7-26 - 7-30 - Stanford Check-up #2

We went up to Stanford this past weekend for Ellie's 2nd check-up since she had her pacemaker surgery. The visit went very well - we were really impressed at how well Ellie did on the long car ride. She went through about every toy she has, she drank the bottle of milk that I prepared, she ate some peaches, and slept :) 

The visit was about 2 hours long this time! - A lot for a 6-month old to handle! She had an echo done of her heart, plus an EKG, and then her pacemaker check. She really loved the wand that was being used to look at her heart - and didn't quite understand why she couldn't put it in her mouth...

 For the first time ever, I can honestly say that I was grateful for the television playing shows from the Cartoon Network during her appointment - it gave Ellie something to distract her while she was being "worked on". :)

The following pics are from the days prior to our visit - lots of smiles and cuddle time! 

We all enjoyed In-N-Out together, and since I forgot her sun cap, we covered her head (or body!) with Jer's hat!

She is getting stronger and stronger on her belly everyday - rolling from her tummy to her back - to her side... all the time now! 

She is a noise-making machine :) 

On the way up to Stanford, we visited Outdoor World - the biggest Sports Store ever! There are waterfalls inside, a fudge shop, huge fake redwoods, a hunting game, and millions of departments - it's a lot of fun to walk around in - and once again, Ellie enjoyed the large aquarium that they have! 

 

We arrived in Palo Alto pretty early on in the day, and after a nice lunch together, we found a beautiful & gigantic park. For the first time, Ellie got to sit facing FORWARD in her stroller! She really liked it - at first... but if I didn't walk in front of her, she freaked out a whole lot - I guess she wondered how she was moving...?

 

And she definitely enjoys her Sophie giraffe! 

We found a nice shaded grassy area, and Ellie had fun in the grass for about 45 minutes - it was awesome! 

And another first - Ellie can now sit up by herself for an extended period of time - and she certainly is happy about that! 

 

 

Is it a wonder that EVERYONE we meet says that Ellie looks like her daddy??? 

 Well, the park tired her out so much that she fell asleep as soon as we got to the hotel! And she looked so teeny tiny on that King Size bed! 

After her nap, we drove around for awhile and then went to this awesome pizza restaurant that made Chicago-style pizza - delicious! Ellie is in the car seat behind me - fast asleep again! (It was a couple of hours later...) 

 The next morning, Ellie and Daddy had some nose-bonding time again! 

We enjoyed sitting out by the pool area... and she slept (again!) 

 

And here she is in between heart examinations at Stanford - such a good girl! We are definitely proud parents! 

7-16-7-25

A lot has been happening around here in the past two weeks! My computer was being fixed by a good friend, so I haven't been able to blog - but we're back in action now! 

Ellie has decided to limit her naps to mainly 30 minutes at a time - enough to make a quick meal and eat it, but definitely not enough times to wash the dishes from that meal, let alone rest :) But her hours and hours of being awake now have been a lot of fun - she's started to have more fun with us, and more fun playing by herself as well. To help us out at meal times (so that we can eat our meals all together at the table), we sit Ellie in her high chair and dump all of her frozen teether toys on the tray. She LOVES them - and she gets quite animated while she chews :) 

 She has started to become stronger when placed on her tummy. She can last a long time now and enjoys playing with toys and objects given to her. She gets frustrated when something is just a bit too far out of reach, but perhaps she'll be motivated to scoot to it? But who knows - she prefers standing to sitting/tummy time any day! 

 One of the absolute best things that has developed during these past couple of weeks is Ellie's love for her daddy. For the first time ever, she allows him to play with her without crying (she actually smiles constantly at him now!), and miraculously, she's allowed him to rock her to sleep for naps. Last night she even allowed him to rock her to sleep for her bedtime! 

 Ellie LOVES the mirror! She smiles every single time we stand in front of it. Whenever she starts crying about something, we walk her to the bathroom mirror and she forgets why she was sad... 

 She's walking all over the house, the yard, EVERYWHERE! 

 And she's sitting up more. My brother got her a couple of Baby Einstein movies, and she sits here to watch :) 

 My attempts at helping her learn to crawl... 

6 months v 3 weeks...

 We put Ellie into her friend Jaden's walker and she was THRILLED! (until we took a picture of the two of them... :) She can't quite walk herself in it, but she sure loved being pushed around! 

 We really do try hard to prevent Ellie from watching the television... we really do! But here we have her in her bouncer, but where does she look? - not at the toys - but at the tv guide! 

 Looking for mom's favorite icecream! I guess Ellie will be an icecream-aholic too! 

 And perhaps the most precious of all is Ellie's new found love of the dogs - especially Sandy - Sandy is always jumping up to spend time with Ellie... and Ellie definitely doesn't seem to mind! 

Unfortunately, the room was dark when I shot this clip, but these are the sounds Ellie was making when she woke up the other day. She had no idea I was there...