Lake Time

On Father's day Ellie and I let Ronnie have some peace and quiet and headed down to the lake with Danielle to surprise Grumpaw. We battled storm after storm and some really bad drivers but we did manage to make it to the lake as scheduled. We had a delicious breakfast at the dock, played around in the gift shop, took a nap on the boat since the rain made Ellie and I sleepy, went for ice cream, fed some fish, and Ellie had a blast running around the dock in the rain. She didn't care at all that we never made it out into the open water. She just had fun doing her own thing. Hopefully we can get out there at least one more time this year so Ellie can ride the boat and go swimming.

Bumps and Bruises

Here lately, Ellie has been looking like she has been in a fight or two. She has a big black bruise under her eye from walking head first into a table. She has scabs on her nose from where she has fallen on the walkway in front of the house. There are various other scratches and bumps from unknown incidents. People looking at her probably think she has the worst parents ever. She doesn’t care one bit, she is dead set on climbing things she shouldn’t climb on, wobbling all over the place (she is still not very graceful—hopefully she does not end up as clumsy as her mother), sitting on the edge of the bed (she has only rolled off once or twice), and finding dangerous objects both inside and out that have been hidden from sight for god knows how long. It is a wonder she isn’t worse off than she is now. A friend of ours who is also a parent to a toddler said that being a parent is a lot like placing your child on constant suicide watch. I have to say that lately I agree with him.

Guacamole!!!

Apparently Ellie loves guacamole. Ronnie snapped a few shots of her today while we were at lunch....

Having a kid is fun!

We are getting to the point where doing things with Ellie is fun. Over the weekend we went to a nearby park and met up with some friends who also have kids. We went swimming, ate some food, and just had a great time. Now we are gearing up for a trip to the aquarium.

 

 

All those things I loved doing as a kid are fun again now that I have a kid of my own. I can’t wait until we are able to take longer road trips. My dream is to be able to take Ellie to Disney World. I have wanted to go since I was a little girl so this may be a little bit about me too (I think that is one of the perks of being a mom though).

One year stats

Yesterday we took Ellie to the doctor for her one year check up.  I still can’t believe that she is one.  Here are her stats compared to when she was born:

 

Weight                5/25/10: 8lbs 9oz           6/6/11: 23lbs 3oz

Height                 5/25/10: 21 inches         6/6/11: 30.5 inches

 

She is saying many words now below are just a glimpse of what she can say—as I am sure to leave some out unintentionally:

Mama

Daddy (sounds like dee-dee)

Baby     

Cheese

Doggy

Thank You (!)

Hi

Bye

Cookie

Yummy

Kitty

Love you

No

Breaking Bad Habits

We finally transitioned Ellie into sleeping in her own bed. This process was a slow and painful one for all parties involved.  We had been trying (and failing) for months. Finally, last weekend was the last straw. There just wasn’t room for two adults and a child—though I am not convinced any bed is big enough for Ellie with as much as she moves at night.  We tried getting her to fall asleep in our bed then moving her over to her crib. Unfortunately, without fail she would wake up and scream as soon as you were lowering her to the mattress. We tried letting her cry it out—whoever invented that method was an evil, heartless person. Rocking her to sleep didn’t work because she would stay awake out of spite. Any bright idea we had was rendered useless. Finally I decided to stay with her until she fell asleep in her crib. So, I grabbed a chair pulled it up to the crib as close as possible and sat quietly by as she tried everything she could think of to break me. She cried, she held my hand, she said “mama”, she smiled, and cried some more. Any time that she would stand up, I would just lay her back down (without saying a word). Finally, she realized that I wasn’t going anywhere and she fell asleep. The first night took soooooo long. I felt like I was in her room for hours—and the crying and hand holding were so hard for me to resist. The second night was much easier and so on. It has been a week now and we all seem to have gotten used to the new routine.

 

I think the reason we were successful in getting her to sleep on her own this time was that she was ready too. The fact that I was in her room made it seem less scary, and the fact that I stayed silent and kept laying her down made it seem like I meant business—and I did (but boy it was rough on me too).

 

The transition from formula to milk was easy, the bottle to a cup was painless; sleeping in her own bed was literally a nightmare.  I shudder at the thought of what we will go through when it is time to give up the pacifier.

It has been a year already??

I made it through the first year!!! More importantly, Ellie made it through the first year of life. Ronnie and I managed not to break her. She is also pretty darn smart so I am sure we are doing something right! Hopefully we can keep this streak running for the rest of our lives.

Now if I can only find a way to slow time down just a little...