The Perfect Lunch

Back in the day, an occasional lunch at Bread & Company was no big deal. But now that money is tight, spending $10+ on lunch is not necessary or practical. Today I decided that I really wanted Bread & Company. I haven't been there in a long time. I feasted on a tuna sandwich, kettle chips, pickle spear and an iced shortbread cookie shaped like a star. The perfect lunch in my opinion. Refreshing and definitely filling. More than I typically want to pay for lunch but today it was worth every penny!

Sunday Super Star

Ellen sat through the entire church service this morning. Well, using the term sat loosely. Besides being a little squirmy, she was quiet and well behaved. Go Ellen! We'll see if she can have a repeat performance next Sunday.

Update: She did great at our fellowship meal after church tonight. So glad.

AQUARIUM

Future Jacques Cousteau?

Huge Turtle!

We had fun at the aquarium today. Definitely a big hit with the kiddos. It was hard to get good pictures of the fish due to lighting issues, but they were amazing! The sting rays and butterfly garden were really neat too.

My Loves

The otters were a big hit

Getting up close and personal with the fish

Partners in Crime

Sssssssssss!

Buddies

Hoping to lure in the butterflies

Cool treat on a hot day

Recent Random Pictures

Trying to get her baby to hold the bottle

Tacky Day at daycare

The best sorbet - finally found it. Had it for the first time at Andrea's but couldn't find it in grocery stores here. Saw it at Target last night and was elated. I am not big on ice cream but I like sorbet.

I am not sure if she liked it, but we gave it a try

Taking her meds

My Baby and Her Baby

We bought Ellen a bottle for her baby Tuesday night at Toys R Us. She loves it. She is just now getting more interested in babies. By the way, we made it out of there only spending $14.01 (we also bought some Legos). I was proud considering all the great toys I wanted to buy. I have only been to Toys R Us a handful of times and I always feel overwhelmed. This time, being a weeknight, it was not crowded and we actually got to take our time and look and Ellen got to play. She had a lot of fun.

Ellen and baby watching Sesame Street
Saying her motherly "Ohhhhh"
Baby, and bottle, went everywhere with her last night

Blah

Well, the fun continues. Ellen has strep throat and now I have pink eye. We have all been sick and are ready to feel normal again. Phillip is working from home today. Hopefully Ellen is being good and he is able to get a lot done. There is always naptime. I wish I was home too. I miss them!

In more exciting news, we are planning to go to the TN Aquarium in Chattanooga on Saturday. We have never been but we think Ellen will enjoy it.

And less than a month until Phillip and I go to Chicago to see his beloved Cubs. Nothing beats celebrating 30 years of life at Wrigley. I hope this is his best birthday yet. Looking forward to getting away and having mom and dad here to keep Ellen and the dogs.

Saved the best for last... Ellen is going to be 2 in less than 2 months! I know it is still several weeks away, but since Phillip will be out of town for her birthday (very sad), we may be celebrating early when my parents are here. Ellen and I will do some fun things on her real birthday. I am ready for some CAKE!

You say squash, I say squash

UPDATE: The squash casserole was a success

Our neighbor gave us some squash from his garden - looking forward to some squash casserole!

Stuffing shredded cheese in her mouth - classy!

A Typical Day

I know I will look back one day and wonder what our life was like in 2009 and not really remember. I have a hard time remembering our routine a year ago because so much has changed and she has changed so much (but we were probably doing pretty much the same things). Even though I know I have a very bad memory, our life is so predictable right now that it seems strange that I would not remember this. But alas, I won't, and so I am going to attempt to document what a typical day is like for us.

* Alarm goes off at 4:45 but no one gets up until around 5:15 at the earliest

Phillip gets up first and lets the dogs out. He gets on the computer while they do their business. Phillip gets the dogs their treat and then takes a shower. Meanwhile, I am still in bed and loving every minute of it. I am not a morning person! Once Phillip is done with his shower, I take a shower. One may argue that I could take my shower while he is downstairs, but let's not be too hasty. Phillip gets ready and usually Ellen wakes up while I shower if not before (she woke up at 5:15 today). While we get ready, Ellen plays in our room and bathroom. She drinks some milk and does her usual cute morning things. Phillip almost always gets her dressed and then I fix her hair. Phillip then gets his lunch together and leaves. Depending on the time and how far along I am in getting ready, Ellen and I may be downstairs getting her lunch together and letting the dogs out again while Phillip is still there. This means he is late. The goal would be for Phillip to leave at 6:15 and Ellen and I leave around 6:30... but this rarely happens. During the school year, we do have to watch our time more. Summer = better morning traffic. I take Ellen to school every morning. I drop her off in the 12-18 month room with her FAVORITE teacher Mrs. Dyer (her regular teacher gets there at 7:00 and at that time the kids transition into their regular room). I sign her in and put her lunch in the fridge. Then I leave and don't see my baby until 6:00 pm! Phillip and I work a little over 30 miles from our house. Daycare is about 7 minutes or so from our house. Phillip picks up Ellen around 5:00 - give or take - due to traffic. Sometimes he is home with her by 5:00. It really just depends. They stop at Kroger on the way home if needed where Ellen loads up on fresh fruit and cheese samples. Once home, they check the mail, feed the dogs and Phillip feeds Ellen. He almost always waits to eat until I get home, which is around 6:00. But we don't always eat together since we are chasing Ellen around and getting organized for the next day. After her dinner she plays until around 6:45 and then it is bath time. I usually give her a bath and Phillip cleans up the kitchen or eats dinner. Sometimes we both give her a bath (which I like). She used to go to bed at 7:00, but now it is more like 7:30 or a little later. We were in the habit of laying with her in our bed a while, but now that she stays up later and is more tired, we put her right in her crib with her friend called "night night" and a pacifier. She sometimes whimpers for a bit, but does okay. Once she is asleep, the party begins! If you consider going to the store, cleaning, laundry, reading, watching TV/movies, video games (Phillip only), computer time and sleeping to be a party. It is nice that neither of us have any work to do from home. Our jobs are just 8 hours a day and I like it this way. It gives us a lot of extra time at night that we both enjoy and look forward to (If I had a job or career I really liked and it required some night time work, I would be fine with it. But I have a nothing job so I don't have to worry with any "homework"). We usually are not together in the evenings. I am in our room with the dogs and Phillip is in the living room or the office. We sometimes watch a movie or TV together, but for the most part we are doing our own thing. Once our regular shows come back on in the fall, we will be watching TV together more. I usually go to bed between 10:00-10:30. Phillip stays up later than me but I couldn't tell you what time! I am so exhausted at night that I never wake up when he comes to bed.

So this is pretty much what we do 5 days a week. Exciting, huh? Phillip does more of the mother-like stuff for Ellen. He is a great Dad. I am hoping that I can have a more flexible job or work less one day and be there for her more during the week. If we add to our family, changes would have to be made due to the cost of daycare. We can't afford two in daycare!

Saturdays and Sundays are definitely different. We try to do a lot of fun things and just enjoy being together. Weekends are so precious to me. I have to work this Saturday... trying to be positive about it... but dreading it. But I now only work one Saturday every other month. It used to be a monthly thing.

Can You Spare a Square?

Granddaddy, are you ready to play golf with me?

She's been practicing hard

She's ready to play a few rounds

She works hard for the money

The pictures kind of tell the story. Even though they are posted in the order I took them, they are kind of out of order. Or atleast not in the best order. We keep some of her "baby" toys in her room - she still likes to play with them sometimes. On this particular day, she started putting them in her crib like that was the most natural and obvious thing to do. I got the camera in time to catch her in action.

Making some progress

Too tired to stand up - putting toys through the slats

Enjoying the fruits of her labor

An Eventful Saturday

At the library

This is what happens when Phillip is in charge

What a great day! We went to the Spring Hill library for the first time and got library cards. It was only Ellen's second time being in a library. They have a great children's area and Ellen had a lot of fun. Phillip checked out 3 books on CD and I got a book and a movie. I am in the middle of a book now and have several more at home to read so I didn't want to overdo it. I can't believe we waited so long to go to the library! We have been missing out on a great place to take Ellen. We discovered a park with a few baseball fields and a dog park near the library. We played for a while and watched a family hit some baseballs. Also spent a lot of time swinging. We met 2 dogs at the Bark Park- Sadie and Lucy. After the park Ellen took a long nap and then had a very late lunch. While she slept we ate and watched several episodes of last seasons Entourage. We are trying to get caught up since the new season starts tomorrow and we didn't watch any of last season. I was even able to read and take a nap before she woke up. She usually sleeps 2 hours but she slept 3 1/2 today. We know she needed it. We played outside in the late afternoon and then grilled chicken. It had marinated 2 days so it was delicious. After dinner Ellen entertained us with lots of silliness. She was in rare form. She was talking on her cell phone, running back and forth between the couch and her toy basket and playing with her toys. We loved every second of it! Then it was bath and bedtime. She is on antibiotics (once a day), eye drops (3 times a day) and a decongestant (2 times a day). Between those and Tylenol/Motrin, it seems like we are constantly giving her some kind of medicine. She seems better though. I am sure the long nap today helped. Phillip is now watching more Entourage and I am going to watch a movie. Looking forward to unwinding after a busy day.

The Great Outdoors

Deciding what to do

Heads to the flowers/weeds (you can't miss them-they are everywhere!)

Spreading the love

Updates

My baby has another ear infection and pink eye. After getting a call from her teacher this morning, Phillip picked up Ellen from daycare and took her to the doctor. She was well behaved at the doctor but was wild all afternoon. Phillip was wiped out by the time I got here. I will be home with the little monster tomorrow. I am trying to think of some fun things to do. It has been a weird week... she has been congested and not sleeping well. This means we have not been sleeping well either. And she had an uncharacteristically bad day at school this week- defiant and mean to her teachers and classmates. Glad to know she will be feeling better soon and hoping this behavior is cured along with her eyes and ears.

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On a happier note, this little girl is chattering up a storm lately. She has always been one to mimic and repeat, but she is blowing us away with her vocabulary. It is fun listening to her. I called home today and she answered the phone without Phillip realizing it. He thought she accidentally called somebody. I was surprised and thrilled to hear an excited "Hi" on the other end of the line. It made my day.

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We have recorded a few episodes of Sesame Street. Ellen says, "I want to watch Elmo" whenever we turn it on. She doesn't watch long, but her reaction to seeing Elmo is priceless. I want to catch her squeals of joy on video.

Recent Pictures