Friday, July 27, 2012

From my phone...

I am addicted to Instagram!  Such a fun photo sharing app.  It's a place where "over board picture taking mommas" like myself unite!

These are all random and in no particular order, but I just had to share!

The MOST babies have been born this summer.  We've had fun visiting!

My little assistant helping me with chocolate chip cookies

Sweet girls at a birthday party

Ellie's favorite past time...looking at pictures of herself!

A little morning painting session on the patio

I wish these girls could play together all the time.  They are so sweet together!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

2.5 years, 30 months, 907 days...

Ellie, you are TWO and a HALF YEARS old today!  (Please don't double check my math on the days in the title...I never claimed to be a whiz in that department.  Plus, leap years can make the process a little tricky...he he).

Blog content has been less than interesting lately, but I did think that turning 2.5 was worth a post!  This has been an "interesting" stage in little Ellie's life, to say the least.  She is still talking, playing, singing, and doing all and more that the normal 2 year old should.

 Everyone always warned me about the age 2 and the difficulties and tantrums that were bound to follow.  Quite honestly, I didn't really listen and had no clue what they were talking about.  Yes, we had our fair share of trials and tough days, but I still never EVER considered E to be a "difficult" toddler.

Until this summer...

Heck, if I was 2 years old and had a fun school that I was comfortable in, friends I was familiar with, and a church nursery that looked identical to my school room, change would be hard for me too!  Not to mention a small little room with a cozy crib that I'd  had my whole life and a diaper to do all of my "duties" in (along with someone to clean them up for me!) life would be pretty awesome, and easy!

So needless to say, her world  has been rocked.  No more "school".  No more familiar friends.  No more church nursery.  No more small, cozy room with a crib to feel safe in.  No more diapers.  One of these obstacles is a lot for any toddler.  For our sweet girl, she was thrown all of these changes at her all at once.  New room, new bed, new nursery, new sitter, and potty training.  Bless her heart is all I know to say!

She has been a trooper, she really has.  But she has definitely been "off".  So now, she sleeps with us.  And we are lucky to get her down before 11.  And I am okay with that.  She deserves the patience and attention that all of these changes deserve.  I keep telling my self this is just another phase, and that it won't go on forever.  I'll be wishing one day for her to beg me to pick her up, or to ask to snuggle or for her to say "Momma, I want to hold you".  I know I will.  The days are long, but the years are short, so we are trying to savor every second.

Ellie, your funny little personality hasn't gone anywhere.  You LOVE to sing and watch You Tube videos of VBS songs.  You are all about teaching lessons to your animals and bossing your babies around.  You are into art, and painting and coloring.  You are my little assistant.  It absolutely makes your day if I ask you to be my helper.  You help with the trash, dishes, cooking, and even laundry!  You take directions very well and understand exactly what I ask 98% of the time.  You are too smart for your own good a lot of the time too.  You are a little trickster.  If you want to get out of bed or if you want an extra M&M or feel the need to distract me from working, you immediately shout "I gotta go potty!" so I will come running to your rescue.  Still gets me every time:)

You are an EXPERT procrastinator.  You will talk nonstop for hours to put off bedtime or to get out of something you don't want to do.  You love to climb into the car and buckle yourself into the car seat.  We have discovered the aweseome-ness that is Facetime and you love it.  It is great for getting our "DeDe fix" and makes that 2 hour drive seem not so far.   You can also be my little shy one.  People all over town seem to know who you are and they constantly come up to talk to us.  Most of the time you cling tight to me and shy away and other times you will talk their heads off.  You are a good mix of both of your parents!

You are our life, our joy and our little angel.  We sure would be bored (and sleeping a whole lot better!) without you here.

We love you sweet girl and can't believe you are halfway to THREE!

We can't forget to wish our DeDe a very happy 6_th birthday, too!  We love you DeDe!!!!


Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Getting Settled

I guess I need to back up a minute and give a quick recap on all that has been going on before I talk about "getting settled".

Around the first of June, we found a tenant to rent our house in Jackson.  Time was running out and our planned date of being moved to Greenfield was fast approaching.  We were starting to panic that we would not have a place to live or have our house sold, so we told our agent to get busy finding us a reliable tenant.

Thankfully, all the stars aligned and we found the perfect guy just in time.  Around that same week, a house in Greenfield became available that we had originally been told was not available.  It all worked out perfectly!

The minute Don confirmed everything was a GO, he got busy!  I have never seen him so motivated to do something in my life.  He pretty much packed, loaded, and unloaded our entire house all by himself.  I cannot thank all of the friends, family and trailers that helped us get all of our stuff here, though.  We could not have done it without everyone's help!

We gradually moved over the course of a few weeks.  At first, I was loving just taking our time and bringing a load whenever we could.  After about week 3, I was over it.  I was ready to get settled, explain to Ellie that this was our new house and her new room, etc., and we were ready for our own beds!  That was probably one of the hardest parts about the entire move.

We worked our tails off up until the day it was time for us to leave for the beach.  We have never needed a getaway more than we did at this time.  We had a wonderful, relaxing trip with some great friends.  It was just what we needed!

So now, we are home getting into a routine and settled.  We have managed to stay busy and it has been a lot of fun!  I will be sad when all of my teacher friends go back to work.  It has been nice to have them off this summer!

Ellie has usually been my easy "transitioner".  Bottles, paci's and potty training have been fairly smooth for her.  Unfortunately, when we moved, my good sleeper took a complete 180 turn to one that takes hours to get down, doesn't nap, and wants in our bed.  Poor baby has been through a lot this past month, but this sure can be trying.  We are exhausted by the time she finally falls asleep.  One night this week she was wide eyed until almost 2 am.  I felt like I had a newborn again!  I am trying to be patient with her.  A new house, new room, new bed, potty training, and a new baby sitter (more in a minute on this!) is A LOT for a little 2 year old to digest.  We have tried rewarding her for the good things and talk her through the difficult times.  I know this too will pass, so I am just trying to make sure she is happy!  That's all I care about.

I could tell she was starting to miss playing with friends at "school" so I got busy trying to line up a sitter or some sort of day care for her when school starts back.  I had heard rave reviews about Ms. Carla, and lucky for us she had a spot for Ellie!  She started last week and it has been great so far.  Ellie has not been pottying at home or at her house and didn't eat a bite her first day there, but every day since has gotten a little better.

So, that is our life in a nutshell right now!  Don is getting busy with football and my travel season is fast approaching.  Our life is never dull or boring, but I don't think we'd have it any other way!  I hope to get back to more regular blogging soon, but until next time...

Thursday, July 5, 2012

I'm still here!

I am back!  So much has happened in the last month that I honestly have no idea where to start.  I have to admit, not being tied down to the internet sure was nice!

We just returned from a fabulous trip to Orange Beach, Alabama.  We had a wonderful week full of relaxation, sun, seafood and friends!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip.