Cutie Pie.

Here, a sneaky little sprite hides in the study as Mom and Dad try to catch her to take her to church.

We won.

Mom and Dad: 5,947

Ella: 0

Sweet November.

Here are a few pics taken in November...

Here's Ella in a hat she stole from her bff Mollie for a few days. It was VERY important to her that week.

Here Ella counts "ray-deer" in the hat. She has been on a mission to figure out how to get up in the tree to touch the rest of them, but so far has not been able to devise a successful plan.

Here Ella wears her "Escaped from Alcatraz" shirt I brought her from San Francisco. Once she escaped, she got a case of the sillies, forgot that she was on the run, and got caught.

Here Ella's lawyer is taking her to court to defend her. He not only got her off on the escape charges, but got the initial sentence reversed too! Apparently being that cute is actually NOT a crime.

Rainy Day Baby.

Here Ella is sporting her pink raincoat for a rainy October day. This is one of two made by a great lady in New York who sells these at the Christmas Gala at Grand Central Station and online. The other one we have happens to be my size...

Want one? Get your own at http://www.bodyscapeskids.com/.

Daddy's Toothbrush.

Ella's favorite spot of late is Daddy's sink. She fits in it so well that it must be comfortable because she's perfectly content to sit in it while I get ready.

Chapstick is Ella's latest obsession. We used to offer her "some" when we put it on, so now she thinks it's called "some." She has green some, yellow some, white some, and black some. She not only smears it all over her mouth, but also in her eyebrows too. The child will never-- EVER-- get chapped lips!

She also loves playing with Daddy's toothbrush. He ended up buying another one and using this one as a decoy.

Ella's Pumpkin.

Ella and I went to a pumpkin farm in early October to pick her very own little pumpkin and go on her first hay ride. Here she waits patiently in the laundry room for me to be ready to leave. Piggy and "Mickey Mouse Bow" (which is Minnie Mouse's code name) went along too.

Ella and Piggy wait for the hayride to begin! She wore her equestrian boots for the occasion.

Ella and her pals wait on the hay. The boys in the back had a great time, but the girls up front stayed as still as their mothers told them to be.

Ella gets back on board with the little pumpkin she picked. She soon named it "I Punkin." Devastation ensued when she dropped it the very next day and broke the stem off. No child has ever been so heartbroken over a pumpkin, so I bought her a couple of plastic ones to help heal the wounds.

As we drove away from the patch, Ella must have said, "Bye bye punkins" at least 500 times. REALLY digging the pumpkins this year! Maybe I'll actually carve one next year...

Bye bye barn!

Halloween Comes Early.

It seems like every day Ella becomes less baby, more girl. Dressing up is now SO funny, and trying to walk in my high-heeled shoes can either bring this little drama queen to height of exhilaration or the lowest depths of frustration.

When her Halloween costume came in we attempted to try it on her to make sure it fit. She prefers it backwards and inside out, paired with upside-down sunglasses, of course!

She's usually not much of a ham for the camera, but kept kicking up her leg. I only take the pictures-- asking questions isn't in my job description.

New Pics.

Here are a few of Ella's 18-month pictures that we had done earlier this year.

Splash Pad.

Ella and I met some mom message board pals at the Splash Pad. It's basically a concrete pad with drains and huge fountains for the kids to splash in.

My little frady cat did not like the fountains, even if I held her to run through, so we dried off and enjoyed a picnic in the grass instead. We might not be ready for the fountains yet, but the company was spectacular!

Aah-Bow.

Ella's best friend Mollie has encouraged her to wear hair bows. What one does, the other wants to do too, if only for a short period of time. Here's a rare shot of her wearing her "aah-bow" to church. It didn't come home in her hair, but I still consider it a win.

New Trick.

Here is Ella's new trick in "I Cheow." (Translation: my chair. Which she is

VERY selfish about.) "What just happened?"

Lo?

Answering the phone is Ella's newest hobby. "Lo? Lo?," is the extent of her phone conversation skills! Hmmm... maybe I'll let her handle the telemarketing calls from now on...

Ella likes to take her calls while enjoying the fireplace in the parlor. Oh, apparently this call is for me!

Still the One.

Ella's vocabulary and comprehension have really taken off lately. Pig is no longer "Piii!," but now actually "Pig." She understands so much of our conversation now and can truly talk back in mini-sentences. Here she's telling me to come on. "Come-OW!"

I know these are the everyday sorrows of a mother, but she's growing and changing so fast it feels like the days are just sand rushing through my hands. I am trying to cherish, treasure, and burn every moment into my memory as it flies right by.

Have a Little Help From My Friend.

Ella and I love going to the jump place with our playgroup. It is a huge indoor play place with arcade games, riding toys, inflatable bouncy tents, and big inflatable slides. (Yes, I feel like there should be an apostrophe in Kids, but this is how they spell it and I will respect that...)

Here Ella is getting some help from a buddy on a trike which she hasn't quite figured out yet, being the crazy daredevil that she is. (Eyes rolling-- so untrue.)

Zoo for Two.

Today Ella and I went to the zoo with our friends Lana, Robin, and baby Emma. Emma is Ella's friend who is closest in age, so Robin and I were on the phone quite a bit in those early days! They live on the other end of town, but I hope we can get the girls together more this summer. Hey girls, the meer cats are the other way!

Lana did a great job of herding these two in the right direction-- these two girls have minds of their own!

Ella got pretty cranky toward the end of the evening... if Ella's not IN her jammies IN her bed at PRECISELY 7:00 there WILL be a reckoning.

Big Girl Jammies.

Ella has been trotting around in new jammies a la big girl lately. Apparently the one-piece jobs I bought for summer aren't going to make it because of her abnormally large feet. Going back to the drawing board yielded long pants and tops sets-- sans footies.

Here I had Ella in a classic giggling match and got some good shots of her contagious smile. Notice she's sporting fancy new canines!

Wet N' Wild.

I think you can tell from the overall "splashiness" of this picture that Ella is over her trepidation of the kiddie pool now. Ready for the summer swim-a-thon!

Pig Goes Hog Wild.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Angel had the foresight to bestow upon us a family pass to the zoo for the year. I took Ella for the first time a couple of weeks ago on a play date with our stay at home moms group. Here's a shot of Ella sucking on pig, completely ignoring the giraffes in the background.

We really enjoyed it. An animal must meet certain criteria in order for Ella to acknowledge its existence.

1. Animal must be brightly colored.

2. Animal must be moving rapidly, but not too rapidly.

3. Animal must be no more than 10 feet away.

The zoo is a fantastic walk... decks over ponds, rivers, and waterfalls, a carousel, bamboo stretching overhead to provide shade, a snack bar (obviously! I went there, right?!) Upon our arrival back home, Russ asked where all the pictures were of the animals. Want to see the animals, dear? Go to the zoo. What am I, National Geographic?

So, to anyone out there sucker enough to read this blog, a family pass means I get a guest in for free. Kids under 2 are free. Over two $8. Let's go!

105. Don't Sweat It.

Sick. Sick, sick, sick! That's what we had going on here for THREE DAYS.

It started on an ordinary, perfectly lovely Monday morning. I was mentally prepped to toss the kid on the curb at Miss Katie's house, head to the Y for cardio and weights, and back here to tackle some trading.

Ella's little viral friend had other plans. Russ got her out of bed and the moment he handed her to me I could feel steam rising off of her skin. 103.

I thought... "Okay. She's had a runny nose for a week. It's moved into her ears and she has an infection. Let's go to the doctor, get some antibiotics, and knock it out of the park."

At the doctor's office, nothing appeared to be wrong. The doctor said it might be a bladder infection, would you like to check? Well, of course I would! We need to know!

The first step was trying to get Ella to pee in the potty cup. Stripping down a small person who isn't used to potties, sitting her on a large potty, and asking her to pee is not the best idea I've ever had. She was truly upset.

Next up? Catheter. I've never seen her more traumatized in her whole little life. That didn't work either.

Lastly, a little baggy in her diaper. Still no pee.

So we left. I can safely say that that was the worst day in my darling baby's life and I felt about an inch tall for putting her through it. If they hand out a worst mother of the year award I'm surely the front runner. I think next time I will shun the safe side and assume it's a virus from the start.

That afternoon her fever reached 105. For the next three days it was Tylenol. Motrin. Tylenol. Motrin. Every three hours, even through the night. She was a trooper, but was pretty miserable.

I'm so, so glad it ended quickly-- some people fought it for 8 days. At times like that I am, once again, thankful that I am able to drop everything (which is completely unimportant) and take care of the little person who needs me most.

My Name is Cornholio...

WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU NEED ALL THIS TP FOR? When I'm taking a moment (okay fine-- 30 minutes) for a shower, I turn on some rockin' Baby Einstein music and leave Ella to her own devices in our bedroom and bathroom. One day she decided to make a little nest out of a fresh roll of TP.

We've all been there-- admit it. You did it as a kid, didn't you? I actually remember my brother and cousin telling on me when I did it and I got spanked by my Grandmother.

Ella looked so lovely and content during this little project I just couldn't ask her to stop. Hey, what's one less roll, right?

I don't think this is what the creators of the Charmin "less is more" campaign had in mind...

Farmer's Market.

Ella's first trip to the Farmer's Market happened on a playdate with some moms and kiddos. She had fun playing in the garden, but as they were "strangers," she hung pretty close to me. The jury's still out on whether she gets her personality traits from me or Russ-- we'll keep you posted. I must say, though, that it's nice taking her around strangers because I get an afternoon of snuggling out of it!