Ellie Rose

I am so proud of my girl.  She has adjusted amazingly well to being a big sister.  She LOVES Jackson.  She has also been doing very well at "school" too.  It takes her a long time to warm up to new people/places/situations (basically, anything she's not used to), so when we got the report last week that she hadn't cried, but had talked to her teachers and eaten a little of her lunch, we were so impressed!  So were her teachers.  Like everyone else that hears her talk, they were amazed at how well she can speak.  She talks like a 5-year-old, no kidding!

She really likes her school, and so do we.  Everyone there is super sweet, especially her teachers.  She is already learning so much.  She now knows the days of the week and most of the months of the year.  We're working on September - December.  She's learning the Pledge of Allegiance.  They're working on letters and letter sounds.  She came home saying, "G says g-g-g.  M says m-m-m."  I'm pretty sure I didn't learn that stuff until Kindergarten!  They're also learning shapes and colors, but she already knows all of those!  She's made friends and talks about them all the time.  She can name all the kids in her class.

Here are a few funny conversations we've had about school:

Dad:  "Do any of the kids in your class talk?"

Ellie: "No. I don't talk either."

Dad: "Who talks the most in your class?"

Ellie:  "Mrs. Brandie and Mrs. Jessica."

Makes sense!  They're the teachers!

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Mom: "Do you eat in the cafeteria?"

Ellie: "No."

Mom: "Do you eat in your classroom?"

Ellie:  "No. I eat in the car."

This is true.  She eats her lunch in the car on the way home.  She's so literal!

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Ellie:  "Today Mrs. Jessica tried to peel my string cheese and I didn't want her to so I kicked her."

Mom: (horrified) "You kicked your teacher??!!  That wasn't very nice."

Ellie:  "That's what Mrs. Jessica said."

OMG!  I almost died.  And I don't think she was making it up.

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Ellie's favorite things right now at 2 years 4 months:

-Her baby, Lily (she changes her diaper about 50 times a day and does a great job!)

-Watching Dora (would do 50 times a day if I let her)

-Doing Projects (if she can paint, glue, peel and stick, etc., she's happy!)

-Trail mix (she eats all the M & Ms first, of course) 

-Chewing gum (she's finally getting the hang of it and not swallowing it)

-Singing (right now she sings "Love You Like a Love Song," "Call Me Maybe," and "Whistle" all the time . . . Yes, the Flo Rida song.)  She also sings kid songs.  Her favorites are "Peter Cottontail," "Twinkle, Twinkle," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "ABCs."

-Her brother

-Taking showers instead of baths

-Playing with her cousins and friends

-Wearing flip-flops

-NOT wearing pants (you'll notice she only has on a shirt in panties in most recent pictures)

-Wearing a ponytail

-Painting her toenails

-Climbing (on the kitchen table, bar stools, pool table, etc.)

-Taking pictures with my camera

Ellie has been completely potty trained for about 2 months now.  She doesn't even wear a diaper at night.  We're so proud of her for that.  She weighed at Jackson's doctor's appt. yesterday and weighs 28.6 pounds.  She wears size 6 shoes and 24 months or 2T clothing.  Not sure about her height, but she seems short.

Here are some pictures of my beautiful girl:

At the library

With Lily

Showing off her high heels

 Camping out in the living room

 Showing her guns . . . Go Pokes!

 Showing off her new OSU shirt

 She got this knot/bruise when she fell off the kitchen chair on Sunday night.  It was horrible!  She just fell out of her chair from a standing position and smacked her head on the tile.  I felt so bad for her.  She told her teachers all about it on Monday . . . that we put ice on it, she got some ibuprofen and an orange popsicle.

 Giving Jackson a hug . . . he looks like he's really enjoying it. ;)

Ellie Rose . . . you are such a beautiful, sweet, smart little girl.  I can't believe you're mine.  I've never been so proud of something in my life.  You are my sunshine.  I love you so much!

The past few weeks

Jackson is 4 weeks old now and we're finally starting to get into a routine.  Unfortunately, all didn't go as planned this last week when Ellie woke up with a stomach bug at 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning.  She threw up for 2 days and had fever.  It's so terrible when your baby is sick!  All she did was sleep on Tuesday and Wednesday, and although she was feeling somewhat better on Thursday, she was still not back to herself until Friday.  Luckily, nobody else in our house got it (and I don't know how because Kyle and I both were thrown up on at some point).

I think I mentioned in the last post that Jackson had not been sleeping well.  If not, Jackson was not sleeping well during his 3rd week home!  He would immediately cry when I'd lay him down in the bassinet, no matter how long I would rock him and hold him beforehand.  I was so exhausted and the only way I could get him to sleep is to hold him and sleep in the recliner.  He seems to throw up a lot more than Ellie did and doesn't like to lay flat on his back, so we are thinking he might have some acid reflux going on.  We bought him a Nap Nanny last Friday and it has been amazing!  It's just a foam bed that allows him to sleep on an incline.  He is sleeping so much better now.  In fact, the past two nights he's slept 3 1/2 to 4 hours at a stretch.  Much better than 30 minutes at a time (or not at all)!  It was a little pricey, but totally worth it.  We've already put him in his room due to Ellie being sick this week and sleeping in our room with us.  This might have helped him sleep better since we have 2 dogs in our room and a frequent middle-of-the-night visitor (Miss Ellie). 

I have lots of catching up to do on here.  Jackson will be a month old on Monday, so I'll do a post on him after his 1 month check up.  Ellie has been doing so well at MDO and learning so much.  I'll dedicate a post to her soon!  Until then, here are some pictures from our last few weeks.

We put up the tent in the living room and "camped out."

Grandparent's Day- in her "I Love Nana" shirt

Grandparent's Day- in her "I Love Grandma" shirt

Drawing with sidewalk chalk and eating lime sherbet ice cream

Sweetest Little Brother

I LOVE his natural mohawk.  You couldn't get that baby to lay down if you tried!

Hanging out with Daddy

My poor baby.  She was so sick.

Trying out the activity mat

Sweet sister giving him a kiss

Jackson's Here!

Jackson is here!  He has actually been here for about 2 1/2 weeks, but with 2 kiddos now, I'm just getting to this post!  On Friday, August 24th, 2012 Kyle and I were supposed to arrive at the hospital at 5 a.m.  We woke up at 4:25 a.m.!  Not off to a good start!  But we were only a few minutes late and the nurses got me all ready by 7 a.m.  I had a scheduled C-section since I already had one with Ellie.  It was a good thing!  He weighed 9 lbs. 8 ozs.!  Surprisingly, he looked smaller than Ellie when she was born and she weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz.  He is definitely built like a boy.  He is very thick through the chest, but has skinny legs and no butt!

The surgery went well although it was a little rougher than I remember with Ellie.  The nurses had to work very hard at getting him out!  Dr. Hager kept saying, "Oh my goodness!  His head is huge!"  Also something she said with Ellie. ;) 

Jackson had a few issues after he was born.  They couldn't keep his temperature up and his blood sugar was low, but both of those things were regulated before we left on Monday.  He also had to have a circumcision, which was not out of the ordinary for a boy, but it was different for us!  Once we got home and returned to the doctor for a weight check, we found out he had jaundice.  He had to do photo therapy for 2 full days, 20 hours a day!  I could only take him out to feed him and change his diapers.  He also had a cephlahematoma (sp?) on his head, but we found out that it will be fine and will just go away on its own.  So, after all that, he is perfectly healthy and we are so excited that he's finally here! 

It is so weird to be back in baby mode after having such an independent two-year-old.  He seems so helpless!  Some things remind me so much of Ellie and others are completely new!  He is very noisy . . . always making noises and grunting.  He is hungry constantly!  I feel like he is never satisfied, but he is putting on weight like he's supposed to, so I guess I'm doing something right.  He's not too interested in the pacifier yet.  He loves to have his sister sing to him.  He'll be crying, but if Ellie starts singing "Peter Cottontail" or "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" he will calm down.  He's already out of Newborn diapers, but is still wearing Newborn size clothing.  He hates to have his diaper and clothes changed, and he screamed during his entire first bath.  He doesn't care to be swaddled either.  He does love to look around and is already very strong, turning his head from side to side, especially when he hears Ellie's voice.  He sleeps a lot during the day but not as much at night (unless I'm holding him, of course).  We're going to have to work on that schedule!

I have tons of other pictures, but here are a few from the hospital and the first few days home.

Ellie meeting her brother for the first time

Proud Daddy

Love this one!  Her first time holding him.

With Grandma and his cousins

With Jade, Jazz, and Aunt Tammy

With Grandpa

With Nini

With Nana

With Josh and Jess

With Uncle Casey, Ellie, and Papa Clint

I didn't get one with Aunt Des and Uncle Mike, but they were there!

A few of Jackson

First OSU game

Ellie is in love with him!  She holds him all the time and helps me out with diaper changes.

Under the lights

Ellie changing his diaper

Smiley!

Welcome, Jackson!  We love you so much and feel so blessed to have you join our family.  We are enjoying these precious moments with you and looking forward to watching you grow.  You are perfect and we couldn't ask more.  We feel like the luckiest parents in the world!