Seven Months Old

Ellie loves eating!!! Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, prunes, peaches, apples, and bananas! She didn't care for peas but I don't like them either so that's fine with me! She loves grabbing the spoon while she's eating and making a big mess. But we've gotten cleaner with more practice. Thank goodness Grandma Smith gave us this plastic bib that we can spray off each time she eats!

Ellie still has NO teeth and NO sign of any coming soon. She is getting better and better at her army crawl and loves being mobile. She is getting really good at picking things up and grasping objects. She is a big fan of any and all jewlry! Even the smallest earings she will yank out of my ears.

RSV! Yuck! Sunday night Ellie started having a runny nose, sneezing and coughing. Things only got worse over the next few day so I took her in and they said she had RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). It's a very common virus that causes cold-like symptoms in children. It can be more serious for babies and some even need to be hospitalized. Thank goodness we have a tough little girl. She doesn't seem to be bothered with the horrible hacking couch or the runny nose. She does not like getting it sucked out but it getting better and holding still for mommy and daddy. To add to it she got an ear infection because of the congestion but has antibiotics to help her get rid of that. She's been able to sleep through the night still and is still playing and smiling! What more could we ask for?!

Ellie found new toys to play with in her room... she's tall enough to reach when daddy's holding her

Lights out!

Poor little red face... we hope you get well soon!

Susan's Run

Today we went out to support our friend who lost her battle to cancer in 2008. Her family started a foundation in her name http://www.susanmturley.org/ to help raise money for young adults and their families going through cancer treatments. Their biggest fundraiser is Susan's Run held annually in Tempe, AZ. This was the 2nd run and it was a blast despite the threatening rain clouds.
Spencer took Ellie along for the 10k and placed 3rd in his age group with a time of 57:17:10!

Ellie decided to take a nap for the last 3 miles :)

Be Mine

As a Valentine gift I had some pictures taken of Ellie when she turned 6 months. Here are a few of my favorites!

I love my sweet Ellie!

Thank you Whitney Dibble Photography for these amazing pictures!

http://whitneyphotography.blogspot.com

Craft Blog and Giveaway

To all my gal pals that need cute hair things for your little girls

check out my sister's new blog

http://www.whos-itsandwhats-itsgalore.blogspot.com/

She does it all - burp cloths, hair clips, leg warmers, and picture boards and all of these can be made just the way you want!

Right now she's doing a giveaway to get her blog started!

Saturday with Family and Chocolate!

Today Ellie's cousin Ariah turned 2! We met up with them at a play place out in Desert Ridge. Ellie loved going down the slide with auntie Bean and watching Eire' and Ariah climb the rock wall.

This evening the whole family got together for the Glendale Chocolate Affair. One of the fun things to do was take a tour of the Cerreta Candy Co.

As soon as you walked in your could smell the yummy chocolate!

Santa here was 500 pounds of chocolate!

tons and tons of sugar

and the biggest chocolate bars I've ever seen!

All I wanted was a chocolate covered strawberry but I was not going to pay $3 for one so my sisters and I shared a giant piece of chocolate covered cheesecake! Yummy!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Ellie!

It's hard to believe we've had Ellie for six months already. We have been having so much fun with her! She has a very happy personality and loves to see what's going on around her. Her biggest accomplishment is sitting up unassisted! She loves it too! She went from only sitting up for a few seconds to several minutes in just a day.

She has an adorable laugh but she holds them in for her favorite person, daddy! He gets more smiles and laughs than anyone. She just adores him!

Ellie is also talking a lot more and using words like mum, da and ba. We try to practice mama and dada to see whose name she'll say first. A not so fun thing she's learned is fake crying. It's pretty funny to look at but not a funny habit to keep. She does it when she's done with playing and wants to be held. She loves her playing in her exersaucer and bumbo and going on walks at the park.

This face is hilarious!!!!!

She seems to be ticklish on her feet especially when daddy rubs his scruffy face on them. She loves playing peek-a-boo and singing and dancing to mommy's made-up songs.

Cute little button nose, perfect lips and Smith chin!
What an adorable profile!

Mommy and Ellie

Ellie's Six Months Stats:

weight- 15 lbs 10.5 oz (50%)

length- 27 3/4 in (97%)

head- 17 in (75%)

Perfect in every way!

Rock and Roll... again!

ROCK ON!

My sister Cristina and cousin Jen talked me into doing the PFC 1/2 Marathon again. These gals are speedy and run on a regular basis. Even if I ran every day I'd still be slow! It also would have helped if I trained. One day I'll learn from experiences like this and actually train... hopefully by November so I can beat my time in the Desert Grande Triathlon.

I made a goal of beating my 2 previous times (3:00 and 3:26) I kept up with the gals for 2 miles and waved good-bye from there. My music kept me company till mile 11 when my phone died. I was so relieved to see the finish line after almost 3 hours of jogging. I was ready to be done! And I did it... finished in 2:55:42! Time for ice and rest!

Cristina rocked an amazing 2:11 and Jenn 2:19! They are awesome!!