Fun in the Snow

For some reason Photobucket isn't posting the entire videos I upload. So I'm giving Blogger a try. I'm not sure what each one is until I post it, though!

An Early Valentine

Ella received some money in the mail last week from Babcia and Dzia dzia for Valentine's Day. Since she has more clothes than the Queen of England, we decided to get her something she wanted rather than needed. Ella has been obsessed with bikes (Sarah's in particular) so we opted for a tricycle. She is love, love, love with it! I think she'd sleep with it if we let her. We're still working on pedaling, and she has gotten a few pushes in here and there. Thankfully the bike extends to grow with her so we should get some good mileage out of it in the next few years.




Taken outside today... it's about 60 out. he he he

Give Me a Break!

This really makes me mad. Let me see... the lender loaned money they should have known would be difficult to repay once interest rates went up and the borrower wanted instant gratification so took out a loan they weren't sure they would be able to afford in the future... and so the government is going to bail them all out. Is the government going to provide me with assistance to purchase a home? Nope. Because we're smart and are saving and waiting and being patient, we are just out of luck. Now, I understand that getting the housing market stabilized is good for the economy overall and thus for my grocery and gas bills. But I'm really tired of irresponsible, 'I want it all and I want it now' spending in America. More people need to tune in to Dave Ramsey -- including our government!

Toddlerhood

Ella's "Terrible Twos" started around 12-13 months. We've had temper tantrums, biting, hitting, etc since then (time outs started at 15 months and are pretty ineffective). I had convinced myself that since she started so early, certainly by 2 she'd have grown out of it. I'm serious -- I was convinced! HA! Since turning 18 months she has added, "No!", pushing your hands away if she wants to do it herself, climbing, and upping the ante on the tantrums.

It's hard for me to tell if this is the 'real' Ella or not because since November, she's been sick. We've had three ear infections in six weeks making for one cranky kid! I suppose I could keep her home all the time, but she has so much fun with other kids that I hate to do that (don't worry -- I keep her out the church nursery and other groups when she's contagious). Needless to say, this has been the most frustrating few months of Ella's life yet (for me).

To add to all that, we're having sleeping issues. Ella has never had sleep issues. Since the day we brought her home, she slept in her own bed in her own room. About a week ago when we'd put her down for the night, she'd go running for OUR BED! She's never slept in it and I have no idea why this started. Last week she started waking up between 1-3 AM and screaming to go to bed with us -- but I'm not sure if that's the ears or what.

Life Lesson: No matter how consistent you are with them when they are babies, it ALL goes out the window in toddlerhood. I feel like we've started back at square one! I should've had another one before we hit the toddler stage! Forget the icky pregnancy -- who wants to go through this again!?!?!

OK, I feel better now. Thanks for listening and any and all advice is welcome!

A Trip to the Springs Preserve

It has finally warmed up here! I realize that most people who read this blog are going to want to throw something at me for complaining, but it's been in the high 40's/low 50's for way too long and I've been freezing. Late last week it warmed up to... 70. Yeah, sorry for all you in the depths of below freezing temps, snow, wind and blizzards. But you get snow days -- we don't.

I digress. We headed out in the gorgeous weather yesterday to check out the brand-new Springs Preserve. The Springs Preserve is a 180-acre non-gaming cultural and historical attraction designed to commemorate Las Vegas' dynamic history and to provide a vision for a sustainable future. We only made it as far as the play area where Ella wore herself out. We're planning to head back to check out the gardens and trails.







No, Ella doesn't have a shiner. She has pink eye (and an ear infection), but boy did we get some looks yesterday! She also has a cut on her lip and chin (she tripped and fell on Friday), which didn't help.

Sugar and Spice....

and lots and lots of ribbons and bows! That's what little girls are made of!

Go Giants!

Aside from University of Michigan football, I'm not much of a sports fan. I really like football, though, and last night's Super Bowl match up was superb. Would it be a huge upset by the underdog NY Giants or the completion of a perfect record season for the NE Patriots? We are a NY Giants family so we were rooting for the upset with lots of dip, pizza rolls, chicken brats, and chicken wings. Ella wore her almost too small Giants outfit and we cheered them on!

I am very happy the Giants won because it makes Mitch very happy! Kind of like Michigan beating Florida this year... brought me to tears! Today I have a very happy husband, a tired baby girl, and lots of left overs! Not bad for the day after.