My Renovation Blog

Friday, September 30, 2011

This is SO True!!

The Good...and the UGLY

The Good:  Today, Ella said "like a diamond in the sky, twinkle, twinkle"...word for word!  Didn't even miss an "a" or an "in".  Pretty good, right?

The UGLY: I almost thought I was going to cry when we got home from lunch today.  I know I'm lucky in that Ella is a pretty easy, well behaved kid for the most part.  But that makes it even harder when she acts like a "normal" two year old.  She was a NIGHTMARE at lunch today.  As her friends Reese and Mason sat there well behaved, Ella was throwing cheerios on the floor, spilling pepper on the table, throwing her shoes across the restaurant, etc.  Then she wouldn't sit in her high chair anymore, refused to sit on my lap and started running around the restaurant like a psycho.  When I tried to pick her up, she lunged back and forth and hit me in the mouth with her head really hard.  When all of us were trying to leave, instead of walking towards the parking lot, she kept running the opposite direction and laughing.  She will usually listen to me, but today, she would NOT listen, and I just can't chase her around anymore like I used to.  I was so embarrassed and upset that I wouldn't even look at her in the car on the way home.  It put me in the worst mood and being a crazy pregnant lady, I almost cried after I put her down for her nap.  Being pregnant with a toddler is the WORST!!!!!

**Can I just update this post to say that after her nap, Ella had her FOURTH and FIFTH poop.  She peeled off the tape that is holding up the tiles on our hearth and stuck it all to her face.  She then took all Rylee's food and put it in Rylee's water bowl.  Am I being punished?????

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Update-athon

Ella

Only 9 days until she turns TWO, and we have her little shindig at the house.  I can't believe I almost have a 2 year old!

She can say a lot of the alphabet, but she skips some letters here and there, and on 9/23/11, she counted to ten!  Well, she went 1..2..3..4..5....8..9..10.  I never liked 6 and 7 anyway.  She can also name all 26 animals in her Baby Einstein animal book...and they have some weird ones like Newt (do you even know what that is?!) and Yak.

Her eye is essentially healed.  I'm SHOCKED at how fast it has healed.  Really, you can barely see it anymore.  

Pregnancy

Nothing much new here.  Still pregnant.  Still a boy.  We had a peri appointment the week before last, and he weighed 1 lb. 2 oz.  He's kicking/moving a lot more, but there are still days where are rarely feel him and then days where I feel him a lot.  Being off work has made me feel A LOT better, but I still have good days and bad days.

I had an OB appointment yesterday, and she said everything looks good.  No protein in my urine (yet), and my BP is only 104/68.  She did say I really need to start resting and taking it easy now...I'll start that after October 8th ;).  

She said she is thinking my c/s will be January 6th (we set it officially at the next appointment)...but Katie, I'm going to try and set it on the 5th or 7th so we have at least one day difference between your birthdays!  Who knows if I'll even make it that far...I REALLY hope I do!!!

Re-Decorating

Both our master bedroom and Ella's big girl room are *almost* done.  I'm so bummed because my goal was to have both done before E's party so people could see them, but it's just not going to happen.  There is just too much other stuff to do now that we are so close that the rooms need to be put on hold until after the party.  At least we had our house painted so no more faded shutters and front door and peeling trim!

Party
I'm starting to get a tad stressed.  Why do I let these parties stress me out?!  I've finished ALL the paper goods (birthday banner, cupcake toppers, signs for the backyard, signs for the front yard, monogrammed pumpkins, balloon pong paddles, food labels, favors, etc.).

I'm only waiting for a couple RSVPs, and almost everyone is coming so it should be fun!  I actually ran out of invitations and envelopes so I had to cut back our list (which I felt really bad about), but I think it will be a good number.

I'm a bit worried about the weather because although right now it says it's supposed to be partly cloudy (which would be perfect), it says it's supposed to rain the Thursday before so I'm hoping that doesn't shift to Saturday!  We're setting almost everything up in the backyard.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Happy SIX Year Anniversary!

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I was pretty sure you'd be a good husband, but I could have never imagined what a great father you would be. It's been a crazy, fun and fulfilling six years...I love you!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A Little Eye Candy (Corn)

Is this not the cutest?!!!  I saw the idea on pinterest, and of course I had to make one for Ella. 

I'm debating whether I want to list them on Etsy.  I may just sell them to people who see it here and do a custom request...I'll probably only make this size (I made an 18-24 month for Ella) and maybe 2T.  I'll also have to charge more (probably $30 or $32) than my regular pillowcase dresses because it's more labor, and I had to use an ENTIRE roll of that thick grosgrain!  Totally worth it though because it looks so cute with the yellow and orange polka dot grosgrain. :)  If anyone is interested, let me know because I'll need to get more fabric and more rolls of grosgrain if I sell any.  I'm going to try and get a photo of Ella wearing it tonight, but (a) she tends to be on the cranky side when she gets home from school, and (b) she hates having her photo taken now so we'll see what happens.

I also did a holiday edition of my ribbon clips! 


And I added a few more "regular" colors...

Ella's Eye

First, thanks so much to everyone for your concern!  After she woke up from her nap on Saturday, it got much worse so we did end up going to the ER.


But on Sunday it started to get a lot better...

Yesterday the swelling finally went down so it basically looks like she has A LOT of dark purple eye shadow on, or you know, got punched in the face!

The funniest part of the whole thing is that from about 10 minutes after it happened, she acted as if nothing was wrong...despite the fact that her eye was either swollen shut or half closed for 2 days!  Didn't phase her at all.  HOWEVER, yesterday she got a tiny cut on the top of her foot (she didn't even cry when it happened), and she spent the ENTIRE day whining and saying, "boom, boo boo [whimper whimper], boom, boo boo".  She cracks me up.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

At Least the Weekend Started of Well...

We went to our art class on Friday morning, then had lunch with Jen and Mason, then visited Hannah, then went to dinner with grandma and grandpa...so far so good.  Saturday morning we were all getting dressed for our professional family photo session.  I was upstairs finishing getting dressed just 30 minutes before we needed to leave when I heard SCREAMS from downstairs.  Gary runs upstairs with Ella, and all I see is blood coming out of the side of her eye and a huge bump!!  (the blood was actually coming out of a tiny cut on the side of her eye).  Apparently, she slipped on the dog bed and went head first into the hearth.

Fab.  I had to call the photographers (who I've already paid $100 deposit!), cancel the session and decide if we need to go the ER, call the pediatrician or just wait it out.  I decided to wait it out, but I'm sure you can all guess that Gary was pushing for a trip to the ER! ;)

Sadly, the bump got way more swollen- poor baby.  This photo is about an hour or two later, but I still don't think the picture does how AWFUL and HUGE it looks in person justice.

We were supposed to go to Taste of Newport with a bunch of friends, but we canceled for other reasons, and I'm glad we did- there is NO way I'd take her like this!  We're just doing dinner with friends- low key in case she doesn't feel well.

I swear, why does this stuff always happen to us?!  First she got the bad cut near her eye when Rylee scratched her by accident.  Then she fell face first off the stairs onto the concrete and split open her nose and now this?!  Granted that is all her "major" injuries over 2 years, but I feel like no one else gets these crazy bloody injuries!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for the second time with Ella today, and it was even more fun because Olivia came too!  I don't think 2 is the best age for D-Land...we definitely won't go again until she is 3, but it was still really fun.

The park was decorated for Halloween...
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We took Ella on the Peter Pan ride first, which was a mistake. I don't remember it being almost pitch black in there (like, you can barely even see the stuff inside) so Ella did not like it and started whimpering in the middle. Then because of that, she didn't want to go on other rides...even the carousel! She looks happy here, but trust me, she tried everything to get OFF that horse...
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Since Peter Pan failed, we didn't even attempt to go on any of the other Fantasy Land rides since I know they are all kind of dark and scary-ish.

We decided for something a little more light-hearted, and the girls loved It's a Small World...
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The girls also loved the little train in Fantasy Land, and had fun watching it through the gate while they were waiting...
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Ella wasn't too impressed with the Jungle Cruise, but when I asked her if it was fun afterward, she said yes...
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The girls drove a car in Toon Town, and we got our requisite long distance photo with Goofy (just like we did when she was 10 months old) since we pretty much refuse to stand in line to see a character (at least until Ella cares about characters)...
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She actually did seem to want to meet Minnie Mouse, but you can see her hanging on to Gary for dear life when we got close!
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And the best part of the day (at least for Gary and I) was lunch at Club 33! It really makes the entire day worthwhile. I say I won't get a season pass because I don't think Ella should go to D-Land more than twice a year, but let's face it, I just want the food so I'll never get a season pass! ;)

Some of the best soup I've ever eaten...
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Filet mignon with mashed potatoes...
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I tried to get one of every dessert from the dessert table, but they wouldn't all fit on my plate because there are so many!
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I was EXHAUSTED and swollen by 4 p.m. so we headed home earlier than planned. I love Disneyland, but I don't think I have the stamina to go more than once a year, if that!!!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

My Little Dancin' Queen

Ella has taken quite a liking to 80's music.  This is often what I see when I look in my rearview mirror. :)

*I don't know how to make this appear portrait instead of landscape so I guess you just have to turn your computer screen!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Pregnancy Update

I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow...and no, we don't have a name!  I'm definitely feeling him more now, but still not a ton- of course, I never felt Ella a ton either.  My doctor took me out of work as of September 1st for numerous reasons, and I think that is helping immensely.  My only restriction at this point is I cannot be on my feet for more than 4 hours at a time, but that's easy to follow because I don't feel good way before 4 hours on my feet!  Keep your fingers crossed that I don't get put on bedrest any time soon.

If you ask Ella where the baby is, she points to my stomach and kisses it!  I don't thinks she gets it though and probably thinks I have a doll in there somewhere, but it's still cute nevertheless.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Labor Day Weekend

We made our usual trip to Pretend City, but this time they had a kid's band playing...the kids enjoyed it so much that I'm thinking of hiring them for Ella's birthday party!

On Saturday, we met Olivia, Sophie, Ethan, Paige, Grace and Cami at the park where Ella rode the slide...
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Played in the tubes...
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Sang ring around the rosie with Olivia...
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And played chase!
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After her nap, we went to Fashion Island to look at the fish...
Dance to some music...
And do some shopping (lounging?) at Z Gallerie...

We had dinner again at True Food Kitchen because I have become obsessed with their Tuscan Kale Salad...has anyone had this?!  I could eat it everyday!!!

On Sunday we had lunch at the Spectrum with Michelle and Logan. The girls played by the sprouting fountain and Ella took a walk with Michelle...
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But apparently the most interesting thing was playing in Logan's stroller??

On Monday Ella had a great time at a bbq at Grace and Cami's grandma's house (so did we!).  She loves Grace, and they had fun riding horses...
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The girls with their grandmas...