Ellie Grace : 10 Months

I woke up this morning with a 10 month old.  

Putting Elliot to bed last night was torture.  I knew I was putting her down for the last time as a 9 month old.  Single digits.  She's now in the double digits, guys.  In two months, I'll have a one year old.  I might start crying.  

(She's playing with a comb.  Only way I could get her to sit still.)

Ellie's clothes are all over the place.  She's wearing 9 month tops.  They almost fit her perfectly, but are still just a tad big.  She wears 3, 6 and 9 month bottoms - depending on the brand.  She's got this tiny little waist, but is so tall that we just wear whatever fits.  She's in 12 month PJs.  (Also because she is so tall.)  They are a little big on her, but it's much better than trying to squeeze her into a 9 month sleeper.  She's still wearing size 3 diapers. 

(Ellie discovered there is a hole under her nose one night while eating tortelini.  P.S.  I have no idea how to spell tortelini.)

Ellie has started eating big people food, and is slowly, (finally) starting to catch on to the concept of chewing.  Feeding her big people food is still kind of scary to me because she hasn't mastered chewing - we have had a few choking incidents. But at dinner I'll cut up whatever we are having into tiny little pieces and sit and eat it with her.  Just like her mom - she loves cheese.  She also loves bread.  LOVES bread, haha.  I've finally stopped nursing completely.  She's doing well on formula.  (I, however, am counting down the days until we can stop buying it.  That stuff is so expensive!!  I've also gained 7 pounds out of nowhere since I've stopped nursing.  Time to hit the gym.)  I still feed her baby food, but we are mostly using the stage 3 stuff - the stuff with chunks in it.  I'm hoping this will help her continue to learn to chew.  She's finally starting to get the hang of her sippy cup too.  Ellie loves popsicles.  Every time we go to my dad's house, he sticks her in the high chair and eats a popsicle with her.  It's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen - it's totally their thing to do together.  Every time he pulls a popsicle out of the freezer, she screams her little excited scream.  It's adorable. 

Ellie is walking.  Everywhere.  She started taking a few little steps at the beginning of March, and two weeks later was basically running marathons.  She doesn't crawl anymore.  It's pretty funny to watch her walk because she is a petite little thing and the way she holds her arms, she looks like a velociraptor.  

She has 8 teeth - four on the top and four on the bottom.  Soon when she smiles, you'll be able to see all her pearly whites. :)  Her hair is still brown, and it's starting to slowly fill in.  I should cut it and make it all the same length - her hair on the top is longer than everywhere else, and it looks a little silly.  But the long hair has a little curl to it, and I can't cut off my baby's curls.  There are two things on Ellie that she got from me.  Her green eyes and her curls.  Everything else is Clayton.  She is totally HIS mini-me.  So I'm being stubborn, and keeping her hair just the way it is.  

Every one, every where always comments how busy Ellie is.  This girl is into everything, and has to be involved in everything.  She does NOT like to sleep.  If she doesn't sleep, I have the crankiest baby.  If we are out and about - good luck getting her to take a nap.  So home during nap time is the place I prefer to be.  Ellie takes one to two naps a day.  I've noticed now that she's walking, her naps seem to be a little longer.  I think being such a busy body makes her more tired.  I don't mind.  A little time to myself is nice.  

Because it's going to be summer soon, I've decided to try and slowly push back her 7:30 bedtime to 8:00.  Ellie usually sleeps through the night, but two nights this past week she was up with what had to be a night terror or something.  Those were two long nights.  I noticed on those nights, she went to bed much later than normal.  Like 9 or 9:30 (because we were out with family).  So bedtime probably shouldn't be any later than 8:00 if I want a happy girl.  

Ellie knows who mama and dada are, says "moooo" (it's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen), claps when you say "good job" (I think she thinks "good job" means to clap, haha), and can tell you where "mom's nose" is.  She's also started playing peek-a-boo.  She has started to get attached to a pink fuzzy blanket with an elephant on it.  It's her "soft blanket".  Whenever I talk about her "soft blanket",  she rubs it on her face and snuggles it.  She has also started to point.  She points at everything.  She has discovered that you can open and close cupboards.  She loves to tear apart the DVD rack.  She loves pictures - especially pictures of our family.  I printed off about 50 4x6 pictures and put them in her own little photo album.  She will sit and flip through the album and squeal.  I have pictures of the fam on the bottom of a bookshelf in our living room - and she always pulls the picture of Kenzie and Kelsey down they gave us for Christmas and squeals at them.  We have a family picture there as well, and she will always go point to her dad and say "dadadadada".  (She's turning into quite the daddy's girl.)  Yesterday we went on our patio and blew bubbles, and she laughed and laughed and kept reaching out to pop them.  

This is her "mom give me the camera!" face.    Pre-meltdown.  Haha.  

I'd be lying if I said this stage of her life wasn't super fun.  Her little personality shines through more and more each day.  I can't believe what a determined, stubborn and happy little girl she is.  She never ceases to amaze me.  

I have no idea what I did without her.  Happy 10 months E.

P.S.  There are going to be some huge changes in our life coming up in the next few weeks.  I'll be blogging about that soon.  Promise.