Everett Eats!

Everett had solid food (oatmeal) today for the first time!  Although he did the normal first time trick of pushing most of it out of his mouth, I think he actually liked it.  It was probably a smart idea to start with oatmeal instead of rice cereal.

Being fed by my big sister...

His eyes are watering here not because he is sad, but rather, because Ella made him gag with the spoon!

And a movie of Ella feeding Everett...

Sibling Differences

Perfect example of Ella's go with the flow personality...I heard a loud thump last night, looked at the monitor and saw that Ella had fallen out of her bed!!  But get this- she quietly cried for about 7 seconds, crawled back into her bed and fell right back to sleep!  It made me think of what differences I'm noticing between the two kids because I don't think Everett has that personality.

Ella
Nothing phases this kid.  NOTHING.  She never got a fever or even got fussy over teething.  No lost sleep.  Not much drooling.  She slept through the night early and once she started she literally never woke at night.  The kid can throw up and have a 106 fever and still not wake up.  She falls out of bed and barely wakes up!

We never had to swaddle her for naps, and when we stopped swaddling her overnight (around 4 or 5 months), it didn't phase her at all.  She never cared for a pacifier and could easily self soothe.

Going on vacation doesn't mess up her schedule at all.  Starting with Vegas at 6 months old, she has always slept fine in hotels whether it be in a pack n play, crib, bathroom, closet...doesn't matter.  She is super adaptable.

She's not a tantrum thrower and is a great listener.  She still lets me pick out all her clothes.  For her age, she's pretty good at sharing.  She's always been a good eater, loves vegetables, eats seaweed as a snack.

She's just easy.  I think it's typical first kid.  A pleaser.

Everett
While he is very good, he is much more high maintenance.  He was much easier at the beginning because unlike Ella, he never had a witching hour (worst 2 weeks of my life!), he never screamed all night for the first 8 weeks of his life, and he didn't have reflux or projectile vomit 100 times a day- he was a super easy newborn.

However, he has to be swaddled for all naps and night sleep, and only certain swaddles work.  We tried to stop swaddling him for naps yesterday since he is rolling, but he would only sleep for 30 minutes unswaddled so that idea failed.

He isn't very good at self soothing.  He likes to have the pacifier while he falls asleep, and often after he goes down at 6:30 or 7 p.m., he'll wake up crying two or three times, and you have to go in and put the paci back in his mouth (ella never did this).  His night sleep schedule is all over the place- he can wake up anywhere from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., and sometimes he'll wake up twice.  It's maddening! 

Teething clearly bothers him, he drools all over the place, and he gets fussy when his gums hurt.  He also gets low grade fevers.

He's not a great eater.  It's always taken him a long time to finish a bottle, he's still on only 4 ounces (sometimes 5), and he doesn't always finish his bottles.

I blame gender on the differences...we all know how difficult men can be! ;)

Un-busy Weekend

It was a rare weekend that we had no plans and no birthday parties so my intention was to potty train Ella.  Buuuuut, that sounded boring on a beautiful weekend so instead...

We painted our toes in matching color...

We put on some new bathing suits...

And we played at the pool with Aviela!

Mom's Night

Ella's school had their "Mom's Night" on Thursday, and it was so fun!  After singing songs in chapel, we went to each classroom where there was a different station: necklace making, play doh, picture frame making, painting, hats, hair salon, and of course, Ella's favorite, cookie decorating!

We are redoing the kitchen and bathrooms in our rental property so we went to Ikea to get a quote on granite, and it took SO long that we had to find interesting ways to stay entertained...

And finally, another funny Ella moment:  We were in the car going to school, and song came on with a lot of bass at the beginning so I look back, and Ella is bobbing her head around and says, "I'm rocking out mommy!!!!"

Funny Girl

I need to start writing down funny/cute things that Ella does and says for future reference since that is basically what this blog is for!

She can definitely dish the sass, but sometimes I feel so incredibly lucky about how good she is, and that I got one of the "easy" ones.  The other day, she was playing with this chicken that plays a song and jumps around...over and over and over...I finally said, "Ella!  Can we please turn that off?!"  She looks at me and says, "ok mommy" and turned it right off. 

Yesterday, she was using her "icing" pen to decorate her Melissa & Doug cupcakes, but she kept getting it all over the place so I said, "Ella, we need to put this away until you're older."  Instead of melting down, she gave me a really cute smile when I took it away so handed it back to her, she takes it, walks over to Gary and hands the pen to him while saying, "daddy, this is for when I'm older."  Awwww.

And the love affair between Ella and Everett continues.  I cannot keep her away from him, and she loves cuddling with him.

SALE!!!!!

In case you haven't heard, I'm selling out most of my hair clips and headbands so there is a coupon code for 20% off all hair clips and headbands!!  Once an item sells out, it's gone forever so stock up now!

FLOWER20

I'm going to be doing a coupon code for dresses in the near future. :)

A Few More Crayon Clutches

Thanks, D, for ordering some great fabric combinations!!

Ella is 2 and a HALF!

I know this sounds crazy, but this is the first time she has ever had her own bowl of ice cream (or in this case frozen yogurt)!  She hated it- can you tell? ;)

Ella at 2.5...

• She is hilarious- she constantly makes us laugh.
• She has gotten over her pushing phase and is actually pretty good at sharing her toys.
• She loves all her babies and is constantly putting them to sleep by covering them with blankets.
• She loves being outside and would always prefer to be outside over inside.
• She loves green beans, hummus, cheese, Gerber mac n cheese with chicken & veggies, anything sweet and milk.
• She is madly in love with her little brother and cannot get enough of him- he is the only person in the world that she will defer to, share anything with, and do anything for.
• She shows compassion and concern- she always asks me, "is Everett ok mommy?".
• Despite being very social and outgoing, she is fearful of things like Santa, Easter Bunny, animals and things she is not familiar with.
• After months and months of being all about daddy all the time, she is very much in a mommy phase right now.
• She is smart, sweet, sassy, independent, happy and just wonderful.

A little story for her to remember when she's older...I ran into one of the dads of a boy in her class at school when I was picking her up.  I didn't know him, but he said, "Oh you are Ella's mom?"  "I absolutely LOVE her.  She is the sweetest little girl I've ever met. "  He said that when he's dropping his son off and asks for a hug, his son will sometimes run away, and Ella will come up to him and give him a goodbye hug.  :)

Scary Fever

We were in the emergency room until 2:30 a.m. this morning!  Ella was sent home from school with a 102 fever and supposedly holding her ear.  I took her to the ped, who said her ears were clear, but her throat had a lot of puss on it.  Her fever was 103.3.  The swab came back negative for strep, but she gave me antibiotics anyway.

I took her temp before bed, and it was 103.5 (so still going up!) so I gave her more meds and put her to bed.  I went in and felt her around 10 p.m., and she felt warm but not hot.  At around 12:30 a.m., I woke up to her moaning really loudly so I went in to give her more meds, but she would not wake up!  She was moaning so loud, and it was as if her eyes were rolled back in her head.  Even with a cold towel on her, she would not stop moaning or open her eyes.  She was completely unresponsive.  I took her temp, and it was 106!!!!  She was like a noodle- we were scared to death.  Gary grabbed her, threw her in the car, and took her to the ER, while I woke Everett up to get him in my car and rush over there.

When I got there, she was laying on the bed, still moaning and she would not talk to me or say anything or make eye contact.  Her fever was now 104, but she was still so out of it!  After huge doses of meds, they finally got her down to 99.9.

The ER doctor said he doesn't trust those quick swab tests so he believes she either has strep or a bad viral infection, but that she would be fine.  He said he doesn't care about the height of the fever, even if it's over 105!  I told him that I knew that, and that my doctor has told me the same thing in the past, but she was so unresponsive that I thought something was seriously wrong.  I've never seen someone like that before, and she is so little! 

Good news is that she is doing 1000% better today.  I think her fever must have been breaking when it was 106, and now it's gone.  SO SCARY!

Happy Easter 2012!

We went to grammy and pop pop's on Saturday, where the kids has SO much fun hunting for eggs...

This is our attempt at getting a shot of all the kids outside...do you like how everyone is looking at poor Everett in the blazing sun thinking, "what are our crazy parents doing to you?"

So we thought it might be a better idea to get a shot inside...Brett is such a good cousin loving on Everett...

Grammy and pop pop hooked Ella up with the princess dress up gear...necklace, bracelets, ring, high heeled shoes, boa, wand, wings, tutu...which she of course had to wear all at once...

Then we had to have a little costume change since it was HOT in the desert!

Doesn't he look thrilled to be wearing bunny ears?

When we got home, the Easter Bunny came to our house and hid Ella, Everett and daddy's Easter baskets because he knew we would be gone all day on Easter...

We had to check it out right then and there...

On Sunday, we went to church and then brunch on the beach to one of my very favorite places...you really can't beat this view from your table!

To give you an idea of how skinny Everett is...he is 4 months old, his outfit is a 0-3 months, 

and when we stood him up like that, his shorts fell off of him so right after the photo, his shorts were around his ankles...oops!

My boys...

Loves of my life...

The fam...

A couple family photos...

A pose by the water and then a ride on the "Jolly Barn" (I have no idea why she called it that except that we called it a trolley and maybe she thought we said jolly and thought of her Jolly Barnyard book?)...

After naps, we went to visit great-grandpa, and it was his first time meeting Everett- he was so excited!

While we were visiting great-grandpa, the Easter Bunny came to grandma's house and hid all kinds of eggs for Ella to find in the backyard!

She eventually decided that the basket was slowing her down. ;)

And Everett's view during the hunt...

It was a jam packed weekend, but it was so much fun because we got to spend all weekend with family!!!