31 weeks!

Dear Ellie-Bean,

You are 31 weeks old! Well, 31 plus 2. It was a busy week again, so this is a little late. But better late than never, right? And late just means that we are having lots and lots of fun doing all kinds of stuff!

Monday marked your 7 month birthday, so of course it was time for more pictures. You were a ham as always, and SO into rolling as usual. It was pretty difficult to get a decent shot because you wanted to roll all over (onto your belly, looking at Dad upside down, the works!). We have a photo studio set up downstairs finally for you, so we have to make sure you don't roll right off the table, silly little one!

For the most part, we just stuck around home on Monday and played with your new Easter toys. You are loving the ball popper you got. You JUST are figuring out how to throw the balls back in. Oh, and Monday was another important day...APRIL FOOLS! You sure played a trick on me, throwing an extra dirty diaper my way when I was unsuspecting, but I think you believe that I played a little trick on you. You're starting to play with the sippy cup you got for Easter, and it is clearly a bad joke that you've got the wrong end. And, of course, the bad thing about baby-led weaning and the independence it gives you is that you do NOT want help with that, even though I bought the special sippy cups that allow me to squeeze the bottom and help. Uh, no. You, Miss Independent, want to do it ALL on your own. This is just showing me how the next 17 years are going to go, right?


Tuesday was a very busy day. I went and worked out and then had a hair appointment, so you got to spend some time with Grandma. As usual, you had a lot of fun. You showed them your new tricks...which include waving. I love your little wave! You use it for hello, goodbye, and the ever-popular...COME HERE RIGHT NOW AND GET ME! Of course we are all happy to oblige! You were a very good girl and played lots, and even got to try some of Grandma's blueberry pancakes.

Wednesday we stayed around home for the most part. You've been sleeping great lately (pretty much 1 wake up a night) but your naps have been AWFUL! No more than 30 minutes really. Which means you are taking 3-4 of them a day. Which means I spend literally HOURS rocking you to sleep. Sometimes it gets frustrating, Bean, but then I see that sleepy smile you get when your thumb finally falls out of your mouth and you are nestled into my chest really close and I can't help but think how incredibly blessed I am that I am "forced" to spend all that time just cuddling my little princess. I am one lucky Mommy! You have, however, decided that you like to sleep with your dolly. I even caught you playing with her when you woke up from one of your naps this week. You were pulling on her hair and talking to her. You are just SO cute!

Thursday we had a very exciting visitor...Aunt Mandy! You were so excited to see her. You showed her how well you can sit up, and how you can play with all your toys. She showed you her new RING! Yay! Congrats Aunt Mandy! She already says that she expects you to show her up at her own wedding. Why yes, of course! We went to Hana Yori for lunch...and you slept right through it. Yay for good naps. Then we went to Charming Charlie. You started to get crabby, until I started showing you sparkly things. Then you were all giggles. That is kind of funny! You love your sparkles!

Friday was our usual too. I went to work out and you went to see Grandma. You did have some excitement trying to ruin the Ellie fan! You grabbed the remote and turned it on "high" which made some of the decorations start to fly off. Whoops!

We got home and you were pretty darn crabby, so we went for a LONG walk with Truff. We made a new goal this week. For the month of April, I want to try to walk 30 miles with you and your brother. I think it will be good for us all. You love your stroller, so that works well. And you look like such a big girl in it these days. This picture of you makes me tear up a little bit. Where did my little baby go? You look so big!

The day continued to be rough, so I was very thankful when your Daddy got home and I could take some time out to relax a bit and pack for our big road trip. Saturday, we set out with Grandma and Grandpa to go to Wisconsin again. You did awesome in the car, as usual. When we got there, everyone was excited to see you, especially your Great Grandma, Aunt Susie, Uncle Dan, and Aunt Aimee. Oh, and the most excited of all, I think were your cousins Maddy and Carter. You thought those two were SO funny and ridiculously entertaining. They got little light wands which you were just mesmerized by! And they loved jumping all over to show them off to you. You gave great cuddles to Great Grandma too! You were such a trooper overall. I was so proud of how well you did!

You also did so well staying at Susie and Dan's! Usually you have a very hard time away from home and don't sleep well at all. Not the case this weekend! You were only up once. That was so awesome bean! You are getting to be such a good traveler, which is good because Mommy and Daddy spend lots of time on the go.

Sunday was another crazy day of driving home, then to the gym. Everyone was very excited to see you at the gym. Having a couple weeks off, they all missed you a LOT! It is getting harder for you to be there in some ways. Any time I would come out of the gym, I would get that little wave and want to run right over a pick you up. I miss you when I'm not with you, my little bird!

That brings us for today. The weather was getting nice, so we took a little trip to the Riverfront park to have a nice long walk and then have your very first time on the swings. Well, little daredevil, you LOVED the swings. Look at this smile! You had so much fun swinging, it makes me want to start looking at swingsets. We'll see. You are Dad's little thrill seeker...you like the wind in your face!

I know I keep telling you how you just get more and more fun, but it is 100 percent true. Yes, there are challenging times, but one smile, one cuddle, one belly laugh...it just makes everything worth it. I love how I am seeing more and more of your adorable little personality. I just love you so much, little one, and I cannot believe that I get to be the Mommy to such an amazing little girl. You make every day so fun and so full. You make Daddy and I just so happy, and we love you so much.

I love you,
Mommy