Leg hug

I've decided that there is nothing better than the unexpected leg hug followed by "I la loo." Mmmm Mmmm Good.

I NEED YOUR OPINION!!!

Ok, so I don't usually pay for someone to take photos of Ellie because we figure we have enough of our own. However, this photographer emailed the Mom's yahoo group saying that she was offering $25 photo sessions. Why? She believes that one of her photos can win the Cutest Baby Contest. More details on that later.

I figured that for $25 I couldn't lose, right?

The point for right now is that I need your opinion!
Go to Terrie Strick Photography
Click on "Proofing"
Password "Jen"

Tell me which photos you like (they're all numbered). Think cute. Think about which photo you think would win a contest for cute.

As to be expected, I'm biased and I think they're all adorable. PLEASE share your opinion! I need to know soon because the more time that a photo has to receive votes, obviously the better the chances are (thus I need to submit a photo soon).

Silly I know, but it's worth a try. And she is cute.

Mommy's weekend

I'm free! I'm free to do whatever I want this weekend. Ellie and Daddy (and Nana) are going to Green Bay to visit the great-grandparents. And so I'm free! Free at last!

It's a strange feeling to be left alone for 3 days. I've only spent that much time away from Ellie once and it was for our anniversary, so Michael was with me. But alone, I'm completely alone this weekend. It feels lonely. That's deep.

Here is a list of all the things I'd like to accomplish this weekend:
- Slumber party with the girls. Fun, huh?
- Clean house. No, I mean REALLY clean.
- Put up window treatments in every room of the house. 15 windows I think?
- Have dinner with an old friend.
- Have girls' night out with new friends.
- Spend lots of time with my mom alone (weird... that hasn't happened in YEARS).
- Sleep in.
- Catch up on Facebook messages.
- Create my own blog background.
- Laundry.
- Oh, right... walk the dog.

Already I can think of two or three things that won't happen. And already I miss my little Ellie Belly.

Pin Up Girls

I don't normally post anything that doesn't have to do with my daughter. Duh, you know that! But take a look at this!

Pin up Girls

I LOVE IT! I love how pretty everyone looks, yet it's a classy non-slutty look (I'm envisioning Glamour Shots with the word slutty). I just love the old fashion feel.

You may be wondering what I'm talking about. This is a photographer who lives in the basement of my sister's house. No, I'm kidding. She's just renting the house. She's incredible. I would love to have a photo shoot done someday. It would be fun.

Look what she has to do to reach the end product: Pin-up Process. That's pretty cool!

Mommy 101: Lesson 4

Mommy: What does Baby say?
Ellie: Waaaa!
Mommy: Ga ga goo goo!
Ellie: Boo boo ga ga!
Mommy: Is baby thirsty?
Ellie: Yeeeeeaah!
Mommy: What does baby like to drink?
Ellie: Mommy!

She's a smart cookie.

Keeping ahead of the game

I used to think that parenting successfully had to do with keeping ahead of the game. Stay one step ahead of your children, and you'll be ok.

Now I'm convinced that it's all about the ability to INVENT games. For example:

Mommy can't get Ellie to eat. She won't eat her apple sauce. She won't eat her raisins (among other things). Solution? Let's look at it as a game: Put one raisin into the apple sauce and challenge the girl to scoop it out with her spoon. Repeat until raisins and applesauce are gone.

I need more games! That's the solution. Can anyone think of cute little ways their parents got them to get things done?

Dear Well-Meaning Driver,

I realize that when you stop in the middle of the street, or parking lot, to let me and my family walk by, you are intending it as a favor to help us out. I know your intentions are good, but please stop. You see, I am trying to teach my child to stop and look both ways for cars. After which, I am telling her to wait until the cars pass and it is safe to cross. When you stop and wave to us indicating it's OK to go, this defeats the whole "wait for the car to pass" concept I am trying to instill. I do not want to teach my very impressionable daughter to expect that every car will stop for her, and I guarantee that she is too excited about crossing to understand the fact that you've given the "OK to go" wave.

I appreciate your intentions, but next time you think about stopping to let me and my family pass, please take that moment to help verify that I do indeed have them under control and thus they will most likely not run out in front of you. Then move along your way as normal.

Better yet, let's compromise. You may stop and offer to let us cross, as I acknowledge that it is the polite thing to do. However, when I wave back to you indicating that I'd rather you go first, let's not get into a waving fight. Then move along your way as normal.

Thank you for your help,
Mommy

Hide and Seek technique needs improvement

Nana and Grandpa recently taught Ellie how to play hide-and-seek. Nana would stay with Ellie and count to 10 and then say "Ready or not, here I come!" Then they would head off together to find Grandpa. It was a huge hit.

I've tried to play the game with Ellie and have had mixed results. At this point in time, it's definitely more successful with two adults. However, since Daddy was busy cooking dinner, he could not help.

Scenario 1: Mommy hides, Ellie counts
- Ellie sits on the stairs and counts, "two, two, two, two, two..."
- Mommy hides behind the couch.
- Ellie says "COME!" and starts to look for Mommy.
- Mommy isn't in the first place Ellie looks.
- Ellie starts to cry "Mummy! Mummy!"
- Mommy tries to hide in an easier location next time.
- Repeat.

Scenario 2: Mommy counts, Ellie hides
- Mommy sits on the stairs and counts, "one, two, three, ..."
- Ellie runs into the kitchen and hides in the pantry (accompanied by giggles).
- Mommy says "Ready or not, here I come!"
- Ellie runs out of the pantry to meet Mommy.
- Repeat with same hiding place.

100 Whines

That's what I thought about changing the name of my blog to. I've always wished that I could come up with a blog name that was a play-on-words for my name, or someone in the family. Some examples? Little Bits o' Cracker, One Dey at a Time, and most recently there is That's Some Pig.

I'm so jealous! I tried to come up with something that would work for the names I have in my life, and the best I could come up with was 100 Whines. Get it? I doubt it. Sigh.

Though I thought that it might make for a good blog name having to do with raising children, I ended up deciding that it was too negative for my liking. I don't want to focus on the whining, even if it's just in the title of my blog. People would come to my blog (all 5 of you) and think that I was looking at the whole parenting thing from a negative perspective.

Or I'm thinking too much about it. Regardless I doubt anyone would link the name to my name, which is what I would have hoped for. Sigh. I'll stick with Niffer All Grown Up.

Counting machine

Ellie has moved passed the "Two... Two... Two" hurdle she had while counting.

We were watching the "gicken eckg" video (thanks, KC, for sharing them... she loves this one and the sad Canadian "Bye bye Daddy" one - though she thinks the grown son is Daddy so all is good).

Did you watch the Chicken one? Did you notice how many eggs go across the screen at the end of it? Five. Ellie counted them and took me by surprise. I have NEVER heard her count anything other than "two two two", with an occasional "one two two". But there it was... a very distinct "one two tree vour vive".

The next day Ellie counted to 8+ walking up the stairs and just about gave Ama (Grandma) a heart attack. It would have been ten, but she got excited and replaced nine with two tens. That works for me.

Now she counts just about everything she sees. Most of the time it seems like she's right, but I think she figures that starting over with one is just as good as continuing with other numbers. As long as every item is accounted for once, right?

So once again I'm amazed at how quickly things change. It's like a light switch. Once it's on, it's on. Deep.