Growing and Changing

I have been slacking here on our little blog lately. These two crazy munchkins I have here are growing and changing all the time, and it's probably time for me to document some of it here.

Ella has been potty trained for a few months now, and it's been great having a diaper-free household!! She's done great, and we're very proud of her!! She loves being a big girl, and she's even started trying to go all by herself without any help. Not sure she's quite ready for that, but she sure thinks she is, and she definitely tries!!

Carter started his very first season of t-ball, and he's loving it! He's on a team with his little buddy, Gavin, so that's been nice that they're doing it together. It's pretty cute to see them practice, learn new skills, and work as a team! They have a pretty good group of boys, and a great, supportive group of Dad's that all pitch in to help at practices, so it's been great. They practice on Monday nights, and their first game is coming up quick!! I can't wait to see how they all do. :)

The boys at practice recently

 

Ella is back in gymnastics after a 2 month hiatus because of her broken wrist. She's still loving it and improving all the time!! She especially loves that her little friend Lucy is in her class, and looks forward to our lunch dates with Lucy after class each week. 

Sweet girls after gym one day.

And speaking of growing and changing, I am too..... and so is our family!! We are expecting #3 in September! I figured I should go ahead and let the secret out now, because I'm not going to be able to hide it for very much longer!!

 February - 8 weeks and already looking pretty pregnant! :/

March - Seriously, ONLY 12 weeks???

We only recently told the kids, and they are beyond thrilled. Carter couldn't believe it, and Ella was pretty reserved about it at first, but she has warmed up to it as we have talked to her more and more about it. Carter drew me this picture the day after we told him, and I thought it was just adorable. All the hearts and sunshine make me think he's pretty happy about this news!

I have been feeling pretty rough these last few months, but it has been better lately, so I'm hoping all of that will be behind me for good pretty soon.

First sono pic - It doesn't look like much because it isn't, it was done just shy of 6 weeks. But there was a strong heartbeat, and that's what we were looking for! Heart beat has been FAST - in the 170s!! 

So anyway, things are definitely growing and changing around here..... in more ways that one!! And with that, I'll leave you with some recent cell phone pictures taken of the kids lately.

Ella just making herself at home at Palios' one night.

Eric took the kid's to see Mr. Peabody & Sherman in 3D.... they loved it! 

 Reading her new Big Sister book. She still prefers the Big Brother version that we got Carter about 3 years ago.... ha!

Waiting at watching for Nana to come over one day.

 Snuggled up together enjoying a movie

 Lunch at Cane's with Momma!

 Mmmmmmmm... dessert.

 Geez. Randomly finding your daughter playing naked (except for water shoes... ha!) Potty training problems

 Reading books together. So cute.

Carter and I enjoyed a book store date together one night recently. He loved picking out new book and reading them all by the light of the car on the way home :)

Ella as Elsa

If you've spent any time around my daughter lately, you know that she is quite dramatic. You also probably know that she is obsessed with the movie Frozen, and especially the song "Let It Go." Tonight while getting the kids ready for bed, I put Ella's nightgown on her (she just started wearing these recently, and loves to twirl in them), and she was immediately inspired to channel her inner-Elsa, and she started spinning around and dancing and singing this song. Here she is, in all her glory, singing "Let It Go." Eric, Carter and I could hardly contain our laughter, and just take a look at the drama! Good grief!!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Carter had a lot of fun making Valentine's for his class this year. Ella and I went to the class Valentine party on Thursday afternoon where everyone had a great time. And of course, Carter brought home tons of goodies!! 

Fun making a craft and having a Valentine's snack

We spent the day Friday with my Mom, Grandma, and Aunt & Uncle. The kids got spoiled by everyone and received lots of Valentine's candy and toys. That night, Eric and I took the kids out to an early dinner, ran a few errands, and came home for chocolate fondu for desert! The kids especially loved it!

Mmmmmm.

 Fun day with my 3 loves!!

Adios to Ella's cast!

Ella's cast came off today! She had to wear it for exactly 4 weeks, and I've been counting the days to "off day" for about 3 weeks now, HA! Yay for normal bath time, a clean arm and hand, less messes and spills while eating because of having to use her left hand, and no more Mom/Dad/Carter getting whopped with that thing!! So glad to have it gone.... and they actually asked me if we wanted to keep it. UMMMMM, NO! Gross!

Waiting, not so patiently, for them to call her name.

She did great with the removal, and we were all so glad to see her skinny little arm! She hugged it and gave it kisses again, and said, "Oh look, I can suck my thumb now!" And promptly popped that thumb right in. HA! The doctor said it has healed exactly how he wanted it to, just perfectly - no need for a splint or even a follow up visit. It was pretty crazy to see the X-ray and see how much new bone has formed in her wrist in just 4 weeks. Definitely because of the healing process, but also just because of her age and the rapid growth in her bones right now. Pretty cool!!

When we got home, she enjoyed a looooong bath and got to play in the water for the first time in a month! And that arm got a good scrub down, too. She's going to shed the dry, dead skin, but it should be back to normal in a couple of days.

Doing a happy dance and some fist pumping to celebrate!! 

 Woo-hoo!! So happy!! Even Carter was happy to see it off when I got him from school today.

Thankful for a fully healed wrist!! Hopefully no more of those in our future!

Carter's New Do

Sooooo, Carter cut his own hair on Monday night. It wasn't as bad as I have always imagined this day might be, but considering he had school pictures today, Tuesday, (Seriously?! OF COURSE he did!!) it was necessary to go ahead and just buzz it all off. And really, I'm just glad he did this to himself and that Ella wasn't nearby. Because I could totally see that happening. :/

Getting a shave.

(Ella's devil horns, HA!)

 All done! Still handsome with a little less hair!

And Ella is still saying, "Carter, I like your haircut!" HA!

So here's to hoping another one of these incidents never occurs in our household again. Because a buzz cut on Ella is NOT an option.

Ella's First Haircut

Okay, less of a haircut, more of a negligible trim, but still worth documentation. :)

I've been thinking about trimming her hair for a few months now, and finally got it done yesterday. She was pretty excited about it, mainly because she knows by accompanying us on lots of Carter's haircut trips that haircut = sucker! We took both the kids to Sharkey's, and Ella got to sit in Lightning McQueen. She sat really still, didn't get nervous at all, and even wanted to get her hair washed! And they gave us a baggie with Ella's little curls as a memento. Honestly, you can't really even tell that we had about a 1/2 inch cut off, and hopefully it will help to even out all her layers as her hair continues to grow in more. 

Ready to do this!

 Adorable. she sat so still and was so serious!

 Getting in blow-dried

 All done! It looks pretty short here, but it's really not! Sucker and balloon for the win!

Major Injury #2

No more ER trips for a while, ok baby girl??

 This is just so pitiful and heartbreaking.

We got home from the ER around midnight. Ella refused to take any medicine, so it was a rough night for all of us, as I'm sure she was in quite a bit of pain.

:(

Exhausted the next morning.

 

Finally heading back home. Lots of snacks and movies to keep her happy/comfortable on the way, although her appetite was almost nothing. :( She didn't even raise her right hand.

 Lots of lounging and watching TV the next few days.

 

And clinging to mommy :/

 Lots of one-handed activities that were a little bit of a challenge because she had to use her left hand

 Lots of rest.

FINALLY we got in to see a doctor on Tuesday morning. In my opinion, the most amazing pediatric orthopedic doctor ever, at Children's Legacy. Not that I have a whole lot of experience with these types of doctors, but I was just so impressed with him and the whole practice. He was very experienced, and knowledgeable. He was actually a hand and arm specialist, so he was the perfect doctor to see for Ella's injury. He just left me with warm fuzzies, and he helped my girl, and I love him for that! Looking forward to our follow up with him.

Ella was so happy to see her hand when they took the splint off! :)

She hugged it and gave it so much love. Too sweet.

Finally time to get her cast put on. She was definitely skeptical, and cried when she had to put pressure on her wrist to make it tight, but overall she did great.

Of course she chose pink :)

 All done!

Headed home

 

 Tough girl!!

Carter signed her cast. When I asked her if Daddy and Mommy could sign it too, she said, "NO! Only kids!" :/

 

Eating has been a bit of a challenge at times, as she is right handed. We have had some extra spills and messes, but she's doing a little better each day.

And her cast has not stopped her from having pretty fingernails!

Overall, she's doing great. She has had it on for 2 weeks now, so we are halfway through it. She gets it off the morning of Tuesday the 4th. Bath time pretty much stinks because we can't get the cast wet. We have to wrap her whole arm in a plastic bag, so it's complicated. And I feel like her little hand is always gross because it can't be washed. I use hand sanitizer on it constantly, but still. Also, it hasn't really slowed her down much.... she's still busy and active and physical like always! The good news is it's indestructible so I guess she's pretty safe. After a few days of having it on, she got pretty comfortable using her arm. She is still careful with it and doesn't use it like normal and is definitely limited with what she can do with it, but I see that as a good thing. We're having to take a month off of gymnastics, and I know she and I both will be glad to go back in a few weeks. It will also be interesting to see if having the cast on has broken her habit of sucking her thumb. She used to suck her right thumb at naptime/bedtime, but obviously she can't do that now. She doesn't seem to be too bothered by not being able to do that, really. I have seen her on the monitor only a couple of times stick her left thumb in her mouth, but it's not a regular thing, so we'll see what she does when she has that right thumb back. :) Sooooo looking forward to getting it taken off!