E tried her first bite of lebanese food Saturday. I made yubra. I made WAY too much by the way and ended up with 3 pots full of them! No worries though, Shaun has eaten all of them minus a few that were shared with friends.
First bite yubra from Jessica Campbell on Vimeo.
Here are a few recent pictures of Elliott. She is just learning and growing every day! She will be 9 months old on the 13th. This time has just flown by much too quickly!
She is improving on her walking skills, not really stepping by herself, but running when in her walker and walking with help from us. She keeps trying to stand up when crawling and has almost mastered it!
We are adventuring into the world of real solid foods and so far eggs, toast, Lebanese food, squash, sweet potatoes and bananas have all been a success! She still only has her 2 front bottom teeth, but her top gums are very swollen and white. The Dr. thinks her top teeth will be coming soon.
Enjoy!
Jessica
Sunday night at church. Sundays are so hard on her, but she is a trooper!
Her footed monkey pjs that were big last month now fit. She is wearing 18 month size clothing now and just keeps growing!
First bite of real bananas.....yummo!
So,
We have come to realize that kids are very expensive! We have traded Shaun's truck for an even more used vehicle to try to drop some car debt and are looking for ways to save more money. The County Tax office messed up our warranty deed filing causing our house payment to go up $300.00 a month until we can refile in January! Add this to the cost of gas, food, electricity, and day care and we had to do something!
Shaun is teaching spin classes to keep himself healthy. Since heart disease seems to run in his family, he had to vow to keep healthy and try to live longer than some of the other men in his family. This also adds a little extra income a month. I am counseling clients on Wednesdays and Thursdays trying to finish my hours for LPC and to earn a little extra. Problem with counseling clients here in MS is that they want things for free and since I work for Mosaic, it is a fine line that I walk. Average rate for counseling is $100-125.00 per session. I charge $50.00 and offer some discounts for extreme needs. People still complain and I even had one person go through the session and then tell me they couldn't pay that day!
So, I took a class on couponing in effort for us to save money. So, I have started the new adventure. Now, when I talk about this, I am not talking extreme couponing like on TV. That isn't real and as a counselor, I think it borders on being a disorder! But, I learned the right way and easy way to try to save my family money on things that we already buy. MY first trip was an utter fail. They were out of everything I needed and Shaun was with me, so time was very limited as he is very impatient when it comes to shopping. I didn't give up though and my other trips have been much better! I have saved over $100 thus far! I even got diapers for $1.50! If you want to learn more, email me and I will send you the how tos!
We knew coming to start Mosaic would require us to sacrifice. And we are grateful for the blessings that have come through this time. There has been and will continue to be a call for us to sacrifice emotionally, physically, and financially. But, we are learning the joy that comes with this.
We are looking forward to taking some time to rest and recoop. Most of you know that my health has been challenged recently and I have been ordered to slow down and rest. In fact, I have been ordered to not sing or talk for longer than 10 minutes at a time due to the stress on my chords. I am grateful that my recent trip to the ER was simple and grateful that the Dr. was a Mosaic member whose wife is one of my volunteers. He gave me a steroid shot for my voice and even checked up on me during the week to make sure my migraine was under control. God provides!
On to Elliott news!
She is still battling ear infections but that will be common for her until teething ends. She is over 22 lbs now and wearing 12 month clothing and some 18 month clothing. She is quite the dare devil and loves to try new things and explore. She has the bruises to prove it too! She is standing on her own and not holding onto the couch more and more. She walks the furniture and the other day she let go, turned around to face the TV and took a step before falling. She still LOVES music. To the point that she has started what we call singing to the music on her shows. Her favorite show is Sesame Street and Little Einsteins. She is kind of over the Mickey Mouse Club.
She LOVES being in the center of everything. At church, I hold her during between services and she is our youngest volunteer as she helps greet everyone when they arrive. She absolutely loves it! She has been over at Mo Kids with the Older Kids and she loves being there too. She just laughs and crawls after the other kiddos. Because she is advanced for her age, at her daycare, they moved her to the bigger babies room two weeks ago. This was tough on me! She still is adjusting and so am I! WE are about to move her into the bigger baby room at church as well.
About 2 weeks ago, she suddenly realized that she liked her Daddy too. It was like a switch went off and she realized that there was another person besides Mom who loves her and is fun to be with. She lights up when she sees him now and doesn't have to be with Mommy all the time anymore. She is funny because Daddy usually gives her the bath and Mommy usually gets up at night with her. So, in the bath tub, she says Da, Da, Da, Da, Da. When she wakes up, she stands in her crib and says Ma, Ma, Ma. She was so confused when I gave her a bath! It is so fun to watch her play with her Daddy!
She has suddenly changed her food habits. She has always eaten everything and anything. Last week, she started yelling and turning her head if she didn't like the food and rejected some of the regular foods that we have been feeding her. She is in Stage 3 Foods. I have been feeding her yogurt regularly. It helps with the antibiotics and although she seemed to have a milk allergy as a newborn, the yogurt hasn't affected her. Next week, we are going to start feeding her more regular food like pastas, cheese, fresh cooked veggies. I have a ton of baby food to work through as we start this process.
I am just amazed more and more with her on a daily basis. I hope that y'all will get to see her in person soon. Feel free to come visit!
I am attaching a video of her in the crib the other morning. You can hear her new skill which is clicking her tongue and spit bubbles!
E 8.3.11 from Jessica Campbell on Vimeo.
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