Mr. Max

Happy 1st Birthday, Max!!!

Sorry, big guy. I should have posted this yesterday, on your actual birthday! I'm a bad aunt....

We LOVE YOU SO MUCH and are looking forward to your big party this weekend!

Ella's new buddy

My mother-in-law, Patty, has been working super hard watching the kids every day. We thought she could use a few days off, so today, while Ben was at school, my friend April watched Ella. April and Jeff have a golden-doodle named Montgomery, who is the biggest, cutest, sweetest dog. Ella seemed to really take a liking to him (and his toys!)

Thanks for the playdate today, April. Ella is already looking forward to spending the day with you again next Thursday!

Extreme Makeover - Home Edition

The only thing extreme about this makeover is that it has taken us over 10 months to complete one room in our house. And the room still isn't "complete" - we still need to find blinds/shades and some other minor accessories. But I was just too excited to wait any longer to post these picture!

So, the room that we have been working on is that of Ella June (aka June Bug).

Here are the before pictures:



While Ella and I were on vacation in Hilton Head, my wonderful husband painted Ella's room and re-arranged her furniture. I picked out the paint color before we left. After looking at a million shades, I settled on "Mellow Yellow". And I had been buying accessories for months and storing them in her closet until we were ready to put it all together.

Drumroll, please..... Here are the "after" pictures:














Such a HUGE DIFFERENCE, right? I LOVE how it came out!

Most of the artwork in Ella's room came from Etsy. The picture by the window, shown below, is called "Side by Side" and was painted by Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday. Click here to check out her blog or website.


The 4 pictures above her changing table came from Sara Handken of Sarah Jane, Illustrating Childhood. Click here to check out her blog or etsy shop. I picked these because this is what I picture her looking like when she is older :)



The "June Bug" and ladybug wall decals came from Affordable Vinyl Graphics at http://www.mywalldecals.com/. You can create whatever you want, and they have lots of fun fonts, sizes and colors to choose from. They were supposed to be "easy" to put up, but Matt thought they were kids of a pain in the butt. However, he really likes the final product and has already told me that I should order more ladybugs (and even said I could order some things for Ben's room, too!)



So, what's next?? Probably Ben's room. I am trying to decide if I should stick with the Transportation theme (planes, cars, trucks, trains) that he had in his nursery or switch to zoo animals. Either way, we will probably stick with bold, primary colors.


Let me know your thoughts on Ella's room!!!

Watch out, World!

Ella is on the move!

As a side note, the bunny that Ella is carrying she has affectionately named "KaKa" :)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

I see an amazing husband and father reading to his two adoring kids

I also see a little boy, who, I swear, will be 16 years old before he gets rid of his zazzy!! Seriously, if anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of the pacifer, we are all ears!!!!

(We had read somewhere that you should cut the tip off the pacifer so that they won't set the same sucking sensation. Matt did it to one of his pacifers on Sunday, and Ben starting crying and telling Matt that his zazzy was broken. Ben was so upset and Matt and I couldn't stop laughing about the broken pacifer)

Berry Face

I took these pictures of Ella after she ate her raspberries. I can't really tell if she loved them or hated them....

Beach Babe

I have really been terrible about keeping up with the blog lately! To be honest, I thought my parents were the only ones that looked at the blog, and since they have been out of town, I didn't think it would be a big deal. But I have several people mention to me that I haven't posted in awhile, so I am going to make a better effort to be a better blogger!

Ella and I headed down to Hilton Head Island last Thurs-Sun for a mini-vacation with my mom. I have been going to Hilton Head since I was little. We took Ben for the first time when he was 5 months, so I was excited to introduce Ella to wonderful place. It was Ella's first time flying, and I will admit, that she did really well. Minimal crying, and lots of cuddling. I took these pictures during our layover in Charlotte.

Where's my plane??

As soon as we got to the condo, we put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool. She looks like such a butterball in her suit! After a short swim, we brought her inside for a nap, and my mom and I headed back out to the pool (thankfully our baby monitor reached from the condo to the pool so we didn't feel like we had to be indoors, too, when she was napping!)

When we woke, we got ready and headed to dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant on the island, San Miguel's, in Shelter Cove. We had a nice, but quick dinner (when you're eating out with a 10 month old, there is no such thing as a "relaxing" dinner - it's more like eat and run). My mom and I were excited to look at the shops in Shelter Cover after dinner. Ella found a stoller for a babydoll in one of the shops that she pushed all over the store. When we left the store, without the stroller, Ella through the BIGGEST TEMPER TANTRUM I have ever seen (and she is only 10 months old!) She was so uncontrollable that I actually went back in the store and bought the silly thing. However, by that point, she was so far gone, that we had to leave. It was probably for the best, because not long after that, the biggest storm blew in and we just barely made it home. She did seem to really enjoy her new stroller once we made it back to the condo.

I had to post these next 2 pics because I thought they were pretty funny. We didn't have a high chair for Ella to eat at so we made our own out of a bar stool and lots of pillows.

After breakfast on Friday morning we took Ella to the beach for the first time! She loved the water and waves and enjoyed eating the sand too!

We also took Ella to visit Matt's favorite place on the island - Pino Gelato. Here she is eating gelato for the first time. She ate her whole cup!!

We are going back to Hilton Head next month - the 4 of us, my sister, her husband and kids, my parents, Matt's parents, Todd and Jeff. Since there are so many of us, we won't all fit in the condo so we rented a house in Sea Pines. My mom, Ella and I drove by to scope it out. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it is really lovely. It sleeps like 16 people, has its own pool and it just a short walk to the beach. I am really looking forward to going back in a few weeks!

Also while we were down there we ate a fantastic dinner at Crane's Tavern and did a ton of shopping. I am especially looking forward to heading back to Coligny Plaza for more shopping. Also, Island Child - I love that store!

AND, the most exciting thing that happened while we were in Hilton Head...... Ella started walking!!! She can now take about 10 steps on her own. She is growing too quickly. I am not ready for my baby to grow up this fast!!

Happy July 4th!!

I know that it is July 8th already, but I am trying to catch up on my blogging! We had a super-busy holiday weekend. Actually, we didn't. It consisted mostly of this.... (sleeping)


I had taken Ella for a run and she fell asleep in the jogger. When we got home, the only rule that I gave to Ben was "DO NOT WAKE ELLA". He is such a good listener...







Anyway, Uncle Mikey and Lana came to visit on their way to Indian Lake. We hadn't seen them in a while so it was good to catch up.




We went to see fireworks on Saturday night in East Liberty. For a small town, they actually had a really nice fireworks display. This is my sad attempt at taking pictures of the fireworks.





I cuddled Ben during the show and Matt took Ella. This is the only picture of Ella actually watching the fireworks because after this picture was taken, she started crying. She cried the rest of the time and Matt had to walk around with her.

This is my last post until next week. Ella and I leave Thursday morning to head to Hilton Head. We are meeting up with my mom for a "Girls Trip". This will be Ella's first time on a plane. I'll let you know how it goes!