Too funny!

Another one of those things she thought up all on her own...can you figure out what she is doing? ...kind of gross!

on a more serious note...

the sign says it all!

-We will be house hunting this weekend. The clock is ticking with our Green Bay house closing date on March 20th!

We accepted an offer on our house!

Elle illustrates our feelings below...

At first we were worried about selling our house in such a short period of time (we had to sell by April 1)

Then we got an offer, so we celebrated!

Next, we have to pack!

...just waiting on the home inspection to make things final. More to come!

Organizing books, lip smacking and clapping!

Here is our little book worm (seriously). She loves to read her books. Lately she rather read (have us read to her) than play with her toys. She also has fun pulling all of her books off of her book shelves. You may also notice her new diapers. She has recently graduated to size 3 "cruisers"! Next, I'd like to draw your attention to her legs, we think they have been slimming due to all of the walking she has been doing lately! One last thing, we have started the weaning process. Elle is now drinking 2 bottles of formula a day and doing great with it, which means I am nursing her only 3x a day. Within a couples weeks she will be exclusively on formula.

-she came up with this all on her own!

-it's so cute when babies clap!

Happy "Balentimes" Day!

-When my brother and I were younger we used to say "balentime" instead of Valentine, my parents remind me every year!

Here is the card Jonathan gave Elle. She loves to put everything on/over her head - it's her thing.

Elle loves her new "Balentimes" popper!

...the new popper in action!

9 month stats

Ellison had her 9 month well-checkup today (this appointment was slightly delayed due to all of our traveling recently with Jonathan working in IL) and she checked out great all around. And a pleasant surprise...no shots today! Anyway, here's how she measured up:

Weight: 16 lbs 8 oz (20th percentile)

Length: 26.5 in (10th percentile)

Here she is pulling her helicopter (she pulled her helicopter around the other day for a half hour, and would have kept going if my back wasn't so tired)!

First Steps!!!!!!

Ellison has been taking some steps on her own lately, but just hasn't had the courage to venture out on her own yet. She has been walking along furniture like a pro and having fun pushing things around like her cart, highchair and laundry baskets (by the way, she shows absolutely no signs of crawling she just wants to be up walking). Tonight Jonathan and I were sending her back and forth to expend some of her energy and work on her walking. She just started walking and did it over and over again taking multiple steps in a row on her own!!!! After about 10 rounds of going back and forth, I finally got the camera set up to record her first steps! We are so proud of her.

We were in Wausau (Jonathan was in IL working) for the last 5 days and I took so many cute pictures of Elle, but they are all on my parents camera - I will share them as soon as I get a hold of them. Anyway, here are a couple recent pics of Elle that I haven't had a chance to post until now.

Here she is just after waking up from her nap watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" with us.

After watching the Australian Open, Elle was inspired to get my tennis racquet out and get it warmed up for spring.

Playing with her highchair...