Ellie is walking!

Ellie has been so close to walking for a bit now. She was walking well holding just one of our hands and barely holding on. She just needed to get brave enough to let go. And tonight she did! Before dinner, she took her first few unassisted steps. And then it was like she couldn’t stop.  You go big girl!   Your brother better watch out!

asking Jesus in

Thursday night was one of those nights I’ve prayed for from the moment I found out I was pregnant. 
I love the conversations Owen and I have after books, Bible,  prayer and singing before bed.  We talk about the day and what things we have in store for us that week.  We talk about God and his friends and what he ate for dinner. :)  During this sweet time, when the conversation is right, I occasionally ask if he would like to ask Jesus to come live in his heart.  He always says no.  Or starts talking about his cars.

But Thursday night, we were talking about Jesus.  He was asking great questions, like “where is Jesus?”  We talked about how we can’t see him, but he lives in my heart.  And I asked him if wanted Jesus to live in his heart too.  He got really excited and said yes.  He started to try and pray and then I asked him to pray after me.  We prayed that Jesus would come to live in his heart and that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit.

When he was done praying after me, he asked if we could pray for Leo, his favorite stuffed lion and his 2 favorite stuffed bears.  So we prayed that Jesus would come live in their hearts too.  He then asked if Jesus would come out of his tummy.  I laughed and reassured him that Jesus was not like a baby who came out of tummies.

He said about 3 more times “Jesus lives in my heart now?”  For as much as an almost 3 year old gets it, I think he does.  And as my dad said when we called him, “there are those of us adults who are still praying to get it.”   When he got up in the morning, the very first thing he said to William was “Jesus lives in my heart.” 

I’ve shed quite a few tears.  Such happy happy tears. 

new hair!

As the weather starts to warm up, I always get the itch to add some color back to my hair.  But with our budget as it stands I just couldn't bite the bullet for highlights knowing the upkeep they take.  So I was telling this to my sister and she suggested getting the ombre.  The what you ask?  A little help from our friend Google will turn up all kinds of hits like http://ombrehair.org/ and a few of my inspiration pictures:

So basically, it's color from the bottom up.  No roots to worry about?  Sign me up.  I made an appointment with Tasia, my gal at John George Salon here in Savoy.  She's not my sister, but she's the next best thing.  Little did I know that this process would take 3.5 hours from start to finish.  Poor William wasn't anticipating that when I left for my "hair cut." :)  Here were the steps.

 

First we talked about how much I wanted cut.  Then we talked color.  I wanted it noticeable, but not super blonde.  Then she went and mixed my color.

 

Then came a long step.  She took small sections and ratted my hair.  I mean took a comb and teased the life out of the section.  This was so there wouldn't be a line where the color started.  Then she put the color on the small part that was left and foiled it.

 

Next we had to figure out how to get all that hair under the dryer.  She pinned it up and shoved it all inside a shower cap.  Then under the heat I went for another 40 minutes.  I don't think I have sat still for 40 minutes since having babies.  But I could do nothing else.  So I read People and sipped my Diet Coke and just relished in the few minutes to myself. :)

 

Then came the not-so-fun part.  Even after several washes, we learned that my hair holds tease really well.  If 80's hair came back, I would be set to go.  So armed with a bottle of conditioner, leave in conditioner, and detangler Tasia set to work on getting all the rats out that she had purposefully put in.  At one point, another gal came over to help because it was taking so long.  All I can say is ouch.  Who knew I should have taken advil before a hair appointment?  But 45 minutes later, everything was finally combed out.  She washed it a couple more times and we were finally ready for the cut and style.  She wasn't going to let me out of there without the final step of curling it.  And I'm glad she made me. . because it was gorgeous. I am so so happy with the final product.  Now if only my at home curls looked this good.

 

 

ouch

Last week, we had another first.  A trip to convenient care for potential stitches.  William had just left after eating lunch at home with us.  Owen was sprinting ahead of Ellie and I as we climbed the stairs for nap.  He ran into my room, tripped and I heard a thud (he hit right on a corner of the wall). I was about to sound like my mom and say "that's what you get for goofing around." Until I saw his head.  It swelled immediately and starting bleeding.  I called William and yelled at him to turn around and come home.  Then I called his doctor and then my 2 nurse friends.  We decided better be safe than sorry.  So William took him in while I put Ellie to sleep.  The minute they left I started crying and wished I would have taken him.  He needed his momma with him.  

But they both survived and he didn't need stitches or even glue.  We kept telling him the story of when my little brother, Casey fell off my parents bed and had to get stitches on his forehead.  Casey is his new hero.   It's already starting to look a lot better and we'll just be sure to keep it good and sunscreened this summer.

 

 

 

 

bad food week

With Ellie’s birthday, a trip to Peoria, and 2 showers this week, this is how I’m feeling about my food choices this week.  Credit goes to Holly on Pinterest. :)  And yes, I have eaten every food listed below in the last few days.

Happy 12 Months!

I’m so big!!  And she is!  Where in the world did that year go?  I’ve been re-reading my birth story a lot this week and just thanking God again for what an amazing day it was last year.  Ellison Jakeh has been such a joy and blessing to our family and I love getting to know her spunky self more every day! (as you can see in many pictures, she had an apple slice that she stole from her brother and would not let go of.  Whatever it takes to get pictures of a wiggly 1 year old). The stats from the doctor:

• Height:  2ft, 5in (50-75th percentile – what?!  didn’t notice this random large percentile until we got home)
• Weight: 19lb, 5 oz (27th percentile)
• Head:  44.1 cm (21st percentile)

Or in other words, long and skinny. Food: She is getting to that oh-so-fun stage of wanting to feed herself.  This is great when it comes to solid foods like beans, apple slices, and ground turkey.  Not so fun when it comes to her baby food, yogurt, and the like.  But a kids gotta learn somehow right?  I bought these reusable pouches on Amazon and LOVE them!  I just pour in some baby food (usually I mix a fruit and veggie) and she downs them.   She can successfully use about any kind of cup we give her, including a straw.  She still nurses a lot which I know is more for comfort sometimes.  But I’ll start dropping  more and more feedings this summer and maybe wean before my brother's wedding in August. Sleep: no news here.  Surprised?  She gets up an average of 5 times a night, which I know is ridiculous for a 1 year old.  She will nurse every time unless William gets up with her.  Thinking it may be time to cut her off from the nighttime boob and paci at the same time? She has 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom and the 4th on the bottom is getting close to breaking through! She is cruising furniture like a pro, loves to walk holding our fingers, and can even climb up on things.  This week, so finally tried to take one step while we were outside so I don’t think walking is too far off!  She loves pushing Owen’s big truck or her walker toy and then have fun chasing each other in circles around the house.

She loves to attack the cat and absolutely hates the vacuum cleaner.   She’s trying to mimic more and more words although they all sound the same.  She had definite sounds for Sophie Cat, her Mimi monkey, Owen, mama, and dada.  She also signs pretty consistently for “more, all done, milk, and eat.”She is definitely Ms. Independent.  Nothing like her cuddly older brother.  She likes to be down on her own, figuring out her world.  She loves to play in the little kitchen and gives her babies kisses.  She makes a great car noise when we play trucks with Owen. 

All in all, an amazing first year with my awesome, sweet, and adorable daughter!  It just keeps getting better!

Ellison’s 1st Birthday

Ellie is 1!  So hard to believe!  We just did a few small things for her on Thursday since her big celebration is coming up in a month.  The day started bright and early at their 5:45 wake time.

For breakfast, everyone got party hats and yummy cinnamon muffins.  We sang her happy birthday and she Owen blew out her candle.  Does this hat go here, on my muffin?Mmmm, this is better than my baby oatmeal. :) Owen made her a little card and wanted to give it to her right away. She also got some new shoes. And a fun new Uno Moo game, which we’ve already played a million times with Owen.  Ellie likes to simply eat the farm animals.I made a little pink rosette cake for her.  Didn’t turn out nearly as cute as the tutorial, but for just us, it was perfect. Daddy surprised us with balloons on his way home for lunch.  He got Ellie the pink ones and Owen the orange. She loved them! After a yummy lasagna leftover lunch, it was cake and singing time!  It took my mom looking at these pictures to notice something weird about the cake.  Do you see something wrong in the pictures?*Memaw and Papaw got her and Owen new swings (and a slide!) for their birthday, so we opened them up and played in the box awhile before nap.Happy birthday sweet girl!  I cannot wait to celebrate you even more next month with all your family and friends.  It has been the most amazing year with you a part of our family.  We love you so much!

*I put 2 candles on her cake.  I took my mom looking at these pictures to notice it. I have no idea what I was thinking as I’m pretty sure she is 1, not 2.