Hokey pokey

Ellie cracks herself up...

Ellie-isms

Ellie has been cracking us up these days with both her commentary on everyday happenings and the phrasing she uses.

For example, instead of saying that she smells things she always says she smells "like" (fill in the blank). We correct it sometimes but usually just laugh and move on. I enjoyed her selling out Brian the other day when she walked in the kitchen where he was working and announced: "I smell like toot."

Ellie also thinks that she'll be a baby again some day. She'll talk about how she'll get to do things when she's older... Her recent job prospects have included bus driver, train driver or simply "be Aunt Sandy." But she also sees Katie doing baby things and tells us how she's going to have us feed her or play with baby toys when she's a baby.

Other favorite phrases from Ellie these days:

"Holy moly!"
"No way" or "Yes way" (instead saying 'No/Yes'... which makes her frequent moodiness only a bit less annoying...)
"May I please..." (when she's feeling polite)

Love our spunky little girl!

Videos

Here's Katie doing a couple of her favorite things: Her dance shimmy and eating veggies...



And here's Ellie trying out some of the vet toys she got for Christmas:

Photo fail

 Well, we tried to take the girls in for some update photos this past weekend. It did not go well... Ellie decided to be a pill for most of the session, and then had tears and/or weird faces for most of the shots. And Katie is at the point now where she doesn't like to be set down — at least not if mom and dad are in view. (Also we had the WORST customer service and the session took forever... which is not what you want with cranky kids in tow. Sigh.)
So I've included a few of the not-so-bad shots ... but it looks like we'll try for another batch of photos in a few months.

Katie 11 months

...and a few days, but better late than never.

This past month has marked the most significant series of changes for our baby girl, I think. Just in the past couple weeks Brian and I feel like we have a new baby on our hands. Here's a look at her top 10 at 11 months:

1. Crawling!! She's a beast on the move these days. Yes, she arrived late to the crawling party, but now she's making up for lost time and getting her move on. When on smooth floors she often reverts back to her scooting moves, but on carpeting she full-on crawls and can cover ground pretty quickly. It's a lot of fun to watch even though it has required to baby-proofing and quick reflexes on our part. Her favorite targets so far are the dog water bowl and outlets.
2. Personality. Katie is still a pretty darn easy-going baby girl, but she's starting to make her views known more often -- and with higher volume. She shrieks when hungry, of course, but also if we take away an unsafe toy or Ellie steals her toys. I'm glad she has some opinions, but I have a feeling we have a long (loud) road ahead with these two young ladies.
3. Healthy. I'll include this one even though we're pretty sure she developed pink eye in the last 24 hours... but overall Katie is the healthiest she's been in about 2 months. No more ear infections (hopefully) and she finally licked the sinus infection from December. She is so much happier now that her nose isn't a faucet and her head isn't full of... gross stuff.
4. Eating machine. This little girl can put some food away. She's really good at finger foods now, and she goes through trays of corn and peas like it's nothing. Other favorites include: all carbs. She loves bread, bagels, pasta, etc. It's a lot more fun feeding her now that her only limitations are some dairy, eggs, fish and nuts. Hopefully we're growing another adventerous eater.
5. Dancing. Katie is still a mover and shaker. So much fun to get her to dance just by wiggling in front of her. I think she is developing a real love of music, too, because she's much calmer in the car when we have tunes going, and it seems to hold true at home, too.
6. Laughing at sister and plenty of other sights. Katie has a great giggle, and she laughs a lot when Ellie plays "boo" with her or generally jokes around. Lots of fun to watch :)
7. Grabbing everything. Nothing is safe around Katie. Nothing. She has an insane reach and I foresee lots of interesting problems arising from this in the coming months.
8. Crazy hair. Katie has long locks and plenty of curl, especially when just getting out of the tub. I have to brush and detangle often given her mobility and the resulting head-rubbing on her matress, the carpet, etc.
9. Sitting up and playing during nap time... she's still a great sleeper overall, but Katie in recent weeks has figured out she can get up into a sitting positing during naps. This required an immediate lowering up her crib mattress, and it often requires us to remind her to lay down during nap so she'll fall asleep. Of course, there are times when we let her go and she plays contentedly until collapsing (usually face forward) onto the matress for her nap. Funny stuff.
10. Absolute angel. Can't describe just how much love this little girl has squeezed out of us already. She amazes us every day with her growth and smiles and smarts. While I'd be happy to stop the clock for awhile (because this year is flying by WAY too fast), I can't wait to see what the coming months have in store for our family.

Ski trip

 Ellie is a skier! She's doing really well learning a few basics of skiing on our trip up in Wisconsin... At age 3 there's not much we can teach her beyond getting the basic feeling of snow/ice under her skis, but she's able to ski a few yards on her own (on the flattest part of the learning hill) into the waiting arms of mom or dad. It's fun to help her learn, even if the trips up the rope tow carrying her are a total workout :)

 And of course there's cocoa (or "coffee" as she calls it) to help warm up after some time on the slopes.

 And there's sledding!

Happy New Year everyone!!