It was a late night last night. Ella woke us up at 12:10am, not very happy, as she had vomited all over her bed and was running a fever of 101! This was the first time that she has run a fever so I was running around not sure what to do! What fun! We cleaned her up, changed the sheets (which I might add is the biggest pain in the butt on a crib) and tried to put her back to sleep.



By this point a storm was approaching and for all that know me....I hate them! So, Ella was awake because her internal clock was apparently telling her it was morning! I was awake because I was busy running between the window, the computer (to check the weather), my cell phone (to check the weather) and the TV ( to check the weather)!! Mike was awake because he was putting towels in the window (it leeks from time to time), rocking Ella (not working at all), and yelling at the cats because they decided to start fighting at 1am!



By 2am all was quiet, everyone was sleeping! To add to the excitement, I decided that I was going to develop a nasty sore throat and sinus headache. So today, I feel like crap and have already sent Mike to Walgreens at 7am to buy drugs!



Today, Ella and I will be lounging around in our PJs all day....watching TV and playing with all her toys. I don't feel good, she doesn't' feel good.....Fun for Mike later!!



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In other news, Ella got a 5th tooth! I think I can feel a molar trying to poke through, which I think is part of the cause for the vomiting and fever last night. Not to mention the fact that my Mother was feeding her the crispy part on fried chicken last night.....



Mike and I are officially trying to have another baby! I'm nervous that if and when we get pregnant, this baby is going to be a nightmare. Ella was so easy, pregnancy and labor was easy, she has been easy! It scares me!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Ella Beans!!!

One year ago

Today

Here are some other pics from her first Birthday cake last night....Tomorrow is the big party so there will be more cake and present pictures later. Enjoy!!

First bite of cake....I think she likes it!!

Ella's birthday present from Mom and Dad....cruising the neighborhood with Daddy

Already a purse girl, dragging around "Aunt" Emily's purse

It's coming people, in 4 days, Ella is turning one! One! Where in the world has this last year gone? I have so much to do this week in preparation for her party on Sunday. I'm stressing out way too much about it. I know, I know, nobody will even notice all the little things I'm doing. But, I feel like it is absolutely necessary to tie all the silverware with pretty matching ribbons.

Mike and I went camping last weekend. It was fun, except for the fact that I got sick on Saturday and spent the whole float drinking water and trying to keep myself from hurling. We also were unprepared for the cold weather. When was the last time that is was 50 degrees, in St. Louis, in July? Crazy!! We are now thinking about taking Ella camping in August.....most people think we are crazy but hey, if things get too crazy, the nearest hotel is only like 25 minutes away!!

So other then that, I've just been busy keeping Ella out of everything. Her new favorite game is to pull everything she can out of where it belongs. I'm consistently following behind her picking up DVDs, CDs, Paper, trash, purses, books, guitars, or whatever else is on the floor or within her reach.

I know it's been almost two months.....I'm posting now and that's what counts right?

Things have been crazy busy around here. We were in Mexico the last week of June, so all of June I was busy packing, shopping, getting all my purse parties in and more shopping. Then the 4th of July, you get the picture.

Ella is almost a year old!! Can you believe it? I can't believe a year ago she was small enough to fit in my belly and now, well, all I can say is that the girl likes to eat!! She is starting to walk and is into everything. Keeps mommy busy during the day!!

So today at the post office, this older gentleman asks me if she is walking yet. I say no but she's trying to. He says, "oh don't worry honey, she will one day. " Really??? I thought she would just start flying one day. For those that know that song....here's your sign!!!

The other day, Mike and I bought a tent and set it up in the backyard. Ella was trying to help and was having a blast helping us and playing in that thing. We ended up having to take it back after a pole broke and the bag ripped. I guess you get what you pay for.....so the search is back on for the "perfect" tent.

So it's been awhile. I've got so much going on right now. I have only 4 hours a day to do everything: If Ella is sleeping I can get on the 'puter, do the laundry, clean the house, organize and do paperwork for my purse business, make phone calls, pay the bills, ect. When she is awake, it's all about entertaining her. She is so busy and into everything right now. Since the weather has been nice, we try to get out of the house. Grocery shopping, visiting my Mom, going to the park. I need to update websites and ect.....

Anyway, so I thought I do this little quiz thinging...stolen from catizhere:

RULES
• Use the the first letter of your name to answer each of the following.
• Answers must be REAL places, persons, things. . .NOTHING MADE UP!
• If you can't think of anything, skip it.
• Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same initial
.• DO NOT use your name for the boy/girl name question.
• DO NOT use a search engine to look up answers!
• GO!
1. Your Name: Paula
2. Famous singer/band: Prince
3. 4 letter word:Pump
4. Street name: Park Place
5. Color: Purple
6. Gift/present: Purse
7. Vehicle: porsche
8. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Pencils
9. Boy's Name: Peter
10. Girl's Name: polly
11. Movie Title: Punch Drunk Love
12. Drink: Pabst Blue Ribbon
13. An Occupation:Physician
14. Flower: Petunia
15. Celebrity: Paulie Shore
16. Magazine: Parenting
17. U.S, City: Pittsburgh
18. Pro Sports Team: Pirates
19. Fruit: Pomagrante
20. Reason for Being Late to Work: Puking
21. Something You Throw Away: Poop!!!
22. Things You Shout: Punk!!
23. Cartoon Character: Pepe La Phew (not sure on the spelling)

I've been wanting to change my hair but haven't gotten up the nerve to do it, until now!! Yesterday I went to a new salon and told them to do something, I didn't care what as long as they didn't shave my head and dye it green. Instead this is what I left with:

New Cute and Color....

Old me..

What do you think? Wise choice? or bad mistake?

I know, I know...it's been awhile. I've been so busy though and with Miss Ella napping, I have a little bit of time.

She is crawling, EVERYWHERE!! She's discovered that she doesn't like the hard floors, so she does this one legged, scoot, crawl thing. Pretty funny to watch! She loves to chase Sigma around the house and get into whatever she can.

She has gotten a 2nd tooth! We've been attempted to switch her over to all finger foods at this point, but she still likes that mushy stuff from time to time. She has started to pull up as well and cruise along the couch. Today she discovered the stairs. I guess that gate we bought a few weeks ago is going to be taken out of the box soon.

We have officially made the switch of rooms. Ella is now in the room that used to be Greg's and Greg is now in the other. After a week of painting and more painting, we are finally done. We still have to hang up all the pictures and shelves but that can wait until a later date.

_________________

I have a job now! For a couple of months I've been looking into something part time. For sanity's sake I needed to do something, for me and get some adult time. So, I'm now selling purses and accessories. That should keep me busy as I have to do 8 parties a month. That's all they require and they provide me all my inventory, business cards, CC machine, ect. I got all my stuff yesterday, 8 very large boxes full of stuff. It was exciting going through all of it.

I think that's it for now...

Happy Birthday Dave!!

I've lost 58lbs since having Ella 9 months ago

I'm now wearing a medium (been a very long time)

don't know why I'm rambling.....

So anyone know how to figure how many activity points (weight watchers) pedometer steps are? I've started wearing one to see if I can make it to 10000 steps a day (5 miles)...I made it to 7334 yesterday! Not too bad.

Mike and I are going to be painting tonight and tomorrow if anyone cares to stop by and join in the fun. Hopefully we can get it done in a week or so.....our painting projects always seem to last forever. Ellas' room is techinally still not done.....and that has been almost a year!!

Ella's new thing is the piano, whenever we get to my Moms, she makes a beeline for the piano and crys until you set her up there. Too Cute!!

Check out her website for more pics, I've been uploading all morning so there are new ones in last months and all new ones in this month.

Lord Help Us!! Ella has been busy this week accomplishing things that I'm not ready for. She is now crawling like a champ, her favorite things to go after, shoes, the cat and electrical cords!!

Since she has learned to crawl, she has also learned to sit up by herself. Not such a bad thing, except she hates to lie down now. Including, trying to change her diaper, changing her clothes, sucking the snot out of her nose....makes for a long process that used to only take a couple of seconds.

Another big moment this week, she is pulling up. She gets on her knees and gets stuck, hasn't quite figured out how to actually stand up yet. I'm sure that will be happening any day now. Her new big thing is pulling up in her bed and slobbering all over the rails.....

That will be changing as the first tooth is trying to rear its ugly head! Teething sucks!! She is crabby, doesn't nap and is very snotty, which by the way you would think I was wiping her nose with sandpaper the way she screams when I come at her with a tissue. You can see the little white tooth trying to poke through, it won't be long and I will be installing those little plastic guards on the crib to keep her from chewing her way out!!


On a different note, I'm taking on a new business. Yes it involves home parties, but no it's not a typical, please sign up under me kind of thing!! I've been researching companies for quite some time because, well, I need a life. A part-time job doesn't work because of Mike's schedule and I don't want to work all weekend and every night. I finally found one that doesn't require presentations, doesn't require me to buy a bunch of inventory (they supply it all) (including shipping) and I can do it whenever I want. I will be working for www.divagirlpurseparty.com . I will travel to Omaha, hopefully in May for training and then I'll be ready to go.

This company provides me with all the inventory, invites, business cards, cc machine, ect and all I have to do is have 8 parties a month. I don't see this being a big deal. I've got lots of friends and an even bigger family. I'm really hoping this is what I've been looking for.

Oh yeah, I'm going to Mexico in 64 days!!!! :)~~~~~~

Not much going on here. Trying to keep the newly crawling Ella out of EVERYTHING!! She is teething, not fun at all. The schedule we had in place, gone. Doesn't nap, doesn't eat....just a snotty, crabby mess!! Here are a couple of pics from Easter yesterday. Hope everyone had a great day!!

Things have busy around, sorry for the lack of blog posts. My sister was in town last week and that is always a busy time. Shopping, shopping and usually more shopping. Ella now has a complete wardrobe for the summer. Still need a swimsuit but I think we are done.

The little princess has started crawling. Last Saturday she was just kinda rocking back and forth and all of a sudden....she was off and into everything. It's been fun though, chasing after her, pulling her away from the DVD player, Mikes guitars, the cat, my magazines, if it's on the floor, it's fair game.

The cold snap here in the Midwest sucks!! Last week I had the air on and was wearing shorts.....this week, the heat is back on and I'm wearing my shoes again. I hate wearing shoes, I like my flip-flops.

Here are a couple of new pics of the princess, enjoy:

Ella's new sleeping position

Cute little Easter BunnyEaster DressEating a popsicle with Uncle BillAunt Emily helping out with the popsicle thing

Who's going to bail me out of jail for murder?

I'm seriously about ready to go next door and rip the manly parts off of the construction workers that are tearing out the neighbors driveway. Don't they know I have a tired baby over here that wakes up every freaking time they throw another giant chunk of concrete into the trash bin?

GRRRR!!! Nobody asked me if it was a convenient time to do this...NO IT'S NOT!!

Maybe I'll just take the overtired, crabby baby over to them and they can figure out how to keep her from screaming her pretty little head off!!

We have been taking Ella to the Little Gym for a couple of weeks. She loves it! I finally got some pictures today of our future Olympic Gymnast:

Some pics from the park yesterday:

OMG!! Okay, so Ella has learned to do this spitting thing, has been doing it for awhile but has just decided that doing it with a mouth full of food is fun!! So, I'm on the lookout for some type of giant Mom bib, sorta like this one:

This is what Ella looks like after a dinner of green beans that she thought would be fun to spit all over the place. Notice the spoon in hand, I got tired of fighting with her over who was going to hold it....guess who won!And a cute pic, the blackmail pic for when she is older:

Lawn Darts, Jarts and Farts

Hey Dave, Click Here....

I stole this from catizhere, hope she doesn't mind. I thought it was cool:



Not much else going on here in the land of Ella. Still trying to get her on a schedule. I don't know how people do it. I've tried and failed and tried again. It would be so nice to know when she will be taking a nap, getting hungry, ect. It would make going out of the house a little less stressful for all parties involved.

Over the weekend, we went out to dinner with some friends and I actually had to leave the restaurant because Miss Ella was throwing her first ever temper tantrum!! It was not pretty.

To all you "experienced" parents, when do you start disciplining your child? I don't mean, grounding, spanking or that sort of thing, just simple "No, Ella we don't spit" or "No, Ella we don't stick our fingers there." Do they understand that word yet? Is that why "NO" is a lot of kids first word?

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!


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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!