Friday, January 30, 2015

Elynn: 15 months

 I haven't done a monthly update on Elynn since she was 12 months, and that makes me so sad because I love to go back and see what Reese was doing at certain ages and I want to be able to do that with Elynn. Just file me under the looser category lately cause momma is struggling to get it all together. I am blaming that on the new house, but all that should be over within a month or so, and I've got big plans of being back on my A game. (I feel sure something like wiping booties, fixing sippy cups, or trying to keep them in clean clothes will probably interfere with my A game.)

Weight: 17lbs.
Height: no clue. Somewhere around the area of my knees.
She has 4 teeth across the front bottom, and 4 across the front top. She has 2 coming in on the top back, and 1 on the back bottom left coming in.

Elynn loves to eat. The only thing she turns down is mashed potatoes. She loves everything. If we are eating something she comes running with her little mouth wide open. Her favorite thing to get her hands on is Reese's cup because she knows it has strawberry syrup mixed in with it. (Terrible habit, but I didn't start it. She came home from daycare requesting strawberry and hasn't slowed down since.)

Saturday night Reese wanted to eat at "Chick-A-Lay"


Elynn loves her big sissy. Most of the time Reese is the only one she will hug or kiss. She loves to sit in her lap and she lets Reese tote her around like a rag doll. Which usually leads to Reese falling and Elynn's head getting hit on something. 

 Elynn usually goes to bed around 8:00. I know I will get some criticism for this, (since people seem to believe the general rule is to stop breastfeeding at the absolute latest- 12 months) but she still nurses at night some. (I will be cutting her off once the cold and flu season is over. Dr. Cabellaro convinced me to keep going through the winter instead of quitting when she turned 1. I will say she has been very healthy. Knock on wood. I choose to believe it is the breast milk and Jesus smiling on us.) If we don't have anywhere to go, she will sleep until around 7. Then she will nap for about an hour around 10:00. Then she likes to get an afternoon nap around 3:00 or so. She starts off at night in her bed, but we go get her when she wakes up and she sleeps with us the rest of the night.

 She can show us her eyes, nose, ears, mouth, belly button, and little piggies. She also thinks it is hilarious to smell her little piggies. (And anybody else who has their piggies exposed in her presence.)
 She can say: mama, dada, "Eese" (Reese), ball, baby, hot, bye bye
 She. Is. A. Terrible. Rider. Cries everywhere we go. Unless, of course, I am lucky enough that she falls asleep.
 She loves to carry around her baby.
 And I love this picture because please look at how Elynn is looking at Reese. Complete adoration.

 New Years Eve we went to Allison and Jared's (we lasted till 10:30- middle of the night, people). Elynn got real upset when Lawson wouldn't return all the love and affection she was showing him.

Allison and I went straight from an A+ in motherhood to a D- when we turned our backs on these two (because I am sure we were in a deep discussion about important things like sleeping all night and the nightmare known as trying to lose the baby weight) and Elynn did her very best to get Pate out of the swing. 


 I'm not going to give you the details of the morning leading up to this picture at church because, honestly, it is too painful. I bought these matching dresses for pictures in the Fall, and I was determined that they wear them to church one time together. Reese had other plans, but momma prevailed. Was it worth it? Absolutely not. 
 Child labor right here, people.
 And here's Uncle G, the real live carousal.
I will say again that it is amazing how quickly the second baby grows up. I try my best to soak up every second of Elynn being this age. It is one of my favorite times. Mainly because I now know what being 2 and 3 look like. It isn't always pleasant. But for now, she is sweet as pie!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Some more Christmas...at the end of January

Christmas at MeeMaw and PeePaw's.

 Elynn loving on Coozie.
 Elynn was interested in helping PeePaw with his gifts, but did not open one of her own during the entire holiday season.


 MeeMaw and PeePaw give the kids boots every year (until you turn 18, then you pretty much just get money and deodorant and soap. Growing up ain't what it's cracked up to be.) This girl has worn her boots every single day since she got them. 
A washing machine was on her Santa list, but Santa had already secured a "car with a wurkin' radio" so I handed that request off to the grands. Adam had to put it together which led him to announce that if it has to be put together MeeMaw and PeePaw have to do it, or she ain't getting it. Which brought up the fact that my daddy's least favorite part of Christmas was having to get out in the cold on Christmas Eve night and drag a bunch of junk out of the shed. Of course, that comes from a man who likes the house to stay somewhere between 85 degrees and hot-enough-to-roast-a-pig. This is also the man who started drinking Mt. Dew to cut back on his caffeine intake. His theories aren't always reliable.
 There is not one picture of Elynn opening a gift because she was too busy for that non sense. Here sister was more than happy to open them for her. This was her favorite gift of the evening. 

 And this was my favorite picture. She has since then asked Jesus on multiple occasions to "give me a big brother like Clay cause I love him so much."
 We played the annual money game and after another year of straight up luck we came home with the jackpot. And thank goodness cause momma may or may not have gotten another speeding ticket and this will contribute to the payment of that little dandy. (That's 3 tickets in the past 5 years for those of you keeping track at home.) I told everybody they should just take one for the team and let me have the money anyway strictly out of sympathy.

 Monday night we went to Adam's Aunt Bec and Big Horn's house. I've always got the crying kid. But the best part of this is the disgusted look on Reese's face.
 Christmas Eve Eve Santa sent a note with Sophia and Sparkle that Reese and Elynn could play with them that one day. Of course, Reese was so excited and spent the day having tea parties with them.

 Christmas Eve lunch at my PaPa's.


 We went home from there to make Christmas cookies for Santa...

 Then out the door again to Adam's Granny's. And I lied. Here she is opening a present.
 We had front row tickets to this sold out event....





 Then we rushed home, got in bed by 9:30, and waited for the big man to arrive.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

The week before Christmas

 Christmas is going to have multiple posts because the blog would probably blow up if I tried to upload everything into 1.

For us, Christmas starts with the daycare party. When I got there, they told me Reese had been upset because "I don't have on my Cwistmas clothes like everybody else." I didn't send her in them because I know better. That shirt would have looked like it had been worn everyday for a week and hadn't been washed.






















 Elynn spent her first daycare party LOVING Knox. Ya'll, she loves other babies to the point that it is harmful to their health. (She almost pulled Addie's new brother, Pate, out of his swing trying to love him.)


I finally got that crying Santa picture I was after.











































 This is bittersweet for me and Addie's momma. We aren't 100% sure where Reese will go next year (because she will be turning 5, but not in time to start kindergarten), but chances are good this is their last daycare Christmas party. Small milestone, I know, but sad nonetheless.























 Saturday before Christmas we took the girls for our 3rd annual trip to Noccalula Falls to see the lights. It's not too far, there is a train, a live lion, and enough tacky colored lights to make their daddy happy. It's a win, win situation. They enjoyed a movie on the way. Elynn was either thinking it was a stupid movie or in shock.






















They have an old house set up as a Post Office, so Reese wrote her letter to Santa.


Sunday we headed off to church then to MeeMaw's for our first of 7 Christmas functions.





















 When one of the boys we go to church with tried to talk to Elynn, she ran and hid her face on Reese.