July Photo Shoot- Ella's 6 Mo & Fam Pics

Here are a few pictures from our recent photo shoot. I think the top is my favorite... her big sister has the same pose in the same tutu so I am a little biased I guess. I also love the contrasting blue background to bring out the blue in Ella's eyes. And I love the smiles that Ella was giving us in the white ruffle bloomers... I think this one would be awesome in black & white. As always, there are too many to pick from! We also had some great family photos with the four of us (in the header) as well as just the Oney grandkids. Thank you again, Katie, for some awesome photos!! We will SO miss you being our personal photographer! :)

Adelyn's 1st Dentist Visit

Adelyn had her first dentistry appointment last weekend. Even though it's a little early for her first appointment, we were recommended by our pediatrician to get an opinion about her upper frenulum which wraps around her gums to cause a gap in her two front teeth. Apparently this is very common and unless it's pretty severe, many dentists don't recommend a frenectomy (surgically cutting it) and allow for the permanent teeth to come in before referring the patient to an orthodontist for braces. The pediatric dentist we saw thought that, because of the severity of Adelyn's overgrowth of frenumlum under her upper lip, we should see an orthodontic surgeon to perform a frenectomy to be sure that it won't cause a gap in her teeth in the long-term. That's the bad news... the good news is that we need to wait until she is 4 or 5 yrs. old when her baby teeth are finished growing. Actually, I am somewhat relieved that the dentist feels the need to have it cut even though I definitely don't look forward to the procedure. I don't want to chance her having a gap in her teeth when she is older because I hear that braces don't always correct this issue.

I forgot our camera to capture her first visit but we did get a few mobile pics on the cell phone. She loved the office... it was so awesome how kid-friendly it was. There were animals painted all over the walls and the 'kid only' waiting room was so much fun! Oh, and she scored lots of prizes (including a new Cinderella toothbrush) for being such a great patient! I definitely don't remember being so spoiled during my dentist visits when I was a child. :)

Besides Adelyn's big appointment, we had fun this weekend at the local Homecoming. Andrew and I had a lot of grown-up time, too, with parties on both Friday night (in Soulard) and Saturday night (in the neighborhood). That means that the girls got to have some quality time with Grandma! Adelyn also had a friend over yesterday for a great play-date. I have pictures to post but will have to wait until I have more time later to upload them. We're off to gymnastics class!

Fam Pictures and Ella's 1st Tooth!

We had our pictures taken last night and I'd have to admit that I am so relieved that it is over! Preparing for pictures for two little ones gets stressful... especially since our photographer lives over an hour away. I always forget something... this time, it was only Ella's custom bracelet that would have been adorable. Unfortunately, our photographer will be moving as soon as they sell their house to be closer to family so we will definitely miss her spoiling us during every shoot. I can't imagine how stressful it will be with a stranger! Ella did very well for her 6 month pictures. We got some cute naked ones as well as some cute ones in her new Tea Collection outfit. We also dressed to match for family pictures... the girls wore this (with matching bows of course!):
I love the polka dots! Anyway, we were also able to get a couple shots of the girls with their cousin Austin. I'm looking forward to seeing how they turned out!

Here are a couple pictures of Adelyn last night after the evening shoot. She was super sleepy at the restaurant. (Isn't this a sweet picture of daddy holding her?!)

When we got to Coldstone, though, she perked up and was happy to share some cotton candy w/ marshmallow ice cream (yuck!) with her cousin before she passed out in the car on the way home.

I don't have any good pictures of Ella from last night (I'll have plenty later!) so here are a couple recent pictures of her playing. BTW, Ella got her first tooth (bottom right) on Monday and got her second one today. I'll take pictures when they're a little more visible. She's growing up way too fast!!

I'll Call You George!

Do you remember this character from Looney Tunes?

Hugo was his name and he had a reputation for aggressively loving other animals while saying, "I will hug him and stroke him and cuddle him and sing to him... and call him George!"

At risk of sounding like a complete weirdo, I totally relate to this guy when I'm snuggling/cuddling with my children. Mostly with Ella since she's forced to put up with all of my 'aggressive loving.' She is just so stinkin' cute that I want to squeeze her! :) I don't know how else to describe it! Am I the only one who gets this way??!

6 Months Already?!

Our Little Ella Bella Bean was 6 months old yesterday!! I know I'm taking a ride on the cliche train by saying this but it just doesn't seem that long ago when she was born! She has been such a good baby to take care of and if I was guaranteed more just like her, I'd have as many as I could. (Good thing I'm not naive!)

BTW, Ella had her 6 month check-up yesterday and is doing great! She is 75% in height as well as weight.

Here are a few pictures of our little 6-mo-old and her big sister having fun at the pool yesterday.

Oh, and here's a cute video of Adelyn sliding down the big "ribbit" into her Aunt Katie's arms.

Sidenote: Notice Grandma's reaction (wearing white) in the background . Nice to know I wasn't the only one worried about her spill into the water!

Busy Weekend

We had an awesome weekend. First, we had a parent/child playdate Friday night. Adelyn met a cute friend and so did I! The guys played Wii all night (fine with us!) and the kids played really well together. The only small catastrophe was the dog getting on the counter to eat the dessert. They have an excitable chocolate lab, too, so they understood!

We had Cousin Austin's B-Day party at the YMCA pool Saturday but it got rained out so we played in the gym instead. We then went to our favorite Italian restaurant on The Hill in STL. Adelyn and Ella both got lots of attention from friends and family. Here are a couple pictures I took of the girls with their Great Grandpa Deckard who came down for the weekend.

On Sunday, we played with the neighbor kids and got some much needed grocery shopping out of the way.

Oh, and for those who request pictures of mommy once in a while, here's a random shot that Andrew took over the weekend.

BTW, Andrew had a great 29th B-Day yesterday. We celebrated without the kids last night by eating some all-you-can-eat crab legs at the casino before losing $150 at roulette and slots. Fun, fun!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy 29th, Andrew... we love you!!!

She Strikes Again

Remember this post?

So, a neighbor down the street swears by a stain remover called Spot Shot. And for good reason. Over the last week, it's taken out chocolate, ink, and chocolate chip cookie dough (don't ask). So I decided to give it a shot (no pun intended) and use it on my ink-stained custom-made dining room curtains... only to find out that my curtains now look like this:

Yes, oh yes. It appears that Adelyn has decided, at some undisclosed time in the past, to add to her artwork with black ink. (She likes a variety.) And here I thought I had emotionally scarred my daughter with thousands of "Why did you DO this?!"'s shortly after it happened when, evidently, none of them sunk in.

I used the Spot Shot and even though it has worked the best, it still hasn't gotten it out. It seems to fade a little every time I treat it so I haven't given up completely... wish me luck!

Meet Robby the Ribbit & Grandpa Ribbit

Adelyn hasn't mastered words like 'cow', 'pig', 'horse', etc. Instead, she calls them by their sound such as 'moo', 'oink', 'neigh'.... you get the idea. So, we have a 'ribbit' that lives near our garage and comes out to see us every night. Naturally, we decided to name him 'Robby the Ribbit.' Here's a picture of our new little buddy.

So if we follow the same philosophy described in this post, then what we found last night must effectively be called a 'Grandpa Ribbit.'

This picture really doesn't do it justice. It's a huge bullfrog.... the size of my husband's size 11 foot! Needless to say, Adelyn didn't open up to "Grandpa Ribbit' like she did to Robby. I guess his 'ribbit' was a little too intimidating for her!

Random Pics of the Girlies

Thought I would share these pictures that I haven't posted yet. The last one is my favorite... Adelyn reaching out to hold her baby sister's hand during naptime. So sweet!!

Our 4th

We had a great holiday weekend! We watched the local fireworks display on Friday night after spending some time with Grandma/Grandpa. Then we had an awesome opportunity to hang out in a suite overlooking the Arch/river during the downtown STL fireworks display on Saturday night. The view was fantastic! We finished off the weekend at our neighbor's house last night shooting off our own fireworks. Adelyn had a blast with her friends and Ella didn't mind the noise. Here are some pictures from our weekend. Hope you all enjoyed your holiday!

My Little Model

So, maybe I'm a little biased here, but do I not have a little model on my hands or what?! I decided to take a few pictures yesterday in case I'd like to send to a local modeling agency. (Yes, I know what you're thinking....)

For fun, I told Ad to give me a model pose and she did this:

Then, I told her to give me a high-fashion, serious look and she did this:


She's a natural, right?! RIGHT???!!! :)