Second Night Successful

Last night Ron had watch from 11pm to 7am. I had a restless night, sleeping lightly and waking often to listen for Ella. I have this fear she'll get into things around the house and I'll sleep through it. Our neighbor has a 3-year-old who has gotten out of the house many times. Usually (at least once a week) we find him at our back door and have to take him home. Twice it was at the crack of dawn, he made it all the way out to the park - far enough from home, strangers have brought him door to door looking for his house (he doesn't talk so even at 3 he can't communicate). Long story short, the MP's and CPS got involved. We have the chain on the front door and a pin lock at the top of the sliding glass door so it is almost impossible for Ella to get out. But the fear of her trying to climb cabinets, closets, furniture; getting her hands on something she shouldn't; or just being unsupervised for too long makes for a not so peaceful night sleep.

We are lucky so far (KNOCK ON WOOD!) Ella went to bed at 7:30 last night.... she didn't wake up until 5:30 this morning, when she came in and woke me up. She even had a dry diaper and used the potty, bonus! I tried letting her sleep with me, no luck, so I put her back in her bed with some toys. She stayed in her room playing and reading quietly until I went in to get her at 7:15am.

She slept a couple of hours at nap time today and when I went to peek on her to see if she was still asleep, she was quietly playing; waiting patiently for me to come in and get her. This playing in her room until we get her is going to be a habit we try to form immediately. Maybe we can get more sleep physically as well as some peace of mind that she's at least safest in her room.

A Pretty Good First Night

Well, Ella slept in her princess bed from bedtime at 7:30 until 2:30am when she came in and woke up Ron (he sleeps closest to the door). I changed her and put her back to bed.

Of course, I couldn't sleep until I knew she was asleep. She just laid in her bed, talking to her princesses and her Snoopy. I checked on her once and when I didn't shut the door tight, she got out of bed to close it. By 3:30am she was still awake and tried to meander down the hall. I caught her, put her back to bed, shut off the night light I had turned on and she was out shortly after. All in all I was back asleep by 4:30 and up at 6:30 for a shower. Ella woke up just before 7 and came into my room to get me for the day... "Good morning, Mommy".

Two hours may seem like a major disruption in sleep but considering it was just waiting for her to go to sleep completely rather than constantly putting back into bed, I chalk it up to a successful first night.

Keep your fingers crossed it continues to go well...

No Mommy and Ella's New Bed

For the past couple of days, I have heard nothing but "No Mommy" from Ella. Any and everything I ask her gets a "No Mommy" reply. I must hear it about 500 times a day, no battles, no fussing, just "no Mommy". Not that she gets an option, I just continue to converse with her. "Would you like toast for breakfast?" "No Mommy." - She gets the toast anyway. And such are my days.

Saturday night, Ron and I went out for dinner with some of his co-workers and left Ella at Emmi's house. She was good, and we picked her up at 10:30pm. Emmi was long asleep, but Ella, having been put in a big bed was no where close to sleeping. She won't sleep with us in our bed, she just plays, no matter what time of night it is.

Today I went to Walmart and bought her a new Disney princess bedding set and converted her crib into a toddler bed. With our trip coming up, I want her to be able to sleep with us or in a bed. I put her down for a nap and have gone in twice so far to put her back in bed... it's only been 10 minutes. I foresee a long few nights ahead of us...


...Well, it's going fantastic...knock on wood. At nap time, the first time I went in Ella was playing with her toys; the second time, she was laying on the floor looking at the ceiling. But the third time I went in, she was out cold, in her princess bed. YEAH!!!!

Tonight, she went right to sleep, no playing, nothing. We didn't hear boo from her and 30 minutes after I laid her down for bed, she was still in the bed sound asleep. Oh my goodness, KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!

Ella's First Carnival

Christina and I took Ella and Emmi to the Hawaii State Fair this afternoon. It was a first for Ella on the rides. She loved them all and was even excited to just watch the big kids on the scary rides. After a bit of hesitation, I let Ella ride solo with Emmi on some of the kid rides; she just made the height requirement of 36".

Happy Birthday Auntie Christin! You're just as old as Mommy now! :)

End of the Week

Nothing exciting this week, hence the lack of posts. Ella's finally learned to sing Happy Birthday so we were able to leave Uncle Joey a message on Tuesday (Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Joey!). She still eludes the camera when I try to capture her singing. These are some pictures from today...

We've just been out enjoying the sunshine and walking. I have tendinitis in my left foot and have been walking to try to make it go away... that didn't work so I've resigned to going on some meds in hope it's gone by our trip to Canada.
Ron put in for leave and was informed he's had too many days off this year... we're hoping the command will approve it anyway. There is a chance it may just be Ella and I... anyone up for a road trip to the Rockies for two weddings of people they don't know??? Anyone? :) If Ron isn't able to get the time off, Ella and I will only go to Cranbrook for the weekend for my cousin's wedding. I can't foresee a two day drive across the Rockies, alone with a toddler as ending in any sort of sanity. We're still keeping our fingers crossed for Ron's leave.

Swimming Pool

Lukas and Isaac were over while Carrie ran some errands so I set up the pool for the toddlers to tire themselves out. I think it's the best $30 I've spent. We get hours of fun out of it, it completely tires Ella out, and we can use it over and over and over.
Here are some pics... we're loving the ponytail look lately. Ella's hair is finally long enough.

Poison Control #3

Today it was an almost empty bottle of Turtle Wax car interior protector. I was cleaning the car and took the top off the bottle as it only had a few drops left. I was distracted for a mere 30 seconds and sure enough I look over and Ella's holding the bottle. Great. I'm really working on mom of the year with my third call to poison control (remember the Vaseline and toothpaste?) Anyway, I'm sure she only put her mouth on it and the few teaspoons that were left in it, were still there. But to be safe, I called poison control and learned it's not at all toxic to a 2-year-old. Good to know but as toddler-proof my home is, I really need to get the outside shed organized and locked.

(Funny side note: As I'm writing, Ella's in the living room watching Sesame Street. I just heard her yell, "NOOOOOOO! Cookie Monster silly." You know the skit on every show where Cookie Monster imagines the letter of the day as cookies and can't help but eat it? Well, Ella yells at the tv for him to stop and usually says "Oh no!" )

We bought a portable DVD player for our trip next month. I figure with the long flights, hours upon hours of driving, and staying in places with no kids, it might be a good investment to keep Ella occupied and us sane. Now, normally I don't agree with parents who use them and it was a long process of weighing pros and cons before we resigned to the fact that it will probably make our trip a lot easier. I decided to try it out and put in Ella's new princess DVD while I cleaned the car. It was great to have her occupied for a decent amount of time while I got the car cleaned out. It wasn't until Ron got home and I put the DVD on pause so we could say hi to Daddy, that she was able to get into the turtle wax. It's now out of the car and put away for our trip - I may have caved and bought one, but there is no way I'm getting her used to watching movies every time she gets in the car.

Ice Princess

We went to the skating rink to celebrate Lahrissa's 6th birthday today. This was Ella's first time on the ice and she loved it... at first. She eventually got frustrated that she couldn't move herself and cried until I took her off the ice. The crappy rec skates that hurt your feet made it a short adventure for both of us.

Hip-Hop Train

Here are Ella's overalls that finally fit her... a birthday present from Jeff, Sara and Wyatt, and her hat from Grandma. Ella was running around the house and wouldn't take the hat off for anything... not even to put on a shirt. Ron was trying to teach her some new dance moves... our little hip-hop star in the making:)

33rd Birthday

Here is a picture of Ella from sometime this week, pretending to be Daddy. It's been a pretty uneventful week for Ella but a great birthday week for me! We had a BBQ last Saturday for all our friends complete with a fabulous cake I made.

For my actual birthday on Wednesday, Ron got me a spa package and we had dinner at our friends house, they even had cake... yummm. Thank you everyone for all the messages and cards.

Dear Grandpa L. and Grandma B.,
Thank you for my birthday gift. I did a bit of browsing and finally settled on the garden canopy I've always wanted. It's iron with mosquito netting, so during the day I'm protected from the sun and in the evenings we can sit out to have dinner without the mosquitoes. Surprisingly, even Ron likes it :) Thank you for thinking of me. Here are some pictures from our lunch today. As you can see, it's goes great in our backyard alongside my growing sunflowers.
Love, T.