Ellie's first instrument

She's already a musical baby!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Ellie's all about mimicking us these days. My favorite is when she lifts her chin, raises her eyebrows, and smiles in response to the same gesture from one of her moms (she's doing it in this picture). Sometimes she even says "Heh!" when we say "Hey!" to her. I don't think that counts as her first word, but she's definitely getting closer.

Ellie gets in on the Lego action

Ellie loves her backyard swing

Who's the future class president?

It's ME!

Do I have your vote?

At the zoo

We went to the zoo on Saturday...it was Ellie's first time there. She enjoyed watching the animals, especially the zebra, gorillas, and sheep.

Ellie goes swimming!

Josephine loves Ellie

Remember how I said that Josie comforts Ellie when Ellie is upset? Here are a couple shots of Josie in action.

Ellie was sleepy and complained loudly about tummy time, so I simply waited for her to roll onto her back. However, Josie felt that action was needed. Jo jumped down from the bookshelf where she'd been sleeping, sniffed Ellie, and purred loudly. In response, Ellie turned toward Josephine, rolled over, and settled down.

Josie's going to put me out of a job, eh?

Ellie Hearts Sock Monkeys

Y'all may know that we have a little sock monkey theme happening in Ellie's nursery. My mom made this onesie for Ellie--isn't it cute?

Lego time

Today was Ellie's first time playing with Legos...her older friends were making Lego buildings and I thought that Ellie might enjoy some Lego time as well. She had fun licking and mouthing the blocks; when she threw them overboard she looked to see where they went. Object permanence, here we come.

On a different note, isn't this the cutest bib ever? Grammy and Grandpa got it for Ellie on her first trip to Maine. Thanks, Mom and Dad--she wears it all the time!

Auntie Jenny and Ellie

Swinging

Super smiler

She really cracks me up.

Sleepy Ellie

All that playing wore Ellie out. This is how she usually puts herself to sleep--how cute is that?

Ellie loves Clara

I wish you could hear Ellie's shrieks of delight whenever she spies her Clara. She gets even louder when she touches Clara's fur. Good thing Clara's so patient with babies, eh?

Happy 5 months, Ellie!

I know those first 2 photos are a bit blurry, but I had to post them anyway because they capture Ellie so perfectly. She's all huge smiles and mischievous eyes these days! Happy 5-month birthday to our precious pumpkin baby!

Make Way for Ducklings

After Pride we headed over to the Boston Public Garden. We strolled around for a bit and then posed Ellie on the Make Way for Ducklings statues...she loved them!

Baby's First Pride

Ellie attended her first Pride March on Saturday! She slept through most of the parade but she enjoyed people watching before and after the march. Though the day was cold and dreary, the three of us had a wonderful time.

Happy Pride Month!

Rolling

In addition to sitting up with assistance, Ellie's new trick is rolling over. Here she's about to roll from her tummy to her back. Good times!

All in a day's work

In the morning Ellie couldn't sit up...

...but by afternoon she could! She must have been doing crunches during naptime. This baby has abs of steel!

Don't you wish you could nap under the peonies?

Cuteness abounds

Whenever I think that Ellie's at her cutest stage, she gets even cuter! She all huge grins and sparkly eyes nowadays. Annette and I are enjoying her so much!

Baby diet

For those who have asked, these are the foods that Ellie eats right now (they're all pureed organics): avocados, bananas, peas, pears, and sweet potatoes. She also eats whole grain rice cereal; she'll start oatmeal later this week. Following our pediatrician's advice, we started Ellie on solids early (right at 4 months) to help ameliorate her acid reflux. We offer her a new food every 3-4 days; although she eats whatever we offer, her clear favorite is pureed pears.

Vintage baby clothes

I'm sorry for my delay in posting...my parents gave us a NEW COMPUTER when they were here and I've had a tough time transferring files from the old 1996 computer to this new fancy laptop. (May we all have such terrible problems, eh?) Anyway, I still haven't figured the transferring thing out, but here are some new photos anyway. At least I know how to download them to the new computer!

We received these 1970s baby clothes from a distant friend. I love seeing Ellie in them...tell me she's not a trendy retro cutie!