Life in iPhone Pics

I don't carry my camera around with me everyday but I always have my iPhone so I find most of our pictures lately come from the iPhone. Plus, I am way behind on taking my iPhone pics and downloading them so here is a slice of our life in iPhone pics from the past month or so.

Grandma made Ella this adorable dress and matching bow. It looks just like a Lilly dress and our little one loves it! Also, we went to Dick's and Ella loved the trampoline. Mike and I have have been talking about getting one for her but just haven't gotten around to ordering it yet. Maybe a present from Santa Claus?

She has a problem! She had a major sweet tooth, she loves most everything sweet and that includes McDonald's ice cream cones!

Naptime has always been a struggle with her and if she falls asleep in the car, it is bad news. She doesn't do well with the transfer so I try everything to keep her awake in the car but this day, it was no use, she was asleep. But she does look so cute when she is sleeping! Also, summer is slowly slipping away but not before one last naked sprinkler run with the neighbors!

We have a routine every night. Daddy calls on the way home from work to let us know he is on the way and as soon as he calls, Ella runs to the garage door and we sit on the steps on wait for his car to pull in the garage. Once it stops, Ella runs to the car and jumps in his lap and they play in the car for at least 5 minutes. Also, this was a big first for her! Pigtails finally! I am sure most little girls have them by 1 but her hair is finally long enough for them now. I am kind of obsessed with her hair in pigtails, it is just too cute especially since the hair is still short and very fine so they pretty much stick out sideways!

We spent Labor Day weekend in Charlotte and checked out a really fun parade and fair. Ella LOVED watching the parade, waving to all the characters and watching the bands play. She would wave to everyone of them. I can't remember the last time she sat still in her stroller for that long.

After the parade ended, we checked out the rest of the festival, making a first stop to get her hand painted. Next, we saw a carousel ride and Ella kept saying "ride horsies" so we bought the tickets and waited our turn.

She was so excited in line and wanted the purple and pink horsie and then when it came time for the ride to start, she got a little scared. She grabbed onto my arm and held on with dear life but then by the end, she was enjoying it a little more. But after that one time, we decided to just watch the rest of the rides.

Most Sunday mornings you can find the three of us at our favorite bagel shop, an everything bagel for me and Mike and a chocolate chip one for Ella!

If it's a nice day out, we usually head to the park after bagels, stopping to pick up the dog on the way. She runs around, goes down the slides, kicks the soccer ball and Mike and I hope she gets worn out for naptime!

Two of my college friends and their hubbys came over for a cookout over Labor Day weekend and Jaimee and Jay had in Blacksburg for the VT game the day before and picked up this adorable Hokie tutu for Ella. She was obsessed with it, she put it on and immediately started dancing and twirling and putting on her nightly show! She loved hanging out with Erin and Jaimee, especially when they took her up to put on her pajamas and she came down in her Tinkerbell outfit! I didn't get a picture of that but it was pretty priceless.

Hanging out with and laughing with Daddy at Freedom Park. Her new favorite thing to do there is "climb trees."

Our favorite festival all year in Charlotte is the Greek Festival. We have been going for 5 years now and the food is amazing. We went with our best buddies, Addie and Wesley and they were all anxious to ride the different rides. Addie and Wesley climbed into the ferris wheel first and then Ella followed. What you don't see is one second after the guys shut the door, Ella started crying and came right back out. We decided the swings were a safer bet. Of course our little scardy cat was tentative at first but then laughing and smiling by the end.

Last weekend, DeeDee and Great Grammy came up to Charlotte to babysit Ella while we went to East Carolina for the VT game with our great friends, Adam and Tracey. Tailgating is a little different being pregnant but we all had a great time and the Hokies were lucky enough to get the win. Here is Tracey, almost 29 weeks pregnant and me almost 17 weeks. When we got back to Charlotte, Ella and I went to watch Mike win his soccer game. She loves watching him play soccer but she doesn't understand why she can't go on the field and play with him or run on the field to give him a hug.

We had a chilly couple of days and it feels like fall arrived so we put on the pants and hoodies for the first time in a long time. We went to a local elementary school for a fall carnival and Ella and Wesley discovered their love for funnel cake. And once they were all high on sugar, the dance party started.

I go to the YMCA a couple days a week and when Ella is not in preschool, she comes along with me. While I am working out, Ella is playing with her other little Y buddies. When I picked her up the other day, she greeted me with his doggie hat all the kids made.

We met Daddy at the park one night this week for a picnic dinner and after eating, Ella discovered this fun hill to run up and down. She thought it was hilarious when she would fall on purpose.

We were all ready for gameday on Saturday! Go Hokies! The game got a little boring for Ella, so she decided to brush up on her doctor skills while wearing one yellow princess high heel of course.

I know this post is super long, so thanks for hanging in there with me. As you can see, there are no shortage of Ella pictures even when the camera is nowhere in sight.

Her First Day

She had her first day of preschool last week. We have been talking about school for months, had an open house the week before but this was it. This was the big day.
The day started early, I had to wake her up around 8 so we would have enough time to get ready, have breakfast and make it to school by 9. She was all smiles eating her cereal getting ready to head out.

By this point, Ella was sick of me trying to take a million pictures of her and she just wanted to run inside and play.

She walked independently and confidently into school holding her school bag looking so big.

Anyone that knows Ella knows that she is pretty attached to us and so I was very nervous how the drop off was going to go. But she marched through the hallway and right into her classroom.

She was greeted by one of her teachers, Miss Ginny and they went to her cubby to hang up her bag.

When I said I had to go, Ella walked over and gave me a hug and there was definitely a moment of hesitation on her side but with Miss Ginny by her side, she walked into the classroom. I was so happy and surprised to see her do so well. She was happy to see me when I picked her up and the teachers did say she had a couple moments of being sad and missing me but they said it passed quickly.

On Thursday, she was more clingy to me when I dropped her off and did shed a couple of tears which pulled at my heart but when I returned, the teachers assured me, it didn't last long and she was soon playing with all her friends and toys. I know it is going to take a couple more times before Ella feels fully comfortable at school but every time we mention school, she gets a big smile on her face and says school is fun. I hope she has the best year ever!

Big News

We have had a busy summer around here for many different reasons but the biggest by far is that our family is expanding and as Ella's shirt says, she is going to be a big sister!

We found out the big news in mid June and it has been hard keeping a secret but the secret is definitely out. I actually went and got the test while Mike was at work and once it came up positive, I wanted to do something creative to tell him so I went to this adorable little baby boutique and got this shirt for Ella to wear. After several attempts, this was the closest I could get of her showing the shirt that says, "I'm the big sister." I emailed the picture to Mike at work with the title, guess what? He immediately called me and we are so thrilled to be adding a new little one to our family in February.

Unfortunately for Mommy, this pregnancy has been anything but easy and so different than my pregnancy with Ella. Ever since I hit 6 weeks, the all day nausea and awful headaches hit. After multiple calls and visits to the doctor, they did get me on some prescription medicine that helped a little bit but it was rough. I only started feeling better maybe 2 weeks ago, around 14-15 weeks and still have times or days that still aren't great. So, with the sickness, exhaustion and chasing after a 2 year-old all day, I am one tired Momma. Hopefully the worst is behind me now as I am finally starting to feel better and actually haven't had to take my nausea medicine for the past 2 days (knock on wood) and my energy level is starting to slowly return.

Don't let this adorable video fool you, Ella has no idea about what is about to happen in 5 months. She is used to being queen bee and center of our world but I am hoping after some initial jealousy, she will become my little helper because she loves other babies and her baby dolls so much. It is so pretty cute though whenever you ask her what she is going to be, she always responds, "Big sister" with a huge grin on her face!



(PS-Can we just mention the pigtails? How cute are they? Only took us 2 years to have enough hair for them!)

So, that is what is new with us, our family is expanding and we couldn't be more excited!

Happy Place

We have a happy place. A place that always makes us smile and a place that we are always sad when we have to leave. And we got to go back to that place in August for another fun time. That place is of course Seabrook Island, SC. Unfortunately Hurricane Irene shortened the trip by a day but we took advantage of the days we were there.
We made some major improvements since our last beach trip in June and DeeDee even got Ella to love the ocean and splash splash splash.

And you know who else loves the beach, our puppy dog. She is never more happy then when she is running on the beach or chasing sticks in the ocean.

And we continued to make big strides with Uncle Court, especially when Ella put on her nightly "show" for us on the deck every night. The show involved lots of dancing and singing and really anything that would get her more laughs and attentions.

And the vacation included evening walks along the beach and squinting for pictures through the bright sunsetting sky.

As soon as we arrived, Ella couldn't wait to get down to the beach right away. But as she got closer to the ocean, she grew a little more hesitant of the water.

She found it safer to walk and run along the sand with Papa.

And one of her favorite things to do at the beach was stand on the deck and spot the dolphins swimming by. We are lucky that tons and tons of dolphins swim by all day long and Ella loved standing on the ottoman on the deck and pointing to them.

And of course she was hamming it up for the camera as usual!

The next morning, we headed down to the beach to enjoy the glorious sunshine and warm water. Ella was tentative at getting in at first but DeeDee had the magic touch and was able to lure her in. Once Ella realized how fun it was, she stayed in for awhile, jumping, walking back and forth between me and DeeDee and splashing.

But all that swimming is exhausting, so after the water, she did some exploring along the beach. Another thing we love about Seabrook is that we had to beach to ourselves. No crowds of people, just wide open sand and water to play in.

Thanks Amy, Jason and Baby Abby for the most adorable smocked frogs bikini! We love it!

After naptime (which we won't get into sleeping because as much fun as we had playing, you would think Ella would take long naps and sleep in late but her naps were super short and she woke up early. I think she has just about out grown the pack n play and doesn't love sleeping in there. Or maybe, she was having too much fun to sleep!) and a bath to rinse off the pounds of sand and water in her diaper and bathing suit, we went back down to the beach for sunset.

Looking for dolphins and seagulls with Daddy.

Dipping toes in the water never gets old.

After running around on the beach, we retreated to the deck to watch the sun go down. Ella got some great bonding time with Papa and she was so excited when she would see him every morning or after he returned from playing golf.

Life doesn't get much better than sitting in a rocking chair, watching the sunset and eating and ice pop!

By far, Ella's favorite time of the day is nighttime, right before bed. She is definitely a night owl and likes to perform and put on a show. After she got a bath and her pjs on, she came back down for sing and dance for everyone. She knew the spotlight was on her and she loved every minute of it!

Another sunny day at the beach and Ella wanted to learn this crazy game that Daddy and Uncle Court always play. I think she added another level of difficulty for them, having to throw the ball around her!

She wasn't as into the water as she had been the day before but she was a little sand crab instead. Papa showed her to how to make a sand castle and her favorite part was stepping on it and breaking it apart after it was built.

She even went for a little walk with Uncle Court and Dakota, see major steps people!

While at the beach, we had a very special birthday celebration for Papa who turned 60 last week. We each wore shorts with different one liners that my Dad is famous for, wrote funny eulogies, put on a mock funeral and made a video for him. I had been working on the video for a little bit before the beach and Ella had seen it many times and it became her favorite thing to watch. So, we all gathered together to watch the video or as Ella calls, "pictures of papa."

Yes, we even got a shirt for Ella to wear so she could participate in the evening!

And no birthday celebration is complete without a cupcake and Ella thought these were pretty tasty. Only the frosting obviously.

We were sad that Irene rolled in and with the weather forecast of pouring rain all day, we decided to leave a day early and come back to Charlotte. But not without great memories of playing in the sand, happy hours on the decks looking for dolphins and celebrating a fantastic birthday. We can't wait for our next trip back to our happy place.