Happy birthday, Elli Joy!

Today is Elliana's first birthday. I truly feel like she cannot possibly be this old-MAYBE 6 months, but a whole year, already??
This month she:
Has developed more language. One really super cute thing she does is try to participate in conversations. If Josh and I are talking she will inject a "Yeah!" with very emphatic nodding of her entire body and head. She also will sometimes do this when we ask her a question. So adorable!
Developed a new love for the second law of thermodynamics and helping that entropy process along. She adores pulling out and spreading Tupperware lids ALL OVER THE FLOOR. She also discovered the unmatched sock hamper last night and was in heaven!
Really discovered the joys of eating with utensils. She thinks this is super fun. It is also super messy, but hey. Part of the learning process, right?
She is cruising more, and pulls up on literally everything. She is also starting to have more trunk control and enjoy walking holding onto our hands. I think we are still a bit away from independent walking, which is totally fine with me.
She still nurses pretty frequently but is definitely extremely interested in food. She especially loves chicken, cheese, yogurt, and broccoli...and oranges, bananas...she is really not picky.
She LOVES her siblings, and loves to dance and sing with them.
Elliana Joy, we are so so happy you are in our family, and I look forward to continuing the adventure with you!

11 Months Old

Our sweet Elli-Bug, also known as Buggy, Stinker-doodle, Stink, and Elli-Joy has lived in our home for 11 months now! It is so so hard for me to believe and fully comprehend that she is this old-I truly feel like I just had her! And yet, she continues the full blown run toward toddlerhood!

She is crawling incredibly quickly, and figured out the stairs this month. Well, she has figured out how to go up them, but not how to safely go back down. She also likes to climb (specifically onto her siblings' picnic table) and gets herself "stuck" because again, she doesn't know how to get down, so she will yell until someone comes to rescue her (one benefit of being the 3rd child is that there are usually people around to help even if a parent is in the bathroom). She pulls up on anything that is taller than she is, but she doesn't cruise yet, and really has very little interest in walking while holding hands. Which is completely fine with me! She can take her time with walking, thank you very much. 

She eats just about everything, though she doesn't seem to like eggs very much.

She wakes up about 2 times per night, depending on the night. She can stretch her nursing out a little longer if need be, though that doesn't necessarily mean she chooses to do so!

She has started being very interactive recently. She often will pat our backs while we hold her, which is so sweet! She also will pat and rub a sibling if he/she is crying. Again, heart melting!

She has a few words: "Dada, mama, Bubby, yeah," are ones I have definitely heard and at times I think I have heard others. She also chatters-she has a lot to say, even if we can't quite understand it all!

She also started signing this month (we have been working on teaching signs for a bit now but she finally started using them spontaneously!). Unfortunately, the signs all look the same-opening and closing of the hand (we usually use this sign to mean "milk" or "nurse"). She does this for hi, nurse, all done, and eat. Hmmm...interestingly, where she places her hand matters (she puts her hand by her mouth for "eat", backwards toward herself for "hi", uses both hands for "all done" and reaches for me while moving her hand for "nurse"-but sometimes in the moment it's a little hard to tell what her intent is/was!

Things she loves:

• Animals. Any kind of animal. She really really wants to love our cat to pieces, but the cat is usually too fast for her! She will crawl after her panting in excitement and trying SO SO HARD to touch her, just once!
• Still loves tooth brushing. Still adorable.
• She does NOT love socks or shoes or any kind of footwear, which is a bit difficult since it is extremely cold here now.
• Remotes, or phones, or anything with buttons she can press
• "Bubby" (Ben), or Hadassah
• Crumpling, tearing, or eating paper.

SO CRAZY that my next update will be her 1 year old one!

Elli's 10th Month

Oh dear, I'm a bit behind!
Elliana Joy, we love you so much and just because mom got behind on blogging doesn't mean a thing for that-you are such a bright light in our lives and I am spending so much time deeply enjoying you that I'm not getting to blog about you, that's all! :-)
This month, Elli became much more mobile. She started crawling really well as well as pulling up. It is definitely a challenge to keep all the small things that her siblings like to drop all over the floor from ending up in her mouth! Thankfully, we haven't had anything super scary happen with that yet.
She also started eating quite a bit more solid food. She particularly seems to like berries of any type (loovvesss strawberries!) and meat. She thinks yogurt is the BEST THING EVER! It's so cute, she makes these adorable smacking and "mmmmm" noises when she is fed yogurt. I will admit, it's an occasional treat because it is so messy!
She is waking to nurse around 2-4 times per night, just depending. Unfortunately, instead of just fussing to nurse and then settling right now, she tends to scream for a few minutes (rather adrenaline inducing for mom!) and then settle down.
Some of her favorite things:

• Watching an adult (especially mommy) brush their teeth. I have no idea why this is so delightful, but she gets so excited about it and then laughs and laughs while we do it.
• Daddy. This month she started showing a definite preference for being held and played with by daddy, unless she is hungry.
• Parents, in general. She isn't a huge fan of being cared for by people other than us. Totally normal at this age, and she is not as emphatic about it as Hadassah was.
• She thinks her big siblings' magnetic tiles are SUCH fun toys.
• She is unfortunately very interested in night lights and electric outlets.
• She has decided that if she yells loud and long enough, maybe she won't fall asleep ever again. I'm not such a fan of this, but eventually she gives up. 
• She loves swinging and going running in the stroller-laughs and laughs the whole time-so adorable!

We seem to be plummeting out of baby phase and toward toddlerhood so quickly! Which is fun but also so crazy. We do love being this sweet girl's family and I am excited to continue to watch her grow and learn.