Little Explorer

For a long time we were expecting Estelle to get into more things around the house, especially now that she's more mobile. Well in the past week, she's shown more interest in the kitchen cabinets. We have safety locks on some, but not all of them. Here she is getting into my stash of Diet Coke.

 

 

Sick Baby Girl

Estelle has been sick all week. It started with vomiting on Sunday morning and progressed to diarrhea Monday night through Friday. Unless you were the one who had to change her diapers (and her clothes and sheets), you probably wouldn't have even known she was sick. She wanted a little extra cuddle time, but other than that was a happy baby girl. Here we are hanging out on the couch. She decided she wanted her baby to go for a ride on the train and brought them both up to the couch to play with.

 

Sunglasses

I was out running errands with Estelle one day when I saw these children's sunglasses for $1 and couldn't pass them up. She loves wearing them around the house and tries to put them on me and Keith.

 

Babies

Luckily for us, I have many friends who have also had babies in the past year. One of them has a 4 month old daughter and they came over for dinner recently. Estelle was fascinated with her and really wanted to play with her. It was a good learning/practice experience for us as we plan for the arrival of baby #2.

 

Estelle has a baby doll she's likes to play with. We gave her the baby doll to play with while our friends were visiting and she was so excited to put baby doll in the car seat and give her a pacifier. It was so cute to watch.

 

 

Bye Bye Bottles

Keith and I have been pretty reluctant to completely wean Estelle off her bottles. First it was because of her ear infections, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Well we finally put away all of her bottles this past weekend. She had been doing a combination of both bottle and sippy cup for the past few months, but she still preferred the bottle hands down. Here's our big girl being master of the sippy cup.

 

19 Weeks

I am officially 19 weeks pregnant, which means we are almost at the half-way point. It's amazing how fast this whole process goes by. I went to the doctor yesterday for my scheduled ultrasound and check-up. Everything looks good for baby girl (and for mama). She has all of her fingers and toes and is growing nicely. Seeing her up on the screen made me so excited to meet her. For those of you I don't get to see, here are some pregnancy "selfies."

 

 

Walking

Estelle is officially walking these days. She had been consistently taking 2-3 steps on her own for a couple of weeks, but she finally put it all together and can now walk across the house in one attempt. Keith and I are having so much fun watching her become more independent.

 

Knee Walking

Estelle has been walking on her knees for the past couple of weeks now. When new people see her do it, they say they have never seen a baby do that before. Keith and I thought it was a pretty normal thing, but I guess not. So here she is showing off her moves.

 

Swings

About a week ago, we had beautiful weather here in STL, so Keith and I took Estelle to the nearby park. We played on the swings and helped her climb on the playground and go down the slide. It's so much fun to see her growing and exploring.

 

 

 

Minnie Mouse

We brought out all of Estelle's toys over Thanksgiving when we had the Wolgemuth's in town. Some of them had been tucked away because they were meant for older children and other because we have so many. One of the toys that has stayed out after the holiday is Minnie Mouse. She' almost as big as Estelle, but she loves playing with her and dragging her around the basement. The last few days she's been putting Minnie in her rocking chair and trying to feed her Cheerios.

 

 

Our Little Reindeer

The Monday before Christmas out babysitter had a Holiday Elf Pajama Party. All kids were supposed to come in their pajamas and bring a snack to share. When Keith picked her up, her nose was painted red like Rudolph's. So Cute!!

 

And here's a picture of my finished Merry Christmas banner. It was so much fun to make and I look forward to hanging it every year!

Little Dancer

Estelle got this little vanity set at one of her baby showers. She is finally old enough to enjoy playing with it and it able to turn the music on and off at will. Recently she has started dancing along with the music everytime it plays. I think it's adorable. Thanks Aunt Vickie!!

 

Nap Time?

I had to take Estelle for a follow-up appointment with her ENT earlier this month. the appointment was at 9am, which is close to her naptime. I was sure that if I put her in her high chair to feed her I'd be able to keep her awake until we had to leave the house. I was wrong.