Elise : 8.5 Months

Jamie mentioned the other night that he wasn't sure I was documenting Elise as much as I had Hadley, and I did realize that most of my photos were on my iphone instead of our nice camera and it has been way too long since I did a post on her! So here is an overload of photos and info on our darling 2nd child!

She basically looks like this when she is awake. She is a happy and delightful child and is overjoyed to be around people and get any attention. She rarely gets upset and is just happy to there, she pretty much makes me feel like a rockstar! With a personality like this it is hard to be upset that sleep just isnt her thing (a perfect child would make everyone else feel bad anyways) we have been sleep training for the last 5 weeks and have seen some major improvements and are almost through the night. She sleeps lightly and wakes up often, just like I did/do so it actually helps a lot that I can kind of understand and try to help her. I am so lucky she is such a happy, easy baby! She is seriously a joy.

If she is happy to see me, then she practically vibrates when Jamie is around! She adores her daddy and he gets the biggest laughs when he finds her ticklish spots, which are many, and lets her play with his hair and face.

 Her hair is coming in dark blonde and looks like Jamie's at this age, she has his darker skin but her eyes are a dark navy/grey color which is common on my Mothers side (my aunt and cousin have navy/grey while my mom and I have green/grey). If you line up my baby picture, my mother's baby picture and grandmother's baby picture and add hers, she fits right in so her looks favor me while her skin and hair is Jamie's.

And she has my wide mouth...

She is 98% in height and 80% in weight and has the chubbiest little hands - I think the age from 6-12 months is just the yummiest. She just started babbling and does a "bababa" sound and also a loud open mouth monotone "aaahhhh".

 After an iffy start with food, she has since come around and loves it!! Especially feeding herself, a pile of puffs can keep her occupied for an easy 20 minutes. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, I think she may feed herself earlier (I had to bribe Hadley to feed herself) but for now I am fishing all sorts of bits that she finds in corners of my house out of her mouth.

 She LOVES my phone and all electronics, I have found slobber marks when I leave it on the floor a little too long and seems magnetically attracted to cords. 

She also loves her sisters toys, her favorites are the little people barn and her little cars. She also tries to swipe Hadley's beloved baby to screams and shrieks and we are excited she will be getting one for her first birthday. She loves rattles and this Banana thing that jingles and crinkles. She does something we call the "Hulk Smash" where she slams whatever is in her hands down as hard as she can - it is hilarious. She still doesnt really care when I sing (it is fascinating how different my girls are) but I have found that she really enjoys any song with actions and her favorites are Sunbeam and Froggy went a Courtin. She also just tries to eat most books but has started to come around to flap books and one called "That's not my Bunny" that has different parts for her to touch. Her nicknames are Leesy, Baby Leese (Hadley), Missy and my favorite is Lovebug - it just describes her cute self perfectly.

Hadley has always adored and been interested in Elise, but now decided she is big enough to play with her. So we are slowly learning how to play gently (sometimes we love Elise so much we just want to pop her head off...) with one another, it is really sweet. I know they will not always get along, but for now I love that they genuinely seem to love one another and Hadley can make Elise giggle until she cant breathe.

I wish there was a way to capture and remember all the special little moments I have with these two, they truly make my life better and I am so lucky to be their Mom and be able to stay home with them. Elise is a delight and it feels like she has always been with us, she fits in so perfectly.