Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day was pretty quiet and lazy in the Farrell home. Bart and I actually got to lay on the sofa for part of the day and just veg out! We watched a cheesy movie and many reruns of Pawn Stars while the kids played around us and napped (yes, Ella actually napped for a whole 45 minutes today!) It was nice cause we rarely get to be THAT lazy.

Not a whole lot of news on the homefront. Amelia is trying REALLY hard to crawl right now. She rocks back and forth, and every so often, she pulls that leg forward, but there's no forward motion just yet. You can tell she wants to so bad though. She looks at her sister and wants to crawl right over to her. Today, she crawfished her way right under the slide. I really think she was just hiding from her sister, who proceeded to roll the stroller over her head today. :)

On her own, Ella set up a tea party for her and her special guest, Elmo. Can this get any cuter?!

On another note, I gave Amelia a bath tonight, and after I dried her hair with a towel, I noticed the back of her hair turned into a giant puffball of curl. It was soooo funny! I really think she's gonna have some curly locks...

DADDY'S HOME!

After seven LONG days offshore, daddy finally came home Sunday morning! It was an exciting homecoming, and Ella was like a little jittery gerbil when she saw his face. Even Amelia looked excited to see him, smiling and clutching to his scruffy, unkempt hair. Gotta love that offshore, scratchy look. We are soooo happy that he is home.

Tonight we went out to dinner as a family to a new place called "The Cajun." It was really good considering its hard to match Louisiana food, and it was definitely a family place, which was nice.

On an unrelated note, Ella has become a major chatterbox. Her favorite things to say are, "look," "watch," and "see?" She will call your name about a million times, and when you say, "yes, Ella?" she says, "look," and probably shows you her big bird little person or her train. This takes place about a hundred times a day. :)

Also, yesterday we were getting ready to leave, and I asked her where her shoes were (really just thinking I was talking to myself because I rarely get a real response), and she looks at me and says, "I dunno!" I laughed out loud because she's never said that before. She also wears bows now because they're "pretty," and she even looked at Amelia today in her cherry dress, and said, "ohhh, pretty!" I've also been hearing "ok" a lot too, which is something I'll say pretty often when I am in a sticky situation (I just repeat ok, ok, ok....something I never really noticed about myself until I had kids!)

My favorite "Ella-ism" of the week has got to be when I was eating a Lean Cuisine on Friday. I had some kind of chicken and broccoli concoction with peppers and whole wheat noodles. She came up to me several times for "bite," as she says, and I gave her a piece of broccoli. After a few pieces, she pointed further on to my plate and said, "nake." Nake? I asked her what she meant, and she kept repeating, "Nake! Nake!" I had no idea what she was talking about until it dawned on me....she was saying SNAKE, which meant noodle. Gotta love my Ella.

Momma's little shopaholics

Amelia woke up a tad later than 6:30am this morning, which made mommy happy. :) I was still so tired though. Ella woke up much later in a great mood, and we played around the house all morning. She had a fruit smoothie for breakfast, and I don't think I could've planned this shot any better. Ha!
So, I've been obsessed with this diaper bag. Ever since I went to a local boutique a few days ago, I got to touch and feel all the diaper bags I've researched and written about. Well, I fell in love with this Ju Ju Be bag that by far surpasses all other diaper bags. It looks fabulous, it feels durable and well-made, and it fits EVERYTHING. But of course, they're not the cheapest bags in the world, so I have been on a mission to see all the sample fabrics and sizes to make sure I get the one I want. Anyway - different story for a different blog! So, I schlepped the kiddos across town to Baby's First Furniture. It's this huge baby furniture store with a maze of made-up nursuries and kids' rooms, complete with toys and play things. I don't know what I was thinking bringing Ella there, but I did - and she felt the need to touch EVERYTHING in sight.

Isn't this the cutest little piano?? Too bad the keys really didn't play that well.

I thought Aunt Amber would get a kick out of the way Ella ran straight up to this kangaroo and hugged it and loved on it like they were best friends. I thought she was going to try to crawl into "karoo"'s pouch, but she just tried to lay down across him.

She had a blast, of course...

Afternoon in the Park

This afternoon, I took Ella and Amelia to the Coles Crossing Park (which is really for their neighborhood's residents, but I just pretend like we live there...hee he hee). It is sooo nice, but Ella wasn't really in the mood to play too much on the equipment. She was more interested in the pool area which they foolishly place directly next to the playground. What child wouldn't be distracted by that!?! Here she is staring at the people through the fence as they enjoy their day by the pool.
While Ella pouted, Amelia decided to check out the slides.

"Oh my gosh, mom, this is so much fun!"

"Hey, where'd you come from?"

After we played on the playground, I took them for a long walk through the nature trails and the jogging path. It was so beautiful, and desite the heat, it was a gorgeous day today.

Amelia got to ride shotgun for once.

When we got back home, the girls were pooped out. I fed them, bathed them, and they were in bed by 9pm. Amelia still likes to stick her tongue out or make raspberries instead of actually eating her peas. :)

Mommy's gonna sleep good tonight. Phew!

Looooong day with my girls

Today felt like the longest day ever!


We started off with a 6:30am wakeup with Amelia for the second morning in a row, but she fell asleep right after I fed her, so we snoozed a little longer until her sister woke up. Then we got on the road, and we headed to a really great park on Cypresswood to meet my MOPS friends for a playdate. The park was very shaded and really nice, and it was teaming with other moms and kids. Ella ran straight to the big-kid equipment, and she took t the tallest slide on the grounds....AGAIN! I think she covered every square inch of the playground! Amelia just looked around and took in the sights (and the heat!) Towards the end, Ella climbed a smaller rock wall ALL BY HERSELF. I was so impressed as she figured out where to put her hands and feet and scaled the mini wall. When she got to the top though, she couldn't figure out how to swing her legs over the top, so she let go and slid down the entire wall, bumping each notch along the way! Soon after, I was tending to Amelia, and she went back to the big-kid section, and I see another mom coming around the corner holding Ella's hand while Ella is red-faced and crying. I rushed to see what happened, and the mom told me she climbed all the way to the top of the BIG rock wall, and then slid all the way down. This wall was TWICE the height of the first one she climbed. She is NUTS.


We left there, and we met the group at Chik-Fil-A. Ella ran around the play area like a wild child. She managed to eat a few nuggets, but she was quick to run from her seat to go play with the other kids. Amelia was again, an angel, sitting in her high chair and people watching. I love that she can sit in a high chair now.


Then we went visit my friend Kim (she actually let me use her printer), and Ella played with Meganne for a bit. She loooves Meganne, and she cried when we had to go, yelling MEGANNE for a while after we left. I love that she has some friends now that she can play with often. They are so cute together.


I spent the next hour or so running a few errands hoping now this crazy child would take a nap, and it NEVER CAME. It wasn't until we pulled into the driveway that her eyes closed and she napped for a half hour. I wasn't about to let her be revived, so we went to the YMCA and I took her swimming. She had a blast running from the pool to the splashpad, back and forth, back and forth. She wore me out, so I KNOW she had to be tired. She finally pooped out at 10pm. The child is BIONIC, I tell you.


Here are a few pics from the playground. The pic with Amelia shows you the mega rockwall Ella slid down. Fun times!

Amelia's Six Month Photoshoot

Amelia turned six months this week, and today we took our six month pictures. It was all about Amelia today, but of course we had to throw Ella in a few of the shots so she could borrow some of the limelight. Amelia was a natural...she is soo smiley and happy, and that reflected in her pictures. She was super easy to photograph. Now, Ella P is a different story. She played while we took Amelia's pictures and she was sooo good for me, but when it was her turn to jump in, she wanted to nothing to do with smiling for the camera and posing. She's so funny because she's almost like, 'I don't have time for that.' The girl reeeaaaally had her work cut out for her, but they still managed to get a few good shots of the two of them.

Happy 6 months, my baby girl!!

Cloth diapers?

Today we went to the Nurtured Family boutique today, and I bought my first cloth diaper. I know, it's CRAZY when there are disposable diapers these days, but I have really been thinking about a number of things. First off, I thought it would make an excellent story for my blog. Second, I thought it would be interesting to somewhat experience what our parents went through when they were diapering us. Third, I keep thinking about how many diapers I go through in a week...and how have they not come up with a biodegradable diaper yet?? So, all those diapers that we throw away, they just end up in a landfill!! That's crazy! Did you know the average child goes through 6000 diapers in 2.5 years?! That's PER child!

I'm no hippy, but I just thought I could do my part at least while we're home and save the disposable diapers for when we're away from the house. Am I crazy? Probably. I just had to try it anyway. I start tomorrow on Ella. Wish me luck!

Happy Six Months, Amelia!

My little baby Amelia turned six months old on May 23rd! I can't believe she has been in this world for six whole months. Part of me feels like it was just yesterday that I turned my head in the operating room and saw that big, beautiful mouth crying for joy! Another part of me feels like she's been here all along, and that those precious little dimples have been smiling at me for years. We are so blessed to have another healthy, beautiful little girl in our lives, and we love her so much.

Today, I took my little peanut for her six month checkup. Ella tagged along, and I have to say she behaved very well for it not being her doctor's appointment. Amelia weighs 20 lbs on the dot....Dr. Nguyen said that is actually off the chart, but we'll just go ahead and put her in the 97th plus percentile. Ha ha. And she is 27.5 inches long! Dr. Nguyen said she is perfectly healthy and very well-proportioned....she's just a big girl. She had to get THREE shots into those cute little hamhock thighs. She cried for 20 second MAX, and then she was done. She's such a good baby.

This afternoon we went to see Rebeca and Ella got to play with her friend IV. She had a BLAST, and I had a great time catching up with Rebeca. Ella did her very first tumbleset. She's stood on her head before, but this time (imitating IV of course), she got on her head and flipped over. The only thing we need to teach her is to tuck her chin, but I was very impressed!

Then we hit the gym, so Ella AND Amelia were REALLY worn out by the time we got home. I had both girls in bed by 9pm! Yay mommy!

Operation: Wear Out Ella

So, in my attempt to wear my little firecracker out, this week especially, I have been dragging her and Amelia everywhere. Today, we started off with a playdate at the Ruckus Room, followed by lunch at McDonalds. Would you believe after three hours of almost non-stop play, she STILL had the nerve to fight me for a nap?!! She cried for about two minutes, but she finally took a nice, long nap. This afternoon, we went to Target and then the gym, but I forgot the daycare closes at 8pm. So, since the sun was still somewhat out, I took her to the playground at the YMCA, which is quite fabulous, by the way.

Amelia hung out like the angel that she is in the stroller. She is SUCH a good baby, thank GOD!

When we walked into the playground area, she went straight up the stairs, across the entire playground, and climbed to the highest peak of the equipment to slide down the super swirly slide. I watched my tiny little 21 month old baby climb what felt like three stories above my head with the biggest smile just plastered across her angelic little face. I am in trouble with that one, I tell you. She has NO FEAR. After she slid down several times, she decided she wanted to try the big kid ladder. At first, I wouldn't let her do it, but she was so persistent, I just let her go while I spotted her. She climbed up that thing three times. I was amazed.

Toddler Tuesday at the Ruckus Room

We've discovered a new wonderful place to go to burn a little Ella energy. It's called the Ruckus Room, and on Tuesdays, it costs a dollar per year per child, which means I only have to pay a buck! It's just indoor inflatables in air-condition, and there are four different rooms filled with spacewalks, slides and play equipment. We went for our first time last week, and Ella was hesitant at first. There's one spacewalk that's flat with three sides, and there are tons of mushrooms, flowers and things to climb on inside. It took a while for her to warm up to it, but with a little help from her friends Meganne and Kai, she enjoyed herself. We went again today, and she is a pro. She goes on all the slides, even the really big ones. She jumps and jumps and jumps in the spacewalk, and she climbs on just about everything she can scale. It was definite nap insurance.

Saturday with the Kronenbergers

We spent Saturday afternoon with our friend Kurt and Robin and their little boy Dean. He and Ella are really beginning to play together well, and we all agree that Ella helps him come out of his shell as much as he helps calm Ella down! It's a win-win situation. But they played and swam and yapped together the whole time. Ella swam with JUST her floaties all around the pool, treading water. Shocking! She is like a fish!

Amelia enjoyed the water too. She just chilled in the hot tub with her daddy, and later, she floated around in the big pool. We had a great time and a great weekend!