Spunky Lil' Cowgirl

Saturdays

Saturday mornings in this home are 'pancake' mornings, thanks to Rob. He's developed quite the skill, but has recently decided to venture into the fabulous world of WAFFLES. Here's our 20 dollar waffle iron from Liquidation World. What a beaut. Look how serious Rob is about his duty: he even read the manual. What a guy.

Ellie 'helps' in the kitchen with her own pots and magnets and spoons
(i.e. she plays happily so we can get stuff done)

Just Random Photos...

Ellie spitting at the camera.

Naked time! (yes, there was pee on the carpet after, but it was oh so worth it...it made Ellie's entire week! :) Oh,and for those of you who are wondering...naked time seems to be the quickest and most effective way to cheer up a grumpy child. We aren't so brave with our carpet very often. Anyone know of a good steam vaccuum company close by?

Ellie's favorite way to get rid of the food she doesn't want.

Bath time! Ask Ellie if she wants a bath, and she starts chanting 'ba ba ba!' and leads you straight to the bathroom.
p.s. for those of you who care (i.e. Papa and Grandma Balfour) Ellie's cutting two teeth on top...one in front, one right beside it. She's still missing her middle right one. :) She does a lot of things backwards.

Peekaboo!

Uh, yeah, that IS a breastpump.

Ellie begins to creep!

Two weeks ago I took Elianna to the chiropractor and he told us that her hip, shoulder and elbow were 'out', so it was no wonder she wasn't crawling yet. Since then she figured out how to move around...backward. She started by pushing herself into things (see above) and moaning and complaining the entire time like we're working her WAY too hard for a 10 month old...

...but has moved past that to actually pulling herself forward (using her clammy hands for grip). She can go about three feet before giving up. And she still complains. She'd rather grab our fingers and run like a little ostrich (faster, cleaner, and you can feel the breeze in your hair). Anyhow, we're proud of our slow, whiny little creeper. Any day now we'll be forced to install that shiny new baby gate....any day now....

The Hat Basket

A couple weeks ago Ellie and I spent one of the minus gazillion degrees
wintery days warm and snug in our pjs in the house...

...and when we ran out of things to do with the toys, we pulled out Ellie's basket of hats...

...and well, this is the fun times that resulted.

That took care of about 15 minutes. :)

Hide and Seek, Mama!

Ellie's newest game she LOVES to play is "Hide the Anything." You know, hide the jar of baby food in the pot, hide the wooden puzzle pieces in a book, hide my face under a blanket...
Well my all-time favorite was the other day when I was getting Elianna ready for her bath. I had given her a couple of objects to play with on the floor by the bath mat while I went back and forth to the bedroom getting her stuff ready for her bath. Suddenly (from the bedroom) I hear Ellie doing her notorious fake-sounding laugh, "Ha ha ha ha ha!" Curious, I go back to the bathroom and see Ellie quickly pull away from where she had been bent over by the bath mat. She looks up at me with a huge grin and goes, "Hahaha!" As I get down on her level to see what's so funny, she throws the bath mat back, and hiding underneath is my DEBIT CARD. (I hadn't realized she was playing with that.) Good thing she thought it was so hilarious or that would have been the second time I would have had to cancel the thing in a month! She's got this THING for that debit card. No other card has the same effect. I pull it out at the grocery store and immediately Ellie pulls herself straighter, opens her mouth wide and goes, "Ah! AH! AHHH!" If I give it to her to hold she fake laughs, "HAHAHA!" and tries to swipe it. Or holds it out to strangers. The cashiers love it. They also love it when I hand them a debit card dripping with saliva. Anyhow, like other fun toys (baby wipes, the phone, Rob's shoe) the novelty will probably eventually wear off. Hopefully sooner than later.

She's a talker!

As of this weekend Ellie has two more new words! "Ya ya", usually accompanied by a emphatic nod that emphasizes her double chin (when she wants something or is excited about it), and "Nana" (banana). She continues to think the apples, oranges and cantaloupes in the groceries store are 'baw's (balls). Now if only she'd learn to crawl...

Ellie Graduates

This week Elianna began riding in style...in her big girl car seat! Unfortunately it still needs to face the back, which drives Ellie a bit nuts...but not for too much longer.

Regan's First Birthday!

Elianna's cousin Regan had her first birthday party last Sunday. Boy, did she ever dig her first cupcake!

Regan with Auntie Dana trying out her new xylophone. She's a natural at wacking things!

Ellie was thrilled to get to play with some 'big' girls.

...and some 'big' boys too, I guess! (I think Rob liked the Littlest Pet Shop animals as much as Ellie did :)

The fam.