Visiting with Friends

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Kelli came out to California for a visit… a long visit. Now that she has finished with PA school and will be starting her new job at the beginning of the year, she decided to take a trip back home for a month. Abby, Ellie and myself had the chance to spend some time with her when she first arrived and Abby was a happy camper. Today we spent the day hanging out at home, watching movies and just enjoying each others company. As you can see, these two make a great pair! Now we just need to see Mackenzie and Abby will be set!


First Sweet Potatoes!

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Ellie has officially moved on to her last food in the orange and yellow category! Squash was a success! Not only did she love it, it loved her! Today we started with Sweet Potatoes and while it was a messy venture, Ellie loved them. She ate the entire container in one sitting and had I not given her a bottle afterward, she would have had more. So far so good! I can say that at this point I have another easy eater, no picky eaters here! (I Hope)


Ellie is 5 Months Old!

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Ellie is now 5 months old! Wow she is growing and changing every day. I say it every time but I cant believe we are already at 5 months now. Ellie does not have a doctors appointment this month, as her check-ups are no longer as frequent as they used to be. We wont see Dr. Calig until after the first of the new year. Therefore I don’t have any height or weight stats to share.

Over the last month, Ellie has really started to grow both physically and in her physical and mental development. Ellie smiles a lot and giggles even more. I have found several of her ticklish spots and when you hit those at the right time, she giggles and gives me the biggest smile ever. She also loves to play half a game of peak a boo. Yes, I said half. I don’t have to hide behind my hands and pop out at her, all I have to do is say boo in a silly way and she giggles. The best part is that she will giggle and then stop, like she is waiting for me to do it again. I have come to realize that she actually is waiting for me to do it again! You can kind of see that in the giggle video several posts back.

Ellie is also starting to reach and grab for things like crazy. She has branched out from grabbing just her feet and toes, to grabbing lots of things in front of her and around her. Of course, all that she grabs ends up in her mouth!

Ellie’s tummy time is coming along too! She can easily roll from her tummy to her back and is pushing herself up very well. Her little legs kick a lot and she uses them to scoot in little circles. When she is laying on her back, she is getting the movements of trying to roll on to her tummy, but cant quite do it yet. Im sure she will get there soon! Here’s to a happy and healthy month leading up to the half way point!

Thanksgiving 2010

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Happy Thanksgiving!

This year was Ellie’s first Thanksgiving and while it was important because it was her first, it was also a quiet and low key weekend. This year Shaun and I decided not to cook the traditional Turkey Dinner and instead opted for a BBQ dinner from Famous Dave’s. While I am sure we missed the turkey dinner we normally have, I cant say I was disappointed with their brisket. I did keep a little tradition and cooked two pies, pumpkin and apple, which were both a hit with the family.


Grandma Zoe came over on Thanksgiving day to enjoy dinner with us. Afterward we hung out, letting all of that yummy BBQ settle and watched a movie of Abby’s choice… Toy Story 3. It was an excellent movie for Thanksgiving! The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the four days that Shaun had off. We visited with Grandpa Pat, Nana Fiona, Uncles James and Aunt Brittany. We also tried to hit some of the sales on Black Friday. We did find some great deals and took advantage of them as best we cook. Merry early Christmas to Shaun who found a few new shirts and a couple other items that he was in need of.


The Thanksgiving holiday was a great weekend and I hated to see it end. I feel spoiled when I have Shaun home for more then just the weekend. It was hard to let him go back to work but I know we have another big holiday coming up and more time off to spend together!

First Squash…

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Ellie has eaten her carrots with flying colors, no allergies that we can see. Now its on to another food! To stay within the orange and yellow colored foods we moved on to Squash. They were an even bigger hit then the carrots. Ellie loved them and in her first try, ate the entire container in one sitting! She has been a very hungry girl, I guess it means that despite mommy and daddy’s requests she continues to grow.



First Carrots…

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Ellie had her first carrots and despite some of the faces below… she loved them! You could tell she needed some to adjust to the new flavor, but when she realized it wasn’t bland like the rice cereal that she usually eats, Ellie was happy. I do think she was tired of me taking pictures of her. Oh well, just like I tell Abby… “When you are this cute, you just have to get used to the attention.” Im hoping that doesn’t create a complex later on in life!



Ellie Is 4 Months!!

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Yet another month slips by us and now Ellie is 4 months old. Its really hard to believe. She has changed so much in just a months time. She is smiling a lot and now even giggles. They are still little giggles, not the belly laughs that I love yet but she is such a happy baby. As I am sure you can see in pictures, those blue eyes have not changed yet. In fact they seem to just get lighter and lighter.

Ellie is also very strong and wants to move around. For those of you who have held her in the last little bit, you know what I mean! We bought her a Bumbo chair for her to sit up in and learn to sit on her own, but that ended up back at Target after she nearly pushed herself out of it. Even though it seemed a little bit early, we then decided to invest in a play center for her. While I know she wishes she could run and jump right along side her sister, the play center allows her to be more of a part of things and interact with everyone until she can do it all on her own. I predict though, that she will be an early walker.

Ellie is also starting to try and grab at things. While she hasn’t quite learned to grip toys yet, she is trying. I will say, however, that she knows just the right way to grab hair and skin and twist it and pull it in just the perfect way to hurt. Her grip is a strong one!

Ellie also went in for her 4 month check up today. Despite her issues at 6 weeks old with Pertussis, she is doing great. She still coughs a bit because her lungs are still healing after the damage done by whooping cough, but she is a picture of perfect health now. Dr. Calig says so! We are so blessed and thankful that she is doing so well.

Ellie’s 4 Month Stats
Weight: 14 Pounds, 4 Ounces
Length: 25 and 1/4 Inches

Ellie is growing well and at a rate that she should be. She is a big girl in the fact that she is long. She is skinny and long. I am still waiting for chunkier thighs to come, but it hasn’t happened yet. Looking back at Abby’s stats, Ellie is is nearly an inch longer then Abby was at 4 Months but Abby definitely had her beat in weight. Its so much fun to see the differences between the two and all the changes that happen!


Mice, Pumpkins and Monsters… Oh My!

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Well Halloween has come to an end and boy was it a crazy but fun day. We did all that we had set out to do. Harrison’s Halloween Party…Check. Visit with Grandma Zoe…Check. Visit with Grandpa, Nana, Uncle James and Aunt Brittany…Check. We did it all within a span of 8 hours and we have survived!

Harrison’s Halloween Party was a big success and I know for a fact Abby had a great time. Harrison and Abby have become good friends and as we walked up to their building I we could hear Harrison asking for Abby. That absolutely melted my heart. Our time was spent eating yummy snacks, talking about the kids and of course the Kings, and watching Monsters Inc. In all actuality, Monsters Inc was meant for the kids but they disappeared to play in Harrison’s room, leaving the adults to enjoy the movie, and we did. Abby and Harrison played and ran and played some more. When it came time to leave we literally had to pick Abby up and tear her away from what they were doing. I hated having to do something like that as playtime with other children is so crucial, but we had family to visit with. So after many tears and a bit of a tantrum we were on our way.



Our next stop was Grandma Zoe’s house. We stayed for an hour or two showing off Abby’s Minnie Mouse costume and of course Ellie, looking adorable as a pumpkin. Grandma had a few snacks and surprises for Abby to eat and to take home. Mommy also attempted to take a picture with her two cuties, but as well all know… its tough taking pictures with children under the age of three. We did manage one good one, but at the same time… neither girl was looking at the camera.



Soon we were heading out the door and on our way to Grandpa and Nana’s house. We got there just in time to show Grandpa, Nana, Uncle James and Aunt Brittany our cute Minnie Mouse and Adorable Pumpkin before they were sick and tired of being in costume. Abby and Ellie got some Halloween treats as well and Abby enjoyed a bit of candy too. Boy was she a lucky girl. On a normal day she never gets candy and when she has had it, its never been consumed too close to bedtime. Tonight was the exception, but by this point she had barely napped so we knew bedtime would be easy even with sugar coursing through her veins.


Halloween was great and fun was had by all! Until next year!

A Little More Pumpkin Picking…

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Ok, I know we went to the pumpkin patch already, but we just had to stop here. Abby was a bit overwhelmed with Underwood Farms so we decided the following day to go to the first place Abby went to pick out pumpkins. We didn’t stay long, but we had fun. Unfortunately Abby was still pretty distracted by other things and pumpkins seemed to be the last thing on her mind. I swear she is an older person trapped in a two year old body. All she wanted to do was go on the carnival rides, bounce house and giant slide. All of which she is still way too young for. She did eventually pay attention to some pumpkins, just as it was time to go. I think I will have to plan things a bit differently next year. Regardless, it was nice to spend time out with my girls and Shaun.




Pumpkin Picking at Underwood Farms

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We decided to take the girls to Underwood Farms to look at pumpkins. I have to confess that there really wasn’t any intention to buy pumpkins while we were there. Ralph’s had large pumpkins for only $5 and small pumpkins for $.99, so I figured we would save some money while the girls were young and don’t really know the difference. In another year or two, the old bait and switch and diversion tactics wont work and we will have two sets of beautiful blue eyes looking up at us, begging for a “real” pumpkin from the patch.

We had a great time though and there was plenty for Abby to look at. Maybe a little too much to look at. We saw all of the pumpkins gigantic to small as well as animals and a lot of interesting people. Abby really enjoyed visiting with the farms chickens, turkeys, donkeys, alpacas, sheep, cows, pigs and goats. The goats at Underwood Farms are very lucky goats. They basically have their own skywalk through their section of the farm. No kidding, hahaha (no pun intended)! I just had to remind myself not to stand underneath them, other wise I might get a special surprise from the sky.


Shaun did buy Abby a small pumpkin that she was pretty attached to but she also managed to come home with a cute little butterfly on a stick. Abby has now deemed it her “kite”. She absolutely loves it and I now find myself having to hide it, you know the whole out of sight out of mind thing, because she would literally take it with her everywhere. I think she liked that butterfly more then anything else at the pumpkin patch, including the pumpkins. That is saying a lot. We had a great time and Ellie managed to stay happy the entire trip, which was also a plus. I cant wait until Ellie is a little bit older and understands more, I know she will love the pumpkin patch as much as her sister does.