A Day at the Parks'

Big Girl Sadie

2012-01-09T09:14:00.007-06:00

Sadie is steadily growing up. It's crazy. I feel like she grew up so fast before I even realized it was happening. It seemed like between 0 and 20 months with Ella, it was slow and almost leisurely (although I wouldn't have said that at the time...hindsight is 20/20). I realized last night that I was already 8 weeks pregnant with Sadie when Ella was 20 months old. We haven't really even thought about having our third child yet, but back when she was born we wanted to time it the same. I guess time just snuck by without us even noticing.

Sadie started preschool last Wednesday. She did amazing. She cried for just a moment, then went to her teacher (Miss Kim, who was also Ella's first teacher) and then stopped crying. I took Ella to her classroom and by the time I walked back by Sadie's room, she was intently playing with a Mr. Potato Head. I thought Friday was going to be brutal now that she knew just how long she would be a school that day. Nope. She didn't even cry a little bit. She stuck out her bottom lip, but never cried. Today, Josh said that she put on her backpack and held Ella's hand as they walked to class and she went right in. It's amazing. I am so thankful that this has been such a smooth transition. And so far, she hasn't come home with any awful illnesses. Maybe being at PCCare her entire life has built up some immunities.

And in other big girl news, last Wednesday after Sadie's first day of school we put her on the trundle bed in Ella's room and she has done marvelously at sleeping in a big girl bed. We can hear Ella and her giggling and talking to each other as they fall asleep. She gets up a few times every night, but she'll walk into my room saying "Mommy" and I'll walk her right back to her bed and she goes back to sleep. I haven't had to stay up with her at all. And the best part??? Josh and I FINALLY have our own room back! We don't have to go downstairs in the middle of the night to use the restroom and we can brush our teeth in our own bathroom at night instead of in the guest bathroom. We can take showers in our own shower without waking up the baby...the list goes on and on. It's awesome.

So maybe we'll enjoy this new found freedom before we start thinking baby number three. Although 30 is steadily creeping up on me.........

2011-12-12T23:24:00.008-06:00

I've been doing my best to get in shape for the Tough Mudder next month....So far, I've lost 15 pounds and can run 7.34 miles straight! And I've only fallen in a hole once and gotten bit by one dog in the process. I'm going to assume that everyone else falls in a couple holes and gets bit by a few dogs....right?

T minus 47 days until the Tough Mudder.

Mud Running

2011-11-08T07:52:00.007-06:00

After our very first mud run.

Over the past year, Josh and I picked up a new hobby. We did our very first Mud Run last October and just finished our fourth one. Each time we (and I mean I) do better and better. Josh is the best running partner. He is in terrific shape and during his time in the Army, he did a lot of running and he's fast. But every time we run, he makes sure to stay with me at my pace and he gently pushes me to do better. He never gets frustrated or upset with me that I'm quite a bit slower than he is. I feel like he is just as proud of me as I am when I finish. So, after this last one we decided to try something a little more difficult. So we signed up for the Tough Mudder. I am starting to regret that decision! I've been running and trying to get to where I can at least run the length of the course...it's about 12 miles. And to elaborate, there are obstacles such as jumping across haybales, running through fire, and the ending obstacle is called electroshock therapy, where you run through a field of hanging live wires that will shock you. Yes, I feel as if I may have made a mistake. :) So far, my furthest run to date is 5.61 miles and that was on Sunday. The hard part for me is that my pace is about a 10 minute mile, so running takes a while for me and now that daylight savings is gone, I tend to run out of daylight before I can even get started. But my goals for the Mud Runs were to not walk the course at all, which I've been able to accomplish. So I'm hoping that I won't have to walk on the Tough Mudder, but I'm not even close to 12 miles yet. I'm going to keep pushing and hopefully by January I'll be able to run 10 miles. That's my goal.

I love the holidays!

2011-11-01T07:57:00.008-05:00

And here it all starts again. Halloween kicks off my very favorite part of the year. And I'm already excited about Black Friday!!! Halloween was such a success this year. The girls had some pretty cute costumes that other people handmade for me since I am not very good at that sort of thing.... :) Ella was Little Red Riding Hood and Sadie was The Big Bad Wolf. Being that Sadie has grown up pulling hair and biting her sister, I felt that the roles were very fitting! Sadie and I went to Ella's Halloween party yesterday morning at school and we had such a fun time. Sadie wanted so bad to be a big kid like the rest of them. She got to eat cookies with the big kids, play games, and sit in the circle with them.

Here are the kids praying over their snack. It was so cute to hear them saying their prayer in unison.

Sadie got hold of some of the super cool loot Ella got from her party.

Josh and I carved our very first pumpkin. Ella was supposed to have the job of scooping out the seeds, but she was too grossed out!

And we ended the night with a little trick or treating. It was so much fun. Ella would show Sadie where to go and would walk her up to the people handing out candy. And if someone looked a little scary, she'd make sure Sadie was ok. Although I think that was more for her own comfort :) And Sadie told every single person that gave her candy "Tay-tu Mama". It was the cutest ever.

Sadiebug's 1st Birthday!

2011-10-04T18:11:00.011-05:00

Okay, so I realize it's been over 4 months since her birthday but I'm just now getting around to this post. So, let's start with the food (because that's my favorite part).

The party favors (strawberry jar cake with homemade buttercream frosting)

And now for the cake (as promised). Completely homemade from scratch and my first attempt at a cake. I found these really neat food color pens that the guests used to sign her cake.

And apparently, if you use gel food coloring instead of the regular kind, the colors are much brighter!

There were some imperfections in the cake, but all in all it was a success and an accomplishment for me since I don't even own a mixer. Luckily my mom let me borrow hers.

And now for the party! It was a berry-themed party since that is her favorite food of all time.

this was the best present and still saves my life most days. the girls love to "cook" for me.

thanks to noelle for the super cute birthday outfit :)

Sadiebug, I had so much fun celebrating your first birthday. I still can't believe that you're the same tiny, cuddly, little newborn who slept hours on hours in her swing. I love watching you figure out who you are and what you like. Your personality is all of it's own. You are such a mommy's girl, but when daddy is around you are mesmerized. I know just how you feel. :) You are so much fun and I love you with all of my heart.

2011-09-16T11:50:00.006-05:00

Since Sadie was born, I never thought that having two kids was all that difficult. Maybe it's because they were spaced out perfectly in age or the fact that I didn't have any sort of hormonal issues after Sadie was born, or the fact that I was only home with both kids two days a week. The hardest part was the typical newborn stuff that you get with the first one anyway, so it's not so much of a culture shock the second time around. Sleep training is the devil. Either way, two kids was a piece of cake. The older Sadie gets, the more difficult things get. She is like a walking disaster. A small toddler-sized tornado ripping through every toybox, closet, and cabinet within reach. I don't ever remember Ella being so destructive. Yesterday was a wild day. As I was taking a shower, Sadie was in my bathroom drinking her bottle and as I'm trying to hurry through my shower, I see her take every tampon under my sink out and scatter them on the floor. Then she gets all of the extra hand soaps (apprently I stock up) and litters them throughout the bathroom and closet. Then she comes out of the closet holding several tank tops she took from out of my drawer. Finally I'm able to get out and stop the madness. So I'm getting dressed and then she comes walking in with the toilet brush in her hand. I am hoping, by this point, that she didn't put it in her mouth. So the morning goes on like this. I'm in the kitchen later and hear an "Uh-oh" come from Sadie in the living room. She spilled Ella's entire cup of water onto the rug. Then she's thrown every single toy out of the toybox, destroyed every puzzle (because she only likes to take them apart and not put them back together), pulled every book from the bookshelf, and dragged out all of my tupperware. So I scoop the kids up and we go to the grocery store. I linger for a while because I really don't want to go face the mess. We finally get back home and Sadie tells me she wants a "Mahnah-mahnah-mahnah" (banana)....

I may lose my mind soon. :)

2011-09-12T15:55:00.005-05:00

I'm not sure when it happened, but sometime recently Ella has decided she'd rather play with her friends. *GASP* But I was always her favorite playmate. It happens so fast, doesn't it? But I still have Tuesdays and Thursdays where it's just my girls and me and those days are the best days.

2011-09-01T06:40:00.001-05:00

Just got an "I luh loo" from Sadiebug this morning. Such a sweet girl.

I luh loo too baby girl :)

Life is like a herd of cats?

2011-08-29T11:14:00.009-05:00

A bit of a long update, but I guess that's what happens when I'm too busy/lazy to blog.

Life at our house is pretty crazy right now. The kids are so much fun, but incredibly busy. I still want to have more though :)

Here are some updates:

Ella still LOVES gymnastics, but I recently discovered that Lake Jackson soccer starts at 4 years old. So Ella and I are both so excited about next spring. Sorry gymnastics, you were fun while you lasted.

Ella just moved up to her new class at school. I've been anxious about her moving up for a while because she's had one teacher that moved up with her from the day she started, but this was as far as she could go. So Ella's on the other side of the school with the rest of the big kids and new teachers. But luckily, she's still got Spencer :) I love that Spencer loves Ella. AND, she comes home every day with a smiley face in her folder and praises from the teacher about how good she is in class. She makes me proud.

Ella can write most of the letters in the alphabet. There's something about little kids' handwriting that is the sweetest thing. Getting notes from Ella is going to be my new favorite thing.

Ella also loves to sing. She has an incredible ear for music. She knows most Justin Bieber (Justin Beaver, as she calls him) songs. She has an awesome memory. She picks things up so quickly and finds new and hilarious ways to try out new words.

The other day, Ella was throwing a bit of a fit and she tells me "I am so terrible. And I'M SO DRAMATIC!!!" She thinks that the word terrible means something like frustrated. Josh and I will sometimes tell her that she's being a little bit dramatic, so that's where the second part comes from. So many times she'll say something and we have to stifle our laughter because either 1) we don't want to encourage what she just said or 2) we don't want her to feel like we're laughing at her when she's upset. But she constantly keeps us rolling.

And I know I'm not alone here, but it's gotten to that point where I never know what's going to come out of her mouth. She's embarrassed me a few times, so now I've taught her to only ask me questions about someone after they've gone and she whispers to me. Am I teaching her to talk about people behind their backs? I'm ok with that because I'm really tired of the "Mommy, is that a boy or a girl" question. And the worst part is that sometimes, I don't know the answer either. Talk about being put on the spot. There are times where I'll see someone walking towards us and I have to distract her because I can already tell she's going to shout out some obvious difference in this person's appearance. I love it though. I love how observant she is and how much I get to teach her. Answering her questions is a pretty awesome task. Really, just delving into her little mind is a priviledge. I love the rawness of her outlook on life and her emotions. She definitely puts it all out there.

Sadie is hilarious. Absolutely crazy. She's starting to talk more. Her favorite words are puppy and daddy, so she walks around saying "Daddy Puppy!" a lot. She's also learning i love you and thank you. It's the sweetest ever.

She also loves sitting on the potty. She walks up to me, pulls her shirt up, and yells "Potty!" so I can take her to go sit on it. Every once in a while, she'll accidentally pee and then she gets so excited. I'm wondering if this is a sign that potty training will be easier.

She's also learning animal sounds and knows all of the parts of her face.

Puppies are her favorite. Well, puppies and vacuums.

She is doing much better at work. I've fenced her in and she plays really well at her table. She loves to color and she's definitely right-handed. I still don't know if Ella is left or right-handed. She uses both equally.
Sadie is also extremely ornery. She is the funniest, sweetest, most independent kid I've ever met. But she has also got a pretty good mean streak in her. She hardly ever cries, only when she's really ticked off. She also pulls Ella's hair out all the time. Poor Ella. She deals with the abuse, but we'll all be glad when Sadie learns not to do that.

The girls are the best of friends. They share everything. It is so sweet when Ella wakes up and comes downstairs. Sadie shrieks in excitement yelling "Ella! Ella! Ella!" whens she sees her. It makes my heart melt knowing that they love each other so much.

I will say that lately, my life seems like I'm continually herding cats. And if you've ever tried to do that, you know how impossible it is except at dinner time. So right now, I'm just trying to keep up. I wonder what it will be like with three. I'll try not to focus on that or else I won't want to have another one. :)

I'm cooking in the kitchen and I hear "Mommy, come look at us" and this is what I see... *sigh*

Sweet, sweet Sadie

Ella got her first haircut a while back. She did awesome!

An extremely rare moment at my house. Ella sleeping on the couch. Sadie kept trying to stick toys in her mouth.....

Oh, and I got some new ink a couple weeks ago....

2011-07-11T23:26:00.001-05:00

I wear my sunglasses at night so I don't see the dark. -Ella

2011-06-01T10:02:00.008-05:00

I do not like roaches. I have a very irrational fear of them. I think it stems from when I was a little girl and one of my older brothers would chase me around the house with them and threaten to throw them in my hair. So, I really don't like roaches.

Josh is out of town for the next week or so. I have to wake up pretty early in order to get everything ready so I can take Ella to school and get to work on time. So I'm walking down the stairs and I round the corner to go to the kitchen. It's 5:30AM, so my eyes are still blurry and I'm a little out of it and I see a dark shadow on the floor a couple of steps in front of me. I think to myself that I didn't leave anything out on the floor, so I bend down to take a closer look and it's the biggest, fattest roach I've ever seen. I immediately run away and hide in the living room. So I peek around the corner to see if I scared it away, but he's still just sitting there being fat and ugly. I turn on the TV and some lights to see if any activity will scare him back into the walls, but he doesn't move. After about half an hour of waiting for him to move, Sadie wakes up. At this point, I'm running out of options because I can't let her down to walk around or she'll eat it and that is a situation that I never want to find myself in again (yes, again but with the other sister). So I hurl my flip flop in the general direction of the roach and run up the stairs to get Sadie. I wake up Ella and get her dressed and ready for school. We come back downstairs and he's only moved about a foot closer to the wall. So I let Ella walk by him (she doesn't even notice him) to see if she scares him away but he doesn't even budge. Ella comes back and she asks me to make her some peanut butter toast with banana slices for breakfast and I told her I couldn't make her breakfast and that she'd have to eat at school this morning. She got so upset and I finally admitted why I couldn't go into the kitchen. There was a man-eating roach in the way. So she walks over and takes a closer look and here is the next few minutes of dialogue between us:

Ella: Mommy, you don't have to be scared. He's not crawling, see? It's just a bug, so don't be scared. It's ok.
Me: But Ella, I'm really scared of roaches. They're really gross.
Ella: It's okay Mommy. You can just kill it.
Me: But I don't know how.
Ella: Just take your shoe over there and SMACK IT
Me: I can't do that, Ella. I'm really scared of it. Maybe I could get some bug spray.......
Ella: Yeah, get the bug spray! It's in the garage. Come on, I'll show you. You can put Sadie in the high chair while you spray it.
Me: Ugh, okay...

So we walk out to the garage, find the bug spray and then go back into the dining room. At this point, Ella is now hiding behind the curtains peeking out. But she's not hiding from the roach, she's hiding because she doesn't want me to spray her in the eyes with the bug spray. So I stand there for a few minutes trying to build up the nerve to spray the roach and I look over at Ella and tell her how I need her help, her love and support because I can't kill this roach. She nods at me, very knowingly, and holds my hand as I spray the roach. That nasty thing was too fat to even run away. So, I killed it. I have not yet picked it up. I blocked off the area so Sadie couldn't get to it and was able to make Ella some breakfast. I came to work and asked my mom if she'd come over to my house and throw it away for me, but she told me she wouldn't do it and that it's tough love and it's good for me to have to throw it away. I'm already having a little bit of a panic attack thinking about having to go home to the man-eating roach. Luckily the brother from which my fear of roaches stems from lives a few minutes from me. Maybe he'll come get it for me...........

A little dramatic? Maybe so. I never said my fear was rational. Lucky for me, I have a brave little daughter who helped me through it this morning. I love her like crazy.

I wish time would just stand still.

2011-05-16T15:45:00.004-05:00

I cannot believe that Sadie will be one on Friday. This year has flown by so fast and it seems like every year they get faster and faster. I ask Ella all the time if she would please stop growing up and now Sadie keeps doing it too! This time last year I was a nervous wreck and I was terrified of ruining Ella's life by having another baby and her not being the center of my attention. Boy was I wrong. These two girls love each other so much. Sadie sometimes gets tired of how much attention Ella shows her, but then when Ella's doing something Sadie will go over and yank the hair out of her head and then smile. So I think they are pretty even at this point. Sadie is still blissfully unaware of how to share and the concept of being nice versus being an onry little thing. So she gets a lot more breaks than Ella does, but when Sadie does get a teeny, tiny little pop on her hand, Ella looooves it. :) But Ella and Sadie are so great to each other and love to play together, share sippy cups, food, toys. Anything and everything is for both of them. I'm truly blessed. This has been a fantastic year for our family. This two girls are the bread to my butter, the icing on the cake, the apple of my eye...they all work.

AND I'm excited about attempting to bake (and decorate) my very first cake this year. Well, I guess I technically made Ella's first birthday cake (it was a duck) and it had a lot of, um, character. This time, I'm using fondant...So I've got some Betty Crocker cake mix for backup. The sad part is that I don't even own a mixer; I have to borrow my mom's. Maybe I'll find out that I like baking and can justify spending the money on one after this attempt.

Some updates on the fam:
Sadie is WALKING! She started taking steps at the end of April, but about a week or so ago she got to where she walked more than crawled and now she doesn't crawl much at all. Only when she falls and then she'll crawl over to something so that she can stand up and walk again. I love this stage.

Ella can (mostly) write her name. I love it. Sometimes the letters are on completely different places on the page, but she can write the E, L, L, and A. You might have to squint to see it, but she's making some serious improvements.

We spend LOTS of time on the karaoke machine. I've got some music loving kids.

Ella doesn't really care for Yo Gabba Gabba anymore :( Sadie loves it.

Our house is still on the market. 15 and a half months now. But we just purchased a new fridge, stove, and dishwasher and this week we're going to tackle new countertops. Hopefully this will drum up some interest and we can get into something with a little more space. There is no way I'm having kid number three in this house!

Oh, and we've got another Mud Run coming up and this time we convinced some other crazies to do it with us. :)

Josh is awesome, as usual. The best I could ask for. *love*

That's what happens.

2011-05-16T15:15:00.002-05:00

She's so much like her dad

2011-04-18T09:45:00.003-05:00

Does it get any better than this?

2011-04-12T21:11:00.005-05:00

I am Mommy to the most amazing little girls who steal my heart a million times a day. I love being Mommy to my two precious little ones. Watching Sadie learn and grow and absolutely adore her big sister gives me so much joy. Watching Ella figure out just who, exactly, she is and wants to be is such a privilege. She told me today that when she grows up, she wants to be a Mommy to a little baby girl and a baby boy and she wants to stay home with them while I go to work. And if you know me, then you know that's not something she heard me say. I love working part time and I love being a part-time stay at home mom. But my favorite part about her future is that she thinks we'll still be living together when she has two kids. :) She's so innocent, beautiful, perfect, and she amazes me every day. And when I get to rock Sadie to sleep every so often, when she falls asleep in my arms it's the perfect end to my day. She is so innocent, beautiful, perfect, and amazing. I love watching her peacefully drift to sleep. Her face is so angelic and soft and completly contented. She makes me feel special. So, I'll ask again...does it get any better than this?

Daycation

2011-03-22T22:30:00.007-05:00

Josh has been working out of town a lot lately. He got home at about 3AM on Saturday morning and was supposed to be leaving again on Wednesday. So he took Tuesday off and we had a daycation. I was thinking back and we have never done that. We've never taken vacation days to just go and do something fun with the kids. We've gone out of town, but we've never just decided "hey, let's go to the ___ tomorrow". So we went to Kemah and had a great time with the girls. We ate lunch at the Aquarium and then Ella and Josh rode the carousel and we finished it off with a ride on the train. She and Sadie had a great time. After Kemah, we went down to Galveston beach and that was quite a trip. The last (and only time) she went to the beach was July 4th, 2009. Living so close to the beach, you'd think we would go more often. Nope. I've never really been a beach person. I don't mind going to the beach, but it's all of the clean up when you get back that I hate. There's sand everywhere. But we ended up going today and had a really good time. Sadie pretty much ate her weight in sand. It was pretty disgusting. And it took Ella a while to warm up to the sand and the water. She wasn't a fan of all of the jellyfish that washed up on the beach, either. (I should mention that we live on some pretty less-than-favorable beaches, by the way. Could be the reason that I've never loved the beach.)But after about half an hour, she loved it. She loved digging through the sand looking for shells. She gathered up a pretty good collection and then buried it for someone else to find next time.

Here are some pictures from the day. And since i absolutely hate the way blogger uploads pictures, they are in very random order....

Grandparents are wonderful :)

2011-03-21T18:07:00.002-05:00

I love watching Ella and Sadie with their grandparents. Every Sunday after church, we go over to my parents' house for lunch and we usually end up staying until dark. Since we live in a townhouse, we don't have a yard for the girls to play in so they get in a full week's worth of outside play on Sundays. We had such a wonderful time yesterday. And the weather has been perfect! Tomorrow, we are headed to Kemah for a fun day with the girls. I am so excited. Pictures to come later!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls with Mimi and Grandad. Ella did not want her picture taken, but by the time they made it back from riding around the block, she was pretty darn excited about Grandad's motorcycle.

I don't like these shoes.

2011-03-21T16:17:00.001-05:00

Wal-Mart can really wear a girl out!

2011-02-23T10:20:00.000-06:00

Ella, Sadie, and I always do our grocery shopping for the week on Tuesdays. But it's been getting a little bit harder lately because Sadie sleeps from 10AM - 12PM, Ella sleeps from 12PM-2 or 3PM, and then Sadie sleeps again from 3PM - 5PM. So, if I'm not up and ready to go with the girls by 8AM, then we have a hard time fitting it in because with two kids, bathroom breaks, Ella picking out cereal, it takes us every bit of two hours before we're out of there.

Sadie's been in a growth spurt the past week or so because she's been eating like crazy and sleeping like crazy. So yesterday we went around lunchtime and she just couldn't make it through the shopping trip. She looked so sweet sleeping in the basket for about 45 minutes :)

9 Months & 3 Years Old

2011-02-21T16:08:00.000-06:00

My kids are awesome.

Ella, you are the silliest, funniest, and most beautiful girl I have ever known. It is not hard for you to put a smile on my face. You're 3. Here are somethings about you that I don't want to forget and that you might like to know about yourself one day:

*You call your forehead your headboard and I absolutely cannot correct you :)

*You are right in the middle of a growth spurt. You're like a bottomless pit!

*One of your favorite things to do is go to the movies. We went and saw Gnomeo and Juliet for valentine's day this year. You loved the movie. I didn't like it much, but there's no one else who I'd rather sit through a boring movie with than you. (you did great with the 3d glasses too!)

*You've been potty trained for almost a year. Awesome!

*Your favorite musicians: Taylor Swift, Zac Brown, Owl City, Skillet, Shinedown, and Baby Einstein

*We dance. A lot.

*You LOVE to make up songs. The other day you were making up a song in the kitchen while I was cooking and it went a little something like this "I love my little sis so much and I love my mom too" in the cutest little sing, song voice.

*You LOVE your little sister.

*Sometimes you look at me and tell me just how much you love me and it isn't something that you think about ahead of time to say, it's like it just spills out. Those moments are incredible to me.

*You also think Dad is terrible at combing hair and only mom does it without hurting you. (I still accidentally pull your hair sometimes and Dad's actually not that bad) And you finally will let me put ponies in your hair! Although some mornings you still tell me that you want crazy hair. :)

Sadie,

You are changing so fast! It wasn't that long ago that you were sleeping the days away in your swing. I am so blessed to be your mom and watch you learn and grow more every single day. Here's what you're up to now:

*Helloooooo separation anxiety!!

*Anything you can spot that looks sturdy, you make a bee-line for to pull up on it

*You can say dada, mama, baba, hi, ella (eh-da), and all sorts of other noises

*You will eat anything. Tomatoes, lettuce, squash, guacamole, cake, chicken, i could go on and on

*Mommy is your favorite person and you make me feel so special.

*We're working on the sippy cup, but you refuse to hold it yourself.

*You finally started sleeping all night, but you're an early riser. You go to bed at 7PM sharp and you're usually up between 5 and 6, ready for the day. You also take two naps a day and they're around 2 hours a piece.

*You put on make-up with me every morning when we get ready for work. You love chewing on my mascara and concealer tubes. Sometimes you get a hold of the eyeliner and by the time I notice that you have it, you've got it all over your face :)

*You love to have shouting matches with my hairdryer.

*It is impossible to change your diaper. Sometimes it feels like I'm putting wrestling moves on you.

*You love to shake your head "no" at me and it's so cute. I think you learned the words Ella and no first because that's probably what you hear the most. :)

*You just got your 3rd and 4th tooth yesterday!

*You got the flu and after that you got your first stomach virus a few weeks ago. It broke my heart.

*You also just got to try out the baby swing at Mimi and Grandad's house for the first time. You loved it.

Daddy's Princess

2011-02-21T09:54:00.000-06:00

We have princesses. Two of them. They are so incredibly special and we do everything in our power to make them feel important and beautiful and special. When I was younger, my dad used to always tell me that I was a princess and I'd better not let any boy treat me otherwise. I hope Ella knows that there aren't going to be very many boys good enough for her.

They are daughters to The King, by the way. Aren't we all princesses? :)

Ella and Josh went to the Daddy/Daughter dance put on by the City of Lake Jackson on Saturday at the Civic Center. I don't think she has ever had that much fun in her entire life. She got dolled up in her party dress and sparkly shoes. They had snacks and spent the next hour and a half on the dance floor. When they got home, she seemed so big to me. She was telling me all about how much fun they had, she showed me how they were dancing and told me which songs she heard. She also won a the movie Flushed Away as a door prize and was so excited about winning it. I just sat and listened and saw the love for her daddy pouring out. And coming from a fellow daddy's girl, I know she felt so special and loved. Having a great daddy is something to be so thankful for. I am so blessed by my dad, and I know that Ella will grow up feeling the same way that I did, and still do. I know that dance wasn't necessarily Josh's thing, but he had so much fun with her. She is beautiful and precious and she's daddy's little princess.

2011-02-21T09:52:00.000-06:00

I love this stage and watching Sadie find her voice.

Live and learn

2011-02-09T16:42:00.000-06:00

About a week ago, we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and put both girls in the same room. We have since switched it back. Bad idea. Very very bad idea.

On a lighter note, I lost ten pounds in two days. Thank you super, horrible, awful stomach virus. I hope you torture someone other than myself or my daughters in the future. (sorry "other person")

Whew, I'm hoping this sickness stuff is over. The three of us girls have had strep, the flu, and the stomach virus since Christmas (and of course the ever persistent runny noses, coughs, and sore throats). I think we've covered all of the sickness bases, so hopefully we'll have enough immunities to stay well until next winter........

2010-12-20T08:01:00.000-06:00

I am really tired. I mean reeeaaalllly tired. I haven't been this tired since my first trimester of my pregnancy with Ella. Thankfully, I know that it is 99.99% impossible for me to be pregnant right now. I'm not sure I could handle another "task" at this point in time. I am always so anxious for the end of the year to get here. It's Christmas, which is so exciting. It starts off with Thanksgiving and the various parties at different family members' houses, then Black Friday (which I still don't think I recover from until the first of the year anyway) and then December hits. Christmas planning, birthday party planning, work.... Well I've got Ella's party planned and all of her presents purchased, the cake is on order, and the goodie bags are decided upon. Thankfully this year I was able to get it all done BEFORE Christmas instead of trying to rush the last minute details together during the week between Christmas and her birthday. So, with that said, I'm going to finish my coffee, stop complaining and be so incredibly thankful for my beautiful daughters and my fantastic husband who should really stop going out of town for work so much! Merry Christmas to you. I hope your holidays are perfect and filled with joy and the realization that we are saved by the birth of Jesus Christ. And that, my friends, is the greatest gift of all.

the little things

2010-11-11T13:55:00.000-06:00

I love it when both girls' naptimes happen at the same time. That means that I either 1) get to rock Sadie while she dreams away in my arms or 2) I get to lay down in Ella's bed and take a nap with her. It's those moments when it is quiet, there's no crying, and just a quiet peace covers the entire house. These are the moments when I get to just sit (or sleep) and experience the beautiful moments happening in my life. My children are amazing and wonderful and bring me more happiness than I could ever imagine. And it just keeps getting better.

And check out Ella's new glasses. Doesn't she look cute?

more than just an errand

2010-09-24T09:20:00.000-05:00

Oh, the grocery store. I dread heading to Wal-Mart. Aside from random strangers sticking their grubby paws into the car seat and caressing my 4 month old's face or elderly people grabbing my 2 1/2 year old by the arm and expect her to carry on a conversation with them about how pretty her blonde curls are (good luck!), it's just not my favorite place to go. People will really get their feelings hurt that she won't give them hugs and be sweet and talkative with them. I wish people would be a little more understanding to the fact that she's TWO! I've had to have so many conversations with Ella about how we aren't mean to people who try and talk to her. I'll tell her "If you don't want to talk to them, just smile and wave. You don't have to give them the meanest face and shout No! at them." I can tell her that all day long, but the fact of the matter is that she does not like strangers coming up to HER and forcing a conversation. She does, however, stop random strangers and talk to them. It has to be on her terms.

Anyhow, as the three of us trudged through Wal-Mart yesterday I realized something. This is more than just an errand. This is an outing. With a 2 year old, getting out of the house is exciting for her. She had a few people grab her, which makes her very uncomfortable. But she also would see random people walking by and for some reason she felt like they wanted, no, needed to know about the chocolate covered sunflower seeds in her hand that she picked out for the day's trip. I watched her converse with several people and realized that instead of dreading our trips to Wal-Mart, we should enjoy our time with the rest of the world. :) Our trips usually take us at least and hour and a half, lots of times two hours. We meander through the store and I have found that if I don't rush her and we just take our time looking at everything and walking the aisles, she really does have a great time. Schedules are great, but there's nothing wrong with throwing the schedule out of the window every once in a while when we can.

Life at Three Months

2010-08-24T21:12:00.001-05:00

Three months have gone by since I welcomed my sweet, sweet Sadie into the world. That day was phenomenal. So here are some things happening:

Sadie doesn't like to fall asleep. We bounce, rock, sway most of the day away. I'll put her in bed and 20 minutes later we're right back at it. It ususally takes me a few tries before she's finally asleep.
Ella is my easy sleeper. I put her in bed and she will sing to herself or lie there quietly until she's asleep. That was a long hard road when she was a baby, but i see now it was worth all the tears (mine AND hers).

Sadie is nursing (mostly. i have a milk supply problem so i'm supplementing 2-4 oz a day)
Ella is becoming a much less picky eater (due to mom and dad laying down the law at the table. it's hard work, but it is good for her)

Sadie is finally getting her voice. She talks and tries to laugh, but still hasn't quite got that part figured out. It comes out more like a cough.
Ella is fantastically smart. She can count to 20 (sometimes), count to 7 in Spanish, knows some sign language, prays for our meals, and loves referring to people by their nicknames. She calls me Paigerator most of the time and she LOVES her Grandazzle. :)

Sadie loves Baby Einstein. I can already tell that she loves music. She loves when I sing to her. She also loves being at church on Sundays. The music soothes her so much. (I think it's Laurie who soothes her. Connection, maybe?)
Ella loves baby Einstein. We spend many car rides singing Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Your Boat, Mary Had A Little Lamb, ABC's, Taylor Swift, The Zac Brown Band...pretty much anything we can think to sing. Josh just bought her a CD player for her room and she has the Taylor Swift CD that she can turn on and listen to it when she's getting ready for bed or waking up in the morning.

Sadie used to be a snugglebug. She has now decided she would rather have her own space.
Ella was never a snugglebug. I do get LOTS of hugs and kisses these days, though.

Sadie is FULL of smiles and she is absolutely a joy. We have some pretty difficult days sometimes, but she's an incredible addition to our family. I can't put into words how much I love that little girl.
Ella is also FULL of smiles. She even cooperates and smiles for the camera now! And she'll let me put her hair in a ponytail (sometimes). I can't believe she used to be a 3 month old. I don't remember when she grew up. I know one day I'm going to wake up and she's going to be 13. I don't want to think about it. She fills my heart with joy.

Sadie was a swing-baby. She would sit/sleep in her swing for 4 hours stretches. I called the swing my baby-sitter. But she's starting to move beyond the swing. She loves her bouncy seat right now. But mostly, she loves to be talked to and held. She will talk, laugh, and smile at you all day long if you have the time.
Ella loves play-dough, dancing, coloring, painting, dancing, reading, swimming, and dancing. Oh, and did I mention dancing??? We "get funky" in the car all the time. She asks me to find a funky song and we dance our little hearts out. I think the cars passing us think we have lost our minds. Or at least that I have. They probably don't see that I'm entertaining a 2-year old. More like she's entertaining me.

Life is great. I keep thinking something terrible has to be around the corner because there's no way I can get away with life being this good for too much longer. Josh is my rock. When I have bad days (yesterday) he swoops in and makes everything better. He started back to school yesterday. He's gone on Mon, Tues, Weds until 11 PM. It's difficult trying to figure out how to do this without his help. I'm not used to being outnumbered! Ella is so stinking easy these days. Sadie, however, is a muuuuuch different story. I'm sure I'll get a routine figured out sooner or later.

Cookies, anyone?!

2010-08-23T10:47:00.001-05:00

Hello, My name is Paige and I am a Mommy Guilt-oholic.

This past week was kinda awful! No naps, lots of crying, and not much sleep makes for a very cranky and impatient Mommy. I felt like I should win the "Worst Mom on the Planet" award. Finally on Saturday evening, I decided I wasn't going to let my bad week carry over into the next one and I was determined to end the week on a good note. That good note included making Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies at 8:00 PM with my 2 1/2 year old. We started making the cookies at 8 PM, which is normally lights out. I even let her open the bag of powdered sugar and pour it into the bowl, which went everywhere! She helped by licking the powdered sugar off of the counter for me. I also let her sneak a few bites of the cookie dough while I pretended not to notice. :) She got to stay up even later once they were done baking and eat two cookies with a big glass of milk while we watched Blues Clues. And little sister was nice enough to sleep through the whole process so we could have a little Mommy and Ella time. If you know me, then you know that I absolutely HATE to bake. I hate sticky messes and I really just hate baking in general. I'm also pretty strict on Ella's schedule. Not for me, but more so for her own good. She is very cranky when she doesn't get enough sleep. Yay for breaking out of the routine!

Oh, and while we were baking cookies Josh cleaned out the garage! And I have to mention that I loooooooove my new washer and dryer that was delivered Saturday morning. :) It ended up being a good day and a great end to a very junky week.

sisters

2010-08-18T22:22:00.000-05:00

I felt so sorry for ella when I found out I was having another girl. I never had a sister. I never had to share my clothes, my friends, my room, my bathroom. I never really had to share anything. Having three older brothers, well they didn't care about having anything that was mine. So I felt sorry for her to have to share with her sister. It sounds miserable to me. Well, I don't feel sorry for her anymore:

Playing under the blanket together
Ella was explaining the cartoon to Sadie

My beautiful girls

Ella asks me all the time if Sadie can sleep in her bed yet

The first few days - Ella had no trouble welcoming her into the family

I love that they have each other and love each other so much already in these short three months. But I still don't wish I had a sister.... :)

Sadie Emalyn Park

2010-08-16T21:00:00.001-05:00

Sadie was born on May 20, 2010 at 2:49 in the afternoon. She weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. She *insisted* on showing her big sister up in the size department! All in all, it was a very easy labor and delivery. Aside from some epidural mishaps, it eventually started working after a LOT of pokes and everything was breezy from there. Laurie came and took pictures during the labor and delivery process. I was a little apprehensive about how the day would play out. When I had Ella, the only other non-medical person in the room with me was Josh. Those of you who are Moms know that labor and delivery are not a mother's finest moments. Things can get intense...and downright gross. Josh vowed to love me for better or worse almost six years ago, so he had to love me no matter what happened in the delivery room. Having Laurie there for the pictures was amazing. She was so awesome about making sure that I wasn't uncomfortable with her being in there and my Mom also was able to stay in the room. Getting the hear the very first sounds of a new baby's life is truly amazing. Laurie took some incredible pictures that I would have missed had she not been in there. I never realized that the baby gets it's hair washed and those are probably my favorite pictures. I missed a lot of those first moments with Ella because even though the baby is here, Mom's job isn't done. So I got to see what I missed through her pictures of Sadie. The two most incredible moments of my life were bringing my two daughters into this world. I am really looking forward to doing it a third time, just not anytime soon. Because I REALLY don't miss being pregnant.

I'm going to share some of my favorite pictures from Sadie's journey into this world. And don't worry, I won't share the gross ones. :)

This one is funny to me:

she's perfect - finally posting this!

2010-08-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

It's funny to go back and read this. Ella was so easy then, then she got crazy after Sadie got here, and now she's easy again. It's crazy how cyclical kids are! It's always changing. I was so worried about Sadie's arrival being a negative thing for Ella, but it's been the best thing for her. She absolutely loves being a big sister. It's like I gave her the best present ever. She doesn't resent me at all for having to take care of Sadie, she takes it all in stride and she's so helpful. She is an amazing, perfect little girl and I love her so much!

5/6/2010

I have the easiest two year old right now. It's perfect timing, considering I'm about to have a newborn. She may regress when the baby gets here, but she and I have been having so much fun lately. She hardly ever gets into trouble. When we're at home, she tells me "Mommy, I want to take a nap" and so we go upstairs and about thirty seconds later, she's in bed and I'm on my own for the next 2 to 3 hours. She sleeps so well at night, she's potty trained (mostly), and we hardly ever have to discipline. She's good with her please's and thank you's and she's hardly ever moody. There are some times when she's so hyper that I get completely unnerved by it, but it's not so often anymore so that's good! She's still not good at sharing with other kids, but I figure that's because it has always been just her and she hasn't had to share yet. She's also the only girl in her class at Little Hands, so I'm sure she spends a lot of time defending herself from the boys! We've been having a lot of fun mommy/daughter time lately because I'm so worried about how she's going to react to Sadie's arrival. I already have to compete with Daddy so much as it is, I'm nervous that when I'm tending to a baby all day long, she's really going to resent me. My plan, as of now, is to include her in as much as I can and hopefully she will enjoy being my little helper.

We got down the bouncy chair, the infant car seat, and the swing last night so that I could strip them down and wash the pads. It's weird seeing all of this stuff again and remembering that Ella used to be small enough for all of these things. I still can't believe how much they grow up and you watch it the entire time, yet you don't realize it's happening. I love being a mother. I love my little Ella and I am so thrilled about our upcoming addition. I keep wishing it would happen, but I guess I need to work on my patience. Ella asks me a lot if Sadie is here yet. We're both ready! :)

I miss you, miss you

2010-08-16T20:47:00.001-05:00

One year ago today was one of the saddest days of my life. Late on the night of the 15th we learned that you died. It was the most shocking phone call I've ever received. I remember where we were, what we were doing, who called, where I was sitting, who I was with....I remember it all. But it didn't really hit me until the next day. You really were gone. The timing was tragic. The circumstances were awful. You, one of my best friends who was so full of life, was suddenly in an instant taken from this world. You were such a big part of my life. You were there through high school, an annoying sophomore always begging for rides home from school :), you were there through my crappy boyfriends, you were there for me when I was really wrecking my life to bring me back on course, you were most of the reason I finally found Josh and you helped us make it through our rough patches, you were there for me through both deployments to Iraq even though you were the one at war and I was still in the comfort of my own home, the tattoo parlor when we got matching tattoos, you were there at my wedding, you were there through all my crap. I hope I was there for you as much as you were for me. You always brought me down to earth when my hot-headed self would get a little crazy. You took good care of me. I was telling Josh the other day how I never worried about you when y'all were in Iraq. I always worried about Josh, but I always just knew you were going to be fine. You were larger than life. It's still unbelievable that we lost you. Afghanistan is a shitty country. I hate that that's where you took your last breath. I still have dreams about you. Usually they consist of some weird circumstances where I am trying to take care of you (during a hurricane). I'm not much into dream analyzation, but I assume it is my need to control what happens in life. I couldn't control the reality of your life, so in my dreams I try. I can't imagine how hard it is for Nicole and Addy or for your parents. We were just friends and I'm still devastated by your absence. But I know where you are today. I find so much comfort in that. Your dad said some really great stuff at church yesterday and it was really helpful for my healing to hear how he and Andrea have been healing. We can find joy and happiness in the fact that we will all be reunited with you again one day. I look at Addy growing up through pictures and she looks just like you. I wish I could just sit and hug her. She is the closest thing to you left on this earth. We had a family picnic on Saturday so we could all get together and remember you in our own ways. We rented one of those moonwalk waterslides and all I could think about was when Wally bought one of those and we busted it really late at night. And since Wal-Mart was 24 hours, Wally went and bought another one :) We were some crazy kids. Your dad and Andrea came to the picnic. I love getting to sit and talk with him because he has your laugh. He laughs and I am taken back into all of the wonderful memories with you. I miss you every day. I think about you all the time. Rest in peace, my friend. I will see you again someday.

The night will go on, my little windmill.

Bad Mommy Rehab

2010-08-16T20:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I realize I haven't blogged in, like, forever and here is my first attempt (assuming I make it all the way through before Sadie starts crying...again). There will be no pictures because that will take even longer.

My friend Danielle posted something last week about entering Mommy Rehab, an idea she found from a fellow blogger. Read about it here. Since being Mommy pretty much consumes my every waking moment, I habor a lot of mommy-guilt. (I'm really starting to rethink that whole "take your baby to work with you everyday" idea I had). Today was a hell of a Monday and it's not over yet. My two month old has slept a total of 30 minutes today and has cried the rest of the time. My darling husband who is much more patient than I is busy tonight and I could really use a break. So without further adieu...

Hello, my name is Paige and I am a Mommy Guilt-oholic. I rocked at being a Mom today because I did not strangle my daughter.

It sounds like an utter disaster of a day when I write that out, but that was seriously my biggest accomplishment today. *sigh* Tomorrow is Tuesday and I hope it is better than Monday. If only I could get my better half home soon. It's easier when you can hand the baby to someone else, if only for a minute or two.

And here she goes again....

Goodnight my blogger friends!

no rest for the weary.

2010-04-27T03:39:00.000-05:00

i don't remember having this much trouble during my third trimester with ella. i slept pretty well throughout most of that pregnancy. i remember having a little insomnia at the beginning of my third trimester, but it was short lived. it helped because we slept in our guest bed the last few months because a 4" pillowtop is REALLY comfortable when you don't have a huge belly weighing you down. i sleep on the couch most nights and get 3 to 4 hours of sleep per night. tonight it's two hours. but it will all be worth it. i know lots of people tell you "don't wish your pregnancy away, the baby is quiet in there". well, the longer it takes to get here is the longer it takes to get through that screaming baby phase. so instead of avoiding the inevitable, let's just get this thing started! i'm definitely not one of those people who will drink caster oil, but i do hope it will start soon. i go in on wednesday for my first exam in a while. maybe the doctor will tell me that it will be sooner rather than later. my doctor is definitely a "let's not get your hopes up" kind of guy so we will see.....

okay, i'm done complaining now. :)

I had the best day with you today.

2010-04-22T14:45:00.000-05:00

I have 26 days to go until Sadie makes her debut. Or 31 days if she's anything like her sister. I've been feeling the heat of my deadline approaching so quickly and I am so worried about not getting to be the best mom to Ella that I can be. Again, it's one of those things where you have no idea what it's going to be like with more than one kid until you have more than one kid. So most of my fears may be irrational, but they may not be. I just don't know yet. So I decided that Ella and I were going to have a fun day today. On Tuesday, I had a couple of appointments, so I was trying to decide what to do on Thursday. My options were to go swimming at the Angleton Rec Center or go to the zoo. Well one of my appointments was to get my legs waxed on Tuesday and they told me I'd have to come back next week. With that said, I didn't feel comfortable getting into a bathing suit. Not that the hairy legs are the only thing that makes me dread a bathing suit....but I was willing to forgo the embarrassment of the gigantic belly protruding from me and take her swimming. The legs just squashed that deal. So we got up early this morning and headed to the zoo. It wasn't until I exited Macgregor in Houston that I saw about 10 school buses ahead of me and then realized that the cartoons this morning that Ella was watching were about recycling and cleaning up trash. So I put two and two together and realized that today was Earth Day. Oh my gosh. It was nuts. Ella wasn't nearly as put out with the hundreds upon hundreds of kids at the zoo today as I was. Maybe it's the fact that I can't squeeze through tight spaces anymore and I'm completely awkward when moving around and dodging crazy little kids that seem more like bowling balls headed right for me. Or maybe it's the fact that I really just don't like being swallowed up by a crowd of 3' tall people. Regardless, Ella had a wonderful time and that's all that mattered. We walked the zoo, although I completely avoided the Children's Zoo. We walked by and it was a mad house, so I turned around before Ella saw too much. We ate pizza, cotton candy, and bought a really cool animal puzzle at the gift shop. All in all it was a great zoo trip. We also went and rode the train around Hermann Park. That was definitely Ella's favorite part. Next time, we'll just skip the zoo and go for a ride on the train and play in the park instead. As we were riding on the train, Ella looked up at me and asked me if I was having fun. At that moment, tears started streaming from my eyes. I have such a sweet and beautiful angel for a daughter. She makes my life mean so much more.

Happy Earth Day Ella! I had the best day with you today!

Having no idea that it was Earth Day when we got dressed this morning, I feel like her shirt was still very appropriate.

Checking out the meerkats.

Time for lunch!

and cotton candy...

Waiting for the train to arrive:

riding the train

she waved at everybody we passed!

and this was about 10 minutes into our drive home. she was exhausted!

Does that whole mad season got ya down?

2010-04-15T07:37:00.001-05:00

April 9th would have been Jon's 26th birthday. It's surreal to think that he will never age past 25. I think about him all the time. I'll hear a blink 182 song or a jack johnson song in the car and it brings me to tears every time. There was a new rob thomas song that i heard a few months back and i thought to myself, jon won't ever get to love this song. We spent countless hours sharing headphones listening to our cd players on the 10 hour drive to church camp during the summers or riding in "the wave" to colorado for ski trips. You could almost always guarantee it was a matchbox 20 cd playing. I don't know why it's music that reminds me so much of jon, but i can't listen to the radio without hearing one that reminds me of him. I like it, though, because it means i'll always have reminders of one of my greatest friends.

who brought that?

2010-04-14T17:06:00.000-05:00

Ella has always had to know who everyone around her was. Anytime she'd see someone, she'd ask "who's that?" and I'd tell her. She has always needed to know everyone's names. She loves to know their names and she's also a big fan of nicknames. She thinks that calling my mom and dad Davey-baby and Patty-Wagon is absolutely hilarious. I think so too. She calls her big cousin Alley by her nickname, Alleycat. Or Alleygator or even Alleycatgator. I'm usually Paigey, skittles, or paigerator. Josh is joshy, of course. But lately, now that she has everyone's names and nicknames figured out, she's taken a new approach. I remember my brothers going through the "why" stage with their kids. Maybe we're not there yet, or maybe she doesn't care why. She just needs to know who. So she'll see something (food at the grocery store, her easter basket, a sippy cup, etc) and ask me "who brought that?" It's too cute. I love listening to her figure out the world and being able to help her along the way with all of her questions. She's a smart kid. Oh, and the unprompted please's and thank you's are also music to my ears.

And on the potty training front, Ella's still doing great! We haven't been back to diapers since my last update. It's wonderful. At first I thought potty training would be a big headache and I just avoided it. It was so much easier to put her in a diaper for 3 to 4 hours instead of taking her to the potty every 30 minutes. Since Ella finally figured it out, I've realized that potty training is a piece of cake. She just got it one day and she can hold it for 3 hours usually and will tell me when she needs to go. The little boys potty training at school had a lot to do with her getting movtivated to do it too, I'm sure. But mostly, I think it just finally clicked for her. If she's playing and having fun, I have to remind her to go and I always make her go before we leave the house. A soaked car seat does not sound like an experience I want to have. I'm sure I will soon enough, but I'm going to avoid that as long as possible. *UPDATE - this has already happened...and it wasn't as awful as I anticipated.* I have heard about regression, but hopefully the next six weeks of successful potty training will make the regression minimal and easy to bounce back from, if she regresses at all. But I definitely love this new potty trained kid of mine. She's a blessing, a handful and a sweet, affectionate kid. It's great to get to new places, but it also comes with new sets of challenges to figure out. On to the next one........

two girls

2010-03-24T21:18:00.000-05:00

i was putting ella down for bed tonight and i always tell her that she's my most favoritest girl in the entire world and she's the most beautiful girl in the world. then i realized that once sadie gets here, i won't be able to say that to ella anymore. it's strange to think about loving TWO girls the same. i'm sure i'll get it all figured out the moment i meet sadie, but it's still strange to think about.

we went to subway tonight and ella ate an entire 6" ham sandwich, a bag of chips, and most of my tea. i think they must starve her at school.....

Dare I say it? (take 2)

2010-03-23T14:31:00.000-05:00

Ella is potty trained! We just started day 5 in only panties and we've only had one accident, which was our fault. She was having so much fun playing and didn't want to stop and we didn't make her stop to go. We're still learning too! :) She is doing great! On Wednesday, Ella's teacher told us to send her in panties on Friday because she never has accidents at school and is always in the same pull-up that we left her in. So we did and she hasn't worn a diaper since (except for sleeping). She even made it through a $160 shopping trip to Wal-Mart! I'm so proud of my little girl. Every time I look at her, she looks so much older and more experienced. We are in a REALLY good phase right now. I could not be enjoying her more. She is so polite, she doesn't fight me about everything, and she spends hardly any time in time-out anymore. She's helpful and is always in a good mood. She's starting to become more outgoing and she says some ridiculously cute things. Last night, we all went for a walk and she looks up at us out of the blue and says "I love Spencer". He's a boy in her class. Last week, he busted her lip and this week she loves him. Spring is definitely in the air!

I started this post this morning and since then we went on a strawberry picking adventure at Froberg's in Alvin. She had so much fun. When we got to Froberg's, she had to pee so we asked one of the workers where the restroom was. She directed us to the porta-potty. Yay. A newly potty-trained-ish toddler in a porta-potty. Well, to put it nicely, it was absolutely disgusting in there. Ella immediately started freaking out because she did not want to tee tee in it. But i covered the entire room in toilet paper and she was screaming. But she peed! Once we were done, we walked out and she told me "Mommy, I didn't like that. It was scary." I know, baby, I know. So, five days in and she's already had to brave a porta-potty. Go Ella! And I should mention that I have over four pounds of delicious strawberries at my house. Anyone need some?!? Most of them already have a bite taken out of them. :)

We also went and had lunch with Josh at Joe's BBQ. Well, while Ella was eating her grilled cheese, she peed in her chair....and boy do I mean peed. I should have known better and asked her to go to the bathroom, but we were waiting on Josh to get there and I didn't want to leave all of the food on the table. Now I know what the priority is when it comes to lunch and potty training. Definitely potty. Our waitress got a good tip. :)

This series of pictures shows pretty much what went on during the strawberry picking:

This was our first attempt, but silly me didn't think to call ahead and ask if we could pick strawberries in the rain.....we ended up getting to go see Grandad at work instead!

(I just realized as I uploaded these pictures that I put her in the exact same shirt as last week when we tried the first time. Apparently I think that shirt is very strawberry-picking appropriate)

Finding just the right strawberry.

Inspecting her strawberry. She learned to pick the pretty red ones, not the green ones.

This is what happened when I told her she couldn't take a bite out of every strawberry she picked.

Showing off her loot!

park family update

2010-03-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

well, it's coming up on summer and i've overcommitted myself...yet again! :) let's see, i have my 10 year class reunion coming up in August. so we've been busy planning since last summer and things are really starting to take shape. but that means there is a lot more that has to be done. i think back to the day i decided to run for senior class president and didn't realize that i would have more going on in my life in ten years than just high school. silly teenager....

my due date is may 18th. so i'm now seven months pregnant, and feeling every bit of it. i have easy pregnancies, though. i was talking to my sister in law, heather, the other day and we were talking about being pregnant. now she and tracy had difficult pregnancies! so i really can't complain too much. but i find myself running out of steam pretty quickly these days and it's getting harder for me to keep up with ella and all of the other things going on. and if i could just catch a full night's sleep...

we've also started our 4th on Main planning again. I think this year, because i'm pregnant, i've got a "work smarter, not harder" mindset kicking in. josh and i were talking about the 4th of july and i was really looking forward to it because we had such a great time with ella last year. he gently reminded me that this year will be muuuuuuuch different. he'll be on ella-duty while i'm on baby duty. i don't think that leaves me much time for actually helping out. i'm not sure a 6 week old can make it outside at the park all day and all evening for the fireworks. we'll see!

we are in the process of selling our house. we've gotten most of the hard work done. we fixed all of the minor repairs that needed fixing (well, most of them) and we're just waiting on a buyer. it is a little difficult to leave the house every morning as if someone were going to go in and look around at anytime. mostly difficult because a two year old lives there. although josh would say that i'm messier than the two year old. i'll still blame it on her :) i've NEVER made my bed since i moved out of my parents' house. so i've been having to make my bed the past two weeks every morning. i hate it. i don't think i'll ever like having to make my bed. i figured i'd sooner or later grow up and enjoy doing it, but that still hasn't happened!

josh is playing football these days. at the age where a lot of people retire, josh, dusty, and drew decided to START playing football! we went to our first game the other night and it was fun. ella made it until halftime before she wanted to go home to go to sleep. they lost pretty badly, but it was fun to go cheer them on.

OH, and I'm having a baby in MAY! I've got 55 days to go!!!!! I'm not ready....... :)

life is crazy, to say the least, right now. but i'm enjoying every moment of it. ella has gotten so fun lately. the other morning, she woke up at about 3am and i could hear her through the monitor singing where is thumbkin and abc's, twinkle, twinkle, pretty much every song she knows. and after about 20 minutes, she fell asleep again. it was wild, but so much fun to listen to in the middle of the night. i love her conversations she has with me and i love how smart she is. we talk about so much and she really just blows me away. i just wish she'd let me fix her hair........

a beautiful soul

2010-03-09T14:31:00.001-06:00

My earthly mind cannot comprehend heaven and what Layla could possibly be doing at this very moment. My heart is heavy, yet I know that this remarkable little girl made such an impact for the kingdom of heaven. I wish it was a battle that she did not have to fight. It is so sad to know that she was so young and endured so much. There is a sense of relief because I know that she is now healed. She has shed her broken earthly body and gained something far greater than we could ever imagine. Yet I am so sad that her time on earth has come to an end. I never met her, but she turned my world upside down. Through all of my tears, I am so grateful for the lessons that she taught me as a mother and as a person. Thank you Layla Grace.

Please pray for the Marsh family.

one of the best days

2010-02-04T13:55:00.000-06:00

is my husband's birthday. that was the day that the good Lord put my best friend on this planet. it's almost more important that MY birthday :) I seriously found the perfect person for me when we started dating seven years ago. shortly after we got married, we were sitting on the couch watching TV together and we were holding hands (yes, that was back when we held hands for no reason and it was even inconvenient to do so) and i felt his fingers twitching on the backs of my hands. i asked him what he was doing and he reluctantly told me that he was typing out the words from the show we were watching. you may think that's a crazy OCD habit, but the funny thing is that I've been doing that very same thing since i was a freshman in high school and took a typing class. i mean, how weird is it that two people meet, get married, and then realize that they have the same really weird habit?! it obviously means that we were meant to be :) obviously. or that we didn't spend NEARLY enough time together before our "i do's".

my life has been so much better because of you, joshy. i love you with all of my heart and your birthday is one of my all-time favorite days.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

a few laughs

2010-02-03T20:50:00.000-06:00

we've been having some fun lately. here are a few pictures that make me laugh:

ella's robe was a birthday present from aunt tricia and piper. you can say that it's a hit over here around bathtime! just look at that smile. ahhh, baby love.

after josh and ella left one morning i was getting ready for work and saw a flash above my head in the closet. there have been bat problems in my neighbors townhouse, so i freaked a little in my head. then i realized what it was.....

we are also putting our house on the market this month. so we've been doing some minor repairs to get things ready. here is daddy and his little helper

and last, i came downstairs one day to find that ella had done a little remodeling in her doll house...

My family cracks me up. It may be a dull life to some, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Layla Grace

2010-01-26T07:54:00.001-06:00

After becoming a mother, I learned that I had never before been so vulnerable. During the early stages of my marriage, I had to deal with wondering if I would ever see my husband again. Saying goodbye to him the morning he left for Iraq was excruciating. I remember because the Christmas right before he left for Iraq, it was 2004 and it snowed on Christmas Eve. I remember thinking that day that this was the best it was ever going to get for us. I just knew he wouldn't make it back from that deployment. Call me a glass half empty kind of girl, but that was the way I interpreted life at the time. It's funny because just recently I was talking to my dad and that Christmas came up and my dad said to me that when it snowed on Christmas Eve, he just knew at that moment that the next year for Josh was going to be okay. I've worried for his life a lot. A whole lot. But it doesn't even compare to the fear I have over my daughter. I'm working on letting go of the fear. I fear for her safety and her health. If something happened to Josh, I would have been devastated but I would have gotten through it. If something ever happened to Ella, I honestly don't think my heart could take it. She is a piece of me. She is part of my heart and part of my soul. She is the reason that I want to be a better person. She deserves the best from me.

I came across this blog the other day and it really put all of my needs and wants into perspective. http://laylagrace.org/. It is actually a blog on a blog that I follow. I don't know these people at all, but the moment I clicked on that link and read the first post, I absolutely could not control my emotions. I wanted to close the tab. I wanted to stop reading. I could not handle the despair that this family is going through right at this very second. But I realized that while I didn't want to read this, this woman didn't want to LIVE this. I am so thankful for the health of my baby girl, but I am guilty that this woman has to feel this ultimate pain. And I think about Mary watching Jesus suffer. I don't know how mothers can go through such torture. Kill me, give me cancer, but spare my child. It hit me that all of the things that I go through that seem hard are nothing compared to what this woman is going through. I'm sure she'd take a million fits at the doctor's office for more time with her. She'd endure a million fights with her husband if it meant more time. I am heartbroken for this family. I urge you all to pray without ceasing for Layla. I pray that God gives her peace during her final months. I pray that God gives that mother and father the strenth and the grace needed to get through it. Please join me in prayer for Layla Grace.

Jill's Wedding!

2010-01-19T15:58:00.000-06:00

Ella got to be in her first wedding in November. One of my best friends, Jill, got married to a really amazing guy named Matt. I'm so happy for them! I was a little nervous when Jill asked if Ella would be her flower girl. Ella is definitely good at throwing a major fit. If Ella doesn't want to do it, Ella doesn't do it. So luckily Jill understood that everything might not go according to plan. Well, she ending up doing pretty good. Our bridesmaid dresses had pockets in them, which is where i stored the candy. She walked down the aisle and ran up to Daddy when she saw him on the second row. It was too cute.

Josh and Ella spent a lot of time at the hotel while the bridesmaids helped Jill with some last minute preparations. Look at how nice she is to share her "nogurt" with hippo.

She really did look just like an angel.

Wrapping up 2009

2010-01-14T17:56:00.000-06:00

Picture Overload!!! :)

Okay, so i got too busy (or too distracted) to sit down and blog about the fun things that ella and i did to wrap up 2009 and close off her second year of life. it had some pretty difficult moments for the both of us. ella has really been figuring out how to behave during her terrible two's and my first trimester of this pregnancy really kicked my butt. so it was a bad combo! but we still managed to have a BLAST in between all of those fits. there is nothing else in this world that i treasure as much as her. she is my heart. so here are some (okay, a lot) of pictures to sum up the end of 2009. and have i mentioned before how much i love working part time and getting to be home with her so much? i wouldn't trade those days for the world!

OCTOBER!

at the sea center in lake jackson. ella loved "finding nemo" in the fish tanks :)

and here is PROOF that she really did LOVE the big bouncy bus. just not at her own party...

we went to the pumpkin patch in october. she picked out her own two little pumpkins. her favorite part was me pulling her in the wagon.

Ella was too sick to go to school on halloween for her halloween party. so we went trick-or-treating at the courthouse instead. that girl racked up so much candy, it was crazy. she was also very good at going up to people and saying "chick or cheat". i love her.

NOVEMBER!

ella got her very first black eye! she fell down at mimi and grandad's house and her eye met the corner of a concrete step. she only cried for a minute. she's so tough. also, here is where we currently stand on the potty training front. the potty is a place to store her dollies...not to pee.

wild hair days!

DECEMBER!

we always have so much fun at mimi and grandad's house. grandad taught her what a piece of straw is REALLY for. and the ever fun hay bail shot!

This picture is my absolute favorite. Just look at how much fun those kids are having! I love action shots!

We had Christmas Eve at Nonnie's house and boy that was fun. With three grandkids all in their two's, it was a madhouse! I love watching all those kids play! Alley, Jeff, and Wade are so good to the little kids.

And finally, Christmas morning! We had a wonderful Christmas and ella was very excited about santa this year. I have a feeling we're going to have to be a lot sneakier next year :)

moments and opportunities...and sheep

2009-12-23T22:36:00.000-06:00

Wow, the Christmas season is busy! In the midst of all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I've found myself taking a few quiet moments to reflect on all of the blessings in my life. I have been thanking God that I am still around to experience the exciting and the mundane known as my life. Each breath I take is a gift. Each moment that I experience is an opportunity. I have found myself not taking advantage of those opportunities in a way I wish I would. But as soon as one opportunity ends in failure, there's sure to be a second chance right around the corner. The death of our friend Jon has really made me think about life and what God offers me daily. I don't keep in touch with friends nearly as much as I should and I find myself putting off important phone calls for another day (and another and another). But I know exactly where Jon would be if he were given another day on this earth. He would be holding his wife and daughter. I want to make sure and give as much of myself to my family that I can, while I can. While I hate to say that other people and things sit on the back burners until they've become somewhat crispy, I am enjoying the moments and opportunities in my life right now. I am cherishing the last few months of it just being the three of us. I know that our second child will bring a whole new dimension and dynamic to our lives that will be amazing and I'll cherish every moment of that as well. I think back to the last few months before Ella was born while Josh and I were anticipating the birth of our first child and cherishing our last moments as husband and wife with no children. It was special.

Laurie had this scripture on her blog the other day and it struck a chord in me. It might have something to do with shepherds, sheep, and a savior being pounded into my brain for several months. While I tend to leave a lot out of my day to day life and overlook a lot of the small yet important things, God always has the time to come get me. Over and over and over again. He really is the good shepherd and I'm a shaggy, smelly sheep.

I am Your servant,
but I have wandered away like a lost sheep.
Please come after me,
because I have not forgotten Your teachings.
Psalm 119:176

I realize that I have randomly rambled long enough. The holidays make me extremely sentimental. So do the pregnancy hormones.

I miss you Jon. Merry Christmas, my friend.

my baby is no longer a baby...

2009-12-01T06:45:00.000-06:00

as in previous posts, ella is growing up so much lately. she's taking big steps to becoming a big girl. she's going to preschool, she sleeps in a big girl bed, she talks non-stop. the list just goes on. well yesterday i picked ella up from school and asked the teacher how she's been sleeping. she told me that she sleeps great and always sleeps the whole nap time and that they don't even give her the pacifier anymore. i've been putting off taking it away because i didn't want to make the teachers' lives miserable. but i've learned that people who work at daycares and preschools are not scared to try anything! i mean, to them, what's the worst that could happen? last night we figured we might as well see what happens and take it away. as josh and i were lying in bed about to go to sleep i told him "i'm going to give in tonight. i'm just too tired to fight." ella went to sleep at 8 and is still asleep now at 7am. so apparently she didn't need it anyway. i told my mom last night that once we take away the paci, we have given up that last thing that made her my little baby.

i guess we've still got to tackle diapers, but that's a whole different battle!

my kids

2009-11-11T20:01:00.000-06:00

so i found out i was pregnant on september 11th. i was ecstatic! we had been trying for over a year and it finally happened (with a little help from some clomid). i can't believe i'm finally pregnant! we've waited so long and not always patiently. but i've finally made it to my second trimester and my morning sickness is really starting to ease up. my clothes are too tight and i'm battling some serious headaches, but at least the nausea is getting better! i have to say that when i was pregnant with ella, i thought about being pregnant ALL the time. it was constantly on my mind and this time is so much different. i'm too busy to think about it! between work, chasing ella around two days a week, and all the other things to do around the house there's not much time to sit here and relish over my pregnancy. i can already see how the second baby just doesn't get as much attention. it's still in the womb and it's already happening. i hope and pray that i'll find some balance by the time he/she gets here.

well, here's a picture of my two kids. i absolutely cannot wait for may 18th when josh, ella, and i get to meet this new baby. i love mommyhood!

Here's hoping ella gets a little more excited by the time the baby gets here! :)

growing up

2009-10-28T20:15:00.000-05:00

well october turned into a lot of growing up for miss ella. in my previous post, i mentioned that ella was starting preschool at little hands academy. let me just say that i absolutely love that school and i love the people who work there. she has wonderful teachers and i know that she is being cared for very well.

with that said, monday went very well. we dropped her off and snuck out while she was playing. the teachers told me that she whined a little for mommy when the other kids' parents dropped them off, but other than that she was great. then for naptime, they gave ella her paci and she went right to sleep and slept for two hours! i'm impressed. so i went to pick her up and she was so happy to see me. she has NEVER been that happy to see me! so all in all, it was a great first day of school. which brings me to today....oh my gosh, it was horrible! as soon as we got there, she would not let me put her down because she knew if she took her eyes off of me, i was going to sneak out. so we sat down and played with toys for a few minutes, but she was not going to let me out of there. so, i handed her over to the teacher as she was screaming hysterically for me. I had to walk out of the room with her watching me and screaming "No Mommy, no! I wanna go bye-bye with you. Mommy NOOOOOOO!" Traumatizing...for the both of us. I walked out of there practically sobbing and cried all the way to work, which let to a horrific headache that lasted the rest of the day. I called at 10am and they said she was doing great. Since I work with my mom, I shared my sad story with her and she was sad too. So at 5, we both went to Little Hands to see her. She was so happy to see me. She had tears in her eyes as she ran up to me saying "It's Mommy, It's my mommy, Hi mommy!" I love her so much. It broke my heart today, but I know that she's going to adjust and she'll make friends and learn how to be much more flexible throughout this process. I did, however, tell Josh that he would take her to school from now on. I can't go through that again.

In order to get Ella prepared for sleeping on the mat, we moved her over to her big girl bed on Saturday night. Let me just say that I was expecting the worst and she has done awesome! I think the fact that she doesn't use a night light and it's pitch black in her room helps a lot. If she got up, she wouldn't be able to see her toys or books anyway, so what's the point? The first night at 2:30am, she accidentally got out of her bed and couldn't see how to get back in. So I heard her through the monitor saying "I wanna go night night, I wanna go night night". So i went in there and placed her back in bed under the covers and she went right back to sleep. The second night, she fell out of her bed and I heard her crying. I ran in there and she told me "Mommy, I f-f-f-ell d-d-d-down". It was so sweet. So I put her back in bed again, and right to sleep she went. Since then, she's done perfectly. She took a 3 hour nap on Tuesday and has just been awesome at it. I attribute it to all of the hard work we did when she was a baby, teaching her how to put herself to sleep and making it known that night time is for sleeping not for playing. That and the fact that I think she's amazing at anything she tries. Now i do have a feeling that once she gets used to things, she's going to test us and get out of bed just to see what we do, but for now we are enjoying an easy transition.

Here are some pictures of my grown-up little girl.

Ella's first day of school:

Ella's 2nd day of school:

And here's Ella and Avery doing some super cheeses:

preschool!

2009-10-22T12:36:00.001-05:00

i'm one of those crazy people who doesn't like vaccinations. i stopped vaccinating ella at six months because i started educating myself and decided that our children get way too many vaccinations before they are two years old. now, i'm not so hard core as to think that vaccinations aren't good at all, i just think that they are pushed too hard and given too many. i decided over a year ago that when she turned two, i would start catching her up slowly....on my schedule, not my doctor's. i feel like it's the parent's responsibility to know and have an opinion on their child's healthcare. and BE EDUCATED!!! doctor's don't always know what's best. i'm not saying that they are harmful to children, but i'm also not saying that they aren't. What I'm saying is PROVE to me that they are safe! Let's see some (unbiased) research!

okay, now that i'm off my soapbox.....i had to take ella to get her MMR and varicella vaccination this morning. now, i said i was going to wait until she was two to start catching her up but ella is starting preschool on Monday. I cried while she got her shots and watched as they pumped those viruses into her precious little leg and I cried all the way home and prayed that God would take care of her body and give her an amazingly strong immune system. It was really traumatic for me.

Ella's original day to start school was January 5th, but due to some recent health issues with our current arrangements we had to bump that up. I happened to call Little Hands yesterday, which is so hard to get into, and they had an opening for their 18-month MWF class. I happened to call on a whim, hoping they'd have an opening and they did. I just wasn't expecting her to say that she could start on Monday. While it's obviously better timing for us, Mommy is not ready for Ella to start preschool. Luckily Little Hands is on Josh's way to work, not mine. I'd cry every day for the rest of the year if I had to drop her off. We'll both take her on Monday, so a few prayers would be appreciated. It's hard to know that for her first (almost) two years of her life, she was loved on continually and cared for by Josh and myself primarily, and for the past two months her Nonnie watched her once or twice a week. So this is hard for me to let a stranger take care of my child. Are they going to kiss her every bump and bruise when she walks up and asks them to? Will she feel like she can ask her teacher to kiss her bo-bos? Are they going to give lots of hugs? Will she feel secure? There are so many things running through my head and I just hope that she adjusts well. I take comfort in knowing that if she absolutely hates it or Mommy feels like it's not time yet, I can always take her out and try again another time. She's also got to learn how to sleep on a mat. So you might say a few prayers for her teachers too :)

Here's to my beautiful little girl, who is growing up so fast right before my very eyes. I love you Ellabell and I hope you have so much fun at school.

avery comes to visit!

2009-10-13T20:10:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of getting to babysit Avery this morning. Ella and Avery had so much fun playing together. We watched some Baby Einstein and played with blocks, puzzles, and every toy in Ella's toybox. Although I did hear the word "mine" way more than usual, they played so nicely together. We also watched The Last Unicorn (well the first 30 minutes of it). I don't know if anyone else remembers that movie, but it was my favorite when I was a kid. Watching it now is a little disturbing, but I went ahead and passed it along to my daughter anyway! :) The things you could get away with in the 70s and 80s!

Thanks for coming over to play and come back again soon, Avery!

And I've decided that when I have my second child, I wouldn't mind if it came out a two year old :)

This one was funny because they both wanted to sit in the chair. Whoever was sitting in the chair wouldn't get up because as soon as she would the other one would take her seat. It was so funny! Every once in a while one of them would see something worth getting up and losing the seat over. :)

2009-10-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

I was driving down 288 with Ella the other day and I realized that her future is my biggest worry. I was a lot of trouble to my parents in high school and college. I got caught up in lots of things I shouldn't have. I look back and think about how far away my life then is from my life now. I love everything about where I am and Ella and Josh bless me beyond belief. My parents raised me right. I was just a stubborn, bull-headed kid who was determined to get into trouble. I knew everything and was always right. My parents were stupid. So, my take on parenting is that you do the best that you can and you pray for wisdom and guidance from God and from there, it's up to your children. Luckily, my parents raised me in church and God never left my side. I realize that I could still be doing the same things (or worse) that I was doing seven years ago. Something about my personality coupled with the fact that I had faith in Jesus Christ brought me home. I just hope that Ella avoids a lot of my mistakes. And if she doesn't, I pray that God will steer her back, just like He did me. Knowing that one day, I will have to let Ella be the person that she wants to be is terrifying. I just pray that I am instilling values that will stay with her forever, no matter where she goes. She is my heart and I love her more than my own life itself.

Here is ella practicing good hygiene:

and then lovin on her brobee.

this one is a little fuzzy, but her new thing is to try and walk around in my shoes. she makes it about two steps and then falls out of them.

it was the first day of fall, so we had to put on our fall clothes! here she is cheesin it up.

2009-09-27T19:10:00.000-05:00

i'm sitting here listening to josh and ella reading books through the baby monitor as he's putting her down to bed and i can't help but feel so completely and utterly blessed for my life and all God has provided. I have an amazing husband who is an amazing father to our amazing daughter. There is no greater feeling for a mother and a wife. Life is good....real good.

ella days

2009-09-17T20:22:00.001-05:00

when i was a kid, i had really jacked up teeth. i mean really jacked up. so naturally, i had braces. once a month, i had to go to the orthodontist to get my braces tightened and man they hurt afterwards. so my mom would take me to the dairy bar for some ice cream after my appointments. it was bliss.

today i decided to introduce ella to the dairy bar. i think we were there a whopping 10 minutes before she was bored with the place, as well as the ice cream. but it was a fun ten minutes! me being the person that i am, you will notice that ella had a nice, small bowl of vanilla ice cream. it's less likely to stain that cute shirt she's wearing. :) we had an absolute blast. days at home with mommy are for spoiling! i may have heck with it later, but i just can't resist "Mommy, peas!" she also has some sign language that goes along with "peas", but it's not the right gesture. she thinks it means please and that's all that matters.

we also took our first trip to the public library today. let's just say, that was a mistake. ella was such a little hoodlum. she was running around screaming (for joy, but loudly so still inappropriate) and pulling all the books off of the shelf. i was a tad embarrassed, but we were able to make it out with one book. as we were checking out, the nice lady behind the counter informed me that we could always reserve our books online and "on the days that i just need it" i can come in with my card and they will have them ready for me. :) she was nice. and i will definitely do that next time.

i really enjoy my 2.5 days a week at home with ella. i'm so blessed to have a job where i can just decide what days i want to come in and what days i want to stay home. i can just switch to part-time because i want to (and because we've made shortcuts in order to make it happen financially). i love my days at work and i love my days at home. i really feel like i get the best of both worlds. i don't find myself at odds with ella very often and i enjoy every second that i am with her. even the time-outs. i think it's because i've found some balance in my life. i know that will change because balance never stays very long, but i will make sure to enjoy it while it's here.

and so it begins

2009-09-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

okay well i started this blog over a month ago. i was waiting to post it so that i could get a super cute picture of ella on the potty, but that hasn't happened (and may never happen) yet. maybe soon. i'm so behind.

Started 8/8/2009:
the potty training has commenced! after having a potty in ella's room for a few months now, she has never really been too interested. so, i decided to try something different. instead of having the little miniature potty that sings when you pee on it (something we have not yet witnessed and i am unwilling to give it a test round!), I put the little potty seat on the actually potty in ella's bathroom. she has a little step stool and it is so much fun for her to climb up and sit on the big girl potty. so we spend lots of time during the day up in her bathroom, she on the potty and me on the floor right in front of her. ella's new thing is whispering, so we will whisper conversations back and forth and then we sing songs. i made up a tinkle song and every time i sing it, it's different but she still loves it. so anyways, wednesday night after sitting on the potty for about 10 minutes, she finally peed! as she was going, she whispered "listen". And when she stopped, she looks at me and says "again". It was so funny! So she's gone tee tee a few times now and everytime it's like she's moved mountains!

right now i'm torn with where to go next....i've read that if you use pull-ups it can slow down the whole process and then if you just let them run around your house for a week peeing on themselves and the floor and anything else that they are near, it will go faster. so i'm thinking i'm going to try to find something a little in between. first step, we're going to make a "potty box" that stays in the bathroom. it's going to have magnets and a magnetic board and a few other things that she can play with, but only while she's on the potty. we will see if it actually works (it does by the way).

in other ella news, she is no longer figuring out how to talk. she's full out talking. her new phrase is "i don't like it". it does sound more like "ah-own like it" but you have to get the texas accent going...really drag it out.

2009-09-10T11:03:00.001-05:00

i don't really know how to start my next blog. i realize that it's just a blog, but it seems like every day that passes is one day further away from jon. if i write my next blog, then that means i've moved on. i know that really isn't the case, but that's the way it feels. every day, something happens that makes me think about him. or another story gets told with "jon and i...." or "remember when jon..." or "i can't believe when jon...". if feels like moving on means moving on without him, even though there's nothing i can do to change that fact that he isn't here anymore. i will watch ella reading her books or splashing in the bathtub and it makes me sad that jon won't ever get to experience these things that i treasure so much with my own daughter. my earthly mind cannot comprehend heaven, so i am stuck in this mindset that he's missing out on so much. my faith tries to convince me otherwise.

so to move on, most of my favorite memories are from our time in the army. we were so young (and stupid) and we had so much fun. when josh and i were dating, i spent my spring break during my senior year in college to go visit josh. he lived in the barracks. he knew no one. he had no car. he'd only been at fort campbell for a couple of weeks and jon was home on leave. so i had to come keep him company. i know, i had to right? :) but josh had to work all day. the army doesn't get a spring break. well being on an army base and not having a car or anyone else around, it got rather boring. i laid on josh's cot and listened to a lot of matchbox twenty and three doors down. and being the "girl" that i am, i figured i might pass some time by playing "dress up". this was fun. josh came back in time to take a picture. and boy was that heavy.

that time period holds so many fond memories for me. i got to spend so much time with two of my best friends. it was definitely a special time.

my friend jon

2009-08-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

"hey kid, what it is?" was the intro to every letter i ever got from jon when he was in iraq. and all of them ended with "I love you, yo". I dubbed him jon-e-boy sometime back in high school and he called me beep. or spaz. or giraffe neck. or gummy. he also taught alley (a toddler at the time) to call me those names too. he was one of my best friends from the moment that little freshman kid came up to me begging for a ride home from school all the time. he had my back and always had the best intentions when it came to me. i appreciate him for helping me steer my life back on track the summer after i graduated high school. i think if it hadn't been for jon getting me more grounded than i had ever been in my life, i wouldn't be where i am today. when i became friends with jon, i gained three more best friends: josh, dusty, and jeremy. the four of us spent the entire summer together and had so much fun (well josh didn't get to have much fun because he had a job...boo!) And they were the only people I was allowed to hang out with, since I was grounded. They would bleach their hair white and play basketball CONSTANTLY! One day that summer, we decided to go ride gocarts. But for some reason I wore a dress that day and I didn't have any clothes to change into. So Josh let me borrow a pair of his basketball shorts and then Jon found one of his 10 year old little brother's t-shirts for me to wear. I was left wearing my clogs and a fantastic get-up. We had a blast! They certainly didn't care that I looked like a complete idiot! Over the years, we went to church camp together, ski trips, they came and visited me at college in kansas a few times. Jon broke my papasan chair and then we went on a "vision quest". Sorry, you had to be there! Then came the army. Had it not been for Jon, I don't think Josh and I would've ever gotten married, or even started dating. I owe Jon so much. One of my favorite memories, which probably isn't the best thing we ever did, but whatever! Jon was home for R&R in December 2003 and I was having a hard time with Josh being in Iraq and not getting to come home for R&R that year. So Jon kept me company the two weeks he was home. Well, one night we decided to go to Kroger and get some beer. Well, instead of buying the beer, we stole it right out of the refrigerated beer section and walked it back to the employees restroom and drank it. We drank beer and smoked cigarettes most of the night back there. I don't know how we didn't get caught. Luckily, no employees had to pee between the hours of 11pm and 1am. Jeremy eventually came and hung out with us too. We also got tattoos when he was home on leave. I'm so glad that forever, I will have a memory of Jon no matter where I go. I can't seem to remember what his tattoo was supposed to mean. I mean, it's not like I can get it translated. We did pick out chinese symbols for tattoos from a skanky tattoo parlor!! I'm sure they were less than accurate :) I have so many funny stories of Jon. He was brutally honest with me and was quick to tell me I was being an idiot and overreacting. I am so mad at myself for letting the last three years of Jon's life go by without being a part of it. It just goes to show that life is so short. It's too short to hold onto to hurt feelings and pride. I'm so grateful that we were able to spend time with you in June and make up for lost time. God put us there for a reason and that reason was you. I love you, yo. You will forever be one of the best friends I ever knew.

beep

five years and counting...

2009-07-29T10:06:00.000-05:00

Then: May 29,2004. We were in Gatlinburg, TN for the weekend when Josh proposed. We were married exactly 8 weeks later.

Now: July 24, 2009

This past friday was our five year anniversary! Thinking back, we've been through so many different stages of life in just five short years. It's hard to believe that it's actually been that long. That could possibly be due to the fact that for a year of it he was in iraq. It's also hard to believe that within our first year of our marriage, he headed off to war for the second time. I remember going through it and it was tough, but looking back it's just amazing what God gives you when you are faced with less than "ideal" circumstances. I truly believe that God works in you most throughout the hard times. Maybe in order to have the wonderful marriage that I'm so blessed to have now, we had to really go through the ringer. I am so grateful for that year in so many ways. And I am grateful that God gave me the patience and the willingness to accept what he was doing in our lives so that three and a half years later i can honestly say it was a wonderful year for us! You don't realize just how much your love your husband until you have to miss your husband :) There were a few bad things that I got out of that year (i never was afraid of death until i worried for his life daily) but I know God will release me from those fears one day when I decide I'm ready to be released.

But on to the fun part about our anniversary date: we stayed in a completely overpriced hotel that wasn't worth the money and ate at the most amazing restaurant! Who doesn't love a little fondue?! Even though the hotel was a little disappointing, it was still an amazing evening with my best friend. And we slept late...9 a.m.! We also learned a lesson: just because you can afford the hotel room, it doesn't mean you can afford to stay at the hotel. After valet, room service, breakfast, and all of the other little things were added to our bill, we definitely decided that next time we'll just come home! :)

Our waitress took a picture of us over our delicious dinner. We had milk chocolate swirled with crunchy peanut butter as the "sauce". Then on the tray in front of us there were strawberries, rice crispy treats, cheesecake, pound cake, graham cracker covered marshmallows, oreo covered marshmallows, and brownies that we dipped into the chocolate. It was amazing. They also gave us complimentary anniversary toasts of champagne. Ahhmazing!

There was also a fountain outside of our hotel, so of course I made Josh stop traffic so that we could go sit in front of it for a self-portrait :)

hold it?

2009-07-22T10:34:00.001-05:00

Yesterday marked Ella's very first trip to the ice cream truck. it was exciting! we were actually taking a walk around the block because she was having a cranky day. i know how that goes, i'm a girl too :) so we hear the music coming down the road. luckily mommy had some change in her pocket. so she takes off running down the sidewalk because she instinctively knew something good must come from a truck with a catchy tune blaring from the speakers. so i picked her up and she picked out the tweety bird popsicle from the pictures. so at first she asked me "hold it?" and i told her that mommy was going to hold it and she was okay with that. then i stopped and thought to myself that sooner or later, i have to let go of hating sticky messes and just let her be a kid. so i put her down and handed over the tweety bird. oh man, that was a long walk with no wipeys! so we get about halfway back to the house and she has eaten almost all of it. she got down to the gumball eyes and ate one. she loved it! then all of a sudden, the other half of tweety's face (including the other gumball) fell to the pavement. at that moment, she knew it was a disaster. she started saying "oh no" over and over again! i forced her to keep walking and leave behind the ice cream. she wasn't happy about it, but she trudged on with what was left attached to the stick. every once in a while she'd look back at the ice cream. it was so funny! we got home and promptly got in the bathtub! :)

here is a picture of the aftermath from ella's first popsicle:

2009-07-16T21:10:00.000-05:00

i was out of town last weekend working a chrysalis flight (which was awesome, by the way). But i was gone thursday through sunday. it was hard being away from ella, but not as hard as i thought it would be. i'm so used to being away from josh. the two of us are good at that. but it was my first long weekend away from the girl. well, let's just say she still hasn't let me off the hook. she is the ultimate daddy's girl. she and josh were sitting on the couch this morning and i was sitting on the other side of the couch. i decided to slide over and put my head on josh's shoulder and ella did not like that. she made me take my head off of his shoulder and then she squeezed herself right in between us so that i couldn't sit next to him. someone is jealous (and that someone is me!!)

i'm hoping she goes easy on me soon.....she'll need someone to buy her new clothes someday and it definitely won't be daddy. she'll come back to me then :)

2009-07-09T10:19:00.000-05:00

4th on Main was a raging success! We had the most amazing planning committee and I have to say, I think we pulled it off! Here are a few pictures from the talented Laurie Heath. She really captured the spirit and the atmosphere of the event. An all-american, small town, old fashioned, family oriented picnic. Thank you for sharing your gift with us, Laurie!

Here Matt and I are working the Watermelon Eating Contest

And our round one winner is....

And our round 2 winner is....

Josh entered round three, but he lost...

The Jalapeno Eating Contest:

And finally, the Hot Dog Eating Contest:

Here's my beautiful little watermelon. Her favorite part was dancing to the blue grass music. Or the train....

Cousins Ella and Piper had so much fun playing!

And to finish it off with some volleyball.

2009-07-06T15:33:00.001-05:00

Babies grow up so fast. I can remember countless people telling me how fast it will go by and to enjoy every moment. You don't really know it until you look back yourself and think "Wow, when did all that growing up happen?" But I admit, I am one of those moms who kept saying "I can't wait until Ella can ___". When she was rolling, I couldn't wait until she was crawling. When she was crawling, I couldn't wait until she was walking. And I have to say that each stage has been better than the last. I don't look back and miss the baby stage. While it was wonderful while we were there, it passed. But right now, where we are today, I never want it to end. Ella is talking so much. Not only is she talking, she's making sentences. She understands practically anything I say and she always responds appropriately. It's amazing. She is just so much fun and I never want her to get any bigger!! This is definitely my favorite age.

2009-07-01T16:23:00.000-05:00

Well, we made it back from our first real vacation with Ella. We had an absolute blast. I seriously could not have asked Ella to be a better child. We took our first plane ride. We ran into a little snag as our luggage made the first flight, but we in fact did not. So we woke up at 3am that morning to make it to the airport in time for an 11am flight. But, we managed to have a little fun while we waited for the next flight! Ella had a great time playing the "hat" game where she found anything and everything to put on as a hat and then tell us "Hat!". I was able to snap a few pictures of her in her hats. She also had a fun time pretending to take a nap. Too bad there was a smudge on the lens of my camera and all of my pictures turned out a little foggy.

As soon as the plane took off, you could tell she got a little dizzy as the plane was turning to head in the right direction. About 30 seconds after takeoff, she was asleep! I have a video to prove it....

After she woke up, she looked out the window and played and really just had a wonderful time. She loved looking out of the window while we were taxi-ing and seeing all of the other airplanes.

Next, we picked up our rental car and headed to our hotel in Memphis. Again, she was amazing. But we didn't get much downtime. We had to head out to the rehearsal dinner. Here are some pre-rehearsal dinner family pictures.

And Daddy was able to snap a great family photo! I can't believe she was smiling! :)

Sleeping in the hotel was a bit tricky because Ella doesn't ever sleep in bed with us. But we found that if we turned on the DVD player and put in Monster's Inc. (her new favorite movie), she would watch it and then pass out due to exhaustion! She stayed up later than we did! :) If you ask her about Monster's Inc, she'll tell you about "Sully/Kitty", "Baby" (Boo), and "Circle" (Mike Wizowsky). She's so funny!

The next day, we were able to take a trip to the Childrens' Museum in Memphis before the wedding. I cannot even explain how much fun Ella had. She could've played an entire day away, but since we were on a time crunch, we had to make sure she saw every single inch of the museum in the hour and a half before we had to leave. Her favorite part was definitely the wall with all of the doors, light switches, doorbells, and locks. She loved it. The tooth puzzle was also very fun, but she kept giving the mouth a "snaggle tooth".

Ella and Daddy also had a little fun playing basketball. Ella and I made some paper trees and paper dogs.

After the wedding was over, we headed up to Clarksville where we had an AMAZING time and caught up with our wonderful friends that we dearly miss! We got to see Joe and his girlfriend Bre (or as Ella would say, Doe and Bee). Ella had a great time playing with Lola's toys while we sat around and caught up (beer and pizza!). The next day, we were able to visit with Jon and Nicole and Addison and ate lunch at one of my favorite restaurants: Blackhorse. I had to forgo the vanilla beer as I was driving us back to Memphis right after lunch. We made our flight home on time...barely. Apparently we can't be early anywhere we go (which drives Josh crazy!). But all in all, it was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to go back to Tennessee, my favorite state.

2009-06-16T20:25:00.000-05:00

It is such a privilege to be a parent. We tried for so long to get pregnant and when it finally happened, we felt like it was a dream. But no dream could compare to actually being a parent. I get to experience so many things all over again through Ella. My daughter is so incredibly smart and such a fast learner. It's not something that I feel that I somehow taught her, but more just what she was born with. Since the day she was born she has been outspoken, opinionated, and passionate. During the newborn phase, I felt like this was more of a curse than a blessing. As Ella has grown, I've gotten to watch her use those traits for good and not evil...anymore :)

Yesterday, she was at work with me and she has this really cool table that she got for her birthday from Mimi. It has lots of different colors and my mom discovered yesterday that she can differentiate between yellow and red. Today, she got down green and blue. Orange is still a little confusing, but she's definitely on her way to getting those primary colors down. It was so cool to watch it click in her brain. These may seem like little things to most people, but to watch your child learn is one of the most amazing experiences. She is so smart and I am so proud!

2009-06-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I've finally gotten a moment to sit down and write. It has been a hectic few weeks. Work has just absolutely eaten my lunch almost every day and then all of the little projects for the church have really filled in what few gaps of time I have left. Last week as I was driving to the 4th on Main meeting in Danbury, I had a break down. I hadn't seen Ella hardly at all that week and I wasn't going to get to see her at all that day. She was asleep when I left for work and I ended up working until I had to leave to go to my meeting. But then I realized something. Life was pretty easy before I started working for the Lord. Satan was really attacking me on my way to that meeting, although I didn't realize it until later that night. But this week has really rejunvenated me. I got to stay home on Monday with Ella since both my mom and Drew were back at work. We went to Bates Park and Ella was in the swing for 25 minutes straight! It's something about those swings....Then we went swimming with Aunt Heather, Alley, Cane, and Nonnie. It was a great day! It was so much fun that I didn't even think about breaking out my camera, so no pictures.

Josh started back to school this week after a short break. His schedule isn't too bad, though. I'm just excited that I get two to three days at home every week. Tomorrow is another one of those days :) Josh has also been helping my parents around their house doing some home improvements. We all spent the day over their on Saturday. Here are some pictures of what we were up to:

Daddy was definitely not having as much fun as us....

And here's a picture of my little white trash baby girl in her swim diaper and crocs....

Rowan actually learned how to ride her bike a few moments before this picture. What a cool day to have the camera ready. I still remember the day Chase taught me how to ride my bike.

Ella and I hit a milestone the other day. I got to fix her hair for the first time! :) Here are some pictures of Ella's first pigtails:

To finish it all up, I'm going to tell you to go by the Tenth Avenue North CD. I had one of those moments last night where I encountered Christ in my car. I think those moments only come to me through music, so I love it when it happens.

2009-05-26T09:40:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love holidays!!! It was an entire weekend full of fun and completely free of work!! Aside from cleaning the bathroom, I had so much fun. We started off Saturday by going to Bates Park that morning. We had so much fun. I didn't have my camera, but luckily Josh was close by with his phone. If you know Ella, then you know that she is too busy to sleep. She doesn't sleep in the car, she won't fall asleep in your lap, she won't sleep if it's noisy. She has to know that the entire world went to sleep during her nap because she can't stand to miss anything. So these pictures are priceless.

Here she was doing some major relaxation in the swing:

And here, she just couldn't take it anymore:

What a power nap!

We had such a great time at Mimi and Grandad's house all weekend. We spent Sunday there playing and eating. It was Avery's 2nd birthday party, so it was fun getting the kids together to play. We went back over on Monday afternoon and had a great time jumping on the trampoline, swinging, and riding the four wheeler all over the place. We love Mimi and Grandad's house!

We spent memorial day last year swimming at our pool, so Monday morning we decided to head back to the pool. We bought Ella a Springfloat (for all of you parents out there with babies, you definitely need to splurge for one of these). She had an absolute blast swimming in the pool! Josh would start swimming towards her and about halfway to her he would go underwater and "get her feet". She would just starting giggling uncontrollably as soon as his head went under. She knew what was about to happen! I'm terrible and forgot my camera though, so no documentation to our Memorial Day fun this year. So I'll leave you with a few pictures from last year:

Thank you to the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our county and for my family. You are true heroes.

2009-05-22T11:37:00.000-05:00

Last night, I tried to figure out what the heck I've gotten myself into. I've got a pretty busy next few months. Well I just started teaching the preschool Sunday school class and it has already been so rewarding. I love all of the kids and we've been having a great time. I've also signed up to work a Chrysalis for one of my favorite people...my sister-in-law Heather. She's lay director for a flight coming up in July and I agreed to join her as head logistics. I've got to say that I'm definitely not scared. I've got the greatest group of people working on my team. I haven't met all of them yet, but Gina has done an amazing job picking up the slack for me (I missed the first meeting!!!) And we've also got this awesome thing coming up called "4th on Main". It's a 4th of July celebration that several of the churches in Danbury are collaborating on. So I've got a full plate, to say the least. I'm just excited to get to do so much work for the Lord this year!

Other than all the stuff for the church I've been signing up for, I've been having so much fun with Ella! Josh and I recently sold our Jeep Liberty so that I could switch over to part time and stay home with Ella several days a week. This was my first week to stay at home and it has been AWESOME! Well, mostly awesome. I was gone from Ella for my first full weekend, so I was so happy to be back. Then Ella got sick with the stomach bug on Sunday night. By Tuesday morning, I knew I was in the clear if I hadn't gotten sick by then. But by Tuesday afternoon, I was sick too. So staying home with her wasn't exactly how I had planned, but it was still wonderful. Next week will be better! I'm sure of it! Here's a few examples of the fun we're going to have this summer!

Since Ella and I have been living on applesauce, bananas, and toast this week, Ella came up with a new way to eat applesauce:

Josh just recently finished his Spring semester at UHCL. He is well on his way to becoming a high school history teacher. He's definitely ready for a break from school. Plus, he's getting a lot more days at home with Ella now that he's free. Ella days are the best days!

Here's an old Ella and Daddy picture (one of the few times she got to sleep in our bed):

Here's a more recent one. This is my world in a photograph:

God amazes me everyday through my amazing and beautiful daughter. She's my world. She teaches me so much and every day I love her more and more. And every day I don't think I can love her any more than I already do. Being a mommy is the most amazing thing I've ever done. I'll leave you with a few pictures that I found on my computer the other day. I don't even remember her looking like this. It's crazy how fast time goes by when you're having fun! :)

She looks like she has scrawny, little bird arms. Scrawny was never a word I would use to describe Ella.