Boyce Babbles

Conversations with a 3 year old

2011-07-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

As much I as I get annoyed with a child that communicates well (she knows how to use it) there are some very funny and interesting conversations that come from it. You can just see their little minds working. Today, as I was laying Ella down for her nap, I was talking to my sister Kimmy on the phone. Ella always wants to know who I am talking to and when I mentioned it was Aunt Kimmy this is the conversations that ensued:

Ella: "Aunt Kimmy? She got married to Uncle Eric."

Mommy: "That's right"

Ella: "Mommy, you gonna get married?"

Mommy: "I already got married to Daddy. We got married before you were born."

Ella: "Daddy can't get married."

Mommy: "Why can't Daddy get married?"

Ella: "Because, Daddy can't wear a white dress."

Well, I sure hope that Daddy can't/doesn't ever wear a white dress, or any dress for that matter. And then tonight, I took some "Mommy time" and Aaron had a treat with Ella. As I was walking to my room, this is what I hear:

Daddy: "Let's sit at the table and talk."

Ella: "Okay"

Daddy: "What do you want to talk about?"

Ella: "Let's talk about missionaries!"

I was expecting her to talk about the music we danced to today, or to talk about what she and Ty did together. But out popped, "Let;s talk about missionaries." And then she and Aaron went on to talk about missionaries. I just love it. I love that we are having actual conversations where she has opinions and can talk back and forth with me. Just love that girl!

Fun at the Park

2011-04-20T17:35:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun at the park the other day. I had a good family friend, Ms. Dawn, come take pictures for us. It was really windy, but I think most of the pictures turned out cute. I just can't believe that my babies are getting so big.

Ella runs around the house singing things all the time. And for the most part she can carry a tune. Ty tries really hard to keep up with her, but he just can't quite do it. I can't even do it. She is just such a busy body. She has the funniest humor right now. I need to take some paper and a pen with me everywhere we go, because I can never remember exactly what she says, but I think it's funny. (Maybe it's a good thing I don't do that, so I don't have to torture with all my child's boring rambling, which I think are hilarious due to my lack of better entertainment.)

Ty gives kisses now, which I love. He tries to do somersaults, but he fails miserably every time. This kid can eat just as much as I can. I think he thinks we are trying to starve him so he always screams for more. We thought Ella was/is a loud human being, and then we were introduced to Ty. Man can that kid wail. And he does it everywhere we go. I apologize in advance to our fellow travelers on the plane when we fly to Utah this summer. He is still a momma's boy, but he is getting friendlier with others. He can't walk yet, and I keep practicing with him. He is just so big to be toting around all the time. And he loves his big sister.

I think this is one of my favorite parts of being a parent, watching my children play HAPPILY together. Ella is he other mom. When driving home and Ty starts screaming, Ella looks at him and says "Calm down dude, we're almost home." She's always looking out for his best interests.

Big girls and Baby boys

2011-03-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

I was reviewing pictures on my camera and came across some pictures Ella took with out my knowledge. This picture is one Ella manage to capture that didn't include some fingers.

These two play so well together. It's nice that they can entertain each other and get along doing it. I am sure these times won't last, but I will take it while I can.

Here is a picture before I cut Ty's hair. I haven't every cut it so he had some really dark bangs and blond roots. It always makes me sad to have their first hair cuts, but it was necessary.

Here is the after picture. He looks so handsome. There isn't much of a difference, but he looks more like a little boy.

One of my friends is having a little girl, so I thought i would make her a little outfit. I love that these projects get easier as I go. It was fun making this. The hardest part was making the little pom poms for the booties. I have bruises on my fingers from using the scissors so much.

This video is how my days go. Ty just follows Ella everywhere. He absolutely adores his big sister. I think Ella is a little partial to him too.

Happy Birthday Cassie!!

2011-01-28T10:26:00.001-08:00

The other day, while I was doing things around the house, I noticed that Ella was really quiet. This is usually a bad sign. Ella likes to be sneaky and she is really good at it. So I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into her room and saw this:

She was reading. How great is that? She loves to read and I am so glad that at least something I do well, rubs off on her.

Cassie turned 23 this month and I made her a scarf and a hat. I had to wait till she opened her present before I could post these pictures. I didn't want to give up this hat I made. I am so proud of it. Good thing is I have the pattern and can make another one. Plus there just isn't the need for a hat like that in Texas.

Ella is such a great model. I love it!!

Ella and Ty love playing with each other these days. It has been so much fun for me to watch. And they keep each other occupied, doesn't get much better than that at this stage in life. This video is them playing together. No one can make Ty laugh like this. It is a talent only Ella posses apparently.

Holidays

2011-01-05T08:15:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! I am finally posting pictures from Halloween on. We have a little pumpkin patch by our house so we took the kids to go pick out some pumpkins. They have these cute little displays so you can take pictures. So of course we did. Ella loved the "baby" pumpkins. We got her one and she sleep with it she was so excited.

Grandma Boyce came in to town the first of November and we decided to go to the Zoo. It was a perfect day. Ella had so much fun. But she had to go potty every five minutes and the bathrooms are like 15 minutes apart at the Zoo so I think we spent more time running from bathroom to bathroom than looking at the actual animals. But we still had a blast.
Then my Dad and Kim came for a good friends wedding, and then Kimmy and Cassie came a few days later to attend the wedding as well. Ella, being the little sneak that she is, got into Cassie's makeup while she was suppose to be taking a nap. Here is the end result:We made sugar cookies for one of our Family Home Evening. Ella loves to be a big helper. She had so much fun!

This is the first day that Ty sat up all by himself. It's been so different with Ty than with Ella. She was crawling at 5 1/2 months and has been on the go since. Ty is so laid back. Now that he is crawling he gets a little more excited. But he is just as happy hanging out in the rocking chair with mom as he is crawling. He is such a happy baby.

Yay for Christmas! This year was so fun since Ella is starting to understand the whole idea of presents. She was more interested in unwrapping things that she didn't really pay attention to all she got till later. Ty loves all his toys too.
Aaron is playing princess castle with Ella in her new tent. You can see how well Aaron fits in it. He is such a great dad!
These two play so well with each other, well for the most part. No ones perfect. But they love each other that is for sure.
Ella got some dress ups for Christmas so we have a princess party everyday. This is a costume that use to Kimmy's I think. Ella is dancing in this picture.
Just wanted to show off another project I did for Christmas. I did a lot of homemade gifts this year and this I made out of left over yarn. I think it turned our pretty cute if I do say so myself. Made the pattern up and everything.

We had to get some sparklers for Ella this year. She thought they were so cool. She kept asking for "more sparkles please!"

New Projects and New PIctures

2010-10-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

I made a trip to Good Will a few weeks ago and stumbled across this dress for Ella. She was so excited when she saw it. She calls it her cinderbella dress and has to wear it everyday. She is such a girly girl!
Ty is now almost 6 months old. It's amazing how time flies. He is losing his hair and you can kind of tell in this picture. He has little tufts of it on the top and around his ears, every where else blond hair is coming in so you can see it very well. He absolutely adores his sister. He is totally fascinated by her hair and grabs it anytime she is close.
I also decided today to make some headbands. I wanted to see if I could make them cheaper than I could buy them and I think I succeeded. All the ribbon was either 50% off of from a grab bag that was $1.50 and then I got the headbands on 50% off too so they where only $.50 a piece. So it cost me about $4 to make 3 headbands. Not so shabby. I looked online and everything that looked like these were between $10-$15. I have to say I am just a little proud of myself!

Here is a cute video of Ty in his horse. He loves that thing and he gets really excited about and you can tell from his loud screaming. I get to enjoy this everyday.

Lots of Pictures

2010-09-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I last put up pictures and I am long over due. The last couple of months have been fun. We spent most of July in Utah visiting family. We had so much fun we didn't want to come home.

Ella is now starting potty training and is picking it up pretty quickly. She hates having accidents so she tries hard to avoid them. She constantly talks all the time, I just have no idea what she says. My dad said that he needed a translator for Ellanese because she gets so excited on the phone that she talks really fast. ( I have NO idea where she gets that from...) Ella continues to teach me about patients and we think she has a great sense of humor.

The other day, I was hot and sticky as I am most days during the summer here, and Ella just wanted to sit right on top of me. Ty was finally down for a nap and I just needed a little space. I let Ella know this but telling her to get off me and sit somewhere else. She responded by looking up at me with those beautiful blues eyes and stated, "But I love you." What else can you do but let her sit on you.

Ty is still growing like a weed. He just had his four months check up and is in the 83% for height and 65% for weight. He was such a trooper getting his shots. He has a hard time sleeping through the night still, but it is getting better. Ty loves to smile and watch his sister. He thinks she is the funniest thing. I absolutely love it!

Time for Picture narration:

Ella loves to wear my shoes.
I made this hat for me, but I guess the instructions were a little off. So now Ella gets to have it.

I have to tell you that I am really proud of this flower. I made it up all on my own, I didn't even follow a pattern.

Ella let me braid her hair. It was so cute on her.

Here is another hat I made for Ella. The only yarn I have right now is yarn left over from making stuff for Ty. It's either blue or white.

Ella loves taking pictures with Ty.

Ella has a way of finding chocolate anywhere. We had started packing for our return trip home and put a huge Hershey kiss in our bag and left Ella alone in the room with it. This is the result:

You can still see the half eaten Kiss behind her shoulder.

I don't know if I ever posted pictures of my finished blessing outfit and blanket for Ty so here is it. It barely fit him for his blessing, but he looked very handsome in it.

These are Boyce grandchildren at Temple Square.

Ella is a major water baby. She could live in the water all day long. She is swimming with Aunt Hannah here.

Ella unsuccessfully tried to put on her pants by herself and Grandma and Papa Killpack's house. She is much better at it now.

I just love this picture of Ella. I reminds me a lot of my little sister Hannah at this age.

Crazy Ella

2010-06-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

I took Ella to see Toy Story 3-D and we came home with the glasses. This is her trying to watch Beauty and the Beast (not in 3-D) with her glasses. Please note that they are upside down.
Aaron went on a business trip last week and he got home after Ella went to bed. He wanted to check on her and see her for a few seconds and this is what we walked in on. She is just sprawled out everywhere. She plays hard and she sleeps hard.
Ella has gotten into the habit of raiding my kitchen drawers. The garlic press is now one of her new favorite toys. She like to talk on it. The video below is of her doing just that.

The many hairstyles of Ty Boyce

2010-06-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of fun trying out new hairstyles with Ty. He just has so much hair. It has a little bit of a curl to it so it makes it look crazy sometimes!!

Things to smile about...

2010-06-08T06:04:00.000-07:00

One of the first things to smile about is we finished the tiling in our Kitchen! When my wonderful mother-in-law come into town after Ty was born, we started, and then I finished it after she left. We have few tiles to cut to go around the outlets, but other than that everything is done. And for never tiling before, I think it looks pretty good. Hopefully this is the last thing we decide to do to our kitchen while we are living here.

This isn't really something to smile about, but what else can you do but laugh. On Saturday, when Aaron and I were cleaning the house so we could party the rest of the day, our beautiful daughter was trying to make herself even more beautiful by putting on my mascara. Here are the results:

She even managed to get it on her eyelashes!
And one more thing to smile about is.. Ty started smiling in response to things. It has been really fun. He loves listening to people talk to him and he love watching his sister. He is especially smiley after he eats. :-)

Our babies

2010-06-01T19:17:00.001-07:00

Our little guy just gets bigger and bigger everyday, It's just so different having a boy. Ella was so petite and just all girl, and Ty is all boy. And a big mama's boy at that. He loves to eat and really doesn't let anyone else hold him but me. Hopefully he will grow out it. I love that Ella loves on everybody. For the most part he is a pretty good baby. He doesn't really like taking naps and we have been struggling with that. But it is getting better the more we get on a schedule. It amazes me to think that he is only 5 weeks old. It feels like he has been apart of the family for much longer that that.

Ella sat down for lunch the other day and grabbed a magazine to read. I thought it was really cute. She is doing really well with her little brother. She tells us she loves him and that Ty is cute. She is not too happy with the attention that mommy shows Ty will feeding him all the time. So she follows me around the house everywhere. She is getting so big and she has a big attitude to go with it. She is her mother's daughter. Probably just getting a little taste of my own medicine, right?

Growing babies!!

2010-05-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

Ty is getting bigger every day. He is such a chunk. We are still working on getting on a schedule and figuring out how to handle two kids. They certainly keep us busy. But they are so cute, don't you think?
Ella woke up and we didn't hear here playing in the living room one morning. When we realized she was awake and Aaron went to help her get some breakfast. This is what he found. She had gotten into a jar of lotion cream that I accidentally left on the couch the night before. That jar is now empty...

Home Sweet Home

2010-04-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

We are home from the hospital and trying to settle into a routine. Ty thinks that he needs to eat constantly and I am trying to convince him otherwise. He is a very relaxed baby. He only cries when he is hungry. He doesn't even cry when he has a dirty diaper. He likes to just hang out with everyone.

Ella has been great. She thinks that baby brother is cute and she loves to help me whenever possible. (But only when it comes to baby brother stuff). She really hasn't acted out too much. We are just trying to recuperate from Grandma and Grandpa Killpack coming and spoiling her. :-)

I am just trying to adjust to no sleep and being concerned about two kids instead of one. But all and all, I am doing great and enjoying this time right now.

Some more pictures for you

2010-04-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yay for baby Ty

2010-04-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ty William Boyce
9 lbs 2 oz
20 inches

We are so happy to introduce you to our newest addition!! It is so nice to finally meet him face to face.

My dad and Kim came down on Monday, hoping that I would be able to be induced either that day or the next day. I was put down on the schedule to be induced on Wednesday, but I was not guaranteed that I would be able to come in. It all depended on if they had room and how many people come in the middle of the night. I had to call at 5 am to see if I would be able to make it in. I called and they told me that I had been put on hold and they would give me a call back. If they didn't call by 8:30 I was to give them a call. They called a couple of hours later letting me know that I had been bumped to Friday.

I was disappointed because I was so tired of being pregnant. At this point I was waking up almost every hour to either use the restroom or eat. And I was still getting sick to my stomach. So Kim and I decided we would just do all the walking we could. We went to a lot of outside shopping areas around here and just walked for hours a day. It was nice to get my mind off of everything and just hang out. Ella had a blast too. And my dad was able to do all the golfing he wanted without having to worry about me.

Friday came, and I called at 5 again and this time they told me to go ahead and come in at 7. Yay! We finally made it to the hospital. I got checked in pretty quick and the Dr. stopped by to see if I was dilated more than my visit on Monday when I was at a two. He checked me and I was at a 4. They hadn't even started the pitocin yet. I had had quite a few contractions that morning before we went to the hospital, but that has been happening a lot lately so I didn't really think anything of it. But once they hooked me up the the IV, my contractions slowed down so they put me on pitocin anyways.

I got all hooked up by about 8 and my contractions started coming really strong by about 9:30. I will definitely say they were painful. I most certainly was getting an epidural and I got that around 10. Thank heavens for modern medicine! They checked me again at about 11 and I was already at an 8. I started to feel a lot of pressure about and hour later. I started to push around 12:45 and Ty was born at 1:01. Everything went as smoothly as I could imagine. I am truly blessed with good deliveries.

So far he seems like a pretty chill little guy. He is already a lot calmer than his big sister Ella. We will see how it goes when we get him home. I am feeling tired and a little sore, but other than that, just great! Reality hasn't quite set in, but I am sure it will fast. We are just happy as can be!!

Birthday Bash

2010-03-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ella turned 2!! It's so weird to think the we have a 2 year old. I feel like she has just grown up over night. Here are some videos of her birthday so you can all feel like you were apart of it!!

It's still... a boy!

2010-03-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

I am now at 33 weeks and at my Dr.'s office, they do another ultrasound at this point to measure that baby and see how he is growing. So we got to see our little boy again today. He has definitely filled out since that last time we saw him. He already has chubby cheeks.

They measured him to see how about how much he was weighing. The average baby at this point weighs about 4 and a half pounds. My big boy weighs 5 lbs. 2 oz. which means that he is measuring a week bigger than what he actually is. So I guess I am just blessed to have big babies. It makes me feel better knowing that I really am big, because my baby is big.

I also made her double check on the boy status. I just don't want any surprises coming out, especially since I am completely and totally prepared for a boy. And he is ALL boy. There is no mistaking it. He also has a little bit of hair. It's not very long, but there is a little peach fuzz on there and the ultrasound tech said that his hair will probably get a little bit longer before he comes.

Ella wasn't all that excited to watch her baby brother on the screen, probably because she couldn't tell what it was. But she knows where that baby is, although she thinks that everyone now has a baby in their belly.

We are just waiting patiently, or perhaps impatiently, for the next arrival of our next little one. I am still working on his quilt that goes with his blessing outfit. I am almost halfway done. I have a few more projects to do. And then it is baby time. Ella turns two next Sunday and I can't believe how big she has gotten in the last year. It has been and continues to be such a joy to watch her grow and learn.

Updates

2010-02-27T15:47:00.000-08:00

I have had some requests to post a belly picture since I haven't done so yet (this is for you Larah), so here you go. This is me at 31 1/2 weeks. I feel twice as big as I look in this picture. This little boy inside of me is taking up every inch he possibly can and I still have 8 weeks to go. We are certainly on the countdown. I have been getting things ready. The nursery is pretty much ready to go even though he will be in our room from the first little bit.

I have another ultrasound next week so you will get to see some more pictures of him later. We are just really excited to meet this little boy face to face. I hope that Ella will be able to handle the transition well. She loves babies and little kids and is really sensitive to their moods.

I babysat for a friend the other day and her son was upset when she left, so I was holding him and Ella came over and patted his back and gave him loves. She kept asking if he was sad and if he needed kisses better. It was really sweet. I think that she is going to make a great big sister.

Here is the start of my quilt that goes with the blessing outfit that I am making. I don't think you really need a blanket to go along with a blessing outfit, but this blanket is so beautiful I had to try and make it. It is actually easier (to me) than making the other items even though this is a little more intricate.
This is what I have done so far. I still have a lot of squares to make, but its getting there. I am about 1/5 of the way done. Luckily each square doesn't take too much time to make, so I should have it all done before the baby gets here. That's the goal anyway.

I had to show you a video of Ella's great dance moves. She loves to dance. Ella will ask to turn on the "husic" and dance-dance. She has a lot of fun!

Blessing Outfit

2010-02-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

I decided to take on the ambitious project of making a blessing outfit for the baby. Since I don't have the necessary means to actually sew an outfit, I decided to crochet one. I have been searching for something that was not feminine. Aaron feels that if it's made out of yarn, it must be girly. I found something I think will work.
I have completed everything on the sweater except sewing on the buttons. The sweater is the first thing that I made from this pattern and it is not exactly perfect. If I have time and the will power, and if it just really gets to me that its not perfect, I may redo it. The overalls have turned out great. I still have to sew on the suspenders. There are the pictures of what I have done so far.:
This is a picture of what the stuff is suppose to look like. I am in the middle of making the hat and then I will start on the booties.When I am done with all the clothing items I am going to start on this quilt. I am a little scared, but I am learning so much with doing all these projects. They have been frustrating at times, but I really feel the reward of accomplishing some out of my comfort zone.

More Ella

2010-02-13T07:49:00.001-08:00

Ella loves to ask questions these days. These are some of the things that she asks:

"Mommy, where are you going?"
"Mommy, what are you doing?"
"Mommy, what happened?"

And she asks them repeatedly. Doesn't matter that I answer or explain, she just wants to ask. She also like to turn on the husic (music) and dance-dance.
Her absolute favorite thing to do is watch Elmo's World. She can sing the song and knows all the characters on Elmo's World. She is an Elmo fanatic.
Every time you laugh at something she tells you that it's funny or that she's funny. Her favorite primary songs are Popcorn Popping and Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.
She is just a lot of fun right now. We love her!!
While we are not currently trying to potty train, we are getting her use to the idea of using the toilet. The other day, she said that she need to go potty and I put her on the toilet, then she promptly asked for a book. This is the end result. She hasn't actually successfully used the potty yet, she sure likes to pretend.

Projects

2010-02-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

I have successfully completed my blanket I crocheted!! There are some mistakes, but I am probably the only one who would know they are there. I think that I turned out great and I am so proud of my self. Here is the end result:

I also decided to make some of my own burp clothes. Not completely from scratch, though. I took some cloth diapers and added a little embellishments so they wouldn't be so plain. These are the first two that I made last night. It took me 2 hours to figure out how to thread the sewing machine. The sad thing is, this is not my first time using the machine. But I eventually got it figured out and this is what I made:

New Project

2010-01-26T10:57:00.001-08:00

I have pretty much finished the nursery for the baby and have been looking for some new creative outlets. I decided I would try my hand at crocheting. I have done a little before, but never a blanket and I wanted to make something for the baby. So I will let you all know how it turns out!! I am excited!

Random Animals

2010-01-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

The other day when Aaron and I got home from the store, this puppy ran from under our car and starting jumping on us and licking Ella. We had no idea where it came from. It didn't have a collar or anything. It was clean and obviously loved people. It scared the daylights out of Ella though. She has only been around older dogs that don't jump, so this little puppy jumping on her was not making her happy.
We decided to put the puppy in our backyard and get some poster to put up for a lost dog because we knew this dog had to belong to someone. I couldn't just ignore a puppy sitting on my doorstep. However, we have a hole in our fence and the dog discovered it. But it didn't leave. It just hung out on our front porch barking at us to let it in. I had to leave for a little while and when I cam back, the puppy was gone. I was worried about whether the puppy was safe, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do at that point.
A few days later, we got a knock on the door from one of our neighbors. He was looking for a white puppy, just like the one we found. Apparently, they also have a hole in their fence and the puppy kept escaping. I was relieved to find out that the dog had simply gone home after it left our house and we now know where to return it to.

Then yesterday, Ella and I went to get the mail and this little kitten came bounding across the street to greet us. It was very friendly and clean and liked us. It came from the same yard the puppy belonged to, so I knew it had owners. We played out side with it for a long time. Ella liked the kitty because it didn't jump on her and she could play with it and chase it. She was having a blast. When Aaron came home, the kitten was still outside our front door meowing to come in. As soon as he opened the door the kitten came inside and promptly made itself at home.
Now typically I would not allow a strange cat to come into my house while pregnant, but I knew this cat was domesticated and clean and I would not be cleaning up its litter box. It was only inside for about 10 minutes. Aaron and Ella walked the kitten back to its house and the owners had no idea their cat was missing, but they also couldn't find their puppy again. They have small children and they tend to let the dog out the front door quite frequently.
Now when we go outside Ella looks constantly for the kitty and has been asking for it all day. She loves animals, especially when they aren't jumping on her. Here is the kitten all snuggled up on the couch. So cute!

Christmas

2010-01-26T08:44:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. It was a lot more quiet that I am use to be we still enjoyed it. Ella had a lot of fun. She really got into opening the presents.

I have more videos but I am unable to post them. The computer won't let me. I will put them up as soon as I can.

And we're having.....

2009-12-09T07:40:00.000-08:00

A BOY!!! We are really excited to be having a boy. Everything is looking healthy with the baby and he is measuring just like he should. The ultrasound tech saw that it was a boy as soon as she look at the baby on the screen, but Aaron made sure to get more than enough proof that it is indeed a boy.

Here are some of the ultrasound pictures:

You can see his little wee-wee from a side profile in this one

This one shows his feet, another look at his wee-wee from underneath, and then a profile shot.

My Dr.'s office just got a new ultrasound machines hours before we arrived so the utlrasound experimented with some new probs that she had. We were able to get a couple of 4-D pictures of our baby. It as really cool.

LIfe at the Boyces

2009-11-09T15:18:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of our precious Ella. She is so much fun and a really good toddler. She is talking so much now and she learns a new word almost everyday it feels like.Ella is definitely mommy's little helper. I think that she is going to be a great big sister. Here are some of her new words:
Airplane
Papa (grandpa)
Baby - she has to give a little coo before she says it though, she won't ever just say the word baby by itself.
Please- without using sign language
Moo
Meow
Woof Woof

Also, whenever I ask her where mommy's baby is, she comes and kisses my belly. She reminds Aaron and me to say prayers before everything. We say prayers every time we eat, even snacks, when I get her up in the morning, before her nap, and of course before bed. She is so sweet.

I am starting to feel a little better with my pregnancy. I still get sick to my stomach, but it's not as bad as it was. I am now 16 weeks along and starting to feel the baby move more and more. I am glad that I get to feel my babies move early. It really helps me get excited about the baby, instead of being in the dumps about feel so sick all the time.
We have just 4 more weeks till we find out what we are having and I am really excited. Aaron's work is going really well and he loves it. We are so grateful for all the blessings we have seen in our lives.

Ella had just woken up from a nap and her hair was crazy.

Insantity

2009-11-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

Aaron and I are officially insane. A few weeks ago we discovered that we had mold growing in our kitchen cabinets. We tried to figure out the least expensive and least destructive way to get rid of the mold. We finally came to the conclusion on Halloween that our kitchen cabinets had to go. Here is a picture of our kitchen before the remodel.
This is where the insanity part comes in. We decided to rip out our all our kitchen cabinets. We shopped around and decided it was the best option, with me being pregnant and all, we couldn't afford to have mold in our house.

After we ripped everything out we discovered the mold was a little worse than we originally thought. It was in most of the cabinets and on some drywall behind the stove and behind the sink. So we are glad we decided to take everything out, but now we had to put everything back in.
Because we are on a budget we decided to go with Ikea and assemble everything ourselves. Now, normally I don't really mind these kinds of projects. I like putting things together and seeing the end result. But this is a whole kitchen we are talking about. And let me remind you again that I am pregnant, still a little sick, and have a very active and curious 1 year old.
Aaron and I could only work during Ella's sleeping hours and when Aaron was home from work. Luckily, Aaron's mom, Merralee, flew down to help us put things back together.

We started our project on November 1 and the kitchen is put back together as of today. I think 8 days is pretty good timing. We still have a few cosmetic details to take care of, but we now have a functional kitchen. Here is evidence of our hard work and progress.

This is a picture of some of the mold we found behind our cabinets.Almost all our cabinets hd warped, moldy wood at the bottom like this.

Since we bought everything at Ikea, everything came disassemble in boxes.

This is our almost finished project. Like I said before, we still have some cosmetic things to finish like the backsplash and filler pieces. .But for the most part, this is our new kitchen.

Baby!!!

2009-09-23T07:13:00.001-07:00

Here is the fist picture of our newest addition. I am approximately 9 weeks and 3 days along. They changed my due date to April 25th. We are really excited about this even though it's scary to think that we will have two kids now.

I am feeling sick like I did with Ella but we are trying different things and different medicines to see if we can get in under control. I will be sure to keep everyone up today with what's going on with us and our new baby!!

All's well that ends well

2009-08-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

So I thought that I would let you know how the first part of our vacation went before the accident. We really had a fun time in Utah. I stayed three weeks with my dad and then Aaron came up and we headed to his parents house. We had some much fun catching up with everyone and Ella loved playing with her aunts and uncles and her cousins.

We are still trying to recuperate from the accident. We are feeling better and our bruises and such are practically gone. We are dealing with the after shock of it all. It is actually most noticeable in Ella. She hates her car seat now and she gets frightened easily from loud banging noises. I am sure it will just take some time for her to forget. We appreciate all the prayers and concerns.

I hope that the pictures and videos bring smiles to your faces, just like they do to me. Love you all!!!

Here is Ella with her twin cousins Caleb and Adam. They are only 2 months younger than here and they loved to get into things.

Ella loved playing with everyone. She just wanted to be apart of it all. This is here with Elena.

There was a doll bench that Ella thought she could fit into. This is the results:

My dad has a dog and a cat and Ella just couldn't contain herself around them. She loves to be around animals and fortunately these pets were kid friendly.

I will post some videos soon!!

Miracles DO happen

2009-07-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

I need to preface this post by saying that we are all well, alive, and safe. While driving home Tuesday morning from our trip to Utah, Aaron, Ella, and I were involved in a car accident. We were both tired and I reached over to grab something and ran off the left side of the road. I freaked out and over corrected, which sent us rolling. We rolled, we guessed, about 4 or 5 times. Ella was strapped nice and snug in her car seat and Aaron was sleeping in the back. I was also wearing my seat belt. The car landed right side up and Aaron yelled for me to get out the car as fast as I could. I couldn't get the door opened so I jumped out the window, which no longer existed, and started looking for my daughter. Aaron had grabbed her as quickly as he could and he continued to tell me to run. I didn't really know why he was telling me to go so fast till I turned and saw the engine on fire.

Someone stopped quickly after us and was already on the phone with 911 and helping us out. Aaron had a gash on his head and I noticed a couple of scrapes and burns. I made sure to check out Ella and the only think on her was a slight seat belt burn on her neck. We had to take two ambulances to the hospital because we both had bumps and cuts on our heads. We got all checked out at the hospital. We got x-rays and CTs to make sure we had not ruptured disks or broken backs. We got released from the hospital with 6 stitches, 2 second degree burns, and many a bruises.

So, what do we do now. We are stuck literally half way between Houston and Salt Lake. We have no car and no friends or family near by. The hospital Chaplain stopped by, asked us our religion and mentioned that a doctor who works in the hospital is also a bishop for our church. We got a hold of a Dr. Brian Smith and he contacted his wife and she came to the rescue. They clothed us, fed us, and just were very friendly and a Godsend.

We flew out to Houston the next day and have now arrived safely home.
Now, I need to stress that Aaron, Ella, and I witnessed a miracle. When I over-corrected, I never slammed on the brakes, I was still on cruise control, and we were traveling at 75 mph. And we walked/ran away from that accident with some minor scratches. And the only window that did not bust in our car was the one next to Ella.

Here are some pictures of our car. Please remember that we are safe and just a little banged up today. I know with out a doubt that we were being watched over and guarded when I saw the car. We really didn't get a look at it till after the accident. So here you go.

After all that damage to the car this is what happened to us:

Leg bruises

Arm bruise

Second-degree burn on my elbow

Aaron's skinned

Scratches up and down Aaron's leg

Seat belt burn on my neck

Cut above Aaron's eye

And, although you can't see them clearly, there are six
stitches in his scalp there

We just want to thank our Heavenly Father for sparing our lives. It's amazing that we lived, but it's even more amazing that we came away with so few injuries.

Orphaned Kitten

2009-05-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

We recently discovered that there was a litter of kittens right outside Ella's bedroom window. I think that we might have spooked the momma cat and she took off with some of the litter but left one stranded. We waited all day to make sure the momma wasn't coming back and then we decided to rescue it. The little kitten is roughly one week old. We are just guessing by size and the fact that it's eyes are still closed. I am pretty sure its a girl, but I could be wrong. But she was in pretty sad shape when we took her in. Now she is clean and warm and eating. Since it is the weekend most shelters are closed, so hopefully we will be able to get her to some one more experienced in the matter. We really don't want to take on a pet right now, but we couldn't let her die. Here are some pictures of the kittens before they were moved and the one we rescued.

2009-05-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

Aaron wanted a picture of taking Ella out of the trash can so he can tell her one day that's where we found her. (She is not really in the trash can.)

Ella has decided that she has a blankie. She drags this poor thing around everywhere and she will not go to sleep without it. And of course the blasted thing has to be white so it always looks dirty no matter how many times I wash it.

And this is what Ella does with her Easter basket. She loves to wear it as a hat. We didn't teach her to do this. She came up with it all on her own.

This is how we find Ella sleeping a lot. I don't know how or why she does it, but she does.

I went to Washington in April to go to my best friend Jen's wedding. It was a lot of fun and I am so glad that I got to be there. She was beautiful and it was so amazing. She did a wonderful job on everything.

She just had too cute a bum not to share with everyone. I hope you think its cute too.

We just love every minute with our sweet daughter. She is so much fun and the life of the party!!

Here is a video of Ella in her new swing. She absolutely loves it.

Updates

2009-05-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Sorry it has been such a long time since I last posted. Ella definitely keeps me on my toes. We really don't have anything exciting going on right now. We are just living life watching our beautiful daughter get bigger and bigger.

I recently got called to be in the nursery at church. And so far it has been pretty fun. I get to take Ella with me and she loves it. She is by far the youngest kid in there and the smallest as well. The boys like to pick on her sometimes, but Ella doesn't seem to care. She likes being involved with any kid no matter the age or size. She also loves to give kisses now. Well I guess her form of kisses. Ella just opens her mouth and then plots a slobbery one on ya.

Ella also loves to be outside. She can't actually tell us she wants to go outside verbally yet, but when she takes us by the hand, and pulls us the the back door and starts pounding we have a pretty good idea what she wants to do. She got a swing for her birthday that is in the backyard and she loves to swing on it.

Aaron is working for a good friend of the family right now selling health insurance and he really seems to be enjoying it. If this picks up, Aaron would love to make it a full time job permanently. We know that everything is going to work out.

A year in the life of Ella

2009-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ella turned one this month!! It is so crazy to think that we now have a one year old. We threw a little party for her and a few of our friends and family came. It was a lot of fun. So I thought I would go through the things Ella has been through in her first year of life..

1. Moving to our first house
2. Living for a week without air conditioning in Houston... in August.
3. Sleeping through Hurricane Ike. It was still a category 3 when it went over our house
4. Two trips to Utah, One trip to San Antonio
5. 5 visits from grandpa Scott, 4 from grandma Kim, 2 from grandma Merralee and 1 from Aunt Kimmy
I would say that she has had a very full year. And we expect year two to be just as exciting.

This is a picture of her birthday cake. I decided to make it all by myself. I think it turned out pretty good.

Here is Ella digging into her cake. She really liked the frosting. She didn't even get to the cake.

Walking

2009-03-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

About a week before Ella's first birthday, she decided it was time to walk. She has been standing on her own since about seven months, so we thought she would be an early walker. Thankfully she wasn't because she is a busy body. She just walks and walks in circles all the time... just to walk. It is so cute to see her waddle every where. This is a video of her first day of walking.

Personality, personality, personality!!!

2009-03-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Ella woke up a little earlier than normal today, so Aaron and I took turns watching her while the other one got a little more shut eye. I took the first hour with Ella, and then Aaron took a turn. I love my husband very much, but sometimes... he forgets that he is suppose to be awake while watching our child... and here is the end result...

Aaron got into my chocolate last night and left it out. And because she is my daughter, Ella can smell chocolate a mile away. This picture definitely says it all. She really does have a lot of personality.

More fun with Ella!!!

2009-01-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Aaron and I got some really cute videos of Ella this past weekend and wanted to share them with you. She is still in her copy cat phase and this first video is of her playing with Aaron. She was having so much fun. She did this for about an hour straight.

Here is a video of Ella's first steps!!! She really has no interest in walking. But we did get a few steps out of her.

Also, we have been having some difficulty in getting Ella to sleep these last couple of weeks. She likes to play in her crib a lot. This is what I caught her doing instead of going to sleep. She is jumping up and down on her mattress and screaming. But they are happy screams, at least.

Achilles

2009-01-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

Aaron had surgery on his Achilles tendon on Friday. He tore it while playing football with some friends that Saturday before Thanksgiving. We were finally able to get it taken care of. He is back to work today and seems to be doing pretty good. He has to wait 10 days to get out his stitches out and then they will decide whether to put him in a boot or a cast. Aaron just really wants to be able to walk normal again. But everything went well and we are very grateful for that.

Copy Cat

2008-12-29T12:04:00.001-08:00

Ella has recently started copying things that Aaron and I do. For instance, I currently have a cold and every time I cough so does Ella. Well, the other night. Aaron was feeding Ella dinner and he yawned this great big yawn and Ella copied him, sound and all. Here is a video of her doing it. She doesn't hold out the sound as long as Aaron, but you get the point.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Aaron, Ella, and I stayed home this year and had our own little Christmas. It was amazing. It was really relaxed and it was great to spend time with Aaron and Ella. Here are some pictures of Ella with Santa and some of her opening presents as well.
I thought that Ella might be scared of Santa. But when we placed her on his lap, she just stared at him in quizzically. She just wanted to know who he was. She tried pulling off his beard, too. But she never cried. She really didn't have any interest in opening up presents, but she did enjoy the presents that she got. All in all I think it was a successful Christmas.

Yes, Larah... she wakes up grouchy like her mom.

This is a video of Ella playing in her new toy that she got for Christmas. She really likes it.

Videos of Ella

2008-11-18T09:50:00.000-08:00

Here are some more videos for your enjoyment. I was able to get Ella to talk for the camera. Sometimes she likes to yell and sometimes I can get her to use her inside voice.

This is where she is yelling at me. Apparently it starts early in life!

This next video is of Ella waving. I think that she just does this because Aaron and I get so excited. But we are going to assume it is because we have the most intellectually advanced 8 month old out there. :-)

In this one, Ella was just talking nicely. I wanted to prove that she does have a some what quiet volume. She is trying to buzz her lips like I am. You can kind of see her trying. She usually goes red in the face trying to push the air through her lips. We think its pretty funny. But she is a pretty talkative baby. Our house is NEVER quiet anymore. We absolutely love everything about it!!!

Butterfly Museum

2008-11-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

We recently took a trip to the Butterfly Museum with Ella. She had so much fun. She really loves to be outside and was not frightened by all these "things" flying around here. These are some pictures of our adventure. The video if of Ella trying to grab a butterfly off the tree.

Halloween and then Some

2008-11-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some Halloween pictures from our ward party. We had a lot of fun. Ella was an angel and Aaron and I were devils. No one recognized us because they have never seen me with dark hair, and Aaron was just too scary to look at.

There is also some pictures of where Aaron fell through the ceiling of our office. Luckily is was not in a high traffic area... and Aaron is safe. :-)

Growing up Ella

2008-10-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I just wanted to post some more updates of our blossoming little girl. She amazes me every day. At her 6 mo. appointment Ella weighed 15 lbs. 5 oz and was in the 25-50% for her weight and height. She is so petite. But as most of you know she has been crawling since she was 5 1/2 months. Now she likes to walk along the furniture and pull her self up on anything she can get her hands on. I am most certain that it won't be too long before she starts walking. Ahh!! That's a little scary.

But she has been nothing but a joy. We had a little hiccup in her sleeping routine when our air conditioner went out and then it didn't help that we traveled across the country for the next two weeks after that. Now that we are home and getting settled back into our routine, she is starting to sleep better at night. THANK YOU!!! If any of you know me at all, you know I don't do too well with lack of sleep. So now we have a happy baby and a happy mommy. Can't get much better than that. Aaron is always a happy daddy because 1. he doesn't require as much sleep as I do, and 2. I usually get up with Ella anyway. (Although, in his defense, he does offer to do the night sift quite often)

This is Ella's new trick. Pulling her self up on everything

Ella is trying to get buff like Daddy.

Hurrican Ike

2008-09-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Aaron, Ella, and I just survived hurricane Ike. I think that it was the scariest thing that I have ever been through. We decided to stay because we thought that by the time the storm reached us it would be a tropical storm which I have witnessed on more that one occasion growing up in Houston. But little did we know that the storm was still a category 2 hurricane as it approached and passed directly over our house.
Our electricity went out around 2 in the morning and the wind was howling like crazy. I tried to get into bed and sleep but at about 4 am I heard a load groaning sound near our house. I literally jumped out of bed and grabbed Aaron and the baby and we headed to our only room in the house without any windows. We had put our candles in there with some other provisions like food so that we could survive that night. At about 7 ish the storm had calmed down enough that we could check the damage from our windows. In our back yard, our one lone tree had been completely up rooted and toppled over. Thankfully the bulk of the tree missed the house and just some side branches scraped the roof. But that was the load noise I had heard early in the morning. Some reports say that winds at that time had reach 112 mph.
We decided to head out to San Antonio to stay with Aaron's uncle Sheldon, since we did not want Ella to stay in an un-air conditioned house. Just getting there was an adventure. The roads were flooding and we didn't know if, at some points in the road, our car would float away with the rest of the debris. But we made it safe and sound. Now we are comfortably staying with Aaron's parents in Salt Lake City while we await our electricity being turned on. The reports say it could take up to 4 weeks to get it all up and running. Hopefully it does not take that long. But either way we will try to enjoy our spontaneous vacation.

Ella Crawling some more

2008-09-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

It has only been a week since I last videoed Ella crawling. This is her now! It's crazy how fast they catch on to things!!

Video of Ella

2008-09-09T08:11:00.001-07:00

Here is a new video of Ella. I hope you all enjoy.

Hot and Humid

2008-09-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

We have been with out air conditioning for almost two weeks now. This is why... Our A/C stopped working on Saturday so we called an a/c repair man to come look at it. He informed us that our compressor had been blown. So we called our home warranty insurance company to come and fix it since that is what we paid them to do. Since it went on a weekend, and a holiday weekend at that, the home warranty people had to decide whether or not this was deemed as an emergency. The lady on the phone then proceeded to inform me that our a/c not working was NOT an emergency because and I quote, " It's only 90 degrees outside". I then informed her that it was ONLY 95 degrees in my house with a 5 month old baby. She would not budge.

Now with our home warranty people, we have to use their specified vendors to come out and take a look at our a/c unit. The soonest these people could come out was Wednesday. We now have been without a/c for five days. Nuair comes out to inspect and diagnosis the problem. They tell us that is is because the wiring from the house to the a/c was not done properly and that is was caused the compressor to blow out. We already knew that there was problem with the way it was wired from our home inspection, but was told that it should work just fine.

We were denied our claim. Now, we already had some one come out on Sunday from a different company not affiliated with our home warranty insurance and they told us it was just a faulty compressor. That is had nothing to do with the way the unit was installed. So we tried to find out when and by whom the unit was installed by so we could see if it was still under warranty. Our real estate agent tried to get a hold of the previous owners to no avail. And I told her about the care we were given by the insurance company and she got right on top of it. In the meantime, we had a family friend come out and inspect the a/c as well. He is the business. He also told me that it was just a faulty compressor. The insurance agency re-opened our claim and sent out a new guy to come at look at the compressor. We are now 7 days with out a/c. He told us that there are many things that could have contributed to the compressor blowing out and that yes, the wiring could have had an affect on it. He told the insurance company this .... and I am sure you guessed it.. we were denied again.

You would think that unless they absolutely new for sure the cause of the damage, they would cover the cost. For $395 you can have peace of mind. Well what you really pay for is two weeks with our air conditions and incompetent insurance people. We are still hoping to resolve this issue. And hopefully it will all have a happy ending, at least for us. So as you sit in cool houses and read this blog, I hope you don't forget about us in Hot and Humid Texas.

2008-08-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Ella starting to crawl!!!!

2008-08-26T13:45:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures of the house!!! The top two are of the master bathroom. I just love the tile work the was done in there. The next one is of Ella's room. It was painted that color when we moved in. You really can't get a feel for how bright it is in this picture. But I love it. It matches the other colors in her room just perfectly so we decided not to change the color. We are still getting settled and trying to get things organized. But we are loving every minute of our new house. It just feels like home.

2008-08-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

Kitchen after we painted

Living room after

Back wall of living room

2008-08-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

This is our kitchen before we painted.

New Blog

2008-08-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

Ella eating her toes.

This is Ella trying to crawl.

Mommy tickling the baby!

Hey everyone!!

Aaron and I decided to start a blog and join the rest of America in sharing our life through the internet. This allows me to post more pictures and send it out to everyone than through an email. I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on what is going on in our lives. We recently just bought a house and we are loving every minute of it. Everything thing worked out so well that there is no doubt in our mind that we made the right decision (no matter how terrifying it was to signing our life away!) . It has been very enjoyable finally making something completely our own.

Ella is getting so big. She is now five months and practically running. Okay not really, but sometimes it feels like it. She can roll over and she gets up on all fours and rocks and falls. She is so close to crawling. Ella gets really frustrated when she sees something she wants and she can't quite get to it. Especially when she tries to get closer and she just ends up farther away than where she started. She laughs now too. She doesn't do it as often as we would like because apparently Mommy and Daddy just aren't funny enough. But she does give us plenty of "These people really are my parents? WOW" looks.