite hobby.  Two little bottom teeth began to emerge, and as soon as they had, a top one popped through.

AND...she started sleeping at night for more than 45 minutes at a time...most of the time!  It's still only 2-3 hours at a time, but I'll take it! Almost anything is better than 45 minute intervals, am I right?  Do you want to know our unorthodox trick?

One night, as I was trying for almost an hour to put her down, I remembered that in the car when I want her to go to sleep, I just turn on the radio.  But not just on any station - it has to be a country station.  [I'm so proud.]  She'll cry for a few minutes sometimes, but then she'll almost inevitably go to sleep.  The books I'd read about nighttime sleeping advised against any music that wasn't calming and against leaving music on for any great length of time.  Forget that! I thought.  I'm gonna try it!  So I put her down in her bed, turned on a country station, and left the room.  And wouldn't you know it, she only cried for about five minutes, and then she fell asleep!  And it's worked every night since, save one.

Maybe someday she'll sleep through the night, but in the meantime, anything is better than waking up every 45 minutes!  My mental health was about to be flushed down the drain.

Wanna see some other cute pictures taken in her eighth month?  She la-la-loves this doll one of my aunts left her:

The plan is to get somewhat caught up on this here little blog in the next couple of days.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  [And be prepared for some pictures of the most adorable snaggletooth you've ever seen.]

thanksgiving 2013

Somehow having a child makes each holiday that much more magical.  And Thanksgiving was no different.

The drive down to St. George was a little different than the norm.  I drove.  The whole way.  In some families, that might be normal, but in ours?  Tim likes to drive, and I like to be in the passenger seat.  But thanks to this incident with Tim's knee, the only option was for me to drive our [manual transmission] car.  Let's just say that after six straight hours of driving, the sincerity of my prayers about the speedy recovery of Tim's knee increased tenfold.  [Haha.]  [But seriously.]

Only three out of Tim's ten siblings were able to make it, and it was a little weird not to have more people there.  We missed everybody.  But.  We still had a great time.  And Ellie was approximately 100% happier than she was our trip to St. George for her baby blessing.  She even let other people hold her sometimes.  And that is kind of a big deal with her.

See?  Here she is with Grandma, Grandpa, and cousin Talon:

She was also a lot more mobile on this trip, and I was continuously chasing her around so she wouldn't hurt herself when she got into situations like this:

And we actually got to sleep in a little this trip:

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, and it was fun to introduce Ellie to some of the foods straight off my plate.  I never thought I could like sharing so much.  #sharingiscaring

Alison, Talon, Ellie, and Grandma:

On Friday night, we all went to see the St. George temple lights.

Our lovely hosts, Dru and John:

And on Saturday, we drove over to Zion National Park.  As it turns out, we picked probably the busiest weekend of the year to go, and there was no parking.  None.  Zip.  Nada.  But we did drive through part of it, and I can't imagine a prettier, more scenic drive.

After a long day of hiking in Zion [NOT], we played a rousing game of apples to apples.  Or rather, the rest of them played and I took pictures and made sure Ellie didn't hurt herself.

It was such a fun trip, and we were sad to leave.  But also happy to get home?  Weird how that works.

And now let's all pray that Tim's knee has recovered by our Christmas trip. :)