Ellie Rose 7 Months

Our sweet Ellie girl is 7 months old! She is a joy and a bright spot in our family. Whenever I start to get stressed or frustrated with Kayla and Tyson and their toddler ways, I look at Ellie and she gives a smile that seems to bring immediate peace. I think she's a gift from heaven. She has the sweetest temperament but is still very vocal. She comes alive in the evening and is much more talkative. 

She cute her first two teeth right after her 7 month birthday and she didn't seem to be bothered by them at all! I just noticed them one day! She also got to try her first foods after we got home from Dallas. She seemed to be a bit betrayed by it all. Like she's looked forward to eating all along and it didn't live up the hype. :) She didn't like the green beans at all but likes oatmeal mixed with breast milk and sweet peas. That's all she's had so far. 

Ellie is rolling over from front to back and back to front but is generally content just to stay in the position she starts off in. She's definitely less interested in getting around that Kayla and Tyson were, which is fine with me! I wouldn't mind if she was a little less determined and active. :)

 

Ellie loves to smile for the camera! She gets lots of pictures taken of her! She is adored by her brother and sister. Tyson is constantly hugging and kissing her. And Kayla just wants to hold her all the time. 

Ellie started saying 'mama' at six months and then just a couple weeks ago, she started saying 'papa'! I tried to teach her dada, but that wasn't sticking so I said papa once and she said it right back to me! She also likes to wave with her little fingers. I'll hold up her arm up and her fingers move up and down in the cutest little wave. I think she genuinely likes bringing joy to people. She lights up when daddy comes home. When we got back from Dallas and he picked her up, she couldn't stop touching his face. And when anyone else held her on our trip, she'd look for me and say, 'mama'. But when we came home, she was so excited to see daddy and didn't seem to care that I was even there at all. I wouldn't have it any other way! 

 

Ellie was the best traveler on our trip. She did amazing on the plane rides and everyone was gushing over her. They coudn't get over how content and sweet she was the whole time! I couldn't have asked for a better little travel buddy! 

Ellie loves laying on her back and grabbing her toes. She loves playing with any colorful toy she can get her hands on. She goes right to sleep when we lay her down without being rocked to sleep. We did have to purchase something to help us transition from a swaddled sleep. She now sleeps with one arm out but sleeps better all tucked in.

In Ellie's young life, she's attended a funeral, a wedding, flown on a plane, traveled across the country to Texas, stayed in hotels, a cabin, the condo, and had countless adventures outside to beaches, lakes, mountains, pools, etc. I think she's in for a life full of adventure and no doubt she be as happy as can be through it all. 

 

We love our little Ellie belly! We hope she always knows how adored she is by all around her! 

Tyson 3 Years Old!

Our little buddy Tyson is officially a 3 year old! Tyson is a whirlwind of a boy! He is full of personality, charm, and mischief all at once. Tyson has grown up a lot over the last year and he's had some big changes in life as well!

 

In the last year, we moved into a new home which means new neighborhood, ward, and nursery leaders. We also had Ellie. So Tyson's had a lot of changes to adjust to. In some ways, this year was rough with Tyson. He is a big, strong boy and he's had some problems being too rough or even aggressive at times. It breaks my heart seeing him be rough with others and I look forward to this phase of life to completely be done. Its worn on my patience a lot. He finally seems to be getting better with it though and is learning to verbalize his feelings rather than show aggression physically. He still likes to rough house though. I don't know if that will go any time soon.

 

Its also been stressful for me with Ellie and how rough the big kids are with her. When she was 5 weeks old, Tyson picked her up to carry her and when I screamed in fear, he dropped her. Luckily it was a soft fall and he's not too far from the ground but it scared me. Every day, I'm grateful that she's gotten stronger so she can survive the bigger kids. Tyson really adores Ellie but sometimes he gets excited and wants to play with her and she's not quite big enough for that yet. She loves him too though. She gets the biggest grin on her face when Tyson and Kayla play with her.

Tyson loves playing with cars. He's slightly obsessed with Lightning McQueen and Mater. He also plays really well by himself for long periods of time, which is nice. When he plays with Kayla, they are very imaginative in their play. They are always making up adventures to go on together. They love gathering everything they can find and moving it into a pile in a corner for said adventure, much to my dismay. As soon as they're done and I ask them to clean it up, its "too hard!"



Tyson is a great eater. He eats almost anything I cook for him, although I think he likes to give me grief because Kayla does and he gets attention for it. But he will almost always end up eating dinner. He loves hot dogs, pb&j, pizza, spaghetti, and now prefers hamburgers or chicken nuggets. His favorite restaurants are Pizza Pie Cafe and Freddy's.



He can talk up a storm. He repeats (and imitates) everything Kayla says and does. He can carry on the funniest conversations and is now coming up with dramatic play and giving directions for the games. People often comment on how well he speaks for his age and how vast his vocabulary is. He is very expressive and loud. He has a horribly high pitched squeal that is awful and we're working on that. I'm constantly reminding him to use an inside voice. He also thinks its funny to make a really loud monkey sound any time he sees Ellie has fallen asleep. Lately he's started saying, "That's disgusting!" He proudly told the doctor that his feet were gnarly at his 3 year check up. (he's struggled with athlete's foot). I never know what to expect out of his sweet and often loud little mouth.



Tyson also potty trained this last summer. He did a great job and was really quick to catch on, but every once in a while, he gets too distracted or doesn't want to stop what he's doing. When he got hit sticker chart filled up, he earned a Mack Truck and he LOVES it! He also likes to have one of us come watch him in the bathroom. I know he just likes the attention. We taught him the proper names of anatomy, which has been entertaining to say the least. He ran outside once without underwear on. I quietly guided him back in and Kayla ran outside and yelled, "Sorry everyone! He just wanted to show you his penis!" She said that because another time at my Uncle Tony's 80th birthday party, Tyson was in a little playhouse with several little girls. He had just finished potty training. All of a sudden, all the little girls ran out screaming followed by Tyson waddling out with his pants around his ankles. He was saying, "I just wanted to show you my penis!" ha!



Our little buddy gives the best hugs and loves to have either Brett or I snuggle with him at night before he'll go to sleep. He loves giving kisses and hugs to Ellie. He'll give all of us a closed-lip kiss like normal, and then open his mouth on our cheeks and say 'Ah-Va!'. He calls those kisses his Ah-Va's. Tyson does everything all the way. He loves hard, he plays hard, he screams loud, he runs fast, and he pushes limits. I'm so excited to see where he'll go in his life. I don't doubt he'll do big things. We sure love this buddy buddy!