Portrait Crazy

I picked up Ella's portraits from her birthday (thank you Great-Grandpa!). I know, way too many portraits but Walmart is a great place to get them done... Ron thinks I've gone mad but here you go.

p.s. I've sent some of these in the mail... lucky you! You may be getting a gazillion Ella photos :)

Ella's Birthday Dress from Grandpa...

Grown Ups

Today, Ella and I spent the day playing outside in the backyard. After picking up some roses and patio cushions I decided to clean up and make our back patio pretty. Ella played around in the grass but didn't try to eat any for the first time!
My girlfriend, Katie, and her husband, Eric came over for dinner tonight and we grilled out. We would have sat outside with the new patio cushions but the plastic patio table is very unstable and even the smallest bump sent our drinks flying. And well, there's just no good reason to waste good drinks. :)
Ella went to bed before we sat down for dinner so the 4 of us had a nice dinner and chatted for hours. It's so nice to feel like a grown up again; to socialize with other adults and not talk or be with kids. I love Ella to death but a little alcohol and some adult conversation is a wonderful break from the everyday. We'll be doing this again soon...

My day:

Good -
Ella slept in until 9 and I had to go in and get her. She was quietly sucking her thumb and looking out the window.

Bad -
Went grocery shopping and forgot my list and the shelves were bare.

Good -
Ella took a 3 hour nap this afternoon.

Bad -
She refuses to eat anything but fruit and will spit everything else out of her mouth.

Good -
I got the house cleaned up yesterday and it's still clean.

Bad -
Ella ate the corners of one of her books until she threw up all over the carpet. Now the living room stinks like vomit.

Good -
Ella is down for the night.

Mommy Goes to Work

Ella's cute spring hat from Grandma....

I was up early this morning getting ready to start my first day at the hospital. Katie is training me this weekend and she picked me up at 8:30. Woo-hoo I get to wear scrubs! They're cute and pink too. It's a very easy job, the new Moms and Dads can bring the babies down to our little office and we get to take pictures. Today, the floor was full with new babies so we dropped off info to about 10 moms and two came down to take pictures. Wow! I really forgot how little these new babies are. Could Ella really have been so little??? It's amazing.
Special Delivery Photos is only open from 9-11, and as they are based out of Tennessee, we don't really have a boss. It's an older couple who own the business and it's very antiquated. We phone in how many days we worked every two weeks and mail in the order forms and film from the photos we take. That's it, so easy.

The day is a little off since I was "working". When I got home at 11:30, Ella was napping as usual but when she got up she was so happy to see me and had lots of hugs for me. We decided to go to Moe's and had lunch around 2. We all fell asleep at 4 when we got home, and just woke up now at 6:30! Normally we would be getting Ella ready for bed soon. It might be a late movie night for all of us.

Homebodies

Today, while Ron was out golfing with an old colleague from Atlanta, Ella and I hung around the house. I tried to get all the things I've been ignoring done - balancing the checkbook, sorting through paperwork, blah blah blah stuff. Ella's passport came yesterday so now we can get started on her Canadian papers. Ella for the most part was great, she played with her toys contentedly and even seemed happy enough when she got stuck in her stool.
Check out her new bling - here are some earrings from Auntie Erin that arrived yesterday too. Thanks Auntie!! You can't tell but they are her birthstone - aquamarine. I'll try to get a better picture soon. Surprisingly, she didn't fuss when I took her original ones out. Ella's getting a couple more molars. The a top left and the bottom right are poking through. This girl is going to have a lot of teeth!

Babies!

It's official, I'm going back to work...sort of. I will start this weekend taking photos of the newborn babies at the military hospital. How fun will that be??? It's only 2 hours a day, 9-11 in the morning. I am considering taking it over full time in July when my friend Katie goes back to the states, but unless I can find daycare for Ella at the hospital, or close by, it's really not even worth the few dollars I would bring home. Working weekends and holidays, Ella will be home with Ron so the extra pocket money is nice and I think it's going to be a really fun job. I would like to go into medical assisting but the associates degree is about $20,000 plus. Yikes! I'm going to get some more info once I'm working at the hospital as there has got to be some lower level course or certification to work in a doctor's office without having to re-attend university. I found an accredited on-line university and for only $28,000 and 2 years, I can become a medical assistant. You have got to be kidding! I paid that for a 4 year Bachelor's degree! And, I had to go to Korea to pay it off and brought back a husband to boot!

Ella and I went to Katie's this afternoon to play in the neighborhood pool. We hung out at the kiddie pool and Ella has this hilarious belly laugh when she was in the pool with the other kids. I can't wait to start swim lessons in April. I'm also putting her in gymnastics as there is a toddler class (ages 1-3) that my neighbor and her 2 year-old attend. It really doesn't seem Ella can get any more fun... and then she does!

Learning Curve

Ella is learning things at such a quick pace. She shares her food with us when we ask for a bite, and if she's put something in her mouth she shouldn't I ask her, "Can Mommy have?" and she will take it out and give it to me. It's so amazing to see her learn and comprehend basic tasks. When I read her books, I pick out a word or two (baby, puppy, bee, duck) that is repeated though the book and I ask her, "Where's the ______?" She will point to the word I've taught her by repeating it over and over. We clap and say "YEAHHHHHHHH Ella!" when she gets it right and she is so proud of herself. I can ask her "Where's your milk?" and she will go find where she dropped her sippy cup and bring it to me. I think we have a genius on our hands. :)
She has also learned to make babbling sounds with her lips.... check out the video....

Little Reader

Not much new today. Ella seems to be much better and isn't so grumpy. We went shopping this afternoon and she took a couple of good naps. We'll see if there are any reactions in a week as rashes and mild chickenpox are the side effects of her shots. Do you know they immunize for chickenpox?
What a crap deal that was for us as kids! Half the scars on my body are from those dang chickenpox!
We read to Ella and she loves her books. She's getting better at flipping through them and not chewing on them as much. We hope she loves books as much as we do...she doesn't have a choice really :)

Ella's Ups and Downs

Ella went in and had her 1-Year shots, three in all. She's totally grumpy and out of sorts this afternoon. After her first short nap, I was trying to feed her lunch and she just wasn't having anything to do with it. She just wanted to snuggle and when I put her in her high chair she had a total melt down. Doesn't this photo break your heart? So what do I do, I get the camera! I know, bad momma! She eventually ate lunch after a good 30 minutes of snuggles and sleeping on my shoulder. Boy, these shots have really done her in, maybe it's the first MMR shot.

She seemed a bit better after her second nap but still woke up wanting to snuggle a while before we got her going. It's odd seeing her melt down when you put her down, she's normally so content. I found a CD that Grandma had bought for her before she was born; a sing-along that Ella loves. Here's a video of Ella dancing... go Ella! It didn't last long, she's fussing and cranky again. Hopefully she'll be back to normal in a day or so...

Welcome Baby Lansbergen!

We are so excited to announce the arrival of Oscar Ross! He was born today, on Stephanie's birthday, at 9 lbs 12 oz. I hear Mommy and Daddy are fine and Oscar is healthy and finally here!

Congratulations, Steph and Matt. We can't wait to meet him! Welcome Oscar! Ella can't wait to teach you some of the things your mommy taught her! We miss you guys!