Snow Much Fun

We finally got some snow this winter so we've been taking advantage the last couple days. Even though Ella has been a little under the weather, I let her hang out in the garage near the propane heater for just a bit so she could check out the snow for the first time. This was Adelyn's first experience with sledding and at no surprise, she had no hesitations at all. Our backyard makes for an awesome sledding hill so the neighbors came over to play as well as Adelyn's friend, Lexi, and Cousin Austin.

As you can see from the pictures, Adelyn's quite the snow bunny. Oh, and she has been asking about making snow angels for so long and was in heaven (no pun intended) when I allowed her to lie down on the ground to make some with me. It was SO cold... but we defrosted in front of the fire with some hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Here are a couple pictures of what we've been up to before the snow came. Adelyn is trying to fix Ella's boo boo's after her 1 yr check-up shots. (Don't worry- this was heavily supervised.) And I FINALLY finished one of the girls' mini scrapbooks I've been wanting to complete since Halloween. There probably won't be snow on the ground anymore when I complete another!

Don't Be My Guest

If you've been logging into my blog via a temporary guest pass (using the e-mail invitation I sent you), then I should warn you that you won't be able to for much longer. You'll need a Google account in order to get in with your own password. I know this might seem complicated but it's really not that bad at all. In fact, you really don't even need a Google account... I believe you can sign on using your own already existing e-mail address by registering it with Google (which operates Blogger.)

So, about this whole private status thing...

I still have mixed feelings about it. I was basically pressured into it by my husband and I guess I don't blame him. When it comes to our children, you can never be too careful. Besides, why would I want strangers to have a glimpse into my personal life? Maybe I was secretly wishing for a random mommy just like me to reach out to form a new friendship. The e-mail message from that imaginary person would go something like this:

Hi, Jenny. I came across your blog and wanted to tell you just how fantastic and wonderful I thought you were. It's hard to pass up all the similarities we share. For instance, we both have two girls around the same ages and I, too, love to shop for them finding the best deals on-line and spoiling them with bows, tights, etc. I totally agree with you that being a full-time mom is much more difficult than being your own boss at work. It's hard to please a 2 yr old and 1 yr old... and especially at the same time. :)

It also appears that we so happen to live in the same city. Call me at xxx-xxxx so our girls can get together for a playdate. I have tons of friends in this area that I'd love to introduce you to.

P.S. I forgot to mention that I'd like to share my 75% off employee discount at Old Navy/Gap/Banana Republic..... indefinitely. Oh, and since our girls are the same age, I'll be happy to share all of my boutique clothes and accessories with you. Talk to you soon!

I know... sad, right? Actually, in the short time it was public, I did form a friendship with a couple very sweet moms who I totally click with but who live too far away. Oh well... they're only a click away.

Hope the logging in process is not too much of a PITA for ya.

Happy Ella

She's back to her old self again... happy as can be and terrorizing the cat! :)

So Ella

I've been trying to get a couple cute candids of Ella to represent her 1 yr growth photos.... and this is all I seem to get out of her although she feels much better. Cute but no smiles. Well, the day is young!

Blah to Ahhh

BLAH.

That's the best word to describe my week as a mother of two sick little girls. Nothing serious- I guess it's just that time of year and/or a yucky side-affect of preschool. It's like the sickies have waged a war on my household and I'm pretty sure we all lost.

With that said, I haven't gotten any good 1 year growth photos of Ella. I've been 11 for 11 for our monthly date with the camera, and my 'grace period' is quickly depleting for the final month. She just really hasn't been in the mood... and there wasn't a good opportunity after the party since we had family in town. Wish me luck for a few smiles tomorrow!

We saw the pediatrician yesterday for Ella's 1 yr check-up and she weighed in at 50% (approx 20 lbs.) and at 75% length (30 1/2"). I don't know why that surprises me so much... I guess because she eats so much. She is doing well developmentally and the doctor made me promise that I would not give her a bottle all day today. Well, I'm never one to go against doctors' orders so we made it all day on whole milk in a sippy cup! Ella has got to be the easiest baby EV-UH! Well, except for the three shots and heel prick she had to endure at the doctor's office; her reaction made such a large impact on her big sister that Adelyn has been playing doctor all day trying to fix her 'boo boos' that lie underneath her colorful band-aids.

Well, o.k... maybe my week hasn't been so blah after all. I might be worn out from taking care of two ailing little girls on a full-time basis, but this is what I've gotten to witness in return:

Adelyn trying to fix her sister's boo boo's
Ella being a big girl drinking out of her sippy
Adelyn reminding me to pray before we eat our snacks (preschool IS paying off!)
Ella totally rocking her new birthday outfits/jammies
Adelyn recognizing all of her Disney princesses (you know- Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Ariel)
Adelyn recognizing two more colors (Yes- she has mastered 'princess recognition' but still working on color recognition!)
Ella walking from room to room with help
Ella mastering more learning toys
Daddy reading bedtime stories to the girls
The girls having friendly splash contests in the bathtub

I'm sure my sleepy head is forgetting tons of memories we made this week. I guess it just takes a few extra minutes to think about all of the wonderful blessings I have amidst such trying times as a full-time mom.

Ahhhhh.... I feel better already. :)

Our Lil' Cupcake is 1!

We had the monumental first birthday party over the weekend for Ella. I loved that we celebrated with our closest friends and family on her actual birthday. We made it a cupcake-themed day complete with cupcakes in the shape of a '1' (thanks for your help, Grandma June!) and a cupcake-shaped cake that I even surprised myself with making. Ella wore a cupcake outfit with a cupcake knit hat. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Ella's 1st birthday.

Oh, we also had some family fun time playing Rock Band II so my goofy brother, Daniel, played the guitar while I assisted on the drums. It was a good time! As you can tell by the pictures- we're naturals! :)

Thank you to EVERYONE for being there on her special day. Even my family traveled 4 hours to be with Ella on her special day!

As an update, here are a few of our 1 yr old's recent achievements:

Ella is still crawling and cruising. She can stand independently for short spurts of time and does put one foot in front of the other in attempt to walk when supported, but hasn't taken her first independent steps yet. We're gettin' there!

Ella has a few words in her vocabulary now including: ma ma (mommy), da da (daddy), ki ca (kitty cat), a da (I think Addy), bye bye, and hi. We're working on 'up' and 'more' and a couple other significant first words.

Ella only eats table food now and has been on whole milk for the last week. She's down to just 2 bottles a day and after her 1 yr check-up on Thursday, we will switch exclusively to her sippy cup.

Ella started her first class at the Y last week. She loves to sing and dance!
Ella gets a kick out of peek-a-boo still... oh, and she still LOVES to play the fetching game where she'll purposely drop something off her highchair table and wait for me to replace it.

We love you, Ella Bella Butter Bean. It's been the SWEETEST year with you in it!

Funny!

Thanks for sharing, Julie! :)

Pet Neglect :(

This blistery cold weather reminded me of our days in Michigan so I decided to scroll through some old photos. What I found was an alarming trend. This is Shelby (our dog, in case you didn't know) pre-kids:

And here is Shelby post-kids, 4 years later:

Poor thing! And the same goes for our cat, Savannah, too. I promise they aren't completely neglected. They're just not the center of attention anymore- well, unless our children are on top of them.

I Was 'That Mom'

You know.... 'that mom' who always feels it necessary to tell you exactly when her child reached a milestone a little early. Well, I caught myself bragging about Adelyn's savvy potty skills at a young age. Before she was 2, and as soon as we placed the potty chair next to the grown-up potty, she was already poppin' a squat to use it. Apparently all the training needed at the time was a couple years of watching her mommy and daddy do it. I was so proud that I decided that I need not push the envelope and put her in panties quite yet. Besides, I was in NO HURRY to deal with soiled panties.

Well, thanks to all my bragging I'm sure, my daughter will be 3 in a couple months and flat REFUSES to use the potty. She seems to be quite content using her diaper and rarely tells me when she needs to go or that she's already gone. In one of my many attempts at training her to use the potty, I let her run around the house half naked so she was tempted to use the potty. Well, it worked in the short-term. But when she needed to do the big deed (#2), she had no problem with doing it right on the floor. Yep, on the floor.... while skipping.

So what is a mommy to do? I've done the reward chart... complete with reward candy and reward song. See? Everyone says that she'll do it when she's ready... and that you can't be too agressive about it or it will back-fire. Did I miss the boat? I'm starting to feel like a failure of a mommy. *head bowing*

Oh, and you know what else I'm feeling guilt about? Adelyn is also addicted to her pacifier. It's apart of her sleeping ritual... she likes to suck while she twirls her hair. We've been having lots of discussions lately about how pacifiers are meant for babies but she's not budging. So, last night, I decided to take some advice and cut the end of it off. Apparently if you cut a little bit at a time, eventually it will lose its appeal. When Adelyn put the cut paci in her mouth, she said, "MOMMY! It's BWOKE! I don't want BWOKE paci!" And she proceeded to chuck it as far as she could across the room. Well, then she asked for it again, sucked on it for about 10 minutes, and then chucked it across the room before she fell asleep with NO PACI. Amazing, right! I felt awesome! Well, that was short-lived, too, apparently.... because it was the very first thing she wanted this morning as she woke up... and the very first thing she wanted when we got in the car from our classes at the Y. She seems to be content sucking on a bwoken... I mean, broken.... pacifier. So we'll see how it goes over when I cut a little more tonight.

Geesh.... I would have never thought I'd be so affected by the simple challenges we face as parents of toddlers.

If any of you have it all figured out, could you let me know the secrets? Better yet... blog about it so I can learn on an intermittent basis.

Bling, Bling!

Andrew and I were just talking about how we needed to do something special for Ella's first birthday coming up next weekend when we passed a jewelry boutique in the mall that advertised ear piercing. When Andrew agreed that this could be that special gift we were looking for, we decided that it was best to get both girls' ears done at the same time. It just didn't seem fair to do one and not the other. I'll have to admit that I was very skeptical about it and obviously had no plans for Adelyn to get her ears pierced as an infant. But then when I started to become more open to the idea, I felt that we missed the boat on getting Adelyn's done young enough so she wouldn't understand what was going on. Boy, was I wrong!! Adelyn was not phased by the experience one bit. She literally sat still, shot a brief funny look, then smiled as she saw the pretty earrings in the mirror. Ella, on the other hand, cried for about 5 minutes after the techs shot both ears at the same time... and I felt SO bad. She was fine as soon as I gave her a bottle, though. I will have to admit that they both look so darn cute. Besides the 8 weeks of initial maintenance, I think it will be worth it. And we will allow the girls to pick out their own new pair of earrings once they reach a certain age or milestone. That way it can still count as a privilege when they're older.

Oh, what fun it is to be a mom of 2 girls!

Sweet Revenge!

Ella has started to develop a feisty side to her.... and boy, is she giving her big sister a run for her money. For instance, here she was trying to swipe Adelyn's cover when Adelyn was NOT in the mood. (BTW, I do realize that my 2 yr old is getting too old for her paci.... if you have any recommendations on how to break this habit, please share!)

I'm certain that Ella is feeling pretty good now that she's able to give her big sister some retaliation for all the times Adelyn interrupted her naps or stole her toys. You go sister!

Oh, and here is 'feisty Ella' pulling out the wipes again. She LOVES to pull things apart, especially kleenex boxes, wipes, and toilet paper. You definitely know where Ella's been because she leaves a very distinctive mess behind her.

It's so neat to see Ella's personality develop from day to day. She will be TONS of fun on her first birthday when I let loose as a mommy and allow her to indulge in yummy cake!

Bittersweet!

There's just no way else to describe it. My oldest just started preschool today and although she absolutely loved it, I am still a little sad that she has joined the ranks of other preschoolers. She is only 2 1/2 (will be 3 in March) but I heard about an excellent local 2 yr old program 2 mornings a week. For those who don't know Adelyn well, she is a SUPER outgoing, social butterfly who loves new environments and new people. In fact, about a month or so ago when we took the tour of the facility, she cried when we left. All day, she asked to go back to "schoo" to "pway bwocks" and "meet fwiends" as she put it. After the holidays passed in December, we decided to enroll her and see how it goes.

Well, I highly doubt we'll retract our decision to let her go to school a little early. When I returned back to get her, on our way out the door, she said, "Mommy, I LOVE school!" The two teachers even said that they were surprised at how well adjusted she was... like she has been doing this for a long time. Oh, and apparently she didn't ask for mommy once the whole time she was there. *Tear* I know, I know..... let it go!

Here's a couple pictures of our little preschooler this morning on her first day of school. Doesn't she look so grown up in her back-pack?