Happy Birthday Mommy to You

I had a very pleasant Mother's Day weekend. It was actually my first Mother's Day alone. Previous years, we spent the day with other extended family members, but having Ellie and Daddy all to myself for an entire weekend was just what I wanted.

This year also marked the first year that I got a real Mother's Day present. Previous years (and this year included), Daddy did a fantastic job of getting me great jewelry with a Mother theme, but this was the first year that Ellie *MADE* me something.

It's a wheel-barrow planter with a flower pot! Ellie made the planter at Home Depot. For those of you who have young children, I would highly recommend Home Depot on the first Saturday of the month. All for free, the kids get a cool orange apron (just like the professionals who work at the store) and they get to make little projects. When they're finished, they get a pin to put on their apron. Even Ellie loves to participate even though she's so much younger than the other kids. She also put on the stickers and planted the flower. Daddy did the painting because he wasn't sure about how safe the paint would be for her. Ellie was so proud to give me the present (she couldn't wait until Mother's Day).

Ellie: Here go, Mommy!
Mommy: Oh, thank you!
Ellie: I maked it!
Mommy: You made this?
Ellie: YEAH!
Daddy: Can you say "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy"?
Ellie: Happy bird-day Mommy to you!"
Mommy: Oh, thank you. I love it!
Ellie: Yeah.

Adorable. Best present EVER.

Later that day we drove down to have dinner with an old friend and his wife, who are on their way to live in Flagstaff for the summer. It was fantastic to see them (for some bizarre reason, we never hung out when I lived in MD). Even Michael commented on how great the two of them were. Ellie did a good job, too. Holly commented on how well behaved she was. Later we were talking about how that seems to happen often. It's one of those things we probably take for granted. On the way home, I asked Ellie if she liked Dan and Holly:

Mommy: Did you like Dan? Was he nice?
Ellie: Yeah.
Mommy: Did you like Holly? Was she pretty?
Ellie: YEAH!
Mommy: Ellie is pretty too. I bet Holly thought you were very pretty.
Ellie: Mommy pretty too!
Mommy: Ah, thank you!
Ellie: Tank you. You're welcome.

On Sunday we went to the bakery - always one of my favorite things to do.

Then we waited for the bus. Ellie was very excited to get to ride the same bus that Daddy takes to work.

On the bus, Ellie looks like a pro.

We rode the bus to Pearl Street Mall to see the tulips - another favorite of mine. We stopped to get some chocolate and then headed to see the pretty flowers. Ellie declared that they all smelled "Mmmmm Nummy."

Mommy couldn't be any happier.

"Mmmm weally weally nummy."

I hope all the mothers out there had as nice of a weekend as I did. I love this little girl. I'm so proud to be her Mommy!

Amazing Anna II

Six months ago I wrote about how I thought it was amazing that Ellie still remembered Miss Anna.

Since then we've seen Anna at the bakery every now and then and it's obvious that Ellie still knows her because she'll run and give her a big hug. However, she really hasn't seen much of Anna lately, especially since Anna quit her job (to student teach) and is only subbing every now and then at the daycare. Even this, though, is in a different building from where Ellie is now.

It's been almost a year now since Ellie left the Bear Room in the Infant Center. I don't think I've ever referred to it by name before. I got an email from Anna today saying that she saw Ellie on Tuesday and was amazed by all her words. Ellie gave her a big bear hug and said "I go back to bear room?"

HOW DOES SHE REMEMBER SOMETHING FROM NEARLY A YEAR AGO??? And she even knew the name of the room? Wow. Wow. This Anna is quite something.

Picking up Mommy from the airport

I've been out of town the last few days for the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) conference. As a side note - as much as I'd like to think we're all mature grown-ups, it was still bizarre for me to attend this conference with my supervisor - a little too much talk about women's body parts for my complete comfort.

Ellie missed Mommy a lot and Mommy missed her tons too. I had one fantastic phone conversation with her, where we talked for almost 5 minutes! And it was her and me talking (very little translating needed from Daddy). It was amazing and left me in tears. Good tears, but tears all the same. My little one is getting so big.

When I got to the airport and saw her again, her face lit up so brightly. It was fantastic. I ran up to her and held her and hugged her. It felt so good to feel her again.

Mommy: It's so good to see you! Mommy missed you!
Ellie: I go on air-pane-ator now.
Mommy: Airplane-ator?
Ellie: Ok!
Mommy: You want to go on the airplane now?
Ellie: No, dat one!
Mommy: Oh! You want to go on the escalator!
Ellie: Yeah! Up! Up! Up!
Mommy: Yep, I missed you!

On the way out of the airport:

Mommy: Where you a good girl when Mommy was gone?
Ellie: Yeah.
Mommy: Did you help Daddy a lot?
Ellie: Yeah.
Mommy: What did you do today?
Ellie: (super excited) I go to airport get a Mommy!
Mommy: And I'm so glad you did! Thank you for coming to get me!
Ellie: Welcome!

WANTED: Updated pictures

I know, I know. Even though I've done a good job of posting often, I have not done much along the lines of picture updates. It seems like every few months or so I decide that I need to start adding pictures to my post, but then I realize that doing so takes a whole additional step - one that I often don't have time or energy to do. It's so much easier to log on (from anywhere) and write a couple paragraphs than it is to log on from the computer in the basement at home to post a picture.


But pictures are coming! I swear! Hopefully I can put updated pictures in the slide show on the right of my blog AND share some that have been taken by the wonderful Iman Woods.

I wonder how many parents do this

Daddy recently decided that his junk email address was finally filled with too much junk mail to deal with. He went searching for a new email address to use whenever he gets asked for one on various websites. We all do this, right? I have two junk email addresses and two real ones.

Anyway, Daddy had one heck of a time coming up with a user name that wasn't already taken. It literally took him all afternoon and he finally ended up with a user's name that had his first name spelled forwards and his last name spelled backwards. That, apparently, was not already taken. Go figure.

After going through that he mentioned that we should make email accounts for the kids. At first I thought it was crazy, but he has a point. There are so many email accounts out there that it's nearly impossible to get one that has any resemblance to a real name yet simple enough that people would actually remember it.

I guess that's one benefit of giving Ellie a nickname that we didn't think of. She probably won't have a hard time finding user names that have not already been taken. Even so, we signed her up. She now has a gmail account. She's set to go. I've emailed both myself and Daddy from her account with password information so hopefully it doesn't end up that we are the ones who took the user name from her but can't remember her password. Wouldn't that be funny?

Doggie exchange

We got a new dog last week!

Here is a picture of our old dog (taken 1.5 months ago). Merlin figured out how to open doors and really, who wants a dog that can do that? So we traded him in.And here is a picture of our new dog (taken end of last week). We've decided to name him Merlin as well and strangely enough, he can also open doors. Go figure.Coming home late one night:
Ellie: Ah! New doggie!
Mommy: Yeah, Merlin got a haircut today.
Ellie: Look Mommy, new doggie!
Mommy: It's Merlin. Does he look funny?
Ellie: New doggie fun!
Mommy: Do you want to pet him? Is he soft?
Ellie: Yeah, reawy reawy soft.
Mommy: Ok, let's go to bed. Good night, Merlin!
Ellie: Night night doggie!

Ellie's Favorite Books

"I Love My Daddy Because"
aka "Daddy Book"

This is the first book that Ellie has requested I point to each word as I read it. She'll even take a turn to do the same, pointing to each word as she recites the memorized words. She seems to really get the pictures and how even animals have special relationships with their Daddy like she does. For me, it's especially exciting to see her so interested in the individual words and pretend to read them herself. (27 months)

"How Do You Feel"
aka "Bear Book"

I've recently decided that every child should have a book talking about all the different types of feelings we can have and this is the one I ended up with. Ellie completely relates to most of the feelings (Happy, Sad, Lonely, Grumpy, Loving, Excited, Scared, etc) and loves talking about the reasons behind why each bear feels the way they do. This has turned out to be one of the more interactive books we have since Ellie talks so much about each feeling. (25 months)

"Polite as a Princess"
aka "Pincess Book"

Everyone knows that a princess is a very polite young lady. Being polite is very important because if you're nice to others then they'll be nice to you. This is another book that Ellie likes to comment on a lot. She loves to choose which princess she is today and thinks that the Beast (from Beauty and the Beast) is a "funny giraffe". Much like "The Polite Elephant," there are lots of examples of good manners, but currently Ellie seems to relate to this one more. (25 months)

"Bluebird's Nest"

This is a fantastic book that combines a cute story about animals helping bluebird build a home for her family with a real nest that the kids can watch and touch as it's being built up. Ellie loves waiting for the page where the eggs appear and finally, on the last page, the babies jump out of the book! (24 months)

"It Could Have Been Worse"
aka "The mouse book"

A cute little mouse has a horrible day tripping and falling, but doesn't realize that each fall saves him from being eaten by other animals. Ellie loves getting worked up about the mouse's safety. "Oh Oh! Nake almos eat mouse!!!" (24 months)

"Ten Little Ladybugs"
aka "Lazybug book"

Ten little ladybugs disappear one by one as animals come by. Ellie likes to pretend to be scared that the animals are eating the ladybugs, but she's always anxious to reach the end when she sees that they're actually safe and everyone is friends. She loves to count the ladybugs herself and even guess at the number of ladybugs remaining after each page. (24 months)

"Cars, Trucks, Planes and Trains"
aka "Tain book"

A lift-the-flap book that lets Ellie find different colors and shapes, count monkeys and find the hidden animals (her favorite is the "ocopus"). This book makes Ellie feel so smart when she can locate things on her own. (20 months)

"Way Out in the Desert"
aka "Deeser book"

A book about all the animals found in the desert. Ellie likes the rhyming of the book. She also likes to see the animal babies with their mommies. She especially loved the Gila Monster page and would rarely let me read the others. She has recently enjoyed finding the numbers hidden on each page. (20 months)

"But Not the Hippopotamus"
aka "Hipp-ocapus book"

The poor hippopotamus always gets left out of the fun because his name does not rhyme like the other animals' names, until at last he can join them at the end! I'll admit that this has been my favorite book ever since Cracker's mom gave it to me when I was pregnant. It is absolutely adorable. Ellie likes the funny rhymes and seems to relate well to the fact that the hippopotamus is sad and the other animals are happy. (12-20 months)

"How Do Dionsaurs Play with their Friends"
aka "RARRR!"

A cute book about how dinosaurs play nicely with their friends. I'm sure that this one will become more relevant when Ellie is older, but right now she loves seeing the monsters on each page. Every new dinosaur results in a great "Rarrr" from the little girl and it's just adorable. (16 months)

"Polite Elephant"

This little elephant is very polite and knows how to be on his best behavior when he's with his friends and family. Ellie likes to see elephants because she can make the sound and knows the sign (she trumpets like an elephant and holds her arm up like a trunk). She also likes the page where the polite elephant says "please" when he wants something and "thank you" when he gets it. She can sign and/or say both of those words so she understands that well. (12-18 months)

This will be me in a year from now

Another beautiful post by Amalah.

Pregnancy Cravings

Most women have strange food cravings when they're pregnant. Not me. Apparently I crave tattoos. I felt this way when I was pregnant with Ellie too!

I've always toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo (usually an abstract picture of two dolphins) but have never gone through with it because it's so permanent! But there is no doubt in my mind now (like during the last pregnancy) that I want a tattoo!

I even tried to convince Michael to get a tattoo with me. How great would that be - to get tattoos together? He didn't buy it. Let's just say that he's lucky that *they* recommend *not* getting tattoos while pregnant.

I wonder if it's safe while breastfeeding.

Anyway, I want to get a tattoo that means something to me. A friend of mine has one on her back and it's a flower design with two Jesus fish symbols on the side. Obviously that's a big part of her life, but the thing I like about it is that it's subtle. I don't think most people would recognize the fish if they didn't know. That's what I want. I want a tattoo that most people would look at and think "Awesome tattoo!" but only I would know it's significance.

I also want something to remind me of the two babies. Last time I was pregnant, I wanted a daffodil or cherry blossoms because those were definitely the two things that reminded me of my spring baby. This time, though, I'm having an autumn baby. How do you combine the two?

Michael suggested daffodils wrapping around a pumpkin. Hahaha. I suppose that would do the trick. Do you have any better ideas?

Mark my words... assuming the hormones have nothing to do with this desire, which I realize is a BIG ASSUMPTION (making an @$$ out of U and Mption), I *WILL* be getting a tattoo.

Playing in the sand

Take a look at these pictures that Iman took. Ellie wasn't in a good mood, but they still turned out cute.