Say huh?

Everyone who has kids has the pleasure of being surprised when they talk sometimes. Ellie is quite conversational when she's in the mood and lately I've been doing some double-takes when she is talking to me. Since people are always saying "you think you'll remember it but you won't so write it down" I decided to do just that. Here are just a few things she's said in the past two days that I wrote down.

Purple barrette matches my purple bracelet - ok, she said this to me a few days ago and I was a little taken off guard. What 2 year old cares if something matches??? Apparently mine. Maybe now she'll stop trying to wear her purple pants with everything.

Can I eat this other room? - She calls our living room the "other" room and I'm not sure why. But every so often it's a special treat to get to eat dinner in the living room (considering she's not the neatest eater) and she'll ask if she can eat in there a lot. We let her eat her snacks in there because it's usually an apple or crackers or something non-messy.

Got this at the grocery store? - Ellie now understands that I have to go grocery shopping to get our food. Sometimes she'll just ask if I got whatever she's eating (or even her new tooth brush) at the grocery store. A few weeks ago she declared from the back of the car "I want to go to Wal Mart" when we were on our way home from the library. She hadn't been to wally world in about 3 weeks. What the heck?

My bangs in my face - she really does not like having her hair in her face.

Momma, cough in elbow! - This was a big shocker. A few days ago I was choking on some water and Ellie promptly told me to cough in my elbow. Unless you've been living in another country, most of you are aware of the complete panic the H1N1 virus has thrown everyone in. Lexington is no exception. At Ellie's school she's learning the importance of coughing in your elbow. Side note: Ellie was able to get the vaccine on Monday because Dan works in health care. I, however, am last on the hit list and will probably not be able to get one. I wouldn't care a bit except for the fact that if Julia gets the flu (either variety) she'll be in the NICU.


Some not so surprising phrases:
I sit here - she'll say this when she's sitting somewhere (like the sidewalk or the foot of her bed) when I'm trying to get her to move.
Mommy get it - usually said when her blanket is upstairs and we are downstairs and she wants it... now.
Let me have it! - needs no explanation
Let my do it! - said all the time
Go upstairs and play! - she loves her playroom and requests to go upstairs and play often. However, it's more of an order than a question.

E 29 mo

Boo Bash

Every year one of the libraries we frequent has a Boo Bash. We didn't go last year because I thought it was yet another excuse to dress up and flaunt the little one's. So do you think we went this year? Heck yes we did. When you go to all the trouble to make your kids costume, you want them to wear it out! We met Caleb and his brother Noah at the library and did a few crafts, paraded around the library for candy, and ate lunch afterward.

Ellie can't wait to trick-or-treat tomorrow! She's discovered candy this year and I can't seem to keep it off her mind. Guess that's what happens when you don't have candy in your house. Her little treat bag I made (which she calls her "candy purse") is always within Ellie's arms reach. She's sure to ask if she can have candy a few times a day. Usually she gets one piece after her meal or nap. Next year I probably won't be so lucky... she'll know how to open the candy herself!




These are pictures of my good friend Sarah and her two boys Caleb & Noah. Caleb and Ellie are pretty much best friends and see each other a few times a week. And if you can't tell from the pictures, Caleb is a bit of a clown and Ellie usually just looks at him funny when he is acting silly (the last pic).

Streeeeeetch, Julia-style.

c
Julia saw that I made a stretching post without her and protested. Actually, I can't believe I left her out of the stretching post a few days ago. After all, she stretches more than any person I've ever seen. Nope, not kidding. Julia takes every opportunity to stretch. She'll stretch after she wakes up, after she eats, after you put her on the floor, after she's been bundled up (in her carseat, in her carrier, or while you've been holding her), and pretty much any time you move her around from room to room. After her naps, she practically won't eat until she's had a good stretch. As you would probably assume, her stretching is indicative of her disposition: laid back. I thank God for an easy-going #2!

No Fall Sunday is complete without...

FOOTBALL! Since Dan now "plays" fantasy football, he has been paying more attention to the games this year. In efforts to spend more time with her father, Julia has taken up watching football.

J 2 mo

Julia is 2 Months

Actually she's 2 months and a week. We went to the doctor yesterday for Julia's 2 month check up. Everything looks great, nothing abnormal. Julia is right around the 75th percentile on the growth curve. She behaved very well and seemed very proud of her 12 lb, 11 oz self. The only time she cried was when she was hungry and when she got her shots. We came home after the 1:00 appointment and she didn't sleep very much until around 8pm... she was tired when we got there and was more than a little over stimulated when we left an hour and a half later. Someone remind me to get morning appointments from now on.

Streeeeeetch

Alas, we've found a new use for the stairs! As if we needed one... I started running again regularly last week (yee haw) and when I get done I usually stretch on the stairs.

These were taken with Dan's new iPhone (which he loves and tells me daily how much he loves it) and I think they take junky low-light pictures.

Weekly Activities

These are all from last week. If it looks like we did everything in one day (because of the jammies) we didn't. But almost. We also made paper pumpkin cut outs, used scarves for interpretive dance (wish I had a video), continuously use lima beans as a variety of play kitchen food, take daily walks outside to see what we can find but mostly Ellie just runs while I chase her, entertain Julia, and go places because being in the house starts to drive us all crazy.

We made a Halloween chain just for kicks.

Ellie learned the Southern art of Biscuitry (not even a word according to my spell check) this week. She mixed it, tasted it, patted it out, and cut out the biscuits. I tried a new recipe from Babycakes and they weren't as good as I had hoped (although if you are looking for a vegan, gluten free recipe it's not that bad).

What child doesn't love dissolving those little sponges???

Coloring some ornaments that Tudi sent our way.

Making pumpkin spice cupcakes for a little Halloween party we went to this week.

Trying to dissolve some little sculptures we made a few weeks ago in water... it didn't work. I thought that since they were cornstarch it would work. Oh well.

E 29 mo

I see a pattern here...

Ellie & Avery this time last year at my parents.

Ellie & Avery at Christmas

Ellie & Julia this week

Pumpkin Carving

Dan came home from work early yesterday and asked Ellie if she wanted to carve our pumpkin. She grumpily replied "NO!" but we proceeded anyway thinking she would have fun when everything got started. Silly parents, tricks aren't for 2 year olds. Apparently, Ellie wasn't kidding when she said no. By the time we figured this out, we were committed to carving the darn pumpkin. Oh well, it was still fun, Ellie-involvement or not. I did the drawing and Dan did all the work. It looks great!

Halloween Girls

Hey Steph, aren't you proud of me? Both of my girls had their halloween get-ups on a few days ago so I took some pictures to prove it. Actually, a few years ago Steph gave Ellie the little outfit that Julia is wearing. We're getting some mileage out of it! Oh, and Nana gave Ellie her dress... It reverses to green with a zebra on it. Ellie absolutely loves it because it has animals on it. Right now she calls it her "Hall-ween" dress.

The Purple Volcano!

Have you ever seen a purple volcano erupting? Well, neither had Ellie... Nor did she know what the bubbles felt like until sticking her finger in them. You've got to experiment, right? Dan & Ellie had a lot of fun on Dan's day off Saturday (his first day off in 23 straight days, whew!).

Potty Update!

Woo woo! Ellie filled up her chart this week! When I told her she got to put a sticker in the last box on her chart, she said "OH, I get ice cream!" Do you think she really cared about the leash? Not really. I gave her the leash and she played with it for a few minutes and wanted her ice cream. Oh well, I guess we know how to get her to do what we want... give her ice cream! Side note: she really seems to like the soy ice cream as much as the regular stuff, since we are trying to get off of dairy around here. It's next to impossible when you need a grilled cheese fix, though.

My Delightful 8 Week Old

Here's a little bit about Julia Claire:
- She has a reaaaally long eyelash that we've all made the mistake of trying to rid her of, only to find out it's still attached. Woopsie!
- Julia is just starting to pay very close attention to Ellie, only she cannot seem to follow Ellie's fast movements. But it's clear the fascination with her big sister is beginning.
- The facial expressions are to die for! Julia seems to "talk" with her baby-sized expressions. She crosses her brows, turns her lips into a frown before she cries, smiles with her mouth wide open,
- Her coos are turning into coo-versations (how's that for cheesy?). She looks at me and just coos and oohs and ahs. While crossing her brows and smiling, of course.
- The first time she and Levi locked eyes, she started to frown and cry. But now when Levi stands still enough for her to focus on him, Julia smiles and even reaches for him. I have a feeling we now have another dog lover in the house besides me.
- This little lady does NOT like her carseat. At all.
- She wants to sit up so very badly that when you try to lay her back, she will curl her head forward and use her tiny abs to try and sit up.
- Julia can hold her head up now, but has no back control. This means she's still a floppy fish but now with control that's gone to her head. You can't walk around with just one hand on her.
- She scooted her way off of the couch last week and onto the rug... I wasn't looking, but she'll not go unattended on the couch any more! (she was fine, by the way, no damage done)
- Julia is getting over her very first cold - her first gift from her big sister. She has a cough and a runny nose that's almost cleared up.

Halloween Party

I'm not sure what my friends were thinking, but the first Halloween party we were invited to this year was on Saturday (Oct 10th). Seemed early to me. So early, in fact, that I finished Ellie's costume while she was napping the day of the party. She wanted to be a horse of course! Julia told me she would happily be a cowgirl to match her big sister, so my search for costumes began. And ended abruptly. There are NO cute horse costumes out there (or at least any cute inexpensive one's), so I had to make Ellie's myself. I'm sad that I didn't get a good picture of the horse head, but it's awesome. I'll have to take more the next time she wears it.

There was a pinata at the party and Ellie was unclear as to what you do with all of the candy on the ground. She picked up two pieces and was happily walking off when I showed her how to fill up her trusty little candy bag. Even then, she was selective about what she put into her bag. Fine with me! We only ended up with a small amount of candy (you can see all of it in the next to last picture). Sunday morning after breakfast Ellie was rummaging through her stash and picked up each piece and said "what's this momma?" Over and over and over...

Not that I could get them both to look at the camera... But we have a pony and a cowgirl! Julia's boots aren't complete yet, nor did the cowhide vest I made her fit. There's still time before Halloween!

The morning after: sorting her loot and chomping down on a mini milky way (post breakfast, of course).

Weekly Activities

You won't blame me for not wanting to write much about what we've been doing, will you? We've actually been really lazy the past week around here so these pictures are from the past week and a half. I just cannot seem to get myself together these days. Dan has been working for 20 straight days, it's been rainy, and I have the energy of a mom who has an 8 week old and a 2 year old. So, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

E 29 mo
J 8 wks