2011 Milestones and Memories - Ella at 2.5 to 3.5 years

NEW THINGS ELLA IS SAYING

•  "Are you kidding me?" - 3.5 years old

•  While playing and kissing on her I was telling her I was going to eat her all gone because she's so sweet. She said "You can't eat me all gone mommy, then God have to made me again!" - 40 months

•  After playing candy land with Ella, mommy, and "baby" Ella says, "Mommy, my baby win! I'm so proud of her!". Then turns to her and continues to repeat "I'm so proud of you baby!!". - 35 months

•  Patted me night night and then said she was going to work - 33 months

•  "I need you to hold my baby Mommy, I too busy" - 33 months

"I too busy right now" – 33

NEW THINGS ELLA IS DOING

•  Noticed at Christmas time that she was much more open and affectionate with family. Maybe she is slowly coming out of her shell - 3 1/2

•  Had Croup: bad cough and horrible congestion - almost 3 1/2

•  Had a 12 minute long phone conversation with Mimi (I got 8 minutes on video) - 40 months

•  Has taken over our nightly prayers. Every single night she prays for our immediate family, all cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and the Brown's along with everyone's pets. She usually throws in something random as well such as school buses (the week school started), her white blankets, a trampoline, etc.) - 39 months

•  Potty trained at night, and now wearing ONLY panties 100% of the time - 38 months

•  She loves to talk and often tells me, "Mommy, I want you to tell me about me." or "Mommy, I want to talk about my school"...meaning, she wants to talk about her day. - 36 months

•  3 year well visit: Weighed 33 pounds, 38 3/4 inches tall. Doing great developmentally. Refused to talk to the doctor due to her shyness but would talk up a storm the second she left.

•  SICKNESS: Brought home an awful stomach bug from daycare. Vomiting for a full day and did not eat for 5 full days. - just before 3 years

•  Has started watching movies and it actually keeps her attention. Her favorite by far is Toy Story 3, then the other Toy Story movies and Beauty & the Beast - around 34 months

•  Measures a size 8.5 shoe, wearing all 9 - 2 years 11 months

•  Loves to "be a good girl", "eat good", "do good", etc. She'll tell me..."I being a good girl mommy!". And I say, "Yes you are, thank you!" Then she says.."Not Easton!". Not only does she like to be good, but she likes to point out when she is good and someone else is being bad or is in trouble! This works well because I can tell her for example that Easton is eating good but that she is not, and she immediately gets defensive and says "I eating good" and then starts to eat! -34 months.

•  Moved up to Ms. Ashley's class (2 1/2 year olds) at school - end of March 2011, 34 months

•  The little things mean so much to her! For example, putting her favorite yogurt on a shelf in the refrigerator that she can reach made her so happy - 33 months

•  After 10 straight days of nasal congestion and cough, we realized it wasn't going to pass on its own, took her to the doctor and she had double ear infections. (Feb. 2011) - 33 months

•  Wears size 9 shoes - 32 months

•  Double eye infections...pink eye that most likely started as a cold and moved into the eyes - 32 months

reads books word for word, even books that we haven't read in a while such as "brown bear brown bear". Loves to read her new book from Christmas "Pinkalicious" and it's the cutest thing to hear her say it "Pinkawishus"- 32 months

2011 Memories and Milestones - Easton at 8 months to 20 months

• Obsessed with Super Why!! Constantly tells me Why" when he wants to watch it. - around 20 months
• Started slowing down when he talks and adding more pronuncation to his words - 20 months
• Says SO MANY words, and I have been horrible at tracking them. He will repeat almost anything and says tons of words! - 18 months
• Horrible hand, foot, and mouth virus - 18 months
• says "baby", "apple", "no", "elmo", "all done" - 16 months
• Continues to say "Ella" all the time and more than anything else. He pats her head and says "Ella, Ella, Ella"! - 15.5 months
• Shakes his head "Yes" and "No" and does it very appropriately. Sometimes it starts as "No", but turns in to a "Yes" when he decides not to be stubborn! - 15.5 months
• Turned face forward in his carseat after getting car sick for the 3rd time on a long car trip - 15.5 months
• says "shhh" for shoe. Loves his shoes...when he sees them he immediately brings them to me, sits down, and sticks he feet in the air. Has recently started trying to put them on himself - 15 months
• Top 2 molars pushing through...extreme drooling, major cough and runny nose, not sleeping well - 15 months
• When he gets mad, he runs away and backs into a corner of the room and pouts by crying or fussing! Usually all I have to do is bend down with my arms out and he runs right into my arms with a big smile. - 14.5 months
• 7th tooth came through around 12.5 months, 8th tooth broke skin at 14.5 months
• When he wakes up, no longer wants out of bed immediately, but instead is extremely content and plays for a long while before asking to get out! - around 13.5 months
• Toddler fracture of his tibia bone from an everyday fall/twist of his leg. Has to wear a short hard cast from the bottom of his knee to his toes for 2.5 weeks - 13 months 1 week old.
• LOVES Balls - 12 months
• SICKNESS: Got a horrible stomach bug from Ella...vomiting and not eating for 5 full days. Ended up in the hospital with dehydration and had to get an IV fluid. 24 hours later was much better. - 1 year
• At one year, Easton is saying the following words: dada, mama, ella, jakey, more, dadu for thank you, bye, all done, "uh uh" for uh oh
• If you ask him for a kiss, he comes at you with a wide open mouth - 12 months
• 2 days before his first birthday, completely transitioned to 100% while milk and 100% sippy cup. No more bottle! - just before 1st birthday
• Eating 100% table food and doing great. He eats exactly the same food as the rest of us for all meals - just before 1st birthday
• Very affectionate...gives tons of hugs and kisses both at home and to his teachers at school - 12 months
• 100% walking - a little before 1st birthday
• Can go from sitting to standing up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything - 11 months 2 weeks
• Measures a size 4 shoe, wearing 4.5 - 11.5 months
• Took 15 steps! - 11 months 1 week
• Completely responds to Ella...he did something that made her laugh and then he just kept repeating it over and over making her laugh each time. He also makes himself "fake" laugh and it is exactly what Ella does. - just over 11 months
• Took 4 steps! - 11 months 6 days
• Eating much more table food! This week he has pretty much eaten the exact same dinner as the rest of us. Some of the things he has eaten this week without a problem...meatloaf, steamed carrots, costco margarita pizza, peas, oranges, and some things off the menu at school - just over 11 months
• 2 more top teeth came through (5 total) - almost 11 months
• Will hardly eat any finger foods....loves puffs and cheerios and bananas but otherwise prefers smooth baby food - 10.5 months
• While I was holding him from behind around his chest, he was walking....I let go and he went 1-2 more steps and stayed standing, then stood for a couple of seconds before losing his balance....maybe this counts as his first steps?!? - 10 months 2 weeks 3 days!
• walks while holding only 1 of our hands - 10.5 months
• says "dada" and "ella" - by 10 months
• Drainage in left ear which means another ear infection. Started Ciprodex ear drops twice a day - 10 months 2 weeks
• No more pumping - just before 10 months
• Officially done nursing :( - 10 months 4 days. Continues to get frozen breastmilk for at least 1-2 bottles per day. - 10 months 4 days
• Top right tooth broke through - 10 months 1 week
• day of tubes procedure, had an ear infection in both ears. Prescribed augmentin for 10 days and ear drops for 10 days - 10 months 4 days
• Tubes in both ears. Procedure done by Dr. Nau - 10 months 4 days
• cruisng furniture, standing without holding on and balancing for about 30 seconds - just before 10 months
• 2nd tooth broke the skin (bottom left) - 9 months 4 weeks
• Had follow up with ENT from his last ear infection to find out that he has another bad ear infection in his right ear. Prescribed Septra and schedule surgery for tubes on Monday 2/28/11 - 9 months 3.5 weeks
• First tooth broke the skin (bottom right) - 9 months 3 weeks
• 2 days after diagnosed with ear infection..congestion continued and he started wheezing. Started breathing treatments (Xaponex 4 times a day) to help with cough and wheezing. - 9.5 months
• After bad congestion for a couple of day, got an ear infection in right ear - 9.5 months. Prescribed zithromax (baby z-pac for 5 days)
• Crawled halfway up the stairs (we saw him headed that way and Michael was right behind him the whole time!) - 9 months 2 weeks
• Can take steps while pushing a walker - almost 9 months 2 weeks
• started mixing his morning cereal with formula rather than breastmilk - 9 months 1.5 weeks
• Pink eye in both eyes, just a few days after Ella had it - 9 months 1 week
• Clapping - 9 months 1 week
• Waving - 9 months
• Pulled himself up to a standing position - 2 days before turning 9 months
• went back for another follow up on his ears and he STILL has a double ear infection. Started his fourth antibiotic (Omnicef 2x day) and was referred to the ENT - 8 months

Christmas traditions: Christmas Eve

Headed out the door for church, we grabbed a quick family picture in front of three.  I LOVE the self time..the kids almost always look at the camera!!

We were expecting the quick 30 minute service of singing and communion so we let the kids go to the big church with us, which they were so excited about!  This year it was the typical 1-hour service, so it was a bit much for the kids, but they did pretty good, and it was amazing as always...so glad we were there!

After, we headed to Aunt Doris's house where there was tons of family, food, and lots of time to play with cousins.  

Kim took all our money with the game left, right, center...

Finally a cute picture of 2nd cousins Weston (left) and Easton (right) who are exactly 1 month apart!  

After a long night, we were home, sprinkled out the reindeer food, set out our cookies, read our special book "Twas the night before christmas" and headed straight to bed.  Ella had tons of questions about Santa as I was putting her to bed and I could just see her little mind working and really trying to understand everything. She knew Santa would only come after everyone was asleep so she asked me to tell Daddy he couldn't work on this particular night because he and I also needed to go to bed!  

Waiting for Santa...

As soon as the cookies were done, the kids were ready for Santa to come eat them!

Christmas Traditions: Baking Cookies

One of my most favorite traditions of all is getting the kids super involved and having them bake the cookies for Santa!  

This year Ella has grown out of her Christmas chef's hat but it was perfect to pass down to Easton and luckily her personalized apron will fit for years to come!

  

           

Christmas Traditions: Lots and lots of hot chocolate!

The kids have had countless snacks sitting around this little island.  It is the one piece of furniture that we bought from the previous homeowners for $50 over 8 years ago! We have loved it and it's also been the perfect little spot for the kids to sip on some hot cocoa this holiday season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!