Elise's First Birthday!!!!

Our baby girl is 1 year old!!!! How crazy is that??!!!! We celebrated with friends and family at our house. We ate great food, played outside, got to visit with friends, and let the kids played together. All in all, it was a great celebration!!!

We love Elise for so many reasons; too many to list, and I'm sure I'll forget something! We love the way her smile can light up a room, how she says hello ("hi") to everything, and how she loves her brother and sister! She also loves anything that has to do with babies, and animals. In fact, her current words include Mama (Baba), Dada or Daddy, Hi, and Puppy. 

She has almost finished getting some teeth on top, which will bring her count to 8 once they are all in. 6 on top and 2 on bottom. With all of those teeth, she loves to eat! Since turning one, I've been introducing more and more food, and she has loved everything! She's a tank! We go in for her checkup this week, and I'm interested to see what percentile she is in. 

So far, my absolute favorite thing that she does is use her small little hand to pat my shoulder as she's falling asleep. She melts my heart with her sweet smile, hoarse-sounding voice, and fun personality. I can't imagine my life without her!

Party pictures:

Update:

After Elise's checkup this morning, she weighs 18 lbs, 9 oz, is 27.5

First Grade, So Far

So far, Evan is loving first grade!! His teacher is Mrs. Volz, and I feel that he is already learning a lot from her. Right now we are working on his handwriting, as well as his pace during class. We're still dealing with what I think are the signs of ADD, but nothing too bad. I'm waiting for some essential oils in the mail to try out and see if it can get him to focus a bit more and daydream a bit less. :)

Girls vs. Boys

I think it so funny to see the different ways that my children play. When Evan is home from school, he and Aubrie really do play well together (for the most part!). However, they mostly end up playing Voltron, or Power Rangers, etc. There is the occasional time when I see them playing with Aubrie's Frozen dolls and Evan's Power Rangers all together, but it's usually something boy related. However, when it's just us girls at home, Aubrie is in full-blown girl heaven! The other day she had an entire pool party going in the bathroom. 

I love that my kids love to plan and "imaginate" (that's what Evan calls it) together!!!

"Hi!"

Elise isn't talking much, but she sure does know how to say, "Hi!" While walking to pick Evan up from school one day, Elise was waving to every house, car, and person that we passed! She's definitely my social butterfly!!!

Elise's 11th Month

Elise's new tricks this month:

putting the phone to her ear, although backwards and upside-down :)
purring like a cat when she's happy
playing peek-a-boo
shaking her head back and forth, like saying no, except she really wants nose kisses
she can say "muah" if you ask her for a kiss, but doesn't put her hand to her mouth
recognizing Chris in some family pictures by the front door (Aubrie used to be fascinated with the same pictures when she was little)

She's still not talking much. She doesn't really say any words, although she had kind of started saying "Gaga" for Dada a few weeks ago. It hasn't gone any further than that since then. I know that she can hear us, though, because she LOVES to copy any sounds that we make! (Sound familiar, Aunt Cherry?!).

She's still not crawling on her hands and knees, although she can get up on her knees and move a bit when she wants to. She's still faster just pulling herself along (although, it's more like gliding!), so that works for her and she's happy!

Both teeth on top have finally broken through, halelujah! She's also getting the next two teeth on top, and I can't keep my fingers in her mouth long enough to check the bottom. Teething tablets seem to be working for now, though, so she's doing well.

Her hair is growing longer, and it makes the cutest "curl" in the front if we don't pull it back in a pigtail! I can't wait until Halloween... I'm thinking her hair would make an awesome mohawk. :)

Thankful

Chris left for a guy's night out with Nick and another friend, and Evan was a bit sad that he possibly wouldn't get to see Chris before bedtime. Well, Chris just walked in the door, and I sent him upstairs to say goodnight to the kids, and Evan ran to him when he opened the door! I was secretly watching them on the baby monitor, and it was the sweetest thing to see! 

I have to admit that I had been a bit frustrated with Chris when he called on his way home saying that he was going to the movies with the guys. I had been with the kids all week long by myself, and needed a bit of quiet me time at the grocery store; not to mention we are running desperately low on certain food items. But when I see the kids run up to their Daddy with such excitement, it's awfully hard to stay frustrated... I love that man. :)