Milestones

It's been two weeks since my last post, and not much has happened around here.  I've only got one week left of babysitting, and then it's back to just me and Ellie.  It will seem so weird to be able to leave the house whenever I want--I've really gotten used to staying home all day with the two babies.  But I'm looking forward to having alone time with Ellie again...and going shopping at Target during the day =).  It's our favorite store.  I say "our" because Ellie gets super excited when we go into Target.  It must be all the bright colors.

Also, I'm proud to say that I've stuck with Weight Watchers for two weeks now and lost 9 pounds!  I'm officially at my pre-pregnancy weight, and I'm so excited about it.  I still want to lose a little more, so my new goal is 143 pounds (an additional 7).  At that point, I'll assess where I am and decide if I'm happy there or if I want to keep going.  I'm very happy with Weight Watchers and the type of program they run.  It works great for my lifestyle.

Other than that, not much has been going on here.  I've been cleaning a lot this week (although my house isn't showing it right now!).  I went through some of Ellie's things the other day and have been trying to make a pile of "to put in the attic" stuff.  She's outgrown or overused so many things in her short 9 months...like bibs.  She used to go through 10 bibs a day due to her excessive spit up.  Now, I put one on her out of habit, but she rarely spits up.  I probably threw away 20 bibs that were stained or just worn through.  Another thing we used to use a lot...receiving blankets.  They were our burp cloths, because the little ones weren't cutting it for protecting my clothes when I fed her.  Now, we rarely use them.  She has a ton, so I rallied up most of them to put in the attic.  


I braved going into the attic yesterday to pull a few things down, too.  Ellie is now able to feed herself the bottle, so I pulled out some of her small 4 oz. bottles we used when she was a newborn, since they're easier for her small hands to manage.  The Dr. Brown's bottles are great, but they're just too big for her to hold on to.  She's getting pretty good at feeding herself, but she has to lay on the floor or in my arms in order to get the formula out of the bottle (not sure she understands how to lean back without falling over yet).  I guess I should get the sippy cup out again.  We tried it about a month ago and she wasn't interested, but maybe now that she's feeding herself she'll try it again.  

 (Having her breakfast, all by herself!)

She also fed herself a snack this week, and I was so excited!  We've been trying to encourage her to feed herself the little puff snacks, but she just picks them up and throws them on the floor, or hands them to Shelley.  A few days ago, I gave her a freeze-dried yogurt puff, and she loved it.  I then handed her one, and she used her pincer grip and picked it out of my fingers and stuck it in her mouth!  You have no idea how happy I was to see her doing that!  

(The yogurt puff is in and she's realizing what she just did!)

I know I shouldn't worry, because all babies develop differently, but it has made me so paranoid recently when I compare her to other babies her age.  I worry that she's not pulling up yet, or crawling, or feeding herself.  We went to the doctor on Tuesday for her 9 month checkup (and to check out another ear infection) and the nurse told me not to worry, that she's in a transition stage right now.  She said that Ellie is developmentally fine, and that she'll just do those things when she's ready, and that it has nothing to do with intelligence.  I knew all those things already, but it made me feel better to hear it from a professional.  And now she's doing all these new things, and I'm so proud (and relieved!).



One last random thing...I got this package in the mail a week ago, and Billy asked me, "Did you order something?"  And I didn't, so I was kinda surprised...then I opened the box and found these!

 I entered a giveaway a couple months ago and never heard if I got the Glade scents package or not, but apparently I did!  They gave me 3 room sprays and a Sense and Spray (with a refill).  The Sense and Spray cracks me up, because it randomly sprays room freshener when I walk by.  I like it though...it smells nice.  And it locks itself for 20 minutes after it does an automatic spray, although you can still push the button to make it spray.  Anyway, I love anything that's free, so I was very excited to get some freebies in the mail!

We had a little visitor the other day....

 I found this squirrel in my hanging verbena plant on the porch!  He found something good to eat, because he stayed long enough for me to take a picture...then I ran outside and scared him off.  I'm all for sharing with the animals, but I really like my plants and don't want them destroyed!  Any ideas for preventing squirrels from eating my plants?

That's all for now...we have a big day today.  We're going to the airshow to see the Blue Angels fly this afternoon, and it's going to be super loud and super busy.  Looking forward to some family time, though!