Ella at 17 months

I just want to take a minute and document/blog about Ella. My crazy busy sweet and stubborn 17 month old. Here's a list of things that she can do!

Play Peek A Boo (and say Pee Boo! when she's playing)
Blow Kisses
When singing wheels on the bus with her she will do the hand over hand motion for "round and round"
Say "BYE" and wave
When you ask, What does a monkey say, she'll say "ah,ah,ah"
Dance! This girl loves to dance
Point out noses (where's your nose, where's Daddy's nose?)

Words she can say:
Apple
All Done (for a while she had only been signing this, but this week she started saying it!
Artie (Her first two word sentence was "Artie No!"
Baby
Birdie
Boy
Bubble (SHE LOVES BUBBLES and requests them by name when she sees the bottle)
Bottle (this girl is an almond milk drinking fiend)
Cookie
Cracker
Doggie
Debbie (Sounds like Bebbie)
Daddy
Kitty
Mally
Morning! (This one is my favorite)
Mommy
No
Poopy
Please (Peez)
Peek
Potty (shes gone potty on the potty about a dozen times now!)
Shoe
Thank You (tank you)
Up (Usually this is a request for change in elevation, if she's already up in your arms, she'll say up because she wants down)
Uh Oh

She's still not that interested in TV for more than 15 seconds which means she's always running around and getting into something instead.
She doesn't have a security blanket or favorite stuffed animal that she has attached to yet, which I'm kind of grateful. Her favorite toys lately have been Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, Klip Clop Princess castle, her Minnie mouse car and her babies, which is good, I've been trying to enforce be gentle with babies, give baby kisses and what not with a sibling on the way (which by the way, I think it's a boy with the way I've been feeling)
She loves playing with her books, but doesn't usually sit still for me to read one to her, I still try though.
Her best bud is Artie. It's adorable seeing them play together.
Favorite foods:
NOODLES. Of any kind really.
Lasagna/Spaghetti
Oranges
Fruit Roll Ups (I created a monster with this one)
Raisins and Craisins (would eat them all day everyday)
Chocolate Almond Milk
Applesauce
Yogurt
French Fries

I love my little honey bee. She keeps me busy and can be stubborn or feisty if something doesn't do what she wants. She loves her family and loves giving loves, kisses and hugs. She loves to explore and climb the stairs and couch. I'm so excited for her to go into nursery in less than a month! Ah! Will be so nice! We've been staying safe and warm despite the storm. Ella has been loving the attention with Daddy being home too! We had some family pictures taken right after Christmas and we finally got them back. This was one of my favorites. Ella and her cousin Ivy played so well together. It was so sweet.

Monthly Catch Up

June: My birthday (I turned 24)  was spent at the beach with friends. We went to the little beach house that we had honeymooned at. We've been able to go back every year, it's a wonderful tradition and Ella's first trip to the beach! and Ryan's Birthday (he turned 32) also Ryan's first official Father's Day. He had taken to riding his bike to work so I bought him this fancy pannier bike messenger bag and bike rack as a birthday Father's Day combo gift. We also finally bought a house! It's a condo/townhouse and we love it.

July: 4th of July at Ryan's parents. The kids love to play minute to win it games and insist I prepare games before every holiday get together now, it is pretty funny, and keeps them entertained till it's dark enough to do fireworks. We sold Ryan's car and got him a moped to save on gas money and insurance.

August: Ian, Shannon and company came to visit, we went to the beach, the boys spent the night one night and I took them to see Turbo (cute movie), and played in our giant jacuzzi tub with lots of bubbles! I also started a new adventure selling Premier Designs jewelry. It's a really great company with fabulous fashionable jewelry that is good quality and has a great guarantee.

September: Ella turned 1! We had a great little birthday party, she ate cake and got frosting all over her face, received lots of wonderful presents and books, it was awesome. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Love our sweet Ella girl.
Ella and I went to Orlando, Florida to visit my favorite Bowles sisters. The trip was originally so I could be there for Ivy's heart procedure, but she had gotten a cough and they had to postpone. Canceling and/or changing the flight was more expensive than the original ticket price so Ella and I went anyways. It was a fun trip, besides the UTI and emergency room visit at 4am Sunday morning, but I don't want to talk about that. She's better now and slept the whole second flight that was 5 hours long. I was glad to be home.

October: We went to Disneyland for a long weekend with Ryan's family. It was a fun whirl wind of a weekend. We were able to attend a sales pitch for Wyndham hotels  and gets free breakfast $100 Disney dollars which was awesome for getting food and extra souvenirs. The new cars land is incredible, the radiator springs ride is awesome, I convinced my father in law to go on tower of terror and it was hilarious. Ella met Princess Aurora and Minnie Mouse (as soon as I can find my stupid camera cord I'll share the photos) Ella loved the parade, she saw Simba on top of a float and said 'Kitty' the only bummer was California Screamin' was down cause of computer issues, and let's be honest it's the best ride in California Adventure. Halloween was pretty mellow, we went to downtown Gresham and got a little candy with our friends and their little girl, then came back to our place for pizza, cocoa, apples and Carmel dip, and watched the movie 'Wait Until Dark.'
Some exciting news for me, I was sought out (which never happens) for a job working for a local Orthodontist running his photo booth at school fund raisers. He's a member of the church and I was in their ward most of high school, so I know the family and am friends with two of his kids that are my age,but have never really gotten to know him all that well so I was totally flattered  and amazed that he called said 'I have a job for you'. After talking to him about it he said, 'I need someone energetic, and fun and a go getter for this job so I thought of you' let me tell ya when I say, I needed that! It was so great to be sought out for my personality, it will be so nice to have something else to keep me bust that isn't in the catagory of motherhood. I love Ella, however this is going to be so good for my family financially, and her relationship with Ryan. I'm really excited!! If you live in Gresham, Sandy, or Camas, WA you should totally check out Dr. Hardin if you're needing braces!

November So Far: Ella is 14 months old and officially walking! Ryan and I are excited but then we have this moment where we look at each other and go 'oh crap we have a toddler'. Last week we were able to go to the temple (thanks Mom and Dad) then the next night we were able to volunteer at the blazer game for the coat drive, long story short, I made friends with the concierge and we got bracelets that gave us unlimited food  and 200 level seat tickets, Woo! It pays to be friendly folks. We got Ryan a new car, the weather is just too crappy and wearing him down that we needed to have a second car again, it's a definite upgrade compared to his old car. It's a 2007 Honda civic hybrid, which should get at least 40 MPG which is great for his 15 mile commute. It's newer, less miles, 4 doors, built in navigation and power windows and locks, and a keyless entry. HUGE upgrade. It's great.  And will be perfect for my new job with Hardin Orthdontics getting good gas mileage because I will be needing to go to Camas a lot.

So that's it!! Sorry for the long post but it was waaaayyyy over due!

5 Things You Might Not Know About Me

1. I hate wash cloths.

 In the kitchen, in the bathroom, used for cleaning. 

BLEH. I don't like them. They smell, after they are used they are cold and disgusting. I hate them. I'd rather use a scrubby brush in the kitchen, a loofah in the bathroom and paper towels or disinfecting wipes for cleaning. I know that's not the most 'green' way to clean. But thats how I roll.

2. I love Barqs Root Beer. 

If barqs rootbeer was alcohol, I would be consider my self an alcoholic.

And on that note I don't like A&W root beer, it has a weird aftertaste. (Love their cream soda though!)

3. I have a (progressively getting worse) anxiety about things breaking/falling

And by "things" I mean: Really tall buildings, Houses with really high ceilings that are two stories, Decks that are off the ground more than 5 feet, certain elevators, ceiling fans, roller coasters, the cool but terrifying glass floor you can walk on in the aquarium in the shark tank hallway. Yeah No. Not going to happen.  I don't know where it came from, or what happened to me to have such a fear, but it's ridiculous. In certain homes I'm afraid the upstairs is going to collapse on top of me, or that we will suddenly fall through to the crawl space. Airplanes are also starting to have this effect on me now and they never have before

Exactly.

4.  I've never sung karaoke

I really want to go somewhere I know I wont know anyone. I want to try and just belt it out and sing like I've never sung before, and like I think I might be able to, but have never had the courage to do.

5. I eat my oreos in a very specific way.

I take an empty cup. Break the oreos in half and drop them into said cup, pour milk into cup, consume oreos with spoon. The ONLY other person I've ever met who eats them the same way is my friend Jake. It grosses everyone else out, but we love it.

So there you have it. 5 things you might not have known about me

Bonus Fact: I rarely, if ever eat the very tip ends of my french fries. I know. I'm weird.

The other night I had a dream....

That Ricky Ricardo was my dad, and I was basically one of the Von Trapp children and we were practicing for some type of show. For some reason they wouldn't teach me the routine. And I was getting really mad at them. So I left because they weren't appreciating my tap dancing talent. I go outside , and of course there isn't any land, there's just water everywhere so you travel by wave runner and I hop on the back of a wave runner with Daryl Dixon (a character on The Walking Dead) and he said to me "you have a rockin' bod'



What the crap is my subconscious trying to tell me?!?!

6 Months Old

Our sweet Ella Girl is 6 months old today! We love her to pieces. Her most recent activities include
-rolling over regularly from stomach to back
-grabbing onto her own feet and socks and nibbling her own toes
-eating three meals a day (yesterday she had peas for the first time and LOVED them)
-smiling at everyone who smiles at her. Great Grandpa Harold is becoming one of her favorites, which is good because she sees him everyday.
-rolling and sticking out her tongue
-grabbing/reaching for everything with in a 1 foot radius
-screaming & squealing in excitement.
-Laughing when we sing to her
-Sucking on your chin, and laughing the whole time,
likewise when you nibble on her chin, she thinks it's hilarious.

She is such a happy sweet funny girl. we love her so much and can't believe how much she's grown!

Here are some highlight photos of our mini 6 month shoot.
Showcasing Ella's adorable chubbiness and the beautiful quilt Grandma Denny made!

4 Months

My little El Bell is 4 months old tomorrow. She is such a sweet and feisty little girl.

Here's an update on how our little firecracker is doing.

Nick Names: Ella, El, Lovebug, Stinker, Tooty McToots, Fussy Briches, Stink Magee

Loves: Sleep, Watching football or basketball with either of her two main men, her kick and play piano, baths. Practicing standing up

Favorite Toy: Grandpa Bowles, crinkle paper

The New Cool Thing to Do: Squealing and Laughing! Grabbing her toy or burp cloth and bringing it to her mouth. Suck on her hands, she makes some impressive slurping & sucking sounds.

Is not impressed by: Not being able to see what's going on around the room! Getting clothes put on her when she's enjoying being a naked girl. Sitting in a we/dirty diaper (but lets be honest, who WOULD like that?)  Her car seat

Not so fun for Mom & Dad: Explosive spit up. Dribbly spit up. Unexpected spit up. Silent spit up. I-can't-beleive-you-had-that-much-in-you-why-won't-it-stop spit up.

We love our sweet girl. She snuggles. Smiles and laughs and SQUEALS like you wouldn't believe when she wakes up happy. Which makes her mama happy. She is still has a full head of peach fuzz that is constantly covered in kisses. Happy 4 months baby girl! you're getting so big!

Here's some pictures and a video of our little love.

She thought her name was so funny

Ella & Dr. Traynor. She's about 8 weeks old

Before her first plane ride

Dinosaur Museum in Utah the week of Thanksgiving

Ella's First movie. Wreck It Ralph

With Daddy at the Ward Christmas Dinner

Smiley girl

At the Wecker Christmas Eve Dinner

Happy New Year from the Weckers!

That Awkward Moment...

So this happened about 4 months ago, but I never got around to finishing the story and posting it, so here you go. Feast upon and laugh at my awkwardness.

So yesterday I was on my way to Debbie's house (my floral boss) I had just pulled off the freeway and was stopped at a light when I looked on my dash and I saw a little symbol lit up that wasn't lit up a minute ago. I am not a car mechanical savvy girl, however I did know that that meant something was wrong with my tire pressure. As the light turned green and I started to drive I heard this strange thel-ump thel-ump thel-ump sound I pulled over into a parking lot that had a little pizza place, a plaid pantry and some quaint little dive called the lucky rooster. The rear passenger tire was flat. Fantastic. Luckily I was only about 10 minutes from Debbie's house, I was in a parking lot, not the side of the road (parked next to a cop car no less) I still had cell service, it wasn't dark, it wasn't raining, I had my trusty wuss of a guard dog Artie with me, and the tire didn't blow out.
I wasn't hurt, there was no accident, all things considering I am blessed.
I called Jason (Debbie's hubby) for him to come help me. I had never changed a tire before. I was seven months pregnant trying to change a tire on a new car and I bet my body pillow I wouldn't have been able to loosen the lug nuts on that tire even with my super human pregnant strength no matter how hard I tried. As I waited I tried to figure out where the crap the spare tire even was, our last car it was under the back storage compartments, on this one (as I now know) it is tethered underneath the car and you use the tool to loosen the cord to bring the tire down. As I was fiddling around trying to figure stuff out a gentleman that had looked friendly going into the pizza place, came out and asked "do you need help?" "well yeah kinda, I have a friend on the way, you can take your pizza to your family." He said, no they can wait and proceeded to try and help me figure out how to get my spare tire out and changed. While he was on his hands and knees looking under his car, his shirt had pulled up a little bit and revealed the very top 1/2 inch of garment bottoms showing from underneath his shorts.

Without thinking I ask, "are you LDS?"
Him: "Uh.. yeah... how'd you know that?"
I panicked and glanced at his hand for a CTR ring, no such luck. I didn't want him to think I just automatically look to see if he was a boxers or briefs kinda guy. It just happened!
"......I uh... saw the band of your G's sticking out..."

I'm not sure who was mortified more. I could've said "well who else would be so kind as to stop and help a pregnant lady change her tire?!," or "you just had a spiritual glow about you"
but no, it was ,"I caught a glimpse of your undies!!! Hehehe I'm a creeper!!!"
He kinda laughed and tugged at his shirt. Then changed the topic and asked what ward I was in and yada yada yada. Jason came and he and Doctor Iceman (he's a dentist, of course he's a dentist, half the mormon men I grew up around were dentists) changed my tired, I thanked him profusely and he went on his way. It was a moment of gratitude... Except for a few days later when getting a new tire cost me $70. But that's a whole different saga.

So the moral of the story is, don't tell someone you've never met before you know something about them by telling them you saw what kind of underwear they are wearing. *facepalm*

I had a baby

I apologize that this post has taken forever... but, either way, here is Ella's birth story...

I admit. I had a easy pregnancy. Then, I had an even more ridiculously easy labor and delivery.
Here's the story if you feel so inclined to read...

At 36 weeks I was dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced. A week later I was at a 3 and 50% effaced.

 He raised his red flag and told me if I kept working the way I was, (which was a lot that week, 8 hour days at Bed Bath and then prepping for a wedding every night) I was going to have to ask my co-workers how they felt about cleaning up placenta cause I was progressing so quickly.
He wrote me a note saying I had to take it easy at work. Which definitely helped.
The only other problem was I also had a really big wedding that weekend that needed to be delivered to McMinnville. I got a pretty exasperated look from him on that one. But he said no. You are not going to McMinnville. Because if I went to McMinnville and went into labor while in McMinnville, I would get stuck in the little town of Dundee. On labor day weekend. Where the closest hospital to deliver at would be my hospital, over an hour away.

Come Sunday, I didn't go to the wedding. But I decided, "Hey, lets try to go into labor." So Ryan and I went to the mall to do some air conditioned mall walking. We walked and walked. I used the escalator as a stair master more than once. I jogged (yes jogged) up the 6 flights of stairs of the Nordstrom parking garage and back down. We went to target and I had to return some stuff and then we went home. When we got home and after I had bounced on my exercise ball for a half hour or so I decided to lay down before dinner. This was around 5pm and I was really excited cause Dad was grilling salmon. Mmmmm. Then... ow.. that really hurt.... 6 minutes later.... OUCH that contraction REALLY hurt. but I didn't think too much of it. I didn't think I had actually done it. I didn't think I had actually gotten myself to go into labor. So I didn't write them down for 15-20 minutes. I had Ryan come in and lay down with me and help me relax. We started to write them down as we ate dinner... 5 minutes... 6 minutes... 8 minutes... 6 minutes... So I called labor and delivery. Told her my situation and how progressed I was on Tuesday. She asked, "do you want to have a natural birth?" and I said "HA! No. Give me the drugs" and she said okay well come on in. (apparently if I wanted to have a natural birth she would have said wait till the contractions are 4 minutes apart then come in)

So Ryan and I load up our stuff (luckily we had installed the car seat that morning so it was ready to go) and went to the hospital. They put us in a triage room and right as the nurse was telling me, we are going to wait a while and monitor your contractions before we have the doctor check you... MY DOCTOR walks in cause he was the Doc on call! HA! It was awesome. He looked at me with a "what are you doing here?" look on his face and I just smiled and said, "hey look I didn't go to Mcminnville!!"  Haha.

We were admitted and moved to room 10. Called Mom and Dad and everyone else saying "We're gonna have a baby!!!!" At this point, it was around 6pm.

We walked the halls, Caitlin and Robbie came to visit, Mom and Dad came to visit. Doctor Traynor came and checked me again and said I was only to a 5. My options were to break my water, have me
walk around and try to progress things and then get an epidural, or to get and epidural, break my water and see how that progresses while staying in bed and if things don't go quick enough after 2 hours to give me some meds to help speed things along.

I chose option number 2, get epidural first and then see what happens. Getting the epidural wasn't as horrible as I thought it could be. I have a problem with my lower back on the right side, and for some reason I could feel weird pain there at first, but then it went away and I was all tingly. I got the epidural around midnight. Since I couldn't feel anything all of us took the opportunity to get some rest. Mom, Dad, Caitlin and Robbie had gone home, but told us to keep them updated.

Two hours later I woke up and my legs felt like baluga whales. Ryan woke up to me punching myself in the thigh. he kinda freaked, "What are you doing?!?" and I said, "I can't even feel that!!!" It was so bizarre!

Dr. Traynor came in and check me and said I was to a 9 and fully effaced, and would be ready to start pushing... IF I could feel anything... which I couldn't. And he said, "well, we need you to be able to feel the contractions a little bit", and I said, "doesn't that defeat the purpose of the epidural? Can I just try to push anyway?" but he said no, and they turned the meds down and said we'll start pushing in an hour.  I called Caitlin, Mom & Dad to update them. Mom had previously said she didn't want to be in the room, but I didn't want to not call them and have her wish she would've come. Caitlin showed up around 3:30am I think.. my parents around 3:45am. Thats about the time Dr. Traynor came in and asked if I could feel anything, I still said no, but can I push anyway? He said okay fine we'll wait another 10 minutes and if you still can't feel anything you'll start pushing anyway. As he and my delivery nurse Lisa got on some of their delivery gear, and right after they explained how I should push and what it will feel like, I could feel the contractions! At one point before all of this, Caitlin speedily french braided my hair so it would be out of my face and not look completely horrendous, cause I wasn't sure how messed up gross I was going to look after it was all over, I was very grateful to have her there!

At 4:05 a I started to push. Caitlin, Mom & Dad (who had his eyes closed to not see more than he needed to but being in the delivery room more than enough times could hear exactly what was going on) were sitting on the couch and chair to my right, Ryan was up by my head and would whisper in my ear and help me remember to put my chin to my chest while pushing. I pushed three or four times.  I remember asking if I was doing it right, because I couldn't really feel what was going on down there.  Lisa and Dr. Traynor both enthusiastically said, "you're doing great!  You want to feel her head?"  I said, kinda meekly, "no thanks, I'll just wait until she's out.  How many more pushes do you think?"  He said, "maybe three or four."  I think I pushed two more times, then he said, "hmm... ok, maybe only two or three more times."  And before I could even feel the next contraction, as the doctor was looking at the monitor, Lisa looked down and said, "uh, doctor?"  He then looked down as well and said, "oh!  Okay...  push push push!"  So I pushed...  then I feel a quick build-up then release of pressure.  I hear mom say, "oh Aly!"  At 4:28 am, I look up and see this little, squirmy, sticky-looking baby in the doctor's arms.  And I say (tenderly and highly-medicated), "oh!  My little alien!"  They put her on me, and she was sticky... and kind of gross.  Ryan got to cut the umbilical cord, even though he had said beforehand that he didn't want to when the doctor had asked.  He's glad now that he did.

While I was getting cleaned/stitched up, the baby nurse took Ella to give her her first exam and take her weight and footprints.  Apparently, epidurals make you a little loopy after birth.  I don't remember how many times I said, "I just had a baby..."  but it was enough that Dr. Traynor told me that from there on out, every time I said it I owed him a quarter.  Ella got her first bath, then was swaddled and given to me.  We had our first good snuggle, and that was the first time I kissed her.  I know it sounds horrible, but I didn't kiss her when she was covered by the goopy, sticky stuff, it was just a little too gross for me.

Mom, Dad & Caitlin all got to hold her, and then they went home. Then we all slept. We were in the hospital for three days and had lots of visitors. Figuring out breastfeeding has been the biggest challenge. Even though the nurses said I had all the right equipment. Apparently the amount of colostrum  I could produce quickly and efficiently was amazing, awesome and wonderful.  The latching without it hurting was hard. I had to use nipple shields.  I would still try and practice having her nurse naturally but I would still use the shield for 8 out of the 9 feedings (or 22 out of the 23 feedings it feels like) every day. But, for the last 2-3 days she won't eat with it on. She'll only nurse naturally and it doesn't hurt! She doesn't stay on as easy, but it makes feeding her easier cause I don't have to worry about that stupid silicone thing getting lost or falling on the floor and having to clean it or the dogs getting it.

First family photo

Ryan and his baby girl

Snuggling

With Grandma & Grandpa

 Our friends Jake & Catherine are expecting their own little girl in February.

Grandma Leona

Grandpa Roger

Auntie Aimee                                                                                       My Friend Sydney

Ryan's Brothers Family

Snuggles

Going home today!

A little nap before we leave the hospital

Heading home!

Meeting Great-Grandpa Harold

2 Months

My little Ella girl has grown so much! She has already outgrown a handful of pajamas and onesies. When she's awake and happy she will lay on her back and kick kick kick and kick while cooing, squealing and smiling. She has the best smile. She loves her kick and play piano because of this, and smiles at her reflection in the mirror hanging above her, she's started to bat at the toys quite a bit now too.

If you smile and talk to her, she'll usually smile back her cute little crooked grin. Sometimes while she's sleeping, she'll laugh like Sheldon from the big bang theory, a breathy-inhale laugh and then let out a couple of smiles, it cracks me up every time. She has beautiful blue/gray eyes, long full eyelashes and very faint eyebrows.

She has the loudest gas I have ever consistently heard come from a baby. When that girl toots it sounds like an adult! She does not like to sit in a wet diaper. She will get enormously fussy, so you change her, then as soon as you sit down with a clean bottomed baby, she'll noisily fill her diaper and then just look so content...until she realizes she's once again sitting in a dirty diaper... then she'll get fussy again.

She loves to snuggle, but doesn't like to be swaddled. She loves laying in her side-sleeper and looking up at her mobile. She loves when you read to her, so much so that Ryan reads the Jurassic Park out loud to her almost everyday. I sing to her often, and that always makes her smile, her favorite song seems to be Edelweiss.

She is not picky on who can rock and hold her or feed her a bottle if I want a break from nursing. She doesn't mind the bottle at all and eats like a pro. When she's sleeping, I'll usually find her in the "touchdown position" both of her arms up next to her head.

She can't hold her head up on her own quite yet, but she loves to sit up against someone and look around the room, watch the TV or stare at Grandma's quilt.

We love our little girl. She is so sweet and so beautiful. I am amazed when I look at her and think "I made you!" So incredibly cool, weird, amazing, surreal and wondrous all at the same time.

Wanna see my baby move?

I'm such a slacker on the blog. I don't know what's wrong with me. I kinda feel like, yeah I'm pregnant, but I doubt everyone wants to know every single detail about it. Honestly, so far being pregnant is awesome I'm 7 Months today (!!!) and I hardly feel as crappy as I always thought I would. My pregnancy has been easy so far... and for those of my beloved family members that haven't had easy pregnancies.. I guess I don't want to rub it in? I don't know. Either way, I promise to blog more about life's happenings and have not all of them be baby focused.

But,speaking of baby.. wanna see my little squirmer in action?

Pardon the bare belly.. but isn't this the coolest part of being pregnant? Being able to look down at your stomach and see it move and groove? Pardon the awful background noise, that's our lovely washing machine in action.

Happy 7 Months Pregnant to Me! CRAZY!