Presents, Part One

While visiting Julie in Seattle, I found a cute Amigurumi book at her neighborhood fabric store. This is my first attempt at crocheting~Mr. Monkey is definitely imperfect, but still perfectly lovable (in my humble opinion). Ella called his head "the bean" when I was making it, so hopefully she won't remember that when she opens up this gift on Christmas. I only have a few years where homemade will be tolerated, so I'm basking in the fun-ness of it while I can.

21 Weeks

I'm officially halfway through this pregnancy~It is hard to believe, the time has (thankfully) gone by so quickly this time around. I am feeling well and having fun feeling "the baby" move around in her personal pool. Things are especially bright today because I finally found a pair of maternity jeans that actually stay up and make me look fairly normal. People have been asking me if Ella knows what is about to happen in our family. There is no clear answer~For now, she loves her "Baby Sister," gives her hugs and kisses, a hat to wear (should have gotten a picture of that one), keeps her covered up. The only point of contention so far is the crib. When we ask her if she is going to give her crib up to the baby, she says, "No, no, no..." So, we'll just have to wait and see and hope for the best.




Here I am~ Going for the clothed belly shots this time around on the public blog. Definitely pregnant.
***Ta-Da~We found our star today!***

Christmastime is here

Ella helped us unload the Christmas tree (notice her cool outfit, she's been trying to dress herself, arm-warmers and all)

Our pretty tree. I love the coziness a lit Christmas tree brings to the home. We're still shopping for a star topper~ anyone found a good one somewhere?

Ella loves to play with the ornaments. She makes them swing and jump, and occasionally crash to the floor. Luckily she's not interested in the glass balls, except to exclaim "I see Ellie in there! I see Ellie in there too!"

...and we're back!

Greg got a new camera as an early Christmas gift this weekend. Wahoo! Here are some pics from today, trying it out. Ella helped Ghee-ma take out the snowmen for the mantel. She was really excited about it, oohing and aahing as she unwrapped them, then gently she would place each one in a particulat spot on the coffee table. In the last photo, she is surveying the whole lot in awe.

Thanksgiving

The first time all 4 grandparents have been together with Ella. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner together at the Jeffries house.

Ella playing with Auntie Gilly in the yard

Riding the ladybug at the park with Granny and Grandpa

Trying to finally get a good picture of Gill with Ella...atleast Gill looks nice!

Ella, Bee, and Paci

I tried to take some stills with the video camera and the quality is pretty bad. But, Ellie sure looks cute cuddling with her 'Bee' and paci.

It's a Girl!

Greg will be even more outnumbered come April, when we welcome our next little girl into the family! Everything looks great so far, growing big already. We saw her fingers and toes, all her organs, 4 chambers of her heart pumping away and the parts of her developing brain. And...her parts. We're so excited!

**Update**

We put Ella to bed about 100 times last night. Let's just say she won. Big time. And today, we put the crib rail back up. Not quite ready to fight that battle. At least not without a bit more preparation, research, and definitely not without a baby gate in her doorway.

Let's just go back a while and remember her in her finest form:

Ah, that's better...

Cookies, Camera and Commotion

I am munching on the most delicious cookie I've had in a long while. My favorite foodie posted a recipe for Chocolate Toffee Cookies a few days ago, which I read and drooled over, but didn't dare consider baking. Then, yesterday, Greg went to open a package of Peppermint Bark given to him for his birthday, only to discover it had melted into a solid block of chocolate in transit. So, instead of hacking off pieces with an ice pick, we decided to make cookies! We substituted chunks of peppermint bark for the toffee and walnuts, and baked them up. Ella tasted the batter and said, "That's nummy chocolate. Uuummm!" Eloquently stated. But, they're even better baked (little does she know).

In other news, our camera got misplaced at school on Friday. Hence the "food post." We're crossing our fingers it ended up in someone else's purse and will find its way back home to us. I'm already missing it desperately. Ella put on my shoes for the first time and walked around the kitchen tonight...I settled for the video camera, but it is just not the same. In still photos you can't hear her whining to "See Ellie."

Ella is a big girl now. She is sleeping in her toddler bed for the third night in a row. Only tonight did she figure out that she can now get out of bed to come find me. And all because I thought she was missing her daddy at nap time today and had a snuggle with her on the twin bed until she fell asleep. She obviously pulled one over on me, because she got up to the same tricks at bedtime. Give her a millimeter, she takes a mile.

The new park

The park down the road from us was recently torn out, and replaced with bigger, better, and most importantly newer playground equipment. We go there to play atleast every-other day. Ella is in a big climbing phase, trying to tackle more challenging climbs on each visit. Only one almost-fall so far, so I think we're all doing pretty well.