Last Day of 2008

Just a few pic's to savor the very last day of 2008 before heading to San Antonio to drop little miss thang off for a 2 night stay with Granny and Popo. What a great year it's been! A small note to my doll faced little diva: I have enjoyed so very much watching you grow up into a saucy, loving, assertive, talkative, stubborn, smart, inquisitive, and fun little gal this year! You are the joy of my life and I just adore being along for your journey through childhood. I am fascinated by how quickly you learn and everything that you absorb on a daily basis. You are constantly coming up with new ways to look at the world as you figure out yet another piece of the puzzle. I am looking forward to yet another year of learning, exploring and laughing with you! I love you Goose - aka Goosey Maroo, Baby Goose, Ella Beaner Halloweener ;) Later on, Mama and Papa went out for an evening on the town with some friends to ring in the new year while Miss Ella was fast asleep...

Random Dizziness with Ella Fleming

Just some spinning until dizzy. Love love love her....

Houston Zoo

Although it was cold and rainy we made a quick trip to the zoo with Aunt Jennifer, Uncle David, Gus and Ethan and some of their friends. We tried to stay inside as much as possible, but the inside animals and activities just aren't as entertaining as the ones found outside and it proved pretty difficult to entice the kiddos to stick to the reptile house, bird atrium and aquarium. Like I said, it was a pretty short trip! Ella ended up taking an almost 4 hour nap when we got back to Gram and Papa2's, so I got a lot of reading done :)

First "REAL" Haircut & More Traveling

So Mama's been cutting the bangs now since they've needed to be cut and I'm no cosmotologist, so today I decided we need a real, professional haircut. She was so good! Although she doesn't look any too happy, she cooperated and tilted her head just the way she was asked to. She even got to sit in a car while the cutting was being done. She gets an A+ for her first haircut experience! Later that afternoon we headed back to Houston to celebrate Christmas with the whole family. I was too tired (read: lazy) to take any pictures of the gift opening or any other festivities that evening, so just imagine two 2 year olds, a 3 year old, 3 pre-teens and a bunch of adults in about 800 square feet eating, drinking, talking, yelling, playing games and running around and pretty much whatever chaos comes to your mind probably ensued during that time period. Cheers to the holidays! Here she is singing in the car on the way to Houston...

San Antonio Zoo

We met friends at the San Antonio Zoo and had such a great time with Kayla, Noah and Jack (and their parents too, of course!). The weather was perfect and the crowds were non-existent. Ella's favorite part was laughing hysterically while running away from me as I ran after her yelling "ELLA, STOP RIGHT NOW!". That wasn't so much my favorite part. I rather enjoyed the hippos.

Christmas Day

What another whirlwind of travel. After hanging out with our friends Heather and Natalie at Chuck E Cheese on Monday we picked up Papa2 (as we now call my dad) from work and headed to Houston. We played with cousins the following evening as well as Christmas Eve night. Christmas morning we awoke bright and early and went over to Aunt Jennifer, Uncle David, Gus and Ethan's house with Gram and Papa2 to open a few presents while waiting on Papa to get off work and then heading to San Antonio. The kiddos had a blast tearing into gifts and then arguing over who got to play with what and what was "MINE"! Good times with a 3 year old and two 2 year olds! Later on after arriving at Granny and Popo's house in San Antonio more gifts to open, another big meal to eat and then off we were out to Great Grandpa and Grandma Fleming's ranch at Lake Medina. It was good to see the whole Fleming clan together and yet another big meal, some more playing with cousins, Shane and Parker, and then finally calling it a day and heading back to Granny and Popo's to go to bed!

Attempting to Tie her Shoe

I love the fact that she believes all she has to do to tie a shoe is to grab the strings, move her hands around quickly and sporadically and then let go. Voila! Why did that not work?!?

Trail of Lights

I begrudgingly convinced Papa to take a trip down to see the Trail of Lights before it got cold again. What a big mistake it was to try to go on a nice weathered Friday night! Geebus! It was more than a little frustrating to have to park about 6 blocks away and then feel like one in a herd of cattle for the next couple of hours. Also, it's always fun to push an annoying stroller the whole time that Ella not even once would actually sit in. I really don't even think she was that interested in the actual lights. We were so ready to get out of that mess we didn't even get to go spin underneath the Zilker tree. Oh well, lesson learned. Mental note to self for next year: go on a week night when kids are going to school the next day; park and ride the shuttle and get dropped off at the gate; ditch the stroller and perhaps invest in a small human leash instead. Here she is playing Ring Around the Rosey with her Papa.

A Day with Mama

I took today off and we went and had some holiday pictures taken. She was pretty good this time around considering the last time we tried to do this a couple of weeks ago we had to leave after about 15 minutes since she was SO incredibly crabby there wasn't a smile to be had that day. I snapped a shot of her while we were waiting for the photos to be processed. She's turning into a real little girl these days! We stopped by to see one of our old friends Kaitlin after the photo shoot. Kaitlin was pretty hip on dancing, but Ella was a party pooper. Later on that evening she turned into a "froggy" in the tub. I laugh so hard when I look at her imitating what a frog does... What the heck is that move anyway?!? It looks like she's trying to do some heart chakra cleansing or perhaps some spiritual balancing gesture :)

Houston Birthday Party

Well, this one was smoother for Ella due to her feeling better, but now Mama has a sinus infection. Despite this fact, she had a blast opening presents and eating her all time favorite food, cupcakes, yet again. Mama had a hard time driving back home Sunday evening since all I really wanted to do was lie still, but we made it!

Birthday Party

Probably not the best decision in my lifetime, but I packed us up and Ella and I headed to Houston on Saturday afternoon. We stopped by Lauren's 1st birthday party for a little bit until Ella just lost her emotional cookies and then on to Gram and Papa's for dinner and an early bedtime after playing with cousins for a bit.

Dr. Ella & Miss Hyde

These pretty much sum up how the week has gone. Dose of Tylenol: all is well; Tylenol wears off: the beast rears it's ugly head. But a cute new coat to boot! (Thanks Auntie Dana!)

BIRTHDAY GIRL!!

This is pretty much what she looked like all week. Super duper couch potato. I say this so much it's silly to even hear it anymore, BUT time goes by SO darn fast!!! I cannot believe that Miss Ella is already 2! Seems like just yesterday I was writhing in labor pain and screaming "JUST GET HER OUT!!!"; flash forward 2 lightening fast years and here we are celebrating her second birthday. She stayed home sick again today (3rd day in a row. joy!) and started leaking green stuff out of the nose. Another call to the dr and now she's on antibiotics for a sinus infection. No school tomorrow either since we woke up with a fever. What a super week! Despite her not feeling so hot, and watching Elmo's Potty Time for, and I'm barely exaggerating, the 48th time this week, we still snuck in some mini-celebrations today :) Above is the the miracle of Tylenol! Example of Tylenol wearing off:

Tickle Girl, Still Sick

So we went to school Monday although I could tell she wasn't feeling 100%; she was whiny and clingy, but no fever since Saturday. She made it through and then about 11:30am on Tuesday I got the call to come get her. They had already changed 5 dirty diapers that morning and the final straw was when she upchucked all of her lunch. She jumped up and ran to me when I got there, wasn't running a fever; we figured she'd be fine to go back by Thursday.... ha! By 3pm her fever was 102. Another trip to the pediatrician just so they could tell us the same thing they said on Friday "probably just a resurge of the stomach bug; $20 please; goodbye". Awesome. Wednesday woke up with a fever that continued through the day, but nothin' a little Tylenol can't temporarily fix :)

Feeling a Teensy Weensy Bit Better

Especially after putting a cupcake in front of her...

Austin Birthday Party

So Friday Ella stayed home from school with a stomach something or other. Papa got to deal with that and it turned out to be the second time Ella vomited on him in her lifetime. Sweet! By the afternoon she was running a fever, so off to the pediatrician we went. They confirmed, most likely a stomach bug; nothing they could do; $20 please; goodbye. She seemed to feel ok the rest of the afternoon, but woke up Saturday with a little fever again. I sent out the alert too all the party invitees that we would still have cupcakes, but come at your own risk of being infected. Not surprisingly most families with kiddos did not attend, aside from a brave couple of them. We did, however, have a large adult crowd. Ella was not in the best of spirits and did not really want cupcake (that's how I knew she wasn't feeling well) and presents were tough to get through. I think all and all she had a pretty good time, but we're hoping the Houston birthday party next weekend might be more of a success for her!

Birthday Party & a Trip to Visit Papa

Saturday morning we went a birthday party for our friend Noah Yanta at the park. Ella had a great time swinging and running and going up to strange women and asking to be picked up and carried around. Yes, I thought it a bit odd too, but who am I to judge. Her favorite part of course was the cupcake, as evidenced by the chocolate stains that are now on the sweater she wore that morning. Before heading back to Austin on Sunday we took a trip with Gus, Ethan, Aunt Jennifer and Uncle David to see the fire trucks at Papa's station. It was all fun and games until she was sitting in the front seat with Gus and Papa decided to blow the horn. She wanted NOTHING to do with those trucks after that. Too loud and scary! She had fun running in circles around the trucks with a super pregnant Aunt Jennifer in tow. What a good sport Aunt Jen!