best lookin' room in the house

After 3 months, we have finally finished decorating Ellie's room! All the wall decor, stuffed animals, etc. have been sitting on the floor in Ellie's room. So here's pictures of Ellie's new and improved nursery--which, by the way, is the best looking room in our apartment!

her crib with personalized artwork (done by me)

pictures and creatures from "Where the Wild Things Are," which was the theme of my first baby shower! The girls who planned it did a great job, and game me all of these decorations from the shower. What a cute idea! :)

the library and stuffed animal loft

It's finally finished! For a while, I was wishing we could change her bedding to something more girly, but now that we have everything decorated, I like it so much more! I think she will too, once she realized how amazing it is! :)

finally!

So I don't have a picture of it, but Ellie rolled over for the first time yesterday!! She has been rolling on to her side a lot lately, trying so very hard to make it all the way over. Last night, she prevailed! Supposedly it's easier to roll from tummy to back, but since Ellie doesn't like laying on her tummy very much, I knew she would just have to try harder to turn from back to front first. SHE DID IT! And to make it better, it happened at Grandma K's house! She was ecstatic! She couldn't think about anything else. Her granddaughter rolled over for the first time, and she got to see it! She couldn't be more proud of little Ellie, and neither could we :)

Since I don't have a picture of her rolling over, this will have to suffice...I think it's my new favorite picture of sweet Ellie! Oh, and by the way, Ellie has slept through the night for a week straight now! In fact, she even slept until 7:30 or 8:00 several days this week! Incredible for a 3 month old, if I may say so myself!

3 years and 3 months

This past week, Nick and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary, which is crazy to think about! In a way, it doesn't seem like it's already been 3 years, but then again...we do have an almost-3-month-old daughter! Our relationship has changed so much in the past three years. I almost feel like the past 3 months have been full of more change than most of the past 3 years altogether. Having a child has forced us to grow so much both individually and as a couple. We are working together toward a new purpose...we have a family! It's such a wonderful feeling. And I see a whole new side of my husband that I'd never seen before...when I see him with his daughter. He is so in love with her, and it makes me love him even more.

So on our actual anniversary, which was this past Wednesday, June 16, we cooked dinner at home. Ellie actually slept through our entire dinner, so it was just the two of us. Nick made homemade bread, which is a new endeavor of his, and it was wonderful! I think it was the second time we have eaten dinner at the dining room table since Ellie was born.

My mom (Grandma K) was amazing to give us money to go out to dinner yesterday and celebrate. She also volunteered to babysit, of course! So Ellie spent the night with Grandma K while we went to Collierville for a night out. It was so nice to get away from the "big city" for a night and return to some familiar places where I grew up. We had dinner at Red Robin, then went to the town square for chocolate malts at Mensi's Dairy Bar, listened to bluegrass bands play on the square, and finally to the movies to see Robin Hood.

We really enjoyed just walking around together, holding hands, dinner & a movie...almost like when we were dating over 3 years ago. The funny thing is, we both decided that parts of the evening would have been better with Ellie! She is such a part of our life now that it's weird--almost abnormal-- to be Ellie-less, even though we've only had her for 3 short months. We are a family now, after 3 years of marriage. What a great time it has been so far! I can't wait to see how much more we change and grow as our family changes.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day, babe!

this is how i roll...

So Ellie is obviously not crawling yet. I mean, seriously, she's just 12 weeks old. What do you expect? This, however, does not mean she is not mobile. Ellie loves to lay on a blanket on the living room floor. Lately, I have noticed that she will constantly be shifting positions or actually leaving the blanket surface altogether, but I haven't watched her do it, so I had no idea how she could change positions so drastically.

Tonight, I decided to watch. She arches her back, plants her feet, and pushes.

She started out on the blanket...rotated about 90 degrees and ended up in the middle of the floor...in the course of about 30 seconds! Impressive, right?

the dads in my life

So I didn't mention my dad's visit to Memphis a few weeks ago. I must mention it, as it was such an amazing and special time! It had been a year and a half since I'd seen Dad, so it was great to see him. It was even more special, though, for him to be able to meet Ellie. She is his first grandchild! Even though he was hoping for a boy, I think he is so happy that she is a girl. It seemed like Dad was completely enamored with Ellie. When he would hold her, he just stared at her and smiled. It almost made me cry just watching him with her. I obviously don't remember what Dad was like with me when I was a baby, but I'd like to think it was like this....so sweet! I love my Dad so much, and I miss him. Hopefully we will be able to take a trip out to Cali next summer to visit! Seeing how much he loves Ellie reminds me of how much I love him. I can't wait for her to love her Grandpa too. I know she will!!

After Dad went home to California, it made me think a lot about Nick's relationship with Ellie. The father/daughter bond is such a special bond that no one can replace. Nick loves Ellie so much, and I can already see how much she loves him. She just stares at him and smiles. I wouldn't mind if she grows up to be Daddy's little girl. I love watching them together. Nick is off for the summer, so we are enjoying spending so much time together as a family.

I couldn't help but post this picture...it's so cute! You can see how comfortable she is with her daddy :) She already is Daddy's little girl!

First trip to Missouri

So it's been a while since my last post. Mostly because Nick is now home for the summer, and we've been enjoying hanging out as a family! So there's lots to catch up on...

We took our first trip out of town so Ellie could meet more of her Missouri family. That was so much fun! Ellie met great-grandparents, an uncle, aunts, great-aunts, great-uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins, and old friends. It was a busy but really great trip~ I think my favorite part of the trip--and if I can speak for Ellie, her favorite part too-- was getting to hang out at Nick's brother's house. This is why...Ellie's almost-5-year-old cousin Iris became obsessed with baby Ellie. The entire time we were there, about 3 days, Iris just sat next to Ellie and watched her. It was adorable! Iris helped pick out Ellie's clothes, gave us a ponytail holder to give Ellie her first ponytail, and loved on her so much. Ellie just smiled and smiled every time Iris came close! I can't wait until they're a little older...they will be best friends!


We also went to a Cardinal's game while we were there! It was my first and obviously Ellie's first, too! It was so much fun! :) Nick and I have spent the past two summers at the Redbirds stadium in Memphis, so it was really fun to finally get to see a "big league" game!

Now we are home and enjoying some stress-free time as a family. Ellie is 11 weeks old now, which is crazy! She's starting to learn how to roll over. Well, she's trying really hard, that is! She will pull her arms around, then her legs, but never at the same time yet. I guess she's just not coordinated enough yet, but soon! She also loves sitting up all the time. She can't do it on her own yet, but with a little help, she's sitting up just fine! I think our little Ellie is going to be pretty independent. She loves cuddling and being held by mommy and daddy, but she also needs her alone time. She's a lot like me...I love cuddling and being close to Nick, but everybody needs some quiet time too. I can't wait to see how she continues to grow into her own personality!