Elsie Mae is 6 Months Old!

Elsie Mae is six months old!

I can't believe our little lady has been in our lives for a whole half of a year! Even though nights can be long, getting up with her two to four times a night, time is absolutely flying by! (And I think my body has just adjusted to less sleep.)

She is quite the busy little bee these days! 

She started eating pureed foods and baby cereal at around five months. She was eating forty ounces of formula a day and I just felt she was ready. It took a couple weeks for her to really get the hang of it but now she is eating three to four ounces of purees a day. She's just now starting to drink a little less formula too. She loves fruits and will tolerate most veggies as long as it's not peas. She hates peas. 

She is quite a big baby! At a park the other day, a man was stunned that Elsie was only six months because she's so big and his baby was seven months and quite a bit smaller than her. She weighs about 19 pounds and is about 26 inches long. I'll have more exact measurements when she goes to the doctor tomorrow. She's a little chunk but her weight gain has definitely started slowing down,

She is determined to be mobile! About two weeks ago she started lifting her belly up off the ground and then shortly after started getting on her knees. She is now rocking back and forth on her knees all the time trying to figure out how to crawl. Also, around the same time, she figured out rolling from front-to-back and from back-to-front. Needless to say, we are babyproofing. 

She still likes going for walks but doesn't like being in the stroller once you stop walking. She wants to be out of that thing seeing what's going on. So she sits in a highchair at restaurants now. 

She is teething like crazy! I swear she will have teeth any day now. The drool has been excessive and she chews on any and everything. 

She's still our happy baby girl! She loves to smile at everyone most of the time and doesn't fuss too much. She can also give some really funny looks, like above, "what do you mean don't chew on that?" haha

I can't wait to see what next month brings! 

Elsie Mae is 5 Months Young

Every month brings so many changes!

Measurements:
She is weighing roughly 18 pounds. She's a chunky little nugget haha. She was 25 inches at 4 months and I haven't measured her but she probably only grew a inch or so.

Skills:
She can now sit unsupported. She only falls over every now and then. I can sit her up in the pack n play and she will play like that for a really long time.  If she does fall over she normally just flips to her back or belly.

She quit rolling over. She just doesn't seem interested. When she's on her belly now she tries to go forward, kicking her legs like she's swimming haha. She wants desperately to go forward but ends up just scooting backwards. She can get pretty far doing this but it makes her mad since she ends up so far away from her toys.  She doesn't pull up to her knees yet.  But she can rotate to each side to get toys.

Eating:
She eats 36-40 ounces of formula a day.  (I know!)

Since she eats so much, and she sits unsupported, and grabs at food and puts it in her mouth... We felt she was ready for some solids.

She's had pureed squash, sweet potato, peas, bananas, carrots, and green beans. She's also had rice and oatmeal cereal but we don't feed her cereal every day. I try to offer her food twice a day. Sometimes she does better with it than others.

She's also had carrot sticks and cucumber to chew/suck on. She likes this way better than purees. She hates me feeding her and wants to do it all herself. Grabs the spoon and gets mad if I take it back. So I let her do what she can. I have some squeeze pouches to put the purees in but she hasn't figured that out quite yet.

Sleep:
She's horrible at sleeping now. Up 3-4 times a night.  It's pretty rough but I think it might be teething related. I'm not sure but we are working through it. 

Things she loves:
Her dogs! Well...All dogs really. 

Going for walks in the stroller or the carrier. 

Sitting on my lap.

Smiling at her daddy.

She doesn't really have a favorite toy but loves the crinkly soft books and other toys that crinkle. Or anything that she can chew on. 

She's such a sweet baby! 

Our Weekend

We had a busy busy weekend! Saturday we went to Schierstein Harbour Festival. I'm pretty sure that this is now my favorite fest, so far, in Germany. Before, my favorite was Wilhelmstrassen Fest, and while I still do love that one, I like how this one is on the river. It was a very large fest with numerous food stands and a ton of rides and games for kids, as well as a market. There were also dragon boat races on the water with plenty of seating to just sit and watch in the shade.

I managed to actually take pictures this weekend! (go me)

Sunday we went to see the Dalai Lama speak. Definitely a once in a lifetime kind of experience! 

He was speaking in the park and there were thousands (maybe?) of people there. We got there quite early so we had fairly close seats but were in the sun the whole time. 

He spoke in English and then a translator translated to German. The speech was great, all about peace and unity in the world. Very humbling. 

I forgot to bring Elsie a hat.

That was our weekend! What did you do?

Our 4th of July Weekend

To sum up the weekend... It was so HOT! We spent the majority of the weekend trying to escape the heat. We don't have AC because we aren't allowed to have it in our apartment so we relied on several fans to try to keep us cool. Saturday I think it reached 100 degrees and Sunday it was like 103 I believe. Yuck.

I really felt bad for Elsie. She obviously can't yet understand what it means to be hot and she was a little fussy. I gave her cold pacifiers and a cool damp wash cloth to keep her cool. Also, nightly cool baths. Poor baby.

Needless to say she didn't wear her 4th of July outfit for very long. But it was super cute!

Saturday we had a cookout with some friends. Despite the hot weather, it was still a lot of fun! We stayed under a gazebo for shade and in the evening we had a little breeze which made it bearable.

Sunday we escaped to the mall for a few hours to get some relief. 

I failed at taking pictures of our weekend :( I blame it on the weather.

4 Month Update

Today Elsie Mae is 4 months old. She's getting so big! At her doctors appointment today she weighed 15 pounds and 14 ounces (diaper off...woah) and is 25 inches long. That's the 91st and 80th percentiles.

Some things she does now:

Rolls over from front to back (at least she has a handful of times)

Sits up supported. Can mostly sit by herself if her hands are planted in front of her. 

Drools...a lot.

Sucks/chews on her fingers.  She doesn't favor any particular finger just all of them.  But hates the pacifier.

She eats a lot. About 31 ounces a day right now.  On average. 

Smiles and laughs. She can really get a belly laugh going if she thinks something is funny.  And she gives out smiles freely. She's really a happy baby.

She doesn't really fuss much.  Only if she's hungry or tired until she gets fed or falls asleep.  And rarely actually cries. 

She loves her exersaucer.

She also grabs at toys now and holds them and puts them in her mouth.  And if they don't fit in her mouth she tends to get mad haha. 

We are working on her sleeping in her crib versus the rock n play. She definitely still favors the rock n play but she's outgrowing it.

She likes watching cartoons but I try not to let her watch too much tv. I think she just enjoys the bright colors.  

Hmm I think that's all the highlights.  We are so crazy about our little girl! 

Some pictures from play group today

Our Anniversary Weekend

This weekend, Sunday actually, was our two year anniversary. And this week we have been together for TEN years! It's hard to believe.

Friday evening we hit up the German American Friendship Festival. Such a corny name for a festival haha. We just walked around and had some beers and apfelwein. Apfelwein is one of my favorite things about summer in Germany! It's a really sweet wine made from apples. SO yummy! We also had some fish and chips. Fun fact: Jay had never had tartar sauce. Haha

Saturday we... what did we do? Oh ya we went to a new (to us) mall nearby. I've decided it's my new favorite mall. But it is outside and it rained while we were there (of course). Jay got some new running shoes and I made my first purchase at Zara and got Elsie this jacket for the fall. I got a size larger than what she will probably be in the fall but just in case she needs to wear several layers, it won't be too tight.

Then Sunday, our actual anniversary day, I got to sleep in! Jay thinks I'm weird because I only slept until like 8:30 and that is "sleeping in" to me now haha. Then he made me a yummy breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We pretty much just hung out around the house most of the day but did end up going back down to the festival for a drink and to walk around a bit just to get out of the house. There was live music but the guy singing was not very good at all. And for dinner... Jay once again cooked and it was a surprise so I wasn't allowed in the kitchen all afternoon. He ended up making chicken and dumplings and a salad. It was really good and sweet of him!

Jay got me new kitchen towels that I've been wanting, since the other day I realized at least 50% of our kitchen towels are Christmas themed. Also, the traditional gift for a two year anniversary is cotton. Two birds with one stone. 

And what would a blog post be without a picture of this babe. 

First Father's Day

Yesterday was Jays first Father's Day. He's not really big on holidays so I didn't go crazy with plans for the day. He is also recovering from corrective eye surgery so we couldn't do much outside. 

Elsie and I made him a stepping stone sort of thing and also got him a grill brush. 

The stone is made with:
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup water
Kneed it with your hands until it forms a dough. Then you can make it whatever size and shape you want. To set it, bake at 200 degrees for about 3 hours. She wasn't a huge fan of having her hand and foot pressed into it haha but I think it turned out alright.  When it's done you can paint it or have your child paint it. I think it would be cool to make again when she's older. Or maybe even for a few years in a row as she grows. We could seal them and then put them in our garden one day :) 

Some pictures of Elsie from yesterday.

That mean mug lol 

(Sadly, I didn't get a picture of Jay and Elsie together)