Shop 'til You Drop

Brian will be relieved to know that his daughter's tolerance for shopping maxes out at two hours.

Anger Management

A little while back I mentioned Ellie's new biting habit. From what I can remember, it started a few days before my parents came to visit last month, escalated pretty quickly, then (luckily) plateaued. I can say with almost 100% certainty that the biting isn't the result of teething because she only seems to bite in moments of extreme frustration (less often, excitement), like when I'm in the middle of cooking dinner and tell her she can't come near the open oven door or when I tell her for the tenth time that she can't play with the electrical cords. It's not really the number of times it's happened (because luckily, it's not too often) so much as the fervor with which she bites. First it was the upholstery on the couch and then, more upsetting, if I picked her up to take her away from such situations she would try to bite my shoulder. In fact, she tried that when we were leaving a friend's house because she didn't want to go home, literally moments after I told that friend about this recent development. Rugs, dolls, stuffed animals and books have all been unfortunate victims. There were even a few occasions when she tried to bite the tile and quickly found out that tile doesn't give. Luckily, no harm was done.

Although a little reluctant to admit it, I'm fairly sure I'm not the only parent to lose my patience, especially those times when she refuses to stop biting -- perhaps she and I feed off of each other's emotions. It also saddens me a little that she's reached an age where she expresses herself in this way. I'm making my best attempts at staying patient and calm while at the same time trying to diffuse the situations in which she feels the need to bite. "Gentle" has been the word of choice in our house, with a healthy dose of "no" -- just enough so she understands that biting is not an acceptable outlet for her frustration. I also keep telling myself this is in no way a reflection on Ellie or my parenting skills, but it is nonetheless unnerving when your toddler comes at you, teeth bared!

Fortunately, I have noticed a pretty steep decline in the number of biting incidents in the last week (notably those towards Brian or myself), so fingers crossed we're getting over the hump of her biting phase. Believe me when I say that the vast majority of the time she is the sweetest girl and hopefully as she starts to verbalize how she feels or what is upsetting her, we'll have far fewer biting episodes. Regardless of when that happens, I think we're seeing the beginnings of a very passionate personality!

New Kicks!

Ellie rocking her new pair of shoes and giving an impromptu performance of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider!"

April Observations

1. The longer the hair, the more awesome the bedhead.

2. Tucson sunsets never get old.

3. Two weeks later the Easter duck remains Ellie's favorite toy (and the only one she hugs).

4. Bath time is still a major highlight of our day.

5. Sometimes yogurt is better used as finger paint.

6. She's almost there -- now if she would just take a step!

When Thunderbirds Fly

The base is hosting an air show this weekend so we've been listening to planes flying over the house for the last few days. While it rained most of the day, the sun came out just in time for Brian to get home from work (he's working all weekend) so the three of us ventured out to catch the Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration. The crowds were minimal and Ellie was completely enthralled! She even wore her sunglasses for the first half of the show while perched on Brian's shoulders. I think I was a fighter pilot in a former life.

Here are the highlights!

A quick video of their flyover!

Ellie's Last Visit From Nurse Maggie

I'm actually quite wistful as I write this, but yesterday Ellie had the last visit with Maggie, her NICP nurse. In fact, when she was here in January she told me there was no reason she had to come back again, but she really wanted to see how Ellie was doing, so of course I agreed. Maggie has been such a wonderful resource for our family, with her visits falling in between Ellie's well checks. I imagine these visits to be what doctor's visits were like years ago when they actually paid house calls. Somehow Ellie always knows when she's in the doctor's office and acts accordingly by freaking out. However, Maggie's visits were always conducted in our home, where Ellie is obviously the most comfortable -- and this might be what I'll miss most.

Thankfully, Maggie has never had any major concerns with Ellie's development over the course of the last 15 months. She mostly just checks in to make sure Ellie is hitting those ever-important developmental milestones, providing advice and insight on ways we can help Ellie achieve those milestones not yet reached.

Ellie's stats from yesterday's visit:
Weight = 18 pounds, 8 ounces (5%)
Height = 29 inches (25%)
Head Circumference = 45 cm (35%, quite a jump from her last well check!)

Yesterday, we discussed:

1. Diet -- Ellie is a great eater and eats such a wide variety of foods that Maggie had no concerns.
2. Speech and language development -- Ellie has a handful of words, and there are some words she was saying last month that she doesn't use anymore, which Maggie said is very common. However, Ellie is very talkative and babbles all the time, so again, no real concerns.
3. Walking -- All personal apprehension aside, Ellie is within the normal limits of not walking yet. Maggie will call in about a month to see if any progress has been made. If there has been no progress (which I truly doubt/hope will be the case), then we'll discuss possible physical therapy. It seems Ellie comprehended our conversation, because as soon as Maggie left, Ellie started standing alone for her longest stretches to date!
4. Biting -- This is an entirely new development within the last 4-5 weeks (blog post forthcoming). Maggie gave me a few suggestions on what to do to mitigate those situations when biting occurs, but mostly assuring me to be patient as it is just a phase (I sure hope so!).

I have really enjoyed our time with Maggie; she's down to earth, reassuring, and has been a sounding board on motherhood that I will truly miss. On the other hand, with these home visits coming to an end it feels like Ellie's prematurity is becoming less and less of a big deal -- and that is something I am so thankful for.

Thanks Maggie, we'll miss you!

Practice Makes Perfect

Ellie's been hard at work these days learning to feed herself. She's using a spoon to feed herself yogurt in these pictures, but she has also started using forks more regularly since we noticed her poking the food on her tray with her fingers.

Easter 2012

**Warning -- the following post contains gratuitous photos of Easter egg dyeing, Easter egg hunting and all-around Easter revelry. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)**

This year, our Easter holiday was one of relaxation and enjoying time together as a family -- I can't think of a way I'd rather spend it. To begin the Easter festivities, on Saturday afternoon we stripped Ellie down to her diaper and dyed eggs, a process that, at its start, was probably a little too neat and orderly.

Watching the dye tablets dissolve, one by one.

Where did the egg go?

After about 5 minutes of dyeing eggs, someone looked like she was getting bored just watching us dye the eggs, so we threw caution to the wind and let Ellie have fun getting her hands messy.

'You're seriously going to let me do this?'

There was a lot of touching the eggs.

Dunking eggs that were already dyed into a different color.

And some egg tasting, too.

She was pretty thrilled with the whole thing.

There was dye everywhere.

Some of that dye actually made it onto the eggs (of which about 75% were cracked :) ).

Ellie immediately took a bath after dyeing eggs, then ate dinner on the back patio.

After our little Easter bunny went to bed, I continued a long-standing Easter family tradition of watching "The Ten Commandments," and did so while putting together the breakfast casserole for Easter morning. Brian doesn't quite share my love of "The Ten Commandments," instead expressing his interest in making next year's viewing into a drinking game, with the key words being "Moses" and "bondage." Sigh.

Ellie woke up bright and early at 6:30 on Easter morning very excited to see her Easter basket waiting for her!

Ellie with her Easter basket last year (how much has changed in these last twelve months!).

This year Ellie got her own baby doll (up until now she had been loving on one of my old Cabbage Patch dolls), sunglasses, two books (one from Mimi and Papa), some eggs with Goldfish graham crackers and, her absolute favorite Easter gift this year, a stuffed duck to go with her "10 Little Rubber Ducks" book, also from Mimi and Papa. Apparently Mommy needs to have a discussion with the Easter Bunny about next year's basket goodies since the grandparents' gifts were such a hit. After eating breakfast, we all got dressed in our Easter finest and headed out the door to catch 9 o'clock mass off base. However, due to unknown reasons, the base gate was closed to traffic trying to get off base, so after sitting in traffic for ten minutes, we decided to turn around and instead go to 10 o'clock mass here on base. 

So what to do when you have an hour to kill? Hunt for Easter eggs of course!

It only took a few eggs for Ellie to get the hang of finding them and putting them in her basket.

Afterwards, we got on Skype with my parents so Ellie could show off her loot (more Goldfish graham crackers!) and her Easter dress.

Mass, lunch and nap were followed by an early dinner with the Cunninghams. Ellie and Braden were dinner buddies.

I get such a kick out of watching these two interact and play with each other (have I mentioned there is already an arranged marriage in place?).

All in all, it was a wonderful Easter and I'm so thankful to have spent it with my family and friends. We are so very blessed!

Look What Aunt Kate Sent!

I believe she was on lap number ten when this picture was taken.

Lunch With Jess and Jenny

A few Saturdays ago, we got the chance visit with some very good friends of ours. Jesse is one of Brian's close friends from college; his wife Jenny also went to school with them. They're both Air Force pilots currently stationed on the East Coast. Jenny's family lives here in Tucson, so when they called to let us know they would be in town, we naturally had them over for lunch (perhaps a ploy to have a chance to visit with them since Ellie naps in afternoon). The last time they were in town was literally two days after Ellie was born and they visited us in the hospital -- but since Ellie was in the NICU, this was the first time they met her.

After getting in some squeezes with Jenny, Ellie took to Jess pretty quick. She might have shown him every single one of her toys.

Shortly after, Ellie went down for a nap and we all sat out on the back patio for lunch and margaritas. We ate, laughed, reminisced about old times and talked about future plans. It was one of the best afternoons we've had in a long time.

The obligatory "guys" photo.

Ellie woke up right before Jess and Jenny left, so we snapped a few more pictures.

The girls.

It was wonderful catching up with such good friends-- friends we see all too rarely. However, since they're moving to HAWAII this fall, I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again very soon. :)