Rediscovering Me

Okay, but seriously, though.

2016-03-01T18:17:00.002-05:00

Conversations with Elly: Snow Day

2014-01-04T10:46:00.002-05:00

My Beautiful Elly is 2 Today

2013-10-20T13:19:00.001-04:00

I am Malala

2013-10-12T11:27:00.000-04:00

Would that we were all Malala.

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Temporary setback with the undies

2013-08-04T11:00:00.004-04:00

So, Elly was super jazzed about undies and potties for about 4 days, and then she decided that she was having WAY too much fun playing to actually stop for 5 seconds to sit on the pot. So.... I'd say undies are only about 20% of the day right now, with lots of encouragement and reminders about how FUN the potty is!

We are in TX right now visiting Elly's cousins! Her older cousin Alivia (who is 4) is trying really hard to help me show Elly how fun it is to pee pee on the potty. She asks Elly to come with her to the bathroom every time, and talks it up like crazy. I'm hoping she'll convince Elly how great it is by the time our trip is over! We're here for 2 weeks, so fingers crossed.

On the plus side, I bought the same potty for Elly that she has at home, and her 2 1/2 year old cousin Blake is SUPER interested in sitting on it! So, if nothing else, we may leave here with a potty-trained Blake :)

By the way, Elly LOVES playing with her cousins! It took me over 2 hours to get Elly to bed the first two nights we were here... she's so worried that the fun will end if she goes to bed! That's getting better, though....

Super excited to see the airplanes

Layover in Houston... watching Super Why!

Playing peek-a-boo with baby Carissa

Kiss kiss for baby!

So interested in that little one!

Going to the park... it's hot, here!

Ice cream!!

So yummy!!

WAYYYYYYY past bedtime.

Going to the library for story time!

Playing the piano with Alivia -- so much fun to be had!!

21 months

2013-07-22T09:49:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, Elly turned 21 months and got croup for the first time, all in the same day! We had a fun play group in the morning, extended our date with E to play in Elly's new crabby pool, and had one of mommy's friends over for dinner that evening.

All fun and wonderful, until Elly woke up around 11pm with a terrible barking cough, tears, and trouble breathing. We called the medical advice line who sent us to the ER. She got to wear a teeny little hospital gown and get checked out. Just a mild case of croup. She got some steroids and we went home to snuggle in bed the rest of the night! She's already feeling mostly better... although she's still trying to take advantage of the "snuggle in bed with mommy" opportunities!

Oh, and she's also wearing undies about 70% of the day, now!

Daddy's been fixing up his car

2013-07-11T14:59:00.000-04:00

Garden Updates

2013-07-08T14:59:00.002-04:00

20 Month Photos

2013-06-22T10:30:00.001-04:00

Elly is 20 months!

2013-06-20T21:29:00.002-04:00

Today my students are graduating, and the school is closing FOREVER tomorrow (we're just moving into a new building, but I had a LOT of packing to do), and so I didn't yet take Elly's monthly pictures.

BUT. She did receive a LATE birthday present from a friend today, a greyhound toy that looks just like Ramona, which she immediately L.O.V.E.D. and kissed all over. Love this girl :)

Words Elly Knows

2013-06-13T16:52:00.000-04:00

Words she says:

mama
dada
Ramona
dog
walk
water
wet
mess
bath
bunny
no
yes
blue
red
apple
baby
hi
bye bye
up
bus
truck
shoe
hot
bird
ball
bump
num-num (our word for nursing)
more
duck
book
bed
what's that?
yay!
one, two, yay!

Words she signs:

please
sorry
thank you
all done
hat
daddy
leaf
tree
sun
bug
bird
more
baby
wind
stop
wait
go
cloud
grass
sleepy
eat
drink
milk
up
down
flower
kiss (blowing kisses)
again
sky
star
banana
cracker
come on
outside
hurt
where

Sounds she makes/recognizes:

dog
cat
horse
lamb/sheep
cow
pig
hen
monkey
fish
tiger
bear
duck
car

More garden pictures

2013-06-08T20:14:00.004-04:00

A peek into my garden

2013-05-30T21:21:00.000-04:00

Elly hit 19 Months last week

2013-05-27T21:35:00.000-04:00

This girl loves cars and being outside

2013-05-22T17:38:00.001-04:00

So she is super sweaty while sitting in the driver's seat of Daddy's car.

Thursday night, we played in a tent

2013-05-19T20:55:00.000-04:00

Daddy needed to air it out for a weekend trip, and Elly got a kick out playing in it. The best part? She snorts when she's laughing really hard. SUPER love this girl!!!!!

Mother's Day in the park

2013-05-15T22:47:00.000-04:00

On Mother's Day, Elly (Daddy) let me sleep in all the way until 9:00!! Then I got two very sweet cards and breakfast. After some cuddle/play time and a short nap, the four of us went to the park. Surprisingly, we were the only people there, so Ramona and Elly got the run of the place!

Cute Elly had too much fun!

Elly found out what markers can do

2013-05-13T22:46:00.002-04:00

And she made this for me tonight!

Then she bit the top off the brown marker and squeezed the marker juice out all over her hands. But, it was the washable kind and it came right off!

Hello, Beautiful.

2013-04-23T20:56:00.001-04:00

Elly is 18-months old, now! I haven't taken her photos yet. But, here are some others. And also my new car. Hooray!

New Baby Must-haves #1

2013-04-12T15:09:00.000-04:00

Someone very dear to me is having her first baby in October - yay! I got to thinking about all the reading and researching I did before Elly's arrival and wanted to compile some lists of things I loved having, just to make it a little easier to wade through everything.

This is List #1, which will focus on health products I used. I'll also put together lists of baby gear, diapering, getting around, and whatever else I can think of...

one: coconut oil

This is a miracle product! I'm pretty sure I'll use it for the rest of my life. Seriously. I cloth diaper Elly and she would occasionally suffer from diaper rash when she was younger. You can't use regular diaper rash cream with cloth diapers because it makes the diapers repel water. I read somewhere that coconut oil was good for that. And oh my, was it! It's also the BEST product I found for sore, breastfeeding nipples. THE.BEST. Turns out, it's also great for acne, skin toning, and as an antibiotic cream. And it lasts forever! I bought a 16-oz jar when Elly was around 2 months old, and I haven't finished the jar, yet!

two: burt's bees baby bee diaper ointment

So, even though I cloth diaper, I didn't start until Elly was a month old. The disposables gave her really bad rashes, and I tried just about every product out there. This was absolutely the most effective - plus it's 100% natural and smells great, too!

three: nellie's all-natural laundry soda

Again, because of the cloth diapering, we wanted to find a laundry detergent that would not irritate Elly's sensitive little bum. We tried this detergent and now use it for all of our laundry! This 100-load tin costs around $16 and lasts forever - you just use one scoop per load. We have a regular washing machine, but it's also good for HE washers. If you just LOVE the smell of laundry detergent, well, this doesn't have that. There is virtually no odor at all, which I very much prefer. I find the smell of regular laundry detergent and fabric softener artificial, so this is awesome for me. They also make lavender-scented dryer sticks if you want an added scent... I haven't tried it, though.

four: biokleen bac-out sprayer

Another attempt to reduce the use of chemicals in the home, this cleaner has been awesome. It smells like lime and I feel comfortable using it both around the dog and the baby. Plus, it gets out stains surprisingly well!

five: maty's all natural baby chest rub

This is a superb, all-natural alternative to Vick's. I first purchased it to rub on Elly's chest when she had a cold, but now I put it on her most nights. The smell is so soothing and I think it really helps her fall asleep. And she still smells super tasty in the morning :)

six: alba un-petroleum jelly

I don't know why I didn't realize it first, but once I realized that petroleum jelly was made with, well, petroleum, I quickly looked for a safer alternative. This un-petroleum jelly feels and looks just like regular petroleum jelly, but without the oiliness or the skin-suffocating petroleum. It's made of castor oil, coconut oil, beeswax, and vitamin e. That's it! And it's good for mommy, too.

Seventeen Months and full of fun

2013-03-21T21:32:00.001-04:00

OMG I STILL HAVE NOT TAKEN ELLY'S 16 MONTH PHOTOS

2013-02-28T20:29:00.001-05:00

That is all. I better get on it before she's 17 months...

I like this

2013-02-12T23:02:00.001-05:00

It reminds me a lot of the YouTube channel BoredShorts, which seriously crack me up. For example:

Two in One Day -- Fifteen Months

2013-01-20T14:50:00.001-05:00

My little babe is now 15 months old! She is awesome. She walks/runs, talks, makes animal sounds (her favorite is "ah ah ah" for a monkey), imitates us, knows how to be silly to make us laugh, dances her heart out, laughs, shares, plays, climbs up and down stairs, loves her bath and her bunny, is becoming better pals with Ramona, makes friends wherever we go, plays ball, follows directions, carries her lunch box, and most especially loves her Dada and Mama!

Some things around the house

2013-01-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

I put some cute things on the walls, recently. Here they are.

Stick-on letters above Elly's crib.

Needlepoint by my mom and paintings by Claudio Olivos.

Another painting by Claudia and an owl bank from Daddy.

Family photos we had done by Jud McCrehin (who also did our wedding).