Josh, Ashlee and Elsie: May 2011

As each month passes by, I still can't believe I am the mother to such an amazing little girl! I am the luckiest mom ever! I can't believe our baby girl is 15 months old! She is getting so big! She doesn't say many words that anyone but Josh and I can understand. Her vocabulary that others can understand consists of: "Hi, Bye, Woa"...I think that's about it. She does know some animal sounds, but it is a rare occasion when we can get her to say any of them. Her first animal sound she said was the monkey, she shakes her head up and down and says, "ah, ah" (by the way, it is hard to spell the sounds she makes), she also knows the kitty, "Maaow" duck "cack" for her pig sound, she makes a gagging sound in the back of her throat, it is pretty funny. I think that is the ones she will do most of the time. It is fun. When she talks in her own language and we look at her and repeat back what we think she said, she grins really big and giggles. It is so cute. We know she understands everything we say to her, we are also realizing really quick that she already has selective hearing. We are in for it :) Elsie LOVES her daddy! It melts my heart to watch the two of them interact. They are so cute together! Every time Josh asks Elsie for a kiss, he always gets one, I usually have to steal my kisses from her :) Elsie has finally started kissing with her mouth closed. She is also good at blowing kisses :) Elsie still brightens the day of anyone she sees. She freely gives smiles and waves to ANYONE that looks her way! She is still such a social baby :) I love to take her places. Elsie is SO busy. She never stops moving. She will play with toys, but for the most part, she would rather play with anything that is not a toy...ie. tupperware, anything with a lid, fingernail polish, books (our paperback books), sunglasses, anything that most parents would take away from their one year old :) She also loves to play with anything from the kitchen (bowls, plates, spoons, forks, turners, anything - you name it ). Elsie still LOVES tv! ANY and ALL tv! She loves cartoons, movies, anything. Her favorite movies are Tangled and Toy Story 3. She will watch most anything, but if these 2 movies are on she doesn't move during them.

Elsie has 8 and 4-half teeth. Her 8 front teeth are in and all 4 of her molars are coming in. Boy has this been a month of drool! Elsie loves to be scared (when we surprise her around corners), I love to see her eyes light up and smile when we scare her. It has been fun to watch her mimick our "roaring" at her - she will squeal and look at our faces for our reaction, it is pretty cute. Elsie isn't a very picky eater, but if she isn't hungry - she will not eat! Her favorite meal of the day is breakfast. She loves breakfast! She loves scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, strawberries, grapes, pancakes, biscuits and gravy...anything. She is a very lucky girl because she gets a hot breakfast every day. She wouldn't know what to do with a bowl of cereal (ok, so she would know what to do with it, but she never gets it for breakfast - she has had cold cereal once that I know of). Elsie also loves beans! All beans, especially black beans from Cafe Rio. She also loves tomatoes. Elsie isn't a snacker, she wants her 3 meals and that is about it. She loves to go to our cupboard with food in it and pull out boxes of treats and bring them to us, but when we go to give her some, she never wants it...she just wants to empty the cupboard :)

I will be grateful for the day Elsie can pick up her own toys. Right now, I clean up her toys, the tupperware, pans and treat cupboard at least 10 times a day...while I am cleaning up one mess, she is making another one :) I decided I will never have a clean house until Elsie is married :) I am ok with that :) Elsie is so fun these days. I am exhausted every day by the time she goes to bed. I have to update the blog after she is asleep, and most nights I am just too tired. I am really good at taking pictures, it just takes me awhile to get them posted :) Josh and I are so happy. We love eachother and Elsie so much! Life is perfect.

I had to give her another toy to help her hold still

Our little girl is getting too big!

This is Elsie running behind the couch from me and the camera :)

...coming out the other side :)
She thinks she is so funny :)

New jammies

One of Elsie and I's road trips to Salt Lake - The first road trip with a dvd player in the car :)
If you can't tell...she really likes it!

Elsie's new baby

She loves her baby and her stroller :)

I love this picture :)

I can never get enough of this cute grin!

Elsie's hair is much longer when it is wet
Elsie LOVES bathtime!

A typical breakfast; scrambled eggs and strawberries
Gotta love that morning frizzy hair-do :)

Elsie and Daddy watching tv...
Must be a good show!

Elsie's new favorite toys

Place your orders now!

Throwing a tantrum... :)
(she is really good at this)

...Don't worry, the tantrum only lasted about 20 seconds :)

I love it when she has to get on her tippy toes to get into the drawers
She loves to play with all my stuff :)

Getting ready to go to the splashpad :)

Brushing her teeth...
I think she got each tooth (with both ends of her toothbrush) :)

Elsie LOVES to run to the far side of our bed, get on her tippy toes and look over the bed and wait for us to come jump on the bed and scare her, then we will crawl on the floor around the corners of the bed and scare her. It is quite the fun game. She just giggles. She does this EVERY time our bedroom door is open :)

Elsie's favorite place to sleep :)

She is talking to the tv :)
Screaming, talking, who knows what she is saying...

Outfit of the day :)

Watching tv :)

I am not kidding when I say she likes to watch tv...
...Even Sid the Science Kid
...up close :)

Visiting Uncle Cole's goat farm :)

She liked them from a distance. She never touched one.

She loved to watch them run

Sitting on the counter helping mom make sugar cookies

Such a good helper :)

Elsie's first popsicle :)

I love to take pictures of our sleeping princess :)

This is at my Aunt Denece's house. Elsie and I went there and met Amanda and hung out for a couple of hours. She is trying to get into every door in the hall :)

Elsie's current method of going down the stairs. She has never been a child to go down the stairs backwards...It is pretty funny :)

Cole finally got a boat! Thanks Cole!! We went to Sand Hollow. It was a good time! We went Thursday night, so there weren't very many people on the lake - the water was PERFECT! The water was 63 - pretty cold, but bearable (ok, so I wore a wetsuit - but Josh didn't). Elsie LOVED it! She mostly loved that she was outside. She left her lifejacket on the whole time (there are a few pictures I took of her when we took it off right before we loaded the boat to go home) and only pulled at it a little bit. Lifejackets are uncomfortable for little kids. She is a lake go-er already! :)

She is actually dancing to the music here :)