Saturday, November 29, 2014

19 months

19th months have gone by and we finally took Elycia in for her 18 month check up not to long ago and she was at 24 pounds and I don't remember how many inches but she is a tall girl for sure!!

Over the past few months I've been so bad at remembering what she's been doing lately must be from all the moving we did and just lots of stuff been going on and she's just learning so much every day...this past month she has learned a lot more words, some holiday words, like pumpkin, leaves...we celebrated her 2nd Halloween,  she was dressed up as a dragon, Gil said she was "Stuffy" the dragon from Doc McStuffins, she almost looked like him...Lol...I took her to downtown Fort Collins with a friend and 2 of her kids trick or treating, then we took her later in the afternoon here in little Wellington on the main street the businesses were handing out candy.. She even opened one of her tootsie pops and started eating it and making a big sticky mess...We went to a pumpkin patch and took some fall photos of her and then carved some pumpkins... She's gotten more and more of a personality, she's definitely becoming her own individual...she's learned how to say OK, She points to people in the stores when we go somewhere and she says NO to them, especially if they are picking something off a shelf...Ha ha...She knows how to say just about everything except, she doesn't say Momma. :-( she LOVES her silly songs, and loves to spin and dance to them and just spin randomly.. she says lots of names, just a talking machine.. still loves the song LET IT GO!! Every time she sees something to do with Frozen she always points and yells LET IT GO!! lol

Gil got another job, so he finished up his overnight shift at Budweiser, now he's working with a non-profit company called Foothills Gateway. They do residential and day programs for children and adults with autism and all types of physical and mental disabilities. I think he is liking it, he said there is a lot to learn but at least it is something that could help him towards his degree.

18 months

18 months here we are!! We now have a year and a half year old! How did that happen?!? And so quickly too. We are and have been so blessed by her over this past year in a half and we just can't imagine life without her.

Over the past month we took a short trip to Wisconsin for my stepdads 50th birthday party it was fun seeing family and friends we hadn't seen in years too and for them to meet Gil and Elycia was nice too. Sometimes being away from family and just living our life is...I don't wanna say "fun"...but it's kinda nice sometimes, other times it stinks being far away and not having anyone to hang out with and do things with. We flew back with Chelsea and Luke and on the way back we spent sometime at the Mall if America before we left. Chelsea and Luke left the next day apparently she booked her flight wrong and they wouldn't let them fly stand by. Elycia wasn't a happy camper on the way back, probably from being tired and staying in one spot its hard for an on the go go go go baby.  Elycia got her first real "owie" at the park my poor baby, she is learning new words everyday she says high chair, chair, crackers, drink, and even pumpkin!! She loves to spin around and around in circles and dance she loves her silly songs cd we have, she even tries singing and dancing to it. We have a cd of Bible songs and she loves that too we play it in the car and she claps and tries singing to that one too. She is getting more and more of a sassy personality every day. Still climbing up everything. Loves to be outside. She got sick maybe from some food she ate but we're not sure, but we had a night where she threw up and a day she threw up a couple times. We started going to a Moms group in Wellington here and I'm trying the MoPs group in Fort Collins again.

Gil is still working his overnight job and it's getting to him. I hate it too, I would rather him be gone during the day then at night. I like him to be home and we can have some us time while Elycia is sleeping we don't get that now that he's working nights and sleeping until the afternoon. He is still looking for a day shift job that would work with his school schedule.

17 months

Wow! We are at 17 months already! 1 more month and we have a 1 an'a'half year old... when did that happen? Going by so stinking fast but we're enjoying every moment. Its been fun and is starting to get more and more fun but harder for sure.

Over the past month we've finally got her room all done and ready for her. I just love it!! She has been talking more and more... she says uh-huh, it's the cutest thing ever. She says bless you when someone sneezes, we would tell her excuse you when she burped or tooted and she then caught on and would look at is and say excuse you when she would do those those things so we decide if she does that in public people are gonna think it was us. Lol... so we have been trying to teach her excuse me instead... She's been going to bed and nap time by herself, we pray with her, tell her love you and good night and Gil tries singing to her sometimes and she tells him night night so he lays her down and tells her love you and she says I love you and night-night... It's so stinking cute! She knows how to open our doors, even the hardest one in the bathroom down stairs she figured out. She tries to unlock our cabinets under the sink. She's learning how to throw a ball and catch it. Learning animals, and colors, etc. She says pizza, but she says eizza, she knows eyes, ears, nose and says them when she points to them. We got her a little baby umbrella stroller and she LOVES it.. she pushes her baby in there for a little bit, but then she takes the baby out and she stands up in there and then sits. She thinks it's for her. She's been a stinker these last couple weeks with bed time and whinning and not going to bed so good, or sleeping really good either, might be her teeth coming in again...  She says cookies and "Oh Toodles" when they say it on Mickey Mouse, she can say Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. She says Flowers, and she loves water puddles. She will grab us our shoes and her shoes when we go somewhere. Trying to climb up everything she is becoming quite the little monkey,  she loves to try and climb up on the chairs while they are tucked in and hide under the table. She learned how to take her shirts off and sometimes she tries her pants and diaper, we've went into her room in the morning a couple times to find her topless and ready for breakfast. She loves drinking from her water bottles. She learned how to walk backwards, started dipping her food in sauces. She says non't instead if don't, I guess it's her combination of the words "no" and "don't". Like always everything she does is so stinking cute!!

Gil started his new job as the security guard at the busweiser plant. He is working overnight 10pm-6am so that he can do school this semester, he is taking a math class and a music class. I think I know which one will be his favorite...

Friday, August 22, 2014

Month 14 and 15

OK, so I'm failed at posting my blogs up lately...I've been writing them, but I haven't posted them. So I will be posting a bunch at the same time...this blog post will be 2 months in one since the 2 months seem to have ran together and not really sure on somethings when she did them, so I will try my best...Ha ha. Anyway, Month 14 we Celebrated her 2nd 4th of July, we took her to her first parade here in our new small town, she enjoyed it for a little bit, but got bored after a good solid 15 minutes, we gave her her fist sucker while we were there, and freezy-pop popsicle, Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Hallie were with us too, we made some 4th of July shirts with our hand prints in the shape of a flag on some white t-shirts. Then after the parade we rode up to Scottsbluff to visit Auntie Chelsea and Uncle Luke and celebrated the 4th of July there they didn't have fireworks going, but you could light your own and Luke's family was there too and brought their own fireworks and all the neighbors were letting them off just right outside it was crazy...Elycia and I had decided that we would drive back with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Hallie to Wisconsin and that Gil would fly out a few days later, that was her first time away from Daddy for that long...she was a trooper...We got to see Uncle Sean, Tara, and her Cousins, and all her Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins on the Anthony side along with her Grandparents and her Great Grandma...So we spent a week in Wisconsin then came home and around when she turned 15 months old. She figured out what to do with crayons and how to color, her and Daddy colored their first picture together. She has gotten more teeth with her molars coming in. She absolutely LOVES anything with wheels and pushing or pulling it. She has also learned how to say no (uh-oh).


At 15 months she found her belly button and her belly, she had her 15 month check up and she weighed 22.2 pounds and about 31 inches. She didn't weigh to much more from the last time we took her in so I was a little worried, but her nurse said she's fine and at this age she's more mobile and losing some weight and won't be gaining so much at a time now. So that was good to hear. She's learned how to go down the stairs by herself, being more and more sassy and throwing more and more fits when she isn't getting her way or move her from somewhere she isn't supposed to be (apparently she prefers to live life on the edge and laughs in the face of danger), she's also getting more teeth. She still LOVES "Let it go"! She's gotten more and more on key and singing along when they say Let it go!, it's so gosh darn cute! She knows where our Belly and Belly button is...She gives kisses when you ask her to, she says more and more words everyday like: Belly, she says eyes and knows where they are, she can say drink, Hallie, and we're working on Chelsea, she can also say Daddy, eat, and she is starting to understand what we are saying to her and will go pick things up or find them if we ask her to, it's so cute! Tried giving her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she had one bite chewed it for a few seconds then spit it out (she was not impressed) Ha. She knows where ears are, she says shoes, drink, juice, just trying to repeat things we say and do... She will sometimes say no when we tell her no. We celebrated Daddy's Birthday...We had some visitors too, Gils friend Brandon (Uncle Brandon) and his Girlfriend Sorcia...They spent about week with us, we took Elycia to the Zoo for the 2nd time she was so much more into it than when she was 3 months old. Ha ha. She wanted to Run-run-run and look at everything. We went to Colorado Springs for the first time and went to Focus on the Family and the Garden of the Gods. She is getting faster and faster with her walking/running skills. She's eaten some bbq chips and Cheetos. She's been starting to kinda go to sleep by herself at night...We will rock her a little bit and then she will either fall asleep or just want to be put down, so we put her down in her bed and sometimes she just lays there and goes to sleep, other times she cries for a little bit and then plays, sometimes we have to go in there and lay her down with her paci, but she's been doing pretty good...She is getting better at holding our hand when we go for walks, she holds it for a longer period of time now not just 2 seconds. She is amazed at the smallest things and says WOW...She knows how to go down the stairs. She is loving her new home! We got some Family pictures taken. She says HI to everyone she sees, she will even get close to our face and go HI!. When we go outside if she sees a car go by, she waves and says buh bye...She loves to pick the flowers (dandelions) even the ones with no flower just the stems. She will try to smell the flowers and then also try eating them. We bought her her first Bible songs on CD... We've listened to it a couple times she seems to like it. She dances to music and kicks her feet to it.. She trys to play Daddy's guitar and loves the fake one she has and says du-du-du when she is playing it. She LOVES to hide... We usually hide from Gil under the blankets and he will come find her. Even when he's not home and she sees a blanket she wants to hide (Gil says it's because she's part Ninja).


This past couple months have been a busy one for all of us, We went to Wisconsin because Gil's Grandma wasn't doing well, and we weren't sure what would happen and I wanted Gil to see her, just in case something were to happen. So we went back for a weekend trip and we spent sometime with her Sunday before we left Monday...once we got home that Friday afternoon we found out the his Grandma had passed away. We were able to get Gil to the funeral to be there for him and his mom, which left Elycia and I home by ourselves for a weekend. That's the longest it's just been me and Elycia usually it's just while Gil is working. Gil had been having a hard stressful time at work once we got back from vacation and I could see it and didn't know what to do, kept encouraging him to keep at it, and asking him if it will get better he says yeah maybe, he just was having a stressful time and after talking to his manager realized this job is to much for him right now and he isn't going to be able to work all the hours they expect of him and plus continue on with schooling. So we have decided that it would be better for him to look for a part time job, something with less hours that will let him do school, and I will be looking for a new job too since I don't get many hours at Kohls or paid well as it is too...He will start School on the 19th and hopefully have a new job by then too...Just keep praying for us! Gil was just offered a job as a security guard for the Budweiser plant that is only 7 miles away from our house. He will be working overnight shifts which will be good for him, because he will be able to work and do school. It was 40 hrs a week and will pay less obviously, but for now it will do until he gets offered another job, or I can get a job that pays better...I will be asking Kohls to give me more hours now that he will be able to be at home with Elycia during the day then I can work a little more to help support us too. Whew, I think that catches us pretty much up to date!

14 months

14 months down and still going strong! She is such a little stinker more and more everyday! More and more of a sassy personality and getting so big everyday.

Over the past month she's been fully on her sippy cups except for when we do nap time and bed time then she gets a bottle. We've cut her milk down to just nap time and bed time, we've been doing more water and at least one cup of juice mixed with a little water to help with her consistpation which we still are dealing with, poor baby. We watched Auntie Chelsea and Uncle Luke's dogs for a couple days and she really enjoyed that. Gil wants to get her a dog, but I don't know if we will for a while (He's says Christmas is around the corner, I think he just wants one). She loves dogs so I'm sure that someday we will get one. She loves seeing them on tv too, even if it's a cat. She's really starting to dance more when she hears music, especially when Mickey Mouse is on, she twists her hips and claps and moves her hands it's so funny and cute (she even does it for commercials with the catchy jingles). She is more and more sassy and starting to hit us when she gets mad. She's a pro at walking, and she's been walking all over even more outside. We celebrated my birthday and went to Denver met up with Chelsea and then we went to the Cheesecake Factory, so yummy. Found her some shoes she can actually walk in at stride rite, I was so excited because it's been so hard to find her some that aren't heavy for her. She does good with them outside too, she fell a few times but because she was going to fast, but she doesn't seem to care and she gets right back up and continues on her way. She walks so fast it's almost a run. She goes up the stairs so good now, they don't seem to bother her so much anymore, she still tries going up by herself every now and again. She knows how to go down the stairs and how to get off the couch. Gets into everything now and is such a monster (A cute adorable snuggly Monster! Ha ha). She loves to sing with Daddy and by herself. She will sometimes sing with Gil when he puts her to sleep its cute listening. She learned how to sing "Let it go" from Disney's Frozen movie. It's so funny and so cute listening to her, she sings it all the time. I taught her how to say uh oh... We got her and Gil's first father daughter pictures taken for Father's Day which turned out to be oh so cute!! ;-). She loves to drink out of our cups and bottles. She also is a big fan of straws and figured out how to blow bubbles in her drinks (uh-oh). She loves graham crackers and yogurt for snacks. She loves our drawer in the kitchen with the measuring spoons and cups walks around the house with them. She loves our spinning cupboard too. She does high fives and is still blowing kisses. She is constantly amazed by the garage door opening and closing (I love the look on her face).


Gil's job is getting a little better I think. Not being told he's not doing his job right anymore so that's good. Still stressful, but got a few compliments on how well he's doing now. He took the summer off school to focus on his job and figure out how to do it. He will be going back in the fall. We are still trying to get settled into our new home. I hate moving so much! Especially trying to unpack with a baby toddler around...Well that's what's going on over yonder here. :-)

13 months

Wow, 13 months old already. We have made it beyond the first year of her life and it has been so fun and crazy, all at the same time. Seriously, I couldn't imagine life without her. Over the first month of her first year lots has happened.

We had a birthday party for her on her b-day here in Colorado. We celebrated her first Easter at Auntie Chelsea's and Uncle Luke's with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Hallie. Went through her first ear infection and with that came hives from her amoxicillin she was givin for it. We started weaning her off of formula by doing half formula and half whole milk and quickly got her strictly onto whole milk. After she made the switch she got, and keeps getting, constipated from her milk. Her Dr. Suggested that we don't give her as much milk as we have been and just give it to her at meal times and water in between so once we get her regular again we will cut back on her milk and see if that helps her. We introduced juice to her, prune and apple to help her tummy issue. She only gets juice right now when she's constipated to help her out. She's is now an amateur climber and ascends everything she can, she even learned how to climb up the couch from the side. She plays patty cake by herself, sometimes we see her clapping and then "rolling the dough". She had her first shopping outing with Auntie Chelsea. She survived her first move. We got her a new car seat and she ended up getting carsick so we are waiting for a new one to arrive and hopefully this one will work better for her. She loves the stairs in our new home. She is getting more animated with her facial expressions (just like her daddy), she is getting more sassy and almost throwing fits (like her daddy, ha ha), still throws her head back when she's mad, she sometimes started to hit when she's mad (won't be letting that go on very long), she loves doggies everytime we see one she gets excited says doggie or says woo woo. She still loves her Mickey Mouse, she's starting not to like her face wiped after mealtime, She says YEAH all the time it's so funny talking to her asking her yes or no questions and she's like YEAH. She really starts dancing when she hears music, especially when Mickey Mouse comes on. Getting more and more snuggly in the mornings and when she wakes up from her naps (So sweeeeet). Loves looking at her books, especially the ones that sing, sometimes it sounds like she's even singing along with them (or copy them). She's on the go-go-go and she's non stop. She says dada, daddy, mmmmm, but not so much momma :-( only a few times, doggie, yeah. She likes to give us her paci and put it in our mouths, she is more snuggly with her stuffed animals and gives them loves all the time. She loves to play with our phones and put them up to her ear and talk. She loves playing with our keys walks around the house with them, she started playing with her toes again every once in a while. She also started trying to feed us her food. She loves the stairs.. She will literally walk towards the stairs and look at me as she's walking and smile then she will go up the stairs and sit on the second stair and wait for me and then start laughing when she sees me.


We have been a busy family this past month we moved into our new home and slowly settling in and slowly feeling like home. Things have just been crazy around here, not really much excitement except for moving into our home. Gil finish his semester of school and taking the summer off to get his job figured out so in the fall he can go back to school and work. His job has been so stressful, but I think he's getting it now...And that's a wrap for things over here just after her first year. :-)

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

12 months!

Wow!! We finally made it to the 1 year mark! It came by soooo quickly and she is growing up so fast. She has brought so much joy, fun, laughter and so much more into our lives and we seriously wouldn't change it for the world.. She had her 1 year check up and she is 22 pounds at the 81 percentile and 30.5 inches and at the 91 percentile she grew 2 inches from her appointment in January, her head circumference is 18 inches and at the 72 percentile..

She's learned so much over the past month.. She started walking here and there before we left for vacation, but once we got to my Mom's she really took off, must've been all the extra room she had.. :-) She is fully walking now and crawling still too, but it's so fun to watch her walk. When she sees something on the floor she picks it up and gives it to us. She says Hi and waves to people, we'll be walking somewhere and she sees someone all of a sudden you hear her say Hi and see her wave so funny. she says Yeah, She started saying doggie, she now has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on the bottom, She learned how to do this thing where she looks at you then turns her head away and then looks back quick at you again it's hilarious she was doing it on the airplane to the lady behind us. She points to everything, she's learned to climb up stairs and is a pro at it now and climbs up so fast. She got her 3rd cold of her first year, stuffy and first time with a cough...poor baby...  She learned how to stand up by herself without holding onto anything. Trying to climb up everything she is such a little monkey..

We had a Birthday party for Elycia in Wisconsin with friends and family! We did a Minnie Mouse theme she loves Mickey and Minnie so it fit perfect. Auntie Tara made her birthday outfit and put her first pony tail in on top of her head. We spent a long weekend in Wisconsin then, Auntie Chelsea, Auntie Hallie, and Grandma and Grandpa flew back with us and spent the week with us and Chelsea went back home. Elycia enjoyed her time with them. It was a rough time flying back home with Elycia she was so tired and think her ears were hurting from the plane cuz she screamed and screamed with her eyes closed and of course you can't get up and walk around with her, so Gil rubbed her ear and put her to sleep poor baby...

Gil started his new job over the past month and has been pretty stressed out with it, but hopefully over the next month or so he will be able to figure out what he's doing more and be able to be more comfortable in his new job and position.. He's already gotton 2 emails from his employees saying that he's doing a good job, so that was good for him. He's finishing up his semester of school then taking the summer off so he can focus on his job and get it all figured out so in the fall he knows what he's doing and can do school at the same time..

Starting off the first month of her first year and things are a little crazy. When she went to the Dr. she said she had a little bit of fluid in her ear and that it wasn't infected and sometimes it doesn't get infected. So the Doctor told us to watch her and if she gets a fever to bring her in cuz that would be a sign of an ear infection. So I went to work Friday morning and came back home and my Mom told me that she had been crabby and warm, so we went to my Aunts and did a little Easter Egg hunt and she would walk up to them and pick one up then sit and open it and go to a next one. She was still pretty crabby and didn't want to eat much. So we took her temp cuz she was warm and had a fever of 101. So I went to get her some meds, and decided while I was out that we needed to take her in cuz of what her Dr. said. So we took her to urgent care and found out she does have an ear infection so we picked up her meds, and have been fighting with her to make sure she gets it.. Hoping she's getting enough that it is helping her, she's not a big fan of her meds. I need to make a follow up appointment in a few days to make sure she's doing better. That was pretty rough for me, especially since Gil told me that his brother Logan is allergic to penicillin and looked like a tomato and when we picked it up from the pharmacy some guy in line was like is that amoxicillin and I said yup and he told me that his son had it when he was about her age and he broke out in hives and looked like an alien and I was like great...thanks guys for freaking out a worried mother.. Ha. But she seems to be doing fine with it so that's a relief. No tomato aliens over here! :-)

Now onto the good news! So many of you probably know from reading my blogs that Gil and I were looking into purchasing a 2 bedroom town home in Wellington which is about 10-15 mins away from where we are now and about 30 mins from his work, anyway we FINALLY found out our loan was approved about a week before our closing date.. our closing date is actually tomorrow Wednesday April 23rd. So we go sign our paperwork and then it is all ours! We are so excited!! This is definitely not our forever home, but at least until he's done with school and then we shall see where he gets a job at and go from there. So my Mom and Frank helped pack up a few boxes while they were here which was nice, so now I have to started getting everything packed up so we can move this weekend. should be fun.. Ha. We are excited for this next chapter in our life... We will be saving money and have our place we can make our own. :-)Now to get things packed up and figure out how we are gonna get everything packed up and moved over to the new place. so stressful.. Who wants to come help us?! Ha

Sunday, March 23, 2014

11 months

Wow!! How can it be that our little girl is 11 months old already!?!? We are 1 month away until 1 year old....It's crazy how fast time is going by (Gil has some theory about it a space/time continuum/ temporal siphon blah blah blah or something...ha ha), but I wouldn't change it for the world. It's amazing how much love you have for someone so little and watching her grow is my favorite thing to do...

Last month I forgot to mention how she plays with her paci and turns it around in circles when in her mouth... She will sometimes put her paci in our mouth....Also forgot to add that she is figuring out how to climb up onto things to reach (like her wipes container she steps up on to reach things on the coffee table), She had her 2nd cold, and is getting more and more sassy of a personality everyday (Gil says it's not his fault....yeah right!) and She's been recognizing her name more... She's been loving to grab the back of her hair and pull it sometimes, silly baby..... ;-)

This past month she is pulling herself up on everything and standing better alone.. Learning to climb up things. When she stands up she hangs onto things and walks she's such a fast walker that way... She took her first steps... We are trying to work on her more with walking but seems it has to be her idea.. She's also eating more foods. She's talking more and recognizing things like dogs, mommy and daddy, she recognizes people she knows... She loves dogs and tries saying dog and she also tries saying Mickey when she sees Mickey Mouse... She's still got her little attitude where she screams at us. We are working on her with telling her no when she does that.. She knows when she's not supposed to be doing something cuz she'll look right at us and smile and then keep going when we tell her no.. She's got her waving down and also clapping. She enjoys trying to make us clap too. We are working on her blowing kisses she kinda just puts her finger to her mouth and licks it.. Ha.. She's always loved being outside (just like her Daddy), so we try taking her out as often as we can when it's nice out whether it's to a park, going for a walk or just outside walking around the apartments. She loves dancing to songs. She loves her Mickey and Minnie still... definitely more and more of a sassy personality everyday and keeps us busy all the time.. She tries doing motions to the itsy bitsy spider song sometimes and patty cake too... We just started doing This little piggy song with her toes.. She learned how to drink from a straw her first time was when we went on a walk and stopped at 7/11 and got a Slurpee and Gil wanted to try to see if she'd drink it (Classic Gil...) she talked and laughed while it was in her mouth then realized she could suck it and boy did she learn quick. Ha. She's been sucking on the apple sauce containers too and loves those and the yogurt tubes.

We are working on planning her 1st B-day party in Wisconsin then another one here in Colorado... We are doing a Minnie Mouse theme for her and I'm so excited, I've got so many ideas I wanna make for it so i gotta get going with it here soon.. It's gonna come by so quickly... :-(

If you've been reading my blogs you know that we are on a search to purchase a home for us and try saving a little bit of money especially since we are paying about a thousand dollars for rent here... We've been looking at this town home in Wellington (10 miles North of us) and we really liked it. It basically fits our needs now and will be close enough while Gil is in school. So when we first started this journey we put an offer down and was accepted so we were trying to get our loan all set up and turns out the bank we were looking into wouldn't give us a loan because of a silly policy they just started in January about investors and how many properties they own in the area... So we started looking at other homes that were bigger with nice yards and would fit our needs and wants for a while, but with Gil not knowing where he will be getting a job after school we decided we don't need anything too big right now even though it would be nice... So we talked with our realtor and she said she found a way that we could get the town home if we still wanted it since it was still available.. So we decided even though it's a little further away from Gils work and closer to his school it would work out.. We put in our offer again and got accepted and got pre-approved for a USDA loan and now hoping everything goes smoothly and with the close date set at April 23rd, everything should continue to work out.. Keep us in your prayers as we make this new transition... ;-)

Gil got offered a new job position too, he will be working at a different hospital about 25 mins away, mostly highway drive from the town home we are trying to get.. He will be a supervisor for the phlebotomy department for that hospital and he starts the end of March. He's nervous about starting it but I know he will do a good job at it. He's still in school right now and he's on spring break this week so that's a nice break for him. We've just been busy with all this new stuff we are going through.. Gil says this is our year of first's that everyone goes through we just happen to be going through it in our 3rd year of marriage.. Our first birthday, our first home, Gil's first supervisor position.. He was given an Ipad along with the promotion and Elycia loves it especially the case to it, we downloaded a few things for her like sing-a-long songs like abc and 123's and she plays with it, but mostly the case she likes. silly baby...We Love her so much! ;-)





Sunday, February 23, 2014

10 months

Wow 10 Months we are 2 months away from the 1 year mark.. Hard to believe she is going to be a year in 2 months... She has brought so much fun and excitement each and everyday.. She is just the sweetest little girl ever.

This past month she has been trying new foods. We've been working on her with "real" people food.. She's been eating avocados, bananas, peaches, pears, kiwi, pasta (red and white sauces), toast, pancakes, French toast, Mashed potatoes, cheerios, graham crackers, pickles, and many more foods.. I don't think she eats very much of it we usually find a lot of it on the floor or by her butt in the highchair. She's been a stinker with her milk, not drinking very much at a time, sometimes she does, but usually just a little. We bought her a new baby monitor one that has a camera, usually at night she makes noises so it helps us to see her instead of waking up and checking up on her in her room.. we usually turn the monitor on sleep mode when she sleeps anyway so not like we sit and watch her the whole time.. lol.. She isn't walking yet, but she is definitely holding onto things and walking while holding onto things. she doesn't really like to stand unless it's her idea.. sometimes we can get her to stand, but usually she doesn't want to. Ha. She's been doing better with her nap times and sleeping an hour-2 hours sometimes, just depends how tired she is.. she loves to play in the kitchen with the cupboards, and pull out the drawer under the stove. loves exploring the apartment and follow us when we leave the room.. it's funny when she decided to go exploring and we watch her we will either tell her to come here or no and she stops looks at us smiles and keeps going other wise if we go get her she just crawls faster so we can't get her.. definitely keeps us on our toes.. Ha.  She's got down the waving buh bye, and Hi to people sometimes she just waves for the fun of it.. It sounds like she says Hi to people sometimes.. She's learning how to clap, and she loves to dance to music now.. She gives kisses on her time, when she wants. usually just randomly she opens her mouth and brings her face to you for kisses.. We celebrated her first Valentine's Day the day before she turned 10 months. She loves to find a blanket or pillow and just lay down on it for a little while and we say Night Night to her and she smiles and sometimes stays there or gets up.. She still loves to play peak a boo.. anything she finds her blankets, her shirts she picks up and plays, She LOVES her rocking horse she got for Christmas from Auntie Chelsea and Uncle Luke she sits on it and can rock it forward she doesn't sit long, but she likes it. Gil found a keyboard in our closet he took out to practice his piano for school and she loves playing it she knows which button to press for it to make music and she dances to it.. So funny...She's even learned how to turn around and crawl off our laps to get down off the couch. Sometimes she'll crawl off the couch and then want back up again and if we don't pick her up she gets sad like she doesn't know what she wants.

Gil is working hard at work and school.. We are still in the process of trying to figure out where we are going to be living the next few years while he will be here in school.. We've looked into how much we can qualify for and now we are looking into purchasing a place to live for the next few years until he's done with school and we know for sure where he will be getting a job at. Not anything new with me. just old stuff.. Ha. I am working on planning Elycia's first birthday party in Wisconsin April 12th and then will plan working on doing a birthday party for her here in Colorado too probably beginning of May still need to work out those details too.. We will be in Wisconsin for a short weekend for her birthday party we leave Friday Morning April 11th-Monday night April 14th just in time to come back for her first Birthday. Please keep us in your prayers over the next couple months as we figure out housing situations and work situations as well. Gil is taking Piano lessons as a class for school this semester and so he has a recital he will be playing the first week in May if anyone wants to come watch. ;-) I am thinking of doing Elycia's Colorado birthday party that Saturday as well will be sending invites for that too.. So much is going on right now it's crazy, but so exciting at the same time..

9 Months

Wow! 9 Months old only 3 months left until she is a year old! Hard to believe she's almost a year! Her 9 Month check up went well.. She is 19 pounds even and at the 64th percentile, she is 28.5 inches and at the 82 percentile, and her head is at17.5 inches and is at the 67th percentile. She is growing like a weed. Ha.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Over the past month we've done quite a bit.. Last month was obviously Christmas! We took Elycia on her 1st Road trip and drove to Wisconsin to spend her first Christmas with family. She did soooo good...She would sleep most of the time and would cry when she was hungry or needed to be changed. She was totally a ROCK STAR!! On the way back home from Wisconsin we had Auntie Hallie come with us and travel with us, she spent a few days with us once we got back and then she went home New Years Day! It was fun having her with us and she entertained Elycia when she would get fussy which wasn't to often, but I'm sure Elycia enjoyed the company in the back...I failed at Christmas this year because we didn't send out Christmas cards, cuz I was waiting for her to turn 8 months so I could take her Christmas photos and then we got them taken and just ran out of time to make them and get them sent out...So I was gonna make them once we got back from vacation and send out  Christmas New Year cards, but we didn't do that either...oh bother... :-( 
Elycia had her first New Years Eve, and we had our 3 year wedding anniversary, we spent it with Auntie Hallie and our neighbor friends, we even took her to see fireworks and she didn't get scared she just stared trying to figure out what they were.. We made Elycia a shirt that said I survived 2013 and I made her my first tutu..
She had so much fun during Christmas time! She helped un wrapped a few gifts, but mostly had fun with the wrapping paper playing with it, trying to put it on and over her head.. Ha.. We spent some time with Elycia and my family at her first water park hotel, she loved playing in the pool with her floaty tube we got her and the little baby swings they had there too..

Over the past month she's learned how to go from her crawling position to sitting on her bum, she loves to sit on her knees, She's getting more and more of a sassy personality, she likes to scream when she's mad or we take her away from somewhere she's not supposed to be or play with. She's adventured out in the apartment and crawls all over the place instead of staying the living room where all the toys are.. She will follow us around if we leave the room, She is balancing herself standing up without help for a few seconds up to a minute, she's becoming more and more brave and when she stands herself up by holding onto something she will just let go and when she realizes she's standing up by herself she falls onto her butt.. Ha.. She's learned that behind the door in our room there is the door stopper and she likes to sit there and play with it. It's getting harder and harder to get her to bed, but she has been just recently taking longer naps then 30 mins sometimes she sleeps an hour-2 hours it's crazy, but nice too.. She's got 4 teeth she  had her 2 front teeth coming in Christmas time, so now she has 2 top and 2 bottom. When she is standing holding onto something she walks along things. She says Da-Da, everything is Da-Da when she talks. getting more vocal as the months go by.. sometimes we think she says other words when she's talking but just Da-Da.. She's learned how to wave sometimes we catch her just randomly waving it's funny.. She doesn't like to sit still long, she likes to be on the move... She LOVES her books mostly just playing with them (or eating them), then we try reading them to her and she doesn't wanna listen to us read them just wants to play with them...She is becoming more and more harder to change her diapers or clothes for that matter, she hates that the clothes go over her head. Ha. and when we change her diaper she hates sitting still sometimes we have to give her the paci in order for her to sit still or a toy. We have to watch her hands when we change her especially if it's poopy she likes to grab the diaper or put her hand down there in the way.. She's been happier when she wakes up in the mornings and during naps. sometimes she wakes up crabby, but hey don't we all.. ;-) She usually sits in her crib and talks for a few mins it's so funny listening to her through the monitor.
Now that she is 9 months old I asked the Dr. if it's ok to start giving her table food, cuz she likes to grab the spoon as we feed her and she said it was she mentioned a few things we can give her, but said whatever she can gum, she can have.. What kinds of foods did you feed your baby when they were able to get real people food.. Not really sure what to start her on first... She loves to jump when she's standing and in her jumper, she still loves Daddy playing his guitar and singing to her sometimes it sounds like she's singing along with him.. She starting to learn to dance with the music..

Gil is starting back at school, he's taking a piano lessons class and a biology class this semester so he will be on campus at the community college this semester and hopefully be at CSU this fall doing Full time classes.. I am in the mean time gonna look for a full time job so when he goes full time school he will be able to work part time while going to school and we will still make it here.. Ha.. We are trying to get him done with school in the next 2 years instead of 4 years.. Our lease is up at the end of March so we are in the midst of looking for a new place to live which will be cheaper or just staying here.. We did look into a 3 bedroom condo/townhouse, but he was gonna raise the rent higher then we thought and more then we are paying now. So our next option we are looking into is buying a mobile home so we can pay less "rent" and be able to save money too. We are also looking into to see how much we can qualify for to see if we can't get a house hoping our rent will be cheaper that way and save some money. Not really anything going on with me. Not getting many hours at Kohls so that's another reason to look for another job. Please keep us in your prayers that this will out work out for us that I will find a full time job, and we will figure out what our living situation will be, and Gil getting done with school as soon as possible so we can live our life and he can start with his career that he wants to do..


Friday, January 10, 2014

Recipes

I've been trying a few new recipes and I've had some people ask for the recipes, so I've decided that as I try new recipes during the week at the end of the week I will be posting a blog with the recipes so if you are interested in making it yourself you will be able to instead of searching through my Pinteret which is were I'm been finding my new recipes. I've also started a board on my pinterest (if you follow me you can find it)that says Made It! (Food) I will be putting the food I've made already on there too.. So to start off my blog I will post what I've made this past week and the recipes.. I will post the websites that I found them at too if you want to look at those..
Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Roast


 This turn out pretty good and moist.. The only thing about it was the skin was soft not "hard" like it would be at the store if you'd buy one. Gil thought maybe you could broil it for a few minutes after it's cooked it would harder up the skin if you like it that way..
 
http://skinnyms.com/slow-cooker-chicken-pot-roast/


Servings: 6 | Calories: 178 | Total Fat: 3 g | Saturated Fats: 1 g | Trans Fats: 0 g | Previous Points: 3 | Points Plus: 2 | Cholesterol: 37 mg | Sodium: 304 mg | Carbohydrates: 2 g | Dietary fiber: 3 g | Sugars: 3 g | Protein: 16 g




Ingredients
1 large roasting chicken
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
Kosher or sea salt to taste
2 stalks celery
1/4 cup water (optional) We added half a can of Chicken Broth instead of water 1 cup baby carrots 2 medium potatoes, cut into 1" cubes




Directions


This beautifully browned chicken was cooked in my Set 'n Forget Slow Cooker. I love this slow cooker because you simply add the chicken, put the probe in the fatty part of the thigh and set the probe to 165 degrees. The chicken cooks to the set temperature and switches to warm when done. Rinse and pat dry chicken. Rub the outside of chicken with olive oil. Combine spices and rub on the outside of the chicken. Place minced garlic in the cavity along with a little more salt and pepper. Add water to the slow cooker, next the celery and the chicken on top, breast side up. The celery prevents the chicken from browning too much on the bottom. Add carrots and potatoes around chicken. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours or until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees and veggies are tender. Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness or pierce with a fork, to make sure the juices run clear. For extra browning, carefully remove chicken from the slow cooker, place in a large roasting pan and broil until desired color has been reached. Garnish chicken with fresh thyme, if desired. Note: Adding water is not necessary, but I like to add 1/4 cup for additional moisture. Tip: Cook with skin for additional moisture...just be sure to remove and discard before serving. With the Chicken I made up some Potatoes..


http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/06/parmesan-roasted-potatoes/


Parmesan Roasted Potatoes Gluten – Free




Ingredients
•2 pounds red potatoes, quartered
•1.5 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
•½ teaspoons garlic Powder •Salt – to taste
•½ teaspoon of pepper •1.5 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese




Instructions


1.Preheat oven to 350. 2.Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir. 3.Bake uncovered for about 40 minutes or till golden brown. 4.Enjoy!


They didn't really cook to well for me they were kinda hard only a few soft ones.. I might have cooked them to long also I didn't have red potatoes so I used regular brown potatoes, next time will try making them with the Red Potatoes.. Maybe that makes a difference.
The Next thing I recently made was the Oven Toasted Ravioli Recipe: (Serves 4-6)


http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/10/oven-toasted-ravioli-recipe.html




Ingredients:


1 (20 ounce) package refrigerated ravioli (found in the deli section)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Nonstick cooking spray




Directions:


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together egg and milk in a small bowl. In another bowl, combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip each ravioli in the egg mixture and coat in the bread crumb mixture. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Spray ravioli with cooking spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden grown. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping. These were good too also another one that I think cooked to long cuz they were hard too.. But still good.. We used the 5 cheese ravioli the ones we bought didn't have much cheese in them so Gil wasn't to big of a fan, but he still liked them.. They reheat pretty well too..