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:

Wash Park

Smelling (blowing air through your nose onto) the roses:




Watching (scaring) the tiny baby ducklings:

hiccups

Ellis has the hiccups, so I mimicked her and said, "Hiccup!"

She replied, "No, I'm not hicking up."

New post...but still no pictures

The scene: Gabe and Ellis sitting on the couch together.
Gabe: I need a hug...
Ellis: I better get out of here! (bolts off the couch and runs across the house)


Gabe was watching the final game of the Stanley Cup (hockey) and Ellis started yelling, "No touch-downs, Dad! I don't want to watch touch-downs!"

So I took her upstairs and gave her a bath. We came back downstairs after the bath and she was semi-happily watching hockey as I combed her hair. There was a close-up shot of one of the players and she asked, "What's that touch-down's name?"


Dinnertime prayer (I think Gabe was the one saying it): "...and thank you for this food..."
Ellis, with eyes closed: "You're welcome."


Ellis: Whatcha doing, Dad?
Gabe: I'm writing to Uncle Tim (on the computer).
Ellis: Are you writing to his email?
Gabe: Yeeees...how do you know about email??


'Actually', 'Yes', 'That's okay', 'Gross', 'Can you cover me up?' (with every blanket in the house?), 'Can you scratch my back?' = All frequently heard from Ellis lately.


When Ellis doesn't want to do something you've asked, or correct a behavior you've asked her to correct, her typical response is (in her whiniest voice), "I caaaan't do that." or "I caaan't stop it."


Tonight at dinner she was cradling a bite of her cheeseburger while gently stroking it and saying, "This is my baby. I won't eat my baby." What am I supposed to say to that? Well, you need to keep growing, so please eat your baby. ??


We checked out Mary Poppins from the library last weekend. During the scene where Mary Poppin's uncle is stuck floating near the ceiling because he can't stop laughing, Ellis exclaimed, "They're floating up (in) the air!" Those prepositions will come.


Gabe was changing diaper during Ellis' "nap" the other day and she asked, "Where's my mom?" He told her I was taking a nap (she had been talking to herself in her crib for quite awhile, NOT napping). She replied, "Oh. Did you put her to bed?"


While hugging my legs, "You love me SO MUCH, Mom!"

That I do, Ellis :)

Excuse me...

Last night Daly was on top of a dresser and when Ellis walked by he took a semi-playful swat at her head. This made her upset and I asked her if she was sad because Daly had hurt her feelings. She said that he had.

Today Daly was in the same spot and as Ellis sped by she said, "Excuse me, Dalyyyy. Don't hurt my feelings. Kay?"

Lost our camera's memory card, so still no pictures...

Just so I don't forget to put some of these quotes in Ellis' baby book:

On a Sunday after church:
Me: "Ellis, do you want to go to Target with me?"
Ellis: "No Mom, I want to go to church actually." (actually?? you're TWO!)

Catching a glimpse of a picture on the fridge of her cousin, Samantha:
"There's my Sammy :) "

Gabe: "Why are you laughing?"
Ellis: "I'm laughing at you, Dad."

While frequently and repeatedly closing doors:
"I'm going to work...I'll see you next week (??? we never leave for a week to work)...Have fun today...I love you...I'll miss you...See you later..." Each statement involves a reopening of the door in order to peek her head back in.

While clenching her stomach with a very melodramatic, tortured look on her face:
Me: "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with your stomach?"
Ellis: "YES. There's POOP in it!"

Did I already tell the Target one? We were at Target (shocker of all shockers) one day and we passed another little girl who was with her mom. The little girl happened to be standing up inside the large part of the cart. Ellis jumped right on this infraction by sternly (and loudly) saying:
"She needs to SIT DOWN on her BUM, Mama."

There was a little phase when Ellis was complaining about being "stuck" a lot. In her car seat, in the grocery cart, in her high chair. So I started explaining to her that when she's "stuck" in those places, she's safe because she can't fall, etc. Now occasionally she just throws that out there when in one of those "stuck" situations: "When I'm stuck, I'm safe!"

We were at PayLess and Ellis kept excitedly telling me, "There's a huge 'A'!! Look at the big 'A'!!
Sure enough, after looking around trying to figure out what she was seeing, I noticed a big ladder right in front of us and it looked just like a huge 'A'.

We went bowling with Gabe and his students last Friday. The school bought enough pizzas for everyone to have some. Within a couple of minutes those high schoolers had emptied the pizza pans. Two empty pans happened to be sitting on the table side-by-side and Ellis pointed out the "owl's eyes" she had spotted. Love her imagination.

She does this sort of thing a lot lately and I wish I could think of some more examples!

Steal!

That Radio Flyer trike I grabbed out of my neighbor's trash a few weeks ago retails for $85! Ellis' legs are finally long enough to reach the pedals. Now she's trying to figure out how to pedal as well as how to get of the bike without injuring herself.

A snid-bit from our conversation this morning:

Me to Ellis: "You are very contrary lately."
Ellis to me: "I'm not CONtrary!"

Oh but you sure are two, aren't you.