Ellie's First Fish...

Our kids are really pretty good at saving their money (they totally get that from their dad!) Brig is usually the one that saves with a goal in mind and Ellie just puts her money in her little jar and changes her mind on what she is going to buy...jewelry, nail polish and other girly things. So when we went to DandB for Brig to buy a spinner and Ellie set her sights on the pink Barbie fishing pole- Cory was convinced that it was "a good purchase and we should encourage that behavior."

So she brought her little bank in a few hours later with Cory and bought her very own fishing pole. With all their new gear, Cory obviously needed to take them fishing right away! So we headed down to the river and Ellie perfected her little push button cast. Cory and his dad (he met us down there) were both catching fish and letting the kids reel them in- but we were all shocked to see a splash on the end of Ellie's line. Sure enough- she reeled in an 11" bass that she also cast by herself. To say that we were surprised would be an understatement.

 

She still didn't want to hold it though. Good thing she has her big brother.

 

Pursey...

It's probably about time that I let the 6th member of our family have a little time to shine on our blog.  Yes. 6th member.

Meet Pursey.

As in a purse. She is really quite a special member of our family and pretty much goes everywhere with us. Her "mom" takes super great care of her and makes sure to tuck her into bed and give her lots of naps, make birthday cakes for her, make sure her "hair" is done, put on her imaginary pj's and panties and ensure that she is included and getting the attention from all of us that she deserves.

 

 

Ellie is such a little mom. It is adorable and has been so fun to see her mother Pursey for the past several weeks. It has also been nice to have Pursey join our family so Ellie can direct her mothering to a willing candidate. A very common phrase that comes from little miss Ellie is..."I'm the mom, right?" and then it is followed by some sort of command to "kid." For example... "Kid, it's time to go so sleep." And while she still will frequently slip into mom-mode, Pursey has definitely occupied most of her time. Like I said, we all love Pursey- and we absolutely adore her sweet little mom.

 

Spunk...

I need to just take a moment and pause so we can reflect on this girl's spunk...

 

 

Ok. That was fun.

Potty Training the Little Miss...

Finally!

This girl is potty trained.  I have waited quite a while to post this because it has been such a wild ride!!!! She started about a week before she turned 2. She has always been an incredible communicator so I figured she was ready. Plus, she struggled with MRSA for a year and the infectious disease specialist told us that potty training and getting her out of diapers (her infections were always on her bum) would help.  So we had motivation too!

 

Well, it was not the easy ride that I was expecting! She was not going to give in and be potty trained. Long story short...after about a month of diligent effort on my part and many many accidents on her part...we decided to just deal with diapers.

 

 

Then about 4 months later- she just told me that she was ready to be potty trained on morning.  So, we started again.  This time was way better- I wasn't as stressed and she was the one who usually would tell me she had to go- instead of me nagging.  She understood what was happening this time and I think that really helped!

She got the hang of it but would still have sooo many accidents and it was really frustrating.  Then about 2 weeks ago, Cory had everyone in the family set a goal to help our family be better and Ellie's goal was to not have accidents...and she was good to go! She rarely has accidents...for a while she was averaging 3-4 accidents a day and now she has about 1-2 a week. 

Yay Ellie!!!

 

This was her most recent chart. It is a little...abused. But she loved it. Her rewards were...fingernail polish, a visit to Grandma's, watch Cinderella, some pink bubblegum, a Happy Meal from McD's, and a four wheeler ride with daddy. 

 

 

This chart below is from the first time we tried potty training her... even with these awesome incentives...she could have cared less! She would earn a reward and then have an accident the next time. It was rough.

 

 

Again...this picture below is from her first attempt... she always would do great when we were out and about. She especially loved the little potty at Kohls.  She just didn't really care to stop playing while we were home and run potty. It was pretty much the same difference to her if I changed her panties or her diaper.

 

 

And my favorite potty training picture...this should have been a good insight as to what our experience was going to be like with this sweet, yet very stubborn girl of ours!

 

My Girl...

Brig was at preschool the other day and Jase was asleep...so Ellie and I took a few pictures.  This is about 1/8 of the ones I have but I just melt when I see this cute little, happy girl! She is such a blessing to our family. 

 I love how she is so quick to tell us she loves us.

 

 

I love how she is already a little mother...to her baby dolls and anyone else who is anywhere close to her in age or younger. And sometimes age has no bearing on her mothering:)

 

Despite the parenting challenges it sometimes presents, I love this girl's attitude and sass.

 

 

I love her sweet, sweet smile.

 

 

I love how she already has opinions on how she wears her hair and what she wears.

 

 

I love how she is all girl through and through but thanks to her big brother...she can get dirty, go hunting, climb rocks and is getting better and better at keeping up with the boys.

 

 

I love how when it's "just the girls" at home, she asks if we can paint our fingernails.

 

 

I love how well she communicates and how adorable she is when she tells a story...actually I pretty much just love hearing her talk. I love how friendly she is and how she makes friends with people all the time.

 

 

Basically, I just love this girl to pieces!

Ellie Spotlight...

I thought I would do a little spotlight on each of the kids.

 

So Ellie...

She is so sweet! Right now is probably one of my favorite stages (around 18 months).  She is learning things at an alarming pace- she is especially adept at speaking.  She talks so well and I just love hearing her voice. 

She sure does love her brother.  It is quite evident that she wants to be just like him.  In fact, the other day we were outside and Brig suddenly had to go potty- the urgency was loud and clear in his voice.  So since he is a boy, he found a private spot outside and everything was fine...Ellie, however, starts saying (with the same urgency) that she has to go potty and lifts up her shirt and starts pulling down her diaper and pants.  I am not quite sure how she will handle it when she discovers that she is a little different than her brother.

Her favorite thing to say right now is "SELF!" She wants to do everything by herself- even if she can't, she wants to think she is doing it herself.  She can be so independent and yet her next favorite thing to say is probably "Rock you." She loves to be cuddled and rocked and if she doesn't feel well or gets sad that is what she wants to comfort her. 

 

She can be so sweet and adorable and then someone can say the wrong thing...and BAM! a switch has flipped and she can sure be sassy. 
It never ceases to amaze us how different girls and boys are. 
Brig has always loved little thrills like four-wheeling and being thrown up in the air...if we even say the word four-wheeler, Ellie will start saying no and back up until we reassure her that she doesn't have to ride it. 
 

 

She does love lotion, singing, and Cinderella... here are a few pictures (and video) to prove it...

She was squealing with delight because of all the Cinderella shoes this store had.  She absolutely adores Cinderella and loves to wear her "Rella shoes" all the time...it is so funny.
 

 

 

Ellie has quite the personality and we are so grateful for all that she adds to our family!

Sticky Sweet...

Ellie is all girl. 

She is so sweet that sometimes we just melt with her cuteness.

She is so precocious that sometimes we just shake our heads at her "maturity."

And she is so dramatic that we don't really know what to do.

 

On this particular day, she sat, happily eating her pancake. I jumped up to sit on the counter by her. AND BAM!

Wrong move. For some reason- she did not want me to do that and let us know.

She proceeded to scream and cry for a solid 5 minutes while laying right in her sticky breakfast.

We are in for a treat!

What Do You Celebrate...

Family...

 

 

Beauty...

 

 

Laughter...

 

 

Sisterhood... (missed you Taylor & Monica!)

 

 

Girl Power...

 

 

New Experiences...

 

 

Health...

 

 

Originality...

 

 

Happiness...

 

 

Women's Fitness Celebration Walk 2012

Ellie, Mom, Aunt Sydney & Grandma Madsen

My! How She's Grown...

As I said in the previous post, our computer crashed and is getting a little check up from its doctor.  So I haven't been able to blog about quite a few big things that have happened in our life lately...

for instance...

ELLIE TURNED 1!!!!!

I will post more about her actual birthday soon...until then... here is a little look at her over the past year.  Oh, I can't believe how much I love this little girl. She melts us. I love how in pretty much all of these pictures you can see how happy she is. I love her sweet little narrow head and her slightly squinty left eye.  I love how she has spunk but can make us all swoon. I love how she is already as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.

Do Princesses Catch Fish?

You betcha!

This post is loosely based on a super sweet children's book Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? I highly recommend it!

She is Here!!!!

Miss Ellie Elaine

September 13th

7 lb 4 oz

Sweet as can be!

More to come soon....

Move Your Body!

So the Little Lady inside of me is a MOVER! 

Not just little kicks here and there- she is full on doing yoga/kickboxing/gymnastics/clogging;) 

So...lots of babies move in their mama's belly right...that is kinda the point...

Here is my question...

She moves way more than Brig did.  Brig is quite the mellow, reserved child.

SOOOO....

Are the dance moves she does perhaps indicitive of her personality?

Anyone? Anyone? 

It's a....

GIRL!!!

We are excited to balance out the family with a little girl! We had our ultrasound yesterday and both of our children seemed to be in a wiggly mood.  Despite my visions of our whole family getting to see the baby, Brig decided the drinking fountain was much more exciting and wanted dad to take him to get 300 drinks...baby girl decided that she didn't really want to hold still and that she would practice her acrobatics.  She had her feet all the way over her head and was reaching up with her hands playing with her toes.  She was quite the mover.  The tech commented on her "huge guns" and her long legs. 

We are pretty excited!!