Today is nasty and cold AGAIN!! I've got a pot of chili bubbling away on the stove and cornbread in the oven for later. I'm so ready for spring!!

I've got a bunch of pics of Miss Ella to share, check out the rest on her website:

Mommy and Ella at the park

Ella trying to make a phone call to Aunt Jen...Playing with Grandma and all her Mardi Gras beads, notice Ella is more interested in the bagNot sure why my child is trying to eat the stem of the banana,

Is it wrong for me to want to tie Ellas hands behind her back when I'm trying to feed her?



The child wants to feed herself, which is fine, except she doesn't understand that the spoon, full of food, goes in her mouth and not her _________ (insert body part besides her mouth).

Guess who just woke up from her nap? Gotta go!!

I should know better than to try to take Ella out to dinner after 6pm. But, against my better judgement, Mike and I packed her up and went to meet Dave and Emily for dinner around 7:15pm. BAD IDEA!! She was pretty good until 8pm hit....BEDTIME!!!

Ella wasn't happy with anything, didn't want her bottle, didn't want to sit, she wanted to sleep and NOW. When the child is unhappy and screaming, Mommy gets a little stressed.

Why? We have all been in the store, restaurant, ect and heard the distinct cry of a very mad baby. I know I always think to myself, "the poor little thing" or "man, I know how the mom feels". I hate it when she crys in public. I feel like I have to silence her at once. I don't want to make other people mad because my baby is crying in Target, Applebees or wherever. Why do I feel this way? Everyone else is probably looking at me, thinking about how crazy I look. Babies cry, I know that. I just don't want mine crying in public. It makes me feel like a bad mom, one who can't control her baby.

Trying out box sizes for shipping: I've been threatening to ship Ella to my Mom when she is bad, so we were trying out box sizes. (Don't call the CPS on me, I'm just kidding. I would never ship her in a box, I would at least put her in a crate, so she could breath) (Again, just kidding)

Ellas first craft project:For all of those that have received or will be receiving their Valentines Day cards from Ella, she wrote her name in all of them. She is soooo smart!!
We even colored on the table for a few seconds while Mom was looking at Daddy!! Just a little extra something for Mom!


_---------------------------------------------
Mike is never going to come again for lunch. Today, within 10 minutes, Ella pooped and puked on him. Lovely isn't it? She is worse than having a dog in the house. There was poop and puke on the carpet today. This is why I'm getting hardwood put in!

I've been trying to get Ella to fall asleep on her own for her naps and at nighttime. So far nothing has worked. So today I tried the Ferber method. The first night you attempt the Ferber method, you put your child to bed as you normally do. Your baby should be tired but still awake when you put her to bed, so that she is left to fall asleep on her own. After you leave the room, the baby will inevitably start crying. Allow her to cry for about 5 minutes, then re-enter the room to console her. It's important that you stay in the room for only a short time - even if she is still crying - and that you don't pick her up or rock her. This second time you leave the room, wait 10 minutes before returning in the same manner. The third time wait 15 minutes, and set this as a maximum wait time for the rest of the night.
Every time thereafter, enter the room briefly and then allow your child to cry for 15 minutes. Eventually, she will fall asleep on her own during one of the 15 minute intervals in which you are out of the room. The second night, you should begin with a 10 minute wait before re-entering the room, followed by 15 and then 20 minutes. In a similar fashion, increase your initial and subsequent wait times by 5 minutes each night.

Hopefully this will teach Ella to learn to go to sleep on her own. The hardest part is going to be listening to her cry. We tried it at nap time today and it worked well. She got a bottle and then closed her eyes. I knew she was tired so I took her to bed, gave her a kiss and told her that I would see her in a little bit.

It only took 20 minutes and she was out. I can't wait to try it tonight and see if it will work. She is waking herself up in the middle of night and doesn't know how to get herself back to sleep.

We will see how it goes.......


PS. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

The poor baby girl is sick!! She woke up last night around 3am and ate her normal 8oz bottle and then puked it up all over Daddy!! She did that once more and finally fell asleep in Daddys arms on the couch. Poor little thing is all congested and has been running a fever all day!

It's so hard to see your baby not feeling well. I just wish she could talk and tell me whats wrong!

____________________________________

Funny story behind this pic. Last week I took these pictures and sent them off to Walgreens to be printed. When I went to pick them up, they accused me of violating the copyright law and were not going to give me my pictures. After telling them that I would bring in my camera with the pictures still on them, he finally gave in and gave them to me (with a warning that he better not go to jail). Maybe I should go into business......

It has been so freaking cold here in St. Louis that Ella and I haven't been out much this week. Yesterday, before the POOP incident, we were in a pretty good mood so I decided to take some candid pictures of my very cute daughter:

(the POOP incident involved one very poopy girl, one poopy diaper, one poopy onsie, poop on the floor, in her hair and all over her backside. It also involved pee on the floor). VERY, VERY, bad day for MOMMY!!!!

God help us Ella has learned to roll!! Last Thursday she started rolling onto her stomach anytime she was placed on her back. Over the weekend she practiced that alot at Aunt Jennifers house. Today, she is rolling. Like a steamroller!!! Look out folks. Put away your breakables....Ella is on the move.

In response to Daves Blog comment on what he will teach my child on Feb. 3....let me tell you what will really go on that day.

3pm Dave and Emily are so excited to watch Ella
3:30pm Ella poops, Dave and Emily have first major fight over who will change diaper.
3:35 Emily wins and Dave has to change the diaper....
3:36 Dave discovers the Ella has Exploded out of the diaper and has pooped on her neck
3:37-4:00pm Dave, with the help of Emily, changes Ellas entire outfit, bathes her and throws dirty outfit in Kitchen trash.
4:15pm Dave discovers that Kitchen now smells like a toxic waste dump and takes out trash.
4:30 Daves neighbors call and complain that there is horrible smell coming out of the garage.
4:35 Dave takes trash to local dump....
5:00pm Dave and Emily feed Ella
5:15pm Ella spits pureed Green Beans all over Dave, spits up on Emily and farts.
5:30 Dave takes Shower, Emily sponges off.....
5:35 Emily changes diaper
5:37 Diaper on backwards, try again
5:40 attempt again to feed Ella,
6:00 play with Ella
7:00pm Give Ella a bath
7:30 Decide that bath time was not a good idea and Dave sends Emily to Walmart to buy sponge mop.
8:00 Emily returns to mop up the 8 inches of water on the floor in the bathroom
8:30 attempt to feed Ella, again.
9:00pm try to rock Ella to sleep
9:30 Cops show up to ask Dave and Emily if there is a problem with the child.
9:35 Cop attempts to rock Ella to sleep
9:40 Elderly women next door knocks on door to ask if there is a problem as she is being kept awake by screaming child.
9:45 Elderly women attempts to rock Ella to sleep
9:50pm Cop and Elderly women sing duet to try and coax Ella to sleep
9:55 Another Cop shows up and asks if there is a party going on
9:56 Other Cop joins in on the duet (now a trio)
10:00pm Mike and Paula arrive and take the now poor, traumatized child
10:01 Ella is sleeping soundly in Paulas arm,
10:05 Mike and Paula wonder what Dave and Emily did all night.
10:30 Dave and Emily decide that they will never watch the baby again...Have several Shreks.

I've found the something that babies fear other than the nurse with the needles at the doctors office.......The Snot Sucker. Ella can see that thing coming for her face and she starts screaming before we are anywhere near her little nose. I can't wait for the day I can just grab a tissue and say "blow".

For all of you that have requested a new pic:

Getting ready to head out in the cold. Her hat is still a little big....

ATTENTION

Following picture is not for children to see

Mike and I saw this on the Discovery Health Channel.....Can you believe that someone is actually this big? How in the world do you cart those bad boys around?

For those of you in the Missouri area you know about the recent disappearance of a little boy in Franklin County. The news stations are now reporting that he has been found alive and has been returned to his family. Just as equally exciting is the fact that he was found with another little boy that disappeared 4 years ago, Shawn Hornbeck.

I'm so glad that they found both of these boys alive and well. I have been praying that they would be safely returned. Mike and I had a conversation last night about this and I can't even imagine what there families were going through.

I don't understand how a person can do this. What right do they have to take another persons child? I would want that persons head on a platter if anything ever happened to my daughter. What goes through a persons mind when they are contemplating doing something like this?

God has done a wonderful by bringing these boys home. Everyone hug your child a little bit tighter tonight, tell them you love them and be thankful that they are safe!

Randomness....Is that even a word?

Picture of Ella in her first shopping cart rideKenny helping with my new patio a few years ago
Just a few random pictures I found on my camera I thought I would share.

The weather here in St. Louis is getting ready to turn nasty. It was almost 60 here this morning and I just checked the weather and it is down to 35!! Raining here with it changing to sleet and ice sometime tonight. It is supposed to continue on through the weekend so we could be looking at significant ice accumulations once again.

Ella is getting so big! I look at her everyday and am just amazed at what she is doing. This week she is really getting good at sitting up all by herself. Every once in a while she will lunge for a toy and over she goes. We have also introduced the sippy cup this week, just getting her used to it. So far I think she likes it, more to play with it than anything!!

Life has been pretty routine here in the Williams house. Just trying to get her and I into some sort of routine. The only thing that is for certain right now is bedtime at 8pm. Other than that, its a day by day thing. Depending on her mood....typical girl!!

Have I said that I hate WalMart? I hate that all the carts have messed up wheels. I hate that the baby seats look so nasty. I hate that there are never more than 3 cashiers working even though there are 500 people in line buying salt and snow shovels. I hate that the self- checkouts are never open!

I've been trying to post for several days now but as always as soon as I start little Miss Ella wakes up and wants some attention. So I've given her a dose of Tylenol (for the teething) and she is out right now.

The last few weeks have been so crazy and busy. We got back from our trip only to have to shop like mad for all the Christmas gifts we hadn't bought. Got that done with and had to get ready for the New Years Eve Party we hosted.

Now that the holidays are done, Ella and I are trying to settle into some sort of routine. She is now big enough for the exersaucer, thank you Lord, so I get a little break to get some things done. I love that thing and so does she! She has also discovered Sigma in the last couple of days. She loves to try and grab at him! So far he hasn't seemed to mind.

She rolled over from back to front on Tuesday. That was pretty cool! I can't beleive how big she is getting. Before I know it she is going to be crawling!! YIKES!

There are new pics on her website...go have a look!

Mike and I survived our trip to the Caribbean. Both of us missed a day suffering from some nasty 24 hour flu bug but otherwise it was a pretty relaxed trip. We both have decided that 7 days on a boat is too long. I would rather be dropped off at a resort somewhere and be done with it.

Mike and I have been busy this week getting ready for Christmas. We didn't do much before we left so we have been shopping and wrapping and cooking and cleaning all week. We are almost done shopping, hopefully we will finish tomorrow.

This is just a side note to everyone I know, (mainly for one person, whom I won't mention, but his names rhymes with hill and I'm related to him), STOP BEING WEENIES!!!! We have all been friends or related long enough to know that you don't need a personal invite to come to my house. If I haven't seen you for awhile and hear through the grapevine that I'm having a party, you are invited. I love you all but some of you drive me nuts. :))

Dear Santa:

b v,hgvc okxjvccvjklglkgh,v.cxm drc kd kk.b,h

rgfvc cvvcccccccc n c bfgbhgvcvc

Love Ella

Dear Anonymous:

If you are going to post derogatory and nasty comments, please don't waste my time. I have better things to do than to worry about what comments your sorry ass is going to leave. I think people that have to post anonymously are pathetic anyways, covering up some other inadequate feature. If you can't post who you are then kindly leave my blog and move on to annoy someone else.



(This is in response to two comments I have received lately on my blog. I'm turning off the feature by the way.)

"I think these are a little too big Dad"


First picture with Santa
Daddys little present

Did you know that it is possible to poop on your neck? Yep, I swear its true. I know this is true because the darling, beautiful, Princess Ella decided that it would be fun to try and yes, she succeeded.

Can you say GROSS?!!!! I picked her up, felt something warm, thought to myself, damn she spit up, started to smell something foul, realized she pooped, took her to the changing table and couldn't believe what I saw. Yes, folks the child pooped into the diaper, which then proceeded to ooze out the top of the diaper all the way up her back to her neck!!

Let's just say that Dad has diaper duty for the rest of the week. We had to get a bath and I threw the shirt out. My mother wanted to go retrieve it out of the trash and rinse it off in the toilet......there was as much poop inside the shirt as there was in the diaper. It won't fit her much longer anyways!

I told Ella as we got out of the bath that it was a good thing this didn't happen to her Daddy because if it had, he would have retired!!

I'm sure most people in the Midwest are blogging about the onslaught of Ice and Snow that we are to receive tomorrow. Here's the deal: It's my birthday tomorrow (30th) and I really want it to snow but not so much that I can't go out with Dave, Violet and my Hubby for dinner and drinks.

This is for Dave, I still expect your ass to be in my driveway with your Hummer around 7pm.

Edited: Just to clear up the confusion, when I say (30th) I mean the day, November 30th. Yes Jen, I'm only 29.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Mike, Paula and Ella

So Ella is becoming a beast!! She is not napping, wants ME to entertain her at all times and just crys for the hell of it. I miss sleeping through the night, she was doing so good too!! I guess I shouldn't complain too loudly...she is sleeping right now, Daddy gets up alot of nights with her and she is pretty good at talking to herself....

We started feeding her cereal a few days ago and things are going wonderfully. Here is the pic of that infamous first bite:

As of today I have lost 41lbs since giving birth almost 4 months ago, only 10 more to go.

Of more interest....Ella rolled over yesterday, tummy to back! I was such a proud mommy, my daughter is so smart!! So now she can stare and talk at ceiling fans and roll over. I don't think she realized it as she got that "Oh crap, what did I just do", look on her face.

You know what this means? We are going to start crawling, walking and getting into stuff. I'm not sure that I'm quite ready for that yet. I like my stuff and I'm not ready to have a bare house. I'm not ready to only have the top half of my Christmas tree decorated.

The books say to get down on their level and see what they can reach, get into, ect. So if you happen to stop by and I'm crawling around on the floor, you will know that I haven't completely lost it but I'm preparing for Ella's launch.

I'm going to try and go back to work on Monday and Wednesday. Mike will be here with Ella from 8-1pm those days. We will see how long it lasts. I may need a few of you to call or come by to check on him, to make sure he hasn't pulled all his hair out. My plan is to go to the gym from 8-9 and then head to the office until 12:30pm. I won't have to go in every week but I need to get out of this house.

That's something nobody talked about: the boredom. At this age, Ella still takes several naps during the day and I'm going crazy in this house. I don't get to have any adult interaction except with my husband. I need to get a life!! SO, I'm going to try to work 2 days a week. I've also joined a Moms group here in the area. I'm so ready to get out and meet some other moms with little ones.

How do people have their baby on a schedule? Apart from getting her into bed every night at 8-830pm there is no such thing as a routine.


I give up!!

A Little late but blogger sucks!! Happy Halloween!!

Some of you may take this as me whining....Okay so I am a little. I just need to vent, bear with me and deal with it!! Why do I feel like I am doing all this baby stuff alone? Regardless of how many baby-care hours Mike logs, I still feel this way. I get so annoyed at his ability to relax..I feel like saying "didn't you get the memo? WE'RE PARENTS NOW! LOOK ALIVE!"


I know Mike works his ass off helping me. But I still have no problem feeling resentful, because when he does something with the baby it feels like he is doing me a favor. He asks me a question like, "Do you want me to feed her?" and I'm thinking, She's your baby too. Don't ask, just do it.


I'm to the point where I'm trying to figure out how to do it all:

2-3 loads of laundry a day
5-6 feedings a day
5-6 diapers, Pooping ones 1-2
1-2 hours of entertaning a 3 month with the attention span of a spoon.
2-3 hours of rocking
2 hours of cooking and cleaning up messes in the kitchen
???? who know s how many hours trying to decipher what the cry means.

Please don't anyone take this to heart. I'm tired, extremly stressed out and just want a day off. Oh, wait I don't ever get one!!

I love my husband dearly and I know he takes care of Ella whenever I ask. I'm just pissy today.....

I love you honey!!!

As I was browsing through Halloween costumes yesterday I came across this:

"Available in one size Adult standard. Adam costume fits up to 180 lbs. Eve costume fits up to 109 lbs."

Does anyone else see whats wrong here??? Adult Standard.....fits up to 109lbs......EXCUSE ME??

Adult standard for who? I don't know anyone who is 109lbs. I think the American average for women is somewhere around a size 10-12, 150-160 lbs.

Just makes you feel like a big fat slob!!

I've been working very hard that last 2 weeks trying to lose the last 15lbs of baby weight. My goal is for Dec 10, the day Mike and I leave on our cruise. So far I've lost 5lbs. So if you see me eating bad stuff, yell at me and tell me to eat a carrot!!

Random Pic: Where is Mike?

Tribute to Tomorrows annual trip to the Wineries:

Random fact I learned today:

"Honeybees have hair on their eyes. "

I know you will all sleep better tonight now that you know that.

Ella's a scootin and a moving. As most of you know Ella has been sleeping in her car seat some nights. It's the only way we could get her to sleep for a couple of hours so Mommy and Daddy could get some sleep. Anyway, yesterday morning Mike rolls over and I hear him say, "Where did she go?" Of course, I hear this and thinking someone has ran off with my daughter I roll over and ask him to clarify. He reaches down and pulls her up onto the bed. Apprently Ella wiggled herself completly out of the carseat and onto the floor. She was close enough to our bed that she was actually under the bed with just her little head sticking out!!! How funny is that?!!

Last night, we went all night without a feeding!! We have been trying to get this accomplished for a week or so now and last night was the first. She went down at 9am, got up at 4am, we rocked for about 5 minutes and she was out again. Slept until almost 7am!! Mommy was so well rested that we got up and went walking at 8am. Ella loves to go for walks and feel asleep almost as soon as we left the driveway.


As I'm sitting here, Ella is making this strange noises. I just got up to check on her and she is asleep. The only thing I can figure is that she is dreaming but here is my question. What in the world does a nine week old dream about?

Our cruise is in 9 weeks and I've been working hard to get back to pre-prego weight before then. I'm down 1.5 lbs this week, Yeah for me!!!

I think I've finally got a picture that looks like me when I was a baby:












My Little Cardinals Fan:

Check out this website: http://www.babytoupe.com/

What do you think? Should we make Ella the next Paris Hilton? How about a little Bob Marley?

So the princess had her 2 month check up yesterday and she is doing great!! She is now 11lb 5oz and 22 inches long. She got 4 shots, 2 in each leg and she was not happy about it. I do think Grandma Karen cried more than Ella did. All in all she did great though and we bought here a new toy for being such a good girl.

So the doctor says we need to be doing at least one hour of tummy time a day. Is he serious? She hates tummy time. The child lays there screaming and crying most of the time. Do I let her lay there and scream? It is suppose to help strengthen their heads. I think I would rather her have a floppy head than listen to her scream like a banshee. If any of you mommys have any helpful hints on making tummy time more enjoyable, I'm all ears!!

Ella slept in her bed all night last night. She has been sleeping in the car seat all night long but we haven't made it in the crib until last night. YEAH!! I don't know if that is from the shots yesterday or what but we were happy.

Look what me and my mom did yesterday! For those that have been to my garage, you understand why this is so exciting!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Just a cute picture of Sigma keeping Ella warm on Daddys lap!!

Can you all beleive it? I have a car parked in my garage!!! We still have some work to do but I am so proud of the progress we made. It took us about 3 hours but it's done!!

So this morning I was doing the clothes swap, summer for winter, and decieded to torment myself by trying on a pair of old jeans.....the fit!!!! Glorious day in my house!! My mistake was trying on everything and realizing that things have shifted and nothing fits right. So Ella and I are off to shop.

Here are some new pics of the princess:

We sleep!!!!

Mommy is so happy!! After a nine hour drive, (yes people I drove nine hours with a 2 month old), we arrived at Aunt Jennifers. I was so tired, a combination of new mom syndrome and driving 9 hours, all I wanted to do was sleep. Miss Ella had different plans. After being in a car seat SLEEPING for 9 hours, she was not about to be conned into anymore sleeping. So finally at 11:30pm, Aunt Jennifer told me to put her in her car seat to sleep. It worked like a charm; in she went and out she DIDN'T come until 7:30am!!

Ella slept through the night, for the first time for 8 hours, in her car seat!! I told Jen this morning that I'm either moving here or Ella is now sleeping in her car seat everynight!!

Here is the photo that I sent Daddy in Texas of little princess sleeping soundly in the car seat.

I feel like a new woman getting 8 hours of sleep solid for the first time in almost a year. No middle of the night feedings, trips to the bathrooms or uncomfortableness. I think I'll go run a marathon this morning....okay maybe not.

This morning I've almost got Ella to sleep when the doorbell rings. I peeked around the corner and saw that it was a young girl. She was holding some sort of catalog and with school just starting, didn't want to get up to have her try and sell me magazines or candy. I ignored the doorbell and continued rocking. A few minutes ( yes people minutes, I had assumed she had already left), the door bell rings AGAIN! I get up and it is the same girl. I answered, she started to tell me about her magazines and I told her no thank you, I've already bought some. (not true but hey, she left).

Point to this: If someone doesn't answer the door, you don't stand there for 5 minutes and then try again. If they don't answer the first time, they probably don't want to talk to you. Your magazines are not as important as getting my tired baby to sleep. I should have handed her the baby and told her, now that you woke her up its your turn.

I just realized that I've become the "parent". The one I used to laugh at for putting signs on the door that said, "Don't ring the doorbell, baby sleeping."

I bought this swimsuit way back in the Spring. She is never going to wear it outside of the house so I thought I'd get some pictures before I sell it on Ebay. Is she not the cutest little watermelon you have ever seen?

I hate bumper stickers! You can usually tell what type of person is driving the car by the bumper stickers attached to their car.

For example:

My kid is an honor student at _(name of school)___: Mini-Van Soccer mom (no offense Jen)

If your bumper sticker is the Rebel Flag: Redneck, Budweiser drinking Good Ole Boy

Eat More Grits (Girls Raised In The South): Seriously........I'm not even going there.....Why would you even think that this is a good thing to display to everyone that is behind you?

Put on your big girl panties and deal with it: Women that thinks she is a Bad A@@

I Love Explosives, International Terrorist hunting permit, ect: You just scare me, Note to self, Don't make you mad!


I'm trying to get out of only posting about Baby stuff. Unfortunately at the moment, that is really all my life consists of. If you would an update on Days of our Lives, Oprah or any other daytime television show, let me know and I'll try to help!!

What is a night without sleep?

This is not what happened last night!!!


Little miss Ella didn't want to sleep last night. It was a long night, I think at one point I woke Mike up and told him I quit, being the mom. It only lasted about 5 minutes!!

We finally got some sleep 6-9:30am. Now we are here, typing this, Ella is trying to help. Time to feed her and hopefully get a little nap.

You don't realize how much you love to sleep, until you don't get it.

by the way there are new pics on the website under Aug. www.ellamariewilliams.com