A sweet, monthly update of our third daughter, Elliot.

Guess who's decided to stick around for another month? Yes...Her name is Elli and she's the loudest one of us all...which is saying something.

When I said last month that girlfriend found her voice...I wasn't kidding. She is a yeller, just like her mama. (I'm working on it...and Kaye would even tell you that I'm doing much better.) Elli has so much to say all the time and heaven forbid if you take a tiny pause before putting another bit of food in her mouth. It's pretty evident from her pictures this month that:

1. She's never met a food she didn't like and...
2. She's never missed a meal.

But before we get to wrapped up in her appetite...

Need to get caught up? You can find Elli's birth story here.


In addition to gaining weight and yelling this month Elli has been busy. She explores all over the house and would prefer you didn't bother her while doing so. This is because she's usually getting into the plant...or chewing on a shoe...or heading straight for a bathroom. Whyyyyy? Why the bathroom? Nothing grosses me out more.

We never had to worry about that stuff with Kaye and Sawyer. They just followed me around the house and cried. Elli sneaks away. I wonder how that's going to translate when she's older. I'm scared.

Speaking of those sisters - Elli continues to be a patient little sister...for the most part. Sawyer continues to try and make Elli walk places and Elli wants nothing to do with it. I think the saddest part is when Sawyer tries to hug or kiss her and Elli has taken to swatting her away. It makes Sawyer so sad. She told me the other day, "But I love her." I tried to explain that Elli is a baby and doesn't always like hugs and kisses from mommy either...and that seemed to help. Sawyer truly does looooooove her little sister, probably just a tad too much.

Kaye is still our helper. She calls herself the double-big...Because she's the biggest sister. She's adorable. She's gotten even more independent this month. I'm not sure if it's because I don't have as much time to hover or if it's just part of her personality? Either way, she now comes upstairs fully dressed each morning. Gone are the days of me picking out clothes and it KILLS me. It kills me mostly because I'm type A and the outfits she puts together can get extremely crazy. Somehow she pulls it off, but sometimes I have to send her back down to try again. Girlfriend can't wear jeans when it's 105 out! Actually, she can. We went to a pool party last week and she chose a long sleeved chambray top and jeans. I told her she could wear it, but that she couldn't complain. She didn't complain, but when I offered her the summer dress after she finished swimming she gladly accepted.



ELLIOT | 10 MONTHS

 nicknames | Boobies is morphing into Bubbies, Sweet Girl

 size | She's growing. So much growing. We've officially outgrown the 9 - 12 month clothes, but I have yet to swap out the bigger ones. We're not ready for that yet! She still has the rest of summer to get through before I can bring out the next tote of all her sisters' fall clothing.

I'm not certain what she's weighing these days, but it's heavy. My arms get tired.

milestones | so many milestones this month!

Elli is still sitting solidly with two words. She always greets me with mama and says dada when she sees her farmer. It's the sweetest.

Elli has poked two more teeth through bringing her grand total to four. So she has the bottom two and then not the front two. The two on either side of the front top came in first. Her smile is super scary and hilarious.

Elli started waving hi and bye! Apparently we have a lot of comings and goings because she never misses the opportunity to wave...and she waves a lot.

Elli will give kisses...so many kisses! All you have to do is ask and she'll come at your with a wide open mouth. Be prepared for saliva.

Elli is a stinker. She's a stinker because she started standing independently last month. Then about a week ago she started taking one...maybe two steps. She's continued to do this but then will just lower herself to the ground and crawl. Walk, child! Walk! With that, I don't feel comfortable bragging that we had a nine month walker...again. She's too timid in her steps. But maybe this month is her month.

sleep | We did it. We've cut out all night nursing sessions so girlfriend sleeps right on through! It only took one night of, "Russell...go give Elli her binkie." He had to be the one because if I went in there she would have been like...woo! food! and then realized quickly how angry she was when she didn't get any food.

 eats | Elli's number one purpose in life is to clean her plate. Then she eats everything on my plate. And then if there are any leftovers from her sister...she'll eat those too. Seriously. Kaye and Sawyer now leave their plates next to me so I can feed the rest to Elli. Elli's always the first to sit down at the table and the last to leave.

I'd say her favorite meal these days is...eggs and toast. But especially eggs. She's still not loving avocado, even if I mix in a chunk with something else. She'll manage to separate the two in her mouth and only spit out the avocado. It's her party trick.

Oh! And we've had salmon a few times this past month and I could not believe how much she put down. So there's a deep-rooted love for that as well.

A large achievement is her ability to drink from a sippy cup. She's mastered it...which is wonderful, because the Farmer and I are leaving in a few weeks and I was worried we were going to come back to a dehydrated baby.

loves | This month Elli loves getting into all the things. She especially loves playing outside with the water table. Splashing is kind of her thing. I caught Sawyer splashing her repeatedly and Elli just stood there...she didn't mind a bit. But I minded and Sawyer found herself wet and sitting alone.

dislikes | Elli does not enjoy when things are taken from her. Like the remote, for example. She goes straight to yelling as loud as she possibly can and Sawyer will immediately cover her ears. And I agree...it's like an alarm.

Elli has also taken to not enjoying car rides. Say it isn't so! With the older girls I always tried to plan our travel when they were sleepy so they could get a good nap in. But with Elli we kind of just have to go go go. Alas...she's learning to deal.

Sweet, Elli-girl. You're the most adored member of our family. You've changed sooooo much and so quickly I wish I could freeze time. Your first birthday is breathing down our necks! Thank you for giving the very best cuddles and kisses. Your kisses, no matter how French-kissy, are my absolute favorite. 

Let's continue to work on the screaming and yelling. I'm not sure my ears can take much more...or my sanity. 

We also need to work on your walking. Come on girl...don't give your sisters all the glory of being the early walkers!


sawyer at one month / kaye at one month