a sweet, monthly update of our third daughter, elliot.

i remember thinking when we had just kaye - dear god, will this day ever end?

then when we had sawyer my days got a little busier. not only that, but i had started designing and picking up jobs here and there.

fast forward three years and now we have three babies...and we are busier than ever. like...my head spins and i find myself wanting to retreat inward to make everything just stop. make my babies stop growing and make the days last longer. i'm blinking and three days are poof! i mean...kaye and sawyer are closer to six and four now. i may as well start planning elli's first birthday...because that's less than four months away. and me? when's my next round of botox? and how about that boob job i've been wanting for...10 years. well let me tell you sister - three kids and i'm well overdue.

well. o-v-e-r-d-u-e.

okay...let's get on with it.

need to get caught up? you can find elli's birth story here.


my baby girl is eight months old. she has these moments of looking extremely toddler-ish as well as moments that i can breathe a sigh of relief because she's definitely still a baby.

eight months is a hard age for our gal. she wants to walk. she'll be standing, holding onto a piece of furniture, let go and take a step - right onto her face. either she's fearless or maybe not quite the brightest. regardless, she wants this walking thing to happen.

which leads me to - crawling. elli is proving to be like her sisters. this crawling thing is for the birds. she can do it. i've seen her. it's an ugly crawl, but a crawl nonetheless. but walking...walking is what the cool kids are doing.

big news on the sister front - sawyer is the rockstar in elli's world. i'm talking...if elli could produce hearts in her eyes she would have them for sawyer. all of a sudden sawyer knows just how to make her sister belly laugh...and it's the best.

kaye is my helper...through and through. the day would definitely not run like it does without her. i can always count on her to grab me this or put that away or if i ask for an elli babysitter she jumps at the chance. she is...the best. and thank god she is because i just don't know how i'd get through the day. lord mercy.

elli has grown so much in her personality this month. she's loud. she's extremely verbal. she grabs EVERYTHING. gone are the days sitting content on my hip. must touch all the things. must see all the things. i can see so much of both her sisters in her.

our gal is officially a crawler...but mostly she just crawls to get to anything she can pull herself up on so she can attempt to pull up on it. she's not quiiiite there yet. she can get to her knees, but can't pull off the transition.

when she is standing (assisted by a piece of furniture) i've seen her let go and stand unassisted for a few seconds and my heart stops because i know we're on the verge of some serious growing pains. elli hasn't yet realized that by letting go she's moments away from landing on her face. granted...kaye walked just shy of nine months and sawyer just shy of 10 months. but we'll make sure this baby stays a baby...no walking for at least another year.

ELLIOT | 8 MONTHS

 nicknames | our poor elli. boobies really stuck, but then we have babies and elli girl.

 size | let's see...she had her well-baby check-up and she was 28 inches and 18.5 pounds. that puts her in the 70th percentile for both. and then her head is still giant in the 93rd percentile. the doctor went so far as to say she has a big brain...which is concerning because both kaye, sawyer, and i have super small heads. hmmmm...

milestones | big things for elli girls this month. she started to crawl and finally popped her two bottom teeth...which she uses to bite whole strawberries. i literally gave her a large strawberry thinking she would just gnaw on the outside...over the next five minutes i watched her chip away and finish the entire thing. she took her first swing ride and had an ear to ear smile the entire time. i also sent her down the slide with kaye and sawyer...exactly one time. elli looked scared for her life. girlfriend went to work a few times planting corn with her farmer. she...was good, until she was bad i was told.

sleep | oh my sweet baby girl. she's just killing it in the sleep department. she was being a bit of a bear when it came to nap time, but i've finally figured out the schedule she likes, and if i get her down on time she zonks right out. if i miss that window girlfriend goes into freak out mode and will try to claw your eyes out. like...crawl up your body and go for the eyes. not joking. she has a super clear and direct path of communication - mom. nap. now. however...after the missed nap window she has the hardest time falling asleep and will cry and cry and cry. she just can't seem to shut her little brain down when she's overly tired and it breaks my heart.

for bedtime she's decided she likes to fall asleep between 5 and 5:30 pm. no joke. and she'll usually sleep until about 3 am, nurse, then back to sleep until 6 am.

all this to say - this month she's a dream...next month will probably be a completely different story.

 eats | if elli could talk and you asked her what her favorite food was she would say - food. i love food. except avocado. how does she not like avocado?!

girlfriend puts down a respectable amount during the day and manhandles most anything we give her. eggs / beans / turkey burger / blueberries / bananas / pork / chicken / toast / protein pancakes...all the things. basically, whatever we're having for our meal she gets. then i supplement with a little veggie packet of pureed something or other...usually.

we're still working on learning how to drink water from a sippy cup. she mostly just let's it dribble into her mouth, then she spits it out.

loves | this month our gal loves being held. she wants to be a part of it all and see exactly what's going on. if you don't find her in our arms you'll find her at the table pounding all the things...because as i said before, she loves food, just like her mama. (we're having salmon tonight so we'll see how that goes for her.) girlfriend also loves taking showers. yes...we're those people. she'll sit on the floor and play with all her little toys and it's the very very best.

dislikes | hungry, sleepy, wet, teething...you know. typical baby discomforts. but mostly she's ridiculously content. there are moments when our farmer comes home and i basically launch her into his arms because she's been clingy that day. she just loves knowing what's going on. it's also safe to say she doesn't like being pulled on by her sisters or if they get into her face too much. she's definitely learning how to defend herself. if kaye gets anywhere near her hands elli comes up with two fistfuls of hair.
elli girl - you're just too much. going from your easy-breezy self to this little gal full of personality...i'm not sure why i thought you'd be different. you're proving to have the same be apart of all the action curiosity your sisters had / have.
all that to say, you really are a sweet girl. you are patient (most of the time) and just so sweet. you're quick to smile and your belly laugh is so so cute. thank god sawyer can get that out of you. 

i adore your chubby wrists and your thigh / knee rolls. 

those two bottom teeth look so good on you.

prediction - your hair has really started to come in and it has a different texture than both kaye and sawyer...so dare i say you might have straight hair? we'll see!

sawyer at one month / kaye at one month