Big milestone for our girl

Big News!!!!

Elly's sitting up!!!

She's been working at it for quite awhile now, but this last Thursday (22 Oct) was the first time she really sat by herself for several minutes. In the picture above, she had just woken up from her nap and was in a good mood anyhow. I was putting things away in her room, so I sat her up with some toys and she stayed there for a long time just playing. I'm so proud of her and love seeing her grow up, but there's a part of me that's sad to see my baby get bigger.

She is such a sweetheart and has such a great temperament. She's happy most of the time, not really fussy and is so full of laughs anymore. I am totally in love with her.

I realize I've been a slacker lately when it comes to blogging. Elly and I have been back in Germany for one month now, but the time has flown by. Ellyanna's had a hard time adjusting back to Germany time. And of course, she's getting back on schedule just in time for us to head out to the states again. Poor little thing (not to mention....Mommy) will have to go through this all over again.

Sam has a TDY in Kansas and we thought it would be a nice idea for Elly and I to go with him. From there we will go on over to Pennsylvania to see his parents. I've been a little nervous about the 2 weeks he's in class. We'll be staying in lodging on post and it could get a little tiresome having Elly to entertain without her normal things around for entertainment- jumperoo, walker, crib, all her toys, etc.

Other than the actual trip itself, the hardest thing about travelling back to the states is leaving Gabby behind. It's so hard on her. I know some people would say she's just an animal and doesn't know the difference, but I know she does. It stresses her when we're gone. Thankfully, we have someone who has watched her before and will be staying here while we're gone. I know she's taken care of while we're gone, but it's still hard to leave her behind.

Early on with Ellyanna I planned to only breast feed her for the first six months then start her on solids, but I'm contemplating starting her a few weeks early. Everything I've ready suggests waiting until she's six months old to reduce the risk of developing allergies, so that's what I was planning on, but lately she just won't sleep more than 2 hours at a time during the night. It's like we're back to a newborn schedule and I'm tired! I've been wondering if she needs something a little more substantial to keep her through the night. On top of that she has been SO interested in what we eat lately. She keeps a close eye on everything that goes into my mouth. Last night I was eating spaghetti and she was actually screaming like she was trying to get my attention to give her some. She gets so excited when she sees our food. Silly girl! Anyhow, so today I did buy some rice cereal, but I haven't totally decided to go with it or not. On the one hand I think she's more than ready to start having solids, but it seems like saying goodbye to a part of my little baby and that's kind of sad to me. I've loved nursing her. It's such a sweet time and so rewarding. Another downside is her poo will start smelling even worse. OK...I know that's a little shallow, but really....who wants to hurry that along???

Another thing, we skipped right over most of Ellyanna's six month clothes. I made the error of thinking she needed to be 3-6 months old before they would fit. Well, I think I should have started her in them much earlier, because when I started putting them on her at 4 months they were on the small side which made her look rather uncomfortable. Not wanting to make the same mistake with her 9 month clothes, I started putting them on her at around 4 months. We're still having issues with jeans though. Currently, she has no jeans that fit her chubby little legs. Bless her heart....she is her daddy made over, but the one thing she does get from me is my thick legs. I feel I should apologize to her :(

Well, I should probably get myself to bed. Sam is up watching the Penn State game tonight and tomorrow he's having a few friends over to watch the Steelers, so I took advantage of the time Elly's sleeping to get caught up on a few things. Tonight we fall back one hour too, so I didn't mind staying up a little later. So, with that I better get closed up and to bed so I can get two hours before our sweet girl wakes me. Here are a few pictures we took recently. Enjoy...

She wore herself out jumping one day and fell asleep right in the jumperoo.

I really love this little outfit Kristy gave Ellyanna.

Silly Daddy with his little girl

Sam and Ellyanna

She's recently discovered that she can reach her diaper bag from her walker and get the toys out of it.

It took a lot of practice to learn to sit up

Ready to go meet Daddy for lunch

Imagine "aaaaahhhhhhhhh" coming out of her mouth

I love seeing her sit up. She's still so little!

Mama and Ellyanna earlier today.

Milestones for Elly

Ellyanna has just been changing so much lately. It seems like she's doing new things on a daily basis. I'm trying to keep track of all her milestones on a calendar for now. I still need to fill in her baby book, but if I can keep track of it all as I go it'll be easier to go back and finish her book.

So...big milestone...Ellyanna rolled over! She went from her tummy to her back last Thursday, October 1st around 1:00pm. She was having tummy time on the living room floor and I turned away for just a moment. When I looked at her again she was on her back. She was so fast that I missed it!!

So, I put her on her belly again and was able to see her do it that time. So cute!! My baby's growing up! Now, every time I put her on her belly she gets this little knowing smile and starts trying to turn over. Of course, she knows it gets applause and cheers from us each time, so that makes it fun.

So proud of herself!

It's so fun to watch her grow and start noticing things around her. Yesterday, for the first time she noticed what she was wearing. I was getting her ready for bed and put a new sleeper on her. It had bright red in it and she couldn't take her eyes off of it. She kept grabbing at the legs trying to get it. It was cute to see her finally notice some thing like that.

She's recently discovered her scream, which has me wanting to wear ear plugs all day. At first, I thought it was so cute when she would try to squeal. Of course, after hearing her scream for hours on end I'm not quite as smitten. I'm not alone in that....Gabby really doesn't like it either. At the top of her lungs she will let out this high pitched scream and just hold it for awhile. She looks so pleased with herself. Since I had a headache yesterday I didn't think it was quite as wonderful as she did. Ever since we returned from Alaska she's been noticing Gabby and yesterday, for the first time, she really laughed at her. Elly was working on her screaming technique while Gabby was sitting in front of her and one of the screams was extra loud and piercing so Gabby took off running. Elly looked shocked at first to see the cat move that fast then she let out a belly laugh. I can see where this is going. She'll start to realize she can make the cat run by screaming and it'll just escalate from there I'm sure.

Such a happy girl!

She kept tilting her head like this and I wanted to get a picture, but kept missing it. I would tell her "do it again" and she would pose for me. I was surprised, but it seemed she really understood what I was saying. I thought it was really cute.

She is full of smiles anymore. She just looks like she's ready to get into something.

I think another way she'll be terrorizing Gabby is chasing her in the walker. Granted, she can't move too fast in it yet, but she's getting there. Before we left for Alaska she couldn't even touch the floor with her feet in the jumperoo or walker and since we've been back she's really been having fun in both. Whenever she's in the jumperoo she jumps constantly. I don't think she knows how to be in it without jumping and sometimes after awhile will start fussing - I think because she's tired of jumping, but doesn't know how to stop. Also, in her walker she's moving around some. Very slowly, but she's creeping through the house in it. Sam installed gates on the stairs while we were gone in anticipation of this. Until now, we haven't had a need to put them to use, but I see that coming.

Here is a view of the gates on the main floor.

Something she started while we were in Alaska is covering her head when she goes to sleep. She's so silly and loves to cover her head. She'll work to get a blanket over her face then she does this funny little breathing thing. Anyhow, lots of times I'll find her sleeping with something over her head. I'm careful to move it once she's asleep. I also have to be careful not to have any big blankets in bed with her. It could be dangerous. This is how I find her -

She's moving alot more these days. Here she is just this afternoon in her crib. She had been talking to herself for awhile and when she finally went to sleep I checked on her. This is how I found her. Silly girl!

I'm so happy that Ellyanna is finally warming up to Sam more. When she was very little he couldn't sooth her because mostly she just wanted to eat and she got her comfort from me. Then we left for the month in Alaska. When we got back from there she cried each time Sam tried to hold her. It made me sad and I'm sure he felt the same, but we knew it would take her a little while to get used to him again. Well, for the last few days she's been OK with him holding her and has even been playing with him some. She loves it when you give her Eskimo kisses (rubbing your nose on hers) and laughs when Sam does that to her.

It's so fun watching Ellyanna's personality emerge. We started out with this empty slate of a person and slowly we're seeing who she is come out. I really think she's her daddy made over. She definitely looks like him (down to her toes) and I think she's going to have his personality as well. I think everyone that knows me would agree that I'm an introvert. I don't like to be around people. It's exhausting for me to have to interact. Sam is just the opposite. He gets energy from being with people and already I'm seeing that in Elly. All the way home from Alaska she was cheesing with everyone around us on the plane. She crashed once we got here, but all the way was just as happy as can be. Also, when we go to the New Parent Support groups she loves to interact with everyone. She talks and babbles the entire time we're there. It's just interesting to see her personality come out.

She is such a joy to me. Yes, there's lots of work with a baby. It's constant, but the rewards of having her far outweigh the work. She's so funny and I'm always laughing at all her little antics. We're definitely blessed with a great baby. She's happy 95% of the time. The only time she fusses is when she's hungry, dirty or sleepy. I love listening to her talk to herself when she wakes up. She rarely wakes up crying. Usually, she wakes up and just keeps herself company. What a sweetie!

Visiting family in Alaska

I realize a blog update is long overdue. Ellyanna and I returned from our month long stay in Alaska a week ago Friday (September 25) and I'm just now getting a chance to post some pictures. Ellyanna's had a very difficult time with the jet lag on our return to Germany. There is a 10 hour time difference, but it didn't seem too bad going there. Since getting back though, she has been wanting to sleep all day and wake up around 2:00am wide awake. I'm trying to get her back into a better nap schedule to hopefully get her days and nights switched around.

It was so great being home again. Alaska is such a part of me and I always feel more relaxed when I'm there. I was able to experience summer, fall and winter in the span of the 4 weeks we were there. You gotta love Alaska!! Snow came a few weeks early this year, but it was beautiful.

Prior to leaving Germany, I was so optimistic that the trip would go well since when I made the reservations with Condor, the rep said I should have the entire Mother/Baby row to myself. I'm usually very particular about which seat I reserve, but this time I trusted what he said and ended up with the middle seat in the bulkhead row in the middle of the airplane. When we boarded in Frankfurt I realized I was squeezed in between two men. Then we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting on luggage that hadn't been loaded yet. If given the opportunity, I think I would have gotten off the plane at the moment I was sitting there trying to nurse a fussy baby - all the while trying to keep myself decent and her feet from going over into their seats. It was really awful. I finally took her to the restroom to finish nursing her there. Later on, another seat was found for one of the men beside me so at least that put a seat in between me and the other gentleman, who, I must add, turned out to be a real angel. At one point he asked to hold her. I wouldn't normally hand my baby girl over to a stranger, but I figured he couldn't go anywhere with her and I was in desperate need of a reprieve (not to mention a bathroom break). All in all it was a long, miserable trip and I was so glad to touch down in Fairbanks.

We didn't do anything terribly exciting this trip, but it was just nice to be at home again. It was so different being there with a baby this time. That made going to Fairbanks a lot harder. It was hard on Elly to be in the carseat the 2 hours up, then in and out of stores, then 2 hours back. I wanted to spend more time with Kristy and the family since they live up there now, but it was just too difficult. Mom and I stayed at Kristy's a few nights, but Elly never slept as well or got her naps when we were there, so it was just easier to stay at Mom and Dad's.

I was so glad that my family had the opportunity to get to know Ellyanna. She won't remember this trip, but it was important to me for them to know her at this age. I miss being able to share her with family. I truly think I fall more in love with her each day. She's such a sweetheart and it just makes my day when she smiles at me. She changed so much in that month we were gone. I hated for Sam to miss out on that time with her, but was so glad for the time I spent with my family. Instead of rambling on and on I'll just post some pictures from our trip.

Mom, Kristy, Hadassah and Eli met us at the airport. Here we were just meeting each other's babies for the first time. I was pooped!

At Kristy's before heading to Mom and Dad's. Ellyanna and Eli getting to know each other.

This is a little Chihuahua puppy that Mom and Dad got while we were there. They are not "little dog" people, but took this one in just to babysit for awhile. As it turned out they will probably be keeping it. Other than Mom's fish, they don't have one animal that they originally picked out themselves. They end up aquiring other people's pets somehow.

She is so cute though!

At Rika's Roadhouse, letting the puppy run off some of her energy.

It wouldn't be a trip to Alaska without seeing some moose.

Sam and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary while Ellyanna and I were in Alaska. These are the beautiful roses that my sweet husband sent to me. He's a keeper :)

This was a beautiful scene.

Posting a "No Trespassing" sign on our land to appease my husband :)

A familiar sight in Delta. I love the view we have of the mountains!

Ellyanna and Elijah (they are only 6 days apart)

My beautiful little nephew.

The puppy still has a need to suck.

This puppy loved Connor's fingers. She couldn't get enough of them.

Ellyanna

Someone gave us a highchair for Ellyanna to use. It was great. We used it alot.

My little chunky monkey. We had to have her model her new swimsuit :)

Lucky was so great with Elly. She was very gentle with her and really wanted to be on the blankets, but knew she wasn't allowed to be so she stayed right on the edge.

Ellyanna chillin' in the rocking chair. She is one happy girl when she gets her clothes off.

Bath time! She looks a little uncertain in this picture, but she loves getting a bath. She soaks me pretty good with all the kicking she does.

Ellyanna and Papa. She is a mixture of Sam and Dad. At times she looks like both of them I think.

She played herself to sleep.

Mom and Ellyanna at the airport before we left on our return flight.

Papa and Ellyanna

Saying Goodbye is never easy

Papa had Ellyanna laughing

Getting ready to go through security. Elly doesn't like to be in the carrier, but it was necessary to have my hands free.

With each trip, it's getting harder and harder to leave my family behind and return to Germany. Germany is a beautiful country and has been a wonderful experience, but it's not my home and I miss my family tremendously. Especially now with having a child, I find it's harder to be overseas. We had a really nice time at home though. I'm already planning our next trip back next summer. Until then, web cam visits will have to do.