Two of my favorite things

Little Mommy

Ellie is loving her baby doll. She's very sweet with her -- she puts her in the exersaucer, shh's me if she's napping, asks me to hold her hand when we're going up the stairs, and gives her medicine in a bottle. Today, I looked over to see Ellie feeding her...you think she's seen me feed Charlie a few hundred times?!

Ready for summer!

We are just a little anxious for warm weather! At the first hint of summer-like weather, I ran out and bought swimsuits, floppy hats, and a sprinkler for the kids. In retrospect, it wasn't quite warm enough to let Ellie play in the water, but it was worth it to see her having so much fun!

Now that's fun!

It's been a big weekend for Charlie. He graduated to a big boy carseat and he started sitting up in the bath. Previously, I had to just lay him on a big sponge and he liked kicking his legs, but bathtime is A LOT more fun now! I think we have another water baby on our hands.

Disney on Ice

This morning we went to Disney on Ice and we had so much fun! We expected Ellie to squeal with excitement when she saw Mickey, the princesses, etc., but she hardly uttered a word during the nearly 2 hour performance -- she just sat super still and watched everything. She definitely enjoyed it...just not in the way we thought she would. And Charlie loved all of the activity! I thought he might have a meltdown because it was in the middle of his morning nap, but he was great -- happy as could be, and then he passed out before the car even left the parking lot.



Here's Ellie's reaction (or lack thereof) to the start of the show:



And Charlie checking out the action:

As I said above, Ellie hardly spoke a word during the performance. She watched it all, but she seemed to be thinking about really serious things at the same time. I thought she might be pondering questions like how did they make it snow in here? if Mickey is here, how can he be on the DVR at home? if Goofy and Pluto are both dogs, why is it that only Goofy can talk? You know, important questions like that. So when she turned to me midway through the second half with an excited expression on her face, I thought "here we go -- she's going to resume her expressive, 24x7 stream of consciousness and we'll get to hear what she thinks about the show." I was only 50% right. Managing to project her voice over the loud performance and lots of chatter, Ellie exclaimed (and this really should be in all caps, but I can hardly bring myself to type it, much less in all caps), "Ellie's got a penis!" My jaw dropped as I quickly calculated just how many people heard this very interesting statement, and before I could react in a more productive manner, she said "No...a 'gina!" I couldn't do anything except laugh...a lot. Damian's reaction: "Now are you glad that you taught her the proper name for those things?" See, we've been having a running debate about this -- my MOMS group had a speaker (presumably with some appropriate qualifications) who said that it's important to talk to kids about their "bits" and to teach kids the proper names for them so that they don't ever think they're something to be embarrassed about. That way, if they have questions or if, God forbid, anyone tried to do something horrible to them, they wouldn't be embarrassed to talk to you about it. Makes perfect sense to me. I just didn't expect to talk about it in the middle of Disney on Ice. Ellie has said it several times since then, so don't be surprised if we're on the phone at some point and, in the background, you hear "Ellie's got a penis!" Now I'm going to sit down and figure out how to write Ellie's teacher a note about this so she's not concerned.

Trike-a-thon update

Miss Ellie exceeded all of my expectations...she completed four laps at the trike-a-thon today! I didn't get to cheer her on because her teacher asked us all to stay at home so we wouldn't upset the kiddos -- Ellie wouldn't be bothered at all by seeing me in the middle of the day, but some of the other kiddos suddenly remember how much they miss mom when they see her. Anyway, that means I don't know whether she rode, pushed, or pulled the 'bike' around the track, but she definitely had a good time. And thanks to your very generous pledges, we raised lots of money for the playground!

Princess Weepsalot

So I knew that little girls could be dramatic, but I assumed that the drama didn't start until middle school or at least late elementary school. Man, was I wrong! I think they come out of the womb more dramatic. Miss Ellie went from being Princess Grumbalina to Princess Weepsalot. There are days, like today, when it seems like she cries ALL DAY! Many times, I have a hard time not laughing...and other times, I have a hard time not crying myself. Today, Princess Weepsalot woke up on the wrong side of the crib and everything drove her to tears. I took this video after 30 minutes of tears caused by an attempt to go on a walk...an activity that would normally drive Ellie to squeals of joy, but today caused sobs over her footwear (first she wanted the pink shoes, then the brown shoes, then the shoes from her teacher, then the brown shoes, then no socks, then different socks...) and the mode of transportation (first she wanted to go in the stroller, then the wagon, then the buggy (which she knows is the same thing as the wagon), then the wagon...). You might wonder what kind of mother turns the video camera on her sobbing daughter instead of wrapping her in hugs and kisses (believe me, I had already tried that!)...well, I'll tell you -- the kind of mother who wants something to show her daughter in order to explain why she blew her college fund on margaritas and Haagen-Daz.

Auntie Jamie (and family) got Charlie a cute little wibble-wabble penguin for Christmas and Charlie is really getting into wrestling it. He doesn't get quite as excited as his big sister used to get about her wibble-wabble rabbit from Auntie Sarah, but it's hard to top that. ;-)

Here's Ellie with her beloved bunny when she was about the same age:

You can see the video here -- she was just a tad more animated.

Cabin fever

Despite some beautiful afternoons, Ellie and I are suffering from major cabin fever! It's Spring Break, so she didn't have school on Tuesday or Thursday, and Charlie's schedule has been a mess all week so I've been avoiding taking him out in the car (where he'll promptly fall asleep, which really messes up his schedule). Plus, we're missing our friends, so we've had to improvise this week. Luckily, a rubbermaid container full of uncooked rice, some measuring cups, and a spoon kept Ellie enthralled for almost an hour...and even then she threw an absolute temper tantrum when it was time to put it away.

Then, later in the week, Ellie organized her friends (Minnie Mouse, Penguin, and Bear) for a little lecture:

I guess Bear was teaching the class at this point (he's on the coffee table):

It's been nice to have the extra time with Ellie and to do some new things, but we'll both be glad when school starts again next week!

Swings

We went to the park yesterday and I put Charlie in the swing for the first time. He LOVED it! I had forgotten the video camera in the car, but after hearing his belly laughs, I ran back to get it -- the second time around, he wasn't hysterical like he was the first time, but he clearly still enjoyed it! It's just crazy that Charlie is old enough to swing in these swings -- it seems like just yesterday that a baby Ellie was laughing in them.

Ellie was about 9.5 months old here:

Now Ellie is Little Miss Independent on the play structure -- she doesn't need any help at all!

Ellie's First Easter Egg Hunt

On Wednesday, we hosted an Easter egg hunt for my MOMS group and it was so much fun! We had five little "hunters" and three baby spectators. I "hid" the eggs and underestimated the kids' ability to find them, so it ended up being more of a scramble than a hunt, but the kids still had a great time.

The kiddos (minus Emma and baby Parker): Rileigh, Ellie, Jackson, Cain, Charlie, and Harper

After the eggs were all gathered, the kids spent some time swinging -- Jackson did a great job of pushing Ellie:

A VERY rare picture of me with the kids

Harper and her mama, Jessica (can you tell that our Easter party was actually on St. Patrick's Day)

After the Easter egg hunt and some swinging, we brought the kiddos in for some lunch. It was so sweet to see them sitting around Ellie's little table, talking, comparing lunches, and sneaking bites of each other's food. So fun to have some little friends to play with!

She's here!

Miss Aubrey Belle (finally, according to her mama) arrived on Friday and she is SO cute! She weighed 7lbs. 12 oz. and has dark-ish hair (which is very unusual for my side of the family). She is just so, so, so cute...did I mention that already? I get to go see the Galyon clan in two weeks and I just don't know how I'll wait that long to hold my newest niece!

And so it begins

Ellie is participating in her first fundraiser -- a Trike-a-Thon for her school. The funds raised will be used for new playground equipment and some shade structures. Given my family's history of skin cancer, I am particularly excited about this fundraiser -- I would love for Ellie to be able to play outside without being in the sun for too long.

On March 25th, Miss Ellie will make her way around a track, either riding or pushing a car/toy, as many times as she can...realistically, I will be impressed if she makes it around once without losing interest. ;-) So, no pressure, but if you want to sponsor her, we would love it. You can either sponsor her for an amount per lap (and also name a minimum and maximum amount that you're willing to contribute) or you can make a flat pledge/donation. I'll update on March 25th and let you all know how many laps she completed...maybe she'll get caught up in the excitement and make it around twice. ;-)

Charlie and the exersaucer

Charlie is loving his exersaucer...especially now that it provides a mode of transportation (for the record, Damian is wearing swim trunks)!

I think we should invest in a copy of "Are You My Mother?" -- Charlie seems unusually attached to the penguin that Auntie Jamie got him for Christmas.

The sweetest sound

Charlie has the best belly laugh! He saves his biggest laughs for Ellie, but he humors Mommy and Daddy sometimes too.

Definitely their father's children!

It's official -- everyone in this house, other than me, has some seriously weird sleep habits! Both kids are taking after their dad and like to sleep with things on their faces. I had to go in three times last night to take Charlie's lovey blanket off of his face and Ellie has taken to sleeping with a pillow on her head. Weird, weird.

In the video, you can also see evidence of Ellie's other nap-time habit...she takes off her socks and throws them out of the crib. Everyday.