We've Finally Made It Here!

It's been a long time coming, but we have finally made it to the blogging world. I actually started putting this blog together back in November and then the holidays arrived and then the winter germs took over in our house and I just sort of pushed this to the back burner. But it has arrived!!

For those of you who continue to follow Carepages, I will post anything relevant to Lily and her health on that site. On our blog, however, I will include everything going on in the Duve house...and there is a lot!

I guess I will start with Lily...Lily turned 9 months yesterday! Happy Birthday Sissy!! Here are a few of the things you have mastered in the past few months:

* Holding your bottle all by yourself...although you would prefer someone else do it for you!
* Taking one sock off before I can even get the other one on...this is a favorite game of yours!
* Getting those little Puffs into your mouth...about 50% anyways!
* Using a sippy cup...sort of!
* Knowing just what to do to make your sister cry...a handfull of hair does it every time.
* Going from sitting to your knees and back to a sit.

And a few things you are still working on:

* Getting the other 50% of the Puffs into your mouth instead of on the floor!
* Crawling forward...currently you move backwards!
* Pulling yourself up to a stand...your favorite place to do this: the outside of the bathtub!
* Rolling over...this one gets you everytime.

You have come so far in the past 9 months and we are so proud of you Lily!! We can't wait to see what the next 9 months brings us.

Ellie has been a very busy little girl. We have been working VERY hard on potty training and we are so close. We finally decided to take away the pull ups except for naptime and bedtime. We are still ask Ellie a lot if she has to go potty and she really is having very few accidents. She does awesome with #1. Now, #2...that is a whole other story. Up until today she would always sneak into the corner when we weren't watching and before we knew it she had a mess in her pants. Well, today I caught her and got her upstairs! Ellie and I spent about a good 45 minutes in the bathroom doing everything from painting toe nails to watching Elmo Potty Time until she finally did it!! We were so proud of her.

Ellie also started gymnastics a couple weeks ago. I was looking to get her into the Parent-Tot class but that ended up being full so the instructor asked if she would be willing to try the Preschool class. That meant Ellie would have to go in the room by herself with no mom and dad. I was about 99% sure that she would walk into the room and as soon as she realized I wasn't there start screaming. She surprised us all by walking right in and sitting down and she has been doing great since. Next week is Parent's Week so I can't wait to see what she is doing.

It is hard to believe but Ellie will be starting Preschool in the fall. I think we ended up looking at about 6 different preschools and I am pretty sure we have it narrowed down to 2. I can't believe my little girl is starting preschool in the fall. Ellie got to come along on one visit and she jumped right in and started playing with the toys. I have no doubt that she will do great!

Over the past month we have had lots of snow which has given us a chance to get out and do some sledding. Even Lily got out for a few minutes to take a ride down the hill. Last weekend Ellie spent Sunday with Grandma and Grandpa Mihalakis and they took her sledding in their backyard. She just had a blast!! I'm glad Grandma and Grandpa took her out...I'm more of a summer outdoorsy person...I can do without the cold and snow and freezing rain that we have been getting.

I'll leave you with a video of the Ellie dancing...I swear she doesn't get her moves from me!!