Ella's pajamas!

I finally finished Ella's pajamas! This was the first thing I have sewn on my mother-in-law's old sewing machine (which is now my sewing machine) and I am very excited to have them done! They did turn out pretty cute (except the top seems to fit just right and the bottoms are way too big)... but it took me a long time because I had to re-do the neckline 5 times, then they wouldn't fit over Ella's head so I had to rip it out, cut a bigger neckline and I had to re-do that neckline twice. Maybe I should look for a simpler pattern next time. :)

Snow in North Carolina!

Steve used a lid from an old plastic storage container to make a sled for Ella (since we didn't have one). He drilled two holes in it and tied rope to pull her and a little bit for her to hold on to. She really enjoyed the sledding, but wasn't too excited to try to walk in the snow - it was just too deep for her.

Walking Mania!

Well, the day is here that I was waiting for (and kind of dreading)... Ella is officially WALKING everywhere! This past week she has gone from 4-6 steps to the other night walking about 12 steps on her own at a time, but today was the day. We went to the store to get some items we might need for our impending ice/snow storm this weekend. Ella usually walks next to me as I hold her hand, but today she pulled her little hand right out of mine and went walking up and down almost every aisle in the store, laughing and talking the entire time. She is obviously very excited about her new found independence.

Learning to Walk

Why I Love Being a Mother

Well, I've mostly used my blog to post photos lately and I've gotten away from the updates I used to post, and now I'm trying to get back to it.

When I woke up this morning, I was dreading today's events because they included Ella's final swine flu shot. Now, if you didn't hear, Ella started to realize at 12 months that doctors and nurses were not to be trusted and would scream and cry the entire time we would go - even if it was just a routine check up without shots. She is going to be 16 months in a week now and every day she shows me that she really understands everything we say. Man, we are going to have to watch ourselves.

This morning as we sat eating breakfast, I reminded Steve that I had to take Ella to get her shot - and right away I saw Ella's little eyes light up as she said "no" to me. She knew what I said. Dang it.

The fit began when I put on her coat. No, no, no, no, no... as I put her shoes on, grabbed our bags, and headed to the van. Once in the van, she became happier and seemed to forget about where we were going as she listened to Laurie Berkner songs on CD.

The amazing thing that happened was that once we were in the doctors' waiting room, Ella had forgotten what we were doing and so when we were called back, I grabbed her little hand and she walked next to me all the way to the examining room without a problem. But that was as far as we got. As soon as I tried to turn her into the room, "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!" echoed down the hall and she tried to get out of my grasp to run away from the room. I grabbed her and got her into the room. The nurse and I just tried to get it over with fast because she was so upset, but as soon as the fit started, it stopped when we walked out of the room.

Now, you are probably wondering where this story turns from the title of my post. I decided to go over to BabiesRUs before heading home since I had a coupon and wanted to buy a training toilet (yes, I know she's only 16 months, but I want her to have it there when she's ready and I have two 3 year olds at my house enough to warrant the need). While there, I told Ella she could pick out a book. We looked over the really cool touch and feel, flip the flap, and push and pull books before deciding that she wanted the Curious George Learns to Count book (of course the math teacher in me was beaming!). The thing I love about this book is it has an abacus in the book - and that seems to be Ella's favorite part, too.

Then we went over to Southpoint Mall (since it's cold and rainy) where they have a toddler play zone, which was totally overrun with kids today. Ella had a blast! She crawled through tunnels, climbed the boat, steered the helicopter, and crawled through more tunnels! It was great seeing her play with other kids her age and older.

Both our moods were improved as we headed home for lunch. A gloomy, rainy day with promises of shots became a fun filled day with new friends and new books to read and explore.

Hanging Rock Hike

We decided to take advantage of some mild weather we were having in January and we drove 1.5 hours up to Hanging Rock State Park. We wanted to hike a 4 mile route, but when we began, Ella was completely against riding in the backpack that she's always loved to ride in on hikes! Apparently, she wanted to hike up Hanging Rock herself... so we went on a 2 mile hike instead with Ella hiking a little over a mile of it herself! She is not walking independently yet, but walking very well holding on to one of our hands.