Ellie's 2 year update

 ^^ this one was just of her blinking (obviously), but it totally could be mid eye roll, 

like "Really mom?? Enough pictures already!" haha

I am usually so on it with these posts, but for some reason or another this one kept getting pushed farther and farther out. Our girl turned 2 on February 5th and it has been amazing to see her growth in so many ways this past year. She melts our hearts and we are extremely blessed to call her ours. (I could write more paragraphs than I have below, all about how she has touched our lives...)

Size: 34.3" (62%) and 27.5 pounds (62%). Wearing 2T-4T clothes and size 7 shoe. She is looking taller and taller - clearly she's growing, but since calling her "big girl" more often, she really is looking like, and acting like, a for real toddler. My arms can definitely feel her growth as well - I can't hold her as long anymore!

Hair: Auburn and holding strong. I still have yet to cut it, too. It's growing out well, but no matter how I do it, it pretty much always falls out and gets in her face.

Sleeping: She's holding on to her nap so nicely, with the exception of early waking every once in awhile. On average she still does 12:45 - 3:15pm. And then falls asleep around 8:30pm and stays down till around 7/7:30am. With nap she falls asleep super fast, but at bedtime it takes her a bit to wind down (we put her in crib around 7:45, but like I wrote above, doesn't fall asleep till around 8:30pm). Even if we wait longer to put her down, it still seems to take her awhile to settle down. So we feel like no matter what, we may as well keep her bedtime the same (earlier than later). She still only sleeps with one blanket and doesn't even need it for comfort or warmth; it ends up across crib more than half the time. She sucks on her right hand middle and ring finger though for that comfort still when tired.

^^ a scene I walked into after she was done with nap

Eating: She's kind of a picky eater, because more than not, she won't try new foods. We try our hardest to entice her with new things, it just doesn't always work. Her fave foods are chicken nuggets, quesadillas, lasagna, mac & cheese, yogurt and pretty much any smoothie and fruit. She has 3 meals, with 1-2 snacks. Girl loves her milk, always has, so we limit it and have now switched from whole milk to 2% and she doesn't show the slightest care. (We switched because she's growing great and doesn't need that extra fat, especially now that she's 2.) In that mouth of hers there are 13 teeth, with a couple more showing signs of trying to pop through.

Milestones/Accomplishments:
-Potty trained. We started the training process December 26th (she was almost 23 months) and it has been going wonderfully, with a few regression times. She does wear pull-ups (which we call "sleep underwear") during nap and at night. And pooping is still a tricky thing to get her to do on the potty and not in her sleep underwear.
-Counts..."1, 2, 3, (skips 4 pretty much every single time) 5, 6," pauses, and we have to say 7 sometimes, but she goes on to say "8,9,10" and sometimes she adds 11 on the end!
-Alphabet..."a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, x, y, z!" e-i is a little different sometimes, missing letters here and there or mixing them up a bit. She can also identity 10-15 letters
-Saying up to 6 word phrases/sentences. She shocks us a lot with how much she says in sentence form.
-Knows all body parts
-Knows colors and some shapes are usually right on the money... heart, circle, square...

Likes:
-Dancing
-Babies. She is constantly wanting to give her babies a bath, cuddle them, feed them, dance with them, dress and undress them, even have them sit in her lap - while she sits in your lap - with a blanket on all of you - and have you read to the both of them
-TV show Sofia the First. Right when she turned 2 we let her watch an episode of a show a day, if she asks.
-Story time before nap and bedtime (that cuddle/story time is some of my favorite time with her, too)
-Tickles
-Being chased by us, friends and other kids (mostly the running around together with other kids)
-Asks "this one?" (like as in what is this/who is this) or "what's this called?" all the time. Wants to learn so much
-"Slides" with the couch cushions and tunnels/forts with furniture and blankets

Dislikes:
- Dr. office. She has cried and clung to us the last several times we've gone in. We do our best to ease her uneasiness, but she just gets so upset when the doctor does their normal checks. It may not help that she has gotten a shot or two the last several times, it's a different provider the last handful of times (her original doctor was out of town, she is changing specialties and the office just recently got a full time person to replace her) and the appointments are far and few in between. Awhile ago we got her a little doctor kit to play with at home, to help familiarize her with the different items and checks, we show her a picture of the doctor and talk about them before we go, etc but it doesn't seem to help one bit once we are there.

Things to remember:
Said, "I love dancing so much". How she says "yeeaahh" with a slight tilt of her head. When we go into her room when nap is done or when she wakes in morning, says "all done sleepin". Replaces 't' with a 'p' sound often, so spoon, is 'stoon', and spot is 'stot' and speaker is 'steaker'...but only if that letter is in a word, so 'pot' and 'picture' sound normal, since they start with a 'p'. Sings "happy birphday day tooo yooouu!!" randomly throughout the day. When asked how old she is says, "turned 2". Has combined the phrases 'funny girl' and 'silly goose' to 'funny goose'

Birthday morning above (she was sooo excited to see the presents and the balloons) and her birthday party below. This year she was able to open (most of) her presents on her own and got more excited about things. 

I decided to do a low key animal birthday party for her...she has fun going through the animal noises when you ask her what animal makes what noise. And I did make a cute '2nd BIRTHDAY' sign, but I didn't get a pic of it...oh well. She had a great time being with friends and even though she won't remember this birthday, we loved celebrating her. 

^^ beautiful cake made by one of our friends (she made Ellie's cake last year, too!).

Thank you Danika!!

23 weeks

How far along?: 23 weeks! This is the last month in my second trimester and the start of month 6. So amazing we are more than half way through and I am definitely showing more than in my last update (19 weeks).

Movement: Baby girl moves every day, but most of it has been internal - Steven hasn't felt the baby move, yet. She gets the hiccups fairly often still as well. Ellie would get them a ton. The movement constantly makes me grateful for this little life growing inside me.

Total weight gain/loss: I have now gained 5 pounds all together. At my next OB appointment I'm going to ask them to look up my weight at this point when I was pregnant with Ellie. I know for sure I had gained more than this by now, but I have no idea how much...I'm very curious. Don't know how I've gotten this lucky in the weight department because I'm not eating any different than before and I haven't actually worked out. Though, like I said before, having an almost 2 year old keeps me pretty busy and she loves being held, so holding almost 30 pounds worth off and on throughout day is probably helpful ; )

Maternity clothes: 3 out of the 4 pairs of jeans/pants I could wear pre-pregnancy still fit (button still being used). There is one though that's almost uncomfortable, so it probably won't be too much longer and that ratio is going to be 2 out of 4 pairs. More of my normal shirts are getting pushed to their max in the chest and belly region and a few more maternity shirts have made an appearance. I did get two pairs of maternity jeans when I was pregnant with Ellie, but they are still too big for me to wear at this point.

Currently craving: Coffee, ice cream and pizza. I have always loved those things, however I want them more than before!

Anything make you sick or queasy?: I can't think of anything in addition to left over food in containers...

Belly button in or out?: It's mainly flush to my belly, but sometimes it pokes out a little.

Stretch marks?: There may be a couple new ones...I am trying to be diligent with staying hydrated throughout the day and putting lotion on several times a day.

Sleep: I have been forgetting to mention Steven got me a snoogle pregnancy pillow for Christmas and  it's been amazing. It can be so annoying using several pillows to prop and support different areas, and this is helpful in getting comfy faster and easier! My bedtime has seemed to get earlier...before we would try to be in bed by 10:30 pm and now I am usually really tired by 9:30 pm. And I'll be passed out quite fast. Even if I have to get up to use the restroom a time or two during the night, I can fall right back asleep just fine as well. I do get tired around 2:30/3 pm, but Ellie wakes from nap around 3/3:30, so I haven't been napping like I use to.

Feeling: This pregnancy still seems surreal to us most of the time because we are busy taking care of the house and Ellie. When I really think about how it will be later this year, I know it's going to be such a different life. We are really looking forward to the new addition, but also want to savor these last months as a family of 3. Steven and I also want to try and get in plenty of date nights...maybe even some type of "babymoon". Thankfully we still have amazing people to watch Ellie, while Steven and I get a night to ourselves (at least once a month)!

Working on/Thinking about: The nursery! I have gotten a few pieces already and am constantly scouting out more items I want to add. It's nice that we have the space to keep the girls in separate rooms and it makes it even more fun for me to have the chance to decorate another nursery.
And I am always thinking about working out, but I haven't made it an effort at all...one day!

Favorite moment from this week: Nothing has really topped off finding the gender a few weeks ago! Although I did order a set of newborn headbands from a shop called Simple June and I about died when I opened them. They are smaller than any newborn headband I had for Ellie and the thought of holding such a tiny person again made me melt.

baby #2 is a...

We are beyond excited to welcome another GIRL to our family! She is measuring great and baby girl cooperated so well during the whole ultrasound exam. Everything they needed to look at and measure is wonderful. Our hearts melt every time we see our little baby on that screen and hear the heart beat.  She's such a mover/jabber so I'm really glad she didn't make the exam hard to get done and especially made it easy to see what gender she was!!!!! Steven was like, "Are you sure?!" when the technician first told us/showed us it was a girl. And she said, "Yes." We even looked several more times just to be sure ; ). She...oh we are so glad we can say that now! It's a girl. Another girl! I get choked up thinking about holding another daughter and seeing another precious life God helped us create.

There was probably only one person (my mom) who thought baby number 2 was most likely going to be a boy, everyone else was hoping for a girl! I had no idea or any intuition as to whether it was going to be a boy or a girl. However, on the night of October 4th, 2016 I had a dream we were going in for our 20 week anatomy scan and baby was in place right away to see the gender...it was a GIRL! After having that dream I still didn't have a feeling one way or the other. Though to be honest, the idea of having a boy kind of terrified me. It's just unknown territory. Seeing what our boy would look like would be wonderful, and bringing up a possible mama's boy would be sweet. I just know girl and even though she could be so different from Ellie, it's just a bit more on my radar, because hello, I'm a girl. 

Picturing Ellie with a baby sister makes us smile. She got super cute when I told her the baby in mommy's tummy is a girl; it's a baby sister. She responded with saying, "Excited!" She knows she going to be a big sister, but now it's even sweeter to say she's going to have a little sister.

19 weeks

How far along?: 19 weeks and 2 days

Movement?: YES!!!! This last week there's been definite movement! I could even watch my belly button area do waves here and there because of it-weird, but cool. And I've felt hiccups as well. These moments make me smile.

Total weight gain/loss?: No weight gained these last couple weeks. I actually lost a couple pounds. So now I've only gained 1 pound now since the beginning of pregnancy. Being active with a toddler this time around is helping I guess!

Currently craving?: Ice cream cake! I have it for my birthday whenever possible and it was my birthday the last week in December. And yumm, I had it and I want more!

Anything make you sick or queasy?: Nope. Thankfully.

Maternity clothes?: Still just a few shirts and I've mostly been living in leggings and sweatpants at home. But I can still wear my normal jeans!

Belly button in or out?: It's pretty much flush with my stomach.

Stretch marks?: No new ones!

Sleep: Sleep has been good! Despite needing to get up a several times to pee, I sleep really well.

Feeling: Anxious to find out the gender! I had a routine OB appointment this last week and the doctor took a look for fun to see if we could find out earlier than scheduled. However, the baby wasn't cooperating, I didn't have a full bladder and the machine wasn't one of their nice ones- no luck. So hopefully on the 19th, when we have the official anatomy scan, we'll see! It was so wonderful though to see our baby on that ultrasound screen. And what very little we did see/check out looked and sounded good.
Every once in awhile I have cramping/ligament pain. I also gets waves of tiredness, comes on quick and I just want to take a nap, but of course it's at an inconvenient time.

Working on/Thinking about: Praying that everything will look good with the baby at our anatomy scan. Everything went so well with Ellie and we are just praying for this baby to be healthy as well.

Favorite moment from this week: Feeling the baby move! I had been anticipating this and it was such a joy knowing for sure it was the baby.

December photo favorites

December...the month that has my favorite holiday - CHRISTMAS! I love getting the Christmas decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving, just so I can enjoy them as long as I can (the hubby doesn't want them up before Thanksgiving). We got a decent amount of snow this month and we had a white Christmas, which always makes me happy! When I was younger, living in Oregon, I would frequently pray for a white one, and would very rarely ever get it. Then when I lived in Alaska, it was of course a guarantee. Now, the last three Decembers we've been in Idaho, we've had one every time (insert a giddy kid happy dance)!! Ellie loves seeing the snow, talking about the snow ("Snow everywhere - fun!" she says), and playing in it! Now we just need to build a snowman...
The three of us went to Oregon for a week and got to spend time with some family and friends. However, I didn't get but a couple pictures during that time, whoops. (But my mom will be sending me some soon!) We hosted our Friends Christmas party. And celebrated the holiday a few more times as the actual holiday approached. It was so fun to watch Ellie this year. Last year she was barely a one year old. This time she was able to get more into it and got excited about things. She was able to open her presents by herself (for the most part) and loved the Christmas tree/lights every.single.morning! She would ask for the "misses tree lights" every time we would walk out of her room each morning. Having a little one makes each holiday more fun for me. Seeing the joy in her face and eyes, seriously makes this mama more sentimental.
Also, this month we potty trained Ellie! She has been showing a lot of signs for awhile that made us feel comfortable starting it so early. The first couple days were rough and the first hand full of nights were miserable. We were doing an underwear only method, day and night. But then we decided to do pull-ups for nap and night, which has helped us get our sanity back. We ALL need our sleep!!! She has been doing amazing with it and all 3 times she's been out since the start of training she has been accident free and has gone in her little potty chair we packed up in the car! Getting out has helped with our sanity as well...we are avid shoppers and staying home bound was rough, too!
I also turned 29 and even though it was spent at home, potty training I am proud to be a stay at home mom. This is what I always wanted!

^^ she'd admire those lights and ornaments every day

loving the first big snowfall of the winter

Friend's Christmas Party

^^ I spy some little piggies...

^^ Ellie got this little vacuum from some friends; she loves it. 

She would always want to "help" me when I would and now she has her very own!

^^ Christmas Eve!

^^ Christmas morning!

^^ hat for Christmas tradition. Last year on the left, this year on the right

^^ more snow fun...on Christmas! Makes me so happy...and Ellie!

^^ early potty training days...but success!