Oh and this....

I forgot to add these.  The other night, Nick went out with Jeff for his birthday.  The kids and I cuddled up in our bed for a night of cuddling and Christmas specials.  It was awesome. :)  I loved every minute of it.

This is how many of our mornings begin.  I wanted to record the sound of Ella laughing.  The tinkling sound of little-girl laughter has to be one of the best sounds in the world. I feel like there are a lot of times in our regular life when I think, "Twenty years from now, I HAVE to remember this.  I don't want to forget a single second of our kids being this age."

Just a few things in Dec.

I think that my kids are so stinkin' cute that sometimes I just can't help but get out my phone and snap a quick pic of them in regular life. :)

In the mornings when Eli wakes up, we usually turn in the TV and let him sleep next to us in bed in hopes of getting maybe an extra 1/2 hour (or even 15 minutes) of sleep.  Yes, I know that this makes us awful parents, and yes, we did do this with Ella too.  Pretty soon, Ella toddles in, and I tell her to get up in bed with us too (again in hopes of getting more sleep, but this rarely happens b/c now we have 4 people in a queen size bed).  (Which by the way, 3 people seem to be crammed into my side, and every time I ask Nick to move over, he claims he's on the edge of the bed....except I can CLEARLY see at least 6" of space [maybe not "clearly" since I have terrible eyesight without the aid of glasses or contacts, but I digress....] !)  Anyway, this picture was taken in all of their adorableness one morning while we were trying to sleep through it.

This is Snowflake, one of Ella's favorite Christmas presents.  Yes, I realize I haven't blogged about Christmas.  I'll try to get to that soon.....Anyway, this present is from Aunt Kristin & Uncle Tony, and Reagan has a matching puppy.  They both love them.  The dogs have a purse carrier too, so that Ella can really show off in true diva-fashion. :)  (Oh, she's also a HUGE fan of the Little Mermaid jammies that she insisted I wash immediately for her to wear to bed.)

Lately, Ella keeps saying she has a baby in her belly.  But then she takes it a step further and says she's having a baby and needs to go to the hospital.  I'm not sure where this is coming from suddenly, although it could be thanks in part to Baby Jesus, as she has been requesting we start calling her Mary occasionally....Tonight she said, "Before Eli was in your belly, I stayed there for a little bit.  And then you went to the hospital and you laid down like a mother-dude and had me."  I was a little nervous at how she was saying that I went to a hospital and laid down to have a baby....I mean, where is she getting that (along with the term "mother-dude")????  I asked her to show me what it looks like to "lay down like a mother-dude" and have a baby.  This is what she showed me.

Last week, Kristin and I took the kids to the zoo to see the Wild Lights display.  It was SO cold.  Aunt Nancy sent these hats for the kids (Eli wore a reindeer, Reagan is the kitty, Ella is a puppy, and Brady is an owl), so we thought that this was the perfect occasion to use them.  I barely had any sensation in my fingers to take pictures, so these are the best that we got.  Still though, I think they show what a good time we had.

 This was Ella's first trip to the zoo.  I feel bad about it.  I always want to take her, but Nick wants to take her too, but never when it's hot, and it's a whole mess.  So anyway, there obviously aren't many animals out on a cold, winter's night.  She did get to see the penguins though....and she was amazed at the smelly penguins house.  Aunt Kristin bought us a membership for next season though, so I will be SURE to use it for our family.  Here are some more pics:



Photo Card

Joy Cheer New Year's

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Word to Your Mother

Yep, that's me....wearing my baby.  I'm tired of getting nothing done around our house.  Eli always wants to be held or entertained at least.  Plus, it breaks my heart to hear him fuss while I get something accomplished...afterall, I did leave him at a babysitter's all day.  So now I am wearing him to get stuff done.  I couldn't remember how to do the sling-thing, so I opted for the very uncomfortable, yet easy to clip together front-rider.  Eli had a great time and Ella thought is was funny for me to "wear" Eli. 

Dinner is just SO exhausting!

What a sweetie!  I could just eat him right up!

This weekend

Friday

On Friday, I finished up schoolwork, cleaned the house and decorated for Christmas.  That's when I ran across this candle.  Seeing it again reminded me of last year.  I've been meaning to write this story down somewhere, but I forgot to do it all year, so I thought I'd get it down now before I forget for another year.

Last year, I told Ella that we were going to decorate the house for Christmas, Jesus's birthday.  "Because we're going to have a party?" "Uh, sure."  As we decorated the house, I noticed how excited Ella was when I pulled this candle out and placed it on a shelf.  I was busy continuing to decorate when I turned and saw Ella ready to take a bite out of my candle.  I yelled, "No Ella, STOP!" 

E- But Mommy, this is Jesus's birthday cake. 
M-Oh.....honey.  Come on over here and let's talk.
E-Mommy, will Jesus be at our birthday party?
M- (pause as I really tried to make this a teachable moment for her)  Ella, Jesus is always with us. 
E- (pauses, and puts up hand-binoculars over her eyes)
M- Ella, are you listening?  What are you doing?
E- I'm looking for Jesus.

Awwww.....

Saturday

This weekend was girls weekend at the Lake with Brandy, Denise, Elizabeth, Tara, Trisha, & Cathy.  This year was even more special than our annual trip because we're celebrating Brandy's 30th birthday.  I drove up on Sat. morning and went shopping at the outlet mall.  After shopping, we went out to a Mexican dinner.  Next, we went to Bootleggers bar, then on to JJ Twigs for kareoke and dancing.  We had SUCH a good time.  We noticed a sign of the times when I shimmied and shook it and lost a breast pad at the last bar.  Trisha found it, but thought that it was hers.  When I found out I was missing one (at the condo), that when Trisha put everything together.  The whole incident made her pee herself.....seriously?  What has birthing children done to us?  Is this what our 30s will be like?  In any case, we had an awesome time together this weekend.

Sunday

Today I got back and gave the kids big hugs; I miss them so much when I'm gone.  We gave Eli his first taste of mashed potatos and gravy.  He did like them, but the look on his face was priceless as he tasted the new texture.

Lastly, in conversation today, I seriously used the term, "three sheets to the wind."  That's it, I think that I'm officially old.....

Huh....

Ella has had a cold for over a week now, and I've been relatively worried that the drainage is going to settle in her ears, causing an infection.  I can't ask her if her ears hurt though because every time, she says, "Yes, I have an ear infection."

On Friday, Eli's midnight snacks came to an end.  Over the weekend, this caused a problem in our sleep, but I thought surely by now, it'd be fixed.  However, now he's only sleeping in 20 min. increments, and we keep dosing him with Tylenol.  Even during the day, he's barely consolable.  I attributed these problems to A)maybe not eating at night, then being cranky from less sleep or B) teething, and that's why Tylenol was helping.  However, today Eli started off my day by throwing up all over me. 

I took both kids to the dr.  Ella, the one I've been worried about for days, is fine.  It's just a cold.  Eli on the other hand has two SEPARATE infections.  The ear infection is what we can all thank for keeping us up for the last week.  Really?  An ear infection without a fever?  How was a mom to know that there could be infection without a fever? 

Poor little guy.  I didn't even think he was that sick!  Sorry kiddo.  Now we'll know for next time I guess..... 

Also, note to self: don't wait a week of sleepless nights before taking the kids to the dr!  Grrrr.....