Easter weekend, 2016

Not only was Easter last week, but also spring break. I did not have any expectations for spring break, because I knew what my week could be like. It ended up being a good week, busy, but good. It made me realize how much time Ella and I don't get to spend together anymore. I think she realized too. She loved being home, playing, relaxing. She is back to school now, and it's been a little rough for her. I know she is burnt out on school. So am I! I hope we can keep up the momentum and make it to the end of the school year. 
We had a busy Easter weekend. Ella was so excited about Easter. It's one of her favorite holidays.  Saturday we celebrated Easter and Lacey's birthday with Adam's family. We ate lunch and had an Easter egg hunt. I think Ella enjoyed the Easter egg hunt, because she was able to find them all herself. Those days are coming to an end, because Paige will be walking next year and able to hunt eggs too.  They both also got Easter baskets.  I'm sure Ella's favorite things in her baskets were shopkins. Shopkins have taken over at this house. She eats, sleeps, and breaths shopkins! 

 I doubt Ella will agree to matching shirts for very much longer, but I am going to live it up until she doesn't. I love these shirts and love the picture I was able to get of both of them. 

Paige did find one egg. :) 

Ella loves hunting for eggs!

Easter Sunday I was up bright and early. I thought Ella might wake up early, but we ended up having to wake her up. The Easter bunny was super excited about this life size shopkins basket she found to use for Ella's basket. It's a good thing the easter bunny has Amazon Prime. :) 

Ella could not wait to hunt eggs. She didn't even want to wait for us to get out there before she started. 

 Paige watched and took notes for next year!

Ella hit the jackpot with these enormous eggs. The easter bunny found some mega eggs this year. Ella wanted a big egg filled with shopkins (of course) so this eggs had some shopkins in it. 

Jackpot!

 Paige looked so sweet in her Easter dress. She sat with us during church instead of going to the nursery. She was clapping and babbling during the service. I think she was enjoying herself. 

Ella looks so grown up in her outfit. I can still remember the outfit Ella wore for her first Easter, and that seems like yesterday. 

After church we headed to my parents house. Both Ella and Autumn could not wait to get their baskets and hunt eggs. It was seriously like a storm blowing through with those two. They had PLENTY of eggs to hunt. My parents hid 110 eggs for them so they both had overflowing buckets of eggs by the time they were finished. 

 After they hunted eggs they got their Easter baskets which were filled with all kinds of goodies. They loved opening shopkins. Ella and Autumn are really nice about trading and giving each other shopkins the other doesn't have. It's really cute to watch them. 

We had a yummy lunch and enjoyed some family time. We were sad to see spring break and Easter come to a close. Ella was especially sad about it, because we heard about it all the way home. 

 This Easter was extra special, because it was Paige's first. Even though she wasn't exactly sure what was going on, it was still fun to watch her take it all in. Easter has always been fun with Ella and adding Paige in the mix just made it that much better. 

Paige || 10 months

TEN

I can't even believe we have hit double digits. Only two more months and Paige will be one. I better go grab the kleenex. I can't think about it.

Life with Paige just keeps getting better and busier by the month. It's so fun to watch her develop her own little personality. If I could use one word to describe Paige it would definitely be HAPPY. She is always happy and full of joy. This past month Paige could also be described as wild. She is all. over. the. place. I mean, I can't even take my eyes off of her for one second! This momma gets absolutely nothing accomplished when Paige is awake and bopping around the house. She wants to get into everything she isn't supposed to. I forgot what it was like to have a mobile baby. She has refreshed my memory real quick! Life with Paige is never boring. 

So what's new.....

• crawling, moving, pulling up (on her knees). She wears us out! 
• Teeth! or maybe I should say tooth. She has got one bottom tooth, and she looks adorable

• She is becoming more vocal. She says "momma" all the time, and I think she knows exactly who she is talking about. She typically says it when she is tired, hungry, or wants out of her crib. Typical! She can also say "da da", and we swear she can also say "Ella". She babbles a lot and likes to growl. 
• The girl will eat anything. She hasn't met a baby food she doesn't like. She has also eaten avocado, cheese, puffs, turkey, cereal bars. She will eat whatever you put in front of her.
• She will not leave a headband on her head or sit for pictures. Remember those cute monthly pictures I used to get of Paige? Yeah, those days are long gone! 
• Paige is wearing size 4 diapers and size 9 month clothing (some 12 month).
• She adores Ella. It's easy to see by the look on her face how much she loves her sis. Unfortunately, Ella is still very unsure of Paige. I'm hoping with time this will get better. 
• She has a few curls. We were thinking she was going to have straight hair, but it might be curling. Time will tell!
• She can pick up food and feed herself. 

SLEEP

I can happily say that Paige is sleeping through the night. We still have those occasional nights where she will wake up hungry, but most days she will sleep from 6am-6pm. I forgot what it was like to have a full nights sleep. My body is so programmed to wake up during the night that it wasn't even a problem to get up anymore. I do love my sleep though, and I love it even more now that I am sleeping all night again. Thank you Paige! 

She is still taking two naps a day from 9-11 and 2-4. Her napping schedule makes it hard for me to run any errands, but her nap time is the only time I have to myself so those naps are a priority. It's also the only time I can clean, run, shower, or watch tv. It's a constant struggle for me at nap time to figure out which of those things I am going to do. 

Paige is a great sleeper and life (my life) is so much easier when she gets good sleep. 

EAT

Paige still takes a bottle 3 times a day. She has an 8 ounce bottle before her morning and afternoon nap and bedtime. She eats baby food morning, afternoon, and night with some snacks (puffs) in there. She seems to be a great eater. She has liked everything I have given her except bananas. She loves banana baby food, but she will not eat a real banana. I'm hoping Paige will be my good eater, because her sister is extremely picky. 

PLAY

By the look on her face can you tell she is wild? Once I get her out of her crib in the morning and put her on the floor it's like letting a bull of a cage. She is off and going until she gets back in her crib. Anything she is not supposed to have you can guarantee Paige will like. I spend most of my time upstairs with her. It's nice to be able to shut the gate and let her loose. She loves to play with toys and lucky for her we have a lot of them. Not only does she like her own toys, but she likes Ella's toys as well. It's been fun to pull out old stuff that Ella used to play with. Good thing I saved it for all of these years! 

PAIGE

You are happy, sweet, and full of joy all the time! Your smile and laughter is contagious, and that is what we love about you the most! It has been so fun with you in our family.  You have added so much love and happiness, and we can't imagine our life without you in it! What a fun (sometimes exhausting) 10 months it has been. 

CHI-town

This past Friday Adam, Ella, and I took a day trip to Chicago. We left in the morning and flew home that night.  A few weeks ago Adam had a trip planned for Minneapolis. He went to the airport and ended up coming right back home. He did not make it onto the plane because of anxiety. He has a few conferences coming up so I knew he had to get over the anxiety he was having about flying. He has flown many times in the past but lately some anxiety has been creeping back in. I suggested we go on a little test trip to Chicago since it's a direct flight, and I could go with him. He needed some moral support, and I typically can not go on trips with him. Someone has to hold down the fort! We decided to take Ella and make a fun day out of it. 
Thankfully, Adam made it without a problem. He was actually telling the girl in front of us (who was freaking out) how safe flying is compared to driving. Go figure!  

Ella LOVES to fly. She takes full advantage of the beverages and snacks. She also got wings from the flight attendant so she was thrilled. 

After our flight and a 45 minute taxi ride we finally made it to Shedd Aquarium. Ella loves the aquarium we go to in Florida so we thought this would be the perfect activity for her. We spent most of our time looking at dolphins, sharks, and the beluga whales. We were also able to catch the dolphin show. 

I couldn't leave Chicago without getting a few pictures in front of Lake Michigan. It is so pretty! I really love Chicago and used to think I could live there. Not anymore! Maybe I'm getting old but I was not a fan of all the people, the traffic, and it was so cold there!!! I think we will just stick to visiting. 

We used Uber to make our last stop at Millennium Park. If you haven't used Uber I highly recommend it. Adam has used it many times, but this was my first. We met the nicest man who dropped us off at the park and came back to pick us up to take us back to the airport. He was super friendly and his car was so clean. It was so much better than a taxi. 

You can't visit Chicago without seeing the bean.

Ella was so happy to see that there was an outdoor ice skating rink. Ella loves to ice skate, and this just made her day. We were just happy that there was a starbucks nearby, because it was cold. Ella had the best time! This was probably my favorite part of the trip. 

It took us an hour and 20 minutes to get 17 miles back tot he airport. The joys of Chicago traffic! It was a whirlwind kind of day, and we obviously wore Ella out. She never falls asleep during the day, but she was such a trooper. 

We had the best day with Ella. It's nice to get out of the normal routine every once in awhile and go on a little adventure. We were only in Chicago for seven hours, but we made memories that will last a lifetime.