So Sweet

I think I must have the sweetest little girl in the whole world. This morning when we were at the library for story time, she tried kissing a little boy (he was probably 2 1/2 and wasn't going for it). Earlier in the week she tried giving a kiss to a little girl. It is just so sweet! She is incredibly gentle and just so curious about others. She completely melts my heart!

We also attended a kindermusik class at another library today where my baby showed off her sense of humor! While the teacher was reading/singing, Ella and the other kids were sitting on the blanket listening. (She squeezed her little body right in front!) She eventually got restless and pulled off both her socks. Then another mom commented to me about how funny it was that Ella had them on her hands. She cracked everyone up, walking around with her socks on her hands. And she got them on all by herself. She's too funny!

Sweet and funny. I pray she always stays this way.

Having fun...


Making funny faces (she was very animated while talking!).

Playing on mommy and daddy's bed... Her new thing is falling backwards!

Enough pictures already!


Boy am I blessed.

Getting Ready for Baby

Feeding her baby...

Giving her baby some lovin'...

Ella's going to be a great big sister!! :)

Our baby is 19 months old today!

Holy moly, where is the time going!?

I think monkey's teeth are bothering her. She's had a little trouble the last couple nights going to bed, and has been smacking her cheeks. Poor baby. :( Otherwise, she handles new teeth coming in like a champ. She's rarely in a bad mood.

Ella had her 18 month check up a week ago and she's now 33" tall, (90th %), 26lbs 12oz (75th %), and her HC is 19". The pedi said she's very well proportioned! (I think she's pretty perfect myself!) She also had three shots and only cried briefly. What a trouper! So now she just has her MMR at 24 months, then she's done with shots until kindergarten. Yippee!!! Then, unfortunately, we deal with shots for #2 for the next two years. (This is something that's really hard for me as a parent.)

Next time Ella's at the doctor, assuming we stay healthy the rest of the winter, we'll have a newborn. Ahh!!!!

I'm also beginning the third trimester. 13 weeks to go! Oh. My. Gosh.

100 DAYS!!!

Oh my gosh, baby #2 will be here in 100 days (or less!)!!! It's unbelievable how fast this pregnancy is going. So much is going to change in 3 months, it's crazy to think about. I guess I should try to get as much sleep as possible now. Ella just went down for a nap now, so can you guess where I'm headed shortly? :)

On another note... check out Ella! This is a camera case she's wearing around like a purse. Where did this little girly girl come from? I know I enjoyed my fair share of barbies as a child, but, Ella is sooo girly! She loves purses, dolls, playing house, even grabbing my makeup and pretending to put it on. She's so funny.


So the countdown begins...

So Excited

Ella loves, loves, loves being in her little sibling's bedroom. She always wants to climb up into the crib and jump around on it like a trampoline.

Her "house" is currently stored in the room too, and she still enjoys it!

Ella and I were laughing up a storm while playing this afternoon.

Playing in the guest room...

So happy!!

Later this afternoon we went to the bookstore. She loves books so whether it be the bookstore or the library, she is in her glory! She was almost overwhelmed with all the books to choose from...she just couldn't decide and kept hopping from book to book. I let her pick out one new book so we didn't go home empty handed. She sure knows how to pick out the good ones! (She currently loves lift-the-flap and pop-up books. :)

We also visited the pet store next door. We saw puppies, kittens, birds, rats, ferrets, hamsters, guinea pigs, bunnies, fish and turtles. Her favorite today were the birds. There were a ton of them and it was as if they were "talking" to her. Her eyes were so wide, I could just see her taking it all in. She enjoyed all the different types of puppies too, even kissing the glass windows to the puppies that were also kissing the window to her. Aww... so much love to give! So cute.

Happy, happy Monday! :)

Energizer Bunny

Ella had a very busy day. Between playing outside in the snow and spending over an hour at the library (the children's area was recently redone and Ella LOVED it!), she was one tired little girl! The usual energizer bunny napped in the late morning then ended up falling asleep again on the drive home from the library too.

After a catnap, Ella was renewed and ended up wearing daddy out this evening, making him chase her all over the place. Notice daddy laying in the background? ha


Today was so much fun. Every day should be so wonderful.

Brrr!!! 9 degrees outside!!

And guess where we were? Yep! Ella started bringing me her boots again so we bundled up and headed outside. She got a ride around the neighborhood in her sled, and played a bit in the snow before deciding it was way too cold to stand it any longer.

Look at those little red cheeks! And can you see her little pink fingers? Awww.

My 18 Month Old

Since I forgot to write about Ella's newest developments when she turned 18 months on Christmas, I thought I should do it now at least. She's growing and changing so much every day I have trouble keeping up.

Here are the words she's currently saying consistently on an almost daily basis:
1. book
2. duck
3. fish
4. mama
5. dada
6. up
7. ball
8. snake
9. dog
10. baa's for sheep
11. moo's for cow
12. makes monkey sound
(We work on animal names and sounds every day, so hopefully this list will double in the next few weeks.)

I'm not sure everyone could understand everything she says clearly, but we can and know what she's saying. :)

Her body parts she correctly identifies:
1. head
2. hair
3. eyes
4. nose
5. mouth
6. tongue
7. teeth
8. ears
9. neck
10. shoulders
11. belly
12. belly button
13. arms
14. hands
15. fingers
16. legs
17. feet
18. toes

And she's working on cheeks and knees. :)

I'm pretty proud of her! She's like a sponge and is just soaking up so much. Ella seems to understand everything which just amazes us. We even started spelling some words out a couple months ago so she doesn't know what we're talking about. ha ha It's just so exciting to see her learning (and starting to really say!) so much!!

It's great she's making the connection with the gazillion of books we read on a daily basis to things in "real" life.

I hope she'll always have a love of reading and a curious mind.

Monday Night Fun

Picture overload tonight. I couldn't resist.

Daddy comes home just in time to give mommy a break...
and run Ella around to ensure she's completely exhausted for bedtime!

The girl loves to be chased!

Over and over!

My beauty.

She loves her daddy.

Always smiling and laughing.

Trying to walk in daddy's slippers.

Teeth brushing fun.

Ella is all about equal opportunity. :)

Maybe one of these days I'll get to be in some pictures with my babe. I always seem to be behind the camera.

Happy Monday.

Stacking skills

While I was cooking dinner tonight, I noticed Ella was very quiet (usually not the case when I'm trying to make dinner). There I found her working hard stacking the chefboyardees. She was concentrating so hard and having so much fun building towers...

higher and higher....

then knocking them over! I think that was really her favorite part. :)

Earlier she was rifling through the hats and mittens box, pulling out all her hats, putting them on, and coming over to show me.

Style #1

Style #2

Then she started bringing me her boots! I couldn't ignore it any longer. Since we just had an inch or two of freshly fallen snow, I bundled my monkey up and we went outside.

Unfortunately I didn't get to take any pictures outside. I pulled her around the neighborhood on her sled (which she really, really loves!), then she started pulling out some of her summer toys that are still in the garage. She climbed into her wagon, but it turned out to be not very conducive in the snow. She was so funny playing with all her summer stuff!

Boots

She loves them. Yep, boots with pajamas!

Think she wanted to go outside? :)

Why buy toys?

I tried to buy Ella toys she'd really love this Christmas and though she likes them all well enough, this is the toy she keeps coming back to. It's a doll house that my mom got from the school where she used to teach, and let's just say, it's pretty beaten up. Parts are missing, broken, not in the best shape! Yet this is the toy that Ella absolutely LOVES. She plays with it many times a day for long periods at a time. She boggles me!

This, by the way, is her new "look" she gives.



Changed in her jammies and ready for bed, and back to her doll house she goes!

As you can see, she gets really into playing with this. We peak through the doors, the windows and over the top. And, I admit it, I even have fun playing with this house with her.


Ohh, what will tomorrow bring? Every day is a new adventure with an 18 month old. :)

Deliriously Tired

Ella slept a whole 1 hr 15 minutes today, so nevertheless, she was quite exhausted come 6:30! She was laughing like a little hyena about everything.

Playing on the couch...

Running back and forth between the kitchen and living room...


Yes, running!

And laughing some more.

She cracks me up! She fell asleep in a flash by 7:45. Better yet, she's been sleeping til 7:45am. Ahhh!!!

Happy New Year! 2009 is bound to be a wonderful, happy year.