Random Thoughts

- Ella is scared of Santa. We got her all dressed up in her new Christmas dress her Mimi and Big Daddy gave her, hopped in the car, and left for Santa's Workshop. No line = Yes! This will take 5 minutes. Oh no, Ella chickened out. So, we sat on the sidelines letting her "warm up." There was no warming up so after about 30 minutes, we threw our hands up and said "forget it, that's it" and went home empty handed. She cried in his lap last year and won't get near him with a 10 ft. pole this year. Sad to say but there will be no 2 year old Santa picture:( She looked so sweet, too.
- She loves Christmas this year. The displays, lights, music, all of it. Her favorite song is "Carol of the Bells." Good choice!

- Top 5 reasons I'm glad we're leaving W. Seattle/city life:

1. A 2 car garage. This is my last week to de-ice my windshield with a CD cover. Sunday was my last day to ever have to haul groceries off the street, down the sidewalk, and up flights of stairs. This is hopefully the last week I have to yell at some really rude people who drive down our street and have no manners for those of us who live on it (I yelled at a 70 year old yesterday b/c she was being a biatch)!

2. Friends. We will be closer to friends with kids. And, I hope our neighbors actually talk to us.

3. Less traffic. Traffic probably won't be much better but at least it will be moving 99% of the time. Cheers to leaving bumper to bumper standstill traffic. 

4. A playroom. Yes, it will be small but we finally don't have to share a den with Ella's toys.

5. More space. I was just telling Brian that it's going to be funny watching the movers unload what we feel are tons of boxes yet will probably look like nothing in a larger space. 

- Top 5 reasons I'm sad we're leaving W. Seattle:

1. Convenience. Living 1 block from restaurants, coffee shops, homemade pies, cupcakes, ice cream, ok, it's obvious I'm prego! We no longer will be able to walk to the grocery store, post office, dentist, etc. This will be an adjustment.

2. Alki Beach. Being a 5 minute drive to our weekend activity of heading to Alki Beach will be hard to not have. When something is 30 minutes away, you're not as likely to go. Hopefully, we'll come back every now and then over the summer.

3. Downtown. Having downtown shopping 10 minutes from the house will be a miss.

4. Waterviews. I'll miss our waterviews. Since we've lived here, we've always had one. Now, we're moving on to more mountainous views but nothing directly outside our window.

5. The townhouse. Yes, we're cramped, but I really do like this house. It's cute and cozy and we've had a lot of great memories here. And, it was Ella Grace's first home.

- Excited about decorating a new house. It's one of my favorite things. However, not excited about the costs associated with it. We did finally buy a King mattress set last week so that's fun! Just need a bed frame now:) And, new comforter!

- Did I mention I found all sorts of stuff in my closet while packing - 2 letters my Dad wrote me in college, 1 written 6 days after 9/11 talking about the devastation. A picture of me with my Mam-ma, Emily, and cousin Kaitlyn when we were little. A letter from Mam-ma on my 25th birthday - probably one of the last letters she was able to write me. All sorts of hilariously funny high school and college pictures. Wow! Every single wedding card we received. There were seriously hundreds - why have I held onto them for 5 years?! All my scrapbooking materials in my sorority bag. Let's just say other than letters and pictures, I dumped A LOT of stuff!

- Really excited about going home for Christmas. I know I sound like a broken record when I say this but seriously, I haven't been home in a year. I haven't seen my brother in 1 year. Or my grandmother. Or my grandfather. Or my cousins, aunts, and uncles. Or family friends. Or my high school and college friends. That's a long time people!!! And, I've only seen my Dad and Mom for a total of 4 days since last Dec. and my sister 2. And, I can't forget about Remy! Sad I can count all of this on less than 3 fingers! So, I'm thankful I get to visit everyone while I'm there.

- We find out the sex of this little babe on Monday. I'll be sure to share. I kind of think it's a boy. And, today I found out that my best friend, Nikki, is pregnant again. She is due July 7th. I know so many people due in May, June, July time frame it's crazy!

No picture updates as I haven't picked up my camera much lately. I've taken some cute videos of Ella but those will have to wait for another post.

See ya!

All Sorts of Stuff

I admit I'm pretty bad at blogging these days. After being in front of a computer all day, it's the last thing I open when I get home (unless I'm looking at house stuff:)). So, what have we been up to?

 

- Ella moved up to the Raccoon room (3 yr old room) at the end of October. She's now back with her love and "my best friend," Wesley. Things started out a bit rough because while Ella was left behind, Wesley became close to his friend, Sam. When Ella moved up, she wanted to play with Wesley and Days 1 and 2 he was quick to respond "Ella, I don't want to play with you!" Of course, this left Ella with her face in her hands crying (and kind of broke my heart when her teachers told me). They're all better now though. However, there is no such thing as 3 kids playing together so Ella is not afraid to tell us, her teachers, and even Sam "I don't like Sam," so we've been working on that!

- I keep a lot of her reports. Here are some quotes from a few of them.

•  "Ella was so excited when Wesley came this morning, but she did not like the hug Sam gave him."
• "Ella found the barn and lined the UNO Moo animals up along the shelf, then quickly put them back in the barn. Later Ella talked and texted on her cell phone while driving a car." - That's my girl!!
• "At nap time she was sad that her friend chose to sleep with Tigger and told me that "He (tigger) doesn't want to sleep with him (her friend, Maceo). In the end, she cuddled the polar bear at nap instead." I asked her about this and she was so dramatic even telling me that she cried and wiped her face off (motions and all).
• Today, her teacher told me that yesterday at snack time, Ella was finished and wanted to play with the toys behind the table. Her teachers kept telling her No, that she needed to wait until her friends were done eating but she kept pushing it sneaking her way closer to the toys. The teachers told her again and she stood up firm with her hands straight by her sides and said "No, I'm going home." The teachers said "ok, there's the door. Wave to Nicole on your way out." Haha! They said it was hilarious and both teachers turned their heads trying not to laugh. She's such a mess.

- Potty training. Have I mentioned how much I hate it?! Overall, Ella is doing really well but she does better at school. The biggest issue is that she refuses to poop in the potty. Her teachers say she won't go at school. And, at home, well, she's done a few things. 1) One night I caught her running up the stairs. She had switched her underwear for a pull-up and pooped in the pull up. Smart girl but really, just go to the potty. 2) She poops in her underwear and guess who has to clean it? Me! It makes me so mad! 3) Tonight, I caught her running into the bathroom and shutting the door. I asked her if she was going potty and she said no, she was pooping. She made it all the way to the bathroom to hide behind the door and poop in her underwear. I was pretty much fed up at this point and told her "Mommy is not happy" and that she has to start pooping in the potty. I hope she gets over this fear soon!

Some of her funny words include: 

- "scuse mes" for excuse me

- one night she told us "I get whatever I want." Honestly, Brian and I about died. We didn't find it funny at all and let her know that she doesn't get whatever she wants. I have no idea where she heard this.

- "it's sticking out" when referring to my tummy

- "we're going to check on brother and sister" when she went with us to hear the baby's heart beat last week

- "i have a baby in my tummy"

- "you have a froggie in your tummy"; that's what she called it at first

- "uh oh sketty o's"

And, saving the best for last. Steph and Chris came to visit us for Thanksgiving and one night, we were watching Horrible Bosses. At the very end, one of the characters says to his boss something like "shut the f$#k up." Well, all that we heard out of Ella's mouth was "F#$K UP." Brian and Chris just die out laughing. I cover my mouth laughing. And, Steph did the best of all - not laughing and telling the rest of us to just ignore it so we didn't egg any further bad behavior on. So, moral of the story - Ella is done watching movies with us! It was hilarious!

Just in the last week, her vocabulary has really expanded. She will tell us full stories including cause and effect, asking a million zillion questions, etc and sometimes, I'm in awe of how much she picks up on/learns at school. I'm so thankful for her great teachers because I have no teacher in me and other than manners, counting, songs, and ABCs, she learns what she knows at school.

We went to the doctor last week for our 14 wk appointment and heard the baby's heart beat. All was good - I'm actually gaining weight MUCH faster than I did the first time so the doc was happy (I wasn't and feel huge already) and the heart rate was a healthy 152. For comparison, Ella's was 157 at this point. We will know the sex on 12/19. No holding out for us as I HAVE to know. I hate surprises!

Let's just say the 2nd pregnancy is not so much fun. With the first, it's new and you know nothing so each week is a new adventure. 2nd time around, you know what's coming and it just makes me grumpy. I'm really worried about my back due to the lumbar disc bulge I have and these last few days have been rough - I feel like I'm in labor the way my back hurts. It sucks. So, yes, I want this to be over with ASAP but will have to deal with the pains because I want the babe to be healthy and stay comfy cozy in there as long as possible. And, yes, I'm already showing - 2 months earlier than I did with Ella. My eating habits are not very good so I've got to get my act together or I'm going to gain more than the 32 lbs I gained with Ms. Priss.

We are moving Jan 1 and I plan to start packing things up this weekend. We'd like to be ready to go before we head home on the 22nd (we have LOTS to do!!!). Because of the move, we didn't get a big real tree this year and I didn't pull out any decorations. Instead, Ella and I raided Target and ended up with a 4 ft tree with colorful ornaments and do dads coming out the tree.

 Ella loving the chocolate fountain at our Salty's Thanksgiving dinner

Disney On Ice - Toy Story 3

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Last night, we took Ella Grace to Disney On Ice - Toy Story 3. It was so cute! Of course, they are masters at setting up merchandise stands everywhere so she got a Buzz Lightyear and flew him around during the performance. We had 2nd row seats off rinkside so had no troubles see everything.  After it was over, she said "that was so much fun" and when I asked her favorite part, she said "the garbies" (barbies). She also calls Buzz "lightyear, the space ranger." Highly recommended if the show comes to your town:)

iphone videos

11.11.11

Probably the coolest date in the world and I'm one of few to be able to 

celebrate a special day on it.

Another 100 years before anyone sees this date again.

Veteran's Day.

My Birthday - 30th to be exact!

The day Ella Grace announced she's going to be a big sister! 

Baby #2 is due May 25th!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

We're finally doing it! The paperwork is signed, boxes will be packed and sealed in the next 6 weeks, and delivered to our new home on Jan 1....in the suburbs! We're leaving our city life and exchanging it for a house about 25 minutes East of downtown Seattle. It's in a great neighborhood full of parks, peacefulness, more space, and many Amazon friends of ours who have kids. Below are some pics of the new place.

And, the description as I'm too lazy to type it out myself.

3 bedroom/3.5 baths. Great room concept with 2-story ceilings in the family room. Granite counters and stainless steel appliances in kitchen with eating bar. Dual master bedrooms with full baths; one up and one down. Spacious with lots of light, wood blinds, California closets and patio. Close to shopping, dog park and I-90.

We're really excited! Ella will finally have a playroom which means I can have my sanity back (and she can no longer be deprived of toys like a kitchen set)! And, even though we don't have a grassy backyard, there's a huge greenway across the street, dog park and 2 playgrounds 2 blocks from the house. Oh, and guess what, we have a 2 car garage! No more parking on streets and getting soaked from the rainy days. Oh, the little things...

Baby A

Congratulations to my sister, Emily and brother in law, Josh! They are expecting their first child in late June. We're super excited to be aunt, uncle, and cousin and can't wait to meet that cutie patootie! It's going to make our family get-togethers, especially the beach, that much more fun!

Halloween 2011

This year, Ella Grace was "minnie house" for Halloween. After correcting her a few times, she finally started calling herself Minnie Mouse. She wore her costume to school and later in the day, I picked her up to take her back to our work for Trick or Treating. She enjoyed meeting all the doggies (we're allowed to have dogs) and getting lots of candy. Afterwards, we headed back to West Seattle for the neighborhood Trick or Treating event. Local businesses handed out candy from 3-6. I much prefer this to house-to-house trick or treating because around here, we have very few street lights and doing so after dark is a little scary. She ate her candy as she went making for a very hyper child later in the night. We had dinner at Angelina's before calling it a night. By the way, 0 trick or treaters this year! We've been in this house for 3 Halloween's and have not had anyone stop by yet:(

Remlinger Farms - Pumpkin Patch & Theme Park Extravaganza

As I mentioned in my previous post, we headed to Remlinger Farms today. This place is awesome! We started out at the pumpkin patch. Ella just wanted to run around and jump in puddles (it was so muddy!!), but I kept her mind on track and after 45 minutes, we found our "perfect" pumpkin.

 You like her new warm-up suit? She picked it out yesterday:)

Then, we headed about a 1/2 mile down the farm to what appeared to be a market. Think fresh produce, more pumpkins, pies, jams, tons of yumminess. THEN, I looked to my left and Ella screamed with excitement. There literally was a gigantic theme park full of rides, farm animals, and some carnival food. So, we jumped in line and paid $16 per ticket to get 4 hours of rides!!! It was so cool!

 On the NW Canoe Adventure

 On the Tolt River Railroad Train

 Climbing in a firetruck while Mommy had a huge caramel apple, bag of kettle corn, and water in her hands

 Taking a break to eat the caramel apple. It was the best caramel apple I've ever had and I've had some good ones!

 Driving the car on the Antique Automobile Adventure

Then, we rode the spinning barrels (think Disney teacups) and Flying Pumpkins (think Disney Dumbo).

Up in the air on the Pumpkin ride

 Giving the carousel swing a try. Poor thing, it started and I noticed her belt was undone. She showed it on her face and the lady operating the swing quickly stopped the ride. Next thing I know, Ella was being escorted out. She had gotten scared and unsnapped the belt because she wanted off. So sad!

So guess what we did next?

We rode on a mini roller coaster!!! Ha! The first lap, she looked a little white in the face. But, the last two laps, she was all smiles. That was the only ride she asked to do again...and, we did!

After riding the canoe and train one more time, we checked out the barnyard full of sheep, baby chickens, alpacas, goats, bunnies, you name it. She loved it!

We basically closed the place down leaving 20 minutes before it closed. Ella had so much fun she passed out as soon as we started our drive home. We had a blast! We might have to go one more time next weekend because I think Daddy was a little jealous!