Elsie Turns One

This past Friday my baby turned one (insert sobbing emoji here)!  It really isn't fair how fast the time goes.  The first year is this crazy whirlwind of emotions and by the time you start feeling like yourself again and that you can actually enjoy your baby, it is over (insert sobbing emoji here too).

I took the pictures below on the big day itself and, despite having gotten three shots that day and getting five teeth, she was still her sweet, happy self as long as she had her binkie and lovey.  I was waiting to post them until after we had her party (yesterday) so I could share all birthday related events together, but after the party it was clear that it was just too much for one post so the details of the big party will just have to wait until next week.

For today, here is a rundown of our Elsie girl at 12 months.

Elsie is a champ at walking.  Once she decided to take her first steps it was literally only days before she was practically running.  She rarely crawls these days except when she is crawling up the stairs, which she does constantly.

Elsie says lots of words.  I can't really give an exact count because it seems to change by the second.  She says Mama (constantly), Dada, Nana, bye, more, baba (bottle), occasionally bubba (brother), occasionally te-te (C.C.), papa, Lollie (once).  It seems like we have turned a corner where she is trying to say a lot more words although she doesn't say them consistently.

Elsie is Miss Independent.  Not only does she have to walk everywhere, she almost always insists on feeding herself.  If she can't feed it to herself, she usually doesn't want it.  This has also translated to her being really picky about what she will eat.  It is night and day from where we were when she would eat just about everything.

This girl is seriously smart as a whip.  You tell her it is time for bath or time for bed and she heads right in to the bath or her bedroom.  She understands all kinds of simple directions.  She talks on the phone.  She makes friends everywhere she goes.

Our Elsie girl is such a joy!  I don't know how I got so lucky to be her mom, but I am so grateful that I am.  This year was just the beginning and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

Valentine's Day and Yuck

This week was Valentine's Day.  I had prepped for the day early because of the snow storm we had saxcbeen expecting.  As I told you last week, the snow failed to materialize.  It was a good thing though that I had prepared early because it turns out life had other fun adventures in store for me this week.

Wednesday morning the kids and I got ready for school.  We were getting ready to walk out the door and I was just doing Carrigan's hair really quickly when I noticed something strange in it.  I looked closer and saw something move...  Just like that we had our ever case of lice.  After a small panic attack I checked Merrick and was pretty sure I saw something move in his hair too.  I called my mom and a lice removal salon.  My mom came and we cut Merrick's hair and checked him.  We only found one bug and no nits in Merrick's hair.  I knew that Carrigan was bad though and I had a sneaking suspicion that I was too so we all headed to the salon to be checked/treated.  The verdict was that Jeremy, Merrick, and Elsie were clean.  Carrigan and I were not.  A small fortune and several hours later and Carrigan and I were pronounced clean and we headed home.  In addition to several hours at the salon, that day I think I did something like 7 loads of laundry, bagged all the stuffed animals, blankets, and vacuumed the whole house and couch.  Let me just say, lice is the WORST!

The next day was Valentine's Day.  We were all able to return to our normal routine, but with the events of the day before, I was thankful for my early prep for the day.  The kids went to school with a special Valentines lunch (complete with heart shaped pitas for their usual pitas and hummus and a special love note).  That evening we had chili and heart-shaped corn bread before going on our traditional love hunt.  This year, in addition to a love note at each stop, they got Kisses (which they promptly ate) and in the end Merrick got a new Poof football, Carrigan got bath bombs, and Elsie got a new felt book.  It ended up being a great day despite the adventures leading up to it.

I sure love all my Valentines (big and little)!

Snow?

This week we were teased with our first snow of the season.  It all started Monday when flakes started to fall and fell most of the the day (without sticking).  When the kids got out of school on Monday they were over the moon about the possibility of snow.  At that point temps were above freezing so we really weren't sure what the evening and night would bring.  Would the flakes keep falling or be done before the temps dropped?

The kids were over the moon to wake up the next day to about an inch of snow and a snow day from school.  They wanted to go out in it right away and wanted to take Elsie out in it too.  The were super excited.  Elsie was not.  She was seriously freaked about by the snow.  Even when we went back inside and Merrick would walk towards the window with snow in his hands, she would scream.

Given Elsie's reaction to her first snow experience, I was more than a little nervous as the week went on and more and more snow days appeared in the the 10 day forecast.  At one point 9/10 days called for snow and and as we headed towards the weekend everyone was gearing up for snowmaggedon/snowpocalypses.  The snow was supposed to start on Friday night so the kids and I spent WAY to long at an extremely picked over grocery store trying to prepare to be stuck in our home for the next 10+ days.

Saturday we woke up to a big let down, about 1/2 an inch.  Merrick still insisted on going out and sledding.  Somehow, despite the lack of snow, he spent the day out playing in it with his friend and they even attempted to build an igloo.  Carrigan on the other hand started getting sick while we were at the grocery store on Friday and she spent Saturday inside recovering.  She was very relieved that there wasn't more snow that she was missing out on.  My guess is Elsie was relieved too.

Slowly the 10 day forecast has changed and we shouldn't get anymore snow this week, but we will see.  On the bright side I am pretty well stocked grocery wise for a while.

We've Got Spirit

This week the kid's school was participating in The Great Kindness Challenge.  As part of it and a way to get the kids excited and involved, it was also spirit week.  Each day the kids had a theme for how to dress.  I knew they would be excited about about Monday (crazy hair day), but I was surprised how into it they were each day.

Monday was Crazy Hair (Crazy for Kindness) Day.  The kids were super excited to use their new hair dye and Merrick particularly liked his M on the back of his head.

Tuesday was Rock Star (Kindness Rocks) Day.  Carrigan picked out her tie dye shirt and leather pants and Merrick was rocking his rock star jacket.  They both did their best rock star hair.

Wednesday was Twin (Twice as Nice) Day.  On twin day they decided to twin with each other rather than any of their friends.  Unfortunately for C.C. we were watching Merrick for a concussion after a head injury at his friend's house the night before and he stayed home from school.

   

Thursday was Pajama (Dreaming of Kindness) Day.  PJ day was the other day the kids were so excited about and the only day we weren't actually running late because they could go to school in what they slept in the night before.

Friday was Cedaroak Spirit (Spirit of Kindness) Day.  The kids wanted to wear Cedaroak green.  Unfortunately it turns out Carrigan doesn't really own any green clothes so we got as close as we could.

It was fun and stressful as we were running late each day trying to get ready for the daily theme.  I'm kinda glad its done.