Ellie's First Easter

Ellie has been....a handful today. She's starting to like to pick up her food herself. The green bean bowl was dumped out in short order. Soon after, she found Daddy's Dr. Pepper and promptly spilled that all over herself and the floor. She then had another nap and is now playing like an angel. What a sweet girl.

We went to Houston last week. Ellie and James drove down to hang in the hotel while I went to some training. Ellie did pretty good in the hotel room, but she's definitely gotten used to her crib in her own room, I think. We have a couple more trips this year, so hopefully she'll get unused to it easily too. A mom can hope, right?

She clapped for my mom yesterday - don't they know they're not supposed to do new stuff when we're not around? And of course, she has done no clapping for me today.

She did sign "more" twice to me today when I was feeding her. She's not consistent, but I think she's starting to get it. It's fun after all these months of signing.

Here are some fun pictures (Note: Some of the links below seem to be broken. I tried to correct them on my end, but it seems to be a website issue - sorry!):







Sure am having fun with my dinosaur toy!












Mama - you didn't want this trash to STAY in the trash can, did you?












Ravioli is yummy!














Playing with my friend Korben!













Sleepy baby cuddling with Mama.

The bottle got me!

I can hold my bottle now!

I love Sesame Street!

My first train ride at the Easter Extravaganza at church.

Me with a beautiful hot air balloon!

My first Easter egg hunt.

I don't know what's in these, but they're fun to shake!

Like my Easter dress? My Aunt Co gave it to me - her daughter wore it years ago!

I got to meet my friend Emerson in Houston!

Welcome to the Blog - and 10 Month Update

Hey, everyone! Welcome to our new cyberspace home.

You'll see I've moved over all of the older posts from the old site. This is mostly for me to have them all in one place, but it was sort of fun to go back through them to me so feel free if you're interested. I didn't pull in all the old photos, but I did move her 3 month montage over. It has all the best pictures anyway, so check it out if you'd like. It's in the 8/7/06 post.

Boy how they change... She's crawling, pulling up, cruising, holding her own bottle, doing some little baby dancing. She so fun these days! We're saying "No, no" and "Don't touch" a lot, though. There went our dreams of a perfect obedient child...

I plan to post more often and make this a real blog, so please check in and leave comments. Because I've heard some horror stories, and even seen some of them first hand, I've made it invitation only. Please feel free to tell anyone I may have missed to request access.

I've done a new montage covering the 3-9 month range. Check it out!

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Archive - From 2/26/07 - 9 Month Update

In just a few days Ellie will be 9 months old. She has given new meaning to the phrase “Wow, how fast time flies!” She is not really crawling per se. Instead she just rolls over and over. She crosses the living room and gets where she wants pretty fast now. I have set her down in the middle of the floor, run into the kitchen for a minute and come back to find her all the way across the room reaching for something that is currently out of her grasp. We are quickly discovering just how much child-proofing we’re going to have to do. She sits up great and plays both with us and on her own very well. She keeps herself content playing alone, sometimes for surprising lengths of time. Until she gets a brother or sister (NO, we’re not expecting again…yet) she’ll just have to be happy playing with us and with her toys. She started pulling herself up to her feet with the help of our fingers and stands and tries to walk with us a little bit now. She is not yet pulling herself up in her crib but it's only a matter of time.

She started eating solids a couple of months ago and Amy makes the vast majority of her food. Ellie is eating increasingly large amounts of solid foods, and is also getting coordinated enough to eat cheerios and “puffs” with two fingers/her whole hand cramming them in her mouth. They often get stuck either to her face, her bib, or her hands. Amy is still nursing, but we are realizing that there will come a time in the next few months when that will likely come to an end. Amy says she'll be sad when this happens. It’s a little bewildering to me. I think I’d be ready for my body to be MY BODY again after all this time. However, Amy has relished these months of doing that with and for our daughter, and I’m sure Ellie will miss it too. I’m so proud of Amy for working so hard at doing it so consistently, and with her work schedule, it has been a chore.

We put up her 6 month professional photos, so check them out. Please don't download them. We also just had a visit from PaPa, so enjoy the new photos there.

Ellie is a ham and is developing a flair for the dramatic. She talks and mumbles (as well as complains) with a variety of sounds. She is developing a cute personality. She is patient and happy about 95% of the time, which makes her a joy to be around. She still goes down for naps almost at the drop of a hat. We set her down in her crib, and generally speaking, she just rolls over and falls asleep, which makes our life very easy compared to some other parents of babies we know. She wakes up happy most of the time and talks to herself for amusement until we come and get her. She loves to smile and laugh, now showing off her two little bottom teeth. Ellie is so much fun and we are so blessed to have her. We hope you are all doing well. Talk to you soon.

Archive - From 1/3/07 - 7 Month Update

Wow - I can't believe how long it's been since I updated this. Sorry! Guess I'll blame the holidays.

Eliana has had a pretty good 2 months. The only hitch has been her first illness. I got sick before Thanksgiving, and it seems she got the same thing. She's been feeling bad off and on and is still hanging on to a cough. Most of the time, though, she's her normal happy self.

She continues to roll over like a champ. She's sitting up, but only for a few seconds to a minute at a time. She still topples, but she'll get there. She's so fun and interactive now. She plays with her toys and babbles so much more. She loves going on walks and swinging at the park. She's also started eating solid foods and is literally eating them up. So far, the only thing she doesn't like is green beans. :)

She's still sleeping through the night even with her sickness, which is so great. We've also dropped her late night feeding which is nice for Mama. Still no teeth, but something sharp has recently appeared on her bottom gum, so maybe soon.

We've had a wonderful two months with family. Ellie got to meet her Papaw over Thanksgiving which was great. Grandpa Fritz has successfully moved to Texas, so there will be more time with him now, too. It was a bittersweet Christmas without our Mama Jean and Mamaw....

James and I are doing well. I'm enjoying my work, and James is loving his counselling. Please continue to pray that his practice will continue to grow.

Enjoy the new pictures!

We pray for health and blessing in 2007 for all of you!

Archive - From 11/13/06 - 5 Month Update

Hi, everyone,

All is going well. Our big news is that Ellie has consistently been sleeping through the night for the past couple of weeks. We're so happy!

She's still as happy and content as always. She's rolling all over the place and is just starting to sit up. So far she just makes it a few seconds before falling over, but she's getting close.

There's tons of drool but still no teeth. I imagine they'll just show up out of the blue one of these days.

We're headed on a driving trip to Denver for Thanksgiving. Ellie will meet her Papaw (great grandpa) for the first time. Cousin Georgie will be there, too, along with lots of others, so we're really excited. Keep us in your prayers that the trip goes well!

We hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving. We definitely have MUCH to be thankful for!

Archive - From 10/17/06 - Farewell to Our Sweet Mama Jean

All,

Many of you have heard that James mom, Jean, went on to be with the Lord on October 6th. We are immensely saddened at her quick decline due to cancer. All of the kids flew up to New York week before last and we were all able to be at her side as she went. We prayed and sang over her as we told her it was ok to let go. We're grateful for that time, but she will of course be sorely missed. Thank you all for you thoughts and prayers for our family.

One positive that came out of the whole situation was that Ellie got to meet Jean's parents, Mamaw and Granddad along with some other relatives. Check out her 4 month album below. She was a great baby through all the stress and mostly just went with the flow. Her Mama was so grateful!

Ellie has been doing great. She's rolling over all over the place these days. She's also drooling a lot, but no sign of teeth just yet. Last night was the first night she went all the way through the night without eating (and just woke up once). I'm not holding my breath, but I'm hoping this starts to be a trend soon. She does great with Daddy while I work 3 days a week, and I love my time with her as well. She's a happy flexible baby, and we're loving (almost) every minute!

Archive - From 9/4/06

Hi, everyone!

I can't believe it's been 3 months already.

I've returned to work! It wasn't as traumatic as I'd thought it would be. I've returned on a part time schedule. I work Wednesday through Friday and James cousels on Mondays and Tuesdays. As he builds his practice, we may explore other options, but for now we can both parent Ellie without daycare. We feel extremely blessed. I miss Ellie while I'm at work, but knowing she's with James makes it infinitely better.

Ellie is doing great. No major milestones to report just yet. She's considering rolling over, but hasn't done it yet. We're not in a hurry - she'll do it in her own time. Also still not sleeping through the night. Alas..... She's getting closer each week, though.

Her Aunt Becka was here this weekend and taught her how to blow raspberries with her lips. It's the cutest thing to watch her doing it. James and I look crazy doing it to her all the time trying to get her to practice more. Ahhh....the things parenting makes you do.

We got her three month photos done today. Considering how hard it is to make a baby smile on demand, she did pretty well. Here's the information if you want to view the pictures. Some of them need to be rotated to the right to be oriented correctly:

www.searsphotos.com
Create an account
Click to view new session
Session ID: 41337b105113247
Password: 2NMGPZN2C

As you'll see in the latest pictures, my dad bought a boat. We need to get a picture of the whole thing for you, but it's a 47' Chriscraft cruiser. We've loved spending time on it in the last few weeks. Between that and the pool (that she's enjoying a lot more) she's going to be quite the waterbaby!

Archive - From 8/7/06 - Meeting Daddy's Family

Well, the last three weeks have been spent meeting James' side of the family. Mama Jean and Fritz (James' parents) have been staying with us for the last 3 weeks (minus a trip to Abilene in the middle) and are presently making their way back up to New York on a slow road trip with more family visits along the way.

Aunt Becka (James' little sister) arrived in Dallas on Saturday night. This was her first time to meet Ellie, so Ellie has finally met all of her aunts and uncles now. Becka got two short days with us before heading back to Searcy, AR for school. She's not far away, though, so we hope to see her again soon.

We just returned from her second road trip. She went with us to Bryan, TX to visit Uncle Charles, Aunt Glenda and Aunt Betty. Glenda and Betty are Jean's aunts. We had a great time visiting and passing Ellie around.

She got her shots on 7/28. We were mean and videoed it. She did really great. There were tears (hers - not too many of mine) and some really cute sad faces, but she recovered quickly and slept most of the day. She continues to grow like a weed. She's in the 90-95th percentile for weight, height and of course head size!

She's just started little laughs in the last day or two. We're excited for her to start doing it more and get it on video.

She tried her Exersaucer today for the first time. Here's a little video of her in it for you. (Yes, she's a child prodigy at two months!)

Click here to watch "Ellie in her Exersaucer"

I've also been working on a video montage of Ellie. A friend of mine told me about the perfect song for it, so I hope you enjoy!

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Archive - From 7/23/06 - My First Flight!

I'm still technically on maternity leave (until August 23rd), but there was a convention last week with work that I wanted to be at. As such, Ellie and I went to Ft. Lauderdale, FL! We flew my sister Jennie and my nephew Georgie out to help with Ellie. I was quite stressed about the flight, but she did great. She screamed for the first 20 minutes of the first flight while people were loading, but then she got to eat and didn't make a peep the rest of the flight. She didn't even mind the landing - her ears seemed fine. It was very cool. She did great in Florida, too. She went swimming and on walks with Aunt Jen and Georgie, and slept just like she does at home.
Speaking of sleeping, she is still doing great. Our nightime routine is a bath, lotion massage, changing to sleepers and a swaddle before her 7pm feeding. Hugs and prayers and to bed. (We've moved her into her own room now.) I go in there at 10 or so to give her a last feeding and most times she doesn't even open her eyes and just stays half asleep. She then wakes again around 3-4am for a feeding and then our day starts around 7. Not bad for 7 weeks!

She also finally got to meet her Mama Jean and Fritz. They arrived while we were in Florida, so they picked us up at the airport on Thursday afternoon. She also met her Uncle Mark and Aunt Jocie on Friday afternoon, so she's been quite the show-off. (In case it was in question, they all think she's pretty great!)

She's a great baby, and we're really enjoying her. She smiles a ton now and coos a lot. She seems to be hanging on to all her hair, too, which makes Mama very happy.

Our next big thing is 2-month shots on 7/31. Mama will likely cry more than Ellie, but we'll see. :)

Hope you're all doing great!

Archive - From 7/8/06 - One Month Update

Hey, everyone,

All continues to go well here at the Wiebe house. Eliana is now 5 1/2 weeks old and has passed the one month mark. She enjoyed her first 4th of July (in the rain) and has had some fun visitors!

Our good friends from Seattle, the Cornwell's spent a night with us last week. They have 3 kids that were excited to hit the pool and meet Ellie. The visit was fast, but great. You'll see some pictures in the newest album.

Ellie had her one month pediatrician appointment on Thursday and continues to grow like a little weed. She's 11 lbs. already which puts her in the 90th percentile! She's eating good, I guess! She got her hepatitis B shot as well, which was a little sad, but a feeding time coincided with the shot which seemed to make everything better pretty quickly. :)

She made her first day trip last weekend to a wedding in Abilene. She looked so pretty and did great in the car. There's some photos of her dress that I added as well.

She's starting to smile and is looking more and more alert. She's holding her head up pretty well, although sometimes it's a Ray Charles type effect! She's sleeping anywhere from 4-6 hour stretches at night, for which Mama is very very grateful! She's a really easy baby, so I know I'm going to be in trouble when we get around to #2!

I hope this finds you well! Shoot us an email or sign the guestbook to let us know how you are.