Slow down, little girl!

Ella has been amazing us the last few weeks with her development. In mid-July she started really scooting around, doing an army crawl. Before too long, she had mastered crawling the 'correct way'..belly off the ground. Now, just 7 months old, as of yesterday, she's pulling to stand! She started this probably a week or so ago. She stands in her crib (we had to lower the mattress all the way to its lowest setting so she didn't topple right out), stands by the couch, by whatever...she's so determined to do what she wants and she nearly jumps out of my arms sometimes to get at something. I thought Caleb was an early walker at 10 months but I am guessing Ella will beat him. It's fun to see her learning new things, but at the same time, her baby-ness is going away TOO fast! She babbles a lot these days, too, and soon she'll be talking. She's babbled mama a few times but just sounds, not meaning anything. I liked hearing that, though! For awhile now, she's been interested in our food and we've started giving her more 'people' food. She loves fruit, like fresh bananas or peaches, and she loves her puffs (those weird sticky Gerber things). I'm sure she'd try to eat anything but she'll need a few more teeth first...she has the two bottom teeth so far.

Ella's half birthday

Ella was 6 months old on July 20. I told Caleb this was her Half Birthday and he asked if the party was going to be at our house or Grandma's. He is always ready for a party! I told him we don't really have parties for half birthdays, so he's starting to think about her 1st birthday party instead. According to Caleb, she'd like a Princess party.
Ella had her 6 month check up and she's doing well. She was 16 lbs 13 oz and 25 3/4 inches long. Her head measurement was off the charts...so big head just like her brother's. I'm sure this just means they are extra smart! Her doctor told us to start some table food, since she isn't really enjoying the baby food...so she's been trying those Gerber puffs, Cheerios, graham crackers..and she loves that kind of thing. She's really sitting well at this age, playing with toys, and she's scooting around, too.

Ella has always been a daddy's girl but lately she's becoming more attached to me. This started when she was teething and I think she wanted me because she didn't feel well. She'll have times like this now pretty frequently. She gets upset if I leave the room (she does that for our daycare provider too) and when we are visiting somewhere else she will be upset if someone else is holding her and she can see me. I love this but it's also hard to get things done having a baby attached to me! Caleb does a great job entertaining her and she still loves to get attention from her Daddy too. I keep telling myself to enjoy this while I can, she's already 6 months old and it seems like just yesterday I was waiting for her arrival!

Osakis car show

Every year, the second weekend in July, we go to the Roddin' 'Round the Lake car show in Osakis. We've been doing this for years, ever since the car show started. We've had some memorable weekends...storms in a campground, listening to my dad snore all night long, creeper races, funny dances at the VFW, Subway dinner at NAPA, and in more recent years, this weekend has progressed to a huge get together at the farm. My parents' friends come up and stay in their campers, my cousin Angela is always there, sometimes friends of Laura, family from Osakis always drops by..it's always a lot of fun. This year was no exception. Caleb loves the car show, he took several walks down the main drag with whoever would go with him. The orange car below (pictures courtesy of Angela because I didn't bring my camera) was his favorite and the owner let him check it out..how nice! He was actually sick that weekend but he toughed it out and had a great time anyway. Ella made the weekend memorable as well, we noticed her FIRST TOOTH had popped through that Sunday morning!!! And a week later, her second tooth was in.
One of the highlights from this weekend was the discovery of baby kittens in one of the buildings at the farm. Laura and her friends had coaxed them out and they were the cutest things. Early Sunday morning, when I was up with the kids and everyone else slept, we went out to check on the kittens and one would not leave us alone! The kitten was following us all around, back to the house, even up to the steps. Caleb was adorable watching the kitten and trying to protect it from whatever, mostly Liesl the dog. Later that morning, all 3 kittens were out following Caleb around, like he was their mother. It was so cute. I am kicking myself for not having anyone get pictures of this.

4th of July!

We took part in a new family tradition this year for the 4th of July...a huge Waldvogel family get-together. It started with lunch at my cousin Curt's house in Osakis....each group had their own special t-shirts (we were the yellows!). After lunch we all headed over the baseball fields and we had a huge family softball game. Caleb was the youngest player at 3 years old. This day might have been the highlight of his summer. He had such a great time playing ball with everyone. He played out in left field, with my Dad or Laura. He was also glued to my cousin Jaxon's side for awhile, too. And Jaxon was a saint for putting up with Caleb, he is pretty serious about anything baseball related so it was tough to have a 3 year old jumping around next to him, I'm sure! Caleb wanted so badly to catch a fly ball, Laura caught one up against the fence with Caleb right next to her and right away he exclaimed "UGH DUA! I wanted to catch it!" His favorite part was hitting...he got to bat in order just like everyone else and he hit the ball every time. He needed a little help running bases, so my aunt Karen ran with him. It was so fun to watch him get so excited.
After softball, we went to the farm to rest for awhile. We went to watch fireworks from my Uncle Bruce's farm, it wasn't loud at all so Caleb really enjoyed that. He also got to try his own sparkler and that was fun (for him!) too...it made me nervous. It was a nice weekend! Ella and Marshall stayed home, since we were all headed back to the farm the next weekend...so I got to sleep all through the night without worrying about the baby and I really enjoyed that. It was my first time being away from Ella, though, so that was kind of tough!

Growing up!

Here's a few pictures of the kids, taken recently with my camera phone (I need a new memory card for my camera!). Amazing how fast they are growing. Caleb will be 4 years old soon, how did I get to be the mom of a little boy? Ever since Ella's arrival he's been such a big kid to us, no longer the baby. And little miss Ella is growing fast, too..she really has her own personality and can be a little touchy sometimes. She likes her mommy and daddy. And Caleb too! She's just about crawling these days, she does a great army crawl and that gets her around.

A few weeks ago now Caleb went to early childhood screening, which is required in Minnesota for children entering public school. He won't start kindergarten until 2012 but the screening is best done between the age of 3 and 4. He was so excited for this (thinking he was going to school) and he did a great job. I was so proud watching him answer the questions and he even surprised me with some of the things he knew. He scored a 45/48...18 is considered passing..so he did very well. I know he'll do great in school and he's so excited for that to come.