The Ultimate Activity:

Water on the highchair tray.

I got a whole load of dishes done while Ellie splashed.

And then when I wiped up the floor...it was clean!
The best joys in life are so simple.

The other ultimate activity: emptying the waste paper basket.

Ladies and Gentlemen, They've Fallen in Love!

With the swings, that is. You should have heard the shrieks and squeals coming out of these two girls (Ellie and her cousin Regan) on this visit to the park. Now that it's finally SPRING (yahoo!) Ellie and I frequent the swings (in any park, we're not picky!) as often as we can.

Oh oh...she learned to say NO!

See this sweet, innocent face? Well, this sweet innocent face has learned to shake determinedly from side to side, accompanied by a firm 'NAH!' (no). I had a feeling this day would come.
Our lives will never be the same...though it is awful neat to see
Ellie learn that she's not just an extension of Mama.

Happy (belated) Easter!

Kisses for all of you!

A real character

For the last two weeks Ellie's been an absolute broken record. Everywhere we go...Superstore, church, at home, all Ellie says is 'HI!' (which sounds more like 'hieeee'). "HI! HI! HI!", she says (accompanied by a vigorous wave and a huge toothy grin) to every person in sight. Including me. It does not matter if she's been around you all day. It does not matter if you just left to get a drink of water. It doesn't even matter if you haven't left the room at all! This girl is just itching to make adult conversation, even if at this point all that consists of is 'hi'.
The other day I walked into Ellie's room to wake her up from a nap. She was laying on her side facing away from me, breathing loudly, as though she was sleeping. Suddenly, even though I hadn't made a noise, she whipped onto her back with a huge smile on her face and said 'HI!' and laughed. Like she had tricked me.
I wonder what she'll be like when she's two?

All is Well

Hey All. Just wanted to let you know that after a 1.5 hour wait at the walk-in clinic, Ellie was given a totally clean bill of health (no ear infection). Dontcha just love that? Actually, the wait ended up being a lot of fun, as Ellie made friends with an outgoing, in-your-face two year old named Jaden who kept pulling her clip out of her hair, and a shy 16 month old girl named Miriam. Her and Miriam discovered that they both knew how to sign for 'more'...and continued to sign for 'more' until they had completely finished off each others' snacks. Very cute. It felt a bit more like we were at a play group than in a waiting room. So teething is the problem, Motrin is our best friend these days, and Ellie's sleeping again. Today we're actually off to the doctor again to check out the wierdest diaper rash I've ever seen, Ellie's first. Hey, by the way: anybody out there have any opinions on vaccinations? Good/bad/useless?
Let me know!
p.s. Ellie's 26th word: Amen! (sounds more like "Men")
Soon she'll be shouting that out in church, I'll bet.
She seems like the type of kid to shout things out in church at inappropriate
(or strangely appropriate) times.
We'll see.
p.p.s. Ellie has gotten bored with her own nose. Her latest fascination is picking other people's noses. If they let her.

Our Night in a Nutshell

This photo was taken the other day, but it perfectly depicts our night last night. I was up with Ellie from 11:45pm until about 3:15 am. Ear infection? (she wailed every time I put her down) Teething? (she has three huge lumps where there will one day be molars) Who knows. She would only fall asleep when sitting on my lap, leaning on my chest. Which wasn't so bad, really. You know how it is...the older they get, the more precious it is when they're completely calm, still, and peaceful. No, I didn't mind so much.
This morning we've already trekked out to the store for some Motrin, and the second she's up from her nap (which I also had to rock her to sleep for) we are heading to the walk-in clinic.
I think I was going to post about something cute and fun.
I must be tired.

Ellie's friend.

Anne of Green Gables named her reflection in the window
'Katie Maurice'.
I wonder who ELLIE thinks she's kissing?

Window Watcher

Today I stuck Ellie by the window for lack of anything better to do and she started hitting it and saying 'Da da!' thinking he must be out there somewhere (that's the reason we USUALLY look out the window.) But he was actually right beside us.

Then we really started to have fun...

I thought I'd give the child something to look at so I went outside to wave at her.She thought that was just the best thing since chocolate cake.

Who could resist a shmooshed up face like that one?

Disclaimer

So I've received several complaints lately (*cough* Nikki *cough*) that I'm too unifocused (is that a word?) on this page....namely, all I ever post about is Ellie.

This is true.

But if you look at the description of our blog up above, you will notice that ELLIE is precisely what I was aiming to post about when I started the darn page, especially because her grandparents (hi mom and dad!) live so far away in BC. Rob and I...well hey, we're still the same weight as when we moved away, we're not all that cute, and frankly we just don't learn a whole lot of new tricks these days, so why would we post about ourselves?

No, I hear the outcries of the people and to satisfy your outrageous curiosity I've decided to quickly update you all on the lives of Rob and myself these days:

A while back I posted about a job I had landed taking care of a girl with special needs. Well, it actually ended up falling through when the former caregiver decided to keep 2 of her shifts, leaving me with just 2 two-hour shifts a week - not enough! Well God, being ever faithful, provided a different job for me before I even KNEW that job had fallen through. When I was about 19 I had worked at a Hallmark gift store in the mall here in town. Since moving back to Steinbach I regularly went back there to visit my former manager. During one of these visits she and the new owners asked if I'd like to come back part-time! I turned them down of course, thinking I already had a job. So when the caregiver position didn't end up happening, Hallmark gladly accepted me without even an interview! So I've been working 2 evenings a week and every Saturday for 3 weeks now and let me tell you...
I LOVE IT!
At this point in my life I am MADE for customer service: 1. I get to talk to ADULTS! 2. They leave before they get annoying! (usually) 3. I miss Ellie and Rob so much that I'm completely energized for another week at home. What a God-send.

So that's the latest with me. Unless you want to get more personal. I've started getting up early before Ellie gets up in the morning for a bit of quiet time to read my bible and talk to God, and it's totally changing my life and my attitude and my outlook on things. I've been doing this before bed for a long time with very little to show for it because I fall asleep and forget everything I just read. For a long time now I've had this nagging thought at the back of my head that I need to discipline myself to get up before Ellie does to get the day off to the right start because 1. I'm a total morning person and can retain stuff way way better in the morning, 2. Is there really any better way to start the day than spending time with the God of the universe who's entirely huge and awesome but still concerned enough about me to talk with me? and 3. It's a conscious way of putting God before my daughter, something I struggle with, but something that needs to happen or else Ellie will think SHE's the center of the universe. Which she's not. Which is probably good. Because she'd do a horrible job of running it.

I'm reading a book that I picked up for $0.25 at the book fair called "Confident Children and How They Grow" that has this horrible, blah, old cover but is truly a gem inside. I'm relearning a lot about how Ellie is a reward from God and an inheritance...never ever a burden, like society would tell me she is. And when she's whining and cranky and demanding I look her in the eye and tell her she's a reward and a blessing and very seldom these days do I find myself frustrated or weary. And when she's whining I think about all the things that I whine about to Rob and suddenly find myself with a bunch more patience for her, and a new resolve to be thankful. Because MAN do I have a lot to be thankful for, like having the most wonderful family in the world. They ain't perfect, but they sure are perfect for me!

Woah, that sure was a rant. Is that what you were hoping for, Nikki? (*clearing throat* I mean, people? *clearing throat*)

Anyhow, how bout a little about my hubby Rob? Well, he's still working at the factory and is occasionally contemplating what it would be like to go back to school (again) to do something that might make a bit more, you know, MONEY. Not that him going to school for a masters in Greek and Hebrew was pointless in any way...no way...I know that I know that God will use that for something really important one day. But yeah, in the meantime, while we're waiting for that to happen, I think Rob's getting a bit of a hankering to put some more of his tremendously huge brain to good use. I agree. We'll see what comes of that.
He's acquired a new little responsibility at our church of putting new quotes on the church sign every week, which puts his gifting for puns to use. He's still preaching on a regular basis (about every 2 months) and loves that to bits (he was totally made to teach!).
He's also adapting really well to being Ellie's sole caregiver on Saturdays and several evenings a month. What a great dad. I love watching them bond. He's taken to calling Ellie 'little cub' and he's 'papa lion' and they practice their growling together which is very cute. I caught them doing that in Superstore today.
Overall, Rob is doing awesome and life is really really sweet right now. And SPRING is coming! There's nothing quite like spring in Manitoba...you sure appreciate it a lot more when you've been stuck in a deep freeze for 5 months.

Okee doke, my tendonitis is flaring up from over-typing (SEE? that's why i usually just post pictures) so I'm going to go catch a few winks. If anyone actually took the time to read this big long shmoz (what's a shmoz?) and wants me to do it again you're going to have to leave a comment or I'm going to assume nobody read it and you'll just have to settle for pictures of Ellie. :)
(by the way, if you're not a blogger and you want to leave a comment, you just click in the little circle that says 'anonymous' and that allows you to comment without 'signing in'.)

Adios! Have a wonderful day!