One It Is

We're in Washington state at Karen's. We made it across the border and through customs no problem and reached Karen's by late afternoon on Tuesday. yesterday we went sightseeing downtown Seattle and walked around Pikes Market. Very trendy and totally Vancouverish. I really love the west coast.

There was a flight at 4 am but there were only 2 seats so we didn't try to make that one. Can you imagine pulling Ella and Maddison, a toddler, out of bed at 3 am to find we can't even make the flight anyway.

Maddison is in her twos and she has so sealed the deal for me. I am so done at one child...at least for a very very long time. Maybe when Ella is 5 I'll want another but I am exhausted after one afternoon. Karen is off at the dentist and Maddison isn't used to having her Mommy away. Maddison is blissfully distracted but so far we have baked bisuits, colored, taught her dolls to go to bed without drama (let's see if she remembers any of this tonight), read books, danced to the Wiggles, had lunch and now we're going to see about going for a walk to tucker her out and get her a nap. Ella, I'm sorry but there won't be any sibblings for you anytime in the near (or far) future. Ella and a toddler in the house have banished any doubt I might have had! :)

Goodbye Canada...

Tonight is our last night in Victoria. We're off to Port Angeles tomorrow and then onto Karen's house. So far there are no flights up to Thursday, I'll phone tomorrow about Friday's schedual. (Ron, you might just make that tee time on Saturday after all).

Sunday we went to Stephanie and Kristi's baby shower and I ran into some old friends from way back in grade school. So fun. And then of course we were so excited to go for family dinner at Sue and Stu's. How I am blessed with all my friends and extended family here. Ella wooed everyone and has a new boyfriend, Zachary who is the cutest little thing and such a cuddly bug. (I'll post pictures of all this when I get back home). If anything in Victoria could feel like home again, it's definately at Erin and Steph's parents.

Today we had lunch with Uncle Andrew, Stephanie and Erin. Our waitress was an old friend from elementary school. So bizarrre, I've been home for 4 days and I have run into so many old friends. More people at Superstore. 13 years out of high school and everyone looks the same! Funny I think. We visited Grandma's resting spot and I told Ella all about her Grandma, who shares part of her name. It was really pretty with all the snow and pink flowers. I know if they could have met, she would have been so in love with Ella. I know I wouldn't be half the mom I am to Ella if I hadn't such a role model. The hardest about coming back to Victoria is missing my mom. I can't wait to tell Ella all about her.

It's been an exciting 4 days, I'm sad to leave but really I am so tired of the cold. I have a perma-kink in my neck from being so tense. The boat leaves at 10:30 in the morning and we should be at Karen's by late afternoon. Ella and I will be going through immigration...happy thoughts, happy thoughts....see you on the other side!!

Friends

Just a quick note because we've been so busy visiting today. We had a wonderful visit with Barry and Diane and Jack and Phyl (and some of the family) and it was so nice to see them with Ella. Ella was a perfect lady! THen it was off to meet Uncle Andrew for a quick visit and hopefully we'll see him again Monday. Dinner with Christin, Stephanie and Erin and to Butchart Gardens to see the pretty lights in the snow. Ella once again didn't get any napping in as I kept taking her out of her carseat not long after she had fallen asleep to meet more people who couldn't wait to dote on her.
Butchart Gardens are gorgeous and Ella and I walked through all bundled up with a fleeced blanket and lots of layers of clothes. Burrrrrr! But oh so pretty. Ella is out, I'm exhausted. I can't wait to post some pictures when I get home. Ella is missing her Daddy, and will "dadadada dada dadada" and look around. I know, Ella. I miss him too :)

Tuckered Out

We are in Victoria and Ella finally got to meet her Auntie Erin! Ella and I left this morning at 7am to catch the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria. We made the boat in plenty of time and walked around Port Angeles and had a nice lunch. With all this new and exciting stuff to see, Ella hasn't napped much in the past couple of days and it seems everytime she falls asleep in the car, I wake her right back up. Ella slept through customs and immigration but it was only about 15 minutes to Erin's so when we woke her up when we arrived she had a little moment. Here I am telling people how wonderfully behaved this kid is and she takes one look at Erin and breaks down! (Though I did wake her up and thrust her into Erin's arms...I guess waking up and seeing a stranger would freak anyone out!)

The weather has warmed up to a balmy 42, but there is still lots of snow on the ground. Hopefully tomorrow we can get a picture with Ella and the white stuff. Erin's at a Chrismas party, Ella's zonked out and I am on my way to bed (I'm glad the party was tonight...Ella and I aren't much company, we are so tuckered out from the excitment and traveling.

Funny news...sort of...I asked about flights back to Hawaii to get on the registration list and apparently, although flights arrive from Hawaii almost daily, they sporatically fly back to Hawaii. "Not often", I was told means maybe 1 or 2 a month. ONE OR TWO????? So, what are y'all doing for Christmas this year??? :)

Burrrrrrr!

I made it to the west coast!!!! I left on Wednesday morning and took a military flight (free, but we were on a cargo plane and sat in canvas seats along the side of the wide open cargo hold...just like skydivers!) which was long and cold but Ella was wonderful and they give you really warm wool blankets. It is freezing here! We landed at 6pm to cold and snow. Ella was a bit fussy with all the warm clothes I put her in but as soon as they opened up the cargo door and all that cold air came in she went completely still and only her eyebals moved around in wonder at the new place.
Karen picked us up and it's been so nice to visit with her again. Tomorrow morning Ella and I will be off to Victoria for the weekend. Can't wait to see everyone!!! It's apparently going to warm up to 40 so that will be a treat! :)

West Coast

Snow here we come!!!! I'm leaving tomorrow to try to catch a flight to Seattle at 6:55am. I should arrive in Seattle about 3 or 4 local time and can't wait to see Karen and Maddison! I'll be heading over to Victoria on Friday and staying with Erin. I'm so excited to see everyone and have Ella meet all her extended Aunties.
Freakishly, the west coast has been hit with snow. What the ????? I guess Ella and I are in for a treat and shouldn't complain about the cold, it's not like we'll ever have to worry about that kind of weather for a long time!! Hee Hee.

See you west coasters soon!!!!!

Potty Training...sort of...

Out of shear boredom, I have been playing around on my blog. I took the clock idea from a friend of a friend's blog. I think it's great! We are 5 hours behind Atlanta, and two hours behind the west coast...just to insure we don't get any "early" wake up calls. There may be some kinks in the layout but I'll fix them up in the next day or so.

Ella had a long day today, she didn't nap very much and I gave her some Tylenol before she went to bed tonight. Hopefully her teeth stop bothering her soon. The past couple of days I've been putting her on her potty when she looks like she's doing her business. So far, she's used her own potty twice and tonight she went to the bathroom as soon as I put her on it. I have no idea about potty training but I figure if I can see her trying to poop, I might as well let her use her own toilet. She is so proud of herself and not at all intimidated by the potty. It's been out of the box and in the bathroom since we moved in. ("They" say you should put it out early and then the child gets used to seeing it around so it doesn't scare them when it's actually time to train them). I know, I know, it's really early for this but it's so easy with her right now.

Teething

It's official, Ella is teething and it's been rough. Her bottom two teeth gave her so little trouble, just 2 nights of waking up and going back to sleep, one of those nights after some Tylenol. These top two teeth are a different story. She's been rather grouchy and her nap schedule is interrupted. She's only napping an hour and tonight, she was up at 10:30 screaming. We changed and rocked her, laid her back down only to have her keep crying. Ron went to bed at 11, it's now 12:45am and I finally got her to sleep after some Tylenol. I had tried the teething tablets at 11, but they didn't do anything. We've been sitting up watching TV, and as long as she was distracted and had something to chew on, she was fine. You'd think I'd be exhausted, but the night owl in me is wide awake and ready to clean the house. I have no idea why I feel the need to clean in the middle of the night...always have, it's just so much harder with a baby! I must go to bed, if I don't, I'll regret it in the morning.....

Pumpkin Pie

I didn't think it was possible, ever! But alas, I think I've eaten so much pumpkin pie, I actually can't think of eating again...at least for a while :) Ella has had her first taste of it this Thanksgiving and she loves it too. While Ron and I had lasagna last night, Ella got some turkey and green beans, some sweet potatoes and some carrots. She had more of a traditional Thanksgiving than we did!

She is growing and learning so much. She has the whole "walking" concept down. She picks up her feet and knows the moves. She just isn't strong enough and doesn't have enough balance on her own. Ron will walk her around the house, holding onto her arms and she will walk like a champ! Yes, it really may be that she just skips the whole crawling thing all together. She squeals when she gets to Mommy, or her toy, or to another room...she's so proud of herself! She has also learned to give me what's in her hand if I ask for it, "Can Mommy have it?". Though once she gives it to me she immediately wants it back and tries to grab at it. I'm putting it in her other hand to teach her the idea of "share and share alike". Hopefully next time she sees Nolan, she'll be all grown up and polite about playing with his toys:)

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, we hope everyone enjoyed their turkey and stuffing. Here, it doesn't even seem like Thanksgiving (except for the never ending football on tv). It's 84 degrees and sunny, and our family isn't here. Ron decided he wanted lasagna instead of turkey (fine by me!) so we're getting ready to sit down and have a nice, regular dinner. I did bake some pumpkin pies so that seems festive enough for us. I guess I should say goodbye health kick until they are gone :)

Ella's top two teeth are coming through and it looks like she definitely has her mama's big teeth! Thank goodness for Ron's dental coverage! Poor thing didn't have a chance between Ron and I and our messed up smiles. I think I alone made my orthodontist enough money to retire early.

Ella and I are still going to try to come out for Stephanie's baby shower next Sunday. We are just getting the final paperwork together and hopefully we'll be on a flight to Seattle by Thursday. We really have no idea how available these military flights are as it's basically like flying standby. We will call and let you all know when and if we arrive and make sure we get to see everyone. Keep your fingers crossed!