All Night Long!

I can not even express the joy in our house when we woke up this morning. A little background: since moving to the "big girl bed" Ella has not slept through the night. That's right- HAS NOT SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT. I am emphasizing this because it means we have not either. If we were better parents, we would spend the night helping her sleep in her own room. Instead, we spend the night with her sleeping on a blow-up mattress in our room. Uh-huh, yet another parent-of-the year award moment for me. So this morning I wake up, look at the clock and see it is 7:20. WHAT? Wes asked me if Ella was still in her room. I think so - and I hope she is still breathing (yes, I still have that fear of SIDS in me). Sure enough- we hear her calling for us. And this is another great moment because I realize she doesn't necessarily think it's the best idea to get out of bed without us in the morning. Don't worry- I know this may not be the case tonight, tomorrow, etc... but I now know it's obtainable.

This brings up another issue- the reality of Ella's blog. I write so often of all the great things going on with Ella and while that is our life, there is, of course, so much more. There are tantrums, power struggles, feelings of failure, sadness, ... oh the list is long. If I read this blog, I wouldn't like myself- I'd think (dripping with sarcasm), "Oh it must be sooooooo easy to have such a perfect kid, huh?" and I'd call my sister to complain about me and how I must think I'm so perfect. It's just not the case of course, but I do see how it looks that way. While we have fun, there have also been many times when I have been in tears at my inability to cope with a faulty sippy cup, taken two showers in one day since that is the only place I could get some peace and quiet, not taken a shower for days because I couldn't fit it in, been given a bink by Ella to "make me feel better". Just today I bribed Ella with a Pop-tart. A POP-TART! We don't eat greens every night, we had pizza for dinner twice this week. I missed Ella's two-year old check up. Not so bad you think? Ella missed it with me. When Ella was little, I'd put on all the shiny necklaces I could find so she would snuggle with me (she wasn't a huge snuggler). This trick I learned from my sister- so Polly, don't think you are going to beat me out for the parent of the year award (although in reality she would- they always have greens). Ella won't fall asleep by herself this week (soon to be month). She won't brush her teeth and I haven't been able to teach her how to not swallow the toothpaste. If she doesn't like a song on in the car, she has a meltdown. Potty training? She loves the potty. She hasn't had an accident in weeks. I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that she refuses to poop- AT ALL. I could go on and on, but I think I've made my point.

Our Very Own Poncho and Lefty

Ella has been very into Poncho and Lefty lately (see July 29th post). She came up today with her own version of them- two of her stuffed animals. Pretty clever, huh? Tonight the activity was dancing, and yes- that is the Go-Go's we are listening to, she does dance like her Daddy, and she feels her audience is Sid the Science Kid who was on the TV.

Random, random, random...

Here's a quote from Wes, "Oh my God this is such a chick flick"- said as he left the room. Really, this has absolutely nothing to do with Ella except that I laughed so hard I might have woken her up. Truth be told, Wes was watching some news show (overload) when I came in and changed the channel (shallow) so really I can't say anything except that we all need a little mindless, veg-out, down-time. Right? Right.

Thank You Uncle Mark

Mark is responsible for "Hockey Socks"- ya know- pulling your socks up high OVER your pants. "Hockey Socks" was one of Ella's first words. So this morning when Ella was getting dressed I pulled out her cute socks with the ruffles. Adorable and even better these days... clean.

At this point I'm pretty impressed with myself. There were no struggles over clothes, what she picked out matched, and the socks would be so cute! Can you see where this is going? Ella put on her socks and I folded them over which was met with a "NO, HOCKEY SOCKS!" and her pulling them up as far as possible. Of course this was cute too and I love her independence. I especially love that it reminds me to chill out and have fun (Thank you Uncle Mark!)

Welcome to Ella's Store

Tonight we shopped at Ella's store for quite a while. Sometimes it was a Bakery that accepted credit cards:





Sometimes it was a shoe store (Ella's waiting for you Grandma!):





And finally it became a sunglasses shop:

Big Girl Bed

For some reason this crib represents all things baby to me (I carried this picture around with me the whole time I was pregnant). Before Ella came I loved this crib, while she slept in her bassinet I loved this crib. I secretly put her in her crib for some naps even though she was happy in the bassinet. And when I did that, she'd immediately wake up as if to say "No dice Mom, too much space for me right now". There is just something so sweet about this crib. So you can imagine my delight when I picked up the conversion kit that allowed me to keep the crib around for a little longer in the form of a toddler bed. De-light!

Ella could hardly wait to get her animals in her new "Big Girl" bed (Those who made the cut: Cat, Puppy, Rangy-Tangy, Bear, Feet, Pink and Baby Stella). And... she even threw her binks down and said, "I'm a big girl, I don't need binks". What? No binks? Could it be true? And sure enough, no binks made the transition into the big girl bed... until it came time for real sleeping in the bed. Seriously- I have enough guilt about this bink thing to last me through Christmas. Anyway... we're all happy for the new bed and I'm happy to live in denial that since it's still the same crib (stars and all) Ella isn't really growing up so fast.

Happy Birthday Daddy (by Ella)

Yup- it's my Daddy's Birthday today. What everyone is failing to realize is it is my Birthday too. Ugh- adults. I'm sure everyone reading this knows what a Birthday means to by Dad... GOLF and lots of it. So after playing golf, this is Daddy watching golf. GPS made Daddy whatever he wanted for dinner which was Chicken Kiev. Yummy! And of course, candles on a cake. Again- I had to remind them it was MY Birthday too and therefore they had to sing Happy Birthday to ME. Ugh- adults.

Below is a picture of me being funny. Who do you think I get this humor from? Before I sign off, just remember, if it's your Birthday, it's my Birthday too!