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!

Ellison- 11 Months

11 months!  Ellie is such a silly, happy girl!  She is happy about everything!  She is such a joy to be around with her constant smiles and playful demeanor.

both Whitney and Ellie love to look through this radom collection of small toys I keep in a basket under the coffee table.  If you don't have one for your kids, do it!

Ellie likes to play with Whitney, Whitney- not so much.  Whitney is trying to get the ball back.

I wish the picture had turned out clearer, because this it totally my silly girl!

 Milestones-  not a whole lot this month.  She is continuing to perfect her walking and balance.  She has mastered standing up unassisted.  Her vocabulary has really taken off.  Combining words and animal sounds she is at last count at about 25 words.  They are in her baby version for a majority of words.  The funniest words she says are Sponge Bob, Dora, boo, boobies, and ta da.  She loves books and will point at pictures and ask "that".    The other day she came into my room, looked at me and said "boo!"  She is SOOO silly!  She knows a few body parts like eyes and tummy.  She would probably know a lot more of anything if I took more time to teach, but she's not even one so there's plenty of time to learn :)

Eating-  still an eating machine!  Still has a bottle, about four a day averaging 4 oz a time.  I recently read that babies are down to about 12 oz forumla/bm by 9-12 months.  This may be our last container of formula, we'll see how ambitious I am to take away that morning bottle.  She's not crazy about milk so far but will drink it if she's thirsty.  She likes orange juice but not apple juice.  She will eat about anything as long as it is not slimey in texture.  She can drink through a straw and likes those yogurt smoothies.

Sleep-  doing pretty good!  She is back to averaging 10 hrs before waking.  Goes to bed between 8-9 and will wake around 6/6:30 and may or may not go back to bed.  Now, she still DOES have quite a few nights where she will wake about 3:30/4, if I give her a bottle she will sleep the rest of the night.  She is down to one nap which last 1-2.5 hrs.  She is ready for an early bedtime if she only sleeps an hour.  Her nap time is around noon.  I'm not strict with sleep, i follow her cues and accomodate based on last sleep/waking.  She just got ANOTHER cold, so we'll see what happens with that in the sleep department.

Stats- guesstimating about 20lbs.  Size 3 shoe, size 3 diaper.  12-18mo clothes, 12 mo carter's jammies.   She has 6 teeth, four on top and two on bottom

she loves playing with this doll house.  This is one thing will somewhat play with together.  Ellie so loves to play with Whitney but Whitney is in that possessive stage and doesn't want Ellie to touch anything she is playing with.  Ellie learns so much just from watching Whitney.  I try to encourage play as much as I can, I hope it is a stage that will be outgrown soon.

total paci baby!  She HAS to have one to sleep.  i keep about 4 in her crib so she can always find one at night.  She is sucking on one less during the day.  i'm just now actively trying to keep them less available as she is awake, unless we are at the store or library, then they keep other things out of her mouth!

Still not crazy about bathtime.  She prefers to stand in the tub which drives me nuts because I have to hang over the tub to hold on to her.  The more I try to get her to sit the more she just wants to be done with bath.  She does finally lay still for diaper changes and getting pj's on.  She does patty cake with her feet when I change her diaper. 

She loves to poke people and say "boop!" and back up and giggle and do it again and again.  She likes to help with laundry putting wet clothes into the dryer that I hand her.  She knows the word laundry so I can't say it unless I'm actually ready to do it.  She likes to wear necklases and anything else she can put around her neck, always has.  She laughs when she farts or burps. 

It may seem like Ellie is all rainbows and sunshine but she does have a her moments of tantrums to get what she wants.  For the most part she does really well when she's over tired, but when she's really reached her limit, watch out!  She is also possessive of me.  She gets jealous when I hold or sit with Whitney.  She tries to push Whitney away or if she thinks Whitney is coming for me she will come sit in my lap or try to get me to hold her first.

Can't believe my next post will be for ONE year!  but thank goodness.  This was the fastest and slowest year ever.    I love the toddler stage so much better and am so looking forward to it.  There's a reason parents continue to love each growing stage, it's so you're not stuck in babyhood!

It's Friday

Is anyone else feeling like a loser with everyone pinning, blogging and facebooking their acheivements, or is it just me?  Ok, I don't really feel like a loser because I know that right now in my life I don't have a lot of time at home to accomplish these things.  Either that or I don't know how to multi task and have too much guilt for not playing with my kids for x amount of time.  Okay, it's a combination of needing to take care of my 2 1/2 year old who doesn't nap and my almost 11 month old who is down to one nap and not organizing my time properly when they are awake.   I literally have about zero me time (at home, I do get out alone bc of the babysitter, hallelujah!) until 10pm and who wants to do anything then? 

 Ellie is in that, " I HAVE to know what you're doing and I will cry and pull on your leg and fall over backwards because I have my head tilted back too far trying to look up at you " stage.  If we're just hanging out around the house she is fine.  The second I try to cook, unload the dishwasher, brush my teeth or use the bathroom she is all up in my business.  One thing I CAN do is take a shower.  She will finally leave me alone to do that.  She used to cry and try to climb into the tub.  I can see into the future and know that someday soon I will be productive and creative and my children will continue to grow with indepence.  Whitney is mostly there.

I am a little jealous of all the cute things everyone is doing.  Take my SIL.  I'm too lazy to create a link so you can check out her blog, The Vandewater Voyage under my blog list and check out Abby Maddy Inspired  too.  That lady can multi task in a crafty way!  Any way, my SIL has posted some food ideas that are easy and yummy and I have been trying them.  It's easier for me to steal her ideas than to scour Pinterest myself!  Works for me!

I'm hoping once we get to Omaha I can get Whitney into a preschool of some sort and Ellie will allow me to do things without holding her.  Maybe then I can buy one of those sewing machine things and cook with more than 3-5 ingredients.  For now I will dabble and be happy that my kids are well and my house is moderately clean.  Clean enough that you won't be grossed out if you unexpectedly dropped in.  And if anyone wants to do so feel free, we are ready for company every day.  Desperate for company!

I got it on camera!  Whitney can twist her tounge sideways and does it out of habit all the time.  She doesn't even know she does it.  In fact, if I ask her to show me she can't do it.

This is Ellie's purple ear because she won't let me do anything!!  I was trying to put some pants on and she made a mad dash for me because hold your horses if I try to do anything.  She tripped up and slammed her head into our bed rail.  Speaking of hold your horses, I said that to Whitney the other day and she goes, "huh?  you can't hold horses!"  Kids are so literal!

this is my brushetta I made last night.  See, I was inspired by my SIL!  Easy and yummy!
I used a can of petite diced tomatoes and it worked well.  Way faster than dicing your own.  And we had tubed basil and that was good too!  plus olive oil, balsamic vinergarette, salt, pepper, onion and shredded parmesan.  And just eat with tortilla chips or triscuts, don't worry about toasting fancy bread!