TGIF - Week in Loves

Yay for Friday! Although I've been fighting an annoying cold, there's lots to love about the last week.

Ellie started her new ECFE class for 7-12 month-olds on Tuesday. There were some familiar faces as some of the families attended the last class with us. Yes, we do spend a lot of time singing baby songs - and, yes, they are fairly campy. But I am from a family who spontaneously breaks into song so it's nice to add some new songs to my mental library. (Family songs are a whole other topic. I promise to go into more depth another time - you won't be sorry. Promise.) Anyhoo, the class was great. Ellie loves it. More accurately, she loves seeing other babies. It's amazing how babies all "recognize" each other and LOVE each other. Oh, how I love to see her happy.

The first real thunder storm of the year was this week. Ellie was on a roll - about to sleep through the night for the first time in a month - and then a huge clap of thunder woke her around 5 a.m. No luck on sleeping through the night since. Although, she is usually only getting up once these days. The other night she let me sleep 6 straight hours - it was amazing.

We haven't been grocery shopping in almost two weeks - yes, that's TWO weeks. And that's not because we don't need to go - we have just been exhausted. It's a matter of priorities: Sleep or eat. hmm - usually sleep wins. It's not that we don't eat - dinner is just more creative (or sad). This was my lunch the other day: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, baby carrots, and applesauce. Actually, I not-so-secretly love PB&J so it was pretty perfect.

Weekdays can be tough. We are out the door by 7:00 a.m., get home around 4:45 then nurse Ellie, dinner for us and Ellie, give Ellie a bath, then read a book, nurse Ellie, and she's in bed usually no later than 7:30 p.m. (This is when I should go to the grocery store.) Ugh - there's just such little time with her during the week. We've tried keeping her up later. (Um, I'm pretty sure anyone with kids will tell you - don't ever do that. Ever. It's awful.) So we just have to make the most of the few short awake hours we have with her each day and look forward to the weekend.

Which brings me to my first love of the work week - the end of it! It's Friday and I get to spend all weekend with Brian and Ellie. Grandpa Larry is going to be in town for the weekend and our friend, Kayla, will be here tonight. We can't wait to see them!

Here's a taste of some more of my favorite loves this week -

Daddy dressing Ellie:

Silly smiles: Milestones - Sitting up (mostly): Etsy - Ellie's new hat: Sunshine: The realization that newborn-sized dresses make great 9 month-sized shirts: Enjoying the beautiful weather with my loves: Twins home opener was Monday! (Yes, I mean that with an ! - it is not an option for Ellie to be a Twins fan. Ask her daddy - she is. Period.): Brian and Grandpa Larry are off to their first Twins game at the new stadium tonight. They'll be joined by Brian's friend, Jeff, and Great Uncle John. So, it's a girls' night at our house! And it'll practically be a party once Kayla arrives. :) Happy Friday everyone!