Singing With Daddy

I only caught the tail of this jam session but it was so cute.

Potty Training

Well, Charlotte's 3rd birthday has come and gone. I would have bet money she would have been completely potty trained by now. We started back right after Ellie was born and she did awesome - for about a month. I'm talking pee and poop, no poop accidents and only the occasional pee. Piece of cake... Then she lost all interest. We tried bribing her with just about anything and everything. It was the most frustrating thing to go through so eventually we backed off. She wouldn't let us put a diaper on her ("diapers are for babies like Ellie" she says), so pull ups it was for about 4 or 5 months now. Well, now that's she's three, she's insisting she can't wear a pull up anymore, "2 year olds wear pull ups and 3 year olds wear big girl underwear". Even though she still pees and poops in her pants, we're going with it. The laundry piles up quickly. She's made huge improvements over the last week. Today she spent the entire day at Auntie Krista's and came home in the same outfit and underwear she left the house in. She has a potty chart on the bathroom door with only 2 slots left for stickers. Once she completes the chart, it's off to "Chuck E. Cheeses house" as she calls it. I'm not really a fan (of that germ infested place with kids that run around out of control) so you can tell I'm desperate to be finished with this entire process and offering up anything I can think of. We're close now, I can feel it......

New Job

Well, last year was a tough year for both Stephe and I work-wise. Stephe was laid-off from WGIR on Jan 20 and didn't start working again until Dec 1. He's currently writing for The Gardner News. I worked for eCopy, which was acquired by Nuance Oct 1, and they laid me off Nov 5. It was tough because we both genuinely liked our jobs. At the same time, it was nice to have some extra time with the girls while they are so little. It's probably a big part of the reason welcoming Ellie home seemed so easy. We both were able to be home for my 7 weeks of maternity and even after that, Ellie stayed home with Daddy. Then when Daddy went back to work, I was home. I'm starting a job (I signed up for 2 months of contracting for Binary Tree) so the girls will be both be going to daycare. We are fortunate that Janet still has slots for both of them. We love her and she loves Charlotte. I'm sure in no time, she'll be in love with little Ellie too. They will both go together 3 days a week. Charlotte wants to go now. When I asked if she wanted to go back to Janet's she started running around in circles saying she wanted to go today and doesn't want to wait until next week. I take that as a pretty good sign we found a good place. :)

It should be interesting to see how this whole contracting thing plays out. I figure now's the time to give it a shot.

Sitting Up

Six Months!

Already... It's going by so quickly!!! It's much easier the second time around. I appreciated the last few months of "easiness" and am getting a little nervous for the next six. With Charlotte, we just couldn't wait for her to do anything. But having been through it once before, we're so much more patient. My Dad's favorite line to us is "you can't wait for them to start walking and talking and once they do you're going to want them to sit down and shut up." LOL We know what's coming once sweet little Ellie starts getting mobile. That's when the real work starts. The age she's at right now is perfect. She can sit up on her own and is happy to sit and play for a long time. And diaper changes are still a 1 person job. I know it won't last long though. Her little legs are already constantly kicking like she just can't wait to get up and go for a run.

Looking back at the last six months, Ellie really is a great baby. She's just always so happy and content. I was tickling her the other night, under her arm, under her neck, her belly, everywhere. She's very ticklish and was just belly laughing!! She's lucky to have survived, I wanted to eat her up. And when she's playing in her exersaucer, all you have to do is make eye contact with her and you'll get the most beautiful smiles. Actually, I can't even just say in her exersaucer, it's no matter where she is. She's just so smiley!! And when we take her to a restaurant, she'll sit in her seat and quietly watch us eat. Again, if you even glance in her direction, you'll get a big smile. One of my favorite things she does, is sleeps through the night! And she's been doing this since month 2 or 3. By through the night, I mean 8 or 9 at night until after 7 in the morning. In fact, as I'm typing, she's still sleeping and it's 8:41am. Charlotte didn't do this until 11 months old. In Charlotte's defense, it was probably our fault. Being the first baby, we'd feed her and rock her to sleep at night then very carefully lay her in the crib. And if when we moved her it woke her up, we'd rock her back to sleep. I don't think she really had the chance to sooth herself back to sleep. With Ellie, we (well, I) had the bright idea to lay her down awake one night a couple months ago. I noticed she rubbed her eyes and figured I'd see what happened. Sure enough, we never heard from her again. Which reminds me of another cute thing Ellie does... She sucks her thumb! I find this to be adorable. I'm writing this down so in 2 years when it's not so cute anymore, I can remind myself that at one point in time, I thought it was the cutest thing ever! :) I want to freeze her at this age, I can't imagine that she could get any cuter!

Here are her 6 month doctor appointment stats: 27 1/4 inches long (90th %), 17.15 pounds (80th %) and her head is 17 3/4 (90th %). She still on the same curve she's been on since birth. And her measurements are pretty much exactly the same as Charlotte at 6 months.

Everything else looks perfect. She's off the alimentum formula as well as the reflux medication and doing great without it. She's been eating cereal up until this point but it's now time to introduce fruits and veggies. Hopefully she loves them as much as her big sister. Also, time to start putting a sippy cup in front of her.