Happy Birthday, Our Sweet Baby Girl!!!

Wow, part of me feels like we're already sending her off to college! It seems ages ago that I gave birth to her, but yet we are still in disbelief that our little baby is now 2 years old!









I'm going to take a trip down memory lane for a moment...

At this time, 2 years ago, NOTHING was happening as we waited in our hospital room. My water broke at 6:45pm on Nov. 4, and we were told to go to the hospital since I had an excruciating headache, even though there were no contractions or anything. (Interesting, considering I was on 6 weeks of bedrest FOR contractions and dilating!!!). Daddy was so excited and pumped up that he almost left the house with only his boxers on! We were SO excited that the time finally came, and that God held off your birth until you were 37 weeks. After being admitted to the hospital, we had the choice of waiting to start Pitocin until the morning at the lastest if we wanted to wait and see if I would kick into labor (but if contractions didn't start, they would have to do it eventually since babies need to be born within 24 hrs of the water breaking). We thought for sure it would all progress on its own after having been in pre-term labor since 30 weeks. By 6am on Nov. 5, nothing had happened, so we started the Pitocin. After being on the maximum dose possible after several hours, still NOTHING was happening! Not an ounce of pain, and only slight contractions. By 5pm I was starting to worry - our little baby had to be born within 24 hours, and we were rapidly approaching that time, which meant the dreaded C-section. Suddenly, I turned to my side and felt a "pop", and sure enough it went so fast I was pushing soon thereafter. I heard Daddy say, "It's a girl!!!" at 6:44pm after a very pleasant labor and delivery... Such an indescribable, incredible experience!!! The day little Ellison Reese came into our lives...


Her very first monthly photo in the chair.



My, how she's grown!

Ellison is a little dancer and singer now these days. So funny - I remember looking at her as a newborn wondering what she would be like as a toddler, what her little voice would sound like, what her little quirks would be. To see it all in front of us now is the coolest. She definitely carries those firstborn traits even though she doesn't have any siblings yet. She is a little momma and a little helper, and loves pretending and imitating. She's a cuddle-bug only on her terms. Probably because her momma is as mushy as can be with her and it makes her crazy! :)


Favorite phrases: "Sorry 'bout that, Mama", "Hold you", "Thank you, Mama (or Daddy)" - she says it ALL the time, even when not warranted;


Favorite foods: cheese, pasta, crackers, and anything with those candy "sprinkles" on it. Still a picky eater in the sense that she won't try anything new or even foods she used to like, but at least we still have a good variety to choose from.


Favorite songs she sings (all the time and up & down the grocery aisles): "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "ABCs", "Tabu Naba" (a song in a language I've never heard of - it's on one of the Wiggles DVDs), "Rock-A-Bye Baby", "Stir It Up" (Bob Marley)

Favorite shows: still "The Wiggles" and "Curious George", with many others - "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends", "Little Bear", and "Franklin" just to name a few.

She still likes to pretend she's a baby - we've had to hide her baby's paci and the Mrs. Potato Head mouth. When the paci disappeared, the mouth was a perfect substitute. So that mysteriously vanished as well. She also loves to be hiding out - she's constantly asking me to shut her in dark closets (no kidding) and whines if I even leave it open a crack. Anything that resembles a tent is what she likes. She loves running, and seems to be getting lightning-fast - especially when she's being chased in a store. She will spontaneously say, "... Set, go!" and just take off running around the house. She still has yet to tire of doing dishes. (Now her mother is a different story.)

Mookie is still quite the little artist and never tires of drawing, painting, or coloring. She can draw perfect circles and even smiley faces (complete with hair) all by herself. And she is really getting into books now. She knows her shapes very well, even the tough ones, like a trapezoid. She will count to 12, and count to 10 in Spanish, and knows many letters. Whenever you ask her what something says (like a label that says "Ellison"), she always answers, "Ellison Soto!".

Ellison had her very first dentist appointment the day after her birthday. Can't say she loved it, but did well considering she's 2. She loved playing with all of their toys, she just wasn't keen on them digging around in her mouth. Then the following day she had her 2-yr check-up. She's weighing in at 25 pounds, and is 32 3/4" long. No source can agree on her exact percentiles, but she's somewhere around the 25th percentile or so. Since she's 2, they can "predict" her adult height, and say she'll be about 5'6" or 5'7". Makes no sense to me, but that's why I don't get paid the big bucks.