Latest Ellaisms

So I have not been doing a great job with the blogging challenge. However, I have been posting more this month than I have in a long time, so I would call that a success.

Today is Aubrey's 11 monthiversary. Yes, I made that word up. I like it and I'm going to keep using it! I should be posting about her and showing a picture of her in her 11 month decal ready to take on the world. However, my camera broke last week and I am going to have to take a picture on Friday when my new one comes. What I will tell you is that she took her first steps today! BIG GIRL! I wish I could slow down time, but it is also so wonderful to see her grow and change.

So, since I will be posting this weekend on Aubrey I will post today on Ella. It's been quite awhile since I shared Ellaisms. She still says funny things, but now it is a lot less about saying the wrong words and more about her creativity.

This girl knows how to work the system. She wanted to stay up late and watch a movie. When I told her no, she said, "Mommy, we could watch Harry Potter and snuggle on the bed and eat popcorn." If it were her dad she would have said "Daddy, we could watch Lord of the Rings and hang out and eat popcorn." It got a good laugh and she gets an "A" for effort, but didn't work as she planned. She had to go to bed without watching a movie.

Tonight was one of her funnier moments in a long time. I am in the Christmas Concert at my church and our director gave us each a CD to practice with. Daddy had to work late tonight so we took dinner to him and drove home to get in bed somewhere close (not really) to bedtime. I turned the CD on and started singing along. All of a sudden I hear howling coming from the back seat. I turned around and looked at Ella and she said "Puppy wants to sing along too!" We spent the next 20 minutes "singing" together. It was so sweet and so funny at the same time. I love her imagination!

She is such an interesting combination of Jimmie and me. She is very creative and imaginative, but at the same time very inquisitive and analytical. She will say "Tell me everything that you know about..." and quiz you about it when you are finished. The next moment though, she will be immersed into some other world and expect you to play along. If she is playing a repeat character I can usually jump right in and play along. Sometimes though, she starts pretending and I either don't recognize her characters or am too distracted to remember them. This causes chaos and frustration for both of us. I always have to be on my game with her. She is a firecracker! This fantasy can be very confusing for her very sweet, very literal friend Luke. He says "Ella, are you pretending?" and she looks at him straight faced and says "No, I'm really...(Ariel, Ron Weasley, Rapunzel)." I then have to turn to him and whisper "She is pretending". He then grins and plays along too. They are very good for each other! She makes him think outside the box and he grounds her. It's a win-win :)

She is loving preschool and has the two most amazing teachers! You can tell that they love their job and the kids. Preschool teachers do not get paid enough! Anyway, not surprisingly she just fit right into preschool. She goes to the preschool at our church and it is the perfect fit for her. It has just the right balance of exploration and creative play. She is meeting other kids her age and is learning to compromise and play with others. Her teachers had wonderful and kind things to say about her. Many of her strengths are mentioned above. They said she loves to do any activity as long as she can do it with her friends. That's my girl :) She does have some trouble playing when things don't go exactly as she expects them to or when she thinks that someone is wrong. That's Jimmie's girl :)

Both of our girls require an enormous amount of physical and emotional energy, but man, I wouldn't change them for anything. I love their fun and spunky personalities. Jimmie and I just keep saying that we are excited to see how these strong personalities are going to grow with them. I hope that we can continue to nurture Ella's creativity AND her inquisitive nature. I spent much of my life feeling very different from those around me. I want Ella to know that that's ok. I don't want her to change for the people around her. Hopefully we can help her become the best Ella she can be. It's sure going to be a fun ride!

I must leave you with this because I laughed out loud when I saw this on my camera. This picture has been floating around Pinterest. http://cynthiawc.posterous.com/what-i-feel-like-when-i-run-what-i-really-loo

I always laugh out loud when I see it, so imagine my delight when I found this on my camera:

A Good Mother

So I was trying to be good and slide in under the wire on tonight's topic for NaBloPoMo, but the site is down, so I can't get the writing prompt for tonight. I do remember looking at it last night and it was something about balancing family and work and such, so here are my thoughts on being a Mom.

Moms (and women in general) are much too hard on themselves. We expect ourselves to be superheroes. From the moment that we find out we are pregnant every decision we make involves another human being, what we eat, how much we sleep, the activities that we do. We feel guilty for everything, when we are at work we feel guilty for not being with our kids, when we are at home we feel guilty for not getting more work done. When we go to the gym we feel like we are being selfish for taking time away from our kids and when we are at home we feel guilty for not exercising more! When we are playing with our kids we feel guilty for not cleaning up the house, and when we are cleaning the house we feel guilty for making them play alone.

Now I am not stupid. I do know that there are some incredibly crappy moms out there. I have seen them in the hospital and you can already tell on the day that their babies are born that they better change their priorities or they are not going to take very good care of their babies. It is disheartening to see moms that do drugs or have other unhealthy behaviors that can have babies so easily and have 7 babies that have all been taken away from them, especially when there are women out there who so desperately want to be a mommy and have done everything right, but can't conceive or have had disrupted adoptions. That is a topic for another day though. The point is, I know there are bad moms out there.

What I am going to talk about is what makes a good mom. A good mom loves her kids and wants the best for them. Sometimes that means she gets the amazing privilege of staying home full time with them. Sometimes that means she works outside of the home so that they will have food on the table or clothes or a warm house to live in. Sometimes she works outside of the home because it makes her a better mom when she is at home.

I have things that I believe in strongly and do for my girls, but know that those decisions are not for everyone. I am a Breastfeeding Educator and obviously think that is important. I encourage my patients to breastfeed but realize that this is not realistic for every mom. I think that a good mom feeds her baby, either by breastfeeding or formula feeding, or by giving homemade baby food or store bought baby food. I think a good mother puts diapers on her baby's bottom and changes them often. That could mean that she uses cloth diapers or it could mean that she uses disposables.

A good mother reads to her children often! A good mother encourages creativity and curiosity. Some moms know that they can teach their children the best and choose to teach them at home. Some moms know that school teachers can teach their children the best and choose to send them to school outside of the home. A good mom knows her children and knows that the option that she chooses for her first child may not be what works for her younger children. A good mom finds every opportunity she can to teach and guide her children.

There are so many controversial topics surrounding motherhood and child rearing. Why do we feel the need to compete with one another? What gives us the right to impose our beliefs about parenting onto another mother? Why can we not just encourage and support each other instead of tearing each other down or trying to compare our children's accomplishments?

We can never truly understand what another mother is going through unless we get to know each other. Instead of looking down on someone because you think they are making poor decisions what would happen if we actually tried helping each other out? What if instead of saying, "Wow that mom does not have it all together. She is yelling at her kids and they are so unruly!" we offered to watch our girlfriend's kids so she can go to the store by herself. It may be the only quiet time she gets for the week! It could be that she's yelling at them because she is so tired that she is working all the time at home and outside of the home and she is still worried that she won't have enough money to buy groceries.

It's time that we stop trying to compete with one another and start helping each other out. A lot of moms are really lonely and tired. They love being a mom and they love their kids, but they get isolated because they don't have time to hang out with friends anymore and they also need someone to understand and encourage them.

The other thing we need to do is give ourselves a little bit of grace. Being a mother requires a huge amount of emotional and physical energy! We make up stories, wipe bottoms, change diapers, make meals, nurse babies, dress up, make up games, schedule and go to appointments, take kids to school, help them with their homework and the list goes on and on! Those are just the things that we do when we are with our children. On top of that a lot of us work outside of the home and have other responsibilities there. We must realize that we can't do everything and that taking care of ourselves is just as important as taking care of our children.

Pumpkin and Apple Picking

One of my favorite things about Connecticut, and one that I will miss very much when we leave is the abundance of fun things to do outside here, especially in the fall. Being from Oklahoma I had never really gone apple picking or pumpkin picking. We LOVE going out to Lyman Orchards.

There is something so satisfying about picking your own food. It is a real treat and so much fun. In fact we may go for one last trip tomorrow after Ella gets out of school because we finished off about 20 lbs of apples in 2 weeks! My girls really enjoy apples! I didn't even use them for any baking projects this time, they love them that much. It's really a shame since I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to my apple picking bounty ;) I am glad that they like eating them as fruit though, instead of covered in sugar and flour! Aubrey likes them so much that she was headfirst in the bag when we got home. We turned around and she literally had her head down in the bag chewing on the apples. I had to put the bag up on the buffet because we kept finding apples with four little teeth marks in them!

We have gone to the orchard several times already. The last time we went with our sweet friend Maria. We picked both apples and pumpkins this time. I put Aubrey in the Ergo and we loaded up the stroller with pumpkins.

We were also able to take some pictures of the girls. There was some screaming and crying and squeezing of one sister, but overall it went pretty well and I was able to get a few good shots at least. Happy Fall!

Bathtime!

My girls LOVE bathtime! It is such an improvement from earlier this year when Aubrey screamed bloody murder if you put her anywhere near the water. I think she started to like it because she adores her sister and who has a blast in the tub.

Ella asked today if they could take an early bath. I always give them a bath on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights because Ella has school the next day and on Saturday nights because we have church on Sunday mornings. Sometimes they get a bath on the in-between days, but those are just bonus baths.

I am sitting in the bathroom with Ella as she plays with her toys in the water. We have been in here for at least 45 minutes. Her sister is now taking a nap. Aubrey has had two baths since we started. She got the second one because she peed on the floor when I was getting her clothes and diaper ready. Yes, a better, more prepared mother would have had them ready before they got in the bath, but I didn't today. I'm cutting myself some slack because I am so tired! I have already warmed the water up once because it was ice cold. Bathtime is good, clean (pun intended), creative fun that does not involve modern technology. I have been transported to far away lands to dine with princesses, had fashion shows, made up stories and learned many new songs about mermaids and other water dwelling creatures. I feel blessed that my girls like taking baths so much, so I will sit in here with her as long as she wants to play or decides she is too pruney!

My friend Sarah and I are in the process of gathering information to write a book about things we never thought we would say before we had children. Between the two of us we have 5 girls between the ages of  ten months to nine years. We were both blessed to have varying degrees of "spirited", fairly independent children, so you can probably imagine that we often say or hear very funny things. Today was no exception. While giving my girls a bath today I uttered these gems: "Stop trying to pee on your sister!" as well as "Get your bottom off of your sister's head!"

I have to admit that I can never, ever say that my house is boring. I love my job of being a mommy to these two silly, fun, (mostly) sweet girls!

November 3 and November 4th

So three days into the exercise and I already missed a day! I was pretty busy yesterday cleaning and doing 10 loads of laundry. Yes, you read that correctly, 10. That included diaper laundry, but man I was behind. I still have several loads left and then I have to put them all away :(

Anyhow, I kept thinking I will sit down and write a post and then nighttime came and it was time for work. So here we are today, having had 2 1/2 hours of sleep in the last 34 hours. Hopefully this post will make a little sense, as my brain is a little muddled.

November 3
Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?

That really depends on my mood, amount of sleep and level of distractedness (not sure if that is a real word). I love music, all different kinds. I have at least 20 different stations on Pandora, ranging from Ingrid Michaelson to Vampire Weekend with some Cake, Queen, Josh Groban and Point of Grace mixed in there.

If I am trying to write something for fun I like listening to music with lyrics, but if I am doing something more serious it has to be lyric free. If I am really distracted or tired and trying to complete something, I have to turn the music off all together!

I heard many songs today, but currently I am listening to Diego sing about dinosaurs (not my first choice, by the way).

November 4
When you are writing do you prefer to use a pen or the computer?

I prefer using a pen, hands down! I LOVE using a pen and paper. I feel like I can be more creative. I am also a big fat nerd that really enjoys making lists just so that I can cross them off.

I love the beginning of school when school supplies go on sale. I love new notebooks and pens. I am  kind of picky about my pens. They have to feel right and I like different pens depending on the thickness of the paper, for example, I like a certain pen for writing in notebooks, and another for writing on loose paper. I need help, I know!

Because I know most of you are just coming to my blog to see cute pictures of the girls and not to hear my rambling thoughts, I will post a few cute pics.

Here is Ella with her friend Pearl at a carnival about a month and a half ago. They are silly girls and have a lot of fun together!

Daddy and his sweet girl at one of our favorite spots in New Haven, East Rock Ridge.

Mommy and her sweet girl on East Rock Ridge.

I turned around and found both girls in the same box in the living room. I'm sure glad they like each other!

Day 2 of NaBloPoMo

Well this is kind of cheating, because I just wrote Day 1's post less than two hours ago, but technically it is November 2nd and I am up feeding a baby, so here goes:

If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?

Well that's a little sad, don't you think? I don't know that I would want to know that my next meal would be my last, but I will play along and answer the question.

I would eat only dessert. Cake, the kind with beautiful, colorful, tasty buttercream icing. Whipped icing will not do. I would eat cookies: chocolate chip and sugar cookies with more of that scrumptious buttercream frosting. I would eat candy: skittles, now and laters, sour patch kids. I would drink Dr Pepper (the real kind, not Mr. Pibb).

Wow. That's making my stomach hurt and my head spin, just writing it! Maybe I should include some artichoke hearts and a big salad with strawberries, blueberries, chicken, almonds, parmesan cheese and raspberry dressing. Mmmm...that sounds good. Maybe I should make that now!

What would you eat for your last meal?

Months Nine and Ten

Did you catch that? Months NINE and TEN? Where in the world has this year gone?

Month Nine brought lots of new sounds and lots of movement! 

Aubrey learned how to cruise around the furniture followed very quickly by crawling. She is Little Miss Independant! When she wants something, she goes for it. While we are on the subject of wanting something, it should probably be made very clear that this one knows what she wants and when she wants something she wanted it YESTERDAY! She has learned to make noise and use signs in order to get what she wants. Food is a huge motivator for this little one. 

She can recognize and point to Mommy, Daddy, Sister, Max and Stanley. She even pointed to Nonna on the computer. She will say "Mamamama" for me and "Dadada" for Jimmie. She says "Eh" for Ella. 

She loves her dogs and she loves her sister. All three are fairly tolerant of her, but I have a feeling those days are numbered :) We have had many a discussion on "soft touch". I may have to pull out the "Pat Them Gently" book given to me at one of Ella's baby showers by a good friend.

She is a delight most of the time and most people say "Isn't she the most easy going baby?" to which I reply, "Yes, she sure is now, we are very blessed!" It really is the truth. I had heard that colicky babies turn into the most pleasant little people. She sure fits that mold.

Month Ten

And we're off! This one NEVER.STOPS.MOVING. EVER!

You turn around and she is in another room, in the trashcan, pulling things out of the cabinets, scavenging for food or other treasures. She is FAST! She is so incredibly close to walking. She stands up on her own and will take some steps while you hold her fingers. She will almost take steps in between things, but gets scared and sits down.

Everything goes into her mouth, including that decal you see pictured above. In keeping with the theme of most of the months before, this girl loves her food. She will eat anything and is starting to have preferences about what she likes. We are pretty much giving her most everything that we eat these days (minus anything with nuts or honey in it). It is kind of nice not to have to make a lot of baby food, because with Jimmie working ALOT and me working a couple nights of week I haven't had as much time to make food this time around. When we go out I have started giving her applesauce and those Ella's Kitchen packets from Target, something I never did with Ella.

The most surprising thing about this girl is her sense of humor. She is really funny! I never remember Ella trying to be silly like Aubrey does. She really wants to make us smile and laugh. She really really wants to make Ella smile and laugh, which she usually does.

She LOVES her sister. It is so incredibly sweet. She loves to take baths with her. She gets really excited if you talk about taking a bath or take her clothes off in the bathroom. She splashes around and plays with Ella. She also really really likes standing up in the bathtub. That stresses me out.

She has become such a delight and I am so blessed to have both of my sweet girls in my life!

NaBloPoMo

Well, inspired by my friend Tara, I have decided to participate in National Blog Posting Month or NaBloPoMo! I would really like to get back into my blogging, and not just for sharing fun stories about the girls, but to express myself as well!

The prompt for today is: What is your favorite part about writing?

I would have to say being able to say things without anyone interrupting me! I have two little people at my house and rarely get to finish a complete thought. I go on play dates and my friends and I have very broken, interrupted conversations, the kind where you have to regroup every few moments because you forgot what you were talking about. I love my girls, don't get me wrong, but it is nice to be able to sit in a quiet, dark house for a few minutes at night and just think like an adult.

I am excited about getting back into my blogging. We are in another transition phase at our house. It seems both so recently and such a long time ago that we were in the same frame of mind, not knowing where we were going to be or what we would be doing. Jimmie has sent his applications out to so many schools and we are both anxiously waiting to hear back. He is doing remarkably well, but I know that he is so ready to find out something, anything! He has worked so incredibly hard for the last 6 1/2 years! I am so proud of him and want him to get the job that fits him the best. Hopefully this will be the last time that we will be waiting like this. We want to finally get settled. For most of our marriage we have been in transition. In Kansas we were able to get settled and truly loved our life there, but in the back of our minds knew that we had to move on. Connecticut has been a different story all together. We are (hopefully) only here for two years. The first year was an absolute roller coaster ride. We couldn't even think about anything outside of our house and our little family for a very long time. Now that things have calmed down a bit and we have gotten involved in our church, we are getting a little more settled and I think we are really going to miss our friends here!

So anyway, I'm hoping that I can chronicle the transition to the next phase of our life. Hopefully it will be the settled phase and hopefully it will be many miles closer to Oklahoma and our families than we are right now.