On the mend

After two doses of antibiotics Ella is starting to act like herself again. She is not 100% yet, but we are getting there. Ella absolutely hates her medicine! It is bad. Last night we were sitting at the table making valentines and she looked at me and said, "medicine is all done." Little does she know she has three days to go. 

Yesterday she asked to play outside. It was such a nice afternoon so we definitely headed outside. After such a horrible weekend it was nice to see her happy and running around again. 

 Finally not scared to ride her four wheeler. It only took her a year. She rode it out to the lake. It was so cute! 

 She loves to throw rocks in the lake! 

 Happy to see that silly smile again! 

What a weekend...

Somehow we went from this...

To this...

In a period of a few hours. Poor Ella has been  sick since Thursday night. I had a feeling she was getting something, because she had the sniffles and sneezes Thursday afternoon/night. Ella went to bed at her usual time on Thursday, but she was up by 9:30. She had a few periods of sleep, but not much. She wanted to take a bath at 3am, because that seems to make her feel better.  At around 4am she threw up all over our bed. By 6am she was taking a bath again, and I was doing some major laundry. 

Elliott always knows when someone is sick and hangs around them the whole time. It's to bad he drives Ella crazy. 

Ella laid around all day on Friday. It's very unlike her not to play. We either laid in bed or laid on the couch and watched movies.  She was exhausted but would not go to sleep. She did fall asleep on my lap for about three minutes until daddy came home with lunch.

By Friday night we were all exhausted from not getting any sleep on Thursday night. I still had some energy to make some cookies. I can't tell you how many I have had this weekend. I am such a stress eater! I'll have to run 10 miles just to work all the calories off I have consumed from these cookies. 

YUM! Pretty sure they were worth every. single. bite. 

Friday night into Saturday morning was horrible. Ella barely slept. The dogs were barking in the laundry room all night long, because we were in and out of the bedroom, living room, bathroom. I seriously contemplated putting them in the garage just so we didn't have to hear them anymore. Ella finally went to sleep around 5am Saturday morning and slept until about 8:00am. 

Saturday was another bad day. Ella was overly exhausted and just didn't feel good. I thought about taking her to the doctor, but she seemed to be a little better. Her nose was running, and she wanted to play. We both took a nap that day. I was on the brink of losing my mind. I seriously wanted to rip someone's head off. I do not do well being up almost 48 hours straight. Nothing can prepare you for being up all night with a sick child. It's horrible to see your child sick, and it's horrible being up all night. It's part of my job though, and even though it's hard, I'm happy to do it. 

 Saturday night I had really high hopes of her sleeping all night. I put her to bed around 8. I don't know if she ever went to sleep. Around 11:30 she was up. Every time she coughed she sounded like she was wheezing. It was easy to see why she was unable to sleep. The dogs barked all night again. I'm pretty sure Brody is about to scratch a hole through the wall. Finally around 4am Ella was so exhausted she fell asleep in our bed. Adam had to sleep on the floor, and thank goodness he did. Ella took up most of the bed and snored so loud I couldn't believe it.

 The troublemakers!! 

One little moment of happiness...

She woke up today and seemed better. She was running around playing, but her cough really concerned me. We took her to the after hours clinic just to have her looked at to make sure it was nothing serious.  

She loves the fish at the doctor's office.

She threw a fit when the nurse tried to weigh her, but once it was her idea she was fine with it. 

It was a good thing we took her in today. Come to find out she has an ear infection in her left ear. The congestion is  viral so that will just have to go away on it's own. She has to take antibiotics for five days, and hopefully she will be good to go. 

Ella hates this stuff with a passion. She screams bloody murder when we give it to her. The next five days of this should be fun! 

It has been a really rough weekend. I am hoping it will get better from here on out. This is when being a parent is really hard. I had moments where I felt like I could have a meltdown. It makes me crazy when something is wrong with Ella. Hopefully she will get better soon so we can get back to normal life. 

I also wanted to add that Autumn (my two year old niece) has been so concerned about Ella. She is afraid Ella won't be well in time to watch Mickey Mouse skate on ice (the girls are going to Disney on Ice in March). She is so sweet. This is Autumn and Penny's conversation before bed last night... I love it!

Tonight before bed Autumn is concerned about Ella being sick. I told her that Auntie Miranda is taking care of her and she will make her feel better. Autumn says, "I need to help Auntie Miranda. I will take the booger sucker to Ella's house and get all of that snot out of her nose so she will quit coughing. When her snot is gone she will feel much better. Mommy, you can stay here I will drive the blue van." 

The mind of a child. She is so sweet! 

Adam's birthday weekend and more

This past Friday was Adam's 32nd birthday. He's getting old right!? haha. When we first met Adam was 23, and I was 21. I can't believe he is now 32, and I am going to be 30. O.M.G. I am going to be 30 this year. Anyway, I always try to make Adam's birthday as special as possible. He works really hard, and NEVER does or buys anything for himself. That's where I come in. I love to spend money so he usually has a really nice birthday. 

His big present this year is a recliner. He has been bugging me for years about a recliner. When we first moved in together Adam brought along the most hideous blue recliner ever. I would not let him put it in the living room so it went in his computer room.  Unfortunately, that recliner was put to rest once we moved out of our apartment. I am not a fan of recliner, but I think every man needs to have one. I compromised and got him a  black leather one that will match our furniture nicely.

She'll be ours in about 6 weeks!

We celebrated Adam's birthday on Thursday evening when Adam got home from Terre Haute. Ella opened his presents for him, we had a nice dinner, and brownies for dessert! Adam asked for clothes since he never buys any for himself, and I picked him out a new pair of shoes.

Nice wrapping paper, huh? That's why you don't wait until the last minute to wrap gifts. 

Friday morning I got up extra early to make Adam monkey bread. I have been wanting to try this recipe for a long time. It was so good but very rich. I will definitely be making it again. 

Elliott was kind enough to get up early and keep me company. 

Friday night the Ice's invited us to go to an Evansville Icemen hockey game. We had never been to a hockey game, and it was definitely a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed two of the players duking it out on the ice. I think the best part was the crowd. There were die hard fans. We ate dinner, had a few beers, and shared some laughs. It was a fun night!

 Adam said since it was his birthday he didn't have to smile. Thanks for ruining my picture Adam! 

 Awesome!!

Saturday afternoon brought about a little excitement. Instead of taking a nap Ella decided to destroy her room. Adam and I were glued to the television watching Dexter so we had no clue this was going on. Not only did Ella destroy her room, but she also did a #2 on the floor. It's always something around here. 

Saturday night we went to Texas Roadhouse with the in law's and Lacey for Adam's birthday dinner. I had my camera with me, but I unfortunately forgot to take pictures. I hate when that happens! We had a nice dinner, and I was finally able to hear details about Lacey's mission trip to Myanmar. She was nice enough to bring us some gifts back with her. I am in love with the blanket she brought back. It's the softest blanket ever!! 

Besides my run with Sarah on Sunday, we had a really lazy day.

I found this recipe for Chicken enchilada soup on pinterest. It is so so good. It might be one of my new favorite things. You should definitely try it. I made it in the crock pot, and it was so easy. 

What Ella did today...

Ella has been getting a little more daring at nap/bedtime. This morning when I went in her room her light was on, and her closet was open. Sometime between the hours of 4:00am- 8:30am Ella decided she wasn't tired and wanted to play. Luckily, after she was done she got back in bed and went to sleep. 

Shortly after I left her room at nap time today I heard her closet door open. I didn't think much of it. I don't care if she plays just as long as she stays in her room. About 45 minutes later I heard her saying mommy. I went and checked the monitor and saw she was sitting in bed without pants or a pull up on. I went in there, and Ella told me she pooped. That was quite obvious, because her room reeked. I went over to her bed and Ella was holding a bucket. It looks like this...

I looked in her bed to find that she had peed in this bucket!!! I was SHOCKED! I can't believe she even thought to pee in this bucket. She did it in her bed. She must have missed the bucket, because she peed in her bed also. She was so excited to go pour the pee in the potty. She never ceases to amaze me. Just another day in the life... 

Blog makeover

In a few weeks (hopefully) my blog is getting a complete makeover! It's getting a new name and a new look. 

Although I love "All About Ella" I thought it was time for something different. Stay tuned for the update. I can't wait!! If anyone who reads this is interested in a new design for their blog go to http://www.danielle-moss.com/. 

Doesn't Ella look adorable in her Valentine's outfit?! I thought it was time to break it out! 

Recent phone pics

Ella and I eating at Panera Bread. We eat there a lot when Adam is in Terre Haute!

Ella and Autumn in the jump house!

Ella watching Tangled before bed with all her essentials. 

Three years old...a little late

I am so behind on this post. I wanted to wait until Ella went to the doctor to do this one ,but that was a week ago. Life with a three year old, two dogs, and a husband (lol) is crazy so my computer takes a back seat to all of that. 

Anyway... 

Three year old stats:

Weight: 29 1/2 (says the nurse). I say she weighs 31 pounds. She was throwing a major fit on the scale at the doctor's office so I think they were off a couple of pounds. 

Height: 37 1/2" 

She is in the 50th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight. The doctor said she is an average three year old. 

Ella is wearing mostly size 3T or 4T clothes depending on the brand. She wears a size 7 shoe. 

I still can't believe Ella is three. She changed so much in the past year. The BIGGEST change is going from diapers to using the potty. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am about this.  Potty training is something I thought about nonstop and put off for way too long. I decided that the weekend after we got back from New York I was going to put Ella in panties and never go back! That's exactly what happened. It took Ella four days to figure it out. Those were a long four days. I had to muster up as much patience as I could those first few days of potty training. She had accident after accident. Once she finally figured it out there was no stopping her. She now goes in there on her own and goes potty, or she will tell me she needs to go. She was having some fears about going #2 on the potty. I think she might be getting the hang of it, because she has been going #2 on the potty this week. 

Ella's speech has improved tremendously the past year. Last year at this time she was in speech therapy. I think we were trying to get her to put just two words together. She graduated out of speech therapy in May, and she has been a motor mouth every since. She talks in complete sentences. Her vocabulary seems to grow by the day. She is always saying new things. She is really good about using "I" at the beginning of her sentences. She still says "you" instead of "me" no matter how many times we correct her. I am sure in time she will figure that one out! I remember when I wanted her to talk so badly, and now we can't get her to stop! 

Ella is still going to child watch at the Y in hopes that it will prepare her for preschool. She does well most days, but some days she will cry when I drop her off. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was that age. I have noticed that she doesn't do well if there are a ton of children in the room. She is fine if there are just a few. She is a very shy little girl, but there is nothing wrong with that! 

Ella learned so many new things this year. She learned how to ride her tricycle. I will never forget seeing her ride her tricycle around the neighborhood or on our Florida vacation. We spent many hours watching her ride her tricycle. She can now ride a little bike with training wheels that she got from Santa. She is getting so big. She discovered a love for water this past year.  She was never a fan of water until this past summer. I was bound and determined to get her used to the water. We started with a little blow up pool, and I also took her to a couple of public pools. I think she finally figured out how fun it was to swim after many trips to Aaron and Sarah's house. We spent almost every Saturday night swimming at their house in July and August. It was a lot of fun. We were also able to take a successful trip, meaning Ella slept through the night, this past year. She now loves Florida and is ready to go back! 

In the past year Ella learned her abc's, colors, shapes. She sings songs.  She recognizes places around town. She loves to tell us what the weather is like when she wakes up in the morning. She will tell me if the sun is out or if it's cloudy. She says if it's light or dark out. She loves the moon and stars. She gets really excited about little things like balloons at a car lot. Every time we pass a car lot with balloons I hear Ella in the back seat yell, "Look at that mommy, balloons!!!" It is so cute. I wish she would appreciate little things like that forever. 

Ella discovered a love for Thomas the Train this past year. She was obsessed with Elmo, but she is really obsessed with Thomas. If you stop by our house you will most likely find Ella decked out in Thomas. I can't tell you how many pairs of Thomas pj's we have. She also has Thomas house shoes that she sleeps in at nap and bedtime. She has a few Thomas shirts she wears out and a Thomas hair bow. We also have Thomas BOYS underwear. Kind of weird, I know. I was desperate when we started potty training, and she loved the Thomas underwear. Why can't they make Thomas stuff for girls? 

Ella is a really good sleeper. She has been trying to play some games at bedtime now saying she has to pee three or four times before she gets in her bed. Yesterday I had to pry her off the potty, because I knew she didn't have to go. She likes to test her limits. Once she gets in bed she stays in bed. I'm thankful that she continues to be a good sleeper, because I love my sleep too! In the next year I'm hoping to get her in a big girl bed. She is very attached to her crib, and I am not sure how we will get her out of it. 

I can't believe Ella is three. I have said that a million times, but I really can't believe it. I love the stage she is in right now. She is so much fun. She finds joy in the smallest things, and I love that about her. Every day is a new adventure with her. She says and does the funniest things. Life with a three year old is never dull!