Ella's First Roll Over!

Ella finally figured out how to roll from back to tummy! She did it for the first time just now, and luckily I had my cell phone there to catch it on video! ....And since Eric is out of town, I am posting it right away for him to see! I love my new Blogger app!

Here are two short videos. I just had a feeling it was about to happen!

I love this one because of how smiley she is :)

And in this one she actually does it!

As you can tell, I was the only excited about it. Oh well. Yay, big girl!



Phone Dump

I just downloaded a new Blogger app, so I can easily add pictures/videos from my phone directly to my blog. Woo hoo!

Cutie pie sucking her thumb and tugging on her ear

Carter and I had a date night at Gatti Town, and he loved the bowling!

Little Motzart?

Hanging at the park one afternoon while we had a showing.

And of course Carter man was there too!

I love my Daddy!

Silly face!

Pretty smile!

She fell asleep one day during tummy time while I was distracted with laundry. Poor girl.

She loves this toy!

PRESH!!

First ride in the stroller like a big girl!

Big girl sitting up!

She loves her Taggie blanket!

Snapped this when Carter was keeping Connor happy while his Mommy stepped away for a minute.

Finishing off our fries! LOL!

(ignore the mis-matched crazy outfit..... we were headed home from our playgroup's "Wacky Wednesday" playdate!)

Oh Stormie. What a pampered life you live! I snapped this because I have no idea how she got herself basically wrapped up in that blanket, but it sure was cute! Anytime she gets herself all comfy like this, Eric always jokes with her, "Stormie, are you comfortable? Can we get you anything? Maybe a hot towel for your paws and face or a bowl of warm milk?" LOL!

Playing in Carter's room today...

He is obsessed with this puzzle book. Literally, HOURS of entertainment for this boy! Thanks Uncle Andrew!

Little sweetie

A picture of the monitor the first time Ella put herself to sleep on her back by herself. I was so proud!

And yes, I do realize that 80% of these pics are just Ella. No, she is not my favorite child. Yes, getting Carter to pose for pictures is crazy hard right now. Most of the pictures I have of him are totally blurred or he has a god-awful, cheesy grin with his eyes closed. We're working on that. But in the mean time, enjoy the Ella overload! 

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My Babies

Well, it's been a pretty slow week for us here. And by slow I mean SUPER busy, but nothing of major importance or excitement to share. Eric has been travelling this week (and more next week), so I have been up to my eyeballs with so much to do just to survive the day. We've also had several realtors come show our home the last couple of weeks, and have received all great feedback with several interested buyers. I'm crossing my fingers that we'll have some good news to report on that topic very soon! And, as you can see, I gave my blog a little makeover today. It was time! What do you think? I really like the new colors....

Anyway, here are a few pictures I took of the kids yesterday. I haven't been so great about doing that lately... must do better about picking up my camera!

I think she is admiring her big brother

 Holding hands..... awwww!

I know I'm biased, but how handsome is that serious face of his?!

 Love my happy little ones.....

Look at those pretty blue eyes and perfect pink lips!

My gorgeous girl

And I tried to take a few solo pictures of Carter too, but he wasn't having it... shocker! :)

Ella at 4 months!

Sweet Ella, you're already 4 months old! Here are some of the things you are up to right now.

• You are 14 pounds even, and 24 inches long. You are in the 50th-75th percentile for both height and weight..... so overall, you are a very average size little lady. Your head is little like Daddy's.... 25th percentile for that. (Here are Carter's stats at 4 months)
• Sleeping 12 hours at night
• Eating about every 3 hours during the day.... usually 5 times total.
• Smiling, cooing, talking, and giggling more and more each day.
• Still love watching your big brother... and recently you've started to notice Stormie, too.
• Rolling tummy to back, trying REALLY hard to roll from your back to your tummy, and scooting all over the place while on your tummy. I wouldn't classify it as a true "crawl" just yet..... but man, are you close! You've also been sitting up pretty good on your own for a good 30 seconds or so. We've been propping you up with the Boppy pillow behind you, and you've been practicing this new skill a lot lately, so I know it won't be long for that too!
• You love toys! You've really gotten good at grabbing them, and you love to look at them, of course!
• You are still super ticklish. That is usually the way we get you laughing!
• Still sleeping on your tummy and sucking your thumb. You have started to roll over in the middle of the night (even though we place you in a sleep positioner.... you're a little Houdini!), and this wakes you up. I see sleep training in our future, so you will be able to put yourself to sleep on your back as good as you do when you're on your tummy. But for now, we just go in there and flip you back over, usually once a night.
• We got the okay to start you on basic solids (rice cereal & oatmeal), but I think we'll probably wait until closer to 5 months of age to do that.
• Overall, you are a very happy and healthy baby, and for that, we are so very thankful!

Ella Reese at 4 months

Okay Mom, I'm done with this!

Love you, baby girl! So, so much!

Trying Again

As of today, our house is back on the market. This all happened really fast for us. We were thinking we'd wait to re-list until April or so, but after much discussion and thought, we decided to just go ahead and do it now. Last week we met with a realtor to discuss our plan of action. Yesterday she came to take pictures and do the virtual tour for our listing, and today we are listed. I am a little nervous about it all this time around. I just hope I can keep the house tidy, clean and ready for showings while simultaneously caring for these 2 kids. I know it will be pretty stressful trying to keep up with it all, so that is my main concern. That, and the fact that I really need this to happen pretty fast. Sitting on the market for 9 months is just not an option this time around!

Cross your fingers for us, and say some prayers that this is a smooth transition for our family, and that we get a good offer soon!  :)

Potty Training Carter

I have kind of felt like I was behind with Carter compared to most of his little friends, and have felt a little guilty for waiting so long to potty train him. With Ella's birth, and his lack of 'readiness' until recently, I just couldn't justify exerting a bunch of time and energy and stressing myself out over getting him potty trained. But, as I said, he has recently shown readiness, so we have had this weekend marked on our calendar as "potty training boot camp" since early January.

And...... I am very glad to report that as of this weekend, Carter is officially potty trained! We did 3-day potty training with him, and it worked like a charm. He literally was potty trained after about 4 hours! He had about 3 pee accidents the first day all before lunch time, but after that, it clicked with him, and he had numerous pees and poops in the potty the rest of the day! He even stayed dry each day through his nap (rested on Friday, and actually napped both Saturday and Sunday)! He did have accidents both nights, but they weren't until the very early hours of the morning. This gives me hope that he can stretch it a few more hours very soon, and stay dry all night as well! **UPDATE** So excited to say that Carter woke up dry on Monday morning!!! Woo hoo!! With the exception of the first three accidents and the two overnight accidents, he has had no other accidents (and ZERO poop accidents!). We also learned that he can hold it a VERY long time..... 3-4 hours sometimes!

After this weekend, I feel completely justified and so, so glad we decided to wait to potty train him. It truly has been so easy! I'm pretty sure I saved myself a lot of worry and stress had we attempted it at the end of the summer like I originally had wanted. The toughest part of this whole process honestly was being trapped at home. The cabin fever nearly made us all crazy!

I am so very proud of you Carter! A little sad that the last of your 'babyness' is now gone, but I'll get over it. Love you to pieces, little boy! Oh, and.... you are so incredibly cute in your tiny undies!

Little Laughs

Ella has been giving us some laughs lately, but she sure does make us work for them! Eric and I always tell her she is a hard nut to crack. I finally got a few little ones on video this morning. Just try to watch this without smiling! :) Baby laughs are my favorite!!

Dinosaurs at The Heard

Eric took Carter to meet his Grandma and the twins at The Heard Museum to see the dinosaur exhibit. The weather was perfect, and they all had a really good time! Here are some pictures of their day.

New Milestones

Ella has hit some new milestones recently that I wanted to document! She has started reaching and grabbing for her toys, and once she gets hold of one, it almost always goes straight to her mouth.

She has also really started to become constantly entertained by watching her big brother. I noticed her first start watching him maybe about a month ago, but now it truly entertains her and keeps her happy for quite a while. She will just lay there while Carter is playing and talking and just stare at him. She literally watches him ALL the time. I wonder what she thinks about all the he does? I'd like to think it's something like "Ohhh, neat, I wish I could do that!" But it's probably more like, "What in the world is that crazy kid doing?"  Poor Carter.... when he was this age, what in the world kept him so entertained all the time? I'm guessing Mommy was just not as fun to watch. Anyway, it's pretty special! :)

And she loves to stand up now! She just thinks it's so much fun to be held her up by her hands.

Birthday Boy

Daddy is the birthday boy today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!

January 30, 1981 was a very important day for all of us, even though none of us existed yet. Your birthday.... the day God put you on this earth for each of us. How thankful I am for that day and for you. We love you so very much, and hope you have a wonderful day!

Love,

Elaina, Carter, Ella & Stormie