Snippets

"My building a tower of Lego blocks... my not talk any more!!!" (when trying to get her to talk to my friend, Tracey, on the phone).

"Go to sleep, Mommy!"  (When trying to get me to cooperate with her pretend sleeping).

"Where are you going, Mommy?".  "I have to run to the store, honey."  "You go to the store to buy something.  You go to the Wal-Mart, the Target, the store..." (as her voice trails off).  Ellison, we had a conversation about not talking like this in front of daddy.

Ellison caught yawning and rubbing her eyes.  "We're almost home, honey.  It's past your bedtime."  "But, my not tired at all!".

"My can't talk right now.  My busy."

Dresses

Ellison's Abuela sent her two of the cutest little summer dresses that she made for her, along with a few other goodies from the Buffalo Sotos.  Ellison LOOOOOOVES her dresses!  She immediately had to try them on, and proceeded to dance around Flamenco style.  We could hardly get one dress off to try on the other.  Now she affectionately refers to the dresses as "the bow dress" and "the flower dress".  For a couple of days she begged to wear the bow dress, and even requested to sleep in it.  This girl can't get enough of dresses.  She's all girl!  And she totally has a thing for shoes right now.  We've had to get her a few pairs of new shoes for spring, and she's CONSTANTLY taking them on & off and traipsing around the house in them.  Her faves are the sparkly purple flip-flops (shown here with her "bow dress") and the little white "high heels" (as she calls them) that her daddy surprised her with.

Bounce U

Our friends, Alisha & Ella James, invited us along on their excursion to Bounce U one morning.  This was our first time trying a place like this out.  We had a great (insert "cardio") time.  A couple of things to note from the outing:

1)  It's nearly impossible to enjoy conversations with your fellow mommies when we each are simultaneously trying to keep up with our toddlers.  Were our girlfriends even there?  I think I saw the flash of hair that belonged to one of them...

2)  This is a perfect way to exercise your child - it was non-stop physical activity mixed in with belly-laughs left and right.

3)  This momma is WAAAAAY out of shape!!!  Seriously, I felt like I needed a shower and a change of clothes.  When I couldn't keep up with singing "Frere Jacque" due to my panting respirations, I realized I have issues.

4)  I'm old.  Is it normal to need to take 600mg of ibuprofen, a hot soak in the tub, and apply a heating pad to the back after this form of activity???

E's little body kept spinning around halfway down the giant slide.  The first few times going up these steep stairs and down the big slide, Ellison wanted me to hold her (tricky, but do-able).  But after she found how much she loved it, she was ready to go it alone.  I was ready to beat the pushy children that were plowing into her and trying to pass her going up the stairs as complacent parents stood by smiling at their aggressive little monsters, but I've since dealt with those feelings.

I thought it would be fun to bring Daddy along on his day off this past week.  Wouldn't you know - the time I DON'T bring the camera, and I could've gotten some darn better shots!  It just reinforces my motto - just keep snapping pics and take the camera everywhere.  The times I contemplate whether I should take the camera and end up deciding against it, are the times that inevitably find me regretting my decision.

Kiss Me, I'm (Not) Irish!

Daddy surprised me and Ellison with some festive St. Patty's Day Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the green day.  Ellison was, of course, thrilled to see doughnuts.  I thought for sure she'd pick the shamrock ones, but alas, she still went for the sprinkles.

Yummo!  (Which makes me think of Rachael Ray, which reminds me of Paula Deen.  Side note: Ellison recognizes "Paula" everywhere - on magazine covers in the grocery store, etc.  She always knows it's "Paula".  I think because she's frequently heard Daddy refer to Paula as someone he would take as a girlfriend solely for his love of [her] food.)

Sweet little Ella came over to hang with us for a little while so her mommy could go to an appointment.  We were so happy to have her join us - Ella is such a sweetheart and I swear she has never met a stranger.  The visit was topped off with some nice green icing (doughnut) to go with that cute little outfit, as the 4 of us girls enjoyed our morning treat.

[March 17, 2009]

Panny Cakes (aka Pancakes) & Piggy Tails

It's weekend tradition for Elli and her daddy to make panny cakes together.  Often times, Mommy is getting ready for work, and I get a sweet little delivery of panny cakes and coffee up in my bedroom to enjoy as I try to look presentable in scrubs.  The piggy tails are a new fascination with Ellison.  She asks me to put them in quite often, even though the process sometimes causes her to whimper and cry.  I guess she's learning early that our human idea of "beauty" sometimes comes with some pain.  It may come in handy for those potential future bikini waxes.  On the other hand, maybe she just needs a momma that is better equiped to do little girls' hair.  Sorry, baby.  At any rate, she must be tough if she continues to want them in.

The panny cakes must've been hard work this day - Elli needed to take a little refreshment break.

Visiting Our Girlfriends

We hadn't seen our Perez girls in the longest time, so we were thrilled to get in a little visit one day.  Ellison was happy to know her little amiga, Caroline, shares a love of "color paints" too (that's what E calls them).

The girls had so much fun doing Easter egg hunt after Easter egg hunt.  What on earth will we do when the Easter decor has to go away?  We just may be painting some eggs red, white, and blue for the 4th of July!  Better yet, who says you have to be Mexican to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?  Surely eggs are a staple for that holiday...

They were too cute - we'd tell them to go hide on the stairs and "no peeking", so they'd run over and do this for about 15 seconds, then we'd see both of their little heads pop up and peak over the stairway.  It's so fun to see how old our little girls are getting now, and how they are changing with the way they interact and talk with each other - we met when they were only 5 & 6 months old!

Calling All Prayers

Though I can't say we know them too well, there is a family that goes to our church that we see regularly at our various classes, groups, etc.  2 days ago during a scheduled kidney ultrasound and VCUG, they found a tumor on their little girl's kidney.  She simply had a UTI, and as routine for little girl's with their first UTIs, (just as Ellison had done this past fall), she had the tests done, however the results were far from what they were expecting.  Their lives have literally been transformed in the last couple days.  Amber, Julia's mom, has been blogging all along through this new journey.  The strength they have in their faith and trust in God is an amazing testament.  Please say a prayer for little Julia and her family.  Their blog is www.littlepapiandpunkin.blogspot.com.  They appreciate and could use prayers more than you know...

"New" Sleeping Bag

Ellison's new babysitter (that we only got because Lindsay and Anna weren't available!), Lucy, sent along (their daddies work together) a butterfly light and a "happy face" sleeping bag for Ellison to have.  She loves both - the butterfly light has to be on when she's rocked at night, and she loves to pretend sleep on the happy face.

Lunch Time

Little Mookie has been requesting her lunches in the van now.  If we're getting home from somewhere just in time for lunch, she insists we keep her in the van and bring her lunch to her.  She just sits there and continues watching her "DVDVD".  Works out great if I need to unload groceries!

A Progress Note

I think Ellison is on the brink of adolescence... I was trying to go after her as she was shutting herself in a room. She quickly peaked her head out and said, "Leave me alone, Mom!". (!)

She is TOTALLY into smells right now. If something, ANYTHING, has an odor (even my fabulous cooking), Ellison starts talking about how much it's stinky. It's made me very self-conscious to now brush my teeth BEFORE getting her out of bed in the morning. I'm petrified of taking her in public and having her comment about body odors on strangers. Even the catalytic converter in the van does not go unnoticed. "My van stinky! That disgusting!!!".

As I previously mentioned, Ellison is officially obsessed with the Wiggles, and also nursery rhymes. She could sing or have us sing nursery rhymes all day long. She even throws in her own words to some songs to the tune of nursery rhymes. Imagine the phrase "Yes, my promise" to the tune of "Frere Jacque". I need to explain: for whatever reason, when Ellison says/means "I" or "I'm", she mixes it up and always says, "My". It's a little quirk. I get her to say it correctly, but she quickly reverts back.

She's starting to discipline her animals. She came marching down the hall one day with her little stuffed puppy, exclaiming, "You haffa go in time out, Puppy!". I asked her if Puppy was being naughty, and she said, "Yes. He not listen to me!". Most of these little cracks are with such inflection in her voice.

So, I guess we're potty training/trained, even though I didn't really put it into motion. There was a day when Ellison was sick a couple weeks that she wanted to wear her big girl panties all afternoon, and did so without any accidents. I think we got to a window of opportunity last week because we just continued on and she does great! She is doing SO good with the potty! It's funny, I never thought of this as formal potty training, but oh, how much easier it is to just relax about it and let her go at her own pace! I will say that it's a little bit tougher when going #2 is in the mix, but all in all, we have very few accidents. She's even napping in her panties and stays dry. So exciting! We haven't even tried mastering nighttime yet, but she always wakes up asking to use the potty. I have to say, it's so darn cute seeing those little buns in little teeny tiny panties. We've been calling her a big girl so much lately, that now when I call her "Baby Girl", like I have so much of her life, she corrects me: "My not a baby, my a big girl!". So true, my love...

Ellison's new favorite game to play with me and Daddy is Hide-and-Seek. Or anything even remotely related to it.

She has a thing for sticks. When we are walking outside, she loves picking up and looking around for sticks. When she sees one just her size, she uses it as a walking stick for the entire walk. So cute! Her Colorado roots are coming out. :-) So many people use them on hikes there - great calorie burner! (P.S. A wrapping paper roll works great as a walking stick, too).

She now must always wear her "ballet dress" when doing her ballet dances. Always. And she does ballet several times a day. Her outfit for the day consists of me thinking, "What will fit easily under the ballet dress?".

Ellison is now consistently saying her own prayer out loud at night instead of folding her hands, wiggling around and just listening to us say it. She starts "Dear God, thank you for this food," and then goes right into "Now I lay me down to sleep..." ending with "God bless her, keep her, and protect her" (which is what Jon & I always say over her). Cracks us up - so cute to hear it all in a tiny little voice.

Everything is about us doing things as a family "together". If the 3 of us are all home (which feels rare anymore), Ellison says, "Wanna watch TV together" and gets all excited when we get to be a family. When she asked one day if I was going to work, and I said, "Nope", she smiled and wrinkled her nose, "Mommy and Daddy stay home and play with ME!"

Out of the mouth of my babe... "Excuse me, I have question por you.", "Ooh! Baby, you're heavy!", "No have to" (whenever she doesn't want to do something).

Conversation: "My frustrated, Mama." "Why are you frustrated, Ellison?" (pause/thinking) "Because... because my wanna help you and I can't" (as I was cooking on the stove).

Conversation: I was exasperated with yet another time Mookie refused to eat anything on her plate. I simply tipped my head back and whispered with a big sigh, "Frustrated". Mookie looked at me and said, "My frustrated too".

She has to do her "color paints" every single day, sometimes twice a day. Or playdough.

I know it's wierd to have a list, but I don't want to forget these sweet things. :-) That's all I can think of for now...

Egg Hunt

Ellison woke up from her nap and discovered I had hidden all of her Easter eggs around the living room.  She had SO MUCH fun having a little Easter egg hunt.  What'd I tell ya - again, that $3 is really paying off!  We kept taking turns hiding the eggs and going around looking for them.

Lately, Ellison likes to line things up in rows.  Just about any set of objects.  Her eggs were no different, here. :-)

When Ellison was sick last week, I had to watch the Wiggles about 5 times every single day.  Not only is she all about singing and dancing with the Wiggles, but she's SO into nursery rhymes.  How perfect that the Wiggles have a DVD where they act/sing/dance out about 50 of them. Seriously, I get so tired of humming the songs at work because I can't get them out of my head.  Anyway, there's a part where Jeff Wiggle plays the piano that always makes Ellison run over to the piano and demand I get on it with her to play, "London Bridge".  Look at that hand positioning on my baby girl - a natural, I tell you!

[March 3, 2009]

A Big Snow Day!

The biggest snowfall in the area in 5 years!  It made for such a beautiful site in the sunny morning.  Daddy got to go into work extra late because his office building had no power.  Jonathan was so psyched to finally get to use the snowblower here - we bought it brand-new and got to use it in Colorado several times, but never in a bazillion years did we think we'd get to use it here in NC - a miracle!  BUT... OF COURSE it wouldn't start!  That would be too smooth, right?

Ellison couldn't WAIT to get outside in the snow.  She loved to walk in it and just be outside, and she would actually touch it more this time.  She even sat down in it at one point, but thought I was competely crazy for laying down in it (as did the neighbors, probably).  She wouldn't go that far.  She threw a few snowballs and thought that was funny.

She's actually using her pool toys (containers) to scoop the snow and play.

And pulled her wagon all around.  We need to get all-terrain wheels on that bad boy.

And the yummy, warm hot cocoa refresher afterward.

[March 2, 2009]

Under the Weather

Here are some belated photos of the now-healed resident sickie.  We had just been to the pediatrician's and found out how sick she was.  She look so pathetic, doesn't she?  On the way home, we had to tool around at Walgreen's waiting for her antibiotic to be filled.  That girl sprang back to life in the Easter aisle!  Seriously, moms and dads, if you're ever at a loss as to where you can take your little tike to have some fun - there's your answer.  It took lots of creative coaxing to get her to leave.

Elli got to bring home some little eggs and a little basket - she was sick after all!  It was the best $3 I have ever spent.  There is endless fun with these.  Filling the eggs up with Cheerios and Bunny Balls (aka Kix... and no, her warped parents did not come up with that name, you sickos), and emptying them back out, over and over again - it occupied her for the longest time.

[February 24, 2009]

While the pneumonia was in full swing, Ellison literally ate NOTHING for 2 1/2 days.  Even when asked if she wanted her absolute faves, the answer was always, "No".  I thought her little chest would benefit from some warm fluids, and she would benefit from the calories, so she had some hot cocoa.  She would never even try it before, but since she has a love affair with marshmallows now, it was pretty easy to convince her this time.

[February 25, 2009]

Quick Update

So I'm a little behind with photos these days.  Those will have to come later.  Just wanted to update that Ellison's back to her normal self now, thanks be to God.  With having been stuck home for a while (between Ell's illness and then all of the weather-related closings around here), she and I are itching to get off of Mackinaw Drive (our street) together!!!  I've decided I hit my limit when we play playdough 3 different times in one day.  It's all great, squishy fun, but bless her heart - Elli is apparently bored, too.  I got the hint when we quickly ran to the paint store today, and on the way home Elli commented, "No go home".  Well... she does that a lot anyway, but it supports my story...