Sleeping?

Lately we haven't had the best luck with sleeping. Ella is a sleeping champ- in bed at seven and we hear the "Mommy, where are you?" around seven in the morning. Whenever anyone asked me how she slept I always said we lucked out and I know it could change. Somehow I felt if I was appropriately appreciative, it just might continue like this forever. No such luck. We've hit a snag lately and the result is Ella sleeps in our bed. She goes to bed just fine but we then hear her screaming and I try to wait her out, but it isn't her normal cry and, well, I give in. We tried sleeping with her for a night or so but she is all over the bed and no one gets much sleep. So she goes back to her crib now. It isn't every night, so I'm not worried about setting bad patterns yet(yes, I can justify ANYTHING), but here is how our bed looked tonight. And of course Lexy is on look out to make sure Schroedinger doesn't get anywhere near Ella.

Happy Birthday Ella

Don't worry, I haven't failed the Mommy Exam (yet)- I know it isn't Ella's Birthday. Ella has been on a Birthday tour for about a month now. She celebrated in Charlottesville in December, and now in Rock Hall in January. She was lucky to be able to celebrate with four generations of Hawkins- Ella, mom, Poppy and Nonna, and Great Grandma! Nonna made this great cake for her and Ella was excited by the cake and presents.




I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but this was Ella's first "sleep over". We arrived at Poppy and Nonna's on Wednesday and I left for Hopkins Thursday morning to work for two days. Ella had a full social calendar- visiting Grandma, story time at the library, feeding the birds, watching the geese, dress-up, dancing, and lots and lots of snuggling. Here she is dressed up and dancing.

Snow Day!

Our first snow day of 2008. Wes and Ella braved the cold and had a lot of fun...

Grandpa!

I have got to get on video how Ella says "Grandpa Bill". It is adorable! Ella is putting Bill to bed in these pictures. She is very insistent that babies (and apparently now Grandpa) must be covered with a blanket. And of course after Grandpa left, Ella asked about him all day and woke up the next morning asking, "Where is Grandpa Bill?"

Doctor/Nurse Ella

I have to say I am partial to the doctor bags out there for little kids. I think I would be even if Ella didn't have a family history of amazing nurses and physicians in her family. The cause and effect, investigating, and fun of it all just pulls me in. Ella has let me know often that, "You're okay Mommy" after listening to my heart. So here she is with Trish on the operating table. Not the couch, not the floor, the "opwatin table" as Ella demands it.

The First Haircut

Happy Birthday Matt

From much too far away, we're sending birthday wishes to Matt in Iraq. This translates for Ella to blowing a kiss when she says Happy Birthday Uncle Matt.

Happy Birthday Gracie

Gracie is Two! I talked with Gracie today and she is ready to blow out candles, have cake, and get presents! And I really mean that I talked with her- a conversation that left me a little sad she is getting so big. Isabella is very excited and shared her Elmo birthday items with Gracie. As happened with Barry, Ella was full of "Happy Birthday Gracie" renditions but as soon as the camers was on, they did not appear. I did ge the below though.

Ella's Orthopaedics Appointment

Congenital Hip Dysplasia... what? I remember when I heard about Ella having this condition and not knowing anything about it. I found out the day after Ella was born. It was so difficult to understand- my baby, a problem with her hips? As you all know, after a couple months in a brace Ella was fine. Today she had her two year check up and she is cleared 100%. As you can see in the above pictures, all started out okay. Ella and Steve watched Sesame Street in the waiting room. The next is of her getting an x-ray. She obviously didn't like that. Thank you Steve for the support. I know I needed it more than Ella!

Happy Birthday Barry!

We had a great day at Short Pump with Barry, Alex and Robbie. The funny thing is, on the way to brunch Ella couldn't stop talking about Barry, singing her version of Happy Birthday, letting us know she would be "Shopping with Grandma". Of course when we arrived, there was not a verse of Happy Birthday to be sung. During brunch Ella preferred dancing to eating. After brunch we walked around the mall and Ella loved the fish- only wanting to get back to them. She would watch them and ask them, "Are you okay?" then turn to Wes and say "They're okay".

Ella Dancing

Sometimes it takes a while for Ella to warm up to her surroundings and new people. Not today. We visited Steve at work and Ella was thrilled! She has started to realize where his office is so when we drove by this morning on the way to school she began yelling, "See Steevie". She was all over the halls, looking into offices, and dancing. She even gave a new friend a hug goodbye. I wish I had brought my camera, but I did get a replay of her current dance moves. I say current because that hand movement is new since we were playing with leaves last week. Tonight when we were doing laundry, she learned a new move but I have yet to get that one on video. Enjoy!