Bagels

(By JPC)

For those of you who don't know this, Ellie loves bagels. And I mean LOVES bagels. Some bagels contain eggs so she can't always have them, but we've managed to find a few places in our area where she can have the plain bagel. Part of our routine is that each weekend when we go to grocery store, Ellie gets a bagel to munch while we shop. It may take her an hour, but she can generally eat an entire bagel (also I mean a real bagel, not one of those fake bagels you can buy in a pack at the grocery store!). This morning we adventured to a new bagel store for breakfast. Ellie had it toasted and with jelly and you can see here how much she enjoyed it! This was 30 minutes after a big bowl of oatmeal, too!

Bun bun

(By JPC)

Ellie has a bunny that she calls "bun bun" and she sleeps with every night. She loves him and he is the second thing that she wants when it's time to go to bed (the first is binky of course). We actually have two bun buns - when we realized how much she loved him, Mimi bought another as a backup. Somehow Ellie ended up with both of them in her crib a few weeks ago. This is the scene that we found in her crib one night at bed time. And I swear that neither of us did it!

Those are her two pacifiers that she has somehow managed to balance on bun bun's face on top of her pillow. She really loves her "babies"!

Cold

Remember how I've said many times how much we love Fall? Well, the novelty of this new season has worn off for me. I had forgotten how painful it is to be woken up at 6 am on the weekend by my daughter yelling over the baby monitor, "Mommy, up, oatmeal!" when the house is so cold!! Sometimes it's just too hard to get out of our warm cozy bed. And the worst part of all? Fall is followed by winter when it's going to be REALLY cold when I hear that call in the morning!

Pumpkin picking

Today we went to a local farm with some good friends to enjoy the beautiful day. We missed their Fall Festival last weekend (we were a little busy in the emergency room!), but we can't imagine how it could have been any better than today! There were lots of food vendors and farm-fresh produce. There were also rides, mazes, games, hay rides, and pick your own pumpkins and apples - whew! We had a great time and plan to make it an annual tradition.

There were pumpkins everywhere as soon as we arrived.

Before we did anything, Ellie had a pumpkin painted on her cheek. She surprisingly sat as still as a mouse the entire time!

Ellie showing off her face painting.

Ellie and her buddy ready for a ride!

On the hayride out to the pumpkin fields

The kids before we let them run free in the fields!

Our Autumn-loving family!

Everyone looking for just the right pumpkin.

Ellie found hers!

And needed a little help from Mama to pick it up :-)

Even the adults got to have some fun!

Tired after working hard to find their pumpkins, the girls need a ride to lunch after the hayride back.

Mmmmm, hot dogs and french fries!

(Eating out can be a challenge with Ellie's food allergies. Today though we found a group serving lots of foods that Ellie could eat and that the other kids wanted, too. It's tough when she can't have what the other kids are eating, but we had freshly made french fries, hot dogs, and lots and lots of ketchup!)

Ellie in the straw maze. She went though once with Mama and then had to go in again with Mommy to show her how cool it was.

Uh oh, I think I'm lost.

Feeding the very stinky donkey in the petting zoo.

And last but not least, Ellie got to ride a pony before we left! She was a little wobbly up there, but she was thrilled about doing it.

As you can see, we had a fantastic day! We left with one huge pumpkin, one baby pumpkin, four mums, and lots of excitement about going again next year.

Short Ellie updates

Just a few quick updates on Ellie....

- She is feeling much better and seems to be almost completely recovered from the croup. She went back to day care on Thursday and then was home with Jana on Friday as usual. She still has a cough, which we were told would last 1-2 weeks. Thankfully, no more wheezing!

- Ellie is making up for lost time in the talking department! As we described before, she has been talking in 2-3 word clusters for a few months. Now she is forming full sentences. Last night she said, "I don't want to, Mommy," and this morning she said, "I don't like it". Notice the common sentiment, continuing with the "no" trend!

- Fall has arrived with a bang - Monday it was 80 degrees and yesterday it was 63! This week, Ellie wore socks and sneakers for the first time since May and last night she wore long-sleeved footy pajamas for the first time since April. Brrrrrr! Today we're off to a farm for pumpkin picking and hayrides.

- Oh my goodness, Ellie will be 2 one month from today!!

The croup

(By JPC)

We had a very eventful weekend! After two visits to the emergency room (one of which started at 3 am on Monday morning), Ellie was diagnosed with croup. She had been wheezing so during our first trip (Sunday afternoon) they gave her a diagnosis of asthma and sent us home with an inhaler. Late that night, she started up again and was unable to take a deep breath. We tried the inhaler which didn't help at all and then we realized she had a fever so back we went. One cough in the triage area during that visit though and they diagnosed her immediately with croup. The good thing about croup is that it is not asthma! While the first ER visit was 6 hours, the second was only an hour so we were very thankful. Ellie was given a dose of steroids and improved almost immediately. She is still not 100% yet but oh so much better than Sunday and Monday! Her mommies are almost recovered from all of this, too...almost.

Apparently, Ellie thinks the cure for croup is popsicles. Although she would eat nothing else yesterday, she ate SIX popsicles!! Hey, they told us that the cold is good for croup :-)

Present from "Aunt Pup"

(By LPC)

A package for Ellie came in the mail today from "Aunt Pup". Although Ellie hasn't met my sister yet, she has her name down. If you listen carefully on the video she says, "Aunt Pup" (right after she lays her head down on the ottoman when I ask her to say thank you. After the video was shot, she later said, "Aunt Puppy". Those two year olds sure are funny!

Thanks, for the Thomas the Train backpack, Aunt Pup.....and thanks for the gift.

Waiting outside with Mommy for Mama to come home from work

Say cheese!

(By JPC)

Last night, we were lucky to have Mimi and Boppa stay over. They took us out for dinner and Ellie had such fun showing off at the restaurant and at home. The photo below is one that Boppa took with his cell phone while we were all playing on the couch. He held the cell phone up to take a picture and when he called Ellie to look at him, she turned around with a big smile and said "cheese!". I have no idea where she learned that from (we have never said that to her while taking a picture) and you can see the shock on our faces! Where do they get this stuff?!?!

Bedtime

(By LPC)

Warning, this may be a very long and boring video to some, but for those interested in seeing what I have bragged about for a long time - Ellie going to bed without a problem - this is the video for you. With the exception of Mimi and Boppa being present, and Ellie being a little more excitable than usual, this video shows a typical night in which Ellie prepares to go to bed. We have been so fortunate that every evening she cooperates in not only putting her things away and accepting it is time to go upstairs, she also goes into her bed without one slight protest (after reading and singing to her).

A delightful child, this one is.

Oh, boy!

Within the last week, Ellie has started copying almost everything we say - tonight it was "oh, boy!". She also can now say the l's in her name! Do other parents just sit around and watch their kids in admiration, finding even the littlest things magical?!?!