How can you not love this face?

Lack of Sleep vs. Mommy

What happens towards the end of 60 hours with only 10 hours of sleep . . . Lila is still waking up to eat around 12 a.m. 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. The last couple of nights she has not gone back to sleep or stayed asleep as well as she has in the past. So after getting Steve off to Phoenix this morning at 5:30 a.m. I fed Lila again at 6 a.m. Ellie comes out at 6:30 a.m. to find me sleeping on the couch. I throw her a pillow and say relax with me, which she willing does. Around 7 a.m. I notice the light to the bathroom on and ask Ellie if she is okay and then doze off again. By 7:30 a.m. I regain a little consciousness and notice the bathroom light is still on. I stumble my way into the bathroom to find Ellie sitting in between the bathtub and toilet and there is pee (a lot of pee) all over the other side of the bathroom. I guess that's what happens when I'm too drowsy to remind her to go potty after waking up. Then later that day I'm trying to get lunch done and dinner in the crockpot. Once again I notice Ellie has been in the bathroom for a long time. Upon my arrival I notice a brand new roll of toilet paper completely unraveled and piled on the floor (she had attempted to roll part of it back on). I ask her what she was doing and she said, "playing with it while I went peep". I told her toilet paper is not to play with it, we use it to wipe and that is it. Fortunately neither incident was that bad, but it just felt like one of those days where I just can't keep up due to my slow processing/response time due to a lack of sleep. I love my girls! Lila is smiling a lot more now and trying to communicate by making those cute baby noises and Ellie continues to be a great big sister willing to help and a wonderful independent player. How can I really complain with these two wonderful girls in my life!


















Lila actually sleeping-yay!

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

One of my friends once told me that the last couple of weeks before the third birthday are the worst--she said it is like they have to get out all of their tantrums before they turn three. I laughed, but I have to admit the last couple of weeks have been a little rough with a lot of whining and crying and then miraculously the last couple of days have been blissful. We have not had one whining or crying incident--I certainly hope this bliss continues.

Today, we had a wonderful day celebrating Ellie's birth. Both girls woke up at 6am so we all climbed in bed with Steve--which I'm sure he loved being awakened at that hour, but his girls loved it. Then we made some delicious pancakes (picture below). Followed by present opening which we video taped and I had the still camera by me the whole time and didn't take one picture, at least we captured it one way. She loved the presents from both sets of grandparents and insisted on wearing the dress Grandpa and Grandma Moore gave her today and then the Lightening McQueen t-shirt Grampy & Mimi gave her (notice the wardrobe change between dinner and dessert). She also keeps reminding us that she is going to get bigger. She has been looking forward to being a big sister and turning 3 for so long that I think now that it has happened she wants to reassure us that she is still growing.

Happy Birthday! We look forward to seeing what you accomplish this year . We love you, ELLIE!

What would a birthday be without batter eating? But not cake batter this time . . . pancake batter. We borrowed a pan that made these cute pancakes with bugs on them. She loved it and refused to let Daddy eat the last pancake even though she was full--she wanted to save it for later and she did eat it later that morning.

Birthday dinner was a hamburger, cheese, and watermelon at the request of Ellie.
Don't you like my Gatorade mustache?

She really got to blow the candles out this time and she enjoyed eating the butterfly's face I saved from the party. She kept saying, "We get to have cake because it's my birthday."

Grandpa & Grandma Moore's Visit

We enjoy having Grandpa & Grandma Moore visit! They brought Lexi with them which was wonderful--Ellie had a constant playmate. During their visit we managed to do a lot of activities: we went to the zoo, Steve & I had a date to the movies to see the new Star Trek movie (guessed who picked that :) but I enjoyed it too), Grandpa & Steve went to a car show at DMB, Ellie's Birthday party, we took the girls to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3-D, and don't forget all the loving Lila received. Here are some pictures from their trip:

Pictures from the zoo:



























Left: Grandpa had an accident or rather Lila had an accident on Grandpa.
Right: Lila loved cuddling Grandma.

Ellie's Birthday Party

Ellie has so many wonderful friends that we do activities with here in Tucson so I decided that since we don't know where we will be next year, upon Steve's graduation, and with Ellie being so patient with us and Lila that she deserved to have her friends over to celebrate her birthday. Here are the highlights:

Invitation:

Cake (which is actually all cupcakes-nice for kids):

Birthday-Butterfly and Proud Parents:

We decorated bug boxes:

Then we read a book about a "Bug Safari" while bugs (plastic rings, edible gummy, and eraser bugs) were being hid in the yard for the kids to collect and put in their bug boxes.

Cake and Ice Cream . . . We had a little trouble keeping the candles lit with the breeze, but I think she was close to blowing them out this time and I love the picture on the right that shows how much she LOVES cake.

Last, but not least, Present Opening:
(everyone was very generous and knew just what a little girl would like:) )

I think we managed to keep the kids entertained, but most importantly Ellie had so much fun with all of her friends. A big THANK YOU to everyone involved!

Adventures of the Night

Last night in an attempt to get more sleep, I pumped and left a bottle for Steve to give to Lila. I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. and was unconscious by 9:35 p.m. When Steve brought Lila to me at 1:30 a.m. he said I missed quite the adventure that night. Here is his story. He had just settled onto the couch to sleep around 11 p.m. when he heard crying. He went down the hall to check on the girls and found Ellie holding Sushi's fish bowl sideways with only a small amount of water left (the picture above has double the amount of water found in the bowl--poor Sushi probably thought she was going to suffocate from air). Steve says it took him a while to process the scene, but he knew he needed to grab the bowl before all of it's contents were lost. He then found that all of the water had been dumped onto Ellie's bed and blankets and she had thrown her big blanket, dripping wet over her headboard. Steve kept asking Ellie what happened and she kept saying, "I don't know." He then came into our room to see if I was even remotely awake because he wanted another witness to the crazy events, but I did not budge as he hovered over me (what did you expect from a sleep deprived Mom with a month old baby). He then changed Ellie's sheets, got her new blankets, filled Sushi's bowl to the level you see it at now, and got Ellie settled back into bed. Even this morning Ellie is not for sure what happened last night. My attempt in explaining the events is that she fed Sushi right before bed last night which we usually do during the day and I think she was dreaming about Sushi and something happened because she was asleep when I checked in on her before going to bed at 9:30 p.m. The good news is Sushi II is okay (we don't need a Sushi III) and Steve was not too traumatized by the experience.

Lila One Month Old

Ellie's "Valentines"

Ellie loves to color, cut, and do crafts. Last Friday she got to pick out some new stickers and I had just finished cutting out coupons so she took my scraps and her stickers and made "valentines" that she left in the window sills all over the house for us to find (I think she combined valentine cards and easter egg hunting).

Today while we were getting ready for a nap I told her to put her milk in the fridge and then on her way back she could pick out a couple of books to read with her 'free' hands. She laughed and said, "Mom you are so silly. I don't have 'three' hands, but I think I can get books with my two hands."

Oh how I love Ellie and her patience with me as I learn to parent two terrific girls.

Look Alike . . .

 Lila - day she was born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ellie - day she was born

baby Britney

Lila - 4 weeks old . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ellie - 6 weeks old
















young Stephen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ellie