Turning One

Our sweet Elle is turning one tomorrow. I can't believe it. Has it really been a whole year?? I have been scratching my head all day trying to remember what I had as my last meal. Yes, this is important. I checked all the resources I could-- my husband, facebook, and Bank of America. Nothing has come up. Maybe we didn't eat dinner? The hospital did advise me to eat light and we did have a heavy lunch. I do remember we ate popcorn while we watched Grown Ups. 


One year. How is this possible?? Here is our absolutely perfect baby at her first birthday party on Saturday. 

Elle's First Word

Elle uttered her first word last night (non-specific mama and dada aside). It is...

Coo Coo!

We were playing with a rooster and saying "coo coo reeekooo!" and she imitated us with a soft "coo coo." I wasn't sure if this counted as a first word so i did some googling and learned that baby's typically utter their first word around 12 months and it's usually a truncated imitation. Coo coo it is!

Guess What?

We have some big news over here. Someone broke her first tooth yesterday! I have yet to see it; her big tongue gets in the way when I try to take a peek. You can definitely feel it though! After months of false alarms with teething, Elle finally broke a tooth without any fuss. That's my girl!

Back for real this time

Casey gifted me an iPad for our 2nd anniversary so I am going to give this blog another shot. With Elle crawling and very interested in computer wires, sitting at the desktop for any length of time became impossible.


Our baby girl is growing into the most amazing toddler! She is such a joy to have around. Your love for your child is unlike anything else. Elle had her 9-month well baby visit last week and is in the 97% percentile all around. She is a little over 22 lbs! I'm having some difficulty carrying her around now...the only drawback of having a big baby in my opinion. She is wearing 12-18 month or just 18 month clothing now. It's so adorable. Toddler clothes is SO cute! She has a few pairs of pajamas now and is such a mini person. She is doing a great job pulling herself up to stand and getting quicker everyday. She "cruised" on the couch from her daddy to me on Sunday but has yet to do it again. Next comes cruising, then standing up without holding onto things, and then WALKING! Eek!


I can and can't believe we've been living with my parents in Orange County for about 6 weeks now. It's been such a positive lifestyle change. Casey and I were never LA people.


Here are some photos from August...

Picture perfect angel

Such a Big Girl...

Elle is getting so big... 

We Have a Crawler!

Elle started to crawl this past Monday! At first, she would crawl a few steps, and then sit back and clap. It was so cute. Here are some videos from Monday:

Grandpa Wojciech got Elle a spacesuit when he and Babcia were in Florida for the last launch last year. We decided to give it a whirl on Monday to see if it fit. Not quite but pretty close! Elle looks so adorable :) We are going to the Beach Club in a few with Aunt Agie and Aunt Dana. Elle and I just got home from MyGym, she is napping away, and I am running around like a chicken that just got it's head cut off. So much to squeeze in during her 30 minute naps--including a blog update. 

First beach trip

Today was the last day of July and it rained! It has been so incredibly hot lately and we were surprised to wake up to a wet sky. By noon, the rain had cleared and it was unbearably hot. Totally monsoon humid. Casey and I took our little nugget on a walk and we decided we needed to take ourselves coastal for some weather relief. I am a little embarrassed to say today was Elle's first time at the beach. But being born in November and having porcelain skin as she does (and no sunscreen is allowed until 6 months!), can you really blame us? We took our little nugget to Doheny and spent a couple of hours there. We didn't bother putting her swimsuit on because, well frankly, Casey was afraid of her soiling it (again) and having to change a poopie swim diaper. Casey dipped Elle's feet into the water a few times and she had fun playing with the sand. Surprisingly, she didn't try to eat it. Aunt Andrea and Hays met us there a little later and we played some more on the grass. I did bring my camera but left it in the car because I didn't have my camera bag and was afraid of getting it sandy. Next time :)

All smiles after her morning nap

After some effort, I was able to capture our munchkin clapping on video. How cute is this?

I'm going to go on the record and say that I am pretty sure Elle is going to get her first tooth this week. We shall see... :)

Action Packed Fun

These past two weeks since we moved back down to Orange County have been a whirlwind. Elle and I are having a ton of fun! We've been walking to Starbucks daily (still miss Coffee Bean), I've been doing Pilates about every other day, and Elle has been doing swim lessons and classes at MyGym. I just signed up for 24 Hour Fitness again and paid the extra fee for Elle to attend the "Kid's Club" while I work out. Casey and I are thinking about giving it a shot later this afternoon. It is so nice to finally be able to take care of myself again and it's definitely paying off. 


This past Wednesday was especially fun and action packed. Elle started her day at 5:30 AM and Casey and I took a stroll with her to Starbucks before he had to get ready for work. I then took Elle to MyGym at 9:00 and we had a ton of fun playing with Katelyn and her mommy, Joy, there. MyGym is still a bit intimidating for Elle but I'm sure she will warm up in no time. She's usually so charming and smiley but she kind of freezes up at MyGym. With about 15 other babies and their parents running around, I don't blame her. I then ran to Pilates for an hour while Elle played with her Babcia. After that, I rushed home and gathered up Elle in her swimgear and took her to the Beach Club at the RSM lake to meet Katelyn and her friend Holland (and their mommies). It was so nostalgic being there. I spent so much time there as a kid so it's fun to be able to bring Elle there. I'll have to scan a couple pictures of me playing there with my siblings and post a juxtaposition. I didn't realize how great it is for babies and small children. The "shoreline" has about half a foot of water over sand so the babies are able to sit in the water and splish splash. We had such a good time. After some vigorous swimming and splashing, Elle sat out on a blanket on the sand with her girlfriends and they shared toys as they dried off. It was so adorable and sweet. I can't wait to go back!

Elle with her girlfriends at the Beach Club

In other news, I caught my adorable blossoming baby clapping yesterday. Ah, it was so sweet! She is walking assisted now and so determined to scoot herself along on those padded feet while she clings onto whatever she can. Her crawling is still interesting and wonky and she'll take a few crawls before she decides she's over it. She will be zooming across the room any minute now. I think I can wait a little longer on that :)

Elle with her Daddy

Took a few pictures before Casey left for work today...

First swim lesson

Elle had her first swim lesson today! We took her to a local indoor pool called Atlantis Aquatics that is specifically for teaching little tots to swim. The pool was heated to 93 degrees and had a pirate theme. It was too cute. Casey got in the pool with Elle for the class and they had a blast. She did great! She was also the youngest baby in the class. I think it exhausted her because she is passed out right now. I will have to upload some videos from the class later. 

And here is a goodie from Thursday:

Yummy toes

Thought I'd do a quick picture post while Casey put Elle down for the night. How did our little booger con us into an 8:00 PM bedtime!? That's definitely been the norm around here for the past week. She's good. 

Babcia lets me play with her glasses

Tanya and Grady came over for a playdate today. 5 months is a huge difference now but will be nothing soon. 

What's Elle doing??

Just gnawing on Grady's toes. No bigs.

I don't know about this...

Elle playing with Grady

Elle and Grady

Elle is not playing hard to get

Do your fingers taste like your toes?

She cracks me up. 

...And We're Back!

Oops, the posting hiatus was longer than I ever anticipated. Did you miss seeing photos of our beautiful Elle? I certainly missed snapping them and sharing them. As soon as I busted out the camera yesterday, she flapped her arms in excitement and started to strut what her mama gave her. Casey, Elle, and I have been living with my parents since Thursday. Casey was supposed to start his new job at PIMCO today but delayed processing at the lab for his drug test pushed it back a week. Woohoo! Ellie and I get to play with daddy for a whole extra week!


Without further adieu, here are some recent shots of our BIG, active, not-crawling-but-still-getting-around baby angel:

July 7th

New fav pastime: destroying magazines and newspapers

Take that Men's Health

And some photos from yesterday....Grandma Chris gave Elle a baby with a bottle and Elle has had a blast trying to drink out of the baby's bottle :)

Did you notice she has more hair? Her dirty blonde hair is really filling in. Still no teeth though! Elle has been SO noisy for the past week. Nonstop squeals, yells, whines, shrieks, "Dadadadadada" , and more. She is completely perfect and amazing. 

Busy at the Thormahlen Household

Busy, busy, busy over here. I am itchy from cardboard and drywall right now and need to shower. Why? After 4 years in Santa Barbara and 3 in Los Angeles, Casey and I (and Elle and the Bassets) are moving back to Orange County. Casey received an offer from Pimco last Wednesday and we are in progress of packing up and will be officially living down there the weekend of July 15th. Yes, less than 3 weeks from now. So many mixed feelings but above everything else, I could not be more proud of my husband. The HR personnel told him that his offer is comparable to what they just gave a recent MBA grad. Baller!


What's keeping me going right now (it gets really cute around 1:10): 

Daddy with his big girl on Father's Day

Mother's Day Recap

Elle will be 7 months old next Wednesday. This little fact makes me so sad! I miss my little baby. I still can't believe Casey and I created her and I gave birth to her. I know I posted a week ago that we had reached a milestone and she had slept through the night. Well, she has done well since then but not *as well*. In the past week, she has woken up at 3 AM twice (and then 6ish) and 5 AM the other days. When she wakes up at 5, we try really hard to get her to go back to sleep. It's too early, Elle! I've also been working on weaning her these past couple weeks. She went on a nursing strike in Almanor and I decided to use that as a springboard instead of going through the engorgement pain again. I'm really sad about it but i'm getting more used to it  now. It seems weird to me but it really doesn't seem like she noticed. I wonder if the weaning has something to do with her sleeping through the night as she isn't waking up to nurse anymore. It could also be age. 


Well, with Father's Day just around the corner I figured it was time for a very late Mother's Day recap. Mother's Day was really low key. We knew we were going down to Orange County on Sunday so I told Casey I wanted to do something special on Saturday instead. Casey came home from work on Friday with the most gorgeous white lilies. My favorite! I absolutely love lilies...they're so beautiful and smell good too :) Both Elle and Casey wrote me a sweet card. Casey had scheduled me a massage for Saturday morning at a local spa but I really just wanted to spend the day with my husband and baby so I asked him to cancel. We went down to OC on Sunday and went to my parent's house first around 11:30 and then Casey's around 3:00. We had intended to get to Casey's parent's house earlier but we spent 12:30-3 trying to get Elle to nap. I think she finally went down around 2 after a lot of crying. Like I said, sometimes it's really easy and sometimes it's a huge struggle. My sister and her fiance whipped up brunch and it was delicious! My older brother and his new girlfriend, Selena, were also there. She is beautiful and seems sweet. Here are some pics...I wish I had thought of taking a pic of Elle and I together on my first mother's day. Next time!

Elle with her Babcia

Cuddling

Posing by the roses with Babcia and Selena

The flowers we got Babcia

Well, that's about it! Maybe if Elle gives me another good nap today I'll do an Easter recap. Otherwise, I plan on working on Casey's father's day gift a bit more today and will probably take Elle on a nice, long walk. 

Chatty

Elle has been such a chatty Cathy lately! For example...

A Milestone!

Elle didn't wake up once last night! That's right--she slept through the night for the first time. She went down at 6:30 PM and was awake and kicking me at 6:00 AM. 11 and a half hours of straight, solid sleep. 

The Evolution of Poop

Casey here, reporting that this weekend we came to the last major crossroads in the development of Elle's poop. I know, this is gross and she will probably be embarrassed about this someday. But the story must be told, because it has been a long lesson in the colors of the rainbow and the evolution of poop. I'll start from the beginning and end with the final stage this weekend.

The early days

Not long after birth, Elle, like all babies, made her first poop. Everyone, including you, emitted this tarry, sticky, black fluid spiderweb of poop all of her cheeks in her first hours out of the womb. While visually frightening, Elle's meconium didn't smell at all...soon after going home, I would miss opening her diaper and only finding that tarry black scat.

I lovingly describe the next poo form as orange cottage cheese. This was her first smelly poo stage, and I can say that with authority because I got up close and personal every day. On the first day home from the hospital I got closer than I ever wanted to. Early on, Ania would help with diaper changes by holding Elle's legs in the air while I wiped the baby's bottom, swapped in the new diaper, and applied diaper cream. On day 1, I was in the process of changing one of Elle's orange diapers, with Ania holding Elle's legs up; at this moment, I like to think Elle said READY, AIM, FIRE!! Elle farted, with the bullseye looking me right in the face. A cannon shot stinky orange cottage cheese all over my face, shoulders, and hands. I will never forget the smell, but I sucked it up and quickly wiped myself, without breathing in, and finished changing her diaper. I'm not sure I've ever heard Ania laugh so hard.

Elle's third poo form came in week 2. I think the change had something to do with the breast milk, but Elle's poo changed from the previous orange cottage cheese to greenish cottage cheese. This was the stinkiest yet, but thankfully it only lasted a week or 2. For another few weeks her poo returned to its orange color, with no change in stink. Before I knew it, she migrated from the weird loose cottage cheese to something more recognizable as poop, albiet sticky and viscous. Elle's poo stabilized in this viscous stage, though it changed to a more green-brown color.

Within the last month, Elle's poo started to change again as we began introducing formula into her diet. Color and texture remained almost the same, but it became 100x stinkier. For the first time as a parent, I felt the need to plug my nose when I opened a soiled diaper. Little did I know that our little girl would soon make her biggest defecation transition yet. At the 6 month mark, we started introducing solid food to Elle. It started with avocado, some pear and oranges, then on to sweet potatoe, squash, and rice cereal.

After 2 weeks of solids, this weekend Elle began pooping logs, just like grown ups. It's a shocking change really. Before, the only notice you had that Elle pooped was the sound of grunting, followed by eerie silence, a wafting odor, and finally a very satisfied Elle, who usually returned to playing with a toy. That changed this weekend. Now when Elle needs to poop, you see her grunting, bearing down and watch her face turn beet red until she hyperventilates and starts wailing. It's soooo sad but hilarious at the same time. I pick her up and hug her while encouraging her and telling her how proud I am. I can't believe it, but the product of all of this commotion, while small, is the smelliest yet. Oh the joys of parenthood.

Well, I welcome Elle into her first baby steps into adult kupa, but I'm a little sad to see her mature so fast. The rewards are great though, she is more talkative and charming than ever, and best yet, she loves to dance silly with her Dad.

Until next time,

Casey