4th of July Week

We went to visit the Buckley side of the family for the week and had a wonderful time! Our friends the Troutmans who recently moved from Tucson to Butte, MT were able to come down and spend some time with us. It was nice to see them again. Now that we are home, Ellie misses her friends, as there were lots of cousins and kids her age to play with. Lila misses being held all the time. I miss not having to worry about my day-to-day responsibilities. Steve is sad to be back at work. Although it is nice to be home, it is always nice to escape reality to the treasures of my parents' home. Here are some of the activities we participated in.

Rides in Grampy's boat.

Kite flying.
My Dad puts the kites on fishing poles to help control them and reel them in. He had a butterfly, shark, and the green kite in the picture--the kids loved it (including the fathers).

The famous parade and all of it's goodies.
Note: Uncle Jakey forgot his sunglasses and Ellie didn't want to wear her's so the green glasses became Jakey's. Don't you think they compliment his Salmon colored shirt?

There was a successful snorkeling search for a camera that drowned 10 days earlier while Nate and Nessa were visiting. I told Dad to blow this up and frame it in his office as
"My Sons In-Law"

Fireworks were observed while anchored in the boat. The glassed were 3D of sorts that made the fireworks spazz out a little (I cannot think of how to describe it, but they enjoyed it).

Sunsets!
This is my parents' dock into the Snake River right out of their back door.

We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends! When Uncle Jakey left Sunday night Ellie waved and said, "I love you. I miss you." as he drove away, causing tears to well up in all of us! We do love all of our family and miss them!!

My Super Princess

For Ellie's 3rd birthday Steve and I got her a princess treasure box with 3 princess dresses, jewelry, shoes, and other accessories. This for a girl who doesn't like to get dressed in the morning (I was hoping to encourage her and make getting dressed fun--besides what little girl wouldn't want princess dresses, it's all the rage now). Well she was not impressed and quickly dismissed it to play with her gifts from the grandparents. So what inspired her to want to dressup? A friend who wanted to play dressup.

Ellie decided to wear her cape with the skirt--thus becoming "My Super Princess".

What do Super Princesses do? Make sure their cars are in top condition, of course.
(not a tea party as Mom suggested)

Here's to My Super Princess, who can say "No" a thousand times a day when things aren't going her way, who can melt your heart with her smile and laugh, who asks, "Mom/Dad are you happy?"
She truly is a Super Princess!

Girls' Checkups

Today Ellie had her 3year checkup and Lila had her 2month checkup. Here are the stats.

Ellie:
weight: 25 1/2 lbs <5% percentile
height: 36 1/8 inches 10-25% percentile

The nurse wanted to take her blood pressure which Ellie refused. We also tried doing an eye test so we went into a little room and the nurse showed Ellie pictures of shapes (Ellie could have done fine with the letter eye chart, but this is what they do for the little ones) she identified an O and was then shown a picture of a square which she called a rectangle (Steve will quickly point out that she is correct that a square is a type of a rectangle). The nurse was also impressed and said that Ellie was really smart. When the doctor came into our room Ellie was doodling on a note pad and she told the doctor that she was making a list for Daddy of Costco's sales. The doctor was impressed with how complete her sentence was--little did she know that was just the beginning of what she would hear from Ellie. The doctor asked her to identify what color her necklace was and she said, "Purple, but my shoes are pink." Obviously she knows her colors. At the end she was offered two books to choose between (they always give them a book at the end of a wellness checkup to encourage reading--I love our pediatricians!). She told the doctor she already had 10 monkeys jumping on a bed so she would take the other one.

Ellie sporting her stickers from the doctor.

Lila:
weight: 10lbs 14oz 50-75% percentile
height: 23 3/8 inches 75-90% percentile

She is going to be tall like her daddy. :) She got 3 shots today and a new vaccination they do orally. The nurse said that sometimes the baby will spit-up some or all of it but they are not to give any more to them. As for Lila, the chomper, she was glad to suck on anything providing some form of liquid and the nurse didn't even have to squeeze the medicine in (too bad all vaccinations cannot be given this way).

Classic Lila--she doesn't like the binky because it doesn't give her anything and it isn't fleshy enough for her taste. If you ever hear a loud sucking noise it's Lila's fist in her mouth. :)

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

Big Sister Anecdotes

When Ellie woke up on the 7th of April she was a little upset because she had an accident during the night and her sheets were wet. I told her it was okay and we could put on some clean sheets and then to cheer her up I told her that Mimi was on her way to visit us because I think the baby is coming today. She got the biggest smile on her face, clapped her hands and said, "Yay, the baby told you she is coming today." I guess in her own way she did with the contractions I had been having since 1 a.m. Ellie then spent a few hours at her friend Ben's house and all she talked about was Mimi and the baby coming today.

After we came home Mimi noticed that Lila might have a small dimple on her right side and she asked, "where did she get that from?" Ellie responded, "I think maybe Jesus."

Last night Ellie was laying in bed waiting to fall asleep and Mimi went by to change Lila's diaper. Ellie asked what she was doing and after finding out that Lila had pooped in her diaper again she exclaimed, "AGAIN!?!? Oh my goodness."

We love our girls!!

Lila Update and More Pictures

Lila went to the doctor today for a weight check and she is doing really well. She has good color and is still 7lbs which is less than the average 10% weight loss--we think she likes the idea of the umbilical cord because if she had her way she would still be permanently attached to me just in a different location, she is a chomper.

The whole family looking at the new addition.

Is she more interested in the baby or the equipment? Ellie was a little hesitant during her first visit and a little more excited during her second visit. She is a very patient and loving big sister--Lila is very fortunate to have her looking out for her.

Mimi and Lila--we are so glad Mimi came to help us.

One Moore . . .

Lila Jane Moore
April 7, 2009
6:39 p.m.
7lbs 7oz
20 inches