Lots of new stuff

For the record, we know that the video under the title 'Peals of Laughter' is not a video of Ellie laughing. I wasn't thinking when I titled it. At that point we didn't have a video of her laughing - now we do!!!
Tonight we spent some quality time blowing raspberries at one another and it made Ellie laugh so hard. We now know that it masked the fact that she was quickly becoming exhausted. Because, when bed-time rolled around a little while later I tried to rock her and nurse her as usual and she started crying hysterically. She doesn't usually cry much at all at bed-time so this was unusual, but it started to get very funny when the cries would dissolve into raspberries for a minute, then back to cries, then back to raspberries, etc. I couldn't help laughing at the poor girl. This went on for a good 5-10 minutes until I asked Tate to come take over. He cuddled her in the rocking chair and she was dead asleep within 5 seconds! She didn't get any milk though, so I'm guessing she will be waking up in the next hour or so for her dinner.
Ellie had her 4 month check-up yesterday. She is 15lb 4 oz which puts her in the 80th percentile for weight! She is only in the 30th percentile for height and her head is off the charts big! So we have a short, chubby, big headed baby! Because she was so fussy after her 2 month round of shots we asked the doctor to only give her the absolutely necessary ones this month. So she only got two vaccines and she is doing much better this time. We'll take her in for the other shots at a different appointment.
The biggest news of the day is that we decided that January 1st will be my last day at my current job. I've been working 4 days a week for the past couple of weeks and I'm supposed to move to 5 days a week at the end of the December. I just don't see enough of Elliette now, not to mention neither Tate or I is getting enough sleep, so working full-time just isn't an option for me now. I talked to my boss, Paul and he immediately told me that I wouldn't regret this decision and that he totally understands. So the plan is that I will work part-time and we'll live on love! Needless to say I'm delighted.
In case anyone reading this is out of the loop our life plans have changed a bit of late. After our trip to Texas Tate and I decided that raising Elliette in Texas was important to us. So after much soul-searching Tate decided to work with his professors to write his dissertation in 9 months instead of 2 years and apply to Law School. He's applying to several schools in Texas. Of course UT is our top choice, but we'll be happy with any of them so long as we're near our family and friends!
Now if you've read this far, be sure to check out the pics on the link to the left.