Patiently waiting...

Ella and I went to Carter's yesterday to get her a few more pairs of the footy pajamas that we love. Super cute!! Well, of course, every time I go to Carter's, I always have a coupon that saves me 25% if I spend $40 or more, so I feel obligated to do it! So, I got Amelia a cute little onesie, and I got Ella her very own Big Sister outfit. It's a air of navy boot cut pants and a hot pink Big Sister shirt (2T, might I add...but it ran small). She looks SOOO grown up in it, but we wore it today to check out. Doesn't she look so excited for the coming of her baby sister? Ha ha.


I looked up this morning, and I saw her snuggled up to her bear in her wagon, watching Sesame Street. She was so funny...just chilling.

There's a cool story behind the bear...my mom gave her that bear on our last trip to Louisiana. It's the same bear that my Aunt Yvette Baron gave to my mom when she had her car accident in 1993 (I think). Of course, my mom healed from the whole experience better than ever. When my mom had her first grandchild, she gave the bear to them when they were a baby. Then it passed on from grandchild to grandchild...I think it was stuck on the twins for a while, she said. But low and behold, now Ella is the owner. Pretty neat.

Paw Paw's Weekend

This weekend, Paw Paw Tom came in to see Taylor's playoff football game (which he won by the way!!). Ella had a BLAST with her Paw Paw. She spent all day Saturday showing him all her toys, letting him read to her, and doing all her little dances for him. He really got a kick out of the way she gets into everything (and I do mean everything), and he loved to watch her climb! He also thought she had a BIG appetite, especially Saturday night when we went to Los Cucos. She said Paw Paw all weekend long. Between Paw Paw Tom and Paw Paw Larry, they seem to have Ella monopolized to say Paw Paw before she even THINKS about saying Mama or Mammy.

This morning after Paw Paw left, we went to church, and Ella just looked so darn cute, I just had to get a snapshot.

And this afternoon, I was so frustrated because Ella kept taking her bows out, I snuck some pigtails in her hair. SO STINKIN' CUTE!!! She left them in ALL afternoon, too!

I am feeling fine...just still incredibly huge. Amelia has been moving a lot...nothing new, and I've had a few MINOR contractions...nothing to write (or call) home about. Meanwhile, I am trying to get all my ducks in a row this last week before we welcome little Amelia into the world!!!

Fall mean playground days.

This beautiful fall weather means perfect playground evenings for little Ella. On days when daddy is working late, I like to take Ella to the neighborhood playground to exert a little extra energy. She looooves the playground....especially on days when there's lots of other kids there too. She loves to ride the elephant and the whale bouncy thing, and she just started getting brave enough to go through the tunnels. It's so fun to watch her take risks and explore!!

Mother's Day Out visit.

Today, I took Ella to visit the Mother's Day Out program at Cypress Bible Church.


If we decide to enroll, it would be for once or twice a week from 9am-2pm where she can interact with other kids in a classroom setting. It was really nice...her teachers that she would have seemed really great, and the facilities were well-kept and secure. The class has a music teacher that comes in every day, arts and crafts, playground time and nature walks, lunch, storytime, a nap, and then it's time for me to pick her up. Seems very fun for her, and she got to join the class during their playground time today, which of course, she LOVED. We're not positive that we're going to do it, and if we do, we'd probably just go once a week and not start till after the Christmas holidays. So, we'll see...but I think she'd love it.


This afternoon, after her nap, she spent a good fifteen minutes reading her book...she LOVES to "read" books and age through them, looking at all the pictures. I have some good video of her talking to the book, but it's not too exciting so I'll just show you a pic instead!

Arts and Crafts

Today, Ella and I had Arts and Crafts time together. I put her in the high chair, and I painted her hand with a paint brush and tempera paint. She had fun squishing it in her fingers....then we made some hand turkeys....well, the start of them, at least. I figured we could use them to decorate for our little Thanksgiving dinner we're going to be having in Houston this year. It was fun....but she was done with it after about 10 or 15 minutes. She much rathered playing vroom vroom with her alphabet snail and play with her football. Go figure!!

Hopefully she learns to love Arts and Crafts like her mom!!

We have a date!!

This morning, I went to my doctor's appointment. I am officially on weekly visits now. Bart stayed home with Ella so I could get through the appointment in peace and quiet. Dr Montgomery said everything looks good with my blood pressure, my weight and the baby's heartbeat. He did a quick ultrasound, and we saw the baby's head and breathing chest. She's upside down, in position, and he even said my placenta is showing signs of changing, as it should. He said the baby's lungs have begun to mature as well, also an indicator that baby time is near.

So, then he asked if we could schedule the c-section, since we know I have to have one. Now, my family members have been emailing me their "special requests" of when they would like me to schedule the c-section. Ha ha. We all agreed that we'd love it if we could have it on the Monday before Thanksgiving, but I knew his surgery days were not Mondays. He said ultrasound indications show my due date being as early as Nov 26th, and with me not knowing when the baby was conceived, we really have no idea when the due date actually is. I asked him when he normally does sections, and he said Tues-Thurs. Great. So, he suggested Nov 19th. I told him, "Holy crap - that's two weeks from tomorrow!" I was a little worried, but I figured, he knows best! Then he went check his calendar, came back and kept staring at the calendar. I finally asked him what he was thinking, and he said he's trying to decided between Nov 19th and Nov 23rd. Ahhh, I told him Mon, Nov 23rd would be ideal!!!

So, we set the date! Monday, November 23rd at noon, we'll finally meet our little Amelia!

He said he normally doesn't do sections on Monday, but he does do hysterectomy's. He only has one scheduled for that day, so he can do my section as well. I told him to make sure he doesn't get us mixed up! Ha ha. So, woohooo....now let's just hope this little angel doesn't decide to come early!!

Dewberry Farms Pumpkin Patch

The weekend before Halloween, we all went to Dewberry Farms Pumpkin Patch right outside of the Houston limits. It's a great place that I'd been hearing so much about, so we decided to finally check it out. We met our good friends Kurt, Robin, and their little boy Dean there. We had a blast!! I mean, these people really have their stuff together. It's more than a pumpkin patch...it's a harvest experience!!

Here's a field of flowers that you can pick your own bouquets of sunflowers, marigolds and daisies. Sooo beautiful. There were also fields of Christmas trees for December, and of course, the pumpkins. This was when we first got there, and there wasn't near as many people there yet. By the time we left, around 6pm, the place was packed!!

Ella loved the corn maze. We started there, and thank God, because I don't think I would've made it any other time than in the beginning. It was a lot of walking!!!

Daddy took Ella to the lookout to see how we could get out of this corn maze!!

After the corn maze, we went to the toddler playland section. There was a big shed full of corn kernels, but the older kids were throwing them. Corn can be pretty painful coming at a fast speed!! Ella wasn't a fan!

But she did loooove the swing! She is smiling from ear to ear!

And she loved the PVC pipe slide even more. This was the kiddie slide...daddy also had taken her on the really really tall one in the older kids' section.

Look Paw Paw!! I'm driving a tractor!!

Ella loved the horsey....it reminded me of the one I had as a kid with the springs. Remember those?? Of course, I'm sure those are full of safety violations these days!

After the kiddie playland, we moved on to the chicken puppet show. It was a motorized singing chicken show, and they sang songs like, "Old McDonald," "Farmer and the Dell," and "Jimmy Crack Corn." Ella was mesmerized by the singing chickens....she sat there on that bench and just watched and watched. Then some other kids started dancing, so she joined in. This was when she learned her new dance step, the quick step! Ha ha....she does it all the time now. She kicks her feet and runs in place....it is HILARIOUS!

Ella and Dean enjoyed taking pictures at all the hottest photo ops! The sun was sooo bright though!!

The petting zoo was fun too...Ella got to see the horses, the cows and the pigs. She even got to pet a bunny!

After ALL that excitement, Ella finally made it to the actual pumpkin patch. She walked around and looked at all the pumpkins they had to offer. There were yellow ones and green ones and then the really pretty orange ones.

She finally decided on a nice big orange one. This one is perfect!

After she lost the love for the pumpkins, she decided to play in the dirt.

It was a loooong day, but she had a blast!! Needless to say, she slept well that night!