Elliana These Days

I've said it a lot lately, but we've been enjoying our time with Elliana SO much! I don't know what it is, but she seems to be more fun every day.

Maybe it's the fact that she's become more cuddly and affectionate, or maybe it's because she's become so polite and uses her "please and thank you" words without being told to, or maybe it's because we hear the words "I love you ________ " (fill in any family member) on a regular basis. I think it might be because I know that the days of it being just me and Elliana are numbered.



Whatever the reason, I love this girl. She brings so much life, personality, and joy into our home.

I wanted to share some of the things that make us smile with her around:

Ellie has just started singing in the past week or two. Her two favorite songs right now are "Happy Birthday" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". This is how she sings Happy Birthday; "Happy to you, Happy to you, Happy Mommy". :) I especially love the fact that anytime she sees a lit candle now, she immediately starts singing Happy Birthday. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star goes something like this; "Twinkle Star, Twinkle Star, How... Twinkle Star". I wish I could do it justice through writing. I guess I'll have to get it on camera soon.

Anytime I'm cleaning or cooking in the kitchen Elliana drags a chair (all by herself) all the way across the kitchen, pulls it next to me, and gets on top of it so she can participate in whatever I'm doing.

Here she just enjoyed some chocolate cookie dough. I LOVE this smile!



I've gotten pictures of this before, but it seems that Ellie is trying to outdo herself. When I'm getting ready in the morning, she gets into my underwear drawer and puts on as many items of underwear and bras as she can. It's getting rediculous, lately she puts on so many that it reaches half way up her face.



Ellie likes to "talk" to the baby without being prompted to. The other night we were eating dinner and Ellie and I were sitting on opposite ends of the table. She suddenly stuck her head under the table and in her tiny squeaky voice said "hi baby" and waved at my stomach. This girl is so funny.

Another funny thing she did at dinner the other night, she said "I love you Daddy, I love you Mommy" and just as Caleb and I were about to respond, Ellie continued with "I love you Ellie". I guess she didn't want to be left out. ;-)

Anytime all 3 of us are sitting at the table, she grabs the hand of the person sitting closest to her and says "Pray". Then she'll often interupt in the middle of the prayer with "Amen"! Apparently she likes to pray, but not too long.

I could go on with stories all day, but those are the ones that stick in my mind at the moment. I'll just leave you with these pictures. I love the many faces she makes.

Welcome Fall!

Tomorrow marks the first official day of fall and I couldn't be more ready or excited. I've mentioned it many times before, but this is definitely my favorite time of year.

Unfortunately, the weather around here has so NOT reflected this time of year. It's been in the 80s and 90s and I am SO ready to see and feel the 60s and 70s! I've been dying to pull out my sweaters, jeans, and sweatshirts. (Sigh) Hopefully soon.

Last weekend my mom and sisters all got together for a girls night out. All of our husbands were busy so we decided to take advantage and have some fun of our own. We started out with dinner and then spent the night at Hobby Lobby (I had a gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket) looking at and buying fall decorations. I had a blast, and it really helped to get ideas from my family. I bought some new fall decorations for our home.

Courtney helped me put this new centerpiece together for our kitchen table. The Yankee candle scent is "Autumn Wreath". It's my favorite fall scent:



I bought a new garland of leaves and pumpkins for our mantle:




Here is a close up of the garland:




and, I bought this fall welcome wreath for our front door:

Now I just need a big (real) pumpkin on our front porch. :)

Speaking of pumpkins, this time of year always puts me in the mood to bake. I especially love anything pumpkin (pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, and my favorite, the pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks).



Too bad I'm not drinking caffeine right now because of the pregnancy. :( I also LOVE to bake gingerbread or gingerbread cookies. Oh yeah, I can't forget my love for apple cider too. Actually, most any hot drink will do. :)

I also can't wait until the weather cools down so I can make my favorite soups and chili's. There's nothing like hot soup when it's cold outside.

Another favorite about fall? Season premier week. This week some of my favorite shows start up again. Tonight is the season premier of Glee. Yes, I'm a dork but I'm a music lover and I have become a HUGE fan of this show.



and Thursday night is the season premier of The Office, an old favorite of mine and one of the few shows that Caleb actually enjoys watching with me. Truth be told, The Office is one of his favorite shows too.



And of course, fall would not be complete without fall sports. I love watching Football on Sunday afternoons. There's nothing like snuggling on the couch, eating your favorite football snacks and rooting for your favorite team. GO BRONCOS!!

We went to the Broncos game this past Sunday and it was miserably hot, I'm talking the kind of heat where you're begging for mercy. I think I drank a gallon of water during that game. I have always been freezing cold when I've been to a game in the past, so feeling that hot was definitely a foreign feeling. I guess I just can't win, I'm either freezing or baking in the sun. Needless to say, I prefer to watch the game from my couch. Or anyone's couch. You get the idea.

The other fall sport that is a huge part of our lives is Caleb's volleyball team. I don't see Caleb much in the fall due to all of his practices and games, but it's so worth it to see how much joy he gets out of coaching his team. Elliana and I really enjoy watching the games too.

Fall usually goes by way too quickly for us. It's like they say, time flies when you're having fun. With all of the yummy food and fun fall activities to enjoy, I'm sure we'll be having plenty of fun.

10 Weeks and Counting

Since my initial announcement, I haven't blogged a whole lot about this pregnancy. I'm determined to since I didn't have a blog when I was pregnant with Elliana. I want to be able to look back at this some day and remember how I was feeling each week/ month.

I hate to admit this, but part of the reason that I haven't blogged more is that I've been holding my breath. I think it's due to my history, but I've been so afraid that I wouldn't make it this far.

In the last week or so, I've noticed that I'm becoming less fearful. I know I'm not out of my first trimester just yet, but with each passing week and each positive ultrasound, I'm growing more and more attached to this baby. I'm believing more and more that everything will be okay.

We had our 10 week ultrasound today and it was the best one we've had so far! We loved our technician and how she pointed out the beating heart, the arms and the legs, the size of the baby, etc. Baby was moving a LOT today. Even the technician said "Wow, looks like he/she is having a little party in there". It just made me smile.

Here is our baby at 10 weeks:

It's really not the greatest picture, but we know what we're looking at. :)

I'm not ready to show any pictures of myself just yet. I feel like I'm in that awkward phase where people aren't sure if I'm pregnant, or just overweight. Ha ha! Hopefully I will have a clear baby bump to show off soon.

A lot of other prego women are using this form these days, and I really like it. I wanted to share the same info:

How far along: 10 Weeks and 1 day.

Size of Baby: 1.27 Inches long, the size of a small strawberry. :) He/ she weighs less than 4 grams.



Total Weight Gain/Loss:Umm... not sure exactly. I'm guessing 2-3 pounds (already? yikes)

Maternity Clothes: Some, but not because I have to, because they're so comfortable.

Gender: Don't know yet, Caleb's determined not to find out this time. We'll see as the 20 week ultrasound gets closer...

Movement: A little flutter here and there, no consistent movement yet.

Sleep: All I want to do is sleep. Nights have been rough lately with Elliana, but luckily most days I'm able to nap with her. I love my naps. :)

Symptoms: Mostly exhaustion, intense hunger, and the urge to urinate a lot (sorry). I have to get up once or twice a night to eat and use the restroom. I don't feel very sick. I was never sick with Elliana either.

Best Moment This Week: Watching the baby move so much during the ultrasound today.

What I'm Most Looking Forward To: Watching Elliana become an older sister and watching the two siblings play and grow up together.

I guess that's all for now. I'll probably be updating on the pregnancy every 2-4 weeks. Praise God, things are coming along smoothly!

On a completely seperate note, my extremely talented sister Jenn designed my new Fall design for me. I absolutely LOVE Fall and I absolutely LOVE the new design! Thanks a bunch Jenn!

Family Matters Part 2

I just noticed that I haven't been posting as often ever since I found out I was pregnant. I think that's because I usually blog while Ellie is either napping or after she's gone to bed for the night. However lately, I'm getting almost as much sleep as she is. I've just been so tired that these days sleep sounds so much more inviting than, well, just about anything. Ha ha! Anyway, tonight I'm forcing myself to get on here and blog. :)

About 6 weeks ago, I posted this post about our week that was filled with family happenings. My sister found out she would be welcoming another girl into their family in November, my brother-in-law got engaged, and we went to Washington to celebrate Caleb's grandma's (Grammy) 90th birthday.

My mother-in-law took some fantastic photos from our weekend in Washington and I've been dying to put them on here. This week I was finally able to "steal" the pictures from her and I had to share them. These aren't all of the pictures that she took, but these are some of my favorites.

This is Elliana with her cousin Abby, and Caleb's cousin's daughter Natalie. I guess that would make Natalie Elliana's 2nd cousin, or is it 1st cousin, once removed? I can never understand how that works. :)


I absolutely LOVE these pictures of Elliana with her Lito (Caleb's dad).



Isn't this adorable?! She picked a flower for him.




These are some new favorites of me with Ellie.




And of course the whole reason we came to Washington, here is the birthday girl with her four daughters:


Here she is with her grand kids and their spouses (I think that expression on her face is so cute):


This coming weekend we have another fun weekend planned filled with more family events. Friday we're going to Jenn's brother-in-law's wedding in Vail. I love weddings and I haven't been to one in a long time so I'm really looking forward to it.

Then Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we're celebrating lots of family birthdays. Sunday we're going to Josh and Shamree's house to celebrate Shamree's birthday, Monday we will be celebrating my grandma's 90th birthday, and Tuesday we're celebrating Jenn's birthday.

Whew! I'm almost exhausted just thinking about it. ;) It should be a lot of fun though and I'm hoping I'll have some more great pictures to share. I hope you all have a great, Labor Day weekend.