Eloise at 6 months

Eloise turned 6 months old at the end of November. How it happened that she is already half a year old I'm not sure, but it did. So, a few stats about my sweet girl. She is officially 18 lbs 13 oz (90th percentile) and 28.5 oz (98th percentile). For those of you wondering her big brother Ethan was 19 lbs 2 oz and 30 inches at 6 months - they seem to be on the same tall track! She is nursing 3 times a day, getting 2 bottles of formula and I pump once a day. We started the process of weaning right at 6 months. She is saying "dada" (official first word I think) and "baba" and some jibberish too. She's also working hard at sitting up on her own!

I feel like this is the month that I learned a lot of things about my sweet girl. Or maybe a better way of saying it is that a lot of things I've known about her have been confirmed. She has been a screamer her whole life - not all day or anything but often when she is put down for a nap, is hungry, wants to eat, wants to be held. Basically she lets us know how she's feeling with a high pitched, wild scream that can go on and on. I've wondered if she's had an ear infection, tummy troubles, pain, dreams --- you name it and I have wondered and done a little too much googling. But, what I've learned about what I know about her is --- this is just her. She is our screamer. During the week of her 6 month birthday I was once  again determined that she had an ear infection - after all, who could scream so high pitched and not be in pain? So I brought her in to get checked and got to have her 6 month check up at the same time with a different doctor. And the doctor agreed with what our pediatrician has been saying all along --- sweet Eloise just has a high strung personality. She likes to be held. She wants you to be near. She doesn't like being left alone.

And so, I feel like I crossed a mental milestone with my sweet girl. She's our little screamer and it.is.OKAY! She wouldn't be the same girl without her gusto and we love her so, so very much.

 She couldn't get enough of the paper!

Such a beauty. And so very much loved.

thanksgiving

Time to catch up on the blog! Things have been super busy since our big move and I'm finally taking a few minutes to sit down and recapture the last few weeks!

So, let's roll the clock back to Thanksgiving! This year we thought we'd try out the Thanksgiving Day parade downtown. I have always loved parades and so was super excited to bundle up the kiddos and head downtown. Pete, on the other hand, has apparently always hated parades and so was a good sport about it. I'm determined to one day help him to see the cheerful and fun side of the whole event but I think we'll have to take it one year at a time!

Despite, their lack of enthusiasm in these photos (and tired faces), I think the kids really did enjoy it!

Later that day we went to Pete's parents house and enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner.

Auntie Abby, sweet niece Brookelyn and Eloise.

The cousins. I swear all they did that day was run back and forth on the big deck!

Oh, sweet Eloise.

All in all, a good day!

thankful.

Tomorrow we start a new adventure in a new house. Tonight is our last night in the first house we've owned as a married couple.

This evening when I put Ethan to bed I was telling him how tonight is our very last night sleeping in this house and that tomorrow we get to move to the new house. He was laying on his bed, head propped up on his pillow with Larry, 5 blankies, Doggie and his play phone and I had a flashback to all the times he and I have had in his room -- rocking and singing to him when he was a baby, reading books, talking about Jesus, learning about discipline and time outs and lots of laughter. And now here is  - a big 2 1/2 year old, telling me about all of the things we'll be moving to the new house (move bed, move blankies, move phone, move Ethan, move mommy (the list was very long)).

And of course I started to tear up - thinking about all of the wonderful times we've had in this house and how I'm sad that we're leaving this place that has been our home and is filled with so many memories.

At that moment Ethan started to sing "Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes Jesus loves me! Yes Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so!" And God used my two year old to remind me about who He is and what our lives are about. He loves us. He goes before us. He's always with us. And He is working everything in our lives for our good and His glory. What an awesome reminder.

And so tonight, more than being sad, I'm just really thankful. Thankful for this house that has been our home for 3 1/2 years - the first house we've owned, where we took Ethan and Eloise home to, where Ethan learned to walk, where our bulldog Norman spent his last days, where we've had countless meals and study with our family and community group, where we started our journey as parents. God has grown us here. And he loves us, more than we can ever know.

Thank you Jesus.

oh the days

Considering we are MOVING to a new house tomorrow (yes, tomorrow!), I should be packing, but instead I'm blogging. Here are a few cute videos of my sweet babies from this week:

sweet niece

I had the honor of babysitting my sweet niece Ella last weekend. This girl is such a blessing and so darn stinkin cute!

green beans?

Um, no mom - this stuff is gross!

Like, seriously disgusting!

I feel slightly better now that you've switched to pears, but I'm still not quite sure...

eloise and ella's dedication

This past weekend we enjoyed a great time with Grandpa Todd and Grandma Bonnie who were visiting from Minnesota. My sister and I took turns hosting and hauling our babies back and forth between each others houses but all in all, we had a good time and we made it work! We hardly took any pictures, probably because we were too busy cooking and playing and hanging out, but here is one of Grandpa Todd and Ethan reading a book (just to prove that they were, in fact, here!).

 On Sunday we celebrated Eloise and sweet niece Ella's dedications! Here we are, getting ready to head out the door.

 Have I mentioned how much I love these two?

And here we all are at the dedication. Note Pete's feat of strength holding 40 pound Ethan up there the whole time while he flailed about. We could have dropped him off at Journey Kids before hand but we wanted him to be there for his sister and cousin's special day. Plus, Pete got to get a work out in too, in front of the whole church. :)

Sweet niece Ella Sophia. 

And our precious Eloise Joy.

Twins? Nope. Just moms with great taste who happened to buy the same outfit without knowing it!  (Seriously, we really didn't know!)

My prayer is that both of these lovely ladies would know Jesus and that God would use us as parents to teach our kids about who He is. One of my favorite pastors, Matt Chandler - who preaches at The Village Church in Dallas, TX - says that all we can do is build kindling around our kids (by telling them about Jesus and living out of the acceptance we have in Christ) and pray that God would set that kindling on fire. It is His grace that saves any of us, and I pray that he would save our kids and that they would come to richly believe the gospel! 

too cute

Ethan's favorite word lately is "cute." Talk about cute! Seriously.

 They were so cute we thought we'd try to get all of us looking cute. Not quite as successful.

Back to the pumpkinheads.

 Oh, how I love these kiddos!

larry and tink

We had a fun Halloween this year! The day before Halloween we carved pumpkins. Correction - mommy and daddy carved pumpkins while Ethan had fun putting on the pumpkin lids over and over again. Here we are getting started.

The Weseloh Family Pumpkins.

This is Pete's favorite "artistic" shot - Ethan is actually in this picture, right above his pumpkin (the second one in from the left). Because of the way he took the picture, Ethan looked a bit "ghostly."

On Halloween Ethan was super excited to dress up as Larry the Cucumber (from Veggie Tales). He was so excited when Halloween was here and he could finally wear it!

 And sweet Eloise dressed up as Tinkerbell!

 Larry and Tinkerbell, just hanging out.

We hosted a mom's group Halloween party at our house and had a fun time.

 Here are a few attempted group shots.

Later that afternoon, Ethan wanted to put his costume on after his nap. Larry, with Larry.

 Pete took Ethan trick or treating later that night and the girls stayed home, as Eloise has been enjoying a 5pm bedtime lately. All in all, a Happy Halloween!