Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I keep feeling like I'm living in someone else's house.  I just can't seem to get unpacked.  Last week, I made TONS of progress.  And then we started seeing a bunch of spiders and a few roaches and even a mouse (that ella asked if we could keep as a pet).  The house was vacant for two years, so I guess we started stirring up all the creatures.  So I called the exterminator and he told me I needed to empty out ALL of the cabinets....Um, I'm guessing he didn't realize that I had just finished putting everything IN the cabinets literally the day before!!  I could kick myself for not having him come out when we first bought the house and it was empty.  But I've almost got everything put back in the cabinets.  I just wish I could get to the point where I could hang up pictures of my beautiful children and husband......necessities first I guess.  We don't have nearly enough furniture (or funds) so we're making do.  I think once I get some of the more personal things unpacked and put up, it will feel more like home.  But for now we can sleep, shower, get dressed, cook dinner, and watch TV.  Survival mode!  :)  But we love the new house and we're (slowly) making it home. 

Ellabell:
Pol nailish - :)  Nail polish.  She also still calls her forehead her headboard.  <3
Swirlnado - She likes to call tornados swirlnados because they can "swirl you up".
She loves loves loves to help me clean.  Give that girl a bleach wipe and she's good to go!
She is dropping her nap.  She hardly ever naps anymore, but she's to the point now where she is a great helper and I enjoy the couple of hours the two of us get while Sadie's napping.
Caillou is still her favorite show.  (Although she has just recently decided she likes Good Luck Charlie...makes me a little sad since it isn't a cartoon)
The Chronicles of Narnia (all three) are her favorite movies. 
She's sort of excited about soccer, but she'd rather take ballet.
She also looooooves superheroes.  Batman is her favorite.
Ella is starting to come out of her shell.  She is much friendlier to people she doesn't know.  Instead of giving them some strange "i don't trust you and don't even think about it" look, she'll smile and wave or say hi.
She is also an AMAZING big sister.  She loves Sadie so much.
Ella cannot wait to go to kindergarten because then she won't have to take a nap.  I, on the other hand, am nowhere near ready for kindergarten.

Sadiebug:
You-mah-me:  You're mad at me.  She says this a lot when she has to go to time-out.  But she's also smirking when she says it....that girl is something else.  "No Sadie, I am not mad at you but you cannot climb up on the table and attempt to juggle knives"..... haha, i'm sure she'd try if she could only reach them!
Sadie LOVES to do anything she isn't supposed to.
She is also the funnest, most lovable kid when she wakes up.  She is usually up before 6AM and she is such the morning person.  She is fully-rested and in the best mood.
She loves her "mankie" (blankie) and teddy.  We hardly go anywhere without them.
Sadie loves her paci too.  We were way more concerned with not letting Ella have her paci if she wasn't sleeping when she was that age.  Now, whatever keeps Sadie from throwing a wall-eyed fit!  We love the paci.  :)
Sadie's favorite show is also Caillou, which makes things easy since they both like the same show.
Sadie loves her big sister.  She watches and studies everything Ella does.  She is figuring out the world from her big sister's example.
She will also talk to anybody.  She loves chatting it up with strangers...anybody who will listen.
Sadie loves school. Loves, loves, loves school.
We still can't go out to eat.

These girls are my heart.  I am constantly coming up with new ideas and better techniques from all the blogs and articles I read.  I think I'm slowly getting the hang of this!  :)


 

Easter at Nonnie's :)

And this one was just for fun!

Through the eyes of a child

Friday, April 6, 2012

My sweet girl. She is so beautiful, on the inside and out. I want to share a conversation with my sweet girl from yesterday. I never want to forget this moment in time. We were eating a quick dinner at Subway before going to church for our Maunday Thursday service. Josh went to change Sadie's diaper, so it was just Ella and me sitting at the table.

Ella: Mom, did Opa die?
Me: Yes, a long time ago. When I was just a little girl.
Ella: How did you know he died? Did you go see his body?
Me: Yes
Ella: Like we went to go see Nanny's body?
Me: Yes, just like that.
Ella: I miss Nanny. I wish we could see her today.
Me: I know baby. Sometimes we miss the people that are in heaven. And it's okay to miss them.
Ella: But she was a grandma. Grandmas don't die.
Me: They do. Everybody has to die one day.
*At this point I see these big tears starting to well up in her eyes as she's come across some sort of awful realization.
Ella: Mom, does that mean you're going to die?
Me: One day baby, but not for a long time.
Ella: When you're a grandma?
Me: Yes, baby when I'm a grandma.
Ella: I don't ever want to grow up.
Me: Why don't you want to grow up?
Ella: Well, I want to grow up to be a big kiddo like Alley and Cane, but I don't want to grow up to be a parent.
*She starts getting really concerned again.
Ella: But if everybody else grows up and I don't, I will be all alone.
*By now, I'm crying. Thinking in my head...no, racking my brain on how to make this better. How do I keep my sweet girl from thinking everyone she loves is going to die and leave her here by herself.
Me: Well, Ella one day we all get to live in Heaven together. We're all going to die here on Earth, but we get to go to Heaven.
Ella: So you mean we'll be alive in Heaven?
Me: Yes.
Ella: Ohhhhh, I get it now!
Then she looks up to the ceiling and I hear her quietly say:"God, I think I do want to grow up to be a parent. But I still don't want a baby."
She looks over at me and says "I just told God that I did want to be a parent, but no baby" as if I didn't hear her a moment ago say it already. But to her, she was speaking to God, not me. So she had to turn and tell me too.
And I just smile through the tears streaming down my face. One of my biggest fears is losing one of my children and I hate having these conversations about death with her. Because even the thought of her dying is too painful for me to deal with. But through this little conversation with my daughter, I was able to also come to a slightly closer understanding that God is going to take care of us.

Josh comes back from what seems like an excruciatingly long absense to find Ella bubbling and bouncy again while I'm wiping tears from my eyes and he's trying to figure out what happened while he was gone.
Once I had regained my composure and we were driving to church I was able to turn around and explain to her in very real terms how amazing it was that this very weekend almost 2000 years ago Jesus died on the cross JUST so that we could all go to Heaven and be together again with Him. Had he not died on the cross for us, we would not be alive together in Heaven. Very cool.

*Side note: Ella does not want to have babies. After Sadie was born, she was asking me lots of questions and I told her that you have to get a shot when you have a baby. So she decided that she no longer wants any part in being a Mommy. So, then I told her that she doesn't have to get a shot, but she's no fool. She said that having a baby hurts too. So she asked me how to make sure she doesn't have a baby. I told her that she just needs to tell God that she doesn't want to have any babies since I'm at a loss for words to a then 3 year old who wants to make sure that never happens! Every once in a while, I will hear her whisper out to God when she thinks I'm not paying attention: "God, I don't want a baby" just as a reminder to Him. :) I still hope she changes her mind one day.
And here's a quick snap of my Sadiebug. She was mad at me for taking a picture. This seems to be the picture I get out of her most of the time these days. This or one of her flailing around on the ground in mid-fit. :)