Pumpkins and a Princess

Matt carved our pumpkin for Elle and I tonight.  I apparently picked the largest pumpkin making it tough for him to cut through.  Elle watched Matt like a hawk and thought it was just the funnest thing.  Thanks to Nana and Grandad for sending Elle's 1st Halloween bib, she looked so precious!!!

Very proud of herself with her pumpkins

Matt getting started

Mesmerized by her Daddy

Collecting baby pumpkins

In the pumpkin

No babies were harmed in the carving of our pumpkin

I was determined to get one of her in it!

Matt's master piece

Happy Halloween!!!!

Five Months

Matt had been on my back about posting again and I promised to do so as soon as I took Elle's 5 month pictures!  She turned 5 months yesterday...can you believe it?  She is the absolute joy of our life.  She has so much personality and it seems like everyday she is learning to do something different.  She chatters constantly and we are currently working on "Dada" and "Mama".  She's got Dada down, only it comes out a little more like "Yadaya".  Most Mommy's are heart broken that their babies say Dada first but I told Matt whoever she calls in the morning has to go get her out of her crib, I am pretty anxious to get a sleep in.  Actually she is a great sleeper.  She doesn't usually make a peep until around 7 and she is totally content playing in her crib until around 7:30 or 8.  

We have started her on rice cereal which has also been a huge help.  About two weeks ago she started waking up at 5 am  totally ready to party, and while she was content until around 6:45 or 7 I was anxious to get her back to her 8 am sleep-in.  We have been successful!  The cereal is doing the trick.  She has her bottles throughout the day on her normal schedule but before bed we give her a small amount of cereal.  We started it super runny and we have worked up almost to the normal consistency.  Babies have to learn how to swallow, they are born with the instinct to push stuff out of their mouth with their tongues.  The first couple nights she was spitting everything out but seems to be getting the hang of it.  She needs to be comfortable with cereal by her 6 month check-up at which point we will be told to start food.  Crazy!

We are preparing for Halloween right now.  We got a pumpkin, which Matt and Elle will be carving in the next few days (Pictures to follow) and Elle and I have been working on her costume.  She will not be going trick or treating but I wanted to take her to see her Aunts, Cousins and my parents, plus I would be a horrible mother if we didn't have a picture for the baby book.  Here are a few of her options (excluding  our chosen costume...to be posted after Halloween).

A Cheerleader!

An Eskimo

A Moose, no costume needed!

A Froggy!

Tom Cruise, Risky Business Style
(Matt's been told he looks like a young Tom Cruise before)

Finally, Elle recently got a new toy that she LOVES!  I am trying to figure out how to post a video so I won't post about it today.  I'll try to get that video up so you can see the Girl in action!!!

Beautiful Fall Day

Elle and I spent Wednesday morning at the park with her cousins.  One of my favourite things about fall is the cooler weather on a sunny day.  I love getting into a sweater and jeans and heading out for a walk.  The leaves at this time of year are gorgeous so Linds and I couldn't help ourselves.  We posed the kids and took some pictures of them amongst the leaves.  Aren't they adorable?

 

Pops would be SO proud!!!!

After weeks of practicing Elle successfully rolled from her back to her stomach today!!!  Pops was trying to teach her to do so while we were in Florida a month ago, but as hard as she tried she couldn't seem to figure it out.  Everyday we practice and she has been so close but always gets stuck on her side.  She teeters and teeters and then falls back to her back.  But today, while playing in her room, she successfully got to her front.  Once she got to her front though she didn't know what to do with herself.  It was hilarious.  She did it again for her Daddy later on tonight!  We are so proud of our little Elle Belle.  What  strong baby girl.

These pictures aren't from today, they are from a different day of practicing, but so cute either way!  

Four Months...plus a little

 My perfect little baby is 4 months old.  She was officially 4 months on the 26th of September but she didn't go to the doctor for her 4 month check-up until today.  We had it scheduled for last week but in the interest of having a happy baby for birthday weekend I re-scheduled for this week.

As per last time I took her immunizations worse than she did.  I couldn't sleep at all last night and had a horrible stomach ache this morning.  She didn't make a peep for her first needle, in fact she was still smiling at the nurse.  Poor baby had no idea what was coming when she got the second one.  She cried for a few minutes but got over it pretty quickly.  The nurse said she was so impressed with how quickly she was soothed when I picked her up.  She said we must be doing something right...LOL.  She is sleeping soundly now but I will keep a close eye on her.

AT BIRTH:  7 lbs 6 oz, 19.25 inches

2 MONTHS: 9 lbs 15 oz, 22.5 inches

4 MONTHS: 12 lbs 6 oz, 24 inches

They told me that her spitting up was normal, we were concerned she was spitting up too much.  The doctor also told me that from 4 months to 6 months is one of the most fun times as your baby's personality really begins to show.  Below are Elle's 4 month pictures.  Just as the doctor said at 4 months her personality has just exploded.  She is so animated and so funny.  She thinks she is pretty funny too.

Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday Pops!  

This weekend Pops turned the big FIVE-O!  He is now officially old enough to be a grandpa!  We hope that he had a wonderful Birthday and we love him to bits!

We also celebrated Nana's Birthday.  We had dinner with her tonight to celebrate.  Her birthday is extra special because we (Chelsey and Wendy) share a birthday.  I was born on her birthday, shortly before dinner, allowing all our visitors to share a birthday cake while meeting baby Chelsey. 

This weekend Matt and Elle spoiled me to death for my birthday.  They gave me breakfast in bed on Saturday morning followed by presents.  Elle loved playing with the tissue paper.  She was so funny, pulling the tissue over her face and throwing it around.  She has total bed head but we had so much fun as a family.  Later on Matt and I dropped Elle off at one of our bestest houses to babysit her for the night and we went down to the Toronto Maple Leaf game.  We had a great time together and the Leafs won which made it that much better.