News and Elliette milestones

So today I went in for my Dr's appointment and when she was checking the babies heart rate it wasn't coming as fast as she would like so she decided to do an ultrasound to double check the rate. Everything was fine with the babies heart so that was nice and since I am farther along this time and the baby was being cooperative I had her tell me the gender - GIRL! - Yup we are having another girl; hopefully they will just be good friends and not be super competitive against each other. We are very excited and now can start trying to figure out a name.
This past week Ellie has not been feeling well and has been very sad with a bit of an earache (she loves her Tylenol though so that helps) and her gums have hurt; today a tooth has finally broke through. It is one of her upper front teeth and she won't let us feel it so I am sure the gums are still sore but it is there, 9.5 mo old and we finally have a tooth, hooray! I will have pictures soon when it comes in far enough to fully see it.
Well Elliette is growing and learning more and more each day and just continues to make me laugh and amaze me with what she can do. We found out the other day that she can climb up the stairs - isn't she a little young for that?, she is standing on her own and sits down very controlled when she realizes that she isn't holding onto anything but a toy, she loves playing with my purse and getting out the pack of gum so I have to keep reminding her that gum is for bigger kids and take it away and then she gets annoyed with me, she loves to look outside at the scenery, she loves books and being read to, she LOVES looking at pictures and will giggle as she sees them like she remembers it happening, she loves talking/listening to people on the phone or on skype for a few minutes and then has to move on to the next thing - she NEVER stops moving, she thinks she is to big for naps and should only go to bed when mom and dad do, she loves listening to the music on her walker when she eats (we slide the toys off to the side and use it as her chair) and as soon as one song ends she throws her food down so she can hit the button again, she LOVES food especially if it is the same thing that I am eating, she loves to giggle a very high pitched giggle, she loves to talk, she loves to be clapped at, she LOVES looking in the mirror, she loves to pick out her clothes, she loves to get tickled if she is in the mood, she loves testing her parents and trying to get her way, she has started grunting and flexing when she throws a half fit or will find the old milk/juice cartons before I get them into the recycling bin and hold them over her head with both arms and grunt really loud (we laugh hard at these ones), oh and she loves to be anywhere and everywhere her mom is and try climing all over her, those are just a few of the things that she does lately that I can think of off the top of my head.

Justin's Birthday

Justin turned 29 the other day, for weeks I had been racking my brain about what to get this guy and thought I had something he might like. Well because I don't have a car and I wasn't quite sure if Justin would like what I was thinking I took him to the store and surprised him there (I know lame but at least he got something) or tried to anyways. Turns out the little recorder for his classes that he used to want he didn't need anymore because they had already given him one, who knew. Our neighbor had also given us a grill when she moved so I thought maybe we could get him a grill accessory kit - you know, the brush, tongs, flipper, etc - well he was thinking that it came with one so pretty much I had nothing (see, good thing I took him with me) so we walked around and picked out a couple of movies. Later that day Justin went over to get the grill and it was really nasty and SUPER heavy so we didn't want it and instead went to Home Depot and picked up a new charcoal grill for his birthday, oh and we did end up getting the accessory kit so at least one of the things that I thought of worked. I know that Justin shouldn't be cooking dinner on his birthday but he is much better at steaks than I am and he wanted to use his grill so he did the grilling and I made the potatoes and texas roadhouse type rolls and cinnamon butter, yum!

"Oh yeah, you are a mother"

This made me laugh so I thought I would share it. So this past Sunday was Mothers Day and so I got up and got ready to go to church. Justin wasn't feeling well that day so I took Elliette with me and we went to all 3 meetings (I was pretty proud of myself because it is easy to skip out after sacrament if there is any reason at all, I know bad - I'm working on it). After church I came home to a napping hubby so I put Elliette down for her nap and just watched some TV. It came time for dinner so I did the dishes and made dinner and then cleaned that up as well. After dinner we skyped our families so we could tell our moms happy mothers day (we got them our web cam for mothers day so they can see Ellie whenever they want). After talking to them it was time for bed so we got ready and said our prayers. As we were laying there I finally asked Justin if there was anything he forgot to tell me that day so he went through the list of I love you, You're beautiful, etc. I finally had to say "Um, Happy Mothers Day maybe" so he responded with "Oh yeah, you are a mother, Happy Mothers Day". He makes me laugh to hard sometimes. He told me he is used to just thinking about his mom on Mothers Day but he will learn. I thought it was so funny. In his defense he was sick and had a 17 hour day the day before doing military stuff and is studying and working like crazy lately so his mind is shot when it comes to anything other than school stuff. I do feel bad because I am big into holidays and celebrating and he never really was but he really is learning.
Side note. We just took Elliette in for her 9 mo check up and she is weighing in at 18 lbs 2oz and is 27 inches long. They did an Iron test at this apt. and had to prick her finger, when they actually pricked it she looked at me weird and wasn't to pleased but not sad and then they had to squeeze the finger. I looked at her and she had her big frown come on and just started crying until they put the colorful band aide on and then it was happy times again as she looked at the colors and tried to suck the band aide off her finger. She is such a goof. She is also doing to funniest laugh lately and I am trying to get it recorded but as soon as the camera comes out she turns into a little model and just poses and grins and won't do anything else. Cute but kind of annoying when you want to capture the other moments.

SURPRISE, those that don't know anyways

Well, Elliette is telling our little secret. We are due on October 7th which puts the 2 almost 14 months apart.

Update

Well I am doing a little better at this blogging thing, at least its been less than a month. Well first happy news ... The crazy lady is gone!!! WOOHOO!!! For those of you that don't know my neighbor is a bit crazy and is moving out today so my life is going to be better just because of that, we are very excited.
Ok now that is out of the way we can get to the update. We had some really nice warm weather out here a week or so ago so on Saturday instead of unpacking we went down to the bay and walked around watching the seals on the rocks, the kyakers and boaters, and just soaking up some good rays. While we were out we made it to the Aquarium which we were able to become year long members to so that Elliette and I have a place to go during the weeks we have nothing to do. It was super fun.
Elliette is eating more and more real food and being less and less or my little baby, she is just growing up so fast.But with that growing up comes more sophisticated fit throwing. It makes me laugh actually and I just watch her and wait it out until she realizes that it is getting her nowhere so she stops and just pouts. If that doesn't happen than I pull out the camera so I can get a pic of her cute sad face and wham it becomes a smile so fast I can't even get the pic I was hoping for but it does stop the tantrum. Although she does throw tantrums they are not often and are typically when she is tired so we throw her in bed when she is done and she sleeps it off and is back to her normal smiling giggling self. She is just cracking me up so much lately. The other day I was trying to take a nap with her and we were laying together on the couch as she ate her bottle and just out of the blue she starts giggling like crazy which in turn makes me laugh and needless to say neither of us got a nap at the moment. She also makes the funniest sounds, sticks her tongue out constantly, and is learning to spit a little which I probably shouldn't laugh at but it is pretty funny how she does it. We are also learning how to drink from a cup which she does really well if I am helping but as soon as I let her do it she dumps the water out and then tries to take a drink. Other than that she is army crawling around everywhere and is getting VERY fast. When I call her name she used to look at me innocently and then proceed to go where she is not supposed to. Now when I call her name she looks at me really quick and then just hauls to where she is going before I can get there to pull her away. She is starting to pull herself up on things to so we are having lots of fun and then falling over which does make for some tears as well.
Us: Well we are just chilling and enjoying the California life. Justin is doing well in his classes and I am trying to get involved in the ward so that I can meet people. Ellie and I went to a play group the other day which was a lot of fun for both of us to interact with other people. When we got back Justin had come home from lunch and locked us out so we were able to hang out with one of the ladies and her daughter for the afternoon which was fun as well. We did end up getting another set of keys the following day so that I can get in the apartment as well.
So that has been our life lately. Not to eventful but full of funny and beautiful scenery.

Happy Easter

Moving and Vacations

Well we have made it to our destination in California. It is gorgeous out here and we are really liking it so far. We were finally able to get an apartment that actually fits our family and our stuff so that we have usable rooms instead of a usable room and a junk room (at least they will be usable when I am done unpacking). When we first got here we traveled around the city to see what was available and just to see the sights and were able to take Elliette to the beach for the first time. We didn't stay long but it was a lot of fun.
On our way to California we stopped in St George to see grandma and grandpa Nelson and then we were able to take a mini vacation in Vegas. It was great and was Justin's first time in Vegas. Mostly we just walked around to see what Vegas had to offer and to see the different hotels. We did get to see the variety show in Planet Hollywood, it was pretty good and the host was hilarious. We stayed at the planet Hollywood hotel and it took us a little while to find it since our GPS took us to the restaurant which is not in the hotel so we hauled all our luggage for about a mile round trip from the car and back to find out we were in the wrong place. Once we finally made it to the hotel it was sweet, we had valet parking and our room was upgraded to some kind of suit just because they had one open (we went in the middle of the week). It was absolutely amazing, we had a seperate living room which had a pool table, bathroom, tv/sitting area, and a little bar area. When we were looking for our room number we were walking down the hall looking at all the normal doors and then come across these big nice double doors which had our room number on it, we had to double check the numbers before going in cause we couldn't believe that was our room. We were also able to meet up with Nic and Krista and their little cutie Adelaide while we were there for a little bit. It was fun to be able to see them, thanks guys for coming out to the strip.