Christmas Day 2008

We hosted our first Christmas this year with J's family on his mom's side. Everything seemed to go very well and Ella behaved like a very good girl. All of the family was very generous and she was lucky to receive some very special gifts. Pictures of her with the gifts will be posted shortly. Until then, here is a picture we took at the end of the day of Ella and Papa.



Thanks so much for a great day.

Baby #2 update

Greta will be here shortly, and after seeing how great Ella played with her cousins on X-mas eve, we know that she is ready for a playmate!!! She also received a baby doll and baby stroller for X-mas and she loves to push her all around the house.

Here is an update on the baby for week 27. This is the last week of my second trimester. As of Tuesday December 30th, I will be in my third and final trimester and just entering my 7th month of pregnancy. According to babycenter.com Greta is 2 pounds and 14 1/2 inches when her legs are extended (perhaps the reason for rib pressure already).

Volleyball already ?

I was cleaning up two nights ago in order to prepare for hosting our first Christmas Dinner, and Ella found a volleyball. She insisted on carrying it around with her for the rest of the evening and kept saying "bolleyball" over and over. I guess it is time for her to start learning some basic skills :)

Oh...and she is still a lefty, so Meena will probably have to start setting lessons for her also.

New crib

J has been switched to work nights this week, so he was able to get a few things done during the day that otherwise prove difficult with Ella around. Today he was able to put together the crib for the new baby. The crib that Ella used was recalled, so we received a voucher for a new crib and just transitioned her to a toddler bed at that time. She is doing great with the toddler bed, but we weren't sure how she would react to the crib being in her room. I told her that it was baby's crib and she later when we talked to Papa on the phone, she told him that the crib was for "baby".

Here is a picture of the new crib (which is already storing clean clothes and diapers):

Counting....Ella's favorite past time

It's not just that Ella loves to count everything that she sees, it's also that she just will randomly count and yell out numbers. Today Meena came over and Ella was showing her how she can count in both English and Spanish. I guess the love for Dora is really paying off :)

99 Days to Go??!!

I was finally able to add a link to the blog to show the status of this pregnancy and how soon we will be able to finally meet our new little addition. Baby Girl #2 is going to be here in approximately 99 days and I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. There has been a lot of talk about baby names and a new crib is in the house (though not yet assembled). I have been feeling pretty good lately. My belly seems to be getting bigger and bigger and the kicks are a lot more apparent. Just last week I started to be able to feel the kicks from the outside, not just from the inside.

Ella was able to spend some of the weekend with just Papa getting in some quality time, while I headed up North to visit Laura and the Dornfeld family. It was so nice to see Lori and Matt's new baby Emily. She was cute as can be and Ellie was so proud to announce her baby sister to us. Congratulations!!

French braid

Papa picked Ella up from school today to find her hair in a french braid. I'm not sure which one of her teachers had the patience to do it (either Miss Carmen or Miss Kristin), but I think it looks so cute. It's hard to believe how long her hair has gotten, but I still don't think that we are ready for a hair cut just yet.

Nail polish and Moosh

On Saturday during "nap" time, we heard Ella quietly playing in her room for about 1/2 hour before she fell asleep. When we went to wake her, she had 5 brand new diapers and about ten toys in bed with her. Ever since that nap, she has not been able to do anything without taking her moose with her. Opa bought her this moose when he went to Sweden last year, and she lovingly calls him "Moosh". Here she is before bed time watching an episode of Dora with Moosh.

I have been wanting to paint Ella's nails lately, but wasn't sure if she would quite understand how to let it dry without touching anything. We started with just her one thumb fingernail as a test. She is always looking at that nail now and calling it "pretty" and wanting me to blow on it some more as if it isn't dry enough. Who knows if we will ever get the rest painted, but at least it's a start.

Carina's first birthday party

Our entire family had a great time tonight at Carina's first birthday party. There was a carasol there and a play area perfect for a 2 year old! Ella enjoyed the thought of riding on the carasol horse that went up and down, but as soon as the ride started she got scared. We ended up sitting on the bench of the ride instead and she still enjoyed herself.

Here is Carina enjoying her birthday cupcake:

Cookies and milk with Papa

After dinner today, Ella and Papa enjoyed some oatmeal raisin cookies and milk.

Play kitchen

Ella received some gift cards for her birthday and we put them towards the purchase of a play kitchen. Often times when we pick Ella up from school we find her in the kitchen area playing, so we figured it was a good time to get one for the house. We picked it up today as a family and put it together while Ella was napping. When she woke up, Mama took her to see it and play with it and the pretend food (Papa was out playing basketball at the time).

Inch worm

We have been putting a lot of focus on finding things for Ella to play with indoors and different activities we can do during the winter without having the TV on.

Here are a few pictures of Ella from this weekend. She played on her inch worm that she received from her great aunts and great uncles last Christmas.

Here is a picture of Ella and Mama when we went to Chuck E Cheese this weekend to play.

Big girl cup

Just when we think our little girl is going to stay little forever, she does something else to prove us wrong. When Ella turned 2, she moved into a new classroom for young 2 year olds. The teacher felt it was time for her to move on since this would really help her develop sentences and learn to use words at more appropriate times (frustrating times for her essentially). With the new room comes no more sippy cups and drinking out of a big girl cup instead. They started working on it with her just two weeks ago and so we started giving her a little bit of practice at home also. Last week they stopped giving her all sippy cups and now she only drinks from the big girl cups at school. We have enforced the rule at home during meal time as well (though she gets the occasional sippy when we are on the road or are at a restaurant).

Here is a picture and a video. Sometimes she gets a little too eager and will tip the cup too much before it hits her mouth. She immediately will tell us "Uh-oh. I pilled." It's cute because she still says "puck" instead of "cup", but I have a feeling that it isn't going to last much longer.

Enjoy.

Movie Day

Sunday morning we all went to breakfast and then headed to watch a movie at the Theater. We had attempted to see "Wall-E" at the theater a few months ago, and we managed to make it through about half of the show before having to leave with an impatient toddler.

Today we saw "Madagascar 2" and had better hopes that Ella would like this movie because it had animals, music and dancing. At the end of every preview, Ella would clap and cheer and say "More more please".

We managed to make it through the entire movie. It did take some popcorn and a little bit of her standing to watch the movie, but she did really good and it was a nice treat.

Papa took these pictures of us after the show with the poster in the background so that we can remember her first full film at the theater.

Pee pee on the potty progress

That title sure has a lot of P's! On Wednesday when picking Ella up from school, the teacher told Papa that Ella had pee-pee'd on the potty for the first time at school. We were so proud of her and apparently when she did it, she was really proud of herself too. Thursday she went on the potty again and on Friday she went twice while at school. We are happy that she is making so much progress with her potty training and hope to put a strong focus on it after the holidays and throw out all the diapers (or save them for the next baby). She goes pee pee on the potty every morning at home and every night before bed. She dances each time she goes and says in a random Southern accent "I pee-pee'd".

Ultimately we hope to have her potty trained by the time new baby arrives, but we still aren't being too pushy about it because we really want her to keep being so proud of herself.

Ella loves us

Here is a video where Ella tells us all the things that she loves in our house.

Singing video and I love you

Here is a video of Ella singing Dora and Elmo. She is always singing lately and these are the two songs that she likes to break into on her own.

A second peak at baby #2

Well, we broke done and went to an outside ultrasound company for a gender determination ultrasound. It didn't take long to get the money shot and show that we have another little girl on the way.

We are excited and have started to try and tell Ella that she is going to have a baby sister.

Once we get our computer situation in place, I will scan some pictures and share on the blog.

Trick or treating 2008

Ella had a great time trick or treating last night. Unfortunately Papa had to work on Halloween night, so Mama took Ella to Oma and Opa's for trick or treating. Meena surprised us by showing up there just in time to go house to house. Ella did really well ringing the doorbells and saying "trick or treat" and "Thank you" at all the houses. At first, she said "trick or treat" loudly, but as the night went on she got quieter and quieter. At quite a few houses, she would take a piece of candy and when we would turn to leave, she would look at the person giving out candy and say "More, more please."

The weather was perfect for our little black kitty cat and we were able to be out for about an hour. She got a full bucket of candy and had a really great time.

Here are Ella and Mama at the beginning of the night. She was eating cookies throughout the night because she

did not want to eat dinner until after trick or treating.

Here is Ella holding Opa's hand while walking to a different house:

Here are Ella, Meena and Opa stopping for a picture in between houses:

Ella would say "trick or treat" and take candy from the bowl and put it in her halloween bucket (all while wearing her pink Dora wristband that she must have on at all times):

Ultrasound results....It's A ???

Baby #2 is very active with a heartbeat of 153. The ultrasound tech got quite a few laughs out of how often this baby was moving around. She said that she hasn't had this active of a baby in a very long time. Baby is measuring 19 weeks and 3 days and 10 ounces. Just one day ahead of schedule!

However, with all the moving and shaking, she was unable to determine the gender of the baby. She was very apologetic, but we knew it wasn't her fault that our baby was being modest.

Here is a picture we got to take home:

We are thinking about getting a 3D ultrasound done like we did for Ella, but I don't think that they recommend getting those until 26 weeks, so we will have to wait two more months!

Dora and Dancing

Ella seriously cannot get enough Dora lately. Just last night we let her watch one episode before bed and this is the excitement that happens from an episode of Dora! Usually she sings along "Dora, D, D, D, Dora" but this time she decided to dance. Also, she doesn't call Swiper the Fox by his name, instead she calls him "Oh Man" because that is what he says in every episode.

Also....we re-scheduled my ultrasound for Thursday afternoon, so we won't find out the sex until then (as long as baby 2 cooperates).

Fun in the garage

Lately Ella has really been improving her vocabulary and it's such a treat to hear her say so many new words and putting little phrases together. Most recently everything is Ella's.

For example:
"Ella's sock pink"
"Ella's shoe"
"Ella's bike"

We decided last weekend to pull out the Dora bike that she got from her great grandpa for her 1st birthday. It's still a little big for her, but she likes to get on and off the bike and talk about the characters she sees on it. While Mama was carving the pumpkin over the weekend, Ella played on her bike in the garage and also on the little buggy that she is definitely too big for, but enjoyed being pushed around.

The Great Pumpkin

The Great Pumpkin visited our house this weekend and we were able to carve our very first jack o lantern Sunday. Basically, Mama did all of the carving because Ella was not interested in scooping anything out, but she did a great job of pointing out the eyes, nose and mouth when we were all done.

Thank you for the pumpkins Great Pumpkin.

One sick household

The Martin house has been a pretty sick one for the past week. Last week Ella came down with pink eye and an upper respiratory infection that caused her to not eat and have a fever for four days. She stayed home from school Monday through Thursday.

Then Ella shared her virus with Mama who stayed home from work on Friday and was completely out of comission all weekend long only to finally be able to eat again tonight (tuesday). Not only did I get the same respiratory infection, but also sinusitis and a double ear infection. Since I am pregnant (18 weeks today), I was only able to take tylenol for pain and fever and that was not doing much.

Papa did a great job taking care of Ella and it was nice that they got to spend some quality time together. Every once in a while she would ask for me and Papa would show her that I was in bed sleeping and she would be fine with that. Just this morning I finally felt well enough to take her to school and when I walked in to her room to get her ready and she looked at me and said "Oh No Papa?".

Posts will resume soon, just thought I'd let everyone know why there haven't been any good photo updates lately.

Thanks for reading.

Get your guesses in now....

Less than two weeks until we find out the sex of this new baby. Place your guesses now in the poll on the right hand side of the main blog page.

And maybe we will let everyone know on the evening of October 29th, or maybe you will just have to wait until you meet new baby!

Goebberts Pumpkin Farm

Unforunately Ella has pink eye and spiked a fever today, so we got to spend a day at home just Mama and Ella. However, Sunday the three of us went to Goebberts Pumpkin Farm in Hampshire to enjoy the fall season. It was a little odd and uncomfortable at a sunny 84°, but we still had a good time.

The first stop was the Farmer's market where Mama and Papa had an apple cider donut and Ella had a giant pumpkin cookie, hence her dirty face in these pictures.

2 year check up and short video

Ella went on her birthday for her 2 year well child visit. Lately she gets very uncomfortable in new places and having to do things that she doesn't want to do at the exact moment (ie: get undressed, get weighed, etc), but we all made it through the appointment in one piece.

Her stats are:

31 pounds

36 1/4" tall

With all of her two year molars making their appearance over the last few weeks, she has been quick picky with what and when she'll eat, so we weren't surprised that she has recently lost about three pounds (which I may have found).

Thanks for Lori for this video of Ella blowing out her candle on her birthday.

Big Texas Visit

Though we didn't get any pictures with Uncle Bob, we were delighted to have him stay with us the weekend and be there to celebrate Ella's birthday.

Here are some pictures of Ella playing hide and seek while Uncle Bob was here. Her new favorite game is to run and hide in the pantry, close the doors, and not come out until someone says "Ella, Where are you?".

2nd Birthday!!!

Let me preface this post by saying that we have had the best two years and there have been so many fond memories already. We look forward to all the things yet to come and we are so proud of our little girl on her second birthday!

Sunday we celebrated Ella's birthday with many friends and family at Oma and Opa's house. We got very lucky that the clouds parted, the sun appeared and the rain stopped 5 minutes before the party was about to start. Thank you to everyone who came and made her special day so great. She was in a wonderful mood (though still an opinionated 2 year old) and she spent a lot of time with all of her friends.

Here is the one family shot that Shelley (thank you) was able to capture:

Ella enjoying her Dora cake:

Ella in the Dora jumpy house with Aaron and Nicole (and Matt standing outside):

And Ella reading her Elmo card. This was pretty much the face she made at every gift:

An extra big thank you to Lori, Matt and Ellie for making the trip down from Wisconsin to celebrate with Ella. Happy Birthday Ellie :)

Ella's a big sister in training

We recently found out the great news that we are expecting another baby and that Ella is going to be a big sister. New baby is due to arrive on March 24, 2009. Here is an early ultrasound that we got when I was 13 weeks, 2 days pregnant. Heartbeat has been in the 160s and in less than 5 weeks we will find out the sex.

Here is a picture of Ella in her "Proud Big Sister in Training" t shirt. We talk a lot about a having a baby with her, but she still doesn't quite understand. However, she loves to go look at all the babies in the infant room at her school.

Brookfield Zoo

We woke up this morning and headed straight for breakfast and a visit to the Brookfield Zoo. The Zoo opened at 10 am and we were hoping to get there right at opening and leave by noon so that we wouldn't compromise nap time. Lately, it's just not worth her sleeping in the car or missing a nap. She is a whole different child when she is over tired and that is far too much work :)

First we visited with the Elephants and Ella loved saying hi to them and making elephant noises at them. When we moved on to see more animals, she just kept saying "bye-bye" to them and waving until they were out of sight. The monkey house was really nice and she watched and laughed at them swinging from the ropes and trees for quite a while.

We were able to make it back it time for Ella's nap (which was longer than usual at 2 1/2 hours).

Here are pictures with the elephants:



And another one riding on Papa's shoulders: