The Weekend

Our weekends have been very laid back lately which is a HUGE blessing since football season is about to start up. Living in Starkville, the weekends can get a little crazy. On Saturday morning after our usual trip to Shipleys Donuts we decided to do a little bit of rearranging at home. I had a white book shelf in our extra room that was CRAMMED with children's books. The space wasn't well utilized and we didn't have a very good system for Ellington's toys, so I cleaned off the shelf, moved it into our living room, and created a place for Ellington's toys. We love the way it turned out!

As I was dusting on Saturday morning I saw that Ellington was very interested in what I was doing.  I grabbed a rag for her to "help" me and she LOVED it!  She was so happy cleaning everything in sight.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of this earlier!  She also loves helping me with the laundry these days....although that usually results in it taking three times as long. :)  At least she is willing and eager!

While I was taking ALL of my children's books off the shelf I discovered the book "Princess Baby" that someone had given me at a baby shower.  I put it away before Ellington was born since it wasn't a board book and I had forgotten about it.  I knew she would love it and sure enough....I read it OVER and OVER on Saturday.  It's her new favorite!

The other big thing Ellington did this weekend was use this wooden hotdog as her microphone and sing all.weekend.long.  It has been sooooooo funny.  Her friend Katelyn used it as a microphone when she was over playing on Thursday morning so that gave Ellington the idea.  She has been carrying it around and singing ever since!  Her favorite song to sing into the microphone is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  It's absolutely precious!

Friday Favorites {Snack Cup}

Ah, the snack cup.  We LOVE this snack cup.  It is perfect for Ellington's little hands to hold and it prevents (most) spilling.  It definitely comes in the most handy in the car.  Ellington isn't allowed to have it just any old time, but it's great for longer car rides and occasionally around the house.

We have found ourselves using it A LOT more in the past few days.  Ellington had the stomach virus last Saturday.  She ate very little for about 5 days total and ate almost nothing at all for 2 of those days.  She is certainly making it for it now!  The last couple of days Ellington has eaten almost every bite at all three meals and her two scheduled snacks (mid morning and after her afternoon nap).....plus has been asking for a "snack" in between all of that.  So, rather than have her in her highchair the WHOLE ENTIRE DAY, she has been using her snack cup around the house more than usual. 

The snack up is a fantastic invention that I give two thumbs way up!

How Did I Let This Happen?

Before I had a baby (when I was the perfect parent) and even most of Ellington's life, I have very firmly wanted to stay away from commercialized things.  You know, all the popular characters and all the "stuff" that goes along with them.  I suppose I thought we were going to be better than all of that.  We weren't going to buy into all of the overpriced toys and clothes that are essentially meaningless.  Fast forward to this very night.  Here is how my sweet girl dressed for bed....

Minnie Mouse!  Oops!  Ellington LOVES Mickey Mouse and all of his friends...LOVES LOVES LOVES them.  As a Mama, it's fun to see things through Ellington's eyes and watch her enjoyment.  I suppose now I actually encourage her love for these characters!  I honestly NEVER would have thought I would buy her character pjs.  But ya'll.....we saw them half price at Tuesday Morning and baby's face lit up.  Not only did we purchase them, but E got to stay up later so we could get them washed and dried before bed.  She's thrilled....and so am I.  And guess what, we're even having a Mickey and Minnie Mouse birthday party.  WHAT??!!  A CHARACTER PARTY??!!  Yep.  She's going to LOVE IT and so am I.  Moral of the story:  Don't say never. 

One more thing on this subject (you must ignore my earlier moral).....Ellington will NEVER wear character shoes. ;)  (I am REALLY serious about that!)

The following pictures have nothing to do with what I am discussing, but I included them just because.  Ellington thinks it's hilarious when Gus gets a bath.  It's one of her favorite activities. 

Last night Robert went to work at 5:30 pm (the time he's usually going in these days) and I thought there was NO way I was going to make it to bed time with Ellington.  I knew we needed some kind of activity or we would both go crazy.  We decided to mix up some mini muffins.  Unfortunately the bottoms got a little burned so Ellington spits them out.  Ha!  They might not be good, but it kept us busy!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Our Weekend

Our weekends (for Ellington and I anyway) start on Thursday now.  Woohoo.  It's such a nice change of pace.  I am LOVING my new job and our new schedule.  On Thursday morning we met up with some friends from church at the park, Ashia and her little girl Austin.  Austin and Ellington are in the same class at church and at school and they are just a couple of weeks apart in age.  This past week they became best friends at school, so we decided to get them together!  Ellington was soooo excited about playing with Austin at the park!

Sweet Austin

I tried hard to get a picture of them together on the slide!  Ellington just sat there while Austin slid and quickly ran around to do it again.  I guess Ellington was too hot! :)

We have been trying to SERIOUSLY cut back on eating out.  It's a huge money drainer for us.  Huge.  So huge I could cry....ha....anyway.  After the park I decided it would be a fun Mommy/Daughter treat to go to lunch together but I didn't want to spend much money.  We went to Wendy's and we ate for under $5 total.  Not too bad!

Thursday afternoon we tried a ponytail for the first time!  It was super cute but it didn't stay up well at all!

Friday morning we went to our friends house to have a play date lunch.  Last school year we tried to have once a week play dates with the Hammetts.  Erin's little girls are 15 months apart and Ellington is right in between their birthdays so it's really perfect.  We hadn't gotten together with them since the Spring and it was a WONDERFUL treat to all get back together again!!  I took my camera, but didn't get any pictures because in the hour and a half we were there Ellington had three dirty diapers the first of which was so bad she had to just wear a diaper the rest of the time!  I thought it was just from teething with her molars, but later would find out otherwise!

Saturday morning about 4:30 am I heard a sound on our monitor that I knew wasn't right.  When I looked at the monitor I saw that sweet Ellington was throwing up.  Of course we rushed in there and the poor girl was covered in throw up and diarrhea (sorry...I know this is kind of gross).  So, Ellington said hello to the stomach bug for the first time in her life.  The next few hours were pretty rough.  By 7:30 am we had already done two loads of laundry.  She finally stopped throwing up and having dirty diapers by about 9.  Ellington layed on me all.day.long.  Literally, she was plastered to me the whole day.  Except for one time when she walked to the kitchen for a second we were never apart.  She just layed there so lifeless and dozed in and out of sleep.  I have NEVER seen her like that....including when she was so sick back in the winter.  I also have never spent so much time on the couch!  I was so glad we had no other plans and I was able to just hold my girl the whole day.  She was also able to finally keep some water down and a little bit of dry cereal.  About 7:30 (when I was about to put her to bed) she asked to get down and was totally ready to play!  Ha!  I was EXHAUSTED since I had been up since 4:30.  I got her to bed not too long afterward and we all rested well last night!  Obvisously I stayed home with her this morning rather than going to church, but she's doing really well!  She's not eating much, but that's to be expected.  We are glad to have survived the stomach bug!

Below Ellington is feeling better this morning feeding Lambie salad.  

(I have been eating a lot of salad lately so Ellington talks about salad a lot!)

Our weekend wasn't at all what we expected, but it was honestly kind of nice to just all be at home together and not feel like we had to do anything!  We are glad that the stomach bug left quickly and that Ellington is perfectly healthy now!  The stomach bug is nothing compared to what some parents have to deal with.

Friday Favorites {Background Music}

I am the kind of person who always like to have some kind of noise going on in the background.  Perhaps it's from watching too much tv in my formative years, but whatever the case....silence makes me a little nutty.  I even sleep with a white noise machine.  In fact, I can't sleep without it.  Must.have.noise.

I have tried to significantly reduce the amount of time that the television is on.  That leaves me with a lot of silence.  Enter today's "Friday Favorite"....Pandora.  My personal favorite station to listen to is the Amos Lee station.  However, Ellington and I both enjoy the Raffi station.  If you have kids, the Raffi station is DELIGHTFUL!  It's not annoying to me which is a huge plus when it comes to children's music. :)  I know most people already do Pandora, but if you don't....you should! 

 Once you choose a station....turn the music up loud, put your tutu on, and DANCE!!!!

Slump

I have been in a bit of blogging and picture taking slump lately.  Any extra creative juices that I might have have been going into my preschool classroom or planning for Ellington's upcoming 2nd birthday party.  So, I apologize for the lack of fun around the ole blog. :)  We have been busy with life and busy enjoying our sweet girl.  Ya'll, I know I say it a lot but Ellington is just so sweet.  We are so lucky and blessed to be her parents! 

In an effort to take some picture and have blog material I made sure to take my camera with us when we went to Columbus Saturday evening.  And here is my ONE picture I took the whole time...

Yep, I only got so far as to take a picture on the way.  Oops.  At least it's a start.  Here's to blogging and picture taking more frequently!  We'll see how it goes!

Thursday Love Day

Thursday was our first "stay home" day since starting school and our new schedule!  The first rule of stay home day was to stay in our pjs as long as possible.  Thursday was a great day to have at home because it was majorly thunder-storming.  I felt bad for all of my other teacher friends who had to go to work! 

I want to be more intentional with my time at home with Ellington rather than just getting by until nap time (you Mamas know what I mean!).   So, I decided to try some new things so we would both stay entertained. :)

Ellington started off the day taking care of Lion and Lambie.  They are her sleeping buddies that must have escaped from the crib!

We decided to make cupcakes for Daddy!  I have never let Ellington help me cook before.  I guess that's a little sad, but anyway.  She was SO excited to be my helper!!  Also, the cupcake mix and cupcake liners/toppers are left over from VALENTINES DAY!  Ha!  (Don't worry...nothing had expired...I checked!)  I got them to make for Valentine's, but I think I ended up with the stomach virus or something.  Ellington was staying with my parents so she wouldn't get sick.  I figured we might as well use the stuff now!

While the cupcakes were in the oven, Ellington made her Daddy a card.

And while the cupcakes were cooling we played under the carport (it was still raining) with sidewalk chalk.  This was her first time to do sidewalk chalk at home and we've had it since April or so!  

(See....I'm trying new things and trying to be intentional.  Finally using the cupcake mix and chalk that I bought in early 2011!  Better late than never, I guess!)

Yummy!  Ellington had already eaten an un-iced cupcake for her morning snack!

I also cut out little hearts and wrote messages on them for Robert and Ellington colored them.  This was Robert's little surprise when he woke up Thursday afternoon:

A note about sugar.....  I haven't been eating carbs or sugar for about a month (with the exception of the fair!).  While I was icing the cupcakes I thought to myself, "Man, this really looks good" and so I ate some of the icing.  Straight icing.  Ya'll....sugar is CRAZY.  Not long after eating the icing (probably more than I should have) everything started kind of spinning.  I now know what a "sugar high" means.  It was so crazy.  I have never felt like that before.  I don't now what being drunk feels like, but I think I could have been close yesterday with the icing!

Our day was super great and I'm so happy that I only work 3 mornings now instead of 5.  It's such a treat!

22 Months

Ellington, you turned 22 months a week ago. Time sure is flying! You will be two before we know it!

What are you up to at 22 months?

• You still wear size 24 months or 2T
• You sleep 11-12 hours at night and your nap usually lasts about an hour and a half
• You are a pretty good eater, except for vegetables!
• You repeat anything and everything!
• You go to Parent's Morning Out 3 mornings a week without Mommy and LOVE it.  You are always so happy and wound up when I pick you up!!!  
• You love to talk about the light turning green when we are stopped at a red light.  
• You are starting to say a lot of words the correct way, rather than your "baby talk" way.  For example, you now say "Reagan" instead of "Ray-ran".
• You still adore all things MSU
• You say Oby's if we ask you where you want to go eat. :)  If you had your way we would eat there all of the time!
• You say "Ellington" when we ask you who wrote the Bible.  Then we say, "No, not Ellington.  Who wrote the Bible?" and you say, "God wrote the Bible".
• You ask to sing Jesus (Jesus Loves Me) and God (God Is So Good) while I rock you before bed.
• You are such a sweet girl.  All of the other teachers at school talk about how sweet and good you are. 
• You still love watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Goofy and Daisy are your current favorite characters.
• You say "please", "thank you", and "excuse me" all on your own without being asked (most of the time!)

Ellington, we love you more every day.  You are at such a precious, fun age.  We can't imagine our lives without you. 

A New Chapter

We have started a new chapter in our lives.  Ellington and I are now experiencing a little time apart from each other.  Ellington's first year of life we stayed home and last year I was one of the teacher in her Parent's Morning Out Room.  This year I am teaching 4 year olds Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings and Ellington is in her own little class.  To say this is a big deal is an understatement. :)  I LOVE and trust Ellington's teachers dearly, but she's my baby.  So yeah, it's a really big deal!  Ellington will definitely be going M-W mornings.  I have a spot available on Friday mornings for her if there's ever a week when I need to take her so I can have time alone (dr. appt., etc.).  I don't plan to take her every Friday, but it's there just in case.  Last week we had Open House on Wednesday and school started Thursday.  Since my class is M-W I didn't start until today.  I decided to take Ellington on Friday so that both of our first days wouldn't be the same day.  I knew I would be nervous enough about my class without being doubly worried about her.

August 5, 2011

First day of Parent's Morning Out

How precious is she with her little backpack on?  She was so proud to carry it herself!

I dropped Elligton off and she started screaming.  :(  I was holding it together ok, but then I saw a teacher I use to work with every day.  She could tell I wasn't ok and asked what was wrong.  I said, "She's crying" and burst into tears.  As in....tears ROLLING down my face.  I pulled it together and quickly left. :)  Before I even got out of the parking lot Ellington's sweet teacher called me and said she was perfectly fine and happy!  When I picked her up she was in the best mood and so wound up that it took her over an hour to fall asleep at nap time.

Friday night Robert didn't have to work.  Yay!!!!!  We rarely get that treat anymore, so it was very exciting!  As we were gearing up to put Ellington to bed and we decided, "Let's go get ice cream!".  I am not a spur of the moment person and I am pretty strict about sticking to bedtimes, but we decided to live on the edge. :)

We love Bops, but they only have outdoor seating and it has been too hot for that lately.  (It's just terrible when it's too hot for ice cream!)  Friday night was super pleasant and we enjoyed sitting outside.  We both got something we have never tried...the cookie sundae.  It was delicious!

After we came back....way past bed time and on a sugar high...we all played on Mommy and Daddy's bed!  What a perfect ending. :)

Today I had my class for the first day and it went great!  Last year I taught infants and toddlers.  This was a walk in the park compared to that. :)  I will have to do a TON more prep work and outside the classroom work, but the actual school day is so much easier and less stressful.  Ellington also did GREAT today!  She seems to really love going to her  new classroom all by her big girl self. :) 

Fair 2011 {Thursday and Friday}

Hey everybody, it's Thursday of the fair!

Thursday morning we attempted to go hear my main man speak (Mississippi Governor Hayley Barbour), but it was really crowded and Ellington wasn't very content in the stroller.  So I didn't get to do my usual governor stalking with Reagan and attempt to get our picture taken.  From what I remember (although after awhile it all runs together), we just had a slow morning at the cabin.

Sister self portrait 

After lunch on Thursday Reagan, Charleigh and I took Ellington to the barn to see the goats and sheep.  We stopped on our way through the midway for a picture.  The ride behind us (where the people are in the air) always mesmerized Ellington...understandably so.  I would LOVE to ride it if it were at an amusement park, but a traveling carnival that is put together and taken apart a million times....not so much.

After visiting the animals we wanted to let Ellington watch a horse race, but we were a little early.  Lucky for us there were a few horses out warming up!

Family picture!

Ellington was giving Emerson kisses through the glass

It's finally Friday!  I'll be honest, by Friday I was pretty d.o.n.e.  Nine nights at the fair with a toddler (most without Robert) wore me out.  I actually contemplated leaving on Friday rather than staying the night a truly finishing out the fair, but I had come so far and didn't want to give up!  :)  We still had a great day and I'm glad we didn't leave!

This is the other enormous watermelon at the Exhibit Hall.  I think this one weighed around 160 pounds!  Ellington always wanted to visit the watermelons (and pat them!) so we had to visit one last time.

Reagan with her niece and nephew

Well that finally wraps up this year's fair!  We had a blast and can't wait for next year!

Fair 2011 {Wednesday}

On Wednesday morning we had a big political morning.  The Jacksons love the fair and the Jacksons love politics....you put them together and it's like a match made in heaven. :)  Really though, we LOVE politics at the fair.  On Wednesday morning we were helping campaign for Giles Ward.  Unfortunately, Robert and I can't vote for him because we aren't in his district, but we can still help campaign! 

My sweet little Republican :)

 She thought it was pretty awesome that everyone was wearing the same shirt.  She called them our "M" shirts because she thought the big W was a M.

I LOVE this picture of Dad, Reagan, and E all clapping.  It's like she totally knows what's going on. 

I took Emerson and Ellington back to the cabin while Bryant & LeAnna finished up at the square.  I wanted to take a picture of them together.  Ellington was not at all interested and Emerson was all about it!

Sweetie pie

On Wednesday afternoon we went on a stroll with Bryant, LeAnna, and Emerson.  We stopped by the youth talent show, which Reagan was a judge for.  It lasted over three hours.  Poor thing.  

Emerson was added to the sign this year!

Our cabin

Wednesday evening Dad, Reagan, and I took Ellington riding rides again.  Reagan volunteered to ride the bumble bee with Ellington.  

View from the ferris wheel.

Ellington was a little more comfortable on the ferris wheel this time!

Only two more days to go!  Stay tuned!