Big Sister Quote of the Day LIII

On Halloween, while explaining to Brynn's mommy why Addie wasn't joining us, Ellie said "My baby is not big enough to go trick or treating. But she's getting bigger every day! Just yesterday (earlier that afternoon) she was walking now for the first time! I'm so proud of her! Maybe soon she will be ree-ah big to go trick-or-treating wif me."

The end of an era

Ellie has kissed my breast 9 times in the last 12 days. Oh yes, I've been counting.

I stopped breastfeeding Addie 12 days ago and am finally almost, but not quite, pain and lump free. Go me!

When I stopped breastfeeding Ellie I was rock hard for two weeks straight. I could barely stand the touch of my shirt against my breasts, let alone anyone accidentally bumping into them. It took me over three weeks to fully recover. Crazy.

This time around, it's not nearly as bad. I wouldn't say I'm walking around with hard melons but I have been tender. And whenever Ellie accidentally bumps into me, resulting in an unexpected shriek from her Mommy, she gently kisses my breast and pats it, claiming it's now ok.

Quite honestly, I don't ever know how to respond to a child kissing my boob and patting it affectionately... so I can think of nothing to do other than to count the number of times it happens.

Wordless Wednesday XLIV

In a relationship? Wanna be my friend?

Ellie has now been to 3 weddings and got to meet 3 REAL princesses. I want that same experience for Addie but I fear that I'm out of friends. All my friends are married or will be soon. Are you dating someone? Do you see yourself getting married 1.5-2.5 years from now? Wanna be my friend?

Big Sister Quote of the Day LII

Mommy: You and Addie are both going to spend the night at Gramma's house.
Ellie: Why?
Mommy: Because Addie is now big enough. Isn't that exciting?
Ellie: I'm so 'cited!
Mommy: Addie may be a little scared. Will you help her?
Ellie: Yes. I will keep my baby happy and I will help keep her safe too. And I will show her how to watch movies at Gramma's house. And how to plant flowers. And where the potty is. And where my bed is. And where Gramma's bed is. But where is Addie's bed?
Mommy: She'll be sleeping in a little crib.
Ellie: Oh! And I will show her where her crib is and give her Bun Bun Bear if she gets scared.
Mommy: Oh, thank you! I knew you would help show her how it's done.
Ellie: I'm da big sister and I know dese sthings.

Ellie gives a toast

I was in another wedding on Saturday. This one I made the invitations for and I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they turned out. If I were to redo my invitations, they'd be more like this. I saved the best ones and put them in a frame for the bride and groom. They loved it so much that they put it up for display during the wedding. Yay! Niffer done good.
To say that the wedding was beautiful just doesn't do it justice. The bride was gorgeous and I couldn't stop staring at her all day, wondering if I was that beautiful and radiant at my wedding. I'm told I was.
But of course, that's not why I'm writing. I have to write about my Ellie and her THIRD wedding! I so badly wish I could post some of the other pictures I took but sadly they're in Aruba now. Ugh. When the beautiful bride comes back I'll try to be patient with her emailing them to me.
Of course Ellie loved the wedding. She loves seeing real princesses and was particularly excited about Miss Jen being a real princess. Though she didn't have any flower girls, Princess Jen still wanted to make the day special for Ellie by giving her a crown. I was shocked to know that Ellie knew this was the plan (did I say something to her?? I don't think so). After the wedding, she came up to me and said "Mommy, I want to give Princess Jen a hug now. And get my crown. But I want to give her a hug first and den get my crown. Ok?" She was so sweet with Princess Jen and Prince Jason - I'll have to post those pictures in a few weeks.
But Ellie loved her crown. Add a napkin tied over her shoulders and she was transformed into a pretty pretty princess just like Princess Jen. In many ways the evening went exactly like you'd expect. Ellie felt so grown up staying up so late and insisted that even though she was tired, she had to wait for the princess and the prince to dance and to eat some cake. The princess and prince shocked the crowd by doing a hip-hop routine as a complete surprise. It was excellent and has been the top of the list of things Ellie mentions about the wedding since. "When I get bigger and I find my prince I wanna do a funny dance wif him too!"
But the thing that I really want to focus on was the toast. My Ellie is incredible. She pushes me to be a better person all the time and often motivates me to do things that are completely out of my comfort zone. Case in point? The toasts. First the best man gave his toast and Ellie said "I wanna have a turn wif dat!" Then the maitron of honor gave a toast and Ellie said "Can I have a turn?" Then the maid of honor gave a toast and Ellie said "Please? I wanna talk into dat sthing for the princess too!" I finally asked her what she wanted to tell the princess and prince and she said "I don't know." I told her that she had to decide before she could have a turn. Finally she decided what she wanted to say and asked nicely for a turn. It never ceases to amaze me how bold and confident my little girl can be sometimes. I on the other hand, felt completely akward but since I was wearing a bridesmaid dress, I figured I had the right to stand up and grab the microphone too, right?

So I did. Because my Ellie wanted a turn so badly, I stood up and gave a quick little toast so that I could hand the microphon to her. She was excited but got a slight case of stage fright and couldn't remember what she wanted to say. I whispered a short reminder into her ear and she spoke into the microphone...
"You're a very pretty princess and I hope you live happily ever after."

Go ahead... say your "AWWWWW!" The rest of the room did too. Perfect.

My Ellie at school

I don't get to watch my Ellie play with her friends at school much. Usually I read a book and have to pry myself away from her or drift away slowly before heading to work, but the other day her teacher came early (and thus I could drop Ellie off in HER classroom) and I watched for a few minutes while my little girl played with Brynn and Wesley as though she had forgotten that I existed.

I felt a little strange just staring so I explained myself to her teacher saying I love to watch her play because I don't get that opportunity very often. Her teacher responded with the most kind words.

Teacher: Oh, Ellie is very social. She gets along with all the kids and has no problem playing with anyone.
Mommy: Really? She's social (I have no idea where she got that from, perhaps the mailman... J/K)? Tell me more.
Teacher: Oh yeah! When she's in a group of girls, she's almost like the mother... she says "Let's go over here" or "Follow me this way." She's leads them along. She's a good leader.
Mommy: (silent but soaking it in)
Teacher: And she is very good at being helpful. She always helps her friends take off their sheets from their mats after nap time or helps them get chairs for craft time.
Mommy: (silent but soaking it in... don't stop)
Teacher: And when we have a new child come into the classroom, Ellie is just one of those children... There are certain children that you can TRUST to help make the new child feel welcome by showing them where the bathroom is or holding their hand while we walk down the hallway or showing them how to get water into their cup... You can just tell who those children are and Ellie is definitely one of them.

Sigh. My Ellie is one of the good ones. Teacher said so.

A tribute to Bun Bun II

I wrote the original Tribute to Bun Bun thinking, "surely we have to be nearing the point when Ellie will choose another favorite furry friend." Boy was I wrong. Bun Bun is not only still around, but she is STILL Ellie's most prized posession. It does not appear that Bun Bun is going anywhere any time soon.

Bun Bun has sprouted quite a personality in the last 6 months or so. She loves to dance...

She loves to sleep...

She loves to travel...

She even loves to go camping! She is always with us, or at least near by.

Ellie has drawn pictures of Bun Bun...

And has requested pictures be drawn of them together.

I love how Ellie pretends that Bun Bun is her baby. Whenever we've gotten her a real baby doll (whether it be Naked Baby, Sophie or even Ellie) Ellie's interest in the doll eventually fades. Ellie's motherly care always goes back to Bun Bun.

I simply ADORE the look of endearment and tenderness that Ellie has when she looks down on her "baby". It shows me that my oldest daughter understands the love that a Mommy has for her baby. It shows me that I'm doing something right.

And speaking of doing something right... originally we got seven Bun-Buns (yes, this is the FIRST photo of ALL of them together) because they got nasty from Ellie sucking on their arms. She would get a new clean one every day. Those days are gone and now Bun-Buns are readily available. Where am I going with this? Why was that "doing something right?" Well...

An unexpected result of having so many readily available was that Bun Bun has taught my Ellie how to share. She has no problems sharing Bun Bun with friends, parents or even her little sister because there's always plenty to go around. In fact, for a while now Brynn has had her very own Bun Bun to take naps with at school. Think about it. Ellie loves Bun Bun more than anything else in the world, and she's willing to share her??? Crazy. But when even Ellie's MOST PRIZED POCESSION is easily shareable, it makes the idea of sharing other items seem so easy and fun to do. I credit Bun Bun for Ellie being a very generous little girl.

While we're on the topic of plentiful Bun Buns, remember how we had to amputate Bun Bun? As it turns out, there are three Bun Buns without arms and four that still have arms. Ellie has decided that the arm-less ones are girls and the ones with arms are boys. Don't ask for reasons. Some things just go without saying. But if the topic ever does come up, Ellie has been known to get very serious and inform people in a stern voice, "We don't put Bun Bun in our mouf because if we do den we will get sick and den da doctor will take Bun Bun and CUT his arms OFF!!!"

Trick or treat... I need to pee...

It should come as no surprise that we went trick or treating with Brynn. Addie stayed home to man the door. She had no problem saying "Hiiiiiii" in a sing-song voice whenever the door was opened to the neighbor kids in costumes.
But Ellie and I joined Brynn and her sister. Lilah is 16.5 months old - 4 months older than Addie. Brynn dressed up as Little Bo Peep and Lilah was her sheep. Simply adorable. Ellie was proud to carry her green pumpkin, which she bought with her VERY OWN MONEY. Woah! Too cool!
Lilah would just stare at the big girls in awe. She held her own and kept up pretty well.
I loved how when someone asked the girls "Oh, who do we have here?" Ellie would respond "I'm a budderfly and my friend Brynn is Little Bo Peep." Then Brynn would pipe up with "Lost her sheep!" because we all know that's a very critical part of her costume.
The girls did very well this year. There were no scary costumes that made them want to go back home and whenever they got nervous, they'd reassure each other by saying things like "It's ok to be a little bit afraid, right Brynn?" or "It's just pretend, right Lori-elle?"
And poor little sheep. She tried to keep up with the girls but her legs were simply shorter. And if you offered to help her carry her bag of candy (which did get pretty heavy), then watch out! That little lamb has an edge if you dare take her treats away!
You know how kids have a tendency to not hold things back? Well at one particular house, Ellie rang the "dingbell" and then told me she had to go potty. I told her that after this house, we could go back to Brynn's house to use her potty. Then when the door opened, instead of being greeted with the typical "Trick or treat," Brynn blurted out "My friend needs to go potty!" and Ellie spoke up and said "Can I please use your bafroom?" Oh, girls. Way to say it like it is.
Little Bo Peep and her little sheep loving the sugar.
Once we got back and started eating candy, Ellie took her wings and hat off and announced "I don't need dis anymore. I'm done being a budderfly. I'm ready to be a pirate now!!"

Budderflies and Cadderpillars

This year Ellie really wanted to match her baby sister for Halloween - that is, after I finally convinced her that she shouldn't be a bumble bee because Brynn would be something different this year. I figured that the years in which they will want to match are very limited, so I should take advantage of it now. So, we tossed around a bunch of ideas... Little Bo Peep and her sheep? A princess and her dragon? A flower and a bee? But the one that seemed to stick the most was the idea that Ellie would be a butterfly and Addie would be a baby butterfly. Ellie learned that those were called caterpillars.
I found a fantastic caterpillar costume and then made Ellie's to match. I think Ellie was impressed. Every time she put it on, she'd run around yelling "Fly! Fly! Fly!" She enjoyed watching the process of making the costume too. She helped me make sure that her costume had all the same colors as Addie's.
Ellie had no hesitation explaining her costume to others, "I'm a budderfly! And my baby is a cadderpillar! A cadderpillar is a baby budderfly! Maybe when my baby is bigger she can be a budderfly like me, but not right now. She's just a cadderpillar." A caterpillar with potential, perhaps, but still just a caterpillar.