"Uuuh, Yeah, Trying to Stay in Shape"

Today was our typical Monday. I wanted to avoid any extra running around in an attempt to try to figure out Ellie's sleeping problems. Kelly had recommended that after Ellie wakes up after 30 minutes from what should be her longer nap to keep her in the room and perhaps try to put her back to sleep. With this goal in mind we kept our schedule open.

Good morning!

Almost 5 months!

Kelly texted and said that Grandma had invited us over for lunch. Okay, I cannot miss such an invitation so we agreed to arrive around 11:00. Since Jon was planning on coming home for lunch I packed up some leftovers and dropped them off on my way to Summerfield.
For the first time Ellie and I arrived before Kelly and Clark. Grandpa was waiting at the door in his coat and he came out and carried Ellie into the house. He then proceeded to wait at the door watching for the Fenton's to come so he could bring Clark in for Kelly. It was really sweet because he would put his hat on when he saw a car that looked like theirs.
Grandma made a breakfast cake, sandwiches, applesauce, and of course had cookies and other goodies. Clark eats very well and would demonstrate his desire for different foods by pointing and making his sounds. We always have quite a spread at Grandma's! Ellie went down for a nap during lunch so I didn't get any pictures of her at their house but here are a few of Clark. He was tired at the end so that's why he looks it.

Prince of the palace

Clark prefers to feed himself!

Heading out to the car

When Ellie woke up from her nap we headed home. I cleaned up the house and spent some time reading and taking advantage of Ellie's nap. When she woke up after her thirty minute nap I left her in bed and shortly afterwards popped her pacifier and patted her leg. I think that it worked because she fell back asleep, even though it was only for a bit. Tomorrow might not help the attempt to have her sleep more since I'll be out teaching from 2:45 until 6:00. We'll see.
I spent some time trying to figure out how to hang up items in Ellie's room. I hung up her hair-bow holder that the Brusts gave her and have planned (I think) where to place the other items. I was unable to hang up the wooden sign that says "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" because it will go over her crib and will probably need a screw or something heavy-duty.
At 5:00 Ellie was awake when Brenda and Brooke came for Brooke's piano lesson. I laid her down on her play mat and she stayed relatively content during the lesson. Brenda did at the end have to work a bit to keep her happy - Ellie was just wanting some attention!
Jon came home and played with Ellie while I prepared dinner. He spent a lot of time working on Ellie's ability to roll over. She was not successful but if she continues to practice and "work out" she will probably be successful soon! When Jon would help her roll over she would do a partial roll afterwards to get in the position she wanted to see better.
We had spaghetti for dinner and then Peter and Brittany came over to watch the most recent episode of Downton Abbey. I made some cookies and tea and brought out chips and salsa, pretzels, and M&Ms. Jon made a fire in the basement and the boys played FIFA while I put Ellie down to sleep. We watched the episode and then made some predictions about the future episodes and criticisms about the new season. It was an enjoyable way to spend our Monday night! Now Jon is furiously working on my Christmas present on the computer. I'm going to try to read a bit on nighttime sleeping before heading to bed. Hopefully it will help as I am half-asleep stumbling to Ellie's room later tonight.

 Ellieisms:
Ellie sucks on her fingers a lot. Sometimes she has two or three in her mouth while other times she tries to fit them all in at the same time.

Exhibit A 

Boycotting Her Belly

On Friday morning we had our typical day: Jon went running then came home and we had eggs and toast for breakfast before he left at 8:00 for work. After visiting with Grandma Mountz on Monday evening I wanted to make an effort to spend more time with her in the future. Calling Donna, I set up a time to visit in the early afternoon. Dad texted in the morning asking for me to stop by to deposit a check for Corinne. I asked Kelly if she wanted to meet up for a walk in Summerfield while I was in Elverson since it was close to 50 degrees and we settled on 11:00.
Heading to Elverson early to deposit Corinne's check and it was raining. Foregoing a wet walk I tried out Dad's elliptical machine. Goodness I am out of shape! After one mile (which took 10 minutes...eek) I had burned less than 100 calories and Ellie was starting to fuss so I gladly stopped and fed her and tried to put her to sleep. She wasn't interested in sleep (she's been sticking with her 30 minute nap schedule) so I packed her up and drove her around a bit stopping at Kelly's house to drop of a pair of shoes for baby girl Fenton.
Ellie had fallen asleep and took a brief nap by the time we arrived at the Mountz home. Grandma seemed pleased by Ellie's presence and Donna showed us pictures of the wedding her and Doug had attended on Monday evening. It was a Costic Christian wedding between an Egyptian groom and Chinese bride. The groom's parents are on the faculty of Eastern with Doug and Donna so that is why they were invited. The weirdest element of the wedding was probably that it was on a Monday. Very budget friendly. Donna asked us to stay for lunch so I tried to put Ellie down for a nap. She has not been sleeping well (still) and I was unsuccessful. Sitting in the bouncer during lunch she kept Grandma entertained with her serious stares and sporadic smiles.
Arriving home around 2:00 I put Ellie down for a nap in her crib. It took me a while but I was successful. During her nap I cleaned up the house and prepared dinner. Grandpa, Grandma, and Mommom were coming so I prepared cranberry beef roast, rice, green beans, salad and rolls. Grandma made apple crisp for dessert and Mommom brought a loaf of fresh bread.
Our company arrived at 5:20 as I was preparing the gravy and heating up the rolls and green beans. Ellie was hanging out in her crib watching her crib toy so Mommom and Grandma went and grabbed her. Jon had a meeting that began at 4:00 and went later than planned so he was late. Our guests were very flexible and gracious and we sat down for dinner when Jon arrived.
Ellie was definitely overtired from her inconsistent napping schedule so I spent more time than I desired in her room trying to put her to sleep. Finally I just decided it was better to spend time with our guests and then after they leave spend the extra time putting an overtired baby to sleep.
After our company departed I spent some time feeding and trying to put Ellie down to sleep. My difficulty is that Ellie has decided she doesn't want to sleep. When I would lay her down she raises her head in the air, arches her back, and wails. At nighttime she is too tired to protest, fortunately. I did make the mistake of changing her diaper halfway through the night. When I laid her back down she woke up to fight the sleep. 45 minutes later she finally was back to sleep.

Saturday morning Jon brought Ellie into bed with us when she woke up at 7:30. Although it's not a terribly early time, it was nice to lay around and enjoy the slow speed of life. About an hour later we woke up and had our usual eggs and toast for breakfast. Jon needed to go to the DMV to renew his license so he left around 9:30.
Ellie and I went to Mom and Dad's house to practice for worship. Ellie was tired and a few songs into it was crying whenever we played - it was just too loud. She was particularly opposed to the flute, which I completely understand.
All three of us arrived home at the same time. Jon said the line for the DMV was out the door and into the parking lot. I was actually surprised he arrived home so quickly. Fortunately he had all of his paperwork correct so he avoided any unnecessary delays.
We discussed our plans for the day and we decided to go into King of Prussia since I needed to return some articles to Ann Taylor and Jon wanted me to pick out a birthday present or two. We thought if we left at 4:00 we could pick up dinner. Since it was only noon we had some time to relax so we watched the first episode of season three of Downton Abbey. I put Ellie down for a nap on her side. I realized that she was struggling sleep possibly due to not wanting to be on her belly anymore. She fell asleep after a bit which surprised me. So we watched our show while baby slept. Afterwards we decided to just head to King of Prussia right away since we could possibly miss Saturday night traffic and come home for dinner. Omar had been away for over two weeks in NYC visiting his Dad so we had not seen him for a while.
We made our returns, I picked out a jacket for my birthday, and we popped in a few other stores. Ellie was going on almost 4 hours of awake time (after a 30 minute nap, mind you) so we headed home. She felt asleep in the car for 30 minutes before we arrived home.
Jon washed the cars and I fed and put Ellie down. Ellie did not want to sleep so I decided I may as well do something fun so I mashed a banana and fed her some. She didn't seem to mind too much at first but as we tried more bites she seemed less pleased. Then Omar and Jon went and picked up our pizza.
Ellie went to bed at 7:00 and we all hung out in the basement. Since the next day was church Omar did not stay very late. Jon and I even had enough time to watch an episode of Horatio Hornblower (Fun fact: The sailor "Matthews" plays William's father in Downton Abbey).

Sunday morning came very early. Dad wanted us at the church by 7:45 but we pulled in at 8:08. Sorry, Dad. We led worship first service then I ran home during the sermon since I had forgotten the dessert for the lunch at Mom's house. Mom was hosting the annual Women's Retreat planning committee lunch. After church Jon dropped Ellie and I off at the meeting while he went to his parent's house for lunch. Ellie didn't want to sleep in Mom's crib and I didn't want to miss the meeting so I held her. I hope she wasn't too distracting! Towards the end she fell asleep out of complete exhaustion. Meetings are tiring!
Jon had gone up to the Middle School to play soccer with some people from church so he picked us up after they were finished. We went home and I put Ellie down to sleep in her crib on her back. I really can't believe she doesn't want her stomach anymore! She only sleeps on it when she's really tired or already half asleep - like after I nurse her in the middle of the night. It will be interesting to see if it continues.
Ellie only slept about 30 minutes and woke up right as we were getting ready to head to evening prayer. She was very tired and out of sorts but we wanted to make an effort to go to church. We decided that I would nurse her and try to put her to sleep while holding her in the back and text if I was exhausted. We didn't want to put her in nursery since she was just overtired and I thought it wouldn't be fair to the nursery workers. After trying for 25 minutes I texted Jon and he came out of the service. There happened to be a soccer game replaying at Doug and Donna's (convenient, huh?) so we went over there. I put Ellie down up in Donna's crib and after 35 minutes she finally settled down and slept. I tried so many positions - her stomach, her side, her back, swaddled - she just didn't want anything but sleep. I fortunately had just read the Baby Whispers advice on putting an overtired baby to sleep and I persevered and it worked. She slept for 45 minutes.
Doug and Donna came back from church and invited us to stay for dinner. Doug cooked up some omelets and Donna toasted bread. Ellie woke up prior to dinner and kept us all entertained. Jon held her for the first half then I took over when I was finished eating. We headed home when she started getting tired at 9:00 (and in time for Doug and Donna to watch Downton).
Ellie went right now after just a few paci-poppings laying on her back in her crib. I didn't even need to swaddle her. Little baby is growing up!

First bites of banana

A Police Officer and a Game Night

Today I decided to use the sound machine when Ellie took her naps to see if that would help her sleeping troubles. It must have helped because she took an hour and half long morning nap. You are probably tired of hearing about our sleeping woes so I won't mention it again.
Grandma and Grandpa invited us over for lunch along with Kelly and Clark. Kelly had a doctor's appointment and had to leave at noon so we went over around 11:00. Grandma spoiled us with soup, sandwiches, applesauce, funny cake, chocolate cake, and cookies. After the Fenton's left Ellie and I remained so that Grandma could hold Ellie for a bit. Having forgotten Ellie's pacifier in her crib I packed up as soon as she showed signs of being cranky.
Ellie took a brief, 30 minute nap after which I turned around and headed back to Elverson to sign some papers at the office. Matt Lambert came into the room to send a fax and looked at Ellie and she smiled really big at him. Flirt. Next came BBs and Walmart where I spent both too much time and money on groceries. Boy, it's expensive to eat! The short nap was obviously impacting Ellie since she was beginning to whine towards the end of our shopping trip. Upon arriving in Geigertown I saw there was an accident in front of our house -- again. Just two days ago there was an accident in the morning. Nobody seemed injured on either occurrence, thankfully.
I brought Ellie inside and nursed her before trying to put her to sleep. Goodness gracious that baby is stubborn! Over an hour after we came home she finally relented and fell asleep. Poor baby.
Jon and I ate some leftovers for dinner than tag-teamed a quick house cleaning. We did the dishes, vacuumed, and picked up stray papers. Baby didn't sleep more than 30 minutes so Jon put her in the bjorn so his hands would be free.
Our small group meets at 6:30. At 5:30 the doorbell rang and Jon answered it and it was a police officer. We have never had a police at our door so Jon invited him in and he asked if either of us had witnessed the car accident. I had been away so had not. He then informed us that he would be sending patrols out to try to slow down the traffic going through our part of Geigertown. So slow down in Geigertown!
This week was our group's social night. Last time the men had planned the fancy dinner for the ladies and this week we were having a game night at our house. Three people were unable to come but we had at least one person from each couple. We had food and we went down by the fire in the basement. After we caught up since being apart over the holidays I realized nobody had brought games. Jon and I mentioned our game choices and we decided on Guesstures. Some had never heard of it before but we enjoyed. It was guys vs. girls (4 guys vs 3 girls) and the girls came out the victors! Then we pulled out Cranium and played a shorter rendition. We played old vs. young (3 vs. 4) and my team won. Sorry, Jon.
I neglected to take pictures today. I had my camera with me the entire day but I suppose nothing interesting occurred.

Sleep-Mapping

After the third night or so of Ellie waking up every few hours after midnight and having a very pathetic nap schedule during the day I decided to open up my Baby Whisperer book (thanks, Katelyn!) and see what I could be doing to make sleep more predictable and profitable. The author said that I should first document her eating and sleep habits for four days to see what her schedule holds. So yesterday and today I did just that.
Ellie must have known that I was going to be ready and watching her for clues of being tired or hungry because she kept me guessing all day Tuesday. In the morning she napped about 30 minutes and did the same over lunch time and again at 2:00. At 3:15 I packed her up and went to teach Brooke Stoltzfus. Ellie did great for the first 25 minutes, sitting quietly in her car seat. When she started making some noises Aunt Carol took her out of her seat and into the kitchen. And, just like last time, Ellie started wailing within a minute. Oh goodness! I felt so bad for Aunt Carol. Brooke and I finished up our piano lesson and went to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us when we arrived. I nursed Ellie a bit but left a bottle since she was due for a nap and always calms down with a bottle. While I was gone Grandma said that Ellie drank the entire 4 oz and fell asleep but was woken up by their clock chiming. I walked in right before 5:15 and Grandpa was standing on a chair in the living room getting ready to stop the chiming when it started so that she wouldn't wake up again. It was so sweet.
Jon had to work late again so I went home and made dinner and it was ready right as he was coming home. I put Ellie down to sleep around 7:15 (after struggling for a while) and did the dishes while Jon worked on missions committee stuff. He started a fire and we hunkered down and watched two episodes of Downton Abbey Season 2 since we want to finish it (again) before watching season 3. I'm looking forward to starting the next season!

Hanging with Daddy after dinner

After my interrupted nights of sleep it was nice to get to bed before 11:00. Jon said he had trouble sleeping so he sat in Ellie's room and read just in case she'd wake up so he could pop her pacifier back in. It was a very nice move!
Ellie only woke up once last night, at 2:45. I felt like a new woman. Today was day two for tracking Ellie's eating and sleeping schedule. Kelly, Clark, Ellie and I went for a walk at 11:00 in Summerfield. We went 1.75 miles which was a nice, relaxing walk. Kelly invited us over for lunch and we happily obliged. She made grilled cheese and tomato soup: our staple! When we were almost finished eating Clark started asking for my spoon (with sounds and gestures) so I gave him a spoonful of soup. Lo and behold, he likes tomato soup! Not grilled cheese, though. He ate a few spoonfuls until Kelly brought out some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and he was diverted. Ellie and I didn't stay long because she was getting tired and Clark was going to go down for a nap. Thanks, Kelly, for lunch!

Clark showing Ellie his new toy

Ellie admires her cousin

Hanging out on the steps like cool kids do.

Ellie trying to be cool

Ellie took a short nap when we got home but soon after seemed tired. So I fed her and soon put her to sleep but this time I turned on a sound machine. I had a piano student coming from 3:00-3:30 and if Ellie would follow her 30 minute sleep pattern she would wake up only five minutes into the lesson. I prayed that she'd stay sleeping and hoped the sound machine would work. That baby slept until 5:00 - 2 1/2 hours! Much better, little girl.
After dinner Jon stayed home with Ellie while I ran snacks to the church for the Elders. When I came home they were sitting on the couch reading the Jesus Story Bible. Then, Jon hosted the men's prayer group and I went to the women's Bible study. Ellie was cranky by 7:45 so I took her upstairs (At Brittany's house) and put her to sleep. She woke up 45 minutes later but I held her off until we headed home. Then I fed her and she's in bed. Hopefully she'll sleep as well as last night!

Ellieisms:
When Jon plays with Ellie on the floor she likes to stand up. She keeps her body really stiff and straight even when he's trying to get her to sit.
Ellie chews on her fingers a lot now.

Devos

Exercising in her track suit.

Helping make dinner

Tummy time!

Caleb heads back to Covenant

I sat at my computer and almost didn't write a post since today seemed so insignificant. I will not hold it against you if you decide not to read any further.

This morning it was once again difficult to peel my body out of bed. Jon made our iced coffees and toast with jelly for me. Stumbling into the kitchen at 8:00 I arrived just in time to say thank you and goodbye to Jon as he headed out the door with his sandwich in hand. I couldn't help but cheer up when I saw the mass amount of jelly Jon put on my toast. He made me two slices and put enough jelly for probably seven. He made the smooth raspberry jelly look like junky strawberry preserves. He probably wonders why I never put enough jelly on his toast when I do happen to make some for him.
Baby was waking up crying so I kept popping her pacifier in and turning on her sound machine to help lull her back to sleep. She always seems happiest to be awake when she wakes up and just looks around. When she's crying she frequently doesn't seem to want to be awake. Jon is the same way. I kept her sleeping about twenty minutes longer with this method before getting her up and changing her for the day.
We had a mission for the morning: find a CVS and see if we can find any good deals like Katelyn. Okay, so the mission was initially spurred by my need to find an AC Adapter for Caleb's second part of his Christmas present in Reading so I thought I might as well stop by CVS on my way. CVS did not disappoint, although we were not nearly as successful as Katelyn. I would have to put the items in Ellie's crib to make it look impressive (in contrast to Katelyn's shot on her bed here). Items scored include a few future birthday presents, gift labels, a pillow, and a black doll for Africa. Ironically the doll is dressed for winter with boots, a scarf, and a snow hat.
Caleb told me that he was leaving Elverson between 11:00 and 12:00 so I needed to hurry up. Stopping by Target I showed them the device that needed the adapter and they looked at me quizzically. The worker half-heartedly looked around and then said I should probably just contact the company brand for a replacement part. This advice actually proved useful when I researched online and the cheapest price was indeed on the brand's website. Thank you Target employee.
I perused the isles in Target until I found the Christmas section. Everything was 90% off and there were too many bodies for the small area. Plus, the shelves were almost empty. Therefore I took my baby and cart elsewhere and browsed the new seasonal decorations that had just been revealed. Noting the time I headed towards the door and focused my attention on arriving in Elverson by 11:00.
Somehow I arrived at Mom's house right at 11:00. Kelly, Clark, Mom, Caleb, and Brie were hanging out in the kitchen while Mom made some fresh chocolate chip cookies for Caleb. About twenty minutes after I arrived Caleb and Brie headed downstairs for some alone time and the rest of us hung out until lunch. Mom offered to make some sandwiches and we couldn't refuse (Thanks, Mom!). Dad came home and read to Clark a bit before we all sat down for lunch and waited for Caleb. He finally came up to say goodbye to Kelly and Clark when Clark was ready for his nap. The girl who was driving with Caleb, Kara, arrived shortly and Ellie and I said goodbye so I could put that cranky baby to sleep.

Clark gave me a bad look after I took this picture

Ellie listened in

Hopefully we'll be seeing this guy in March!

Apparently our brief drive home reinvigorated Ellie because she hung out with me as I cleaned up her bedroom. I even dressed her up and walked to the post office to try to tire her out for her nap. She finally fell asleep after we played and relaxed.

Our polar bear

I really want to decorate the walls in her room so I took the first step by putting hangers on the items that needed them. I always decide to work on hanging the items when she's sleeping so I don't get far. Mom needs to come over sometime and help me hang them up. She's good at that kind of stuff.
I also cleaned up the kitchen and living room and vacuumed before my piano student came at 5:00. Brenda watched Ellie during the lesson which consisted of popping her pacifier in while she fell asleep and hitting the sound machine when it ran out to cover up the sound of the piano (Brenda came up with the second part. I'm sure it helped). After they left I packed up baby, the leftover cheeseburger soup I made on Saturday, and rolls and headed to Elverson. Doug and Donna had a wedding to attend this evening and asked if we could eat our dinner with Grandma Mountz. Jon needed to work late so he met us at Doug and Donna's. Grandma Mountz was thrilled to have Ellie there. Ellie was in high spirits and would smile and flail her arms at Grandma. I put Ellie on a bouncer seat in front of Grandma's chair while I set the table and heated up dinner. I then moved the bouncer seat near Grandma's dinner seat and she was very distracted while she ate. She kept telling me to look at Ellie when she would do something cute. Grandma also would do something and Ellie seemed to imitate her. Oh, and Ellie loved smiling at Grandma and she wasn't even wearing her glasses! Jon headed back to work after dinner and Ellie and I spent a bit more time with Grandma until she (Ellie, not Grandma) became tired. It was sweet how taken Grandma was by Ellie and made me realize that I should really stop over there during the day.
Ellie once again fought sleep so I took her out of her crib and she spent time on the activity mat, in the swing, and laying on her back in her crib while I read my book. Finally she nursed and fell asleep after 8:15. Jon came home shortly after 9:00 and is now responding to emails in the basement. I am going to curl up in bed and continue my book.

Ellieisms:
Ellie was very aware of her surroundings at Doug and Donna's. I had her sitting on my lap talking to Grandma and she kept turning her head and arching her back to try to see the entire room, including what was behind her.
 Ellie can almost sit up by herself when she's sitting on my lap.

Ellie Survives 20 Weeks of Life

I forgot to mention yesterday that Ellie is now twenty weeks old! I remember when I was 20 weeks pregnant and we had our second ultrasound. Our peanut is growing up!

Today we did not have any reason to arrive at church early so our morning was more relaxed than the average Sunday morning. Ellie woke up around 7:15 so I bathed her and got ready for church. Jon made breakfast, as usual, and dressed Ellie while I finished my hair and makeup. Somehow we still arrived 10 minutes late. Someday we will be on time.
I told the nursery workers to call me if Ellie seemed hungry during the first service so that they could use her bottle during second service and I wouldn't have to miss any of the sermon. About fifteen minutes before Sunday School ended I was called and fed Ellie and tried to put her to sleep. She was asleep when I left but when I picked her up after the sermon they said that she hadn't slept much. Oh well. Such is a Sunday.
After church we had signed up to get our picture taken for the new photo directory. Our picture might look a bit crazy because I didn't really think ahead and Jon was wearing plaid, I was wearing leopard print, and Ellie was wearing her Christmas dress from Mom. Hopefully they won't wait another 10 years for the next photo directory update.
Mom invited us and the Fenton's over for lunch to spend some time with Caleb before he heads back to Covenant. She made a spread of rice, green beans, cranberry chicken, salad, and rolls. Brie was also there and we asked them both about this upcoming semester along with other things. I'll miss having Caleb around after he leaves tomorrow!
When we came home I tried to put Ellie down for a nap since she hadn't really slept all morning. Well she definitely fought me but I prevailed. At 5:30 we ate a snack and headed off to prayer meeting. Clark was the only other kid in the nursery when I dropped Ellie off and he walked right up to her and she smiled at him. They'll be good pals, I think.
Once again Ellie didn't last the entire service so I was called out before the end and fed her. I tell the nursery workers when I drop her off that if she seems angry when she's fussing that she's probably hungry and to just call me. When I arrived tonight she definitely wasn't hungry but just tired. I really do not mind being called out because I would rather miss some of the service than have a sad, crying baby. After church we came home and ate dinner and are now watching another episode of Horatio Hornblower while Jon keeps the fire burning. Cozy.

Ellieisms:
Ellie now brings toys to her mouth!

I didn't take any pictures today so I thought I'd add some pictures from her first week of life.

First picture!

First family picture

Hanging with her doll on the leaf

Most of the cousins 

Learning to like a paci

Just last week (for comparison with the paci)

Snoozing

4 shots, 3 days, 2 bad nights of sleep

Thursday morning Ellie had her 4 month old check-up with Dr. Lavin. Since Christmas occurred right around when she turned 4 months and exactly 2 months after her last appointment, we were delayed and she is already 4 1/2 months old. She received four shots since they could not combine any due to some sort of shortage on the combination shots. Fortunately they had two nurses come in and administer two at a time to keep the drama to a minimum. When Ellie receives shots her head gets really red and then she cries very loud. As soon as I pick her up, though, she calms down. While at the doctor she was weighed and measured. When I was undressing her and putting on a fresh diaper for the weigh-in she peed on the table. Oops. Here are her stats:

Weight: 13 lb 4 oz
Height: 24"
Head Circumference: 16 1/2"

She falls right in the 15% for weight and height, down from the 50%. The doctor didn't seem worried since she was right on par with both weight and height. It did make me wonder if during the last appointments I was hearing 50% when really they were saying 15%...they sound very similar. Perhaps I'll never know. Dr. Lavin says everything seems to be doing well and asked if I had any questions. Nope. I have my mom and sisters to answer any questions I may have. We'll be back to see her the first week in April.
On Wednesday I was supposed to take Ellie to Grandma's house during my piano lesson, but the lesson was cancelled. So I told Grandma we would stop by after the doctor's appointment to say hi. We arrived around 10:45 and I found out Grandma thought we were coming for lunch. Now I will never turn down lunch but I did feel guilty for seemingly inviting myself over. Kelly and Clark joined us soon after our arrival so we all hung around. Clark showed Ellie his tricks along with the importance of playing. Clark loves handing Ellie things but seems nervous or perhaps uninterested when I hold her up to him. I laid her on her stomach near where he was playing and he didn't seem to mind. Ellie will be good practice for Clark as he prepares to be a big brother.

Look here, little grasshopper

Bundled up for the cold walk to the post office

In the afternoon Ellie and I cleaned up the house, picked up the mail, and made dinner. Jere Scott Bradshaw, our new pastor at church, is home alone since he traveled home earlier than his wife from their Christmas trip down south. She will be gone until the 8th so we invited Jere Scott over for dinner. I served Chicken in an Apple Cream Sauce with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and salad. Thank you, Katelyn, for the recipe. I really like it! I didn't really have time to make a dessert so I took the brownies I made over the weekend and we ate them with ice cream. I would never have served the brownies alone because they were boarder-line too old to eat. The ice cream helped make them softer. I was a bit embarrassed but decided to not think about it. Jere Scott didn't seem to mind.
Jere Scott hung around and looked at the old basement pictures with Jon while I struggled to put Ellie down. She must have been struggling after getting her shots because she was out of sorts. I even left during dinner to try to put her to sleep unsuccessfully because she was so cranky. Since Ellie is not generally difficult I didn't really know what to do. Do I keep the cranky baby in the room and we talk over her fussing or do I try to put her to sleep even though she is fighting against it? I apologized and told him she was sad because of her shots and Jere Scott didn't seem to mind. It worked out that his wife wasn't there because the boys could just talk about whatever boys talk about when I wasn't around. Our company left at 9:15 so we did the dishes and hung out by the fire before bed.
Thursday night was a long night because Ellie decided to wake up every two hours starting at midnight. I tried her pacifier but not for long since she had just gotten her shots. I always think that she must be growing when she wakes through the night. On Friday morning I was pooped so I slept in past Jon leaving for work and woke up with Ellie at 9:15. It is wonderful to not have anywhere to go!
Kelly texted before 10:00 asking if I wanted to go to Flower Warehouse. I agreed and headed over to her place and we carpooled to the store. She picked up some Christmas decor and I snagged a picture for the bathroom along with a few Christmas things. I spent under $5 which should make Jon proud. Kelly then invited us over for lunch along with Mom, Dad, and Caleb. Dad couldn't make it but the six of us (including the kids) enjoyed grilled cheese and tomato soup along with M&Ms for dessert. That is one of my favorite lunches and it always hits the spot. It was nice to spend some time with Caleb since I feel as I have hardly seen him over break!

A happy shopper

We went home and I showered (scary, I know - I went out in public without a shower) and prepared for Jon and my date night. Kelly had graciously agreed to take baby while Jon and I used his gift from Dan to see Les Miserables. I told Kelly that if she watches Ellie I will bring dinner. I had made extra mashed potatoes for Thursday night's dinner so I gave her those along with broccoli and, you guessed it, chicken in an apple cream sauce. I really like that recipe but you have to buy a whole lot more apple juice and whipping cream than you use in the recipe so I just defrosted extra chicken and used up more of the ingredients. We dropped Ellie off and headed over to the theater to watch the movie.
Since we didn't have time for dinner before the movie I packed some snacks. Apparently you aren't supposed to bring food into the theater but they never check you bags so it makes it easy. I brought crackers, cheese, bologna, garlic stuffed olives, two cokes, gummy bears, and a chocolate bar. It all fit in my purse. Granted there wasn't much cheese, bologna, or olives but it was enough to be a small meal for the two of us. Oh, and if you want to smuggle food, I recommend going to a movie after it has been out for a while because no one was sitting near us so we didn't feel rude. I don't know how the snack bar stays in business, though, because I have never used it.
After the movie (which we really enjoyed) we decided to go through the Chickfila drive-thru. We arrived at 10:06 and they closed at 10:00 so we went across the street to Wendy's. Definitely not as exciting or satisfying.
We arrived at Fenton's shortly before 11:00 and Kelly said that baby had behaved well. Good, no spankings needed. It is so nice to have someone I trust to watch baby so I can relax when we go out.
Today was a relaxing Saturday. I had one goal: take down the Christmas decorations. I slowly woke up because Ellie once again had a rough night from midnight until morning. I really should go to bed earlier because she sleeps well from 8:00-12:00, it's just after 12:00 she wakes up frequently - at least every two hours, it seems. Maybe it will stop.
For breakfast I made eggs and toast. I put Jon's into a little breakfast sandwich with cheese and hot sauce. I've realized that eggs are a very budget-friendly breakfast compared to cereal. Cereal is not cheap and doesn't last long (in case you care to know). I never really liked eggs very much but if you put enough jelly on your toast you barely notice the eggs.
In the morning I hung out with Ellie and read my book. Jon worked on fixing the joint in the basement where it changes from the carpet in the main room to the tile in the bathroom. He also did some refinancing work. After lunch Jon brought down the Christmas decoration box and I stripped the tree and walked around the house in search of Christmas-themed decor. It always takes longer to un-decorate than I anticipate and then throw baby into the equation. She wasn't a very happy camper in the afternoon but Jon put her in the bjorn and she fell asleep. We had her facing out so she could see what he was doing so she looked really funny sleeping with her limbs hanging out. Jon was asking me questions about life insurance and it was hard to take him seriously with her little drooly face.

Learning the financial side of homeowning

Dad's conversations is not that interesting

conked out

Jon called Peter to see if they wanted to come over for dinner and to play some games and Peter said they were going over to their parents' house but that we should come. I told Jon we should ask Doug and Donna first but that it sounded like fun. Jon called his mom and we were invited over for dinner and games. Donna made pork, potatoes, and Sauerkraut and I brought along the cheeseburger soup I had made. Afterwards we played a round of Ticket to Ride then talked about heating bills and oil prices and general homeowner stuff. Ellie slept upstairs in the crib while we played and talked. When it was time to go Jon brought Ellie down and she was mad! I changed her into her PJs and she was just yelling-crying. It wasn't true crying because there weren't really tears and she sounded mad. We finally got out the door and took the angry baby with us.

Ellieisms:
Ellie has noticeably started using her hands and arms more. She can hold her pacifier (although it's easily dropped) and this morning at breakfast Jon was holding her and she was moving his plate all around.


Some answers to Carly's questions on last post:
I really like Downton Abbey but I would recommend starting from the beginning. You can usually get it from the library or wait since we own the first season. You could try it out, though. If you have amazon prime or Netflix they are available on those.
The snow hasn't melted completely but it's basically gone.