Double Trouble

Yes, I have done it...I mean, I couldn't resist. There's this little time frame where outfits for Ella and Amelia are available in the same size bracket, and I can dress them alike!! So, when Mary was here, we snuck away to Carter's outlet, and I bought the girls some matching outfits. I bought a 24 month for Ella (thinking it would be snug, but she could still get away with it), and I bought Amelia a size 6 month, thinking it would be big for her, but she could grow into it. Yeah, Mommy is so NOT WITH IT. Ella's 24 month dress swallowed her, and Amelia's 6 month outfit was snug! Geez! Aren't they just adorable in their matching dresses? I could totally get used to this! Just wait till I get that sewing machine up and running again!

All this modeling sure is making me sleepy!!

Meanwhile, crazy Ella looks like she is the cat that swallowed the canary!

Friday night, Ella and I went to my MOPS mom's little girl Kai's first birthday party. Ella had a blast playing with all the other kids, and Brooke really threw a great party. We're planning on many playdates with our girls now that they've finally hung out!

Visit from Baton Rouge

This past week, we had some visitors! Paw Paw Tom, Mary and cousin Liam came to visit! We had a great time catching up with them and getting to know the newest little Farrell, Liam. He is so precious, and he has so much personality. He makes funny noises, and according to Mary, he only responds to the "cave man" voice, which I attempted many times throughout the week with no such luck. I guess my voice is just not cut out for cave man. Ha!

Liam and Amelia were best buds since they're only a month apart. They took turns in the swing, jumper and bouncer, and they played together in the playard a lot. They have so much in common. They both eat, sleep, poop and cry!

All that playing really wore out Amelia!!

Mary and I and all the kids went to the mall one day (which was...well, let's say we won't be doing that again for a while...), and we took all the kids to the gym a few times. We also got to "have" sushi....our tradition is usually to go get sushi and catch up when she comes to visit, but we just couldn't make it to the sushi place this time, so Bart brought it to us! Not quite the same, but still yummy!

It was a great visit!

Amelia and Ella go to the zoo!!!

Mammy and Paw Paw got our whole family a year's membership to the Houston Zoo, so since this past Saturday looked like a promising day, we decided to go to the zoo! We left rather late, but we figured we see some of the park and catch the rest next visit. Well, little did we know, the zoo closes at 5:30pm during the winter months, so we only had an hour and half to see everything. Oh well....we'll definitely be back!

We invited our friends Greg and Rebeca and Ella's friend IV, and we all had such a great time. The first thing I wanted Ella to see was the elephant because she's always saying "elepant," and I know she would recognize that animal the most. Well, we went up to the exhibit, and she was mesmorized! She stared long and hard, and she finally looked over at me and said "elepant!" She watched and watched....it was priceless.

We trucked around the zoo in our big caddy double stroller, courtesy of Shelly! It worked great, and it definitely did the trick. It got cool quick when the sun started going down, so we had bundle up little Amelia. She just sat in the back of that stroller like "Driving Miss Daisy!"

Daddy's shoulders provided some great views of the animals. Ella felt almost as tall as the giraffes from up there!!

Ella and IV were so precious, getting so excited with every exhibit they saw. They stared and watched until we moved them to the next thing.

Ella's favorite part about this trip (besides the elepants) was the tunnel that ran under the aquarium. She made it through the whole thing, thanks to her buddy IV.

It was such a great time. Afterwards, we all ended the day with a nice dinner at Cheesecake Factory. The kids were great, and we all had a blast.

What's New with the Two

Ahhh...life has been a constant fast-forward button at the Farrell household. Amelia is already 3 months old, and I feel like those months just flew by. I keep treating her like a newborn, but she's already busting out of 3 month clothing. It's amazing how slow it went by for Ella, and how incredibly fast it is going by for Amelia.

KNOCK ON WOOD, but it seems like the colic is FINALLY on it's way out. She's been sleeping 7-8 hours a night, and the time leading up to that has not been horrible. It's a controllable cry, and we can definitely handle that!! So, life has been a joy here now, and she smiles and laughs all the time. She can hold her head really high during tummy time, and she's even been loving the jumper, a toy that Ella adored. She also tries to push herself forward when she's on her tummy...I don't know exactly what she's trying to do, but it looks like work to me!

We're still trying to figure out what color her eyes are. It is SO hard to tell. In pictures, they appear to be a dark blue, and even in the sunlight, they have a blue tinge to them but they are so dark, it's hard to tell. I guess they're still changing...Ella's did too. They were darker in the first few months, and they really lightened up now. Whatever her eyes do, her dimples and that smile will definitely be her best feature. Wow...they just light up the room.

Ella Pearl is growing by leaps and bounds too. She has changed so much in the last month, I can't even catch up. She's a parrot now, repeating everything Bart and I say, which can get pretty sticky sometimes. The other day, Zoe was barking, and Ella yelled, "shut up!" She says, Moma, Daddy, Mammy, Paw Paw...when we look at pictures, I already have her saying "Uncle Pat" and Coco and Gigi....those are easy, I guess. She also says "Tank You" - I totally taught her that one. She says a lot!! I have to say I am amazed at how much she knows and how many new words and things she picks up each day.

Ella loves books, and she sits with them and "reads" them to herself in her won weird little language. She got some playdough from Dean's birthday party, and we played with it for a little while. All was well until she decided to eat it. :)

Every day is something new, and they are just a joy to have around.

Who Dat Victory!!

After much contemplation of what where we were going to watch the Superbowl, we decided that in the best interest of all who actually wanted to see the game, we'd have our own private party at the house. If we were living in Louisiana, I'm sure this would've been a no-brainer, but we live in Houey and that's that. So, we wore our black and gold for the Superbowl, baby!

The game was awesome, of course, and the kids were generally well-behaved so Mommy and Daddy could watch most of it. SOOOO happy for the Saints and their victory. They really deserved it, and I teared up at the end when Drew Brees was holding his little boy up in all the confetti. I bet it was wild and crazy in the quarter, and I would've loved to have been celebrating with family and friends.

My little Who Dat babies represented well, though. Ella said "touchdown" every time the Saints scored, and Amelia was all smiles. Well, most of the time..

We made a sign for the front door so all would know who we were pulling for! And one day I can tell my babies that they took part in a major part of football history!

Geaux Saints!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Dean!

Today was Ella's good friend Dean's 2nd birthday party! Amelia and Ella had a great time! Ok, maybe Ella had a better time than Amelia, but it was still a lot of fun for all of us! Kurt and Robin had TONS of food, and we all had so much fun catching up.


To start the party off, Ella went straight to Dean's toys of course. She grabbed a purple block with different shape cutouts in it. Well, she held on to that thing for what felt like a half hour! I'd see her on one of those ride-along cars, and there she was with the block in hand. Finally, a half hour later, I heard Ella's cries come from the other room. One of the other moms told me she was ok, she just fell but didn't hit her head or anything. Well, I know my Ella, and I know that she would NEVER cry like that from merely falling on carpet. When I went to investigate, I realize her hand was STUCK in one of the shapes on the purple block, and when she fell, it hurt her hand. Ha ha ha. Robin had to use olive oil to slip her hand off the block. Poor baby!!

Dean blew out his candles, and he was sooo cute. I can't wait till Ella can actually "blow" her candles out!

Ella loooved the chocolate cake, as you can see with it all over her face.

Later, her and Dean were playing with the balloons. They are sooo cute together.

Dean is playing on a Georgia Bulldog, which is the only thing wrong with him. Notice Ella wants nothing to do with that wretched thing...in fact, she seems to be looking at Dean like he's a little crazy. Might I add, Dean was a tiger for this past Halloween.

Meanwhile, Amelia was hanging out on everyone's lap. She was pretty good for the party, and she looked adorable in her big pink bow.

We had a great time!!

Amelia Rose is all smiles!

When my precious little angel is not crying from her icky colic, she is just the most beautiful, smiley little baby ever. She has the most contagious, sweet little smile ever, and boy, does she look like her daddy or what? I was merely the incubator!

Here are a few shots of some tummy time we had while bruiser, AKA Ella Pearl, was sleeping!

Amelia's Baptism in Louisiana

Amelia's baptism was on Sunday, January 31st at 1:00pm at St. Peter's Church. Our good family friend Father Paul Hart (the same guy who married us) performed the christening, and as always, he delivered an inspriational and comical service. It was a private and unconventional baptism in that it was just family and friends, but Amelia's many nieces surrounded and watched from the altar.

Nanny Shelly and Parran Taylor were very proud godparents.

Amelia was pretty good through the service, except of course when she had holy water poured on her head. Then, not so much. Ha ha. But she was beautiful, and she looked like a little angel in the gorgeous christening gown mom made for the family.

The new Farrell family of four...never a dull moment.

And the new Levet granddaughters of TEN!

Girls, girls, girls...

Afterwards, we had a reception at Mammy and Paw Paw's house, and it was always fun times at the Levet house. Paw Paw made his jambalaya, and there was lots of fun, friends and family. Amelia slept through the entire party, but being she had a rough, collicky night the night before, we just let her sleep!!

Bucky, my godfather, got a kick out of Ella Pearl.

It was a wonderful day! Thanks to everyone who came for Amelia's special day!!

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