Summer's End

I can't believe that summer break is almost over. Only one more week, and it's time to head back to school. I am not sure who is dreading it more, me or Ella. I do not look forward to the homework, making lunch in the morning, getting out the door on time, drop offs, pick ups, and anything else that goes along with school. The only thing I do enjoy is the routine and possibly getting some time to work out again. Although I do think it will be good for Ella to be back in school, I will definitely miss her!

I hope we can make the most out of this last week of summer break, but it's going to be a crazy one. We will be preparing to move and moving this coming Friday so it's definitely going to be a busy week. 

Here is a recap of the second half of our summer! 

We put our house up for sale the last week of June. I hadn't mentioned this yet (because I didn't want to jinx myself), but we sold it exactly one week from the day we put it up for sale. Thank goodness! The new owners must be excited, because we are already receiving some of their mail that Ella graciously opened. Oops! We close on our new house this coming Tuesday and on our old house this coming Friday. 

Ella and I only made it to Holiday World one time this summer. Totally not like us! I remember summers when we would go all the time, but times have changed. We went on an extremely hot day. By the end of the day we were HOT and tired, but it was a good mommy and Ella day. 

Ella loves playing games and is so good at them. I'm not sure if it's luck or skill, but she always seems to win. This was on an especially lucky day at Walthers. 

We have also been to Chuck e Cheese quite a few times. Ella plays games while I chase Paige all around. It's exhausting, but Ella always has fun. Paige has become a big fan of the mouse there. 

One Friday night we went to Hacienda. It was beach week so someone was dressed up as a parrot. Ella just had to get her picture taken with it. There were beach balls everywhere and Paige made sure everyone knew it. She was screaming "ball" from the time we got there until the time we left. It's always an adventure taking kids out to eat!

I have also done tons of purging and packing or in Paige's case..unpacking. It's crazy how much stuff we have gotten rid of. I still have quite a bit of packing to do so I need to get on the ball. 

Ella met some friends at Elite Air which was a lot of fun. She especially loved the junior ninja warrior course!

We have also spent lots of time outside. Ella has had her waterslide out quite a few times. We have also discovered that Paige loves being sprayed with those hose. The cold water doesn't bother her at all. 

It's been a good summer with these two. I haven't had a moment to myself, but we have had lots of good quality time together. This summer has also been stressful. There has been a lot of uncertainty with selling our house and buying our new house. The end is in sight though, and I can't wait to be settled. 

Paige || 14 months

Our sweet girl turned 14 months old last week! I am so behind on blogging probably because I'm chasing her around constantly. We are also packing up our house and preparing to move so life has been a little crazy lately. The end is in sight though so hopefully pretty soon life will return to "normal".   Paige is still laid back but definitely has a little more "sass" than she used to.   Her personality has really started to shine through in the past month. She literally went from a baby to a toddler overnight.   I forgot what it was like to have a one year old. She is constantly walking/running all over the place, screaming as loud as she can, and getting into anything and everything. Life with Paige is not slowing down anytime soon. 

So what's new: 

• This girl is FAST. She is all over the place all the time. She has almost started running especially when she has something she shouldn't. She throws her arm behind her back and takes off if I try to take something from her.  
• Paige is very vocal. She loves to scream and yell no matter where we are. 
• She loves being outside. We typically go out every morning when she wakes up and play on the patio. We also discovered that she loves being sprayed with the hose. 
• She is currently getting another tooth. 
• Paige yells "bye bye" to anyone leaving the house. She can also tell when I'm getting ready to get off the phone and will say it then too. She can also wave, but she only does it when she feels like it. 
• She has taken an interest in stacking and tries to stack blocks but can't quite grasp the concept yet. 
• Paige LOVES to eat, but she now says "num num" when she is hungry or if anyone has food. If you get around Paige with food you best believe you will be sharing it. 
• She can say "mama" "dada" "ella" "bye bye" "go go go" "num num" "ball" "bubble" and "pop"

Ella and Paige:

Their bond is still developing slowly. Paige thinks Ella hung the moon. It has taken Ella a long time to take to Paige, but she is slowly coming around. Paige loves for Ella to pick her up, and Ella has willingly started to pick her up just in the past few weeks. Ella has also given Paige some of her old toys and even shares her food with her. Probably not a big deal to some people, but this is huge for Ella. She still has her moment where she gets annoyed with Paige, but she has really come around this summer. 

Sleep:

Paige is still a great sleeper. She goes to bed around 7 and has been sleeping until almost 8am. We can thank summer break for that. I'm sure once school starts she will be up around 6:30am again. She is still sleeping in her zippy and loves it. She is still taking a bottle to go to sleep. I told myself I was going to take her bottle away as soon as she turned one, and I haven't yet. She is in such a good routine that I just can't ruin a good thing. I'm sure I'll regret that later. Paige usually takes two naps a day around 9am and 2pm. 

Play:

Paige is very active and loves to play upstairs and outside. She is really into dress up. You can typically find Paige in her doctor's coat with a hat on. She also LOVES to wear my headbands around her neck. She enjoys bubbles and chasing them around to pop them. She loves to be read to and likes to look at books on her own as well. She loves blocks and any kind of stacking toy. She loves balls. No matter where we go if she sees a ball she will scream "ball" as loud as she can. She loves to roll a ball back and forth with whoever she is playing with. Paige also enjoys water. She loves the pool and the hose. Cold water does not seem to bother her at all. 

Eating:

There isn't much Paige won't eat. She has always been a good eater, and I hope she stays that way. She loves any fruit you put in front of her but really loves mandarin oranges, strawberries, and blueberries. She will eat pretty much anything I make for dinner. I'm not really sure what she doesn't like, because she will eat mostly anything. She is totally opposite of her sister in that regard. 

Paige has been such a blessing to us. It's not easy having a one year old and a seven year old but somehow it all works out. Paige is happy all the time and fills our lives with more joy then we could have ever imagined. I'm not sure what we ever did without her!