Girls Night In

Ellie and I are having a Girls Night tonight. Tom has track meets today, tomorrow, and Saturday which means Ellie probably won't see him until Sunday since she is asleep when he leaves in the morning and asleep when he gets home. Ugh, I hate track season. But I do enjoy my alone time with Miss Ellie. We are in our pajamas already and planning a night of movies and mandarin oranges. Those are Ellie's new obsession. I usually have to cut her off at 4 because I worry about her overdosing on Vitamin C or getting a tummy ache or some other nonsense.

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Last night I discovered that Ellie can sing the whole "WonderPets" song word for word. She was taking a bath and said that Diego needed to be rescued and then busted out with the song. So cute.

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Ellie is queen of stalling at bedtime. Last night, I was getting frustrated and I said a little impatiently, "Ellie, Mommy is really tired and I need to go to bed!" Then she proceeded to make me feel awful:
"You are mad at me."
"No, I am not mad, I am just really tired."
"You don't love me anymore."
"Ellie! Of course, I love you!"
"No, you don't love me. You don't want me anymore."
Of course then I spent the next 20 minutes cuddling her and smothering her with kisses and assuring her that she is my baby and that I will love her forever. Most genius stall tactic ever.

Weekend recap

Tom had a track meet on Saturday so Ellie and I were left to fend for ourselves. Ellie had been invited to a birthday party for one of her classmates. It was at one of those jumping places. She had never been to one and I am so glad I took her to the party because I have seriously never seen her so excited and happy. For 90 minutes straight she ran from one bouncy thing to the next, squealing with glee. I loved seeing her have so much fun. Of course, I only brought my old digital camera so my pics all turned out crappy and I was frustrated how long it took for my camera to "come back" after I took a picture.
Sunday morning and we were running late. Ellie was insisting on wearing her pink cowboy boots and packing yogurt in her church bag. I managed to take the boots off and switch them for her dress shoes in the car, but the yogurt made the trip.
After church we went to dinner at my old former Young Woman's leader's house whom we haven't seen in a few years. That's what I love about blogging...it keeps you in touch when you haven't really been in touch, if you know what I mean. Anyway, dinner was delish and seeing their teenage daughter gave me hope for Ellie. Maybe I won't be shipping Ellie off to Preston, Idaho when she hits puberty after all (because there is no way you can find trouble in Preston).

Life is an adventure

My favorite time of day is picking Ellie up from school and going for an "adventure." I know that if I just come straight home, I will be too tempted to plop on the couch and put Noggin on for her. So, we usually go to the park, or to the library, or to Target. What? She loves Target! Today we chose Target because we needed to get a birthday present for a girl in Ellie's class. Ellie is going to her first non-family birthday party! She was really excited to pick out a present for Hannah. Once we got home, we went for our daily walk around the block. I grabbed Kali and Ellie grabbed her Lego car with her little Lego girl sitting atop of it. Off we went and we were making good progress when Ellie started freaking out about her "princess." Yes, she calls her Lego person a princess even though it seems to be wearing blue jeans and a green shirt. Anyway, we had somehow lost Princess along the way so Ellie made us turn back and she kept yelling, "Princess, Princess!" the whole way. I am sure everyone thought we were looking for our lost poodle or something. I was half expecting Princess to answer. Finally, we located Princess in the street near the curb. Then, for the rest of our walk I had to listen to this:
Princess was in the street.
She got all dirty.
I found her.
Her needs to stay on the sidewalk.
And that was our adventure for the day. Shopping at Target and rescuing a Lego person.

Weekend recap: Valentine edition

Okay, fair warning, this is going to be long with LOTS of pictures! What can I say? It was an eventful weekend...at least eventful for bums like us.

My Valentine weekend was off to a rough start Friday when I attempted to take Ellie to the grocery store on the way home and she had a total meltdown. I am talking tantrum of epic proportions here. It was so bad that we had to leave...no, really leave, like leave my cart full of groceries. I was pretty angry. Both Ellie and I were really cranky and not feeling well so we took a nice long nap together once we got home. I'd like to say the nap improved our moods, but no, we stayed cranky the whole night.
On Saturday, Tom had a track meet all day so I escaped over to Sabrina's house where the kiddos made Valentine cookies and played outside. The pictures make the kids look a lot more entertained than the actually were. Making cookies, I mean. They loved the whole outdoor thing. Tom didn't get home til late Saturday evening and he was so exhausted that he crashed on the couch. I spent my Valentine's eve watching TV all alone. Sniff.
How can I stay mad at such a good daddy? And so cute, too!
Sunday was much more promising. Ellie and I were invited to Tara's baby shower. Ellie was so excited to go to "Tara's birthday party" but I had to make sure to remind her in advance that the presents were for Tara and not for her. I think she did really well at the party considering it was her nap time.
After the party, we left Ellie with Nana so Tom and I could go see Joel McHale. Confession: Tom and I really like the E! channel. We watch E! News, The Soup, and Chelsea Lately. So when I saw that Joel McHale was coming to Houston, I just had to get tickets. It was so awesome just getting out together and doing something different, even though Joel McHale isn't as funny in person as he is on TV. I mean, he was okay, but he was a little hard to follow at times and he would often stall in between jokes. Whatever, still love him!

Don't even breathe near us

Tom took Ellie to the doctor this morning. Apparently, she has the flu and bronchitis. I find this so surprising because she hasn't been coughing and she wasn't running a fever until yesterday. In fact, she has been really fun and playful! I mean, my gosh, if I had known she was that sick I wouldn't have had her outside yesterday riding bikes, drawing with chalk, and playing with the neighbor's kid...which is a whole other story. Our neighbors let their 3 year old run wild without even watching him. So when I am out, I feel obligated to entertain him and keep him out of the street. I guess I shouldn't criticize their parenting since I can't even tell when my own child is sick. The only thing I noticed different this week was that Ellie seemed a little more congested. Anyway, she is now on two antibiotics and a steroid. Tom was doing our budget today and felt the need to call me at work to discuss how much we have spent on doctors, prescriptions, and over the counter drugs over the past few weeks. It is crazy. Just that time of year, I guess.

Cooties

We just can't see to get well around here. Especially Ellie. First, she had bronchitis and was on antibiotics for 10 days. A few days later and she is sent home from school with a high fever. I take her to the doctor and she gets another round of antibiotics which she finishes up this past weekend. Today I get a call from her school telling me to come get her because she has a fever of 102.5. She was perfectly fine this morning! Even now, she is running around, happily playing. I wonder when Ellie will learn that she is supposed moan and groan when she is sick. Like Tom and I. Tom finally caved and went to the Urgent Care clinic on Sunday. The doctor wrote him FIVE prescriptions and he is just today starting to feel better. I was so proud of myself for being the healthy one in the house, but this weekend I started to get a cold and I have been moaning and groaning ever since. Such a baby.

Books!

I love to read. I mean, I really love to read. When I was little and my dad would ask us what we wanted drawn on our birthday cakes, I would always ask for a bookworm. Seriously, I had a bookworm on my cake for like 5 straight years. That's how much I love to read. So, when I was pregnant with Ellie, I was determined that my child would love to read, too. I was going to get her tons and tons of books. But as it turns out, even though she has an amazing collection, I haven't had to buy her a single book! For one, I still worked at the library when she was born and my coworkers threw me a baby shower. Also, Tom's friend worked for a children's book publisher and she gave Ellie a lot of books. And then there is Tom's awesome older sister, Denise, who will occasionally ship us some amazing books that her boys have outgrown. Today, we received one such package in the mail. Ellie made me open it right then and there and she plopped down on the floor and started to read. And, of course, I had to take pictures because nothing makes me happier than seeing my child enjoy a good book.

Amazing and not so much

Not So Amazing Things Ellie Did This Weekend:

• Threw up all over me
• Called me the B-word (I think)

Amazing Things Ellie Did This Weekend:

• Refused to wear a Pull Up to bed and insisted on her panties. She is now fully potty trained. And I didn't have to do a thing!
• Drew her first stick figure, complete with eyes, a mouth, and a body (I drew the one on the left, in case you can't tell).

Please excuse the poor quality of the picture, I took it with my phone.

Random bits

Tom is still coughing up a lung, but when Rosie volunteered to babysit last night, I loaded up my purse with cough drops and we went to see He's Just Not That Into You. It was okay, although I think I might have liked it more back in my college dating days. I did walk away from it feeling so relieved to be happily married and not in the whole dating scene.

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Ellie picked up a word that sounds alarmingly like the B word. I am really hoping it isn't, but if it is I am guessing she picked it up at daycare. Not really a word we use around here. I freaked out about it at first and wrote this big long post, but then realized I was just being a drama mama again.

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Ellie thinks everything was given to her by her daddy. She picked up her flashlight yesterday morning and told me, "My daddy bought me this purple flash light. I really love it." She then made the same statement about the mandarin oranges that I bought in the grocery store. And she was with me when I bought them! Oh well, I let her daddy take all the credit and just tell her, "Your Daddy must really love you." Although now I might rethink that because I don't want her to associate love with material things. AGH! See what parenting does to me? I analyze everything I say for potential ramifications in the future! Like, how might this damage my child? What a mess. How about I just end this with a pic of Ellie and her Daddy pre-illness? Every time Ellie and I step outside now, she proudly informs me, "I help my daddy mulch!"

My (sort of) well-behaved child

Remember when I was getting those bad reports from daycare? The ones saying that Ellie wouldn't go down for nap or sit for circle time? Well, those are a thing of the past. For the past few months, Ellie's teacher has been singing her praises. And today she pulled me aside to tell me how much she loves Ellie and how if I ever need a babysitter in the evening, she would love to do it. Then she asked if she could give Ellie a special treat for being so good. I said yes and the teacher presented her with a little Valentine treat. So sweet!

Ellie really is such a great kid. She has her moments when she is tired, but for the most part she is a happy, fun child. And she is so polite. Her newest thing is "No, thank you." If I tell her to get dressed, "No, thank you." To go to the bathroom, "No, thank you." And in such a nice tone! I know she is basically just telling me no and it should bother me, but it is so adorable. I still make her do it, but it keeps me from feeling frustrated with her the way I used to when she would scream "NOOOOOO!"

Another phrase she uses frequently is "I really love it." Any little thing that she wants to take with her, she will declare, "I really love it!" However, she tells me "I like you, Mommy." Really? You really love the cheap rubber duck, but you only like me?

My two babies

Just an hour ago I was feeling so proud of myself. After work, Ellie and I had a snack of mandarins while we visited about her day. Then, we played play-doh and I made lots of snakes. After that, out into the backyard she went to harass Kali while I cleaned the kitchen. When Tom got home, I left him in charge of Ellie and took Kali for a brisk 30 minute walk. When I got back, I got right to work cooking a yummy (yet healthy) dinner. I was practically cheering for myself for being so efficient and domestic. Once dinner was ready, I went to get Tom and Ellie and found them cuddled together on the marshmallow recliner, each of them trying to outdo the other with their horrible, hacking coughs. I snapped a few pictures of my two babies and then ordered them in for dinner. Tom took a few bites of my meal and then pushed the plate away, declaring himself too sick to eat. Ellie and I continued eating while he moaned and groaned. Suddenly, a coughing spasm came on, but this was no ordinary coughing spasm, oh no, this spasm caused him to start throwing up all over the table and my freshly cleaned floor. Appetite ruined, I set to cleaning up the mess and then left for Walgreens, determined to find a more powerful cough medicine. Upon my return, I found Tom in bed huddled under the covers, moaning and shaking like he was dying. He feebly lifted his head and asked, "Did you get me a Cadbury egg?"

Sunday Best: No Picture edition

I don't have a Sunday Best picture today because we were running really late this morning. But today wasn't really Ellie's best anyway, She is still not feeling well and was pretty cranky at church. However, she has still managed to make me laugh today. She was acting like a dog at church and the little boy next to us said, "You aren't a dog." "No, I just a boy," Ellie replied.

This afternoon I was giving Ellie some rice and spilled it all over her chair. She was going on and on about it and I told her to chill because it was just an accident. She shook her head and said, "You never listen to me."