the difference.

what's the difference between these two pictures? 

1 year. 

over 40 pounds. 

and this:

she'll be a year old this month!!!!

ohhhh myyyyyyyy gohhhhhhhhhhsssssssssshhhhhhh.

p.s. - (grampa brad, for your enjoyment, i included a picture of your favorite ellie pose.)

stuck.

 

this month i've spent a lot of time thinking about this guy:

(source) 

shackleton. ever heard of him? well, one time his boat got stuck in the snow and ice of antarctica.

(wikipedia.)

it started with the snowpocalypse and the week of snuggling inside, safe against the snow. 

then the weeks of cold weather, so that husband couldn't ride the motorcycle and we were stuck while he was at work all day. it was so cold that ellie and i would spend our mornings huddled together under lots of blankets for warmth (and eating cookies to keep up our strength). 

then the flat tire, so we really couldn't go anywhere. last night i went out of the house for the literally the first time since saturday.

i was raiding the grocery store shelves like i'd never see the outside world again. 

it's hard to have motivation when i'm stuck at home so long. it would be a little easier if i could pack the baby in the stroller and walk to . . . anywhere, but the only place i can safely go is around the neighborhood over and over.

we're looking forward to the warmer weather that is surely coming (right?!) and the early southern spring, but first we'll have to make it through a few more weeks of the chill.

in the meantime, here are some pictures my lovely sister-in-law, ashlyn, took at the temple. 

mostly i love the last one, because i have almost no pictures of just ellie and mommy. 

sorry, everyone. that photo proves that my baby is the most beautiful baby on the planet.

baby's babies.

ellie loves her baby dolls. i never would have guessed that she would care about them so much at this age. she takes them all over the house, pats them on the back, rocks them, kisses them, and makes us kiss them, too. if you ask her where her babies are, she will go find them. 

it's pretty much the sweetest thing i've ever seen. 

so, without further ado, wayyyyy too many pictures of ellie and her babies:

i think she's a pretty good little mommy (most of the time).

new week.

last week was "one of those" weeks.
long, draining*, etc.
including yesterday.

this week is brand new
and we're going to clean up the mess from last week
and make this week really count!
i hope.


*speaking of draining, ellie has had a terribly runny nose the past few days. you can tell she's stuffy and she's breathing through her mouth in these pictures, poor thing:

she's trying to put on her shoes over her jammies. that's right, she's trying to put them ON. i've caught her doing it at least a half dozen times. so far she hasn't gotten them on by herself (possibly the fault of the jammies), but she apparently knows how it's done.
what am i going to do with this brilliant child? she's outsmarting me left and right. 

the grandparents came.

leftover pictures 
from when my parents came/our south carolina trip:

 reading stories and checking out the tooele county emergency preparedness calendar with grampa.

hugging on polar bear during the car ride. 

 sunset out the back window.

 

eating fries at the hotel. 

watching yo gabba gabba during a milkshake-induced craze. 

junk food hangover.

both the grams and grampses at the temple. 

 eyes > stomach. tostadas!

worn out. 

dear dishwasher,

please, please don't die.

i lived without you in my life for three long years - dark, terrible years. thinking about those days makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. it's as if my hands were covered in cold bacon grease, wet melted cheese and soggy pieces of lettuce . . .

i can't let you go now that i have that soapy hour (or two) of my life back every day. you have to have mercy on me! there's a baby now and i need you more than ever!

i'm begging you. please stop getting clogged and filling with water. i promise not to put baby food jar lids through the wash anymore. i've pulled them from your belly for the last time. please, please, please stop melting some of your parts and filling the kitchen with stinky smoke.

i can't take it. i really can't go on without you.

not when i have messes like this to clean up:

that's right, she's learning to feed herself.

so hang in there!




sincerely,

a truly desperate housewife

the bean.

as i zipped ellie into her 12 month size jammies that seemed to engulf her little body only a couple of weeks ago, i realized that it has been a while since i updated about her and her skills. i know, you're all thanking me for skipping over the minute-by-minute replays but i have a few things to write down before she totally masters something else and these things become ordinary.

first of all, she loves to wave. more than once she has shot her little hand in the air before her eyes have even adjusted to the light in the morning, waving as hard as she can . . . like it's her only responsibility in this world and she can't help but do it. she waves at me when she sits on my lap. she waves at daddy when he's across the room. she waves at people in the store and now it takes me even more time than ever to buy groceries. she's such a little socialite.

she has also been pointing. she'll point at me when i come in the room and smile so big. yesterday, when her uncle was leaving, she pointed at him and waved when we told her to say goodbye. she points at the pictures and words in her books. really, she finds anything remotely interesting point-worthy. she points at her high chair tray when it is empty and she wants more. she knows daddy and mommy and judge, and points when asked.

which leads me to this: the verge of speech. i'm pretty sure she says a couple of words, but they come out a little differently each time she says them. she also uses these words for everything.
so far she says:

da (dad)
ud (judge)
ma (mom/more/pick me up/i'm hungry!!)
dat or adat (that/what's that?/who's that?)
hut?! (what?!)

that last one is my favorite. you have to say it like i would say it: fast and shrill, in total shock or surprise. like, we just found out that they canceled the olympics. WHAT?! except i guess i say it too often. it comes out for everyday things like running out of eggs or there isn't a new episode of the office this week or a bill came in the mail. husband is always getting on my case about saying WHAT?! when things aren't really a big deal, so it makes sense that she would start saying it like that as one of her first sounds.

she also says "nienienienieNIE!" when she's very upset, which leads husband to call her nienie. which makes me laugh, because he's always going on about how silly it is to get caught up in blogs of random people. he has no idea who the other nienie is.

okay, that's enough for now.

here are some unflattering pictures of her, eating marshmallow creme out of the jar with me . . . uh, all by herself.

and now you know why it looks like she's trying to block the camera in all the pictures.
she's really just waving.