Well...

Gabe walked out of the bathroom after a shower the other day, wearing a towel wrapped around his waist. Ellis liked this because in her mind: "Daddy! You're wearing a dress!"

Gabe (to me): "Are you feeding her lines?"

Ellis: "I don't eat LIONS!"

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Lately, Ellis has been starting many of her responses to questions with the word 'well'. But it sounds closer to 'wyeeeellll'... like she's getting ready to explain something difficult to a child. It's very cute :)

Picture-less update

Gabe took our camera to work to use last week and it hasn't returned.

Yesterday, Ellis (out of the blue) put her hand up as you would to tell someone to stop, and said to me, "I don't have time for this."

I don't remember ever saying this to her. I'm not sure which is worse, the possibility that I've said it without realizing it, or that my not-even-three-year-old has, on her own, decided to cut straight to the point with me.

I've officially enacted the If-you-don't-clean-up-your-mess-when-I've-asked-(too many times)-then-those-toys-disappear law. Ellis has officially enacted the I-have-a-free-will-and-my-will-is-no-longer-to-simply-please-you way of life. Makes for some creative parenting in public--I will not give in to her demands, which means more than once Ellis has thrown a public tantrum. So fun. Especially when we're at the library. Passion is good. Ellis is very passionate.

I'm now in my 33rd week of pregnancy and I am honestly surprised that all indications point to a normal, full-term pregnancy in my near-future. And very thankful. But still pleasantly surprised.

Ellis is very big into character play. It's become so commonplace that often she'll just say as a quick aside, on her way out of a room for instance, "I'm Rapunzel and you're Flynn." or, "You're a princess, and I'm your mom." Exit room. At that point, until we are notified of a change in character, we are not allowed to call her Ellis. You will be sternly reminded if you break character.

Oh man, I love her so much.

We went to story-time at the library yesterday. Ellis was a little shy at first and wanted to sit on my lap instead of the rug. After a little while she decided she wanted to join the other children on the rug. She quietly made her way up to the front and, not so gently, WEDGED herself between two little girls that were sitting right next to each other. Then she hugged each of them.
They both seemed a little thrown. She's very affectionate :)

I've also been the recipient of lots of hugs and "I love you soooo much" exclamations lately. It's wonderful affirmation :)

Unpacking and organizing is slower-going than I'd like, but it will happen. Just a quarter step at a time, or so. We've met two neighbor couples and have been very warmly welcomed to the neighborhood. We're loving the big back yard and had a lot of fun pulling Ellis around in the sled last weekend out there. It feels like our home was made for us, and I've felt at home since the day we moved in.

Where have all the blog posts gone?

Half the people on my list of blogs I love to read over to the right, haven't blogged in weeks, and in some cases, months. What's going on?

Reasons to celebrate

First of all, congratulations to Tim and Kristi and Samantha for their new addition Clara Louise!!! We can't wait to meet you, little girl! Click on over to Kristi's blog to see some super cute baby pictures :) I can't wait to see a picture of Clara and Sam together. A whole lot of sweet.

Secondly, MANY thanks to my mom for responding to my S.O.S. email last week asking her to come save me from my paralysis in the face of all that needed to be done in order to move into a new house and rent out the old one by the end of the month. She came in and whipped things into shape, and by that I mean she packed up our whole house. And painted. And cleaned. And played with Ellis. And cooked for us. THANK YOU, MOM!!!! It was great to have you here.


On the first day of my mom's visit, she was carrying (the fully-potty-trained) Ellis down the stairs when Ellis got right in her face, like a couple of inches away, looked her Grandma in the eye and whispered, "You have yellow hair like me." From then on, they were close buds.


Playing with homemade goo (cornstarch and water):



Thirdly, we are probably moving our closing date up to late next week, which means we'll be able to move in to our new house (in Arvada) a week and a half earlier than originally planned! Woo hoo!

And finally, Ellis has been O U T of diapers for the last week or two (?) which is even better than I imagined. And to top it all off, she's now transitioned from her little toilet to the normal one, which means no more wiping/cleaning out the little one. Just flush the big one. Hooray for that!

Halloween is over, but...

Here are a bunch of pictures from Halloween (ish) time:


Enjoying the (free) festivities at Nick's Garden Center:


Really enjoying pretending to drive a race car at Nick's:


Showing you that this is "the big pumpkin I ever seen!" (that's right, 'big' not 'biggest')




Definitely freaked out by these very realistically carved pumpkins (the others were creepy and she did not dawdle near them):

Fall PICTURES!!!

I finally have some PICTURES! Not sure why the last part of that word underlined. This past weekend we spent in CO Springs with Grammy and Grandpa Knipp, celebrating Gabe's 30th birthday. As parents will do, they spoiled us greatly and we had a great time!

Here is Ellis "helping" with the leaves:




All of the girls went to the pumpkin patch. Ellis picked out a pumpkin for each of us and mentioned picking one out for Grandpa Duffy, too.







She was concerned with the pumpkins that were "broked" and wanted us to fix them:


You can't really see my pregnant belly in these pictures, but let me assure you, I look pregnant. Upon arrival, a lady commented to me something about smuggling pumpkins INto the pumpkin patch.





Other news:

Ellis licked her finger the other day in order to wipe something off my face. Wonder where she got that?

Ellis is making big strides in the world of potty-training. She is wearing undies all day except when she sleeps. Since lowering my expectations of having a child fully toilet-trained in a week, I've found the process to be much less frustrating. When she is on the toilet doing what one does on a toilet, she without fail announces, "I'm doing it!!"

Ellis was sitting in one of her many nests the other day sort of gazing blankly into space. Gabe snapped a couple of times in front of her face and I explained to her that he was trying to get her to snap out of it. She replied, "Daddy, I don't want you to snap me out of it! I want to stay in my nest."

I've found that I cannot make empty promises for a later time in order to placate Ellis in the present. Her memory is rock solid. No matter how seemingly small the promise was.

We went under contract on a house in Arvada, CO and the inspections are today. Hoping for no major surprises. Will let you know when there's more to tell...!

Gabe is in the 3-0 club now! Ellis picked out balloons for him from her. A green one. A pink one. And a Disney princess one. All his favorites---she knows him so well :)

Gabe and I got to go on a date together while we were in the Springs (thank you Ken and Vickie!). Not sure when that last happened. We went to a restaurant that would not have suited Ellis, took our time ordering, took our time eating and talking after. So nice! I didn't have to clean Gabe's hands, negotiate with him to eat more of his food, take him to the bathroom, pick up food he tossed on the floor, or ANYTHING! So much more relaxing that way. And also, they had lavender lemonade, which is maybe the tastiest drink I've ever had.

So, a 30th birthday, a new house (hopefully), potty-training, and I had the one arts/craft fair I did all year. October is only half over, but it's been quite a big month!

Ellis has decided on her own that she wants to be a princess for Halloween. No surprise there.

Ellis and I were doing a little children's devotional the other night. It talked about God loving everyone. So I said things like, "Does God love Daddy?" yes. "Does God love Aunt Janae?" yes. And eventually, "Does God love you?"...Ellis: "Yeah, but everybody loves me."

Fresh Air

The other day Ellis and I were at Target. I'll give you a couple of seconds to recover from your shock.
.
.
.
We were checking out and I noticed a red splotch of sorts on E's cheek. I leaned down to inspect and asked her what happened to her face.

Without hesitating she responded with, "My mommy hurt me and then I cried."

What?!!

Awkward laugh and then, "Ellis, that's a bug bite!" Pleasedon'tcallchildservicesIhaveneverhurtmydaughter.

I was a little taken aback that Ellis lied about me to a stranger on a split second's notice. Then Gabe reminded me that a day or two before I had been buckling Ellis into her car seat when my hand slipped and my thumb nail jabbed her chin (she bled). And although her response in that moment was to freak out and cry, "Mama! You don't need to hurt me!" over and over as if I'd done it on purpose, making me feel terrible...I was glad to have a logical explanation for why, when asked what happened to her face, Ellis thought I was referring to that day...when I really did hurt her...accidentally.

...

I rolled my window down while Ellis and I were driving somewhere the other day and she asked me what I was getting. Ummm...I'm not getting anything, I just rolled my window down. NO! What are you getting?? I didn't get anything, I just rolled my window down... "No Mama, you're getting fresh air!!

Touche.

...

Uncle Kristi to the Rescue

Ellis always eats bagels and toast upside-down. Since there's almost always peanut butter on them...very messy.

In the morning, and after naps, and before bed:
"Is it good morning?" or "Is it good night time?" or "It's not good night time yet."

After writing out the letters E L L I S, Gabe asked Ellis what it spelled to which she exclaimed, "ME!"

Annie has surpassed Shrek as Ellis' current favorite movie. Followed closely by Homeward Bound, 1 or 2.

For the first time ever, Ellis fought me on the clothes I chose for her the other day. She has never cared one way or another whether she was wearing a frog costume, a dress, or a diaper but for some reason, now she does.

Ellis thinks it's funny (and it is) to run around in utter exasperation and pretend-panic shouting, "What are we gonna doooo?!" She gets this wide-eyed look on her face that conveys panic, while trying not to smile and the combination cracks me up every time.

We were listening to Ellis over the monitor yesterday during her (non-)nap. She was shouting out family members names..."Daddy!...Gumpa (Grandpa)!...Uncle Tim!..." and then, "Uncle Kristi...to the RESCUE!!!"

If Barney happens to come on television, most of the time she freaks out until I turn it off. Not sure exactly what she doesn't like about Barney (though I could easily offer some suggestions), but I'm certainly not going to question her taste.

Ellis has become hyper-sensitive to reproach lately. If I calmly tell her to stop doing something, she commonly responds by crying out, "Don't do that, Mommy! You scare me, Mommy!"

Ellis would draw/color with her markers and crayons all day if given the chance.

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We go in for our ultrasound a week from today and will hopefully be able to find out whether we'll be welcoming a boy or a girl into our family. I'm really excited to find out.

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Anyone remember this neighbor?
She struck again. And she isn't even our neighbor anymore. Yesterday she was visiting her mother who lives across the street from us. We yelled hi to her and she came over right away to see Ellis. The first thing she said (yelled) to me as she was crossing the street was, "You've put on weight! It looks good." I jokingly replied something like, "Yep. For about 18 weeks now." Thinking she was just referencing my pregnancy. A couple of minutes later she goes, "Oh! Are you pregnant?? I noticed your face looked bigger, but I didn't realize you were pregnant."

She asked if we were going to find out what we were having and I told her we were. She immediately responded by telling us that ruins all the fun and we shouldn't do that. Her parting words:

"Well, I hope you're having a boy." Kind of like, well, I hope for your sake you don't get stuck with another girl.

Lovely to see you.

No pics

Newly heard around these parts:

"But, MoooOOOM..." (mom dragged out)

No idea where it came from, but it's hilarious every time.


Ellis is officially a kid this summer, thanks to:
-at least a half-dozen skinned knees
-a tumble out of her crib resulting in a diagonal-line bruise across her cheek
-a showdown between Ellis' forehead and the corner of a table
-her first "tattoo" from the NICU alumni picnic last weekend (it was a butterfly on her arm, which she cradled all week)

Any early guessers?

I forgot to include the binoculars in the last post. When we put our curled hands up to our eyes, we say we're looking through binoculars. When Ellis does it she says she's looking through her "big-occulars" and when she just uses her fingertips, she says she's looking through her "little-occulars" and just today she introduced me to her "really-tiny-baby-occulars" :)

I had a 12 week (and 4 days) ultrasound yesterday. It was so wonderful to see a bigger baby along with a strong heartbeat, a spine, two-halves of a brain, an ear (I assume they're both there, but I only saw one), a bum and out-stretched legs, and a waving arm. Hard to believe there's a little person inside me growing like nobody's business every second of every day.

We are definitely going to (try to) find out the sex at 20 weeks. SOOOO...any guesses? The only clues I can give you are:

-I had a dream that at a very early ultrasound we saw the distinguishing characteristic of a boy.
-It's hard for me to picture a boy added to our family. A girl is easy to picture.
-We have a boy name we like enough to actually use.
-We have a girl name we like enough to actually use.

That's all I've got. Your guess is really as good as mine.

Funny girl

The scene: Ellis was combing my hair.

The instructions (from Ellis to me): "You need to hold very (berry), very (berry) still, okay sweetie? And my name is The Mama."

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Preface: Whenever Ellis gets grouchy and yells at me I ask her to please stop---I never YELL at her.

Out of the blue comment from Ellis the other day: Don't yell at me, Mom. I'm just a little girl.

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Lately Ellis addresses Gabe as Princess. Which is pretty hilarious.
For instance: Stop singing, Princess.
You are a sad little girl, Princess.

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Ellis: I'm gonna be funny now.

I'm considering using this one myself.

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Today Ellis was with a babysitter during her lunch. When I picked her up, in an attempt to keep her from falling asleep before we got home, I decided to ask her what she had for lunch (even though I packed it myself). I asked her if she ate her smoothie and she insisted she hadn't. I looked in the bag and it was gone, so I asked if she had eaten it before lunch for a snack. She emphatically denied eating the smoothie, finally saying, "I didn't eat the smoothie! I DRANK the smoothie!"

Introducing...

Our tiny gingerbread baby soaring through the final frontier:


This little one is due at the very end of January...six days before Ellis' third birthday. We are hoping and praying that he/she gets to stay in until the due date! Seeing/hearing the strong heartbeat at our first appointment a couple of weeks ago did a lot to put our minds at ease and also helped us to be excited! After miscarrying a few months ago it was difficult for me to allow myself to believe I was really pregnant. I know those of you who have been pregnant after a miscarriage can relate.

Ten weeks tomorrow. We are planning on finding out the sex when we can in a couple of months. Up until yesterday I thought it was a girl, now I'm having some feelings that perhaps I'm wrong.

The Three Muskateers

In reverse order, here are some (a lot) pictures from our day with Amy and her girls, Amelie and Finley. We cooled off in the park's stream and the girls got soaked. So much fun :)
















Before the water, we rode the train, followed by a picnic lunch in the shade.






Waiting for the train:




Running wild:


We started out at the petting zoo, or the aptly nick-named (by me), "Poo Zoo" as both Finley and Ellis stepped in poo, touched it with their hands and got it smeared on their legs. Flip flops were not a great choice for this particular portion of our outing. Live and learn. Fun was still had by all three of the girls, who got to pet a baby cow, baby sheep, baby donkey, baby goat, chased/got chased by (if you were to ask Ellis) a rooster, gawked at a big black duck, and a sleeping pig.



All watching the lone duck:




Amelie making sure the little girls don't touch the rooster, which is one of Poo Zoo's rules: