Mommy Magnetism

Under my feet. Constantly. From the moment she wakes up, Ellie is glued to her mama. She follows me everywhere, steals a bite of whatever I am eating, sits so close to me on the couch that we are smooshed into each other, and will not let me do anything without her knowing. Mommy Magnetism. Ellie sleeps crooked in the bed. For a long time, I didn't understand it. We always put her to bed straight...head at the top, feet toward the bottom. But by the time I leave (I lay with her until she falls asleep because she gets "scared") she is totally diagonal in her bed. Tonight it dawned on me why. As soon as I lay next to her, Ellie slowly starts to inch her face closer to me. She moves until her face is smooshed up against my arm, chest, shoulder, whatever. And she buries her nose like she is inhaling my scent. In the end, she is completely crooked. Mommy Magnetism. Some days, I am just totally exhausted from Ellie's constant "Mama! Mommy! Mom!" requests: I am Mama, doctor, teacher, coach, play date, creator of fun, DVD player, chef, and everything else in between. But all days, I keep reminding myself that my beautiful little 3 year old daughter, whom I love more intensely than life gives words for, will someday grow up and not think I am so cool or necessary. I will be able to do wrong in her eyes and I will not be the answer to all of her problems and I will DESPERATELY miss being needed and loved so unconditionally. And it will be then that I will pray pray pray for that power once again... Mommy Magnetism.

And here are a few pictures from our weekend. This one is of Ellie digging for worms in our garden bed. Note the ever-present plumber crack: it's an Ellie trademark!

One of my all-time favorite pictures of Ellie: She found a worm and is just delighted. I know my dad is going to remember me doing the same thing when I was little!

And Ellie just being Ellie...

My wonderful Hubby Love worked all weekend to finish the nursery! Hanging stuff on the walls can be so tedious and frustrating! He finally finished tonight and with the exception of a few last minute pieces, we are done! What a guy!

Ellie was VERY helpful. What a great big sister she will be!

Ta-da!

Her Many Faces

Showered With Love

A few pictures from the baby shower. My friends were so sweet and surrounded me (and friend Amy and her daughter Sara) with so much love and celebration. Kate is already loved so much!

I'm trying to put the new outfit on Kate according to how she is positioned in my tummy.

Ellie also received a special package from Mema and Papa Lenny in the mail today. The box was full of all of Ellie's current favorites: jump rope, satin purse, headband, eye shadow, pencils and notepad, etc. She was VERY excited. Here she is discovering the eye shadow in the purse:

Ellie gave me the hug that she would have saved for Mema and Papa. :)

Her official thank you for her favorite surprise in the box:

As a side note, the doctor said baby is head down in birth canal but there is no progress yet. I spent the rest of the day walking, eating a lot of wasabi and pineapple! Let's get this baby moving!

9 Months Pregnant

FINALLY! Nine months pregnant and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Baby girl could come any day over the course of the next four weeks and we are SO excited! Today my dear "mommy friends" gave me (and my friend Amy who just had her little girl Sara) a special baby shower. It felt wonderful that our daughter was already being celebrated and welcomed. Tomorrow I have a doctor appointment to determine if/how much I am progressing. I am feeling very tired again and want to sleep constantly! Unfortunately, I am also very uncomfortable at this stage so sleep is not something that comes easily to me. Here are my 9 month pictures. As you can see, I am carrying very low and out front: When I get pictures from the baby shower today, I will post them! But here are some pictures from the rest of our weekend. We took Ellie to the zoo and spent a lot of hours at our neighbors' house trying out their new trampoline (everyone except me of course). Ellie literally bounced with her friends from noon until dark on Saturday! We also enjoyed a wonderful day at church, a baby shower for Dan's cousin Megan, and just some good old fashioned family downtime. We certainly took advantage of the beautiful and warm weather this weekend! Tabitha about to surprise the kids with the trampoline. SO SWEET that she (and whole family) included Ellie in the event.

I wasn't exaggerating about the jumping until dark!

Ellie with her new fan from the zoo. She is VERY into role playing right now.

I thought I would have to teach her what to do with the fan...apparently she knows more than I think. I have NO idea where she learned this!

35 Weeks, Ultra Sound, and Big Sister

Today, I had my 35 week ultrasound. We saw and confirmed some good things. 1) She is definitely a she. WHEW! 2) She is healthy and beautiful with thick hair. 3) The cord is floating in front of baby's face but is not wrapped around her neck. 4) Baby is finally head down! Hooray! She is measuring a little bigger than 6 pounds which is bigger than I'd like at this point but nothing to be too worried about (it's all an estimation anyway but it certainly makes me more anxious to have her sooner than later!). We were able to see her in 3D which was amazing but unfortunately the technician was unable to save a good picture because the umbilical cord was in the way. Here she is: It is not a great picture because at this stage she is so cramped in my tummy but you still get a sense of her profile.

And here is a video clip. She is "practice breathing," readying her lungs for when she breathes on her own! You can also see the umbilical cord well:

Ellie meanwhile is growing up SO fast! I think we are getting a baby just in time because my first baby is definitely not little anymore! She is so capable and articulate. I still am doing everything I can to keep her "my baby" which is particularly tough at the moment since I can't carry her or fit her in my lap! She says, "Mom! Enough kisses and hugs. I already gave you too many!" Ha! Here she is playing hopscotch with neighbor friend, Owen. She really likes to tell him the rules...over and over again! And this picture is my favorite. Owen is saying, "ELLIE! SLOW DOWN!" Ellie (as you can see by the mischievous grin on her face) is LOVING the control...her foot is fully on the pedal and notice she is now going into the yard! She drove all over the place and could not keep the car straight. Um, Dan? You get to handle the whole "driver's ed" stage. :)

I am 9 months on Monday and will post pictures of my ridiculous belly! :) I hope she is coming sooner than later because we are SO ready!

Happenings

Ellie has been playing with friends ALL weekend. She has been so busy having fun and it is such a joy to just watch her play. She is very kind and nurturing with her pals but is definitely a leader and loves to lead play and initiate new imaginative scenarios. Her current interests are jump rope, hop scotch, dress up (fashion shows specifically and Dan and I have to pretend to be the paparazzi), writing, singing, and playing salon. Her writing is getting so great. She takes my coffee order every morning (for Dan to make me a latte...what a guy) and can actually now write "decaf soy latte." Amazing. She has to write all of our names (Ellie, Dada, Mama, and Jaxie) on everything. I can't keep enough pencils, notepads, etc. in the house! She is a strong writer, reader, storyteller, dancer, and is SO imaginative, articulate, and observant! I am so proud of my little girl. She is a gem.

Ellie putting on "make up." Dan is not too happy with me for encouraging this. He said no make-up until she is older and he thinks 16 is not old enough. He is very serious about this. Yikes. We will see. :)

Jaxie and Ellie going upstairs together. I love how Ellie puts her hand on Jaxie's back. Just cute.

Dan bringing Ellie and Gabby back downstairs Ring around the rosie...We all fall down! (Jaxie is of course right there in the mix) Just playing outside Ellie and friend Delaney give a fashion show for the mommies and daddies