pigtails

Seriously though, how cute are each one of those faces? These were taken before our Christmas vacay. My friend gave Eleanor the awesome reindeer top with a cute little matching skirt. This was Eleanor's first time having pigtails in her hair and there was just too much cuteness going on to not document.

My Best Bud

I just put Eleanor down for her nap and I was seriously sad about it! I usually get to the point where I'm counting down the minutes to nap time or hoping she'll show some signs that she wants to go down early.... but not today. We were out running errands this morning and she was so good and kept making me laugh. We ate lunch when we got home and then I knew she needed to nap (and I need to get some things done...blogging wasn't on the list. oops.) so I did put her down but I was sad walking out of her room. I'll have to wait to see her silly faces and watch the crazy things she does. She is my best little buddy and I love that I get to spend all day every day with her. Some days being a full-time mommy is hard, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Although I always love her, I don't always feel like this when it comes to nap time :) so I thought I should document it for my memory's sake.

Here's some of the latest things my little best friend has done lately that has made me laugh...
That face!

 Usually when Elle wants more of something she'll sign "more". This week she has started a new thing where she'll just pick up her plate and hand it to us expecting it to be returned to her with more food on it. It's like she's skipped the asking part and just wants to say "You know the drill..."

The other day Eleanor took tupperware out of the kitchen drawer (that usually happens about 3 times a day) but then she carried them into the living room and lined them up in a neat and organized row. I didn't get a picture but thought it was odd. The following day she discovered where I keep my nail polish and started taking each one out and standing them up in the cabinet...

 Eleanor isn't a big fan of hats. However, yesterday, she randomly insisted on wearing her beanie all morning and also had to walk around wearing a bracelet from the Marshall Islands. She's learning to accessorize!

I just love her.

Post Christmas Happenings

The days after Christmas all blur together for me now...that is probably due to the lack of sleep we received. We woke up one morning to Eleanor screaming so loud - and it was a scream where you could tell she was in pain and not feeling well. We could immediately tell she had a fever so we stripped her down to her diaper and tried to cool her down and calm her. It took awhile :( Hours later she eventually fell asleep on me and as she was falling asleep I noticed she kept grabbing her ears. We had already guessed she may have an ear infection and seeing that just sealed the deal for me. As soon as Urgent Care was open, we took her in to get her checked out. Sure enough, she had an ear infection in BOTH ears! Poor girl. She had never had them before. We got her started on her antibiotic right away and also had to keep rotating Tylenol and Ibuprofen to keep her fever down for the next few days. It really was so sad to see our girl so sick and especially when we knew she would love being around family and interacting if she were feeling better. She was pretty much stuck to either Sam or I.

One night we did venture out to see the Mesa Temple lights

 I baked cookies and loved my two little helpers

 The day before we left, Eleanor was finally starting to act a little more like herself. We went to the Phoenix Zoo with my sister and two nephews (something we had planned to do at the start of the trip but had to keep postponing since Eleanor was so sick). It was a beautiful 70 degrees and a fun day. I was really trying to not think about how different the weather would be back home...

 

We said our goodbyes New Years day and headed to the airport. We were part of the longest check-in line I had ever seen! Luckily, we got through just in time to run to our gate and board the plane.

Once we landed in SLC we still had the drive back to Wyoming... Sam was nice and ran to the grocery store later that day since we had pretty much no food in the house. He said he turned his back to grab some food then turned back to the cart and saw this...

That's our crazy little Eleanor we know and love :) She was back!

Christmas 2013

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a week and a half in Arizona over the Christmas holiday. We were also very lucky that our date to travel down to Arizona fell between two storms here in Wyoming. Since we had to drive to Salt Lake to get our flight to Phoenix we were grateful to have clear roads on the day we drove down!

After my solo flights with Eleanor to and from North Carolina, I didn't even break a sweat thinking about flying with her and Sam to Arizona.... no matter what happened I knew it'd be easier than my nightmare flying SLC to Chicago! I have no idea when Elle took this selfie on the flight, but it made me laugh when I saw it on my phone...

 We got to Phoenix on a Saturday. The following Sunday we were able to spend a little time at my sister's and then got to see all of Sam's family for Sunday dinner. My nephew Nolan was so excited to be the big kid and give Elle a little spin in his buggy! She was a little unsure of it at first, but I think eventually warmed up to the ride (thanks Jen for the pics!)

Here my baby girl is in front of Grandma Sallee's tree in her Christmas Sunday outfit.

I also had Elle wear the outfit our last Sunday in Wyoming before we left town and tried to get a good picture of her in front of our tree, she wasn't really in the mood for a photo shoot and I couldn't work my camera quite right, but she still looked cute regardless...

 

 Elle was loving attention and having family around Sunday evening. Then came Monday morning, I woke up to Elle doing  a little cry - just letting us know she was awake and ready for us to come get her. The moment I walked into her room I knew something was wrong by the smell. I went over to her crib to find her, her blankies and the crib covered in vomit :( It was bad and so sad. I immediately took her into the bathroom and put her in the tub. I had to comb throw up chunks out of her hair...so gross but made me so sad for her! She had obviously thrown up a while ago because the vomit was spread all over so that meant she had been sleeping in it. We never once heard her cry in the night or anything. She spent the remainder of the day like this... laying on the floor or cuddled up to Sam or I. She had little energy in her and it just broke mine and Sam's hearts.

Monday evening she seemed to get a little bit of her energy back, but Tuesday she wasn't much better. I was able to meet up with my sister at her gym for a little Zumba fun.

 That evening, Sam's sister, Brooke, hosted Christmas Eve at her beautiful new home. I love this picture I captured of all the nieces and nephews (minus Stella who was in Canada) loving on Uncle Sam and his YouTube videos.

 It was another fun evening with family. Unfortunately, Elle burn two of her fingers on the glass covering the fireplace and immediately had huge blisters on each finger. Poor girl had a rough run this trip...

Later that evening I woke up in the middle of the night and heard Elle coughing just a little. She wasn't crying at all, but I immediately thought that she had thrown up again. I was right. At least this time she didn't sleep in it for hours! Sam got up with me and again we cleaned her, her blankies and the crib. Sam was a sweet Daddy and read her Christmas books while we waited for her blankets and sheets to be washed.

 Later that morning, we headed over to my sister's again to watch Kyle and Nolan open their Christmas gifts. My Grandma Heyman was also there so it was great to see her Christmas morning. I loved the boy's excitement and I enjoyed seeing Kyle's letter that he left out for Santa:

We made it back to the Nielsen's house to let Elle see her gifts. The huge giraffe was a gift from Sam and I. She had seen it at a store and made a big scene when we made her put it back and walk away from it so we agreed we would get it for her for Christmas. She didn't have much of a reaction when she saw it Christmas day, she was the same with the Elmo she received from G (and she loves on that Elmo every time we go to Walmart!). Well now that we are back home and she is happy and healthy again she loves playing with both! She received a few other things that she loves as well.

And then we got to talk with my brother, Taylor, in Chile! We were able to use Google + Hangouts to get all members of my family - in Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Argentina and Chile - on at once. It was so great! Taylor was happy and is doing very well. Can't wait for he and my parents to come home this summer!

Later that morning all of Sam's siblings came over for the traditional Nielsen Christmas Brunch - ebelskievers, buttermilk syrup, eggs, bacon and sausage! (Always delicious). And we got to Skype with Sam's brother, Jack, who is currently in Brazil. He is doing great as well! The rest of Christmas day we enjoyed our time with family.

It was a wonderful holiday, always my favorite holiday each year! I am grateful for our Savior's birth and for His life. I'm grateful that we get to celebrate it each year and spend time with family.

Eleanor's Latest Tricks

About a month ago, we finally got Eleanor walking around with the help of her baby doll stroller. She was very proud when she started and always wanted to make sure we were watching.

I would try and get her to stand on her own, but she would only do it when she wanted. On Thanksgiving day, she stood up once in front of a crowd of family and people started cheering for her. When she fell, she stood right back up, lead the crowd in clapping for her, fell and then repeated...about 15 times. It was hilarious. She is definitely her biggest fan and loves attention.

The day after we got back from our Utah trip for Thanksgiving Eleanor took her first steps. We're almost three weeks from then, and she still only averages about 4 steps each go-at-it she gives. Ever so slowly, she's getting there. Sam says the problem is that it's as if she's trying to learn to walk on peg-legs because her feet are so small ;)

She does love watching the Sing Off and dancing and cheering for the teams. This week she has started standing to watch:

And to finish off the post, some fun with Dad the other night. (Please note how her fake cry starts and soon as she's down the first half of the stairs but stops as soon as she realizes she still gets to go down the second half - little drama girl).

November 2013

I'm trying to get caught up with a few things that have happened lately so I'll be all ready to blog about Christmas and not feel like I have to do a lot of catch up!

November 3rd, I turned 26! Both Sam and I are now officially closer in years to 30 than we are to 20. That just seems so weird to me. I had a Sunday full of church meetings, but Sammy spoiled me the rest of the day with a fancy home made dinner and, of course, yummy dessert! One of my counselors announced in Young Women's that it was my birthday so they all sang to me. Some of the girls thought I was turning 21 :)

We spent a weekend down in Utah to go to the ASU v. Utah game. Originally, only Sam was going to go to the game with a cousin of us, but a few days before another cousin was selling some tickets so we decided to buy them so our whole little fam could go together! It was a great game and a lot of fun to be at. Eleanor was busy throughout the game, but did really well. She LOVED clapping her hands when everyone was cheering. She'll make quite the cheerleader one day if she decides to follow her mommy's footsteps :) Her Uncle Jack bought her this ASU onsie and we were so glad we could put it to good use at this game! (She has grown out of it, but we made it work).

And ASU won, so Sammy was a happy boy!!

The weather was semi-warm for a few days so Elle and I took a detour to a park with swings one day on our way to the grocery store. She was so happy.

 And then the weather took a turn for the worst (only it wasn't even near the worst yet). I took this picture on the first day it got down to 20 degrees. I thought Elle and I had to be bundled up to go out for an errand...little did I know that a week and half later we would be in NEGATIVE 20 degrees. Boy, that was a shocker. I am also learning first hand about the "Wyoming wind" everyone warned us about when we first moved here.
But seriously, how cute is Elle in that coat?!??!

This is my life pretty much all day, everyday. Finding Eleanor making messes like this then cleaning up...

Eleanor recently developed a true love for Elmo. If I ever really need to get something done or am desperate to get her happy I'll play a few videos from the Sesame Street channel on YouTube. While at Walmart the other week I took her down the toy aisle and showed her Elmo. She immediately reached out for him, held him next to her face like this while swaying back and forth, pointed at his eyes and then her eyes, clapped his hands and gave him a kiss. It was the cutest thing to watch. She wasn't too happy when I said it was time to put him back. Lucky for her, Santa was taking note :)

We got to spend an extended Thanksgiving weekend in Utah. We stayed at Sam's grandma's house. Sam's parents, sister, her husband and daughter were all in town as well. Eleanor's cousin, Stella, is only 4 months younger than Elle. The two had so much fun playing together. Watching the two together was my favorite part of the trip. Sam and I felt bad for Elle when we took her back to Wyoming and she was stuck with just us in the house again.

 Grandma Sallee bought them these matching outfits. So cute!

Sam's cousin hosted Thanksgiving dinner. It was an excellent meal with great company. I enjoyed the day and the time to think about all of my many blessings!
My baby girl waiting to eat...

 Elle showing off her big belly after the meal. It's a tiring job eating turkey and mashed potatoes while looking that cute.

 A new shopping center, Station Park, opened up a few months ago and is in Farmington - not very far from Sam's grandma's. On Black Friday, Sam and I decided to head out to the center at about 8 am. I've hit Gap on Black Friday the last two years and know they usually do 50% off everything. I've waited over an hour in line to take advantage of the deal and I was prepared to do that again. Imagine my shock when we showed up and were able to park right away, then we walked in the store and found it pretty much empty except for employees! I was seriously shocked and couldn't believe our luck. I had to get a photo to prove it :) We went to just one other store then headed home with our goods. It was the best Black Friday shopping experience ever!!!!

Halloween

I made it back to Wyoming from North Carolina just in time to celebrate Sam's birthday and Halloween! We didn't do too much for Sam's birthday and I felt bad because I had mutual that night. I just tried to make a nice dinner and when I came home for mutual we ate key-lime pie (his fave) and watched some shows together. Low-key, but that's how my lover likes it! One night that week we had our friends, Nick, Natalie and Easton over for pumpkin carving:

 

We put our pumpkins on doorstep that night and were quite surprised when we woke the following morning and found that it had snowed!

Earlier that week the moms from my ward that I do play group with decided we would make our get together that week a little Halloween party for the kids. It turned out great! We had little crafts, things to climb, the cutest monster cut-out prop for pictures and treats. Eleanor was a lady-bug and I absolutely loved her in her costume!

 Here Eleanor is with Easton aka Clark Kent. I just love these two cuties. Natalie and I are hoping they have crushes on each other one day :)

On the actual Halloween day we made it to our stake's trunk-or-treat event. It was freeeeeezing and so many people showed up to trick-or-treat that our big bowl of candy only last about 15 minutes. We left right away to get back to our warm home! Elle was pretty good about keeping her little mittens on.

And I have to show off these cute mummies Natalie and I made for the women we visit teach. She had made these for her Beehives and they were a hit! I thought they were so cute and asked if we could make more together for visiting teaching. They were super easy!