Great Wolf Lodge and Father's Day

This past weekend we went to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas for Kyle's annual regional meeting. We had a blast! Although we couldn't do everything at the waterpark since Ellie is too little, we were able to have a lot of fun with her in the kiddie areas. She really enjoyed the pool, fountains, and lazy river. She also liked playing with the other kids there. There was also a little show each night with animals and music. She really like that. She's very into animals right now, so she was constantly pointing out all the bears, wolves, and deer in the hotel. We will definitely go back to Great Wolf Lodge when she gets old enough to enjoy all they have to offer.

Ellie's first pedicure! (She didn't really have a pedicure. I just bought some quick-dry polish and waited for her to fall asleep!) Her pink toenails are precious!

Ellie and I were killing some time while Kyle was in a meeting. Love this look!

This is the face she makes when she says "UH-OH!"

In her wolf ears

First day at the waterpark

They wouldn't let us bring in her floatie, and yet this was the smallest lifejacket they had for her to wear. She couldn't even move in it, much less swim!

The indoor waterpark

Ellie takin' a nap and having a snack in the shade!

Another one of my favorite faces!

On our way to dinner

Watching the show after dinner

Every day we were there Ellie would get up, have breakfast, then go back to sleep for 2 hours! This trip just wore her out! Of course, I had nothing else to do so I napped with her!

With her new pink wolf

Day 2 at the water park- Ellie was a little more comfortable in the water this day.

These are the other 2 girls that were born just days before Ellie.

At last year's regional meeting they were all about 6 weeks old.

Dropping Ellie off before the awards banquet. The theme was Cowboys and even Ellie joined in by wearing a jean skirt that matched mine and a pair of boots. She looked so cute!

Yee-Haw!

We had fun, but we were also happy to get home!

Unfortunately, Kyle had to spend half of his Father's Day on the road, but we did get home in time for him to hit some balls at the driving range and cook out some steaks.

Happy Father's Day!!

Ellie at 1 year!

I'm a little behind with this post, but we've been so busy lately! Ellie had her 12 month appointment on May 17th. Dr. Moore said everything looks great! Her iron was a little low and since we're switching over to cow's milk we've started her on vitamin drops. She had 2 shots and had her finger stuck for the hemoglobin test. She didn't even cry when the nurse stuck her finger! She's a pretty tough little girl. Here is what Ellie is up to at 12 months:

-She weighed 20 lbs. 13.5 oz. (50th percentile- down from 95th at birth) and was 28 inches long (around the 25th percentile). She only gained 1 inch in height from her 6 month - 12 month appointment. I think we've got a shorty on our hands!

-She wears size 12 months clothing, size 4 diapers, and size 3 shoes.

-She points at everything: food she wants, the neon lights in the gameroom, Kyle's fish that is mounted in the gameroom, outside, etc. When she points and waves to the fish she says, "-ish." And when she points outside she says, "side."

-In addition to bellybutton, toes, and nose, she can point out her ears, eyes, and head. She also says, "eyes."

-She loves bracelets, necklaces, shoes, and purses, and also dirt, rocks, and playing outside.

-She will empty out my purse in 2 seconds flat, no matter where we are. She has also started going through random purses that are down on her level. I'm worried we're going to end up with someone's keys or wallet one of these days!

-She loves to eat! She really loves all types of fruit, applesauce, graham crackers, macaroni and cheese, tortillas, cheese, and beans.

-She likes books and has started to bring them to me to read to her. She really likes books that have different textures, flaps, and other things she can play with and move.

-She loves her baby doll she got for her birthday. She rocks her, pats her, kisses and hugs her. She also likes to bounce her and share her drink with her.

-She started shrugging her shoulders all the time. When we ask her something and she doesn't know the answer or if she hears Kyle or me say the words "I don't know," she puts her hands palm up and shrugs her shoulders. It's so cute!

-I've been taking her places to be around other kids her age. We've been to Gymboree, the pool, and we went to the baby storytime twice this week at the library. She's really enjoying the library once she warms up a little bit. She is still a little shy and holds on to me for dear life, but I think she'll start to loosen up as we go back each week.

I'm so proud of the toddler Ellie is becoming. She's such an awesome baby. We can take her anywhere and do anything with her. She just hangs with us no matter what!

Swimming and playing in the sprinklers with Jasmine, Jaiden, and Jett.

Playing at the lego table at the library. (She's trying to share her blocks.)

She wore herself out this day. She fell asleep while eating dinner.

Ellie and her baby doll.

Fun times!

After a few days of unpacking, resting, and getting everything back in order after our crazy trip, we were able to do some fun summertime activities. On Thursday, we went to eat lunch with Kyle and Ellie went to her first Gymboree class. There were 4 other girls about her age in the class. It was funny to see her with a group of kids her age. She actually acted kind of shy, but I think she'll loosen up if we keep going. Between lunch and the class we had some time to kill so Ellie threw all the pennies I had into the nasty fountain in the middle of the mall. I sure hope her wish comes true!

On Friday, we ate lunch with my mom and made a trip to Target (always fun for me!). Kyle came home early and we tried out Ellie's new pool and sprinkler she got for her birthday since it was approximately 96 degrees! She wasn't crazy about the cold water, and I don't blame her! She did eventually play in the sprinkler once we turned it down to about her height. I think those toys will just take some getting used to.

On Saturday, we went to Bricktown armed with gift cards burning a hole in our pockets. I had one to a cupcake place called Pinkitzel that was from my birthday and Kyle had one to Bass Pro from his birthday. We also had one to Bourbon Street Cafe so we had lunch there before getting some extremely yummy, yet overpriced cupcakes and candy at Pinkitzel. We walked through Bass Pro for a while and Ellie got a stuffed bass fish that we named Doc. She LOVES Kyle's fish that is mounted in our game room. EVERYTIME we walk through there she waves and even says "ish" really well. So, we thought she needed her very own "ish." As for the name, we were watching Tombstone last night and named him after Val Kilmer's character on the movie. Now when you say "Where's Doc?" Ellie shrugs her shoulders and then goes and finds her fish. So stinkin' cute! Anyway, after some snowcones to cool us down, we headed home from Bricktown.

Today we hung around the house doing boring things like cleaning, laundry, and mowing the yard. However, we took a break and went down to try out another one of Ellie's birthday gifts . . . her floatie for the pool! I didn't take my camera, but she loved swimming in the pool with all the kids, so I'm sure I will have lots of swimming pictures in the future.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to the library for the baby storytime. Not sure how she'll do, but I also need a new book to read so I think we'll try it out. I'm so glad she's to the age where we can start doing some fun things like gymboree and the library. Of course, I wish I could just freeze this age and keep her my baby at the same time. *Sigh*

Throwing pennies into the fountain.

Not too sure about her new pool . . .

Well, if daddy's doing it . . .

. . . it must be okay.

Napping in Bricktown

I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer. We're going to have so much fun!!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Well, Elliott's first Memorial Day getaway to Las Vegas, New Mexico was rough to say the least. Every year, Kyle's dad's family has a family reunion on Memorial Day weekend. It's very beautiful up in the mountains, and his family comes from all over so it's great to see everyone. However, it was rough this year. Did I already say that? Well, it was!

We left Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon and traveled to Amarillo, which is about the halfway point of our 9 hour drive. Ellie did fine on the way there. We stayed in Amarillo, had dinner, and went swimming at the indoor pool in the hotel where Des and Mike stayed. Ellie seemed extra tired and didn't seem to care about swimming. I have to admit I was a little disappointed since this would be her first time swimming since she was 3 months old (which doesn't really count). It was warm in the pool area and we had traveled all day, so I just assumed she was hot and tired.

Well, she was. But it was because she was getting sick. She woke up at 1:00 a.m. and she was on fire! She has only had fever twice, but it was nothing like this. I gave her some Tylenol and put her in bed with us. She was still hot in the morning, but we were already halfway there and Kyle's parents were riding with us, so on we went to New Mexico. She was a little cranky and wouldn't eat or drink anything, but the second half of the trip went well considering the sick one-year-old we were traveling with.

We went straight to lunch when we got there and Ellie ate a few bites. She did pretty well the rest of the afternoon because we were outside taking in the beautiful mountains and tall trees. She loves to be outside! That only lasted until bedtime. Now here is where it gets interesting: Sleeping in our one room cabin was: Rita, Randy, Des, Mike, Haven, Sadie, Kyle, me, and Ellie. That would be hard enough with a healthy baby, but Ellie was not feeling good and she hadn't eaten all day. She screamed and cried most of the night until she finally took a bottle about 5 a.m. (right before the sunshine started pouring in our curtainless windows).

I took her to a doctor in town on Saturday morning because I was afraid she had an ear infection. I knew there would be nothing I could do on Sunday or Monday, and since Ellie just got over an ear infection in April, I knew I better get her looked at soon. The doctor was said she had some fluid in her ears and her throat was red, but no ear infection. Basically, I just kept doing what I had been doing. She was still running fever that afternoon, but she's not much of a complainer so she was going about her business of playing in the dirt and collecting rocks in front of our cabin. She went down that night without much fuss and slept for a solid 3 hours before we all crept in the cabin and climbed into bed. Exactly one hour later: Ellie screaming bloody murder. My first thought was that she did have an ear infection and there would be nothing we could do for 2 days. However, she was crying so hard that I gave her some Mylecon and that seemed to do the trick after about 20 minutes. However, we had moved to the car in order to let everyone else sleep and we were afraid to go back into the cabin for fear she'd wake up crying again. So, we "slept" in the car for what seemed like eternity. Slept is in quotes, because I did not sleep. I sat there ridgidly holding Ellie in a very uncomfortable position so that she would sleep. When I finally couldn't take it anymore we went back in and crawled in bed. It had been 3 hours! We got a few hours of sleep the second night before that damn sun came up at an abnormally early hour.

By the way, have I mentioned that we're all sleeping in a one room cabin with no heat or air? And one tiny bathroom? And that it was built in the 1930s? And has no insulation? (I can tell you that a man planned this trip.)

Anyway, Ellie seemed to be better on Sunday and began to get her appetite back. But, Des was feeling so bad by then that they decided to pack up and go home, leaving Rita and me behind . . . jealous and dreading night #3 in the dusty ol' cabin. Although, I have to admit, it wasn't so bad after Ellie was feeling better. She slept all night and was much better by the time we left Monday morning (isn't that how it always goes?) and did awesome on the 9 hour drive home.

It was definitely an experience and something I'm sure I'll laugh about in the future. Until then, I am SO GLAD TO BE HOME!

The cabin
We had 5 cabins in all

There was writing on the walls that went all the way back
to the 1960s. We left our mark in a few places.

The trees were beautiful.

Kyle, Ellie, Granny Jean, and Grandpa

Ellie . . . hangin' in there.

She loved the water!

She also loved to walk across the bridge all by herself.

Playin' with daddy, Uncle Mike, and Sadie

Ellie and Grandma

Peek-a-boo!

A little friend we made. He was eating cheese crackers!

The whole group

It was good to see everyone!

That will be a reunion I'll never forget!