What a Week!! - Part 3

Part 3 - We bought a house!

We are in the process of buying a house. We will be moving about 2 blocks away, still in Boston (Charlestown neighborhood) but we will have a single family house. We will be right next door to the neighborhood elementary school (where Ellie will go).

Everything happened so fast. We weren't looking to move, I got an e-mail, we took a look, fell in love, and our offer was accepted!

We spent the weekend cleaning up our place and we will have our first open house this weekend!

I'll post photos soon, we are really swamped with stuff right now.

So, as you can see, we all had a pretty big week! And next week we head out to Chicago for Cindy's wedding, which we are all really excited about!

What a Week!! - Part 2

Part 2 - Ellie isn't letting anything stop her from getting what she wants!

Ellie is now mobile and she can get herself into a sitting position! She has been spending quite a bit of time travelling backwards for a while now. However, over the past week she has figured out how to propel herself forward. She was lunging and army crawling. She would be so determined to get somewhere she would lunge herself forward multiple times, coupled with pulling herself on the floor to get it.

Today, her note from daycare (we get a daily report of how she was, when she slept, when she ate, etc) said that she was crawling around. I asked if it was army crawling or real crawling and they said a little bit of both and that she would move herself across the floor to get to a toy or person! As soon as we got home I put her on the floor and she was moving herself to me and then to Nick!

We will try and get a video and pictures to post soon!

As a side note, Ellie is recovering from her first cold. She never had a fever but suffered from a runny nose. We had a couple rough nights as she had trouble falling and staying asleep. But who can really sleep anyway when they have a congested nose? Although congested, Ellie mastered sitting up by herself over the weekend.

What a Week!! - Part 1

So we've had a pretty big past week...so much so I have to break it up into 3 parts!

So, Part 1: I'm wearing jeans I bought long before the thought of being pregnant was an option!

Such a great morning. I grab some pre-pregnancy jeans (not even my fat jeans, or my "relax" fit work jeans) and hope that they will fit. I get them zipped up and they fit! I was so happy!! My goal to get back to pre-pregnancy weight was Cindy's (Nick's sister) wedding which is in about a week and a half. I am a handful of pounds (literally you could count them on your hand) away from pre-pregnancy weight. It took 9 months to gain, and 7.5 months (about) to lose.

I'm sure the whole no dairy thing helped out a lot. But walking to and from work everyday, exercising, and breastfeeding really did the work.

Yep, we are still breastfeeding. Its a lot of work, but I'm really happy that, although I'm working full time, I'm able to still provide what Ellie needs!

Happy Birthday Grandpa V!

If Ellie didn't have a runny nose, I'm sure she would have smiled for the picture.

(sweater courtesy of Grandma V's knitting skills)

Urban Babies...

Urban babies...commute! Yep, each day little Ellie commutes on the orange line to and from daycare during rush hour. Generally she does really well and enjoys watching everyone on the train. Its funny to watch her smile at "suits".

Urban babies...visit movie sets. This past week Ben Affleck and Tom Cruise (and Cameron Diaz) were filiming movies in our 'hood. On Thursday Ellie and I went and watched Ben Affleck shoot a fight scene. Ben's movie is actually about Charlestown, our neighborhood! (Sorry, I didn't get a great photo of Ben)

Urban babies...visit playgrounds. There are a few really nice playgrounds in Charlestown. Ellie has been down the little slide a couple of times (always accompanied by Nick of course). Not quite as fun for her as it will be in a little bit

Urban babies...love to try on shoes!! Well, apparently Ellie likes Aunt Susie's shoe collection.

I'm sure Ellie will have many more experiences as an "urban baby"!

7 Months Old Today!!

Welcome to the Jungle Gym!

Well, the summer has ended, Aunt Susie has gone back to her day job teaching, and Ellie has started daycare. The center is downtown and right by a subway stop (same line as for our neighborhood so commuting is really easy!) Nick is dropping her off and I'll pick her up.


So far she has settled in well. We get notes from the teachers each day and they have all commented on how well she has adjusted to napping in a new crib and taking food and bottles from new people. She has even painted us a picture already!

Ellie in her classroom

In other Ellie news, we have added carrots, peas, and pears to her diet. She seems to really enjoy the carrots.

I love peas!!

We also had her 6-month check-up. She weighed in at 18 lbs 5.5 oz and is 27 inches long. We are still rocking the top of the charts. Her head circumference is actually above the 95th percentile. The doctor was really happy with how well Ellie is doing developmentally. She even showed off her yoga moves (cobra, downward facing dog, and happy baby poses).

Long Weekend in the Land of Lincoln

Our travels continue...

Last weekend we spent a few days in Chicagoland (McHenry, Palatine, Schaumburg, Naperville, etc.) to visit with the Harrer side of the family -- and introduce Ellie to many of them for the first time. Ann and Ellie also helped my sister, Cindy, celebrate her wedding shower. She's getting hitched in a few weeks away in October.

Ellie liked watching the planes go by on the tarmac before we took off from Boston.

Ellie had a fun time meeting her Great Grandma Kost (my mom's mom) for the first time.

"So you're the one who made me all those nice, warm hats!"

Ellie and Aunt Cindy during her shower.

Ellie hamming it up for the camera with Grandma and Grandpa H.

We were really happy we had the time to visit with some of our good friends from the University of Illinois. Above is Ann and Ellie, with Desiree and her 9-month-old son Alex. Desiree's husband, Beau, as well as Ann's engineer friends (and newly engaged couple) Sarah and Joe also stopped by.

It was great to see all of you! We'll be sure to get in touch with you again when we're back out in Illinois in October.

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It doesn't have much to do with the trip to McHenry, but Ellie did spend some time perfecting her favorite Yoga pose. She's pretty much nailed "downward-facing dog."