Ellie's school visit and dentist!

Last Thursday, I got to spend the afternoon with Ellie. Her new preschool for next fall had an afternoon where the parents and kids could come for a couple hours to check out the classroom, meet the teachers and do some activities. We spent about 20 minutes in each classroom and danced, sang songs, made a penguin, had a snack, etc. It was fun to watch Ellie. She responds when someone is talking to her, but when they were dancing, she was only watching. At home she gets crazy and shows off her dance moves, but not at school :( Later that afternoon we went to the dentist. This was Ellie's second cleaning. She was a little hesitant half way through, because she heard the hygienist and I talking about her new teeth coming in. Ellie's been complaining that her teeth hurt and that is because she is starting to get her 4 new molars! She seemed scared and doesn't like the fact that she will get 'new' teeth. We got ice cream after the dentist, so all was good :)







I was able to get some cleaning in on Friday, but spent most of the day at home. By 5 o'clock I was ready to get out of the house, but had no where to go and no sitter. Which leads me to my next story.....

We were planning on having a sitter come on Sunday for a 'trial' day to see how Ellie and Jack would do and to show her our house and make sure we like her. The plan was for her to come at 10am. I anxiously waited by the window and Ellie was actually excited for someone to be coming over, even though she knew we would be leaving. By 10:30am, I decided to call her. Her voicemail isn't set up so I called her home phone. Her mom answered. Basically, she apologized and said she was suppose to call because her daughter wasn't feeling well. I was suspicious, but I was really nice and told her it wasn't a big deal because we were just testing it out since we've never had a babysitter. She explained that her daughter really wanted to babysit. I asked her if she had the flu. She said that it was hard to explain, but she is feeling really down and going through a hard time. RED FLAG. I said I would see her at school next week and she said she probably wouldn't be in until Thursday, but how she really enjoys working there because the kids really bring up her spirits. DOUBLE RED FLAG. So, I feel bad about whatever she is going through, but I can't have someone unstable watch my kids. She seems like a super nice girl, very artistically talented and is in choir, but something isn't right. Her mom seems like a weirdo too. Anyways. there are a couple other girls I could probably ask at Ellie's school. I'm just glad I found about this now and not later.

Do you know?

Do you recognize this symbol? Me either. I mean it looks familiar to me, but I wasn't sure. Well, my 3 year old knows! She says "Malmart" aka. Walmart. And we don't even go there that much!

Ellie likes to play with my phone and I let her because 'Why NOT?' She knows how to 'turn' the pages and look through my pictures. One day she was looking at Facebook because I had it up and she points and says "Malmart". I was like, yah that is Walmart! I knew because it says Walmart, but she knew because she knew the logo. Below is what she was showing me. I was shocked!

It's amazing what kids know. Ellie knows all of our family brand cars. If she sees the car logo, she knows that's the same as my mom's car, Wendi's, or mine, etc. If it's a different color car, but same brand, she'll tell you. She knows Costco and of course McDonald's. She even knows the entrance to a subdivision where I dropped off something months ago at someone's house once. ONCE! Every time we pass it, she tells me. "Mama, that house".

Here's another sweet picture that Ellie took with my phone. The flash was kind of bright I think :)

The most challenging job, ever.

Being a parent is undoubtedly the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I'm learning something new everyday and definitely have my patience tested a lot. I can admit that I have failed at my patience from time to time. Ellie is a really good tester. I mean, really good. She is too smart and always wins. I know I'm not alone though, which honestly makes me feel a little better. 

There is a blog that hits every scenario on the spot when it comes to having kids, especially a toddler. This writer is so funny and if you laugh as hard as I do, you will be brought to tears. Here's one that describes a little of what we've been going through lately at bedtime. Also, note that this is being written from the perspective of the toddler.

ENJOY!
http://thehonesttoddler.com/love/

Here is a picture of Ellie "winning" again. lol.

Ellie is crazy

Ellie really likes We-we and Nick. She is always so hyper when they come over. This was taken about a month ago, before Silas was born. It's just kind of silly :)

A scare

This morning I had a big scare! I woke up to get ready to go to work and glanced at the monitor and didn't see Ellie in her bed. Sometimes if she moves down to the bottom, it's out of the camera view. Or I thought maybe she fell out and was laying the blankets and pillows on the floor. I went up to look and she was not there. Not in her bed, not on the floor, not in her room! OMG. Panic. Big time. I ran downstairs, thinking maybe she snuck in our room (she has never done this) and I didn't know it. As I was running into our room, I saw her on the couch! Her head was on the pillow with her blanket in hand and a Hello Kitty dress in the other. I woke up to tell Nick and to find out if he knew about it. He was clueless. He took her upstairs and put her back in her bed. I wonder what happened. Did she walk in her sleep or was she awake? What time did this happen? How did she see in the dark? Why did she have the Hello Kitty dress too? Am I going to have to alarm her door, which by the way was completely shut when I went up there. Ellie did this when she went downstairs, because we usually leave it open and she is a 'door closer'. She always has to close doors. 

I hope this doesn't happen again. She really scared me!

Cupcake

Ellie's school is doing "Christmas in July" this week. So they are doing Christmas things, like making ornaments, exchanging gifts, Christmas crafts etc. Since her birthday is tomorrow I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I used this cookie thing that has different tips and it seemed to work ok. The first couple ones turned out really good!  Then I got tired and wasn't as 'perfect' with the swirling. I was up until 11:30 doing these. I guess that's what happens when you decide to do them last minute.  Since Ellie and Nick was sleeping Meeko and I were the only taste testers. We really liked them :)

Nick said she was excited to take them to school this morning! 

3 more days!

Time goes way too fast, it really, truly does. Ellie's 3rd birthday is on Friday. I'm so excited and so sad. I was looking at some pictures when she was a little baby and found some of my favorites.

Here is Ellie and my mom in the hospital. 

Sleeping beauty...

Japanese baby...

Psycho mama trying to burp baby....I had to post this one, because it made me laugh out loud. I remember I had a really bad cold and didn't want to give it to her, but I still had to take care of her. I wore a hospital mask and I even made other people wear them. (Can you see I wrote my name in marker on it?) OMG. I was a crazy!! How things change after your second. LOL!

Ellie and her Auntie We-we

Ellie LOVES Wendi. She asks about her all the time. She pretends to talk to her on the phone with her notebook, blanket or whatever she picks up. She asks to go to "we-we's housfe" all the time and will immediately do whatever I ask if I tell her that we are going by "we-we's". Below are some pictures of Ellie and Auntie We-we playing on the swingset.

Ellie's blanket

Last week, my mom accidently took Ellie's blanket home with her because it was left in her car. I realized when Ellie led me into the laundry room and pointed to the dryer and then the washer. I think she thought it was being washed. My mom offered to drive over and drop it off but I told her we'd figure it out. I explained to Ellie a couple times before bath time that Ba-ba had her blanket and that she could use Jack's or pick out a different one. It seemed like she understood, but I was kind of freaking out a little.

After her bath she wanted to go to bed and started to go up the stairs. She was pointing to Jack's blanket and I told her she could use that one. She went and got it and up we went. When I put her in bed and gave her the blanket, she didn't want it, so I took it out. We went back and forth with this about 4 times, when I finally was really stern about it and told her that she had to use this blanket because hers was with Ba-ba. She was such a brave little girl and was actually okay without her blanket for one night. (Although she did insist on having her 'blue' and a blue plastic easter egg.)

Ellie and her seaweed

The last couple of nights, Ellie has wanted to take a shower with me! It's actually been a little easier because then we are both done. We have a double shower head and she likes to play with the sprayer. She giggles the whole time and loves spraying everything with it. After we are done, she wants to wear this hello kitty head towel thingy that belongs to my mom. And then she wants to eat again!! She is addicted to seaweed and also gets it out and demands I make her some rice/seaweed rolls. Here are some snapshots of right after our shower. As you can see, it's still daylight out. We've been taking our showers early because we are all sick. I don't think it's a big deal that we shower before most people get home from work. lol!

Ellie the staller

Ellie has added a couple stall techniques to her bedtime routine. First she usually asks for yogurt (we usually say no), then she'll ask for a vitamin, cereal and always water. Here's a video of Ellie scarfing down some cereal and water before bed. She's eating like we starve her, but probably an hour or so before this she had a huge dinner. Of course Meeko is right up in there.

Another stall technique unrelated to food, is she says she's hot. Over these thing cotton pajamas, we put a pair of fleece ones on. I think she thinks if we don't put the fleece ones on then she doesn't have to go to bed.

She's so silly.

Busy-ness

This last week has kind of sucked. My dad was in the hospital (again) they put in 2 more stents and told him to quit smoking or else. They were almost thinking of doing a bypass, but then decided to try this first. I know smoking is such a hard demon, but I wish he would quit. Maybe this time he will. I hate hospitals.

Nick's been traveling for work alot. He is mostly in Green Bay, so it's been a little chaotic around here. I'm also trying to get all my appointments in before I go back to work. I might be getting braces or invisalign for my teeth. Unfortunately, I'd have to get them on the top and bottom in order for it to correct it. I know my teeth are not bad, but it's been bothering me. It's my 2 front bottom teeth - they are starting to go in a little :(

We leave for Vegas tomorrow to celebrate Nick's parents 40th wedding anniversary! I'm pretty excited but feel weird leaving Jack and Ellie. This will be the first time away from Jack. He's my little buddy and cuddler so I will miss him. Ellie is so silly lately. She is learning new things everyday. She now knows how to "shush" me. It's pretty cute, but I'm not sure if it's a good thing to know.

We've been hanging out in the basement a lot, since Ellie's toys are all down there. She likes it. Here is a pic from this morning.

Daily struggles

We've had some struggles lately with Ellie... very typical since we've had some major changes at home - Baby Jack and going to daycare. She does not want to wear shoes anymore. She tries to take them off in the car and trying to get them on is not easy. Yesterday I stopped at the outlet mall and got her a new pair. She cried in the store and didn't want to have anything to do with shoes or socks. The other big struggle we are having with Ellie is wearing her glasses. We had an appointment with her ophthalmalogist at the end of the month, but I was able to move it up since she hasn't really worn her glasses in 2 weeks. We use to be able to put them on when we went outside or to the store, but now she doesn't want to ever wear them. The eye doctor's visit today was a success despite Ellie's cold. She has a runny nose and has been feeling yucky (I'm sure the trip to Ikea yesterday didn't help either!)   Ellie was so great today! She didn't cry at all and the doctor was able to examine her eyes and she just cooperated. She even put her glasses on and Ellie didn't take them off until now. Yup... she has them off. Ugh. The plan is to not even bother with the patch, but just try to get her to wear the glasses. The Dr. said eventually she'll wear them. Although her eye isn't that bad, she still needs them and can see better with them. It also sounded like that since the glasses do help, that we probably won't have to do surgery if we can continue correcting her focus with the glasses. Here's a picture of Nick and Ellie (and cinderella) in the chair.

I love fall........

Last Thursday would have been Ellie's third time to daycare, but we decided to take a day trip hiking instead. The Fall colors were beautiful and the weather was perfect. We went to Parfrey's Glen near Devil's Lake. Ellie loves being outside and was pretty good hiking, but of course got tired and we had to take turns carrying her. Ellie was not a fan of the sand at Devil's Lake, in fact she hated the sand - almost as much as I did. I didn't like it because of the bugs and sand and who knows what else is in it. We also hit up an apple orchard and the drive was so nice. I love FALL.

Taking the boat across the Wisconsin River.

Getting a drink before the hike.

Ellie, me and my Dad

Ellie, Me, my Dad and Wendi

Ellie wanted to be carried... alot. Wendi is taking her turn here.

Devil's Lake

Ellie and Wendi

Mama and Ellie



Add caption



Another bike ride

Another bike ride with Ellie. This time I went too! We took a rest stop at the pier on the pond near our house.

Heidi, Ellie and Wendi