Elsie is 14 Months Old!!!

Our baby girl is growing up way too fast! I don't even know where to begin! Elsie is so fun right now! She is already growin into a little girl, she isn't a baby anymore. Ok, so she is still a baby, but she is a baby that understands. I feel like we carry on conversations with her every day, but at the same time, she doesn't even talk. I swear most days she says whatever we tell her to. I can't say what her first word is yet. I guess "Mama, Dada, and Hi" are 3 words she says consistently. It is so cute when she says mama and dada :) A little about Elsie:

• Elsie is finally getting her 8th tooth. It just broke through this weekend. She now has 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom. I still hate teething. She hasn't cried much with this tooth, but she is ALWAYS drooling! You will notice that she has a nice slobber ring around the collar of every shirt she is wearing :)
  


• Elsie has started mimicking us. It is pretty funny. She will try to do whatever we are doing. Lately, she has been trying to blow - she blows on her own food when it is hot (or even cold), she tries blowing bubbles - if we hold the wand in front of her mouth, she does it. It is funny.



• Elsie has started to play. I love watching her carry her baby around, she will lay her baby down, put something by her baby's mouth, pick her up, carry her somewhere else, it never stops, it is so cute. I love that she loves babies - just like her mother :) She will even pick her baby up and pat her on the back :)



• Elsie loves to see real babies too. She likes them more when she can tell they are real - if they are eating or crying. We babysat for a friend of mine that had twins - Elsie loved them :)



• Elsie is so happy all the time. She still throws fits when she doesn't get what she wants, but luckily for us, right now she is still easy to distract. Boy does she have a temper! We may be in big trouble :) ...we ARE in big trouble :)



• Elsie doesn't bother things unless she knows we don't want her to touch it. She heads right for the things we don't want her touching...for example, she loves to get into the cupboard with food in it and empty it - she doesn't eat any of it, she just takes everything out and puts it into the middle of the floor. If I remove her from the scene, she screams at me and will throw herself onto the floor and cry...until she finds something else to play with, or she goes right back to the cupboard and the tantrum begins again....some days this goes on all day :) This is why we love Elsie...she is a very persistent girl - this trait will get her far in life :) Persistence pays off, right? :)



• Funny story...we drove to Moab (ok, so we drove to Green River, Ut) last weekend, on the way there we gave Elsie a sucker to keep her happy, she ate it for awhile, then she started playing with it. She kept sticking the sucker to her leg and foot (she was wearing a skirt). I told her to only put the sucker in her mouth and to keep it off her leg. She would look at me, smile and giggle and touch her leg with the sucker again, some of the time, she would giggle before the sucker would even touch her leg - a few times she didn't even touch it to her leg before she brought it back up to her mouth. It was funny. I finally got tired of cleaning her leg, foot, hands, arms, and face of sticky sucker and told her that if she didn't keep the sucker in her mouth, I was going to take it away. I warned her 3 times. She kept sticking it to her leg, so I took it away. She screamed, of course, but we distracted her and survived the rest of the ride (thanks to "Tangled" on my Ipod). On the way home today, I was desperate to keep her entertained, so I decided to try a sucker again. She did really well with it, until after about 5 minutes or so....she lifted up her pant leg, looked up at me and smiled,....and touched that dang sucker to her leg! Folks, we have a smart one on our hands! We LOVE our smart baby girl!!



• Elsie loves to be scared, she loves it when we come around corners and scare her, or pound on the wall, she tries to do it to us too :) She still loves peek-a-boo.



• Elsie still loves music. Whenever she hears it she bounces up and down and twists her body :) It is instant every time. My favorite is when she bounces up and down and doesn't change her facial expression (usually her face is totally serious). Sometimes she will smile really big and look at me to dance with her :)



• Elsie still LOVES tv! I can't get her to not watch it...ok, so I can, I just have to turn the tv off, but she LOVES it when it is on! Anything and everything! I was amazed when she sat still on Josh's lap for almost an hour (while she was supposed to be sleeping) and watched animal planet...it was about polar bears :) Right now, Elsie's favorite movie is "Tangled" She has sat still and watched the entire movie 2 times! Crazy! She even smiles and giggles at some of the parts :)



• Elsie LOVES books! She still prefers to just turn the pages :) When I read to her, I have to be quick :) Some days her attention span is longer and I feel like she actually learns something :) Usually, I get to point to one thing, tell her what it is while she turns to the next page :) Reading is important, right? :)



Outfit of the day :)





Gotta love that grin :)



Outfit of the day :)



Outside on Daddy's shoulders getting ready to play...



"Red Light, Green Light!"


Elsie was giggling the entire time!



Time for Elsie and Daddy to be it! :)


Josh is the best Daddy EVER!!!!


He is so good with all the kids!



Elsie trying to fit all her toys in her hand at once :)


Cute, naked baby :)



Sitting on her car watching tv :)



Passed out...


Looks comfy to me :)



Elsie eats a little chicken with her ketchup these days :)





Giggling on the bed while I clean her room :)



Elsie's main interest these days...



Elsie's first time having ranch...


I don't think she ate any chicken this meal...


There wasn't a trace of ranch left when she was done :)

Elsie's first time having cereal with milk in it for breakfast


She thought it was ok, she didn't eat much, but sure


played in it a lot :)

Elsie getting her bracelets for church :)


...actually she was entertaining herself while I got ready :)

Pretty, Pretty Princess all ready for church! :)





Church wears out Daddies and baby girls :)



Elsie LOVES black beans!...


Can you tell?



Naptime again ...



Kite Festival! Elsie LOVED all the people....


...and the sno cone...


...and the cotton candy...


...and walking around with her kite from Sam and Danielle...


She LOVED the ride in the "train" I can't wait to take her to Lagoon and Disneyland this summer! :)


She finally passed out on the way to the car :) What a fun day!

Elsie helping me tend Stockton and Sadie


They are super small and super cute. Elsie also played with their big sisters, Addie and Emma. This didn't last long, Elsie wanted to play more than the babies did :)



Outfit of the day :)


Notice her tongue in this picture. She has been doing this a lot lately; she will twist her tongue and rub it on the tooth that is coming in. Funny.



A camera is not new to Elsie.


I get out the camera and tell her to say cheese, and she usually says "Cheese" and grins really big.


This is the result :)

Then she gets excited about something


...and this is the result... :)



Aside from Mommy and Daddy...


Macy is Elsie's favorite person in the entire world!!!


I love watching them play together! I swear these 2 knew eachother before now...

Sometimes Elsie will hold still while I do her hair (while she is eating breakfast - hehe)


I got creative this time :)



Elsie's first time having chocolate milk...


she likes it! :)





"Bye Bye"


Elsie LOVES to wave at anyone and everyone!


It is actually super cute! She pops her wrist, moving her hand up and down.


She still melts the hearts of everyone that she waves at (everywhere we go!) :)


Elsie has made our lives complete! We couldn't be more happy! We will be forever grateful to Amanda for blessing our lives! We love Elsie more than anything!


Thank you Amanda!!!!!!