The Joys of Parenting

Big news in the Ellingson family!

First of all, Chloe is FINALLY starting to talk! It is the cutest darn thing you'll ever hear (yes, I'm partial, I know). So far we can adequately understand a few things such as "Gackie" (Cookie), "Hoo-wassat?" (What's that?), "Shoo-shoo" (shoes), and "NO!" (too bad that one has to be the most distinct...). She's getting much better at mimicking words as well and loves to go around our room and point at things while I tell her what they are, and then she attempts to repeat me. She babbles like crazy now, especially in the car, except she has to do it at the top of her lungs so Craig and I can barely get a conversation in sometimes. And she just understands a lot more so I can tell her something and she knows what I'm asking (whether or not she does it is another matter altogether...). It's crazy how fast it happens, and I'm sure in another couple of weeks she'll be that much better at it.

Secondly, Craig caught this on camera the other day:

That's right, boys and girls, we officially have another smiling baby in the house. He's so cute when he does it because he's usually cooing a lot right before, which Chloe didn't really do until she was about 6 months old. And we weighed him the other day and he's about 14lbs already! I couldn't believe it- he's definetly a little chunker, just like his sister. That's okay, though, we like chunky babies.

Also just had to add this photo- Chloe LOVES to give Linus kisses, even full on the mouth kisses like this one. She won't go to bed unless she can give him a kiss, which is adorable. We still have to remind her that she's not old enough to burp him (she seems to think that smacking him on the face will help), but at least that's the worst of it so far. I go to bed every night thinking I'm the luckiest mom in the world to have such great kids!