10 Things

I was looking back at my blog from a year ago, and saw that I did this one.  Thought it would be fun again!

1. I drink a half coffee half decaf cappiccino every morning

2.  If I don't get a  decent amount of sleep I'm pretty irritable in the morning, Whitney is the same way

3.   I'm a sucker for celebrity gossip

4.  the only tv shows I watch are Desperate Housewives, The Bachelor and Castle

5.  I have chocolate after lunch and dinner, and if it's in the house, I will eat cookies or brownies for breakfast

6.  I was pregnant/breastfeeding for 20 months, had a one month break and did it again for 18 months.  That's 38 months.  Basically 3+ years straight I gave up my body for our children.  It's nice to be me again :)

7.  I like moving.  Not the moving part, the living in a new house and having new things to do part.  I do think it will get harder as the girls get older.

8.  I don't have a favorite color.  But I do know that I like warm earthy colors for decorating a home and that you can't go wrong when you wear black.

9.  I don't like to bake.  You can't beat the taste ( and ease! ) of packaged cookie dough squares!

10.  I'm a sucker for soft blankets and pillows!

Ouch!

Oh, Ellie, Ellie, Ellie.  So, I last posted picutres of  Ellie climbing up on the fireplace ledge.  Last night she was climbing up there and walking back behind the tv.  I would tell her no and take her down.  And she was trying to climb up the glass on the fireplace while hanging onto two little handles on the glass door.  I am envisioning her feet breaking through the glass and slicing her legs and I am also envisioning her loosing her balance and falling face first into our coffe table/makeshift entertainment center for this house.  What do you think happened this morning after I let her down from breakfast??

That's right.  Face down into the coffee table.  It instantly swelled up.  This is the first morning that I didn't give her a bottle at 4 am when she woke up.  She was mad but wouldn't let me hold her and she fussed until 5:30.   She was fine having breakfast and not having a bottle.  After falling, I gave her a bottle.  Guess we'll try that over tomorrow morning.  It was starting to look better but now the blood is starting to dissipate and I can tell it's going to drain into the eye area and she's going to have a nasty shiner.  Ow.  Last night after bath I went to hang the towels back up and I come back into Ellie's room and she is up on all fours rocking on the ottoman.  It is not a stable one.  I tied the bottom of the ottoman so it doesn't rock any more.   I'm wondering if I will be able to shower any more, she's not safe to be left alone any more!

Then, I take the girls to Target for a Dr Suess storytime and I let Whitney drink her juice while she sat and listened.  She found a juice box in the bags they hand out.  She wanted that and I said no, you just had your big cup of juice.  Started to get mad but I diverted her attention and said let's go look at toys.  We play in the toy aisles for entertainment.  She remembered she wanted the juice box and porceeded to whine and scream for it.  I said we don't act like that, we'll have to leave.  Oh. My. Goodness.  She really let loose after she realized I meant what I said.  She SCREAMED the whole way out of Target flailing around in the basket of the cart.  People were alarmed.  She SCREAMED the whole way home to go back to Target to play in the toy aisle.  She is almost throwing up she's crying so hard and telling me she's ready to be nice.  Sorry sister.  You blew it.  Screaming and crying in her room for time out.  Wow.  She hasn't had a tantrum like that in a long time.  Must have worn her out, because she is napping.  And so is Ellie.  I can restore my sanity and then it's out to dinner with my friend Michelle this evening.  Whew!  I will need that girl time today!

Time to clean up the house.  You know when you're house is chaotic your life feels chaotic?  I was feeling that this morning.

as I thought, the blood has settled down into the eye area.  This is how she appeared after nap time today.  I suppose it will look worse before it gets better.

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feb 26- and it gets worse before it gets better.   there isn't any more swelling, it's just really discolored right now.  the red cut is where she hit and had the swelling.  the black eye is the drainage.  she has her 1 year appt next week so I'll take the pictures and see if they want to x ray it.  I personally don't think she broke her cheekbone because she's been sleeping fine and hasn't been bothered by it.

Ellison- One Year

One year!!!   I am beyond excited for Ellie's first birthday.  Being done with having children and so looking forward to the toddler years and beyond, I couldn't be happier to be done with the baby year.  Not that Ellie wasn't a great baby, she totally was, it's just not my thing and I so love her right now, she couldn't be any cuter and sweeter!  She is so silly and happy all the time it always puts you in a good mood to be around her.  Even if it's six AM.

Milestones-  She kind of seems to be at a standstill when it comes to any major changes since she did a lot of things so early.  She can run now and she loves to be chased!  I can tell she understands so much of what we say.  She acknowledges what we say buy making a noise or getting up and going to said destination or object.  If she doesn't have a paci in her mouth she is talking all the time.  She has her own little jibberish language.  She will like "talk" in a sentence and then look at me or Whitney like "got it? did you just get what I said?"  too cute.  She continues to pick up more and more words.  She tries to use a spoon or toddler fork.  She shakes her head no when I ask her a question.  She can do the "we did it" dance to Dora.  With the "head, shoulders, knees and toes" song she can do head.  She can point to multiple body parts.  She washes her tummy in the bath and can say bubbles, sounds like bubbos.  I can't get her to say "up" yet, but she will raise her arms up to me instead of completely freaking out for me to hold her.  She has great hand eye coordination and can do shape sorters (if you show her what hole to put it in) and she can put sticks into small holes.  Yes, the outlets are covered.

Eating-  Still a great eater.  She likes blueberries, strawberries and grapes but will not eat bananas pears, peaches or kiwi.  Anything slimey.  Not a fan of veggies.  She will eat sweet potato fries, french fries, and maybe carrots.  Still loves pretzels and she has discovered m&ms.  Yes, I give my baby chocolate.  Shoot me. If I ask her if she has a hungry tummy she goes to the kitchen.   I have cut down on the bottle.  She doesn't seem to have a huge attatchment to it and doesn't drink much out of it when I do give it to her, about 3 oz, but she is not willing to drink anything else right now!  Totally frustrating and it's causing my two a day super pooper to only poop turds once a day.  I know you care and wanted to read that.  I don't need two constipated chilren, so this really stresses me out right now.  So, I have half a container of formula left right now and she gets a bottle early morning if she wakes up before she is ready and after bath.  I'm tempted to just throw the formula away and be done.  Okay, getting off track....

Sleep-  Starting to get back on track after getting a cold, then the flu and then an ear infection.  Still goes to bed about 8:30 and will sleep until 7.  Correction, she will sleep until 7 after she has a bottle 5amish.  Not sure how we are going to get past that hurdle.  I'm hoping she will just start to sleep longer.  She takes one nap around noon and will sleep for about two hours, maybe a little more.

Stats- 12-18 mo clothes, size 18mo jammies, size 4 shoe, size 3 diaper.  20-21lbs.  six teeth.

with her favorite bird

She loves books.  One of her favorites is a look and find "melmo" book.  She gets extremely excited if she sees a dog and will start to "woof, woof"!  She loves to push buttons.  She is great at self entertaining.  She will often go back to her room or Whitney's room if she's bored of the living room and go play by herself.  She likes to help with laundrey.  She likes to be out in public and go to the library and gym.  Still loves to cuddle soft things and hug babies/stuffed animals. 

she is starting to clim anything low enough and she was so proud of herself tonight as she climbed up on the fireplace ledge. 

still likes sister's underwear

She has a temper and can become quite the firecracker when she is mad.  And she doesn't forget what she wanted and why she is mad.  She doesn't hit or bite anymore.  She throws things.  She will throw whatever she is mad at or whatever she can get her hands on a pick up.

I feel like I should have so much more to say but I'm drawing a blank.  Until her 15 month post......

Des Moines Botanical Center

The Playground For Kids

I heard of this indoor playground place in Ankeny and just had to take the girls.  We went first thing in the morning so the place was empty.  They had a blast!   The place had a lot of bounce houses and a big slide (whitney's favorite) and a climbing gym/tunnels.  I was worried Whitney wouldn't be big enough to fully enjoy the place, but she did everything without hesitation.  The bummer was that I had to pay for Ellie because she is a walker, which is a joke because she can't do anything, but if I go back on a tuesday and it's 2 for 1. 

GIRLS!!!!!!!

When I take a shower Whitney usually watches cartoons and Ellie hangs out in the bathroom and plays with toys.  I thought it a little unusual that Ellie never came into the bathroom and didn't come running when the shower shut off.  I peek out into the living room to see what they are up to...........

Look What I Did!

I got new bedding for Whitney.  The comforter was on super clearance so I couldn't pass it up, and I couldn't pass up the storage cube that I saw out of the corner of my eye!  Whitney has no artwork or decorations in her room (besides toys) so I had the idea to paint some pictures copying the pattern on her bed spread.

Would I buy these in the store if I saw them?  Of course not, but they're mine and I made them myself and Whitney likes them.  The yellow and pink is a little off and I knew this BEFORE I put paint to canvas and yes I could have gone back to Hobby Lobby to get different paint or done a little mixing but I lack the characteristic for perfection.  I had the time to paint and I was ready to start.  I even took the pillowcase with me to make sure I had the right colors, but the dot on the outside of the jar is a little different than the paint inside.  Whatever.  I can just do another one later if I want to!  I did discover that it is VERY hard to paint stripes, even with a straight edge.  And I quickly realized this was not going to turn out the way it looked in my head, like it was going to be fresh off a printing press.

I had fun with it, it is minmal investment (as long as you get the 7.99 canvas two pack) and I plan on doing some for Ellie's room!