Chatty Ellie

Sunday I woke up with swollen glands and by the evening my throat was feeling sore so I thought that I might not be feeling very good on Monday. I was very thankful when Ellie slept about 7 hours before waking up and then after I fed her slept another couple hours. I continued sleeping after Jon left for work and even after Ellie's second morning feed before 9:00. By 10:00 I was feeling a bit better so I drug myself out of bed and prepared for the day. When Ellie woke up around 11:00 I fed her and we headed off to purchased some Christmas gifts to send Corinne.
I went one exit too far when heading to the Berkshire Mall so I decided to stop for lunch first since there are a lot of restaurants at the second exit. Having just eaten lunch last week at Chickfila I passed that by (gasp!) and went to Chipotle instead. If you haven't had Chipotle you should go - it is delicious. Ellie was a bit tired and cranky so I ended up putting her in the Bjorn so that I had both my hands available to eat my huge burrito. People probably thought I was crazy, sitting alone with my baby in a Bjorn fussing while I tried to eat. Oh well. She finally settled down before it was time to head out. Now it may seem odd but I thought I'd send Corinne some underwear for Christmas. Ellie and I picked out some for Corinne and Casia before looking around at other stores at the Berkshire mall. I never spend much time there but they have pretty many stores. It seemed empty but it may have been since it was Monday afternoon. Ellie was really fussy at Victoria Secret so I asked for a dressing room and I nursed in there before making my purchases and heading out.
We made a pit stop at the Loft since they were having a 40% off everything sale. I didn't end up buying anything because Ellie really needed some sleep and I had a piano lesson coming up. I was happy with my decision when I received an email from the Loft today saying that everything is now 50% off. Now I can save 10% more.
We arrived home around 2:30 and I put Ellie down for a nap before picking up her bedroom and the living room. Abby showed up for her 3:30 lesson and Aunt Carol came in since she wanted to watch Ellie during the lesson. Ellie was asleep but woke up halfway through which was nice since last lesson she slept the whole time and Aunt Carol was a bit bummed. I don't know what I'll do when Ellie is a less appealing age to take care of!
After Abby left Ellie and I cleaned up some more and hung out until my 5:00 lesson showed up. This time Brenda Haak watched Ellie while I taught her granddaughter. See the last sentence to the prior paragraph...
Jon and I had the congregational meeting to attend at church at 7:00. We are realizing that we need to start packing up for church at 30 til so that we arrive 10 minutes early so I can put Ellie in the nursery in time. I told the nursery workers what I thought Ellie might want and that they should not hesitate to get me if they have trouble with her.
The meeting was so long. It started around 7:00 and ended close to 10:00. I checked on Ellie during Matt Carter's presentation and she was content. About 30 minutes later Mrs. Boyer came and told me Ellie needed my help. I got there and she had just calmed down but I took her and put her to sleep to help them out. She ended up sleeping the rest of the time.
The meeting was a bit exciting as controversy arrived about the building proposal. We voted and it was passed so we're going to build and make out current sanctuary twice the size.
This morning was a nice slow morning. Ellie and I hung out and did some vacuuming and dusting. She also got a bath. I dressed her in one of her new Hartstrings outfits. It's size 3-6 months but I just wanted to put it on her. Ha.
Jon came home for lunch and we had grilled cheese and tomato soup. Ellie slept the entire time he was home. After lunch I cleaned up the kitchen and prepared to make cookies. I got distracted and didn't end up making them before I needed to leave to teach Brooke Stoltzfus flute. After her lesson I dropped Ellie off with Grandma and Grandpa and went to teach the Kanes. Ellie did well with them and Grandma said she even let Grandpa hold her for a bit.  I took her home around 5:30 and made my chocolate chip cookies for tonight's women's event. Jon and I ate leftovers and he headed to his missions committee meeting while I went to hear from Melanie Musselman at church. About two dozen other women were there and Ellie was held by Mrs. Musselman, Mrs. Obenschain, and Mimi. It was a late night for us all and Jon and I both arrived home around 10:00.

Ellieisms:
Ellie is so chatty! If you catch her at the right time you can really get her going.

Ellie loves sleeping on Grandma

Naptime

"I can't see a thing."

Big Belly

Sorry it's blurry - Mimi showing off Ellie.