Milestone weekend

This little girl is the best. I think we finally broke through the potty thing. (knock on wood). On Friday, I decided "this is it, let's do it!" Everyone kept saying, don't push it if she isn't ready, so I haven't. This weekend I decided to push it. I know she's smart enough and capable. Parents are suppose to push their kids a little, right? I mean, I'm not as bad as Nick. He always says "Ellie's going to be a Thoracic Surgeon". Now, I think that's a lot of pressure if you ask me. LOL. So, I decided that Ellie was going to wear her Hello Kitty undies all weekend (except at night). She did so well, even going to BuyBuy Baby, grocery store, Costco she wore her "undies". I had back up clothes just in case, but didn't need to use them. She is even good at #2. I mean she went twice yesterday! Sorry if that is TMI, but I was so proud of her. She did have 2 accidents at home, but one was my fault because I couldn't get to her on time. She was locked out by the gate in the basement and I was changing Jack's poopy diaper. 

Going in public will be really interesting. Last week, I braved it and went to Target by myself with Ellie and Jack. I had to use the bathroom and brought the whole cart in the handicap stall with me. Ellie was very loud and says "Mama, poo-poo!?" I could have died. 

After her successful day yesterday, Wendi and I took her to Target and Kohl's. She got a Hello Kitty coloring book and some cute socks. I hope she continues this. Last night as I was getting Jack dressed after their bath, Ellie stands up in the tub and says "Mama, pee-pee!" I took her out set her on the toilet and she went! I couldn't believe she held it and told me she had to go. I mean, most adults pee in the shower, let's be real. I can't tell you how proud of her I am. So, so proud!!

Innocence

My dad likes to come over and take Ellie to the park or to go get ice cream. He always texts me some pictures when they are on their outings. Ellie looks so innocent and happy! I love Ellie and my dad for spending time and making these memories.

Dentist and eye doc week!

It's been a busy week! Monday after work I took Ellie to my dentist cleaning. She sat on my lap almost the whole time, sometimes laying on my chest so she could peek in my mouth to see what they were doing. We were there almost an hour and she was such a good girl. She got really excited when she could pick out her own toothbrush! I will probably take her to her own appointment this summer. The hygienist said that sometimes they just poke around and count their teeth or if they can they try to use the brush to clean. I've been pretty good about brushing Ellie's teeth at night - haven't done it in the morning though. She kind of knows how to do it, but needs help. She still just likes to eat the toothpaste and she doesn't get spitting yet, but I guess at that age, they don't.

Wednesday we went to Ellie's eye doctor. This was her yearly check up so they dialated her eyes. Everything is looking good and she doesn't have the crossing at all when she has her glasses on, so we don't need to try patching again. yay! Her prescription went up a tad bit, so we went to the optical to order new glasses. This time I'm getting her purple ones and transitions (they will get darker when the sun is on them). She's pretty sensitive to sun light and I want to protect her eyes. Ellie was not shy while picking out her glasses. This was a new side to her! She was acting kind of crazy.

Waiting...

Waiting for the dialation drops to kick in.

Picking out glasses!



I think these are too big.



Camera update

I thought I would be sneaky and I put Ellie's camera back. We were in her room for about 5 minutes reading books and she spotted it. She began to cry and say "nooooooooooo" and then picked up her things and started to run out of her room. I caught her before she headed downstairs and I showed her that I was taking the camera down. I put it on the little table in her room, but that wasn't good enough. She didn't want it in her room at all! So, I took the camera out and went and got some Hello Kitty stickers. I came back in her room and asked her if she wanted to see the stickers. She did of course. I then asked her to help me put them on the camera. She was a little hesitant, but then gave in. We put all the stickers on the camera and then I asked her if I could put the camera up. She said NO, but let me leave it on the table. She also said "night, night" to the camera and waved. Those are good signs :) Tonight I am going to attempt to move the camera on the other table and hopefully plug it in. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to put it above her bed. This is just going to take baby steps.

Ski bunny

I can't believe it's a new week already. The weekends go way to fast.

Saturday, Nick and I took Ellie out shopping for the day. I think she felt pretty special, because it was just us 3. We were on the hunt for some skis and boots. Les Moise and Laacke & Joys didn't have any in her size. We were planning on renting them, since she'll grow out of them fast, but I think we will have to order them online. Hopefully Jack won't be too much bigger than Ellie and will be able to use them too. We did find a helmet and goggles for her. The helmet is white w/ some turqouise design on the back. It's also adjustable, so she will probably be able to use it for several years. We ended up getting black goggles (unlike the pink in the picture). She really wanted pink, but I was using my forward thinking and knew black would be the best. I'm excited to take her out skiing, but still need to get her skis, boots and a pair of snow pants or a snow suit.
 

Ellie makes me so happy

1. She is very adventurous, especially when she's finished eating and she launches her self off of her high chair and screams.
2. Ellie is opinionated, bossy and knows exactly what she wants. I'm not sure where she got that ;) but I love it. I think she's going to be a natural leader.
3. She loves to help, whether it's getting Jack's bottle or cleaning the floor with a wipe.
4. Ellie lives in the moment and doesn't hold grudges. I wish I could be more like this. She savors every second, whether it's playing with her legos or eating her cheerios.
5. Ellie loves everyone around her. She is so nurturing and kind-hearted.

p.s. Ellie is going to talk soon! She is so shy, but is trying. She has been saying mama, dadda, ba-ba, and baby, but now is attempting to say 'hi' and 'more' (when she wants more food, which is all the time).  I know talking is going to start happening more and am so excited for her to tell me things! I think the bi-lingual thing has been challenging for her, but I think her shyness has a lot to do with it too. I'm going to try to video her doing it and you'll see what I mean. Her expression is so innocent and sweet.

Ellie loves her playset!

Ellie's photobook

I finally finished Ellie's photobook. These pictures are from January 2011 until her 2nd birthday - July 2011.

http://ellianakeikoroberts.shutterfly.com/2122

Ellie's new swing set!

Ellie finally got her new swingset. We bought it from our neighbors who have outgrown it. It took about 3 hours or so to take it apart and move the 3 big pieces. We already bought a baby bucket swing for Ellie and need to replace the ropes and some other parts on it. It's a Rainbow Play System, but I think we'll shop around too. They are pretty pricey.
This is the before picture in our neighbors yard. Nick and Ron are standing there and Nick (wendi's bf) is driving the bobcat. It was scary to watch them do this!!

 

This is the big middle part being moved into our backyard.















Here they are carring the swing part over.

Ellie was busy drinking ice water.

Here she is with my dad in our backyard.  I'm by the house, water the plants :)

Here we are watching in the back by our neighbors. We were excellant supervisors.

Ellie is checking it out.

It looks like it was easy, but it wasn't!

Ellie is testing out the new picnic table.

Ellie's Photo Album Books

Elliana's second book is done! I always upload all my pictures to Shutterfly, so I can at any time get the photos printed and it's also nice to have a 'backup'. If my computer takes a dump, I will always have my pictures on Shutterfly and could order the cd's. I've been trying to remember to back my PC up on my external harddrive(which reminds me I have to do soon). I've checked out many websites where you can create printed books (http://www.snapfish.com/, http://www.mypublisher.com/, even Walgreens, but I've found that Shutterfly has better backgrounds and colors to choose from and is pretty easy. This is my second book I've made so far and am pretty happy with it. My next goal is to create a digital scrapbook by using my own backgrounds, patterns, fonts, etc. So, I would buy or create the art myself and do the layouts in Photoshop or Illustrator. That would take TIME though and right now I just don't have it! Anyhoo... Click here to see the new book I made and if you want to see the first one, click here.