Ellison Reese

This year our Christmas cards are not going to be as nice and professional-looking as last year's. Walgreens here we come. Realizing I needed to actually take some photos that look a little festive, I forced Ellison into an outfit that wasn't a dress (horror of horrors), and we did a little photo shoot, if that's what you could call it. She refused to get in the shower so I could actually do her hair decently, and I didn't feel like battling it out. Ellison's a cute subject, but her Mama is A) not creative, and B) not great with the camera. And can I just say how much I hate our camera?! I'm sure customer service would render the problem user error, but I think it's just a poor-quality camera. At any rate, Alisha, I so appreciate the hard work that goes into what you do, before you even begin editing. Ellison kept doing all these fake smiles, or posing dramatically. Trying to get a "natural" look is not the easiest. At least when you have a Little Button that loves to pose. :-)

[November 26, 2010]

Amazingly, Ellison wanted to bypass breakfast this morning to hang the ornaments on the Christmas tree. So we did just that.

Hanging the first ornament on the tree

She loves unwrapping each ornament and hearing about who it's from

The completed tree

[November 26, 2010]

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, although I was a flake and never took pictures! Well, I did take a couple, but they were so late in the game, and they didn't turn out anyways. We had a delicious meal at our friends', the Campbells', home. They were kind enough to invite those of us that are extended-family-less over. In addition to our two families and some of Angela's extended family, the Jacksons, the Spences, the Nangles, and the Rodriguez families were also there. The kids had a great time playing and not eating (at least Ellison didn't do much eating), and we adults had a great time filling our bellies and visiting. Thank you, Campbells!

On our way home, we stopped in at the Tooley's to wish them a Happy Turkey Day quick, then headed home to chill out. While Ellison and I watched the Disney princess movie marathon on ABCFamily, Daddy messed with those darn Christmas tree lights again! For dinner that evening (that we gluttonous adults skipped), Ellison wanted a "picmic" in the living room - something she asks for almost daily. Our big plans to decorate the tree didn't happen, but it was good to have a relaxing evening.

And though we go several weeks without taking our token belly shots, here is the second set of shots at 31 weeks. (???)

Mooker giving her little sib a kissie. She does this a lot now. I've been trying to be careful about telling her "I can't" do things because of the baby, but she understands I'm a little limited right now, and has just stepped right up to the plate. When I was having those painful contractions the other morning, she ran into her room and got her little Christmas mini-pillow that she decorated in preschool last year, brought it to me and said, "Here, Mom. You can have this in your room for now." She's being very sweet. She's also doing better with doing some things independently, which she was always reluctant to do before.

[November 25, 2010]

Here we are at 31 weeks. And here is Ellison, playing her usual game of running in front of the camera while laughing. :-)

This baby is sitting looooow now.

On Wednesday morning (the 24th) I woke up to some very uncomfortable contractions, happening quite frequently. Thankfully, I already had an OB appointment scheduled that morning, but I almost called to see if I should come in earlier. After showering, they eased, but had been enough to make me unsettled. Dr. Richardson said I'm dilated to 1cm, which isn't unusual since this is my 2nd baby, but informed me I have to cut back on my activity for the next couple of weeks. NOT bedrest, but no shopping trips. God's timing is so perfect - I had been fretting because I'm off work for the next 2 1/2 weeks, and wanted more hours. How perfect was it that I don't have to cancel any of my shifts?! She said after I get to 34 weeks we should be fine. She also said the baby is pretty low - you don't have to tell me that! She also suggested I have a family member stay with me while Jonathan is in Colorado next week. Ha!

This is exactly what I meant about Ellison lollygagging during dinner. She takes her bite of food, then curls up into this ball on her chair and stays that way for a good 5 minutes, until we prompt her to continue eating.

When we asked Ellison what she was doing in the bathroom, she said she was having a "picmic" with her animal friends. Little squares of toilet paper served as the napkins.

[November 22, 2010]

Dad and I were looking so forward to Ellison's Thanksgiving program at school. For weeks she was spontaneously practicing her little songs and prayers at home, which were too sweet. The class had all been working hard on their Indian costumes (much to my surprise, they actually don't use the term "Native American"), headbands, necklaces, and placemats. Daddy even skipped away from work for a little while so he wouldn't miss out. :-)

Our little Pocahontas

Throughout most of the program, Ellison would look at us with her little shy smile on her face. It was SO cute! She did great.

I wish I knew the names of all the kids better, but I don't. There's Ellison in the center and Cooper on the right.

Yes, I am the cheesy parent who felt she could burst into tears at witnessing such cuteness. I probably clapped a little too loud and sat a little to tall. Warning to all of you other parents: always try to sit in front of the Sotos. If you can beat us to a good spot, that is. Ha!

Ellison, Anna Kate, and Davis

Ellison and Baity

[November 22, 2010]

After several wardrobe changes, Ellison finally settled on being a ballerina with high heels for her annual tree decorating event.

The finished product, complete with the paper chain we made.

We got out a few more of our Christmas decorations, which is always so fun when you have a little person. Ellison gets so excited about decorations and Christmas tidbits that she hasn't seen since the previous year. You'd think she's opening Christmas presents for the first time.

One of her favorite holiday items is the musical carousel horse set. Daddy bought it online 2 years ago when she fell in love with Mr. & Mrs. Paul's across the street. She's fascinated by it, and turns the set on several times throughout the day. That evening, she pulled up a bar stool to have her snack in front of it.

While Daddy was having a very challenging Saturday, Ellison and I headed to the Natural Science Center to help celebrate Dempsey's (one of the gibbons) birthday. Yes, poor Daddy had the best laid plans for the day, but it all went awry. While trying to take care of the mass of leaves in our yard, he broke his new leaf mulcher. Then while I was at my morning staff meeting, he happened to notice that his car must've been leaking antifreeze in the garage, so he and Ellison drove to my workplace to bring some fluid and follow me home. I thank God so often that He made Daddy so handy, because he was able to fix the problem, but only after about 9 hours and several setbacks. So anyways, Ellison and I hung out together for the day. Our stop at Dempsey's celebration included some face painting (which E always loves)...

... a craft making station (Ellison decided to do a "face painting" on Dempsey also, she said)...

...watching Dempsey eat a special birthday cake (and have it stolen by Leslie, the other gibbon)...

...birthday hat creations (E didn't want to put hers on), and the signing of Dempsey's birthday card.

After going inside to check out the Kid Zone, we cut our visit short to go home and have some lunch. That, and it's all fun and games until someone pees all over the floor. And, no, it wasn't Mookie.

[November 20, 2010]

Just a little update on Bun (aka "Brooklyn" if you're speaking to Jonathan, and no, that's not the name. I refuse.)...

I'm feeling very much like Humpty Dumpty these days, and even swear that I see him in the mirror with quick sideways glances. Despite this, I still love being pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I feel completely wiped out and wimpy and uncomfortable, but still like being pregnant. I can tell Bun has really started to fill up my belly space, because the movements and kicks and scrapes against my abdominal wall are so just RIGHT THERE. It's my fave part of being pregnant. It makes me smile, and sometimes even snicker, when I imagine the acrobats our baby is doing, with only a layer of flesh between us.

I'm starting to get a little sad, because this pregnancy has gone by so bloody quick, to where I have to stop and ask myself, "Have I really soaked this in and enjoyed every moment?". I don't know - I sometimes feel like I've been too busy to really take it in every single day. It's like, bam!, here we are at 31 weeks. I had already gone into pre-term labor and was on bedrest with Ellison at this point. We are SO excited to meet this baby and have it be a tangible part of our family, but I have to admit that I think we're both freaking out a tiny bit... like, we're going to have a baby within the next 9 weeks! Ah! I'm starting to get a little nervous about the delivery, and still fret about the timing of it all with Ellison and everything, even though we pretty much have a plan.

Ellison loves just randomly coming up to my tummy and patting, hugging, kissing, and saying little things to the baby. She's so sweet about it. It completely tugs at my heart on so many levels. I imagine the moment when we leave her (gosh, this already has me springing tears just writing about it), and how hard it will be thinking of how this will be the last time with just our girl, just the three of us. I by no means want to take away from the excitement and thrill of this sweet baby we have been blessed with - we have prayed for it and wanted it so badly - but, life as we know it is going to change drastically. I am a sentimental fool who inevitably thinks of those sappy things at those very moments when it would be best not to. 'Cause there is SO much love, fun, excitement, and bliss coming right at us!

A few weeks ago I failed the glucose test, so I had to go in for the 3-hour glucose test. Thankfully, I do not have gestational diabetes, but one of the 4 levels on the second test came up elevated. I have been told that I should limit my carb intake (not doing so good with that), and that they will keep a close eye on my measurements because the baby could end up being big. Great. ;-) At 29.5 weeks I was measuring 30cm, so in a decent range at least.

Jonathan and I got a sitter last week to do most of our Christmas shopping and to finish getting the things on our baby needs list. It was fun, and it felt good scratching pretty much everything off the list. I just need to pack a diaper bag and hospital bag soon. Yes, I know it seems early, but again, history plays a role here as well as the holidays.

The baby has a name, we just don't know which one yet. :-) We had finally narrowed it down to THE girl's name and to 2 boys' names, but stumbled upon another girl's name we like the other day. So we have two sets of names picked out for both genders, and the funny thing is, the initials are the same. For a boy the initials are either ALS or SES, and for the girls' names it's the same two sets of initials. We're having fun messing with my family's minds. My mom is calling often with a guess, despite the fact that I told her the names are unusual and she'll never in a million years guess them. Seriously, I'd go play the lottery if someone guessed them. But she doesn't give up, and she makes me laugh with her "unusual" guesses.

Next weekend, Jonathan leaves for Colorado for work, so I'm just praying Baby continues to try to stay put, and that he doesn't get stuck in any snow storms. Makes me a little nervous, but hey, God knows the timing of it all, right? And He knows what we need. The shots I've been doing weekly since 16 weeks seem to be working, knock on wood. Only 5 more of them left before they take me off of them. Time is a flyin'!

The timing worked out great, because our beloved house guests left very dark and early Monday morning to head back to Michigan. Ellison was so bummed when she got up, and whined that Olivia never woke her up to say goodbye like she promised. I assured her that everyone did come in and tell her goodbye and kiss her, but that she was so sleepy she never woke. Thankfully she seemed to have a good day at school to distract her. After school there was even more distraction, as Ellison got some fun belated birthday mail. Her Great Aunt Betty and Great Uncle Roger sent her some goodies...

And then Abuelo, Abuela, Titi Ana, Titi Marie, and Titi Lydia (and fam) sent her lots of goodies as well.

I had to take a picture of this, because this is EXACTLY what quirky thing Grandpapa does! She was smelling the shirt. We've always razzed Papa for years because he smells every gift for some reason, no matter what it is. Looks like Mookie's gonna take after him.

She LOOOVES her new robe! I had to be sneaky when it came time to launder it.

Thank you for all the great birthday gifts, everybody!!! I wish Christmas was another 6 months away. ;-)

[November 8, 2010]

Nani Joan (Ellison's next-door NC grandma) came over to bring a birthday gift from her and Mr. Bill (that's what Ellison calls him). Nani Joan always calls Ellison "my little girlfriend". :-) They are such special neighbors to us. In fact, all of the neighbors surrounding us are the best. So it was a nice start to the day for Mookie.

I'm not sure what Ellison and Papa were doing in these next 3 shots, but the series of them just warms my heart, because there is such a great interaction going on between them.

Grandma got the girls ready for church - poor Gram never gets to stop working, even when away from home!

We had a great church service that day featuring Will Graham, Billy Graham's grandson, speaking to kick off our Missions Week celebration. Ellison requested to skip Sunday school so she could be in the worship service with Liv.

After church we all went to the Natural Science Center to check out the human body exhibit. Me and Jonathan and Gram had actually seen the exhibit in Denver several years ago. It was interesting, and we thought it'd be a great learning experience for Livy, but she was more grossed out than anything. :-) We did manage to squeeze in a little time in Animal Discovery before leaving.

Ellison taking her cue from Olivia, and pretending to be frightened. The tigers were quite active that day pacing. The zookeeper mentioned how they were trying to adjust to the different feeding time due to the time change the night before.

Livy wanted this shot for her little brother, Lucas.

[November 7, 2010]