Brady is 4

Brady is all grown up and a big kid if you ask him.  We celebrated his birthday with a kids party at Mill Creek Activity Center.  There were twelve 3-5 year old boys at the party so it was full of action.

All about Brady:

Height: 41.5 inches - 90%
Weight: 36 lbs - 50%
Favorite Food- Black been and cheese quesadilla
Favorite Restaurant- Moes, Chipolte
Favorite Drink- Water, Apple Juice, Milk (we have made it 4 years without him having pop)
Favorite Toy-  Super Heroes, iPad, Wii
Favorite Movie- Cars 2
Best Friends- Marcus, Luke, Ian, Grayson
Job when he grows up- "I am already the fruit helper at school."  What about when you grow up?  "Oh, I'll go to Kentucky like my Daddy."
Favorite Sport- Soccer, Golf

On the Move

At 4 months and 1 day Ellie has decided she is not content staying in one place.  We now have a roller on our hands.  She rolled from her tummy to her back very early, but it was more of a uncoordinated flop.  Now she can go both directions gracefully.  On several occasions we have found her off of her blanket.  I was really hoping to enjoy the immobile phase a little longer.  I was thinking this seemed early to be doing this so I checked Brady's baby calendar and he was right at 5 months when he rolled both ways.  He was also an early tummy to back flopper.  All I can think about is how many toys Brady has that have tiny pieces.  He is not the best at keeping them picked up so we now have new motivation to work on that.

Ellie - 4 Months

Ellie is 4 months!

Stats:

Weight:  13 lbs 9 ounces

Height: 24 inches

Other highlights from the past month:

• Sleeping -  About the same as last month.  She still wakes up a couple times a week in the middle of the night to eat.  She has started going to bed a little earlier and is usually down before 9pm.
• Favorite activities - Ellie is much more interested in objects.  She likes holding toys, things that make music, eating her fists and looking at people.
• Dislikes - Nothing in particular this month.
• Notable accomplishments - Grabbing things, reaching for her feet.
• Eating - She still enjoys milk.  We will probably hold off on starting any solids until close to 6 months.
• Other notable activities - Ellie took a trip to Chicago and attended her first wedding.

Here are a few new pics!

Niki & Drew's Wedding

My cousin Niki got married this past weekend in Wichita.  We were very happy to welcome Drew to the family.  We had a nice weekend of wedding festivities.  The only negative was Ellie wasn't feeling very well.  Grayson and Brady had a blast and were both exhausted by the end of the weekend.  The picture of Brady running on the dance floor pretty much sums up the weekend.  Congrats to Niki & Drew.  I hope they are having a great time in Tahiti.

Chicago Weekend

To celebrate Cory's parents, Ann & Ron's anniversary, we went to Chicago for the weekend.  They are both loyal cubs fans so on Friday they invited some of their closest friends and family to watch the Cubs vs. Cardinals game in a suite.  Despite it being rainy and cold we had a great time.  The suite certainly made the inclement weather much more tolerable.  I think most of the Woods family would say the Cubs win was the highlight of the day.  My personal highlights were the heat lamp and dessert cart.   

During the game, Ron & Cory were in the restroom at the same time as Tom Ricketts.  If you're like me and have no clue who he is, he is the CEO of the Cubs.  Ron & Cory came back to the suite and told the group they saw him and Katie took off on a mission to find him.  Shortly after we had a visit from Tom Ricketts. 

On Saturday we had a nice dinner at the Melting Pot.  Brady did great at the long dinner thanks to an iPad loaded with a few new games.  Ellie did great as well until she had a huge blow-out towards the end of dinner.  I think I jinxed us because I said on the way to dinner that Ellie was due and I bet they don't have a changing table.  Sure enough prediction came true.  A little creativity and fast thinking averted the crisis.

Happy 35th Anniversary Ann & Ron!  Here's to 35 more!

  

Mill Valley Parade

It was homecoming this week at Mill Valley.  The  parade went through our neighborhood which was pretty cool for the kids.  It didn't go right by our house so we walked about a block to get a good watching spot.  We forgot to bring a sack so had to improvise with a chair sack for candy collection.  I'll have to say Brady was a little uncertain when the high schoolers were running up to him with candy.  When we got home we counted the candy.  Can't remember the exact count, but it was well over 50 pieces.  Just what we needed!

Ellie - 3 Months

Ellie is 3 months!

Stats:

These aren't official stats, but should be pretty close.

Weight:  12.5 pounds

Height: 23 inches

Other highlights from the past month:

• Sleeping -  She sleeps from about 9:30 -10 pm - 6am about 4 -5 nights a week.  The other days she'll wake up around 4:00 for a little snack.
• Favorite activities - Similar to last month, but she now also likes playing on her floor mat and with her bear toy.
• Dislikes - Looking to the left.
• Notable accomplishments - Laughing, grabbing hanging objects
• Eating - She still enjoys eating.
• Other notable activities - Ellie went to the Great Wolf Lodge and started school this month. 

Just a few pics of our sweet baby girl.