Ellie: 18 months

I don't even know how to describe Ellie to you in words. Instead, let me just bring you into a little snapshot in my life as her mother and what I observe. I feel like a bit of a broken record because I'm almost positive I've said "this is my favorite age!" many times in the past. And 18 months has not let me down. This girl is so busy and fun and energetic and sweet and fiery (blaming it still on her RED TOP!) and crazy and I am loving it all.

18 months:

weight: 23 lbs

length: 33 inches

Ellie wakes up around 7:00am every morning. She's always standing in her crib, in the closest corner to the door with arms up ready for me to pick her up. She usually has her purple blankey under one arm and a stuffed animal dog under her other arm. She's been really into the stuffed animal dogs in our house. Totes them everywhere around. It's adorable. She grunts and yells mama when she sees me, and if I was an early morning kind of person, I'd be extra delighted to see her too...but I usually grump back to bed with her as she pats my back, fix a bottle of whole milk, and have an extra 10-15 minutes in bed with my eyes closed while she drinks her bottle. We usually enjoy a moment together because Brinley usually wakes up after Ellie does. I love this morning alone time we have together. 

When we finally get out of bed, I try to get breakfast fixed quickly because when Ellie is hungry, she gets "hangry" (hungry+angry). It's a real thing in this house! Her favorites are pancakes, eggs and toast, cereal, and a banana. Ellie impresses me so much at meal time because she loves feeding herself. Sometimes, it drives me crazy because I want to feed her by spoon so she won't get messy, but she refuses. The only person Ellie will allow to feed her is Brinley. She loves her so much.

After she finishes eating breakfast, I clean up her hands and face, unclip her and lift her out of her highchair. Now this is perfect Ellie behavior, when she gets out of her highchair, she immediately goes to her chair, and puts the clips together. I always know when Ellie's been at her highchair when the clips are together. Makes me laugh because she is so good and fast at doing them now.

Ellie still takes a nap during the day. I've cut out her morning nap, and have moved it to a nice 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day. It gives us lots of time in the morning to run errands before it gets too outrageously hot and it also gives me quiet time because Brinley is in her quiet alone time while Ellie naps. 

Ellie and talking. She is so funny. She says lots of sounds and a few clear words like mama, daddy (daddeeeee), and NO! Her other words:

cheese- eeeeessss

please- peeeeezzz

binky- beeee

Brinley- biiiieeee

water- wawa

foot- foooo

Frozen- frooo

...and I'm sure she does more haha, but I can't think of any.

she's saying "cheeeeeese" in this picture

I am SO HAPPY that Ellie finally loves going to the beach. She yells and screams at the waves crashing. She chases the seagulls and pelicans flying by. And my favorite, she LOVES rolling in the sand. She gets sand everywhere. Thank goodness the beach we go to has showers! It doesn't completely wash off all the sand, but enough to keep us wanting to go back to the beach for more fun! I bought long sleeve rash guard tops at Old Navy and it has saved me! Limited applications of sunscreen and protecting them both from sun exposure. 

Ellie has discovered her love for the pool too. SHE IS A FISH! I can't believe it! Brinley never was this fearless in the water. I'm hoping we are catching Ellie at the right time where she just naturally learns how to swim. We missed the window with Brinley and it took her awhile to start putting her head in the water without being forced or ever jumping in alone. Ellie loves to jump in and put her head under the water. She scares me so much when she is walking around the water. She is definitely the wild child and needs 24/7 pool/beach watch. 

Ellie loves to play with Brinley and is getting into her imaginations too. They play cats and dogs and princess together. Ellie will get on all fours and crawl around making cat or dog noises. Pretty darn cute! Ellie is also at the age where she is starting to drive Brinley crazy. Ellie will take toys and run away, or fight hard to give up a toy. Her favorite toys are Fisher Price Little People, dress up princess shoes, tupperware, puzzles, and the new Costco kitchen the girls got for Christmas. In the last few weeks, I've really noticed her love of books and remembering specific words in the book. She has a few favorites and her most favorite is one of our potty training books. She is so expressive when she "reads" through the book and knows every page. It always makes us laugh.

One of my favorite things about Ellie is her quick moving feet. She runs so fast. She kicks super hard. And she's got these tippy toes that can't stop dancing. She's hilarious.

Ellie is very good at letting us know what she wants. She brings us shoes when she wants to wear shoes. She brings me clothes if she wants to wear them. And she is so good at bringing me things that I ask too. I'll ask her to bring me a diaper and wipes, or to get her shoes on before we leave, or to find her binky. She is so smart.

Ellie is such a snuggle bug. She loves to give hugs and kisses and stay a few moments with me on the couch. She rarely sleeps through the entire night without waking up. I'm hoping that when she gets her last 4 teeth in (the canines) that she will start sleeping through the night again. These last 4 teeth have been on the verge of poking through for months now and I am so tired of teething!! Ahhh! When does it end!?

Oh Ellie! We love you sooo much! You are constantly making us laugh and surprising us with all that you learn just from watching Brinley. Ellie is usually found with shoes on, either mommy's or Brinley's, walking around with a baby doll under her arm, grunting to have something opened or closed or zipped closed, and with the cutest furrow red eyebrow you've ever seen! Ellie, you are such a joy! We love you! 

Easter Sunday 2014

We had a fun Easter! A few weeks prior, I decided to sew the girls baby doll basket instead of filling their baskets with cheap toys and candy. Basically, the plastic eggs were a bigger hit than all my hours slaving away late at night working on that darn bias tape and cutting out a TON of pieces of fabric. It's ok, I'm not upset :-) But I did use an amazing tutorial and pattern from MADE and let me just say it was the easiest to follow. Lots of cutting out, but once I got the pieces organized, sewing was a breeze. This was the first pattern I've bought from her, and now I want to buy more and sew sew sew.

Anyways...the girls had a great day. We had a special Stake Conference instead of our normal church schedule because Elder Quentin L. Cook (here) from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from our Church was in town and decided to Preside over a "Hastening The Work" meeting. It was so wonderful to see an Apostle and hear his inspired words. It definitely doesn't happen very often to our little part of Florida to have an Apostle want to come to our Stake to speak, so we got there early and sat relatively close to the pulpit. Brinley kept pointing to where he was sitting and would whisper, "mom...that's an apostle!" So adorable. Ellie was a terror of course, running around the halls, dumping pretzels everywhere, and reminding me to never wear heals again on Sundays! 

After church, we all took much needed naps and relaxed. We had a wonderful dinner later that afternoon with our good friends. We all ate way too much but when the food and company is wonderful, eat away I say!

Ft. Lauderdale Temple Open House

We are so blessed to have a new Temple come to our area of South Florida. It is just under 2 hours to get there, and we are sooo happy and grateful for that. If you don't know much about LDS Temple's and how they work, check out this helpful and informative website. Before Temple's are dedicated, they are open to the public to walk through on guided tours. Ryan was able to be an usher one night and had an awesome experience. Last weekend, we decided to go down as a family and take Ellie and Brinley through. Brinley has been so anxious to see the inside of a Temple. They were both pretty crabby after the drive and then to be quiet and reverent for another hour kind of killed us all. Ellie has been teething so bad lately that we are just pretty exhausted of her crankiness. Nonetheless, Ryan and I had a wonderful time being together at the Temple and I will never forget seeing my family together in the Celestial room! 

I hope Brinley felt the spirit and will remember that day of seeing a Temple! The Ft. Lauderdale Temple is gorgeous. The inside is very focused on our region and how tropical it is. There are paintings in there I have never seen before. And the Brides room has this green and blue glass blown chandelier that is OUT of this world. I always pay attention to Brides rooms because I didn't have one! We have the Temple dedication on May 4th and then after that we will be able to go do some work. So so exciting. All those who are super close to Temples, don't take them from granted! We haven't lived this close to a Temple in 4 years and I just want to cry I am so excited.

The other reason why we went down to Ft. Lauderdale was because my good friend from High School is living there with her family while her husband is in school at Nova University. We played with them for the day and we had so much fun! Friday night, we were able to get a babysitter because the MARINERS were in town playing the Miami Marlins and we got tickets for the baseball game! It was our first ever double date after having kids so Ryan and I had a blast. So much fun.

^^Ellie and Brinley sitting with Brooke and Macy. 4 kids 4 and under! 

^^looking for turtles in their pond

^^and Ryan caught one!

Thanks for being such wonderful hosts!

just a few favorite moments

I love Instagram. I love taking pictures of randomness throughout the day. And I love having a good camera on my phone. Who knows if we will ever buy an actually camera-camera! 

^fitting my double jogger inside the new SUV is heavenly!

^jogging over the bridge to the beach. It was killer!

^up at the top of the bridge. Amazing views!

^Undies-on-our-head club

^Beach day with friends-Ellie was around somewhere!

^my girls :-)

^farm day 

^and strawberry picking

^Panara for lunch

^hey girl :-)

^Library time

^potty breaks are verrrry interesting when Ellie doesn't have a stroller to be strapped into :-)

^first dentist appointment

^perfect teeth!

^family jog

^our favorite park is right under the bridge and it has the best views

^our friends haha

^back the next week to the same farm to do more strawberry picking!

^diva, I mean Brinley, just started another round of swim lessons

^cruising together in the subaru so that daddy could drive down to the Ft Lauderdale Temple Open House to help usher.

So many wonderful moments in the past month and I am so thankful to have them documented so I can remember them forever. Love being a mom and I love living in South Florida!