He is Risen!

"Alleluia, for our Lord God Almighty Reigns!" "Jesus Christ is Risen today, Alleluia"! Two of my most favorite Easter songs, both played at mass on Sunday. I LOVE Easter! I might even like it more than Christmas but that is a tough call. I can't even verbalize the magic of Easter. Magic might not be the best word - not magic as in sorcerers, black magic, and wizards - anything anti-Catholic no more like the magic and wonder you feel when you go to Disney World as a kid. That is a better comparison - Easter morning at mass is like a kid in Disney World.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend celebration filled with lots of family and dear friends! Andy and I even were able to make it to two Holy Week masses/communion services! Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

Good Friday

We enjoyed a wonderful Friday off and were able to go to mass at 3 with our sweet girl

Eleanor's new favorite thing - to pick up objects bigger than her and carry them across the apartment.

Aunt MEA came in town and came straight to the apartment to see her "Mrs. Bubble". Her little clone also shares her love for cheese and went straight to the counter when she saw the cheese block exit the fridge. She then begged for the cheese until MEA gave it to her! She LOVES cheese!

We then went to dinner at Marmi's and had a great time with The Gentrys and Grandma and Grandpa who were also in town (along with Aunts Keekda and MEA). Nyah and Eleanor took a bath together - Nyah's first out of the sling! She is such a sweet little girl! She and Eleanor are about 4 months apart!

Holy Saturday

Another dinner at Marmi's after a fun day at Eli's bday party. The Riley's came over for dinner and we had a great time eating burgers and playing games. Eleanor is wearing her new outfit from "Aunt Amanda" - she loves her purple! :)

Eleanor was SCARFING blueberries so Grandma (my Grandma) took them away and put them on a side chair. Somehow E got onto the floor and found the blueberries...you will see below :)

Easter Sunday

Eleanor woke Daddy up and told him she wanted to go find where the Easter bunny hid her basket!

She found her basket!

Eleanor and her new bun bun from the Easter bunny and her Daddy!

"Hoppy Easter"

Eleanor helping Mommy go through her basket

After Easter mass, all in attendance except for Katie :( The Aldons have a track record for not EVER being able to all be at mass together (someone is sick or out of town...) for Easter and it has been going on for years...maybe someday....

Eleanor LOVED the baptismal font and couldn't get enough...

Our sweet little Easter Lilly in her dress and jacket

Opening her Easter present from Marmi

Ready to hunt eggs

Our little girl is getting too big! She picked up and dropped in the basket all by herself all the eggs!

What a fun Easter had by all! Lots of yummy food and fellowship with family! Happy Easter everyone!

Eleanor is 11 Months Old!

Our sweet baby is 11 Months Old today! I CAN'T BELIEVE in ONE MONTH I will have a ONE YEAR OLD! Oh WOW! As I reflect on this past year I kind of miss all the excitment that came this time last year. I was so ready to meet my sweet little one and also ready to get my body back. I remember thinking that a lot - too bad it still isn't completely and probably never will be back the same way ha!

To the most important part though, our growing girl, Eleanor!

Because of Lent and my decision to not Blog, I didn't end up even handwriting a post for her 10th month so this will be a combination of both 10th and 11th months. Sorry E, I did manage to take a pic which is posted on the "Catching Up" post. SOOO much has happened since the 9 month post! February was forever ago! The biggest growth to brag about - WALKING! Let's start there. Eleanor, you started walking a few weeks ago - took your first "step" probably end of March/beginning of April but only did that when you wanted something - like if Mommy was holding her keys. It wasn't until this past weekend that you TOOK OFF! You take 5 and 6 steps at a time and if you fall over, usually get back up and try again. You are such a smart girl, falling on your bottom where it is cushy and not forward on your hands! You love to pick things up and walk with them!

More exciting new feats for you - you have so many words you are saying! You love to point at what you want and sometimes just point, don't make a protesting noise. You usually always purse your lips and make the "pah" sound when we ask you to say please! Your words now include:

- mama

- dada

- ba ba (bottle)

- bu bu (bun bun - your favorite lovie)

- na na (night night)

- Ab pah (Abby- Marmi and Pop Pop's dog - and what you call every dog you see in person or in a book)

- Uh Oh - you have the OH down too...it use to be uh uh. You LOVE dropping things just so you can say it!

- Chees (Cheese and Jesus) you kind of say the same thing for both ha!

- Up

- Buh buh (Bye Bye) you wave your hand and say it in the sweetest tone! I could just eat you up!

- Pah for please (we try to always make you say it)

As I said, you have gotten so good at pointing at things. You LOVE to point at Jesus on the cross at church and at Mary when she is holding baby Jesus, it is a statue very near where we sit and we always pass it on our way to the back during the consecration. We figure the congregation doesn't mind hearing your joyful noises during the readings and songs but when the priest is performing the miracle of changing the bread and wine into Jesus' blood and body, we feel you might be better witnessing it behind the glass with the other babies your age. Your Daddy and I always hope you can participate in the mass even at an early age but want to also respect the people who are praying around us. That will probably be another post - when and if we put you in the nursery. Anyway, back to pointing. You love the stained glass and the big light fixtures, it is so neat to see you watch them. You also point at people you love, cock your head to your shoulder and smile. It is SO SWEET the way you like to say, "I love you!"

You also are still so good at waving hello and bye bye. You ALSO have begun BLOWING KISSES! You hold your hand (sometimes both hands if we are really lucky) to your mouth for a while and make the mmmmmm sound until you finally pull it away and finish up with a mmmmmmmmmmmmmAH! It is SOO sweet!

You LOVE your bath still and sometimes you will even say ba ba for bath too. On the bathing subject, we thought you might like the pool as well and YOU DID! You were a little fish, swimming around, kicking your legs and moving your arms. You were also trying to drink the water - we will work on that! Your first swim (where you actually participated unlike last year the few times we put you in the pool) was on a Sunday afternoon after church, April 8th. Yes it was over 80 degrees out that day and the water had a chill but you didn't mind! You wore the cutest little one piece with a diaper inside and a matching sun hat which you surprisingly left on!

I have a bad feeling about the pool being in eye shot for you this summer - I am worried you will see it and will want to swim ALL THE TIME! Probably shouldn't be a worry - I am so thankful you love the water my sweet little fishy!

In the food department, you pretty much eat anything we give you! We still have strayed from shellfish, honey, peanut butter (though you did find a peanut on the floor, put it in your mouth and promptly spit it out), and egg whites but everything else has been fair game. You have loved us introdusing you to a few new things - any type of bean, you love black beans like they were candy, new cheeses, strawberries, blueberries, peaches (these are whole fruits not pureed), wheat pancakes, blueberry waffles, whole peas, pan seared tilapia, whole wheat pasta and all of your other favorites.

You did take it upon yourself to introduce yourself to an apple a month ago. We were in sprouts and you wanted something to hold so I gave you a big apple. You decided to be a big girl and took a bite out of it as if you had done it a million times before. You LOVED it and kept biting off chunks as I peeled the skin away. It was kind of a grainy apple os it almost dissolved in your mouth as you chewed. I thought you seemed ok until I was checkign out and missed pulling off a piece of skin and you started choking as I was paying! You scared Mommy so much and you eventually got it out with some throw up. Poor thing, but you were alright and wouldn't you know that as soon as you got a breath you were reaching for the apple again!

You sometimes let us spoon feed you but it is a major fight so we usually let you feed yourself though still with your favorite fork and spoon - your hands! Below are a couple variations of a typical menu in the day of Eleanor Ann at 11 months.

Variation 1:

Breakfast

whole wheat pancake, cut up strawberries and bananas, blueberry or peach yogurt

Lunch

half of a whole wheat, turkey or ham and cheese sandwich cut up in pieces and some fruit (whole frozen blueberries, cut up peaches/strawberries/banana/apple)

Dinner

grilled chicken, sauteed spinach cut up small, sauteed in garlic and evoo, cheese and some fruit

Variation 2:

Breakfast

oatmeal with some processed apples or peaches, turkey sausage cut up and fruit

Lunch

Black beans, green peas, and fruit

Dinner

ground turkey (you like when it has taco meat flavoring), cheese, fruit, cut up green beans sauteed in garlic, evoo, salt, and pepper

Special Treats you have been introduced to are graham crackers and animal crackers. Both you love and like I said, only get them as a special treat - the graham crackers were introduced at your friend Garrett's bday party. You also tried goldfish for the first time at Katie's house and why would we even question whether or not you would enjoy them - they have CHEESE in them! We try to make fruit your dessert after meals but every once in a while you get sometime fun like those other treats. You have also eaten tortilla before and got treated to your very own cheese quesadilla off the kids menu at Cheesecake Factory. We wouldn't normally order you the kids meny but our appetizer wasn't something you would want (lettuce wraps) so we ordered you a quesadilla. I will say that we did that before they brought us a special baby plate - cut up bread and bananas - how sweet of them! Points for Cheesecake Factory!

You officially ended breastfeeding right at 10 months. Mommy was so sad to give it up but you kind of just did it yourself. I am so thankful we were able to last that long and will forever cherish that special time with you! I love you so much! You now take a 6 - 7oz bottle in the morning after breakfast, around 2 before your afternoon nap, and then at night before bed. You like to sit up and lean against our chest facing out - I do miss you liying in my arms and eating as you looked up at me but we do it this way as you like to sit up and play with your feet! You are drinking out of 9 oz. glass bottles which are pretty heavy with liquid in them and we have also kind of just let you play with your feet or hold bun bun while we have always fed you so you still haven't mastered holding your own bottle though you do hold your water cup just fine. We are working on graduating you to taking your bottle on your own. Until then, Daddy and I LOVE the time we get to slow down, sit, and rock with you holding you close as we feed you your bottle.

Sweet baby, we love you more than anything and are blessed even more every day by having you in our lives! Thank you for being such a sweet love, for bringing joy to our hearts with your hugs, kisses (you like to blow them rather than give with your lips, we take anything!), and your smiles. We love you!

Catching Up

Oh WOW! So much has happened since Ash Wednesday! I want to write and post pictures about it all...we will see how long that takes...here are a few of the highlights:

Eleanor turned 10 Months Old! I said in her 11 Month post that I really couldn't distinguish the two months in what I could remember her doing. We love seeing her grow and turn into a real person!

We finally decided after sitting down with my financial expert Dad that we are going to wait another year before buying a house. Despite the market being so in favor of buyers and the low interest rates, Andy is my dad's clone as far as being conservative with money goes (which I am thankful for) and really wants to pay off some or hopefully all of his college debt before taking on mortgage debt ha! SO it is another year on the 3rd floor in our apt. We are fine and cozy and the space works for the three of us but that is part of the reason why we are concerned about me being pregnant and carrying a one year old up the stairs...so we will see what happens but think we will wait another year in that department too...tear :(

We also made another big decision about next year, Eleanor is going to preschool! My mom needs a little bit of a break though she LOVES taking care of Eleanor. I can understand though, not that she is mobile, she makes you tired just watching much less chasing her! We started to look at in-home daycare and part-time day cares and then stumbled upon St. Philip's Catholic Church in Flower Mound. I would have preferred to put her in preschool at our parish, St. Ann, but the great thing about Little Apostle's Preschool (St. Phil's) is that they do 5 day/week daycare while St. Ann is only once a week and you have to be 18 months to start (E will only be 15 months in August). We are excited, the facility is awesome and the curriculum seems advanced so hopefully it works out well http://stphilipcc.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=173! Mom is going to take her and pick her up and E will be at school from 9 - 2 every day.

One of the weekends during Lent, we drove 2 hours and met Grandma and Grandpa in Eastland to return Grandpa's white truck that Andy has been borrowing since we married. It was perfect as they hadn't seen her and we hadn't seen them in quite a few months so it was a perfect day trip! We enjoyed lunch with them at a little Italian Restaurant off the highway. Eleanor loves Grandma and Grandpa!

Other trips out of town included to the lake for St. Patrick's Day, Eleanor's first, and to Houston for Laura and sweet Baby Jacob's shower at the Tantons. We had so much fun spending time with Hallie, Belle, and Jason and Amanda along with a dinner evening with the Wentrceks as well! All three babies are getting so big, Eleanor had so much fun with her Houston girlfriends!