Dress Up Time!

Lately we have been noticing that Ellery is really observing us. She laughs when we laugh, imitates the sounds our words make, loves to drink from the same glasses we do, puts the cell phone up to her ear just like mama, and even tries to dress up in our socks and shoes. She was fascinated with my necklace yesterday so I let her wear it -she was so proud. And then she decided to try on a few other items....

4th of July!

Well, we had great plans to take Ellery and friends to a parade and carnival in my parents' neighborhood, but it was pouring down rain so we quickly abandoned those plans. Instead we went out to lunch and then had play date #1 at Ella's house. The girls were so cute, all dressed in their patriotic colors. While the dads were watching the girls, the moms decided to head out and do some quick bargain shopping.
E & E talking to eachother
the three amigas

After naps, we decided we hadn't had enough of eachother, and everyone came over to our house for a real American dinner of pizza and Mrs. Julie's margaritas which are the best in town. The girls splashed around in our baby pool, took baths together, ate some dinner, and then played some more. They were exhausted come 7pm, so the moms and toddlers headed home and the dads went to see the movie Transformers. All I can say is that I am very glad I didn't have to accompany my husband to this movie like I thought I would. What a full day of fun and friends!

Splashing in the pool

The Weekend and More

Thursday night Nathan and I contemplated making a quick trip to Dallas to visit my sister and her husband. Ellery had her shots that day so we decided that we would wait and see how she felt Friday morning before making our decision. Friday morning came and Ellery seemed well so we were in the car and on our way by 8am. Paige and Taylor just moved into a new house in Colleyville and we have been meaning to get up there to see it. For being sleep-deprived and having just had 4 shots the day before, Ellery did wonderful and we all had a great time. It was great seeing where they "do" daily life!

On another note, today is a little sad. Ellery is officially done with her bottles. It is now only sippy cups. She is not really digging the whole milk in a cup thing, but I am sure it is only a matter of time. She has never really been that "into" her bottles like some babies. Hopefully it will be a smooth transition. I was trying to think of creative ways for her to get some milk intake, so I decided to teach her the art of dipping her cookies in milk. And it was a hit! After the cookies were gone, Ellery decided she would dip everything in milk- you name it, it was dipped. Green beans, strawberries, graham crackers, peas,...etc. etc. I am teaching her wonderful table manners, I know. And I forgot to mention that Ellery has started using the sign language for "more". I was an overachiever mom at the beginning of her life and tried to teach her the basics of signing because I thought it would raise her IQ or something. I quickly found out it was more trouble than it was worth and decided she was doing fine communicating by grunting and whining. Well,a few days ago out of the blue she surprised me with "more" and has been signing it since. It was a very proud moment! So tonight, there was a lot of "more" signing going on during dinner.

A Third Eye

It is my life-long mission to make sure my daughter does not get bit by mosquitoes. It is the one thing (among a couple others) that I cannot stand. To think that some disgusting mosquito enjoys the chance to suck the blood out of Ellery's perfect, untainted skin just drives me crazy...and even worse is the fact that babies and toddlers really cannot shoo them away like the rest of us. I don't mind getting bit by them that much but then again mine don't swell up into the size of a goose egg and take months to disappear.
In fact, a couple of months ago when Ellery got hit with the stomach virus that I recently had, she also had about 4 mosquito bites on one foot, which made her entire foot appear swollen and red. She would rub her foot on the carpet or on her crib sheet at night probably because the itching was driving her nuts. Very sad. I took her to the doctor for her virus but also decided to ask about her obvious allergic reaction to bug bites. (I figured it runs in our family because one time Paige got bitten right by her eye and it was completely swollen shut by the next morning). The doctor reassured me that pretty much all babies and young children have the same reaction to bites and that it might not even be an allergy.

So, back to the third eye. I decided to take Ellery for a walk yesterday afternoon to kill some time and really did load her up with bug repellent by California Baby. They make the best - it doesn't smell bad, it is all-natural, and it really seems to work. Well, Nathan is driving up to the garage as we get home and gets out of his car to greet us. He looks at Ellery and mentions that a mosquito bit her right between the eyes. I go to take a look and sure enough it must have been the one place I overlooked when spraying her down.
I was ticked and I spent all night praying that it would not swell up and blind her. When she woke up this morning I was so relieved to see that her vision was not disturbed, but I am pretty sure we will have an extra eye for at least the next month.

One Going on Sixteen!

Something so funny happened today while we were at our weekly gymboree class. Ellery was really hamming it up the entire class but then came the wonderful parachute time. Most of the kids sit on the parachute by their mothers but not my child. In fact, the minute we step into the door at gymboree she takes off and only glances up at me every once and awhile as if to make sure that I am still there. The instructor goes around the room several times and sings catchy little songs with each child's name in them, and Ellery is usually last or forgotten all-together because she is clear across the room climbing a slide or something.
Okay so back to my story. It was parachute time and Ellery goes to the middle of the parachute and sits right in front of Yoki, a cute little Asian boy. The instructor starts blowing bubbles which must have set the mood for young love. Ellery plants a big open-mouthed kiss on Yoki not once, not twice, but three times. She had us all cracking up. Julie and Tiffany were there to witness it. Really though, it was very innocent and sweet and by the end of the class she was freely giving out kisses to everyone. My sweet girl!

Birthday Pictures...finally

The birthday girl's beautiful cake...

The birthday girl enjoying and clapping for her cake...

The birthday girl sharing her cake with Ella...

The birthday girl surverying all of her gifts...

The birthday girl enjoying her new baby pool...

Week in Review

We have been keeping busy but there hasn't been something really significant to blog about. So I will just share with you some random happenings at our household:

Monday - I am still recovering from my bug. I had gone into "frenzy mode" as Nathan likes to call it (it usually happens around bedtime, I decide to start a major project such as cleaning out my closet) sanitizing our house. It turns out that my mother-in-law got the bug while staying at our house this past weekend, so I am positive that germs are just lurking around. I wash all of the sheets, santize toys, mop the floors, etc. etc. Why can't they just make a spray can where you can sanitize your entire house with the push of a button? That would be a good invention. Anyways, as long as I am doing the house I decide to tackle my car too. I find a GNC shaker lying around in the garage. (Nathan makes a protein shake and takes it with him to work every morning on his quest to get lean and mean). I bring it in to wash it out in the sink and find the most disgusting thing I think I have seen in awhile. (Also keep in mind that the last 24 hours I had spent hugging the toilet.) Little white worms squirming around the leftover protein shake! I had no idea what they were until my friend Julie informed me that they are Maggots!!! I probably took 5 showers Monday morning and said some mean things to my husband that were semi-uncalled for.

Tuesday - Ellery's first day of Mother's Day out. And I think MDO took a field trip to a nearby nail salon. Ellery came home speaking in what sounded like a foreign language, something similar to the conversations I overhear from my Vietnamese friends that do my wonderful mani and pedi . It is hilarious! In all seriousness I think she is trying to put syllables together, and she might just bust out a full sentence any day now.

Wednesday - Our first day of swim lessons. Wow! As I was driving home from lessons and lunch, my car gas light comes on. And I think to myself, "Running on empty! - This should be my quote for the day." Cheesy I know. Between trying to get a one year old to swim lessons in Sharpstown, double-diapering her (a swim lesson policy) more than once with those snug swim diapers, feeling like I endured a 30-minute water aerobics class myself, and listening to her scream the whole way to Chick-fil-a because she is famished and parched (from inhaling too much salt water) - I go a little crazy. Next time we are packing a lunch and having a picnic in the car. Swim lessons were great though and I was very impressed with the organization and teaching. It is definitely going to challenge both of us - as I hated swim lessons as a child and could not swim 2 laps today without doggie paddling.

Thursday - Neighborhood drama that is just too much to post. They should make a reality series about our street. Oh and I looked up today and saw Ellery WALKING towards me! She has taken a few steps before but not without my prompting. She is getting to be such a big girl. Sometimes I feel like she completely "gets" what I am talking about to her in the car as she will laugh or mimic something I say. I love my little pal!

Okay well that is the beginning of our week in review! I guess I had more things happen than I originally thought!