10 months old!

Dear Elizabeth,

I can't believe that in just two short months we will have a one year old! It seems like just yesterday that you were an itty bitty newborn... Now, we have an extremely mobile ten month old. This month has kept us on our toes! It seems like overnight you developed a desire to go and do anything and everything you can in the house, whether that be something that is safe for you to play, or something not as safe. :) Mommy and Daddy are definitely getting our exercise with you these days. We love you so much Elizabeth Anne! We can't wait to see what next month holds!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Weight: somewhere between 16 and 17 pounds

Length: 28 inches

Diaper size: Size 3

Teeth: We have one tooth, and a second that should break through any day!

Clothes size: You're wearing 6-12 months, 9 months, and even some 12 months clothes!

Sleep: You go to sleep pretty much right at 7 (after your last bottle of the evening). Most of the time you'll sleep until 6:30-7, but there are times you wake up earlier. We try to let you play in your crib until close to seven, which works most days!

Favorite activities/things: Sitting up, crawling, pulling up, trying to stand without help, cruising around furniture, watching GiggleBellies, trying to pull on the blinds, crawling to the dog bowls (yuck...), playing peek-a-boo, and trying to get the camera when Mommy is taking pictures

Eating: For most of the month, you've been taking 3 bottles a day, plus a sippy cup full of milk throughout the day. Two days before your 10 month birthday, we attempted to drop the mid-day bottle. The first day it didn't work, the second did, and the third (today) didn't... Hopefully it won't take you long to realize you get as milk out of a sippy cup as you do your bottle! You're still eating 3 meals a day, and most of them time you eat a snack after your afternoon nap. You eat whatever we eat (within reason), and have become an excellent eater!

Nicknames: Sweet Pea, Miss E, Lizzie, Little Bit

Talking: You're still very talkative. You make "p," "ma," "da," "ba", and "ga" sounds. You've started stringing them together and are just so proud when you hear yourself talk! You've been saying "mama" a lot lately, but still haven't associated it with me. Another funny thing is that you'll work on one sound for a couple days, then move to another one...

New adventures: You got to stay home alone with Daddy for over 24 hours! Mommy went on a retreat with her Sunday School class, so Daddy had you all to himself. The two of y'all had a blast! You also got to go to Colorado after Christmas! You rode your first airplane and did great, plus you got to play in the snow once we were in Colorado. You weren't quite sure what to think of it.

New Skills: Letting go while standing up and actually standing for a couple seconds, initiating peek-a-boo, climbing up the stairs at Gammie and Pops house, started giving Mommy kisses when asked, learned how to turn off the lights, and really started clapping and waving (but only when she wants to...)

I finally got some smiles outdoors for this photoshoot! I was a little nervous that it was going to be too wet (we got 3 inches of rain the day before), but it worked out! Miss E was definitely more interested in the grass than in taking pictures most of the time!

Our weekend...

We had a really laid back weekend! It was nice to just chill at the house with Alan and Elizabeth! Saturday we went to eat Mexican food, and Miss E went to town on chicken, beans, and rice. Then, we had chicken strips for lunch after church on Sunday, and she ate an entire strip, several French fries, and half of a piece of Texas toast (we were bad and had Raising Canes... All my eating healthy had me seriously craving fried chicken...). Needless to say, our little one must be growing. :)


I finally got a picture of Miss E burying her head in her caterpillar. She loves to do this, but always quits when I get the camera out.

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I know Elizabeth's hair still isn't quite long enough to put bows in it on a regular basis, but that doesn't keep me from trying. :)












What did Mommy put on my head?




Ohhh, it's a bow!!


And in other news, it looks like Miss E is in the beginnings of standing up on her own. Now, I could be wrong but who knows!






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Location:Bows, bows, bows...

My little bookworm...

I have 2 baskets of Elizabeth's stuff in our living room - one of toys and one of books. I always figured she would pull the toys all over the room. Instead, Miss E is content to sit by the basket of books and pull them all out and read them. Her favorite book right now is a Noah's Ark foam book. She can sit forever just looking at the book and turning the pages. I hope this means she'll love reading as much as I do!!




Do I want to read or play with a puzzle?



Reading a book.


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Sippy cups are for big girls...

... So I guess that makes me a big girl!!!

Last week we dropped one of the bottles that Elizabeth, and transitioned to a sippy cup of milk for meals. So, she's now typically drinking 3 bottles a day! She is dong great with this so far, and has even slightly increased how much milk she drinks. Hopefully around the time Miss E is 10 months we'll be down to a morning and evening bottle!! It will be so nice when I don't have to wash bottles (and pump pieces) all the time. I'm hoping whenever we decide to have our second that I won't HAVE to use bottles- they can be an occasional use kind of thing.

Luckily, I've been able to keep up with how much Elizabeth has been drinking, so much so that I'm already starting to slow down on my pumping! I have 3 months worth of milk in the freezer, so starting Saturday, I'm only going to pump 3 times a day. Then, after she turns a year old, I'll gradually stop pumping. I can't believe I've made it this long! It looks like I'll meet my goal of a year, regardless of what happens between now and then!


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Teeth!

Well, it seems like I can finally say that Elizabeth has her first tooth! I've been feeling her gums pretty regularly, and on January 6, I felt something sharp. I peeked into her mouth and discovered a TOOTH! It's so funny to me that we thought she was getting her canines when she was so little, but it actually took until nine months old to sprout one. :) I'm having a hard time getting a picture of her tooth (she doesn't open her mouth up to show it very well...), but rest assured I'm working on it!

Even though I missed getting her tooth,
 I love this one!

This is the best I can get. You can kind of see
the tooth!

What a weekend...

We had quite a weekend! Saturday right before Elizabeth's afternoon nap I gave her some Ibuprofen because she felt a little warm to me. I attributed it to her teeth breaking through (have I mentioned that she has at least one tooth, now!?), so didn't bother taking her temperature. Well, when she woke up, she was burning up! We took her temp and it was 101.8. That seemed pretty high to us since the Ibuprofen shouldn't have worn off yet. I called the pediatrician's office and spoke with a nurse and she said that it was probably fine, but to take E in to an urgent care facility sometime in the next 24 hours.

Trying to keep cool

Alan and I decided that rather than wait until the next day, we were going to go ahead and go. By the time she got seen, her temp was 103.4. Poor baby just didn't feel good! They gave us some Tylenol to give to her, but that didn't agree with her stomach (or my shirt - thank goodness I had brought a jacket)... And I'll just leave it at that. The nurse swabbed Miss E for Strep and the flu, but thankfully, neither of those tests were positive. We finally got some Tylenol in Elizabeth and her fever quickly started to dissipate, so we were able to head home.

Even though I don't feel
good, I'll still play with this!

Amazingly, Elizabeth has had no fever since Saturday night! She's still gotten some Ibuprofen due to her teeth seeming to bother her, but luckily not because of a fever! Miss E has been busy playing like normal and having fun doing everything! We did take it easy and stay in our PJ's yesterday, though. :)

Love that look of concentration

Daddy took out the batteries
so I have my OWN remote!

Why isn't it working!?

What's wrong with this picture?

All of Elizabeth's 9 month old PJ's were dirty, and I didn't have enough laundry to make a full load, so I pulled out her 12 month size pajamas. She wears one that is sized 6-12 months, so I figured why not!? All was fine and dandy during the night, but when she was playing this morning, I looked down at her and found this...

Both of Elizabeth's legs were in one of the pajama legs... I couldn't believe that she could still crawl, but she managed to go all the way across the living room to her new cooking pot and grab some broccoli. Silly girl!

Christmas Loot

Elizabeth got tons of fun new toys for Christmas! I'm still in the process of organizing and putting away some of them, so in the meantime, they all have a house in our living room. It's driving me crazy to see how messy and disorganized everything is but Miss E, on the other hand, loves it! She's always crawling over to the toys to find something new to play with. But, instead of taking it with her, she just plays with it in the middle of all the stuff. My goal is to be done organizing this weekend, so hopefully that'll come true. :)

What to play with next?

a book?

how about some rings?

No, another book?

let's see how many we can get out

Nine month check-up

We had Elizabeth's nine month check-up today. Miss E tips the scales at 16 pounds, 4.5 ounces and is 28 inches long. I was a little concerned about her slow weight growth, but Elizabeth is definitely following her growth curve! Her pediatrician also said that when babies start feeding themselves (which is normally around 1 year), their weight gain slows. Since E is very independent and would much rather feed herself, this is partially why she's not gaining as fast.

She also had to get a shot and some blood drawn. I got to hold her while the nurse did both. And Elizabeth fought her tooth and nail, leaving the nurse to comment on how strong Miss E is.

We rounded out the day with a trip to Chick-fil-a, where Elizabeth downed 2 nuggets AND a French fry! A great way to end a stinky doctor's visit. :)











Trying so hard to eat the grass... Why won't Mama let me eat it?!

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Tutu cute...

Aunt Michelle got Elizabeth the cutest tutu for Christmas this year! I'm hoping that she'll still be able to wear it next Christmas, I just might have to add some more tulle around the bottom. :)

Goals for 2012

Wow... It's so crazy to be typing 2012! I feel like we just started 2011 - this year just went by soo quickly! I hate to say that I have "resolutions," but I do have goals for the year 2012. I want to be able to look back and see how well I've done on them, so I'm posting them here. :)

1. God - I need to carve out a time to spend uninterrupted time with the Lord each and every day. This has been difficult for me to do since Elizabeth arrived. I'm not a morning person, so it's hard for me to get up before E does and have a quiet time. But by the time evening rolls around, I'm exhausted, too. I need to find a time where I can be attentive and focused on the Lord so that I can deepen my relationship with Him and so that I can be able to teach Elizabeth (and all future children) what it means to love Jesus.
2. Family - I want to make a more conscious effort to spend time with Alan and Elizabeth. Keep the TV off more and focus on our relationships. I love to read, which is something that I want to instill in Elizabeth as she grows up. My goal is to read every night with her before she goes to sleep. In this time, I'll read her Bible story, a couple other books, and take the time to pray with her before she goes to sleep.
3. Fitness - One of my 2010 goals was to lose some weight. Well, I managed to lose 20 pounds before I got pregnant with Elizabeth! In 2011, I lost almost all of my baby weight, but I still have about 20-25 more pounds to go to get my "goal" weight. I'd like to get there by the beginning of the summer, so I need to start whipping my body into shape!
4. Food - I have a penchant for sweets. I blame it on my Mom's mom and the Evans blood running through me. Instead of reaching for something sweet after my meals, I need to make sure I fill up on vegetables and fruits! I'll be much healthier and, in turn, probably help with my weight loss goals.
5. Finances - I'd LOVE to have our car paid off sometime in 2012 or 2013 (which would have us paying our car off either 3 or 4 years early). In order to do this, we'll have to be very focused on saving money each month. We also need to be more diligent about saving money for Elizabeth's college fund and our rainy day fund.

2011 year in review

The year 2011 brought many changes in our family! We went from being a family of 2 to a family of 3. What a wonderful time it has been! This year has been full of ups and downs (more ups than downs), but we have made it! God has blessed us greatly with a happy, healthy baby girl and we couldn't be happier.

January

• finished getting Elizabeth's nursery together
• multiple ultrasounds at the maternal fetal doctor

February

• My sweet sister-in-laws had a baby shower for me. My mom, Granny, and Aunt Linda got to come down!
• Our small group also had a book shower for the us. We got tons of books for Miss E!

March

• I made it to 41 weeks and 1 day before Elizabeth finally made her arrival on March 26!
• We got to go home on March 28!
• Headed to the pediatrician on the 30.
• Ended up in the ER later on March 30, got transferred to Texas Children's Hospital.

April

• Treated for a bacterial infection at Texas Children's hospital. Finally got to go home April 9! 
• We got to celebrate Uncle Dustin's birthday at our house this month.
• First Easter and got to spend the evening with Aunt Amber, Uncle George, and Jacob.
• Went out to eat for the first time
• First real smile!

May

• Celebrated Mommy's first Mother's Day and her 25 birthday
• Met Daddy's friend and their daughter.
• First trip to Texarkana, where E got to meet her great grandparents for the first time
• Found her hands and started chewing on them

June

• Celebrated Daddy's first Father's Day
• Two more trips - Abilene and Texarkana! Got to meet one set of Daddy's grandparents in Abilene!
• Started holding on to toys and bringing them to her mouth
• Miss E found her feet and started bringing them to her mouth
• Elizabeth started getting good ad holding her head up

July

• First Fourth of July
• Got to swim 3 different times!
• Traveled to DFW to meet Uncle Corey, Addison, and Kailyn (already met Aunt April)!
• Great Granny and Great Aunt Linda came down to meet Elizabeth
• Started rolling back to tummy and tummy to back
• Giggled for the first time

August

• Spent a day with Aunt Amber while Mommy and Daddy relaxed at home
• Met Ms. Amy and got to ride in her mom's convertible
• Learned how to blow bubbles, spit, and laugh.
• Would stay seated if placed that way

September

• Got to celebrate Daddy's 28 birthday!
• Sweet Pea started clapping her feet
• First taste of real food!

October

• Learned how to sit up on her own
• Went from stationary to scooting backwards

November

• Learned how to crawl, pull up, and walk with assistance
• Elizabeth began to show her independent streak and would rather feed herself
• We had parent commitment up at church and Gammie and Pops came down to help commemorate the event.
• First Thanksgiving!

December

• Started shaking her head "no" when she didn't want something
• Elizabeth started to clap
• First Christmas
• First time to ride an airplane (we did great!)
• Got to play in the snow in Colorado
• Crawled up the stairs at Gammie and Pop's house

We had one amazing year! I can't wait to see what's in store for 2012!