Nice Almost-Spring Hike

What do you do when you get a brand new car? Take it on a dirt road, of course!

We took Ellie on a short hike last Sunday at a spot not too far from our house. We are pretty coy about where we live, but if you live nearby us you may recognize the formation of the hills and figure out where we went!

New Wheels

So if you read the last post you may have caught that I had to get the Subaru washed on Friday. The reason was that we had someone coming to buy it on Saturday.

We bought the Subaru new almost 9 years ago and it is sad to see it go. We bought it one week after our wedding and drove it through the Canadian Rockies on our honeymoon. I drove the Subaru from Idaho to our new home nearly six years ago and drove it on my long commutes to school and student teaching. Tim has driven it to work for the past year and a half. It is the car that we brought Ellie home from the hospital in. There are so many memories all wrapped up in our little car.

But the time has come. We can't justify spending any more money on it at the repair shop. It is time for the Subaru to find a new home with someone who knows how to repair and maintain it. The guy who bought it is a Subaru repair technician who is going to fix it all up and give it to his sister. He assured us that it still has a long life ahead of it.

And with that we say goodbye to the Subaru... and hello to our new Honda CR-V!

Not Really About Ellie

If you read this blog just for the Ellie updates, you may want to stop reading now because this post is mainly going to be a rant and has very little to do with Little One.

So today Ellie and I went to get the Subaru washed. It was about thirty minutes until Ellie's naptime, but I figured that would be plenty of time to hit the gas station and car wash a mile from our house. We get to the gas station and top off the tank so that we get the car wash discount. I buy the wash, get in the car, and noticed that the car wash isn't working. I have to have the car washed today (more on that later) and go inside to get my money back.

We drive to the next gas station car wash, which has a huge line. The car has to be washed today, so we get in the line. I didn't have a prepaid "wash code" because I didn't get gas there, but I figure I'll pay with a credit card when I get to the front of the line. We wait for TWENTY-FIVE minutes only to realize that they don't take credit cards. Okay, I'll pay with a twenty then. Nope, they only take $1, $5, and $10 bills. Uh-oh...

I get out of the car (Ellie by now is out of her car seat and crawling around on the floor) and practically beg the woman in the car behind me for change. Miraculously she has exactly enough spare bills to make the trade. Whew!

Back to the car, feed the bills into the machine... and it spits them back out. Try another, same result. I hit the "help" button. Nothing. Push it again, harder. Nothing. Eventually it becomes painfully obvious that I am simply holding up the line. Since I haven't actually purchased a car wash (despite my best efforts) I can't go into the car wash. That means that everyone behind me has to back up so that I can get out of line. I would have been embarrassed if it weren't for the toddler in my lap (I know... not a safe choice) and my seething anger.

I pull in front of the gas station and go in to buy a "wash code." I have the following exchange with the barely English speaking fellow behind the counter:

Me: Do you know that your bill acceptor doesn't work on the car wash?
Him: Yeah, it only takes quarters.
Me: It would have been nice to know that before I sat in line for twenty five minutes (with this now-screaming-toddler).
Him: We have a sign.
Me: Where? I didn't see a sign.
Him: It is on the bill acceptor machine.
Me: How am I supposed to see that when I am seven cars back in line?
Him: I don't know. Well, actually I think someone took the sign.
Me: None of this is helping me. Why don't you respect your customers' time by either fixing it or putting up a large sign...
Him: I'm sorry? (I guess...?)

And then I took my code, got back in line, tortured the baby by taking her through the car wash, which is apparently the scariest thing ever if you are one year old, and got home and put her down for nap 45 minutes late.

There, I feel at least a little better now.

Look At Me!

I know I keep saying it, but Ellie is one busy little girl! She sure keeps us on our toes.

She loves carrying things around, especially "kitchen things" when I am making dinner. She really enjoys this big spoon:



The other night Ellie figured out how to pull the cat's tail; and boy, does she think it is funny! I let her do it long enough to try and get a picture, but mainly I got shots of her chasing the kitty:


Ellie riding on her push toy/ride on lion. She doesn't know how to move it on her own when she is riding, so we have to push her.

Trying to scoot on her own:

Cousins

My sister just sent me a picture of my niece, Kieron, when she was Ellie's age (12 whole YEARS ago!!!).

Kieron, then...

Ellie now...

Apparently carrying objects around in your mouth runs in the family!

Busy Girl

I hope you like pictures, because you are about to get an "Ellie overload."

Ellie is always on the move! She is into creating "work" for herself, like moving a pile of items from one room of the house to another

She also enjoys making messes. Here she discovered a box of bandaids and a "Costco-sized" box of q-tips.

Wearing a hat Grandma B. bought her at Art in the Park two years ago (before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl...)


"Here I come!"


Loving on Sebastian.

Taunting Kipling with a Curious George book. "Chase me, chase me!"

Playing with blocks.

We have been preparing some of Ellie's baby stuff to sell, like her infant seat (We have decided that Ellie is going to be an only child). While I was getting ready to take pictures of it Ellie filled it up with blocks.

Running (and yes, I mean running) around the house with granola bars in her hands and mouth.

Twelve Months Old

Ellie has changed so much this month; I hope that I can capture it all in this post. This has also been the month of illness and separation anxiety. Most of our days are spent either following Ellie from room-to-room or with her plastered to our legs. She has, however, learned to entertain herself for long stretches of time - provided she can see us and we periodically burst into silly songs and make her laugh.

Ellie had her 12-month well-baby checkup yesterday. She got no less than five shots in her little legs and that pretty much ruined the rest of the day. Today her legs are tender, but she is in a fantastic mood. Here are her stats from yesterday: 17lbs, 9oz (7th percentile; being an early walker has burned off lots of calories and slowed down her weight gain); 27 3/4 inches long (20th percentile).

How Ellie has changed over the last month:

• Talking: Ellie now says "Mama," "Papa," "Dada," an attempt at "Meow," and her new favorite word, "uh-oh!"
• Teeth: Ellie has seven teeth fully in and an eighth just popping through.
• Naps: Ellie takes two naps, one at 9:00am for an hour and one at 1:00pm for an hour and a half.
• Nighttime: Ellie is (finally!) sleeping through the night almost every night. She goes to bed at 7:15pm and sleeps until 6:30am or so.
• Her favorite food right now is peas. She would eat an entire can of them if we let her.
• Ellie blows kisses and gives kisses (when she wants to!).
• She can flush the toilet.
• She figured out how to open cabinets (until Mama installed locks on all of them).

Events of the last month:

• The month of sleeping through the night!
• Lots of playtime with Jamison and another little neighbor, Ian.
• First taste of chocolate!

Can I Have Some More?

We celebrated Ellie's birthday (early) yesterday with Grandma and Grandpa P. Ellie wasn't sure what to think of her cupcake when we set it in front of her - in fact she tried to feed it to the dogs - but she was hooked after the first bite!

If this isn't an expression of pure "birthday cake bliss" I don't know what is!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Dear Ellie,

Today you turn one. One entire year old. What a joy the last 12 months with you have been. Even all those evenings and nights of seemingly endless screaming (reflux is a painful thing!) have become a blur. Our lives have changed dramatically since you were born, and it has been amazing. Because of you everything has more meaning. We see things through your eyes, which makes the sky seem more blue, the grass seem greener and each sunrise more beautiful than the one before. You truly are a gift.

Mama and Daddy love you to the moon and back.

The Artist Formerly Known As Ellie

First, a quick update on how everyone around here is feeling. Tim doesn't seem to be getting hit too hard and I'm definitely on the mend. Ellie is holding her own but still coughing a lot and is congested.

On to the fun stuff... Awhile back I bought Ellie these new crayons from Crayola. They are made for toddlers and are supposed to be easy for them to grip, without snapping the crayon in half.

Ellie thought that the little crayon sticking out of the top looked like a fancy pacifier and mainly spent her time sucking and chewing on it...

She did do some coloring though.

Almost-one-year-olds don't understand that the crayon part has to make contact with the paper in order to do any actual "coloring."

And then, in true artistic form, she ripped up her work and threw it on the ground:

The crayons, after much chewing (and the taking of one bite - note the green crayon isn't quite so pointy anymore).