read this post from the scary mommy blog please. (photo taken from the blog post)

new dads MUST READ

and thank you to my loving husband who doesn’t do MOST of these things, thank goodness.

Love + Prayers for Oklahoma.

Our little nugget head turned 7 months this past week!

What is happening at 7 Months?

Ellery LOVES:

• Watching Sophie and the other pups run around!
• Chewing on everything and anything. No teeth yet, but I suspect sooner rather than later.
• Smiling so much and scrunching up her face while doing it.
• She lovessomeof her solids: squash pear, sweet potato, banana, avocado sweet potato.
• Sitting up by herself.

Ellery DOES NOT LIKE:

• Having her face wiped
• Lying on her back for too long (aka, hurry up with those diaper changes, Mom!)
• Peas, Oatmeal or anything with a weird texture.
• Having something taken from her that she absolutely loves and isn’t supposed to have (mostly phones, remotes or anything with buttons).

 

We’ve been very busy with lots of play dates with our new mom friends! Here Elle is with her friend, Maddie, who we’ve known since they were both 4 weeks old!

 

More friends!

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Chewing on our shoes has become a favorite thing to do in the stroller…

 

The beautiful weather has made for lots of long walks with our goose along the Hudson River.

 

(walking with BOTH of her Sophies 🙂

 

My husband and I couldn’t be with my Mom on Mother’s Day yesterday so I asked him to help me create a digital card to email to her. I love creating something more personal than just your average hallmark card!

Here is what we came up with!

 

Okay-so, Maciej did MOST of this but I did help with the ideas 🙂

 

I’ve had the most incredible first mother’s day. We celebrated Mother’s Day a littlelast year since I was pregnant, but this year it was for real.

You know when you have one of those perfect days where there is a fleeting moment when you think “it just can’t get any better than this”? I had one of those moments today while I was out for a late afternoon jog on the Westside Highway. I woke up this morning to Maciej getting Elle from her crib and bringing her into bed to nurse, which is our everyday morning routine. But today, after she finished eating with me, Maciej took her from me and let me doze back off into a somewhat dream state for another hour or so. He came back in to get me and woke me up with my first gift. It was the most amazing video he made, which began the day we found out we were pregnant. I started crying within the first ten seconds of watching it. I am holding off to post it here for a few days because I am in the process of making some changes with this blog-but as soon as possible, I will share.

Not long after we got up, we were off to Peels for a great breakfast together.

 

I ate this deliciousness.

 

Followed by Ellery’s first swing EVER!

 

I think Mach and I were more excited about it than she was…

 

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and later in the day, a picnic outside together.

 

I feel so lucky to have such a beautiful little girl to spend my first mother’s day with but it shouldn’t go without mentioning that the reason I can even begin to be a good mother to her is because of how amazing of a mother I have. My mom is the most loving, generous and caring person I have ever met and I would be lucky if I could grow to be even a little bit like her. Love you, Mom!

 

 

I’ve been meaning to write a post about some of the apps I’ve found to be more than helpful from day one of pregnancy.

As it happened with me, I found out I was pregnant and was NOT expecting it at all. So, the obvious first thing to do is turn to the internet for some guidance. The second thing, was to search “pregnancy” in the app store on my iPhone. I immediately downloaded the following apps:

• My Pregnancy (babycenter)
• What to Expect pregnancy
• Baby Bump
• Sprout Pregnancy

I won’t go into detail on those apps, but I did use them all and found them all to have helpful information day by day.

I pre-downloaded some apps towards the end of my pregnancy that I also found to be helpful once I had Ellery.

• My Baby (babycenter)
• Total Baby
• Baby Connect

We ended up liking the Baby Connect app the best and are still using it to this day. Now we only record her food and information from all her doctors appointments, height, weight, etc…but in the beginning we recorded everything (every pee, poo, feeding, sleeping, etc…) What did people do without iPhones back in the day?! 🙂

 

With the weather finally getting nicer and warmer, we are spending a lot more time outside exploring. We’ve been back and forth from CT a few times and Grammie was here staying with us for a few days too. We LOVE having Grammie visit because it allows me to get some work done and Elle Belle gets lots of extra snuggles.

Ellery was also baptized on the 29th, which was wonderful. We didn’t make a big hoopla out of it, but instead kept it to immediate family. My Sister, Jess and my Brother in law, Brian, are her God Parents and it was great to have that special day with them.

Here are some of the latest photos:

 

 

 

 

Pretty good looking god-parents if you ask me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a day in the park with Grammie!

 

 

loving the new Uppa baby stroller that will stay in CT!

 

 

 

Meeting Jenny’s horse, Sprout!

 

 

 

playing outside in the grass in CT.

 

taking a dry bath while Mom showers!

 

We spent the last six days in San Francisco. We went out to visit our friends Kendel and Brian who are expecting their bundle of joy at the end of June. It was Kendel’s Baby shower and we wanted to be there to celebrate them.

Kendel was down and out due to a sprained pelvis so we didn’t get to do as many activities with them but it didn’t stop us from exploring the city and stopping by our favorite spots. Here are some photos from our trip!

On her first Virgin America flight.

 

Eating breakfast in the beautiful sunlight.

Walking at Chrissy Field.

Strolling.

Dinner at Mamacita!

Meeting Penny, our fave SF pup!

Lots of snuggle time with the beautiful baby Momma to be!

Lunch with a view at Bar Bocce (we did a little too much eating and drinking on our trip!)

all partied out…

Morning hang time at Baker Beach.

 

Breakfasting at the Ferry Building. The farmers market is heaven on earth.

 

 

Fam shot at the shower.

 

Elle Belle is 6 months!

It’s hard to believe so much time has passed. I have to take a moment each day to take in everything she is doing because moments later she’s moved onto something else.

New things Elle is doing at 6 months:

• She is loving rolling everywhere. I can’t turn my head for one second or she is on the opposite side of the room!
• She is babbling and doing it quite often. Her voice is soft and sweet but there is no question she likes to chat.
• Trying more and more varieties of solids.
• Touching everything in sight. She loves to reach out and use her fingers to feel different surfaces and hear the sounds they make when she bangs her hand on them.
• Sitting! It’s still a bit unbalanced but getting better and better. She topples over and isn’t even phased by it.

We are still breastfeeding at every feed for now-although weaning might be in the near future. Feedings are taking a long time and I worry she is getting bored and therefore becoming uninterested in eating all together. It’s a day by day thing so we shall see how long it goes. Either way, we will continue to nurse for some time even if it’s just a couple of times a day for the bonding of it. I want to do what’s best for her.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a post-these past few weeks has been a bit of a whirlwind. I am reminded today after everything that happened in Boston, that we all need to take time each day to appreciate everything we have. I feel so blessed to have an amazing baby, husband and family and friends. Sending lots of love to those in Boston today.

Ellery turns 6 months this coming week and I can’t believe it! Time has flown by.

Here is a photo roundup of these past few weeks:

A belated Easter photo:

Posing in her bunny slippers.

Apple Puree!

Elle LOVES her play mat. She has become quite the roller on it.

Taking full notice of the camera when waking up from nap time.

Pea Puree. She was NOT a fan.

Bonding time with her goose.

Mommy and Me Yoga

Mach sneaking in some extra snuggles.

We took Jess and Brian to Robertas for brunch one day. We all ate too much.

Victory Garden!

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Elle loves her music class at Swaddle Waddle.

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Bedtime stories.

Baby shoes!

Helping Auntie Jess with her first Lovage Babyblends tasting!

Still all smiles after a very long drive back from Boston.

Getting ready for our trip to San Francisco this week!