Ellie Belly

Ellie turned 9 months last Friday. *sniff, sniff*. NINE months. She's as old as I was pregnant with her. I know....random thought, but nine months just seems so....so....OLD! I despise the fact that she grows so fast, yet I love each and every new stage in this passing of time. As she grows, she is a ton more fun and capable of so many new things that I adore. As of now, she still is not crawling and I'm still not 'encouraging' this! Interestingly enough though, Luke, being the preemie that he was, crawled at 8 1/2 months. Hmmm. Interesting. Butt Ellie is most certainly capable of getting around just fine. She creeps and scoots...arms and fingers stretched out as far as physically possible to reach that elusive toy she is after, and when all else fails, she rolls. I am constantly amazed at how quickly she can get places with these measly forms of transportation. She is darn quick! I know that my days of controlled chaos around this house of mine will soon morph into some form of maddening disarray with TWO children moving in, around and about my home! But somehow, I can't imagine that even more toys could find new homes strewn about my kitchen, playroom, family room and patio. Oh! And in the pantry, kitchen cabinets and bathroom too!! LOL! Seriously...I find toys in the most random of spots! Anyway...I'm digressing...that could be a whole different blog!

Back to Ellie. In addition to her scooting and creeping, she can efficiently feed herself bits of food now that she has mastered the pincer grasp and last week, she began clapping on command (something Luke didn't do until 11 1/2 months). She is still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to eating too. She will eat just about anything we put in front of her, including spicy meats or vinegary three bean salad. The more flavorful, the better it seems. Oh how different and, in some realms, completely opposite my kids are! I still have to nearly bribe Luke to eat. It's a wonder he still grows! But not his sister....she loves to eat!! And it seems she is putting back on some weight recently. Her little thighs are rolly and chubby once again and that face of hers is round and full! I'm pretty sure she is readying herself to grow soon. All this past week, she was an eating and drinking machine, but the last few days, not so much. We'll find out her 'stats' tomorrow when we see the pediatrican for her 9 month well baby visit and re-check of her UTI and ear infections. Hopefully all is well again. We receieved notification that her VCUG and renal ultrasound are scheduled for June 24th, so that will help us know better if she has any irregularities or problems with her kidney functioning. I'm guessing that this last UTI was just a fluke (I'm hoping for that anyway) and that all will be well. We will see.

So...that's what's new with my Ellie Belly for now. With computer time at a premium lately, I think that I will wrap my post up for today and leave you with a few pictures of her (and Luke) from our weekend. Enjoy!