My breakthrough

Okay people. I don't think I've ever shared this on the blog, and many of you probably don't know about this. From the day Ella was born, we've (okay, after Ella was probably 6 months, "I've") been charting Ella's daily formula (then milk)/food consumption & wet & poopy diapers. What I mean is, we have an Excel spreadsheet filled out for every day of this little girl's life. What she drank/ate, what time, how much, pees, poops, baths, tylenol, any other miscellaneous things that might have gone down on a particular day. Until today. I can't believe it. But, today, I was like, hey, she's 2. If she eats something and drinks some milk, I'm feeling pretty good that she'll be okay. Wow. The previous sentence & what that means took a long time for me to be okay with. Call it being a first time mom, anal mom, obsessive (much?) mom, control freak mom, whatever. I just couldn't stop the charting! I will blame it on the nurses post-delivery. I was breastfeeding and was obviously clueless, so we were told to chart Ella's feedings (times & estimated amounts) and then also keep track of her diaper changes. Well, that just snowballed into a 2 year project....

I'm feeling proud of myself today for letting go of the chart.

p.s. I'll admit, I did track diapers today (but that's it, I swear).

p.p.s. Don't make fun. I know it's insane that I've been doing these daily charts for so long.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ella!

My sweet baby girl turned 2 today! Can you believe it? She is so grown up! We had a busy day here. This morning, we took Ella out for birthday pancakes at Blondies in Farmington. They made her pancakes extra special (she pretty much only ate the chocolate chips & the whip cream!)

This afternoon we played outside....


(Notice she's holding the bat on the wrong end! We'll have to work on that!)

And then headed to Chuck-E-Cheese for some rides, games & pizza!


She's saying "CHEESE" So cute!





Trying to get a picture together....


Helping Annie play a game

Ella & Jay driving crazy race cars

And then we knew it was time to go....

We sang Happy Birthday to Ella a few times today. And then I caught her singing it to herself later. She told a few people we saw throughout the day that today was "Ah's (Ella's) birthday" and when asked how old she was, she'd tell them 2! We are 2 proud parents today. Ella is surprising us more & more with things she's learning. Her personality (good & bad) is shining through too. Hopefully she had a fantastic 2nd (golden) birthday. Tomorrow is the 2 year well visit & in the afternoon we are having her pictures taken! Another busy day for us! Check back for her latest stats & pictures!

Ella's Second Birthday Party

We celebrated Ella's 2nd birthday yesterday with a big ELMO party!

I found lots of inspiration online and at etsy. It was a fun party to plan, and Ella was totally in to it this year. She knew her Elmo party was Sunday and she was going to have an Elmo cake and presents to open.

I didn't make the cake this year. Instead, we ordered Elmo cupcakes and I made cutout sugar cookies in the shapes of 'E's and '2's. The cookies were a hit and I thought the cupcakes turned out really cute. We had goldfish too (for Elmo's pet goldfish Dorothy) Here are some pictures from the big party.

The cupcakes

The cookies. Elmo cookies are actually oreos with elmo icing/sugar faces (bought those too!)


Waiting patiently for guests to arrive...chewing on my fingers (the eye teeth are STILL trying to come through) She napped before everyone arrived, and then I got her dressed for the party (her bows were so cute - I need to make more in different colors!)

We were so anxious we went outside to play for a bit.

This year we had everyone take a picture with Ella wearing Elmo party hats. It was a little harder this year (last year we had the Ears for the Minne Mouse party). Ella is so hard to get to look at the camera for a picture!

The party hats


So Ella is finally looking at the camera - and we're not! Of course!


I think Ella is so cute in her party outfit & Elmo hat!!

Opening gifts...

Ella was a little better about opening her own gifts, but generally, I still had to do most of the paper ripping.


She got lots of fun things for her birthday. A new trike (from Mom & Dad), a pink princess lawn chair (Debbie), her very own Curious George (Grandma Deb), a baby that has a potty chair (Kaila), clothes (lots!), Barbies (Ellingboes and Annie), an Elmo bath towel (Grandpa Gary & Dianne), and a sandbox (Grandpa Paul & Grandma Jolyn). Lots of other stuff too! She is going to have lots of new toys to keep her busy this summer.

Checking out her new sandbox!

Happy Birthday to you...


YUM! (Ella eating her birthday cupcake & ice cream)

We had a great time. She officially turns 2 on Thursday (6/2), so it's her golden birthday. We're planning a trip to Chuck-E Cheese. She's never been. I have a feeling she'll have a good time. More pictures soon!

Ella-isms, Open Gym

Another rain filled weekend! We did get out of the house on Friday. I took Ella to an open gym at IGM Gymnastics in Burnsville. She was SO cautious at the beginning just watching the other kids and walking around. Then she found her favorite - a ball! Hilarious. So many fun obstacles to climb on and play with and she gravitated towards the all familiar ball. But, after about 20 minutes or so, she was in the swing of things and had a good time. Leaving - not so fun. But, we'll be sure to visit there again soon.

A few fun things that Ella is doing lately:

- She asks a question and then after we answer, she says "yep"
"Mommy sitting in the chair? Yes Ella, I'm sitting in the chair. Yep!"

- She's recently started saying "oh no" when something happens (or even when something doesn't happen)

- She loves to sing Row Row Row Your Boat, Ring Around the Rosie and the Cat in the Hat theme song (on PBS)

- She has starting walking up the stairs (instead of crawling)...I know...it's about time! But anyway, she always starts going and then says "Walk up the stairs ...big girl!" Obviously she has started to pick up things we say around the house!

Oh she makes me laugh!

Her big 2nd birthday party is coming up this weekend. So excited to see it all pulled together for her! I've been a bit crafty and made her some new hair bows for the party (picture below, since I'm nerdy like that).

Weekending...

Been a busy weekend thus far. Albeit not busy due to Ella's schedule. She's staying at Grandpa Paul & Grandma Jolyn's this weekend. Yesterday Jay & I saw a movie IN THE THEATER for the first time in a long time. I was so excited b/c it was opening weekend for Bridesmaids. "What are you, an appliance?" I can't even tell you how hilarious it was. It was laugh out loud, I think I might pee my pants, funny. See it. Or, if you're like us, and rarely have a chance to see a movie in the theater, mark it down on your list for Redbox or Netflix later. I hope you love it. I am still laughing.

Today we've run a few errands (more on the way for me after blogging), test drove a different vehicle (b/c Jay has a wild hair up his you know what about gas prices and thinks we need to get something more fuel efficient. How very environmentally friendly of him). I, on the other hand, find it to be a stressful, exhausting, anxiety-filled time and wish no part of it. Stay tuned.

I just finished up a few hours making, baking & icing a test-run of sugar cut-out cookies for Ella's 2nd birthday bash coming up at the end of the month. I've never successfully been able to make cute cut-outs, and today it worked out well. Whew! Now I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the "for real" cookies will turn out too! Here's a preview...




Now off to the mall, by myself! FUN!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the moms - Happy Mother's Day! We had a great day here. A trip to Caribou this morning, lunch at Old Chicago & then ice cream tonight. I did get a workout in this afternoon, so I don't feel AS guilty about all of the unhealthy foods!

Easter in Worthington

I'm a little late in posting updates about last weekend's trip to Worthington to celebrate Easter! Here are a few pictures of our visit.


Grandpa Gary, Chase & Ella after checking out what the Easter Bunny left for them!

Ella felt the need to wear her pink sunglasses in the restaurant on Saturday night!

Visiting with Grandma Alice on Sunday. Ella & Grandma Alice get along very well! It was Grandma's birthday on 4/29, so Ella made sure to tell her Happy Birthday. It was pretty cute.

Will we ever get a picture of these 2 both looking at the camera & smiling? Who knows but this one makes me laugh. Ella has recently starting saying "CHEESE" with the squinty eyes whenever the camera heads her way.

Ella & Grandma Deb

As I'm uploading pictures, I realize that we never did get an Easter 2011 family picture of us (well, at least a picture of all 3 of us looking at the camera!)

Also, I confess, I did watch the royal wedding! I really wanted to see the bride walk down the aisle and see her dress. I didn't set an alarm, but I woke up about 5:15 a.m. so I headed down, turned on the TV and thought I had the best timing....everyone was standing & singing, so I thought the bride would be coming down next. Nope. They had just arrived at the front of the church! But, I stayed up to continue to watch the ceremony (and the hats!) I thought the dress & her flowers would have been "more" but it was a classic look just not as much as I was anticipating.