More Birthday Pics

Here are a few pictures of when my family came up to celebrate Ellie's birthday. Zach's family came up as well, but for some reason our camera never came out. Hmm... I hate that we didn't get any shots of Gigi or Memaw. We do love you, maybe you'll give us the pictures you took :)

The yummy cake:
The pretty balloons:
Ellie enjoying the cake:
Ellie opening her presents (she's real good at that now):
Zach and Ainsley watching Ellie open gifts (well, maybe just Zach. Ainsley seems to be checking mommy out):

Ellie's Party

Ellie had a little party on Saturday with 3 of her friends: Addison (of course), Grace, and Hannah. I think she really enjoyed it and loved having some friends over. I tried to make it very low key and low stress. We ended up having pizza, salad, and a delicious cake I made myself! We just had a few activities for the girls such as coloring, water painting, and bubbles. Here are some pictures from the day:

Hannah, Ellie, and Grace water painting

Ellie, Hannah, and Addison enjoying pizza and juice

Ellie dazed by all the attention and singing. (one of our friends commented that this is the first time she had seen Ellie not talking)

Blowing out the candles!

All the girls helping Ellie play with her new mower!

It was so nice to have friends over to celebrate her special day! We got to enjoy some special time with each of our families Easter weekend and on her actual birthday (Sunday). Thanks for everyone who made her birthday extra special... she definitely received a lot of birthday cards! She has so many people who love her!

Happy 2 Years Ellie!

Ellie turned 2 years old yesterday! It's hard to believe that it has been 2 years since she's entered our lives, it happens way too fast! Although my life is crazy right now and most of the craziness is because of this little girl, she truly brings me so much joy! I love hearing her talk, sing, smile, learn new things, and love on her friends and family (especially her sister).

When I look back at when Ellie was a baby, I can't believe how much she has grown. She hasn't changed a whole lot, I can see so many actions and behaviors she does now in the videos of her as an infant. Some of these include her expressions, how excited she gets over simple things (screaming and kicking and giggling), and how much she loves people (she really doesn't know a stranger, although she will act shy). The other day we were driving in the car with the windows down, she absolutely LOVES this. She started laughing, screaming, and kicking her legs and I couldn't help but share the joy with her. It reminded me so much of the times when she was little (we played peek-a-boo, make silly faces, play games in the car, etc.). Those don't happen nearly as much anymore, she is in her defiant stage with a lot of not fun emotions.

Today we went in for her two year check up. She seems to enjoy going to the doctor, meeting friends in the waiting room, and playing with the trains. She hates getting measured, checked out, and definitely the shots. We had a great doctor this time and she was fabulous while he checked her out (until we got to the mouth, she did not want to open her mouth). When shot time came, I was prepared! I got a lollipop beforehand to give to her right after her shot. She cried for a minute, but then the lollipop did the trick. She looked very healthy and no concerns for her development. She weighed in at 24 lbs (15%), measured 34 in tall (50%), and had a head circumference of 48.5cm (75%).

Other facts about Ellie:
-can say well over 50 words, I'm thinking around 100. We're working on trying to say words with 3 syllables (like disobey, tricycle, forgiveness, etc.) However she can say names with three syllables: Addison and Madison
-put three words together (she loves saying happy birthday Ellie)
-sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat, Good Morning song, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Lollipop song (due to this awesome card this weekend), Farmer in the Dell, Old McDonald, Ring Around the Rosy. She doesn't get all the words, but does sing along and do motions. Her favorite by far is Farmer in the Dell, then next Good Morning song.
-play pretend with her dolls, cell phone, barn
-counts, but not quite right. Right now this is how she counts: 1, 2, 8, 9, 10. She first started counting and left out 3, 4. Then she started leaving out 5,6. Now she leaves out 3-7... she'll get it someday.
-knows her shapes: square, rectangle, triangle, circle, heart, star, diamond, pentagon
-still working on colors. She goes through phases. First everything was purple, then blue, then pink, then black (that only lasted a day), and now red. Sometimes she'll get the colors right, or I'll ask her to hand me an object of a certain color and she does it right. I think she still doesn't quite get it.
-still working on the abcs. She just seems to hate letters for some reason, she never is interested. I got somewhat "jealous" if you would say when I saw a few kids younger than her saying all of alphabet. So after that I tried to work really hard with the letters, but she never cared. I gave up after a few days and said oh well, she'll learn it eventually! No rush now...
-loves to play hide and seek (sometimes I feel like she mostly enjoys counting for the game??), she also likes books where she "finds" the objects
-loves to put wooden puzzles together, she also loves to read goodnight books and animal books
-definitely an outside girl. I'm so glad the weather is finally warm enough to be outside (sometimes too warm). She loves just going outside. I can just open our back door and she'll just stay on our back porch doing her own thing for hours (really). She'll ride her tricycle (a neighbor gave us), change her baby or teddy, clean the chairs and table, pick grass, sit in her chairs, or just walk around. I do some activities with her that surprisingly keep her attention for at least 20 minutes. She loves to play with play-dough, paint with water, draw with chalk and color. I'm gonna get out her easel and try real paint with her soon. I think she'll love it, just not sure if I'm ready for the mess.
-loves shoes. My shoes, her shoes, Ainsley's shoes. She definitely has her favorites, but she is a shoe girl. Doesn't care much about clothes, but wants specific shoes. Her favorite pair by far is her pink crocs (too bad they no longer make those because they were perfect!). I bought some sandals at target that were awfully cute that seemed to come in 2nd, but then my mom got her these purple gellie sandals from Gap and she is obsessed with those (we have to exchange them though because they are way too tight, she is not happy she can't wear them again).
-loves her sister. She was asked in the store the other day if they could take Ainsley home. Ellie immediately replied no. They asked, "You want to keep her?" Ellie, "Da." (english= yea). I asked her, "Do you love your little sister?" Ellie replied, "Da." She loves her very much and I definitely can tell. She loves to help her, will bring her toys, wipe her face, or bring the paci. Ellie is also very concerned when she cries (she'll run to where she is and say it's ok Annie, no crying, it's ok). If Ainsley is laying down on the bed or the couch, Ellie usually comes and lays next to her. Sometimes she'll read a book, other times she'll give her a kiss, and the rest she'll just lay there. I can't wait until Ainsley can show the love back :)
-loves the bath or shower. I can stick her in the bath and she would stay in there for a whole hour! I think she was in there around 40 minutes tonight... we got distracted by Memaw and Gigi who talked with Ellie during her bath. Good thing we only do bath/shower 3-4 times a week!
-loves to dance. I don't know if you remember this from when she was itty bitty, but she still loves to move to music.
-eats extremely well I would say for a 2 year old. I can usually get her to eat all her broccoli, green beans, corn, rice, potatoes, and definitely fruit. She still struggles eating chicken, but it's getting better. The only thing I know she won't eat is lasagna or lettuce.
-favorite places: Target and Starbucks. (probably because mom loves target and dad loves starbucks).

Wow that is a lot to read, sorry. Ellie truly is a happy kid, who loves people. It's such a joy to see the little person she's developed into, and I know there is so much developing and growing she will do. I only hope I get to share many more years with this little one. I love her deeply!

Ellie Mimics Mommy

We were about to put Ellie to bed the other night, when Zach came in and told me that Ellie was reading my magazines. I had taken some of the ads from the Sunday paper to read and was reading them on the couch right before we put the girls to bed. She decided she wanted to be like mommy:


You gotta love the upside down sunglasses (these were an addition by Ellie). Priceless moments.

Colorado

Zach and I went to Colorado at the end of March for our friend, Devin Dickel's wedding. We decided to make this a mini vacation just the two of us. It started out with Zach sick (throwing up the night before and on the airplane/in the airport), then the next day I got sick and had to stay in the hotel all day. Luckily Zach had friends to hang out with so that he wasn't bored out of his mind while I was in bed. We were both able to go to the wedding (Zach was in the wedding), and it was a beautiful wedding. The mountains were in the background, the food was delicious (although we weren't able to fully enjoy it), and the couple just perfect for each other. Congrats to Devin and Brianna!
Of course there was not much picture taking, but here is a picture of the night Zach and I went out on a date to a really good restaurant in Boulder, The Med.
We ordered half price appetizers and sampled many items, all delicious. Our favorite place was definitely a breakfast place known as The Buff. We went there twice. Zach tried their saddlebags pancakes (pancakes with bacon in them and eggs on top). Man vs. Food (a tv show) was there for that dish the day before, pretty impressive.

Although it was spring, it was pretty much still winter there. It was hard leaving NC with the flowers blooming and warm weather, for cooler weather and snow! Winter is not my season at all and I was so ready for warm weather, but I did enjoy seeing the snow covered mountains. We didn't pack our ski apparel, so we didn't go skiing. We sure did regret that thought, it's hard going to CO and not take part in skiing in the awesome snow. We'll be back for that though. We forgot (of course) to take the camera when we went up in the mountains, but I did get a picture of one view (the worst) of our drive to our hotel.
The mountains were gorgeous! The land is completely flat and then there are these big mountains. We drove up highway 36 to Boulder, you are driving directly at the mountains and it was such a nice view. We did get two pictures of both of us, one at the wedding which turned out awful and the other at the airport.
We asked people to take the pictures and I hate that it seems when we do that, they always get a huge background! I don't want to see everything behind me (not unless it's the mountains or some awesome view)! Oh well, at least they took a picture of us! Glad one of them turned out well.

Our trip wasn't all that we hoped it to be, but it was nice having a break. We sure did miss our girls. Hopefully next year when we get away we won't get sick!

Becoming a Parent...

Got this from a Babycenter e-mail, gave me a laugh and totally goes along with what I feel.

You didn't know becoming a parent meant...
• Stacking today's unread newspaper on top of yesterday's unread newspaper.
• Eating dinner like we're trying to break a world record for the most pasta swallowed in the shortest amount of time. Standing up.
• Letting your partner choose between poop and laundry as a topic of conversation.
• Figuring out how to pee without putting the baby down.
• Wearing a bra that looks like something from a 1930s catalog.
• Spending three hours getting the baby to sleep and then waking her up two minutes later to make sure she's still breathing.
• Forgetting what you were...

I was just saying tonight to Zach that I feel like I am in this surviving mode, not thriving. I mean most days I barely get to go potty, and half of the time Ainsley is on my lap while I do. Chores definitely only get done when absolutely necessary, I rarely remember to plan what's for dinner, and I stay up late just to get to have time to do what I want.

Another funny note, I watched Grey's Anatomy on my computer tonight and one doctor asked the question to another doctor, "When is the best time to have kids?" The reply, "Never." There is never a good time to have kids, they are difficult. They make you lose your patience, your sleep, your time... but the joy they bring to your life, the love that you experience for them and from them, the better person you become because of them. Totally worth it. So although my life is crazy and difficult, I wouldn't trade it for anything (and I've only gotten to experience just the beginning of what is to come). I just have to rely on my Savior for grace, my Father for strength, and the Spirit to continue this race. Praise God that he "will supply every need" (Phil. 4:19)... and of course for these beautiful children:

My loves

I love my family more than words can say. I am so blessed!

Easter Pics

It seems that I never get the camera out for events, just for moments around the house. Any who, here are a few pictures we took from Easter time:

They look just alike :)

Ainsley during the egg hunting, at least Ellie shared!

Finally, a real egg hunt at our house. She actually had to find the eggs this time, but don't worry I didn't hide them very well.

I love that Easter brings so many fun activities like egg hunting, but I hate that too often because of those activities we lose sight of what it is all about. I am super guilty of this, I got super excited 3 weeks ago when I saw all the egg hunts and activities we get to do and completely forgot to talk about what Easter was about to Ellie until last week. So I definitely tried to "make up" for it and pounded it in Ellie every chance I got. She knows at least who her savior is, although she definitely doesn't understand the death and resurrection thing yet.

I hope you were able to reflect on the amazing love our Father has shown us by sending his only son to die for us. It never fails, I am continually humbled by Christ's death and overwhelmed with joy by his resurrection. Because Jesus conquered death, I no longer am enslaved to sin and can have eternal life... hallelujah! He has risen, HE HAS RISEN INDEED!

No Post Apology

I hate that it's been almost two weeks with no post! At least I have some good reasons for that...

Last Monday, Zach left to go out of town. Something has to go wrong since he is out of town, right? I was about to think nothing would happen because he was coming home Tuesday morning, but then at around 9pm Monday night, Ellie woke up screaming. She had been making a few noises here and there, but I didn't think anything of it. This noise I knew something was not right and went immediately to her room to find throw up all over her and the bed. Yuck. I had to give her a bath and then cleaned everything up. She ended up going to bed with me at around 10:30p, but was up every hour somewhat throwing up.

I wasn't sure if Ellie was actually sick because the next day she acted normal and had no other sign of illness. Zach and I were headed to Colorado on Thursday morning, so we drove to my parents house to drop the kids off on Wednesday. Wednesday night we realized Ellie must have had a bug because low and behold Zach started throwing up. We decided to still make the trip to Colorado, but poor Zach was sick the whole day. It was awful. I thought I was just a trooper with an amazing immunity to this stomach bug, but found that wasn't the case on Friday. Friday morning I woke up with it. Super. We found out later that day that my dad had it and then that night, Ainsley had it.

Zach and I tried to enjoy the rest of our time in Colorado, we got back home late Monday night. Now we are finally better and back to our home sweet home. I'm hoping to update the blog soon, although we barely took any pictures in CO.

So here is my apology for the lack of posts. Thanks for being understanding :)

Ellie Counting!

Ellie can now somewhat count to fourteen! She starts at one, two, skips three and four, then counts the rest. It is so cute and we are so proud! We tried to get a video of her counting while playing hide and seek, but she got distracted when daddy wasn't hiding like he's supposed to. We did get her counting some of it though:

Ellie Talking to Ainsley

I baby talk a lot more with Ainsley than I did with Ellie, I think I'm just more comfortable with it now. Ellie has learned this baby talk, and will also speak to Ainsley this way. It's very cute watching her talking and loving on her sister. We have caught her doing some naughty things such as sitting on Ainsley a lot more recently. We definitely can't leave them alone together!



I love how she says "pictures" as soon as she sees the camera. She also stops her baby talk as soon as she notices the camera rolling. Oh well... I think one day she'll love being on video, she definitely loves attention.

Ainsley 3 months

On Tuesday, the 16th, Ainsley turned 3 months old! It's hard to believe she's already 3 months, but yet at the same time it's hard to remember life without her. She has been such a blessing and joy to us, especially me. I've already noted the differences in looks between her and Ellie, but there are also some differences in personalities I already notice. Ainsley LOVES to be held and to cuddle and notably prefers mommy over anyone else. Ellie wanted to be laid down if she was tired. I remember at this age, Ellie fell asleep on Zach one afternoon and we were so shocked. Ainsley falls asleep in our arms at least once a day. It's nice having a little cuddler :)

We don't have a monthly check up this month, she'll have one at 4 months. She is still a little chunk, and I'm guessing she probably weighs between 14 and 15 lbs. Here is what she can do:
-holds her head up very nicely
-sits propped up on the boppy, in the bumbo, or with some pillows
-holds tight to objects and my fingers
-smiles when you talk to her or just when she looks at you. We have started putting her in the high chair at lunch and dinner time, and she always has a huge smile on her face the whole time. I think she loves being included and chatting with the family.
-laughs pretty much every time she smiles, she is such a happy little girl
-sleeps 11-12 hours every night! We have had one night in the past month where she has waken up to feed, I think we have only had 1 other night where we just put the paci in and she was fine. We don't have a strict schedule, but she usually wakes up between 7-8:30a and goes to bed around 7-8p. This is just so awesome, how am I so blessed to have two great sleeping babies??
-feeds 5-6 times a day, every 2.5-3 hours
-likes to chew on her hands and fingers, but is not sucking her thumb like we thought she would. She barely takes a paci... the only times she does take a paci is when we put her in her crib to sleep or are trying to soothe her to sleep.
-napping well the past few days, but was having a very hard time before then. Last week and this past weekend was really hard on me because she kept crying a lot due to being very sleepy. I had a hard time figuring out when she gets sleepy, she doesn't seem to rub her eyes a lot and she'll just go from laughing to screaming in seconds. I've been trying to put her down when I think she should be sleepy and that has helped.
-I've been really slack at doing tummy time, but when I have put her on her belly the past week she can lift her head completely up and look at you. She also will do superman and kick her legs. She lasts about 3-5 minutes before she gets fussy usually.
-loves the ceiling fan, books, and Ellie. She just stares so wide eyed with the biggest smile.
-wears size 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diaper

I wish I could write a schedule, but with the time change it's been very inconsistent. She has been sleeping much later, so that throws things off. I'm going to try to post one soon when I feel like we have more consistency, just so I can have it for my records. I have a feeling though, that once I get a consistent schedule (lasting about a week), it'll change. They just change so much, so quickly.

I've definitely been completely exhausted, I felt this way last week, and this week with the time change it has definitely been difficult. Having two under two is definitely taking it's toll, but I'm accepting that this is just what comes from having young kids. I'm trying to cherish every bit of it and really enjoy each moment. I definitely didn't really milk the moments with Ellie as much as I should, I always seemed to be looking for the next thing. So this time I'm going to be different, and I'm going to enjoy each stage with both of them (at least I'm going to try really hard to).

I really can't believe I have two daughters! Ainsley is just the cutest thing ever and I simply adore her. I barely know this little one, but the love I have for her just overflows my heart. It's amazing how much love you can have, and it's only a glimpse of God's love for us.

Ellie Learning to Video

Ellie loves taking pictures and taking videos with the camera. We're trying to teach her how to hold it. She has learned how to say smile, which comes out "sam-el" (listen for it in the video, she says it multiple times). I think she's telling the toys on the exersaucer to smile.



This next video is just hilarious to Zach and I. We had no idea she was taking a video, but just found this while watching all of them. What's really funny to us, is this is what she does when we tell her it's time for dinner and she's playing (she runs around and then finally comes when the table is set). It's just funny to see her run with the camera room to room. I guess she knows that dinner is never really "ready" until a few minutes later, usually when mommy says it.

Ellie Jumping off Daddy

I was gone one night helping out in a campus outreach at Meredith college. This is what happens when mommy's not around:



Ellie really has been in this "jumping off things" phase. She'll try jumping off stairs, couches, tables, rocks, even her toys or mommy's computer. She's getting braver and braver each time, which is rare for Ellie. If I was home I would have informed Zach that she would probably get hurt doing this, not sure if he thought this too and just let it happen (although he usually is way more protective than I am). I like how Kayla is there supervising.

New Accent Wall

With our tax refund, we have decided to make some repairs and renovations to our house. First we decided to repair some of the water damage we had from last year (we had already fixed the problem, just not the damage). The water leak came from our chimney, so it only affected one wall in our living room, the fireplace wall, and the ceiling. Zach and our friend Uriah, painted the ceiling on Saturday. So on Sunday we started working on our wall. Our living room is our biggest room and is connected to the hallway, so we were really dreading having to paint it all. That's when I decided why not do an accent wall. Great idea! We picked the color green, our accent color in the living room. Got some samples at Lowe's, painted the wall with the samples, chose the color, then started painting! I LOVE IT! It is a great color and adds so much to what was such a blah room. What do you think?


Next, the carpet then maybe the master bath?? Oh boy...

Spring is Almost Here!

We are so excited and happy that warmer weather is finally here! We have been enjoying it and have played outside for many hours. We also get to see some beautiful colors coming out of the ground, we have daffodils blooming! Here is the first bloom at our house (I think even in our neighborhood), however we now have many that have bloomed. We love it!

We spent Monday afternoon/early evening at Womble Park. Ellie had so much fun playing on the playground, especially since her best friend Addison came along.

gotta love these smiles:

Ellie really likes riding the horse:

Ainsley wasn't too excited:

She found a doll at the playground (lasted about 5 min):

Warmer weather has also been followed with longer naps. Everyday this week Ellie has taken 3 hour naps, I love it! Ellie used to take naps this long, but not since Ainsley was born. I'm thinking it might last since we'll only be playing more and more outside (especially when the pool opens). I just love warm weather!!

So Different

It's crazy how different our two girls are! The other day I had to go to the next size in clothes for Ainsley (3-6 months), she is growing like a weed. (I do feel like she has stopped growing so fast and will stay in this size for a while). There is hardly anything Ainsley can wear because almost all of Ellie's clothes from 0-6 months are summer clothes. I did pull out a long sleeve onesie of Ellie's. Ellie wore the onsie at 5 months. Here's the pictures to compare:

Ainsley is definitely a tad bit bigger than Ellie, but surprisingly not that much bigger. I know that they start slimming down a lot after 4 months, I think they also start to look a lot cuter. One thing Ainsley has on Ellie is her hair, I just love how much she has and how long it is! Ainsley's hair is almost as long as Ellie's is now, and Ainsley will let me put bows in it and put it up (hehe). Another difference between the two is the eyes. Although they do have the same color, they are very different shapes and both very beautiful. Now the cheeks on Ainsley, we'll have to see if those ever disappear, but Ellie definitely had some cheeks at 9 months. Not sure why they came so much later.

It's surprising how different they look, but yet how beautiful they both are. I thought that it might be hard because Ellie is just so darn cute and always has been, and that I would never think our next baby would be as cute as Ellie. I was wrong, I absolutely adore Ainsley and think she is precious. I do compare the two, but with them being so different, they each have their individualistic cuteness (like that wording?). It'll be fun to watch them both grow.

Busted Lip

Zach went out of town this morning, so of course something had to happen. The day was going great, Ellie took a 3.5 hour nap, it was a beautiful day, and everybody was happy. Well we went to the park for a walk and to play, when we got back that's when it happened. I was feeding Ainsley and Ellie fell and busted her lip. Then they both were crying...

Ellie handled it pretty well, it was bleeding pretty bad. No stitches necessary though. Here are some pics of her nasty boo boo.

She's crying not because she's hurt but because she wants dinner.

She was quite the poser for mommy as I took a picture of her boo boo, hence the smile.

Funny Weather

I'm not sure if you remember last week(it seems mostly a blur to me), but one day it was in the 60s and then the next day it snowed. I was super excited to finally be able to sit outside and feel the sun on my skin, and Ellie was also excited to finally be able to go outside barefoot. She absolutely loved just picking the "flowers" and throwing them. I cannot WAIT until spring finally arrives... I think it's almost here. I see some 70 degree days in the forecast!

Monday (March 1):

Tuesday (March 2):
It snowed. Ellie wanted to go out and play in the snow. Yea, that didn't happen. She wouldn't even step in it and I wasn't about to stay out there in the cold (I'm over the snow now, still like to look at it... do not want to play in it unless there is a lot of it). She liked just staring at it outside though:
Ainsley was perfectly happy staying inside:

Playing Together

Another week of no posts, so sorry! I've really been struggling with energy this week. I'm not sure if it is recovering from Zach being gone or because I'm coming down with something again. I should probably go see the doctor, this is the third time I've had a hoarse throat and cough this year! I hardly ever get sick, but I've sure been down with something more this year than the past 5! Ha...

We've definitely had some great moments this week. I'll be posting over the next few days some of them, so come back to check them out! Today you get to see some pics of Ellie and Ainsley playing together. Now that Ainsley is a lot bigger, I'm a lot more willing to let Ellie be around her without me being right there. I will lay Ainsley on her play mat, and Ellie usually comes and lays right next to her. They will stay there hanging out for at least 10 minutes usually, this is great because they entertain each other and I'm able to get ready for the day (since I'm not doing great at all about waking up early). I was able to get some shots earlier this week of them on the mat. Ainsley is loving the mat, especially when her sister is right next to her. You can just see it on her face how happy she is, she's such a happy girl!



I just have the cutest kids, don't I??