An afternoon at the park

Yesterday we discovered a perfect, Ellie-sized play structure at the park in Mitchell. She can climb through the whole thing herself, which makes her feel pleased (she's exhibited several monkey-like tendencies lately) and mom and dad feel rather rejuvenated. Anyhow, I love taking photos at the park. Here's a few:

This maneuver is accompanied by Ellie's over-emphasized grunting.Picking stones off the bridge. We pick up stones every. where. we. go.

Wahoo!

"Da? Da?" (translaton: "Again? Again?"

"Br br br" (translation: "Vroom vroom")Cool as a cucumber.

"Boo!" (no translation necessary)"It doesn't FIT!"
(I included this photo just for those who want to see me getting fat :)

No news is good news!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and, well, there's absolutely nothing to report! Which is all right with me. He said that I am definitely measuring 20 weeks (yesss!!) and there are definitely NO twins in there (double YESSS!) and my bloodwork is perfect, my weight is great, and the baby's heartbeat is awesome. (Although...I'm definitely noticing that this baby's heartbeat is slower than Ellie's was. Like, distinctly slower. Hmmm....different gender? Maybe! Wouldn't that be something else?) Anyhow, just thought I'd give you all (*cough* Kristi) an update at my halfway mark to being a mama of 2.

The day is near...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe Ellie's crawling days will be ending in weeks, if not days (maybe even hours??) Yesterday in the middle of reading stories, Ellie suddenly went into her upside-down position and then proceeded to stand up! In the middle of the room! And then walk to me! And she did this several times! Something in my head says that this is the step that was needed in order for Ellie to make the move to walking. Now, like her crawling up onto the couch skills (which she still has), she learned this new trick while hopped up on sugar (hey. we're on vacation here! :) but I'm encouraged. She's got two weeks to master this walking thing if she wants to keep up with her mama (I started walking late as well- at 16 months). Anyhow, as always, out came the camera:

The upside-down position.

This move is accompanied by much groaning. :)

Voila!

Forks and stuff

Hey all. Our internet was down all week which is why I haven't posted lately. However, things are going really well here:
1. My NAUSEA IS GONE!!! Yeahoo! And it feels as though I stayed away from enough foods that I'm not scarred by any of them and now can eat whatever I want. Which isn't always a good thing. But is very delicious.
2. I've started to feel the baby move! Or at least I believe I have. I can never be 100% sure I'm not just imagining things until that real big 'thud thud' starts happening.
3. Ellie is more fun than ever. Yesterday, hyped up on sugar (free cookie at the grocery store) she learned to climb onto the couch. What a hoot. She was like a tornado...up, then down, up, then down, walk around the coffee table, up, then down. She hasn't tried it today. Must have been the sugar. Well, step number TWO in preparation for Ellie becoming a big sister is learning to feed herself. You may remember step number ONE: doing the dishes :) hehe...kidding, but it is a goal of mine to turn Ellie into a good helper. So far she's doing fabulous at cleaning up her toys. She says 'bye' to each one as she throws it in the basket. ANYHOW, suddenly, almost overnight, she's become a pro at the fork. Her only condition is that it be a metal fork. Plastic is for babies, I guess. Here's a few shots for you, Grandma and Grandpa, taken this morning at breakfast!

Things that bring Ellie joy these days:

Trying on Dada's glasses. (A rare treat)

Dancing with her bum in the air. She even does this alone in her crib.

Putting stuff in a shopping bag and wearing it. Preferably once a day. At least. Under close supervision, of course, because bags are very dangerous.

Sitting in her rocking chair with Blue and blanky. A serious obsession.

And last, but most certainly not least, filling her onesie with with random object found around the house that clank together when she crawls. The first time she did this I found a thermometer in there. :)

Toddlerhood. What a party!

See that pregnancy ticker up there?....

...I have no idea what date to set it to! I went to the doctor on Monday and said, "Doc, why do I look so fat already?" He measured me, we HEARD the baby's heartbeat (not likely at 11 weeks) and he said, "There's just no way you're 11.5 weeks. You're more like 15.5." Apparently I get to 'skip' a whole month of my pregnancy! So until we have an actual ultrasound to help clarify things(hopefully soon) I'm going with me being nearly 4 months instead of 3. Which, actually makes sense in my head, thinking back. So it looks as though we may get a November 23 baby instead of a December 29 baby!! (that'll make Christmas a bit easier.)
Oh. And in other pregnancy news, I've puked TWICE in the last week. Which I never ever do. Rob now thinks we must be having a boy.

No words needed.

Never too early to start 'em on chores! :)

Ellie had so much fun "doing" the dishes for me the other day that she now randomly begs to be put on a kitchen chair, then points over to the sink.

Think I can trick her into believing that dishes are a treat till she's 18? ("Good job on your report card, Ellie! Now you get to do the dishes!!!")

First (professional) haircut

Well, I tried growing Ellie's bangs out, but her large, vein-y forehead was screaming for something to frame it, so Tuesday I gave in and took Ellie to get her first haircut at a salon (I've trimmed the back of her hair myself before to avoid baby mullet.) The result? Well, we think she looks quite grown up. However, it was difficult to get a good photo because she certainly wasn't too happy about this experience...as she isn't about most new experiences. The only way I could get her to forget her woes was to give her my wallet and let her fill her shoe with quarters. :) I'm thinking I should write a book called, "1000 Ways to Distract Your Baby that will Probably Only Work Once." Or is there already one out there? If not, I'm a millionaire.

Obsessed with getting Dressed

My girlie girl has discovered the joy of clothing. Dishes need to be done? Ellie hanging on your legs? Ya get out a pair of shoes, a pair of pants, or best of all, a JACKET, and whamo, busy baby, for at least 10 minutes. Pure unadulterated silence. Ahhhhh!

(oh, and when Ellie gets her arm into a jacket hole, she says 'Bye bye!' to her hand :)