'leven

 In Sadie's words, Elise is now " 'leven " months. This girl is her father's daughter. She is just usually happy. With the exception of one bad week this month when she was sick and teething, Elise sleeps well. Goes to bed by 7:30 PM and sleeps until 7:30 or 8 AM. Can you tell sleep is important to me? I fail to mention important things like Elise crawling like a normal child (finally! after 3 1/2 months of the army crawl), but I make sure to talk about her sleep patterns. 

Louie is always on the go. The picture at the top is the only picture I got of her laying on the blanket. She goes and goes, still wreaking havoc everywhere, mostly content to play alone.

Demonstrating her enthusiastic wave.  Elise will give most people a big wave and a smile. Just don't try to pick her up while I am around. That will not happen. Mom is the only acceptable pair of arms if I am within eyesight. 

Also developed this month: climbing stairs and somehow getting around all barricades we put in her away. She nuzzled her way between the diaper boxes on this day. Later on she climbed right over the diaper boxes. I don't bother with the barricades anymore, but Daniel thinks it's a fun game.

She is always happy to play on the stairs. Sadie was the same way at this age. These stairs are awesome for kids because the middle ones are so wide if she does fall she only goes down one step. There are only 2 narrow ones at the bottom so she has a short fall there too.

Elise is only 3 1/2 weeks from turning 1. Time has flown. The other day I opened the drawer with receiving blankets that we haven't used in 6 months and actually felt a wave of nostalgia. It only lasted for a second because then I remembered the challenge of those first months of Elise's life, but I felt it for a second. 

I am very aware of how lucky I am that I get to feel that nostalgia and move on to the present with Louie.  

Sadie has been hard to handle this week and it got me thinking today that I am so grateful for the feeling Elise brings to our family. If we had waited longer to have Elise we may have been too weary of crazy toddlers because Sadie got tough just a few months after I got pregnant. Elise brings balance and hopefully she helps Sadie realize the universe doesn't revolve around her. I love Sades, but man, she is a handful. (For example: it is literally a cat fight every time I get her in her car seat. She screams, slaps and kicks me, rips my hair out, etc). 

Back to Elise, she's my sweet girl who loves on me all day and will always obey me. :) 

I am so excited to get her walking soon!