Ella. Grace. Lamens.

I don't know what it is about this short little video, but I've watched it more than a few times and just adore the way Ella says her name.  Love her little lisp when she says "Grace" and her little munchkin voice.  It's hilarious hearing her try to repeat everything we say these days in her own pronunciation :).  

Easter Eggs

Since we are going to be out of town over Easter weekend, we decided to dye eggs the weekend before.  I didn't want to miss out on Ella's first opportunity to dye Easter eggs!  She loved dipping (okay, more of throwing) the eggs in the dye, seeing them change colors, and decorating them with stickers. 

Of course the bunny ears had to make an appearance

18 Months

We are in the midst of "toddlerhood" and are loving every moment (well, maybe not the tantrum moments!) with our 18 month old.  I think the biggest change we've noticed in the last few months is how communicative/verbal Ella is and how much she understands what we tell her.  I love that she just "gets" stuff now - like the little moments when she will take things and put them in the garbage for us, help us clean up, know where her books and toys go, knows to get Lily a treat and take it to her before we leave the house, knows to put her jacket on before we go outside, knows when it's time for a nap and tells us "nigh nigh" after lunch as she heads for the stairs to go up to her room, knows to get her towel before bathtime, gets us our shoes when we're getting ready to leave, etc., etc. I could go on and on!

Here are Ella's 18 month stats:

Height 32 inches - 60th percentile

Weight 25 lbs. 9 oz. - 68th percentile

Head circumference - 19.3 inches - 96th percentile (whoa, big head!)

Some of the specific things I want to remember about Ella at 18 months:

• She loves to name hers and other people's body parts.  She can identify and name: eyes, ears, nose, eyebrows, mouth, teeth, ears, chin, belly button, hands, shoulder, elbow, armpit, knee, toes, and daddy's whiskers.
• Loves imitating animal sounds.  She can tells us what sounds most animals make, including a cow, horse, sheep, dog, cat, lion, bear, mouse, bird, owl, snake, bee, elephant.
• Is Miss Independent.  She often refuses to hold our hand or be held as she wants to walk all on her own.  She loves to feed herself and often attempts to get dressed by herself.
• Loves to help dress herself and has almost mastered putting on her "meats" (pants) on her own.  She can take off most items of clothing (and often prefers being clothes-less), loves discovering when she's wearing something with pockets, and often says "bo pease" when she wants a bow in her hair.
• Is becoming so observant.  She will point out an airplane, birds in the sky, the sound of an airplane, or the moon before I often notice/hear them.
• Loves other kids and is a social butterfly - she loves following around bigger kids and trying to keep up with them.  Whether it's a visit to my classroom, playdates with friends, McDonalds playplace, the church nursery, or any other place with kids, she usually can't run away from us fast enough to go play with other kids.  She waves and says "hiii" to most strangers when we're out doing errands and often repeats saying hi louder and louder if she doesn't get a response from them the first time.  We often joke that she's in her own parade when we're walking through a store or leaving a restaurant as she waves and says hi to everyone she sees.  She's been very into giving hugs lately and will walk up to complete strangers and put her head on their lap and try to hug them.  I sometimes forget that not everyone loves a toddler in their personal space, but most people can't resist her funny little affections. 
• Her favorite food these days is yogurt, or as she says, "goooogurrk".  She often requests it and eats it with almost every meal.  She is a super picky eater and usually refuses to try new things. 
• Has a new obsession with everything Elmo.
• Has starting telling us "uv oo" (love you) - favorite. thing. ever. 
• Gets super hyper at night before and after her bath when she's in her birthday suit.  She runs and crawls all over, hides from us, and loves being chased.
• Has three top teeth, two bottom teeth, and two molars that popped through.  She has a tough night every now and then that we attribute to teething, but mostly they don't seem to bother her. 
• She generally sleeps from around 7pm to 7am.  She takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.
• Is showing a strong preference for her left hand.  She often eats with and colors with her left hand, so we'll see if it sticks! 
• Has thrown a full on tantrum a few times.  While they're far and few between right now, we can hardly wait for those dreaded terrible twos - wishful thinking that maybe we'll get through them early?  The crying usually ensues when she wakes up from a nap in a bad mood, or too soon, and nothing seems to make her happy, or when she is on the verge of being hungry/tired and wants her own way (have we mentioned she's been a strong willed child since day one??). 
• We've had to start timeouts, which seem to be pretty effective so far as she tells us "saa-y" (sorry) and hugs and kisses us when timeout is over.
• I was working on my blog book and was rereading posts from this time last year  - I had said that the words Cody and I would use to describe her (when she was 6 months old) were "sweet, happy, strong-willed, and spunky".  I love that we would still use these words to describe her at 18 months.

A few pictures of our silly, sweet 18 month old!

Her "kissy" face

 Love it when she shrugs her shoulders and says "I dunno" in response to a question

A few more favorite pictures from the last few months...love those cute puckered lips!

Loving laundry basket rides...especially with Lily

 Looking way too grown up!

 Being obsessed with trying to put a diaper on her baby dolls...

...and feed them, put them down for naps, dress/undress them, rock them, shush them, bounce them (pretty much all things babies)

  Loving helping with household chores

Reading lots of books and pointing out and identifying everything she recognizes

Enjoying coloring, especially taking the pen caps off and putting them back on

Giving lots and lots of kisses to daddy whenever he heads out the door

Maybe I'm a mean mom for grabbing the camera in the middle of one of her tantrums, but I wanted to capture just how cute/funny she is mid-scream ;).  Someday she'll laugh about it, right!?

 Somebody wasn't too happy about being put in time out, and was trying to hide from me as I snuck around the corner to snap a quick picture.  I can't help but laugh at the pouty expression on her face.

 I'll finish my already lengthy post with a video of Ella being Ella while playing with Lily...

We love you Ella, and are so lucky to get to be your parents!

St. Paddy's

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our littlest leprechaun!

30!

Cody and I celebrate our birthdays just two weeks apart each year - his on Februrary 18, and mine on March 4.  And since this was a big year for both of us turning 30, we enjoyed celebrating for two weeks straight :).

We started the celebrations this year on his birthday with a low key day at home (his request), a fun dinner out, and a disaster of a dessert (see picture below).  Cody got a new table saw a few days before his birthday, so on his actual birthday, he got to open 30 small gifts throughout the day, all with notes attached telling him one thing I love about him.  It wasn't hard to come up with 30 things, and I could have easily written at least 30 more! 

 Ella loved helping to open each gift

 Cody had requested a dessert from a recipe I found on Pinterest - chocolate chip cookie bar, layered with oreos, layered with brownies, topped with hot fudge and ice cream.  It sounded way dreamier than it actually was.  Obviously by the description you can tell it was really, really rich (and I'm not one to usually turn down a rich dessert), but it was also burnt on the outsides and had wax paper stuck to the entire bottom.  Oh well, we enjoyed a few bites and noted we probably won't try that one again!

 The weekend between our birthdays, we celebrated the big 3-0 for both of us with a wine tasting adventure in Woodinville and truly had a really great time with friends.  We started out with a fabulous lunch at Purple, enjoyed tastings at four different wineries, and then had a late dinner at Matador.  It doesn't get much better than great food, great wine, and great company. 

Thank you to Matt for providing our "party bus" ;), and Alison and Brooke for the festive hats and delicious cupcakes.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends!

Cody and I stayed that night at Willows Lodge.  I had always heard great things about the hotel and have wanted to stay there for a long time.  It didn't disappoint!  Such a beautiful hotel with great surroundings.  In the morning, we got a visit from Ella, who got to have a sleepover at her Grandma and Grandpa Howell's house.

My birthday weekend consisted of getting to sleep in, a few hours of shopping by myself, a fun dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Cody and Ella, breakfast at Portage Bay, a visit to Pike Place market, a few relaxing hours to watch Downton Abbey (thank you Ella for taking a 3+ hour nap on my b-day!), dinner with my family and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake to top it off.  Seriously, what else could a girl ask for!?

Cody made it even better by coming up with this fun, creative game -- in the morning he gave me a blank sheet of paper titled "Happy Birthday Coupon Book" with thirty lines.  Around the house there were little notes posted all around, and as I found and read each one, I had to write it down next to one of the numbers, indicating that's how many of something I got, or how many times Cody would do what it said for me.  He chose all the things I love (money to Starbucks, a mani/pedi, etc.) and said he would do all the things I dread doing (unloading the dishwasher, going to the grocery store for me, etc.) however many times was indicated by the number on the line.  He already helps out around the house so much as it is, but I'm enjoying using my "coupons" and taking a break, guilt free ;).  Such a thoughtful and sweet gift (that I think he's now regretting as I've put him to work cleaning bathrooms, making dinners, and such!).  I love that I think of him every time I use up one of my "coupons" :).

A few of my coupons placed around the house for me to find...

My list of 30 things!

Ella and I ready for my birthday dinner

 Breakfast at Portage Bay

 Ella was a fan

Heading to Pike Place Market after breakfast

 Love the displays of fresh fruit, veggies, and flowers at the market

 Cody stood in line while Ella and I watched the cheese being made at Beecher's...

 ...so we could enjoy this delectable delight when we got home.  LOVE Beecher's Mac 'n Cheese.

 My birthday cake - wow, that's a lot of candles!

 Cheers to a new decade and thank you to all our friends and family for making it so memorable!