Ellie is now 2 (and going on 16). If you don’t mind a few bad words, this
post from
Renegade Mothering pretty much sums this girl up! She makes me question my parenting skills everyday and exhausts me more than my newborn. But I also could not be any more crazy in love with this spunky, sassy little girl.
Stats: At her 2 year well check, she was 2’10.6” and weighed in at 24 lbs 6oz. That makes her in the 75th percentile for height and in the 25th percentile for weight. Good lord let her keep those percentiles her whole life. Haha
Food: Ellison might be the pickiest eater on the planet. She would survive solely on Life cereal and fruit snacks if given the choice. She’ll eat fruit and dairy, but the only meat she’ll touch is some chicken nuggets and occasionally some lunch meat. She’ll spot meat or a green vegetable a mile away and pick up out. One of her favorite things to say at the dinner table is “that’s disgusting.” The doctor wasn’t worried and we just keep trying more foods every day.
Sleep: Ellison had a really good few months of sleep leading up to Miles’ birth, but since he arrived she has consistently been up around 2 times a night. Maybe one of these days, we won’t all be up having a party in the middle of the night.
The terrible 2’s: This age is the best of times and the worst of times. While Owen gave us a run for our money around age 3, I think the terrible twos might be somewhat acturate for our little Ellie. I think she’s having a little bit of a hard time not being the baby anymore as the whining and screaming has increased dramatically. She also needs to be held ALL THE TIME. I have yet to find a discipline that really works with her. She just laughs at most of them. Her favorite terrible two activity is scoping out a toy Owen is playing with, grabbing it, and running as fast as she can or throwing it. She also enjoys biting Owen when she gets mad. She also continues to love making messes of any kind!
The terrific 2’s: Oh but despite all the hard things, we are madly in love with this little girl. The full sentences that come out of her mouth often astound me. I have no idea where she learned half the words that come out of her mouth. She can count to 20 (but still only really identifies the color blue). She LOVES to sing and dance and will tell you she’s doing ballet as she lifts her leg in the air.
While this clip started out as me filming Owen singing, it shows off some of her favorite current moves:
I adore that she is a girly girl! She loves getting her nails and toes painted and she is never without a purse or a bag of some kind.
Yes, even on our walks. (whoa I have 3 kids is what I thought while taking this picture)
Pink overload.
She still does a great job of keeping her headbands on (nice training mom)!
She’s still pretty bald, but she did get her first hair “cut” this month where Tashia just trimmed up the back to even things out. We still have a long ways to go before pony tails and braids.
This little peanut, Ellie Boo, Booski is just a delight. I’m praying that her independent spirit is just a sign of leadership over her life. :)
We love you Ellison Jakeh! Happy 2nd birthday!
While they were projects I totally could have done at home, it was so nice to have a bunch ready to go. And the mess stayed there while we just went home! Totally worth the small cost for the class. It was a fun thing to do just the 3 of us before baby comes!
Inside lots of the eggs were pictures of bigger gifts that wouldn’t fit. They got so spoiled with sidewalk chalk, playdoh, and lots of other goodies!
No pictures of our afternoon, but we broke tradition and ate dinner together on Saturday! It made it so much easier on our schedule because we didn’t have to get home late on Sunday evening.
My gorgeous little girl.
Getting these two crazies to look at the camera is next to impossible these days!
Aww, a rare sweet hug.
And it’s time to run.
The best shot we could get of our (almost) family of 5.
And an adorable picture of my brother and sister-in-law Kara!
Even though we missed Casey and Jenna, it was a great little weekend with our awesome family.
(I'll post what she's up to in another post.) We got all her gifts set up the night before as the girl gets up about 6 every day.
My mom and I found the dollhouse at a resale shop in town almost a year ago. We bought it knowing she’d be ready for it eventually. I’ve purchased a few sets of furniture on eBay but plan on adding more things as she gets bigger. She dove right into the dollhouse as soon as everyone was up and going. 
Of course, she had to open all her other presents before we could even think about breakfast. She loves music, just like Owen, so we added a few pieces to their instruments.
This present was a huge hit. A while back, we had a play date at my friend Tiffany’s house. Her little girl had some pretend make-up that was adorable. I ordered this set from Amazon as the shop on Etsy where Tiffany had bought hers was no longer open. Ellie LOVED it. She knew exactly what to do. She loves watching me put on make-up and knows which lip gloss she’s allowed to grab out my bag and use. She carried her makeup bag around all day (and many days after that).
We finally got to eat yummy huge blueberry muffins for breakfast and of course she got to blow out a "2” candle.
For her birthday “party” this year, we planned a simple fun weekend in Peoria with my parents and grandparents. Since her birthday was on Easter weekend, it worked out great! They have this great place in Peoria called Monkey Joes. It is basically a building packed full of bounce houses. There are party rooms that you can book as well. I wish we had one of these in Champaign for the cold winter months. The kids had a BLAST. Since I am huge and pregnant, I was simply on camera duty while William, Grandma, and Grandpa were on bounce duty.
Owen got pretty brave and finally did these slides by himself!
She loved her princess dress and “high heels!”
Happy birthday sweet girl! We hope you feel how loved and celebrated you are!