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!