Christmas..

I do plan on doing a Christmas post. I left my camera at my in-law's house, so that's why it's taking so long. We did have a wonderful Christmas though! Ella got so many nice gifts from all of our family, and she loved walking in to toys Christmas morning!

Her big gift was a play kitchen. I almost cried when I opened the box Christmas Eve night and saw all those parts!! It took us TWO AND A HALF HOURS to put that thing together. We finally got it finished, put all of her other gifts out, and I'll give you one guess what happened next. She woke up. It was about 10pm at this point, and luckily she was still out of it enough that I was able to cut all the lights off and just rock her for a couple of minutes before she was back out. Thankfully she didn't catch a glimpse of any of her gifts! It got me wondering, what would we have done if this happened and she was 8 or 9!

We also got to drive up to our parents' house Saturday morning in the snow! This is a big deal for us, seeing as how I don't remember another Christmas before this when it snowed.

I think Ella's favorite part of the weekend was when all of my aunts, uncles and cousins came over Christmas night. She was wild opening presents.... and not just hers! Hopefully it won't be long before I can come back and add some pictures from the weekend. Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday as well!!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

This isn't the Oprah show y'all. These are not high-dollar items, and I won't be sending you any of them :). But seriously, I had to share two things that every person must own.

A Shark Steam Vac

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I love this thing. Best hundred or so bucks I ever spent. If you have hard floors you NEED to have it. It vacuums as good as a broom, and THEN you attach a microfiber pad on the bottom, and turn on the steam part... and STEAM your floors! No getting mop water ready, no dealing with a nasty mop head. Just let it heat up for about 30 sec until the steam starts pouring out, and go at it! No chemicals, but very antibacterial!! Mopping is no longer a 30min chore!!

The next thing is this little contraption...

This little diddy is a remote control for your outlet. We bought it for the C'mas season, but I plan on using it all the time now. On the right, is the outlet. You plug that part into your wall, and then insert the plug of your appliance or whatever into the bottom. Then, when you want to turn it off, you just hit the on or off botton on the remote! It comes with 3 outlets. We currently have one for our C'mas tree, and our outside C'mas lights. No more climbing behind the tree, and no more going outside at 10pm to unplug lights! I just hit the off button!! And the best part? Only 15.00. No kidding. Get one.

Pictures with a Toddler...

I decided to get some cute pictures of Ella the other day, since she was all dressed in her Christmas clothes. Now I remember why I opted out of doing a Christmas card this year. Below are the BEST pictures I got. Yeah.

I turned 28 on Saturday.... strangely, I feel like I should already be in my 30's. Isn't that odd to say? I spent the day out Christmas shopping with my Mom. Sometimes, I forget that I'm pregnant again. After we got home from 4 hours of shopping, I quickly remembered. I felt like I had been run over by a truck! I can only imagine what I'm going to feel like in a couple more months. Whew. Pregnancy is very different with a toddler in the picture.

Sick Again...

Last weekend ear infection, this weekend stomach bug! Ella woke up sick Friday, but luckily Brent and I both managed to not get it. By Saturday she was feeling fine and dandy again! We managed to get out and get some Christmas shopping done, which was nice and CROWDED.

Speaking of Ella, she is 21 months old and is getting smarter every day. I thought I would share just a few of the things she is up too.... mainly so that with this next one I have something to look back and on.

-She can count to 10... when she wants too
-She knows many songs from schools and sings all day long
-Weighs around 26lbs
-Size 4 diapers
-Not a very good eater :(
-Can recognize man letters of the alphabet, and can say the alphabet for the most part
-Has a very big vocabulary for her age, according to her teacher.
-Is very good at following directions
-Loves putting her plate up when she is done, and picking trash up out of the floor and taking to the garbage lol
-Just moved into 24month clothes
-Size almost 6 in shoes
-Knows at least 12 words in sign language
-Knows her name, and recognizes herself in pictures
-Loves to dance.... considering enrolling her in dance soon!


That's all I can think of right now!

Thanksgiving

As always, I took my camera with us for Thanksgiving but took NO pictures. Typical. I would blog about the great wonderful holiday we had, but in all honesty it wasn't the best. Ella got sick Thursday night, and until we finally left Saturday morning, was just a mess. Turned out to be a double ear infection. Not to mention that until last night, we were still dealing with the after-effects of messing up her routine. Which means lots of crying at bedtime, not wanting to get up in the mornings, etc.

On a lighter note, we returned home Saturday to find none other that a huge black cat napping on our guest bed. We had been home a good 30min, and didn't discover it until I went into the room and cut the light on.... and it JUMPED off the bed at me. Don't even ask how it got in because I have no idea, nor do I know how long it bad been there. I'm guessing not long, as it didn't feel the need to get into the garbage, or doing any other nasty things while it was there. And wouldn't you know that SAME dang cat was back at my door last night trying to get in!! What is the deal?

In other news, we were able to share with our family during the holiday that we are going to have another baby. That's right folks... stop the presses! In June we will be welcoming a new little one.

Hopefully I will be able to update more. There has just been so much going on, this blog hasn't even crossed my mind!

Fall!!

It FINALLY feels like fall! Why? PUMPKINS!! I love pumpkins... and evidently, so does Ella. 'Pumpkies' are the first things she wants to look at in the morning, and the first things she wants to see when we get home. To add to her love of the big orange balls, we took her to the pumpkin patch last week. Actually, this was MY first trip to the pumpkin patch. I can't believe I have never been to one! I'm not even sure we had them back where I grew up. Lot's of cotton fields and corn fields... pumpkin patches no so much.

She, of course, loved it. We also tried putting her in a toddler bed on Saturday night. I thought she did pretty good. She only fell off twice. One of those times, I just happened to be watching the monitor. At the risk of sounding like a terrible parent, I will say... it doesn't get much funnier than seeing a toddler roll off a bed in their sleep. Especially when you see that moment they wake up... somewhere between the bed and the floor, and their panic sets in. (And no, it didn't hurt her. She was like 6 inches from the floor!) Halarious. Anyway, her Dad decided it was too soon so we put her back in the crib. Maybe another day!

A Whole Lot of Nothing

I haven't had much to say lately. Not much going on. Ella was sick for a week, and for the last two weeks we've been busy figuring out her schedule for the week. She starts her new school on 10/4, and I am so excited! It's so much easier to get to... not to mention she will probably have both shoes on when I pick her up in the afternoons! She is saying a lot of new things right now, and desperatly tries to say her abc's... though it sounds more like "a,b,6,o,6,h,b,6." What can I say, the girl likes the number 6.

Daycare.... enough said.

I have had it with Ella's current daycare. Her last day if Friday, and she starts a new one two weeks after that. I am so excited!

I was pushed to the limit when I picked her up yesterday. They were outside playing, and when I walked out, she was standing at the gate crying. No one around or checking on her. She had one shoe on, and a days worth of snot all over her face, and running thick from her nose. I don't think her nose had been wiped all day. And no, she didn't lose the other shoe on the playground. It was inside. I guess they just couldn't be bothered to put it on before she went out. Who does that?? Who let's a kid go outside and play with ONE shoe on?? Not to mention, the day before when Brent picked her up, they TOLD him that she hadn't had her shoes on all day. So she had been outside, on the playground, barefoot. No wonder she keeps a cold. I was so upset I was on the verge of tears all the way home.

Moving on to other things.... that move I mentioned? Probably not happening LOL. We do this. Talk it up, decide on it, then switch gears. The housing market just isn't in the place we need it to be in order to sell our house.

What is Ella up too? Getting into everything, as always. Throwing tantrums, getting in trouble, etc. I put her in time-out the other day. She kept standing up trying to walk off, so I would sit her down, explain what was going on, etc. This went on 3 or 4 times. So finally, she sat there for about 30 seconds.... I glanced over, and caught her trying to CRAWL off. All while watching me out of the corner of her eye. Sneeky kid. I was immediatly reminded of how we are created with a sinful nature. It's amazing the things God shows you through your kids.

Pictures from our Labor Day beach trip!

Hello Nobody!

So, my Hubby and I are seriously considering a big move.... back to where we are orginally from. He has recently started his own business, and most of his clients are in that area. Which means that he ends up working there, and being away from home, 3-4 days a week. Or, as is the case this week, ALL week. Being home alone with a toddler all week SUCKS. It's hard. Especially with working, getting her to daycare, etc. Don't know how single Moms do it. All that to say, we are seriously considering moving. I have even go as far as to inquire about a couple of homes for rent up there. It's scary, and risky..... but I'm just sick of being stuck here by myself all the time! What if Ella and I had a wreck on the way to daycare one morning, while he was out of town? It would be hours before anyone could get to her, or even find out for that matter! We've discussed it several times, but I think we may finally be ready.

On the Ella front, she has now started calling all books 'Bibles'. She has also been practicing her gymnastics, by standing on the seat of her little 'ride', while clapping and dancing. I think we'll start her off on the balance beam. :)

Late....Again

Last night,a round 7pm, I walked outside and was surprised at how nice it felt! It has been in the high 90's, or evern triple digits, here for the last month! My hubby was out of town, my daughter was already in bed, and I was bored. I thought this would be a fine time to get some exercise and go for a run down the street! Then I remembered that I don't run. And that I had a sleeping child inside. So I got a wild hair and decided to mow the yard! I got everything but the back yard finished before dark. Pretty impressive! Of course then I had to wind down for a couple of hours before bed, which meant I ended up staying up a littler later. I knew this morning when I was awaken by Ella, instead of my alarm, that something was wrong. My alarm was set for 5:30.... and it was 7. Yikes! Oh well!

In other news, Ella will be 18 months on September 7th. Crazy. She is sooo fiesty! I can't wait to get her into gymnastics.... she loves flipping over things, and just being rough in general- ha! She said 'octopus' last night, and hearing that big word come out of that little mouth was halarious! I've been thinking about buying her a tent of some sort. She is really getting into the whole 'hiding out' thing. She loves to play under the kitchen table or in the dryer. Wait, did I just say dryer? Yeah, that's a story for another day...

This was almost a year ago... or yesterday???

Here we are!

One of my favorite things to do is read blogs. I have several that I read daily, and yes sometimes I forget that I don't personally know some of these people. I've considered starting my own blog for awhile, but always wonder if I would REALLY have anything to say. But then I realized how crazy our life is sometimes, and of all the really random and strange things that happen to us. So, I figured if nothing else, I could share those things... and maybe some of you would get a laugh out of a day in our life!