Oh what a year its been!

Dear Ellie,

You are the sunshine in my life ~ thats why i'll always be around.  Hee.  But really - YOU ARE!  I have such horrible mama guilt for having let your first year slide by so very (VERY) fast and not taking the time to let you know in writing just how special every one of those moments have been to me. 

Somehow in being less "busy" i am far busier than i have ever been.  Clearly i'm not any less busy but my days are different.  FAR far different from where they were say a year ago :)  These days i cook 3 meals from scratch, chase cotton balls in the wind (you) and in my *free* time i still knit, sew and try to do crafty things with your sister.  Despite my attempts to paint with you ~ you still are happy to eat paint, markers tops and whole crayons.  The other day you even pooped a pretty silver bead.  I swear i'm waiting for an entire christmas ornament to come out your bum!

These days you are really REALLY becoming my lil girl.  Every night your dad and i giggle about how funny you are.  And make no mistakes about it - you know it too.  One of your favorite things to do is push G around in a doll stroller.  Even as i type this i think ~ i'm going to have to get a picture of that this evening.  I bet that image alone will be one of my favorite memories for years to come.  And although your still a milky baby & sleepin with us, you LOVE to go for a ride on daddy for bedtime books.  Of course your attention span is all of 6.5 seconds, you will NOT be left behind when your sister takes off on her daddy's back into your bedroom.  Sometimes you'll stay for the duration, but lately you've taken to dancing in your diaper on the chair next to the bed.  Typically this chair is precariously placed on top of at least 3 books and you dance to make the chair wiggle, sometimes with a hat or headband haphazardly placed on your head.  While all of this may just be another day in the button factory for me ~ it gives your daddy heart palpitations so sometimes i come to the rescue. 

Lets see what else.  ohh FOOD.  You FINALLY dig food.  You went through an astronaut phase where all you'd eat were pureed food from pouches.  No matter how i prepared the exact.same.food. if it didn't come from a pouch ~ you weren't havin it.  While i was thrilled that you finally had accepted some form of nourishment independent of me.  Good lord almighty, those pouches are ridiculously expensive.  But now you're like the rest of us and chow down whatever is put before you.  (insert choir of angels 'ahhh' here.) 

You love to love babies and you love love loooove your sis.  And hee...you love to be a lil sis.  Some days i swear you do things specifically with the intent of pissing G off.  And some days - i'll admit.  Its pretty funny.  And at times its weird taking a backseat to someone else who i consider quite tiny, it is awesome.  An insanely powerful mama type of awesome that i clearly i can't find the words for.

 Awed,
Mama

3/4 of a year - WHAAA

So sweetie, you're like growing way way WAYWAYWAY tooo quickly. and while its cool and all, i want my baby to stick around. you are toooooooooooooo cute. (and way funny at this age too)

Funny - you know we play around with baby signing. While i do think it stimulates your mind and gives us a chance to communicate earlier, really...its just a hoot. Like right now you do 'up', 'finished', 'hello', 'milk' and 'food' and they all look identical. So while technically you're just flailing, i'll read something into it and give it meaning :P The real hilarity comes in with watching you though...you're just so purposeful with each movement. Contextually it all makes complete sense, but its fun to watch you're Daddy try and read your cues sometimes as he just walked in the door from work.

Not-so-funny: rolling off the bed. PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEEEEEEASE for the love of god STOP. You are not superman. you do not have a cape, or wings or anything else cool that will make our CONCRETE FLOOR less painful. If daddy (uhh or mommy) have bad BO, just give us the sign. mmmk?

Funny - that snort baby laugh. your sister did it too. but let me tell you, it never gets old and is just as funny every. single. time.

Not-so-funny: nursing alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll   night long. nufff said. Funny - (so we can end on a good note, right) That tooth...i'm going to say it...you have the cutest little tooth E. i know i know - lady get ahold of yourself. its a tooth. but i'm your mama. and i think its adorable.

,
mama

Uhhh really?!?

So G went to summer camp this year at a gymnastics studio. Part birthday present, part sanity check for mom. Either way it was deeeeeelightful for all involved.

Aside from the omghowcantheybesobitchyat6 girls, a good time was had by all. And i sufficiently made up for any loss of coffee in that week alone. We had a great excuse to meet daddy for lunch at the asian grocery, we enjoyed each others company and watching G 'freeze' for an hour on the trampoline at night. We watched forward roll after forward roll till WE got a bit dizzy.


But nothing could have prepared me for sunday night.

Completely offhand, i make some '50 First Dates' reference about the "kiddies doing flippies" and G walks a few paces away and tosses herself up in the air -- and lands flat on her back after a lil head spasm backwards.

Well as any good parent would do, i maybe, sorta, kinda asked "WHAT THE FOCK ARE YOU DOING?"
---Mommy, I was just trying to do a flip

WHAT?!? Who does this? Flat footed on the ground my 4 year old just tossed herself in the air and tried to do a back tuck. I know, I know she could have gotten really hurt (believe me we dealt with that later) but duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.

my kid just tried to flip. rock on with your badass self G. i love that she truely believes there is nothing she can't do.

love. it.

SHE is here!

And so it begins...

So today I dropped G off at daycare for their Halloween party & parade. ALLLLLLLLLLLLl the lil girls were princesses. Which of course is practically unavoidable at 3 years old, but nonetheless...every single one was a specific Disney princess. Since i sew and i'm a dork - i just can't do off-the-shelf costumes. Nothing against folks who do ~ there were quite a few hours last week where i wish i didn't have this form of OCD. Alas...

All of G's lil friends kept coming up to her and asking her "Which princess are you?" After about the 3rd girl asked and G still hadn't had a chance to get a word in edgewise she looked at me with big puppy dog eyes. I smiled and told her - your not a movie princess...your a REAL princess.

She glowed and I fought back tears.

Definition of a Daddy

Did i mention...

I'm pregnant :P



There are so few & far between photos of me as I try my darndest to stay behind the camera, but the light was beautiful and i was dressed....so i threw caution to the wind and let pete-a-lee play with my camera.

I'm pretty glad i did!

G's Top 10

So i know my momma friends with 2+ will attest that you just fall madly in love with your first before the second is born, but duuuuuuuude - who woulda though they'd make it soo stinkin easy.

So in lieu of a lengthy mooshy love letter; i'll keep it short and sweet

Top 10 Reasons I love my "Hunny Bunny"
1) she brings me water &/or juice when i need it
2) she saves me snacks from her lunch at school
3) she sits beside me and sews for hours on end.
4) she insisted that we get a rabbit for dinner from the farmers market
5) she LIVES for farmers market trips
6) she thinks her last name is 'alca-tater'
7) leaves stickers everywhere (the walls, her comforter, my pillow)
8) is as 'tude-tastic' as her mama. (mama you're gonna whine when my baby comes out too and i'm just not gonna wanna hear it!)
9) kisses her kitty cat every morning & night just like a regular member of the family
10) she looooooooves to cook with us in the kitchen
11) her dances make me soo happy

of course there is so much more, but i promised myself that i'd let this be a happy free-association exercise. and with that...another pic of G's fall wardrobe.