HUIT

Eight month update: Our little Eliza is still growing up! She has made it very clear she wants to be just like her big sister! She follows Mila around everywhere she goes, they have started playing together so well.  Sometimes they will be playing with toys and I will see Eliza just watching mila like a hawk, then Mila will stop what she is doing and come give Eliza a kiss or a hug, I love it! 

This month Eliza has started clapping, and waving hello/goodbye and says ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba, she can get all around the room by keeping one hand on the furniture. She loves to hold onto our hands and practice walking, she can climb all the way to the top of the stairs (with adult supervision). She is practicing standing on her own (won't be long)! She loves to bounce up and down/dance when we sing or play music. She love love loves music! She sings to us all the time. 

At the beginning of the month Eliza had her dr appointment (7 months): 17.7 lbs and 28.5 inches long. She is 50th% for weight, 90th% for height. She is gaining on mila (20 months): 20.14 lbs and 30.5 inches long! So proud of both of them!

Last week was Jeff's spring break we worked really hard to get the house ready to sell! Our house is officially on the market (we had 3 showings this week!)

We did have one fun day during spring break - we took the girls to the cincinnati zoo it was so much fun to see the animals and a few new spring babies!

This month has been great for Mila too! She is getting the hang of talking and is gaining confidence in everything she does.  She is a great big sister.  She seems to watch out for her little sis and it makes her sad when she sees Eliza crying. She has started to say prayers and likes to unfold her arms when everyone says "amen". She loves church and going to nursery! Her hair is growing and we have had to trim those bangs yet again! We have also had fun trying some new styles.

I think Mila would be happy if she could spend every waking moment at the park she never wants to leave (her favorite is the slide) 

I just love this cute little family of mine!!! 

SEPT

Seven months! This girl is cruising.. 

Literally, this month she has started to crawl.  She started crawling one day and the next day she was all over the place!  I have had to start putting up the gates to block off the stairs again! She also has started standing up in her crib so we had to lower her mattress.  I think she is just about ready for a car seat because she is getting too heavy for the infant carrier! She is a busy girl.  She has also started turning into a little cheese ball, she gets my attention and then she just smiles at me really big with those dimpled cheeks.  I just love it, she is a very happy baby. She has started eating some finger foods this month and loves Cheerios and graham crackers. She still has a really good appetite and will eat almost anything. I just love love love this sweet little girl! 

I am just doing my best to keep up with the rest of this little family of mine.  

Mila is now 20 months and has been showing off her personality (along with a little bit of a temper, who knew? Bring on those terrible twos). But for the most part she is a really happy and really easy going little girl. She is talking like crazy, I'm not sure if it's getting clearer so it's easier to understand or if I have gotten used to hearing how she pronounces certain sounds so it's easier to understand (maybe a little bit of both). Last month we started putting her hair in pigtails, this month we have been trying some new styles.. (thanks to Pinterest) 

This month she has discovered a love of music and dancing.  She will bring me her tutu and say "help me" and then once we get it on she will dance and twirl. It is so cute. I just love this little girl! 

This month was a lot of fun. Me and Jeff celebrated our 4 year anniversary- to celebrate we took the girls up to cincinnati for a little weekend get away.  We spent Friday at the childrens' museum, we had so much fun watching the girls explore and play, I think Eliza's favorite was splashing in this water table. 

Mila really liked playing with Jeff in this little playhouse with a slide.

We spent friday night at a hotel (took the girls swimming at the hotel). The girls were so worn out from the museum they did great sleeping in the hotel.  Then on Saturday we took the trolley to Newport aquarium and spent all day checking out a ton of really cool water creatures. 

It was awesome! We had so much fun!

So now, Jeff is back at it working hard (2 months until graduation!) Where has the time gone? As I am getting ready to start to fix up the house to get it ready to sell, part of me is so sad. I have become so attached to my little town of Versailles, KY and to all of the amazing people we have met here. I truly feel like I have a huge family out here, so many people who care about us and love us. We also started our own little family out here this house holds so many memories I will cherish forever.  Someone (I can't remember who) at work the other day told me that after we move back to Utah the only thing I was going to remember when I think about kentucky is being pregnant! Ha ha, might be true.. I think I was pregnant about 90% of the time! 

I remember one day mid-July (if you've been in ky mid-July you know the death by humidity feeling) well I was 8.5 months pregnant with eliza and I was determined to mow the lawn so I waited until mila (who was about 1 year old at the time) was napping and I was about 3/4th of the way done when she woke up and I did not want to leave the job unfinished, so I grabbed the baby carrier and strapped mila onto my already humongous belly and got to work (since my feet were swollen I could only fit in flip flops and I know I was wearing cut off jeans (I remember thinking at that point I really belong here .. I am a true  kentucky woman! Ha ha!)

While part of me is sad to be leaving this amazing chapter of my life. Part of me is looking forward to a new chapter with new beginnings. I hope I can take the relationships I have developed, and the love I have felt from complete strangers and from close friends with me as I go. I hope I can use the strength I have received to help comfort and support others. Thank you to all of you who have helped me and my family along our journey! We love you all. 

SIX

I can't believe eliza is half a year old! This month was full of new experiences! We started the month in Utah visiting family for Christmas/winter vacation. The girls loved playing in the snow

Eliza is so happy bundled up in all of her snow gear

Eliza got really sick with croup while we were in Utah. She had us really worried but even at her worst she could still manage a smile.. so I knew she was going to get through it, which she did. This girl is one tough cookie.

This month she has really started to love baby food! She has a great appetite and so far seems to like everything.  I mashed up a banana for breakfast one morning and she ate the whole thing! She really likes veggies: squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. 

Last month she started sitting up and it didn't take her long to master!

Even though she has mastered sitting up on her own she just isn't content sitting on the sidelines.  This girl wants to be part of the action (and she wants to do everything Mila does!) 

Standing is her new favorite hobby, she can stand while holding onto her Woden activity cube for upwards of 20 minutes! she has gotten so good at it I even feel comfortable doing other things around the house while she stands there and plays. 

This girl just can't be stopped! She is extremely strong willed, and determined to get things done- her way!  She is busy growing up! I am so so proud of her!

Checking out this world through a new light!

This month has also been a huge growth month for little miss Mila who has suddenly found her voice! She is talking a lot! (Sometimes in a language all of her own).  Every once in a while she will throw a real word out there and occasionally even at the right time!  It is so fun to see her starting to make sense of the world around her! 

Here she is showing off her freshly trimmed bangs (I got brave and barely cut the ends off .. Ha ha)

Speaking of hair look who grew her first set of pigtails!  She is really good at showing people where her pigtails are! (So cute!) 

(Where did our baby Mila go? She looks like such a "kid" in this picture!) she loves playing with the kitchen Santa brought her and her singing tea pot from grandma Diane!

The weather has been horrible here in kentucky this month; cold, wet, and icy so we have spent a lot of time inside.  This weekend we finally saw some sun and were able to get outside!

They both had fun as Mila pushed and Eliza hung on tight! It is fun to see them start to play together! 

They both look thrilled to be showing off their new valentine's day Jammie's - thanks Grammy tami! 

This month was full of growth, I am looking forward to what next month has in store for us! 

CINQ

Eliza is 5 months old! Woo hoo!  

This month has been great! Both girls are growing like crazy! Their dr appointment this month: 

               Mila (18 months) 19lbs

               Eliza (4 months) 15lbs

 (I will have to add more stats later I don't have the info with me right now) 

We've had a busy month it started with Jeff's mom coming out to visit to help with the girls while Jeff took finals. We had a lot of fun, here was our mini early christmas we loved being able to celebrate with grandma Diane and the girls loved playing with their new toys with grandma:

We loved having her out to visit, the girls really got attached and were sad to see her go. Christmas Eve the girls in their cute gingerbread man pajamas:

We had a great Christmas, we spent most of the day at home in our pj's, then we went to supreme hibachi buffet. Then had the missionaries over to play games. It was the perfect Christmas. Oh and guess who decided to start sitting up on her own Christmas Day! It's a Christmas miracle:

 Mila loved the little play kitchen Santa brought her, eliza liked the wooden play cube Santa brought. The day after Christmas we flew back to Utah. Here are the girls hanging out at the airport waiting for our flight:

We didn't waste any time- we took mila sledding right away! She loved it! Here she is in all of her snow clothes:

The girls loved seeing all of their aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family at the Ebert family christmas party (they especially liked seeing grandma Diane again) here is Diane with mila and her cousin Mckenzie. 

We had an amazing baby blessing for Eliza at my parents house dec 29th it was so nice to have all of our family and friends together as we celebrated the birth and blessing of our sweet little Eliza! Here she is with her grandma Tami: 

Such a beautiful happy baby (in my opinion)

And here is our sweet mila with her beautiful aunt Kat:

We headed down to St George to spend some time with my family, mila insisted we stop at Burger King so she could get a whopper:

Mmm mmm.. Tasty! We are having a great time here in St George and had a great New Year's Eve last night (us and girls in bed by 8:30) our idea of a good time! Here we are watching the sun rise in the pool: 

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope this year brings a lot of great, new and exciting things for us and for all of you!