Big Box

One of the best things about getting the BOB Duallie was this huge box from the infant car seat attachment... it fits Eleanor wonderfully and has already provided hours of entertainment.

What is it about boxes and kiddos? Do you remember doing this, too?

Picture Book

For Eleanor's birthday I put together a little photo album of people from my side of the family. I had realized she knew "Uncle Jeff" really well, as well as her grandparents of course, and "Uncle Matt" and "Aunt Tasha." But, she had no idea who I was talking about when I mentioned Uncle Anthony or Aunt Bethany... among others. This is now totally remedied! She loves looking at these new pictures and telling us about the people in them. And, in fact, she is VERY excited about soon getting to go to "Uncle Anthony's house."

20 Weeks

I was ever so relieved to have a check up on the calendar for this week. I've had a lot of trouble lately with fatigue, vomiting and headaches... so I was really looking forward to a chance to get everything checked out and to ask some questions. The appointment was reassuring and I feel like I now have a few things to try. Hopefully I'll start feeling a bit better again here in a few days (or a week...).

Gestational Age: 20 Weeks, 2 Days

Weight Gain: 1 lb.

Blood Pressure: 120/72

Fetal Heartrate: 150 BPM

The baby made his/herself known by kicking our nurse super hard as she started the doppler. She was very surprised and commented on the reassuring nature of a strong fetus. :) It was wonderful to get to hear our little bean's heartbeat again. Of course, Becky did ask if I wanted her to sneak a peak at the gender... and although the temptation of getting to see Baby on the ultrasound was ridiculously huge, I knew I had to wait for Seth... so he'll have to be sure he gets some time off work next month to come to our big ultrasound appointment. (Not that we will find out the gender for sure anyway...)

2 Year Check-up!

Eleanor had her 2 year-old check up with her doctor on Monday. She made quite the impression on the office in this green fairy outfit! The whole visit was kind of crazy for me because everything suddenly changed with her turning 2: she used the big girl scale instead of the infant scale, she was measured against the wall like the big kids to see how tall she is, they took her blood pressure...

As always, however, Ella did a wonderful job cooperating through the whole visit. She had her special "Baby Kate" with her and was able to listen to Kate's heart and take Kate's blood pressure, too. The only slightly traumatic thing was getting 3 shots. Ella knew she had to have some "medicine," but up until now she's thought medicine tastes really good, so it's fun to take. She was quite shocked with the pokes. The great thing, though, was the nurse who gave her the shots was really smart and picked out some "sparkly" band-aids. They took away the tears in no time!

So, Ella is checking out as always as a bright, healthy little girl.

She is currently: 30 lbs (85th %), 35.5 inches tall (>97th %) and her head is 47.4 cm (48th %).

(Pictured above: Cute Fairy Outfit, Showing Off Her Band-Aids, Trying to Put Up 2 Fingers to Show She's Two!)

Crazy Hair

Just a silly post.

Ella woke up with crazy hair one morning last week... and thought she was so funny...

I love these photos because they show her still-warm-from-bed look. How wonderfully snuggly little girls are when they first get out of bed!

What a Day!

Eleanor celebrated her 2nd birthday on Saturday!
It's crazy to think our little (baby) girl is now into years-old rather than months-old! She's been showing signs of moving into little-girl-dom rather than baby-hood for a long time now, but somehow this birthday stuff really solidifies it.

We had a great couple of celebrations while trying to keep the day as low-key as possible. Seth is still studying away for his upcoming test and I've been battling more pregnancy related nausea stuff, so we decided we needed to keep things as "contained" as possible. Even so, I was totally overwhelmed by the end of the day! Ella had a wonderful time, however, so all our efforts were worth it.

We started the day with "cancakes" - in the shape of Mickey Mouse, of course. Cancakes or "awfuls" are our typical Saturday morning fare, so this wasn't too far off our normal routine. Eleanor was delighted to be the one to pick what we ate, however, and specifically asked for "normal cancakes... Mickey Mouse!"

Next on the birthday agenda was opening a couple of packages from the Tippin side of the family. Eleanor quickly got into the present opening. Here's the excitement of the gifts from Uncle Matt and Aunt Natasa (along with a few snapshots of our wonderful cupcake extravaganza - thanks Amanda!):

And soon after Matt and Natasa's gift was open, Ella was ready for the next package. Here are a few pictures from opening the one from her Grandparents Tippin:

I stopped taking pictures when all Ella wanted to do was try on more and more clothing items. She looked ridiculous, but was quite happy. :)

And then there was our evening... but not before much needed naps, studying and food preparations.

The "party" included face painting, lots and lots of giggling, opening presents, popping balloons and having dinner together. Of course, we also dug into those fantastic cupcakes pictured above. The girls had a blast together and all in all it was a success. Perhaps the best part for Eleanor, however, was getting her beloved "bike." She's been asking for a purple and blue bike for about a month now... and she actually got it!

Happy Birthday Big Girl! We love you lots and thank you for bringing a lot of joy into our household!

Wildlife Walks

Eleanor and I walk almost every day - as most of you know - and the most exciting parts usually have to do with the wildlife we see. Unfortunately, most days I forget to bring my camera... We've been better lately, however, about asking friends to walk with us and in doing that I've somehow also remembered to get the camera into the BOB.

Just a few blocks from our house, there is a wildlife pen with 4 buffalo, 4 elk, a deer, some turkeys, pheasants and whatever else decides to fly in. So, if we are having trouble finding true "wild"-life along our walking paths and around town, we can always head over to the penned animals.

One day recently (when we didn't have the camera of course) Seth, Ella, London and I witnessed the two young buffalo "playing." They were chasing each other around - like tag! They were amazingly fast and it was very fun to see their playful side.

When we're not near the penned animals, we often see pheasant, heron, ducks, geese, red-headed blackbirds, finches, sparrows, deer, river otters and rabbits. Eleanor is great at spotting these animals - and she'll often give us an animal request - so we keep our eyes peeled. :)

Here are the massive buffalo - and a friend, Grace, who walked with us recently.

Happy Mother's Day!

It is a joy to be Mom to such a sweet girl!

When Grandpa Comes to Visit (Part II)

Projects get done!

So, Eleanor got a new slide (of course, her Daddy was big into making this project happen, too!).If it would only stop snowing for a few days, then Ella could use this wonderful outside toy again. ;)

When Grandpa Comes to Visit (Part I)

Treats abound!

Grandpa Sargent came last weekend for a slightly early birthday surprise. Ella had a wonderful time with "Gramma" - playing, reading, running, giggling and... riding her new horse!Thank you, Dad, for this amazing gift. Eleanor is rarely away from it for long. :)

I Love the UPS Lady

Because, she brought me this:

It arrived yesterday and made me a VERY happy girl!

Unfortunately, it is snowing like crazy right now, so I can't use it, but I have some great plans for myself, Ella and Avery in the upcoming days. Eventually it is for our expanding family, of course, but I plan to put it to good use immediately. :)

Creative Cats

Eleanor and Avery had a great time coloring, gluing and glittering for these fun Mother's Day projects. They were very intent on making cards for their Grandmas - it was very sweet! And, Avery was excited to surprise her Mom with a Mother's Day gift... Ella wasn't quite so excited, but she happily did the craft... and I felt a little silly that I was essentially making a gift for myself, but oh well. :)

Food

I had these two great chefs at my house last week... and this is what they created!

Yummy Banana Bread and Fruit Pizza

I was amazed at how well they ate the "pizza" - awesome toddler food!

Another Snowy Morning

I don't really know how to describe the shock I feel when I get up in the morning after a sunny, 68 degree day and see this:

Granted, it is melting quickly, but it just doesn't compute somehow...

So strange.

Planting Seeds

A couple of weeks ago now I let Ella help me plant a set of our seed starts. It was wonderfully fun for her, slightly frustrating and stressful for me and ultimately a wonderful thing we accomplished together. Now the trays of seeds are sitting under grow lights in the basement. We have everything from tomatoes and peppers to herbs, cucumbers and beans. I was very close to having Ella help me get our peas and some lettuce planted outside at the same time as we planted these warmer weather crops inside... but the snowstorm reminds me how important it is to just stick to the general rule around here that says not to plant ANYTHING outside until Memorial Day weekend.

Big Bed

Eleanor loves to jump and play in the pillows on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

18 Weeks

This was taken back a week or so ago, right around 18 weeks. Most people still tell me I'm not "showing," but I can definitely tell a lot of difference in my belly these days as compared to "normal."

Also, Seth was able to feel this critter move a few days ago (4/28) with some really powerful bumps! It was a fun moment.

Pretty Princess

Just to make you smile at our super stylish girl. Happy May Day!