Jamison

Hailey asked to see some of the pictures of Jamison I've taken lately; so here they are!

Ells and James chillin' at the carnival.

Blowing bubbles.

Okay, so this one isn't Jamie, but rather his sister, Berlin.

Hailey and Jamison.

A not-so-happy Jamie at the end of a long day.

Ding!

Ellie has been trying so hard to figure out how to ring the bell on Jamison's Radio Flyer tricycle. She finally did it!

Open For Business!

My Etsy shop has officially "opened." Check it out at ellieroo.etsy.com. I only have a few items posted right now, but I have a lot of inventory that will be added as I get the time!

New Camera

Tim and I (okay, really just me) got a new camera last week. It is a digital SLR and I've been saving up for one for awhile now. Over the past year I have had a real desire to go back to my old SLR days of high school photography and yearbook. The only catch is that I have forgotten all the F-stop and aperture setting information... I guess I have some (re)learning to do! For now though, the automatic mode is making me look like a better photographer than I really am!

Tim took this series of photos of Ellie wearing his "dasses."






A happy girl playing on Jamie and Berlin's slide (thanks for sharing!)

Eighteen Months Old

Ellie and I spent the last week in Idaho, so this monthly update is a week late. We had a great time and I will post some pictures from that trip shortly.

Ellie is constantly making us crack up laughing and she is so much fun to parent right now. (Aside from the occasional temper tantrum...)

How Ellie has changed in the past month:

• Ellie has added to her list of "What does the animal say?" responses. She will now moo like a cow, roar like a lion, say "ooo, ooo, ooo" for a monkey, meow like a cat, and woof like a dog.
• She likes to tell us (and the animals) to "moose" which is her word for "move." She enjoys telling us where to go and pushing or pulling us along by our shorts if we don't move fast enough.
• Ellie sleeps through the night about 50% of the time now. The other nights typically only have one or two wakings.
• Ellie dropped to one nap. She sleeps for about two hours from 1pm to 3pm.
• She is getting really good at feeding herself. She doesn't like us to feed her from a spoon anymore; she wants to do it herself.
• Ellie wants to do everything her way, without help. She often gets frustrated because she can't do it herself, but if we try to help it usually ends with her throwing herself on the ground in a tantrum.
• Continuing to talk up a storm. She puts two words together now and has figured out that if someone is far away you have to YELL for them to hear you.

Events of the past month:

• Lots of trips to the pool, including the time Ellie decided to jump into the pool with no one there to catch her...
• Trip to Idaho
• Two trips to the zoo

The Zoo

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to the zoo with our friends Dan and Becca and their daughter, Eleora. Eleora is 3 1/2 and Ellie adored her!

Ellie chasing the geese - getting the zoo trip off to a good start!

Ellie and Eleora holding hands. Ellie wanted to hold Eleora's hand the entire time. Eleora wasn't too sure about that, but she was a good sport!

Walking to the giraffes and then looking at them together.

Riding in the wagon together.

Becca, Dan, Eleora, Ellie, and Tim.

Ellie was fixated on this water bottle that Dan and Becca were kind enough to share with Ellie.

Eleora holding a parakeet with Dan.

Fun For Mama

Saturday afternoon and evening I was able to take a few hours for myself and get out with some friends. Tim was home with Ellie from nap time to bath time by himself. He did a great job (and appreciates even more what it is like to be an at-home Mama)!

My neighbors Hailey, Jenn, Rhea, and I, along with four other ladies went rafting. We had an amazing time and it was so much fun for all of us wives/moms to get out for a bit.

I feel so lucky to have such amazing neighbors, whom I count among my best friends. You gals rock!

Post rafting pics. We were split up in two rafts. The guide in front was ours (Rhea, Hailey, and I) and the one in back was Jenn's and the other ladies' guide. No, the dog didn't raft (but if you know me at all you would know that I wouldn't have complained if he had).