Bandaids

Ella walked right into the couch today and, after a few long moments of screaming, decided the only thing that would make her face feel better was a bandaid. When she looked in the mirror and saw how silly it was, she wanted me to take a picture. She kept saying, "That's a silly bandaid, Mom."
Then she decided that a week-old boo-boo on her foot needed the bandaid more.
Then it went to her finger and belly button and, finally, to her baby doll (who was crying because she hit her head on the couch-haha!). The good thing was that by the end of it all, there were no more tears. :)

Fun at the farm...

We had a great family day today. We took Ella to Niederman Family Farms and she had such a blast. It's a fun place, with a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, and playground. Ella LOVED petting the sheep and goats and looking at the roosters. I wish I could have captured every expression on her face- she just didn't know what to do next!

Here she is petting some of the animals with Daddy.

Just "horsing" around... (I know, awful joke :)
We took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch. Ella had a hard time picking out just one pumpkin, so we got two- one big and one "witty, witty" (itty bitty).
Yea! Look at Ella's pumpkin!! And look at Mommy's pretty mum! :)
Ella must have said, "Mommy, I had so much fun at the farm!" at least 50 times on the way home. We can't wait to go back!

Yum...

We asked Ella what she wanted to do tonight, and she said "Go to the fountain and eat ice cream!" Of course! That is just about her favorite thing in the world to do!

Sharing with Daddy...
Before we leave, we wish on some pennies and throw them into the fountain. Tonight, Ella got to make a really big wish (on a quarter) and throw it in. We love to see her having so much fun!

Exciting news!

For those of you who don't already know, we are expecting another baby!!
We are thrilled and can't wait to see what God has in store for us. This new, little addition will be here sometime in April. My due date has ranged from April 2 to April 12, but we trust that he or she will show their sweet, little face exactly when they're supposed to.

This ultrasound pic was around 8 weeks, and not very much is discernable at this point (the head is on the right). All I cared about was that little heart beating loud and strong! I feel fantastic. I thought my pregnancy with Ella was easy, but this one has been even easier. Here I am heading into the second trimester and have only had a few days of nausea! Seriously though, the things that have made me nauseous at work would make anyone nauseous- pregnant or not- so I have been extremely lucky!

Lots of people have asked us what Ella thinks about it. Obviously at this point, she has not a clue what she's in for! :) We have told her that there's a baby growing in Mommy's belly and that when that baby is big enough, he or she will come to live at our house. She just looks at us kind of funny and usually changes the subject. She does like to tell people that she's going to have a "baby budder", but I don't think she will start to get it until my stomach starts to grow.

So if you think to remember us in your prayers, please pray that this little baby will grow healthy and strong. He or she's going to have to be pretty tough to keep up with big sis!

Auntie April

Aunt April was in town for work and stopped by for the night. We were so excited and happy to see her!! Ella was her instant buddy and did not want to leave her side. They ate dinner together...
They colored together...
They even hit the dance floor together (but I agreed not to post those pics!).
We were really happy to get to spend some time with her. Come back soon, April!!

A little reward...

Ella had a little cabin fever this afternoon, so we got her out of the house and decided to let her run wild in Toys R Us. We told her she could pick out a special treat for being such a good girl lately and trying to use the big girl potty. It took her a while to decide, but she finally picked out a pretend ATM machine. We said, "Sorry, Sister! You're a little too young for that!" It would only be a matter of time before she started expecting real money to come out of there!

Instead we picked out a giant coloring book and new markers (yes, Mom is being brave with this one!). How fun! Ella couldn't wait to get home and play!

Notice the marker on her cheeks- she was covered with it in less than two minutes!

New shoes!

I took Ella to the mall today for some new shoes. She has outgrown all her summer shoes and keeps telling me they're "hot" when we put them on. Anyways, she was so excited about her new shoes and wanted to wear them out of the store. She kept lifting up her foot to show them off to everyone we saw in the mall. :)

She was so darn proud to show Daddy, too, and even wanted to call Pappaw and Mammaw to tell them all about her new shoes.

I couldn't get a shot of them on her feet, because she was dancing and jumping around. Daddy has her convinced that new shoes make you run faster and jump higher and Ella was putting it to the test! Maybe next time I can catch them on her feet. Anyways, she picked these out because of the little butterfly on the strap. Super cute, huh?

Surviving the storm

We made it through the windstorm without any damage or injury. All we had was some minor damage to our landscape, and we are so lucky, considering our next door neighbors lost the sunroom off the back of their house. It was just blown away! We heard on the news that West Chester sustained winds of 84 mph. Many houses in our neighborhood lost siding, shingles, and swingsets. Our parents (over two hours away) lost many big trees in their yards and part of Dad's barn blew away. We're thankful no one was injured and that those trees didn't fall on their houses!

I'm so glad, too, that the power is back on! It was off for most of the day yesterday and came back on around 3 this morning. Apparently 80% of the Cincinnati area is still without electricity. How we managed to be in the 20% that have it back already, I don't know, but thank goodness! We figure someone important must live on the big hill behind us. :)

Another thing we were grateful for is that after driving around for almost two hours yesterday, we finally managed to find a Walgreens that allowed me to buy some Tylenol for Ella. She woke up early yesterday morning with a terrible fever and we didn't have any children's Tylenol. I was crushing adult Tylenol and dissolving it in apple juice- you don't need much imagination to figure how hard it was to convince a sick two year old to take that! Anyways, the Walgreens manager met me at the door and asked if it was an emergency and if I was paying cash- yes and yes!! Thankfully, Ella is feeling a little better today- still has a fever, but she has more energy and is eating some.

So I hope all of you were as lucky as we were. We're pretty happy we didn't plant all those trees we wanted to last weekend. We thought we were just being lazy, but obviously, there was a reason for it!

Special, little moments

We had a fun family night last night. It was one of those evening with lots of sweet, little moments that make you realize just how lucky you are.

We went to church and had a wonderful time. One of the greatest joys in my life as a mother is hearing my little girl sing her heart out at church. It brings tears to my eyes every time! Ella was so well-behaved (whew!) and actually paid attention. Several times when the minister mentioned Jesus, Ella leaned over and whispered to me, "Mommy, I love Jesus!" And everytime we prayed, Ella yelled "Amen", always eliciting several giggles from people around us.

After church we were driving and saw some fireworks off in the distance, so Chris pulled into a parking lot and we sat and watched them. Ella loves fireworks and kept squealing and clapping. Of course, she cried when it was over, but lucky for us, that didn't last very long.

We decided we were really hungry, but couldn't find any place open. The crazy thing about this huge, busy town is that all the restaurants close at 9pm, even on the weekends. Then we both decided we had a craving for pancakes, so Chris took me to IHOP for the first time in our married life. I love the place- he usually can't stand the thought of it. We had fun though and Ella kept cracking us up. Poor thing must have been starving, because everytime she took a bite of anything, she would say, "Oh, yummy!" Then she got so excited and said, "I love food! I just love it!"

By the time we got home, it was after 11pm and Ella was still gearing to go. I pulled out her sleeping bag and she finally agreed to lay down.
Still pretty wide awake... I think it was close to midnight at this point.
We were saying our prayers and Ella wanted to thank Jesus for the fireworks and Mr. Moon (she is fascinated by the moon these days). She also wanted to pray for her cousin Hannah, who is sick in the hospital, and for two little girls at her school- Hannah and Lisa. She always asks to pray for Hannah (we prayed for her twice at IHOP), and we're not sure if she's talking about her cousin Hannah or the Hannah at school- I'm sure it's kind of confusing for her. The important thing is that we know God understands and hears her sweet, heartfelt prayers and that's all that matters.

Finally konked out... We feel so blessed to have such a healthy, lively, and compassionate little girl. We know that nothing we have ever done, or could ever do, would ever be enough to deserve her. She is truly a gift of God's grace.

For that grace, we are so, so thankful.

We're making progress!

We're starting to get the hang of this whole potty thing! Ella is getting much better at going on the potty, especially since she realized she can put off having to go to bed when she says, "Mommy, Ella pee-pee on the potty one more time?!"

And today was a milestone- her first #2 on the potty! She was a little scared and cried for me to put her diaper back on, but once we started reading Curious George, she just "let it rip" (that's for you, Pappaw!). She was so proud- and also a little grossed out. haha!

So here's to many more good potty days!! Don't worry, I won't blog EVERY time she goes- just every other :)

A couple action shots of Ella celebrating her accomplishments...

Our little brainiac

Okay, so I have to brag for a minute (as is my motherly right!). Little Ella is one, smart cookie!! She knows and can recognize all 26 letters and numbers 1-10. She recently learned all the colors and how to spell her name. Needless to say, we're pretty impressed with the computer in her head (aren't all parents of two year olds?).

Anyways, today we were playing in her room and Ella just started counting- in Spanish!! She made it all the way to seven before she messed up! She tried again and made it to ten with a little help. Wow- where does she get this stuff?! All I can think is that watching annoying Diego is paying off. :)

Seriously though, as sharp as Ella is and as much as she likes books, maybe I should buy an encyclopedia and start reading that to her- she would probably love it! haha!

Yea for Ella!!

Funny the things we celebrate these days...

For 2-3 months now, Ella has been telling us everytime she wets or dirties her diaper, so we knew she could recognize when she goes. But getting her to go on the toilet has been a completely different thing all together. First we tried to get her to go on "Elmo", but I think it freaked her out a bit.
So she picked out her own potty at the store and we let her get pretty comfortable with that thing- watching cartoons and eating snacks. It did give her a lot more freedom, but only because she realized she could stand on top of it and reach the counter, the sink, the light switches, etc. :) She grew tired of using it as a potty pretty fast. We weren't sure what we were going to have to do to get her to go on the toilet.
Then tonight, a miracle happened...

Ella got out of the tub, we sat her on the potty (here she is wrapped up like Yoda- the potty is under there somewhere)...

And all of a sudden we hear this little jingle (yeah, we're pretty jealous our potty doesn't play music for us!!)... and realized Ella had peed!! YEA!!

We had a little celebration and took pictures (I'll spare you those!) and, of course, Ella reached down and splashed her hands in it! :)

We are so excited! Maybe this is a turning point (even though when I asked her if she was going to go potty like a big girl tomorrow, she looked at me and said, "Nope"). She was proud of herself though, and before she went to sleep, she whispered, "Mommy, Ella went potty on big girl potty tonight." Yea!!

Such sweet music to my ears...

Get ready for the cutest video you've ever seen! I finally managed to get a decent clip of E singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and it's so stinking adorable. Ella's pretty proud of it, too, because once she realized I had videotaped her, she had to watch it about thirty times (and everytime she said, "Aww, Mommy, that's cute!"). Hope it brings a big smile to your face!


And I had to post this pic for Uncle Jared- eat your heart out, buddy! We stacked 29 blocks today! Trust us, they're all there (I know you're going to try to count them, but you can only see 23 in the picture). I believe that beats your record of 27!! Maybe you should come see us and try to reclaim your title! :)