Life's good

I suppose once I publish this post, something will happen. That's typically how it works with me....i jinx myself all the time. But, truly this has been a pretty good week. Best one in almost a month.

Ella is fully over her cold/teething/whatever the heck was going on with her. She had her 12 month check up this past Monday and she is doing fantastic! I still cannot believe, along with all her Dr's, that she was a preemie. She is officially walking, taking a lot of steps on her own, and getting the motivation now to walk to get something rather than crawl fast. I think she's really enjoying this new found freedom she has! She currently weighs in at 20.9lbs which is in the 50th percentile, and is 30" tall, which is in the 80th percentile. Do not ask me where this girl gets her height from. You can clearly tell by looking at her she is taller than most girls her age. At CJ's gym class there is a baby that is at least 17 months and Ella and her are the same height. It's funny. And I hate to say it, but she is bigger than CJ was at her age. CJ was only 19.9lbs and 30", and that's considered small for a boy at 1 year of age. But anyway, back to Ella's update....she has 8 teeth and is working on her 1 year molars. Which she is now handling pretty well. The first few days the top ones were trying to break thru were an absolute nightmare. She was very crabby and so not herself.

But this week she is back to normal, rarely crying and not even fussy!

We have successfully dropped all daytime bottles. And here I was, giving myself an ulcer over it b/c Ella is a complete bottle junkie. She used it to fall asleep at naps and bedtime. I have to admit I was very concerned about how this stage of the game would go. But she pretty much did it all on her own. Oh, and it did help that I found the "magic" sippy cup that she will drink a ton of milk out of. So before naps she gets a cup of milk which she promptly guzzles down, we go upstairs for about 5-10 mins of cuddle time in the glider and then I put her down. She rarely cries after I put her in her crib which is an awesome accomplishment for me. We struggled in this area with CJ for years, so I made no mistakes sleep training this child! It helps that she loves her sleep tho.

And get this: the other day she slept from 7p til 8a, then went back down for a nap around 945a and was out cold for 2 hours! Oh to be a sleeping baby again!

Besides walking, Ella is talking more, pointing at things that she wants, helping to dress/undress herself, saying hi to everyone, waving more to people, laughing all the time, having some pretty comical/dramatic "princess type" temper tantrums, eating like a piggy still and loving her milk! Yay no more formula! She recently tried green olives, and I'm very proud to say she loves them just as much as her mama! She eats them for a snack, LOL! Everyone says it's gross, but after having such a picky eater like her big brother, this is wonderful! I honestly don't think there is a food I've had her try that she hasn't liked. Oh, another silly funny thing is that she loves apples, but likes to hold them and take bites like a big girl. My dad tried cutting it up into pieces for her, thinking it would be easier for her to eat, and she immediately threw all the pieces on the floor and cried. It was so cute! She's just getting way too big and independent.

Oh, and might I add she is slowly becoming a cuddler, but only right before her bedtime. It's cute. This might make it easy to drop that last bottle.

CJ is doing amazing in school, not that that's a shock to anyone. They recently did some testing on all the 4 year olds and he did excellent on his test. Out of 100 questions he only got 4 wrong. We have a parent/teacher conference in November and I can't wait to see which questions those 4 were. I'm so proud of him and all he's accomplished so far this year! He's really opened up these last few weeks and has made more new friends and is even trying new foods, even if he still insists he doesn't like them! His teacher calls it a "no thank you bite" and it works! I just love his teacher, she comes up with some awesome things!

As for me, I recently had leg vein treatment. I want to get rid of some of these horrendous spider veins. So far the first treatment wasn't bad. I was a bit sore, but it really isn't all that painful. They take a special solution and inject it into your legs where the problem areas are and then bandage you up for a few hours. My next treatment is 11/20 and I'm hoping I see some more good results.

We've finally gotten the green light to get Ella's cyst looked at. Now that's she is a year old her pediatrician gave us a recommendation for a plastic surgeon. Her consultation is in December, and once they look at it (it's right above her right eye and getting rather large) the dr will decide how to proceed for surgery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will be an easy and somewhat painless procedure for her. The reason for her seeing a plastic surgeon rather than just a regular one is because her cyst is right on her forehead they want to be very careful with any and all scarring. And obviously seeing a plastic surgeon is the best dr to go see so they don't screw anything up for her.

So, I guess that's about it. Randy is still doing ok with work as the weather gets colder. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he gets a few more contracts signed and then we might be ok thru the winter.

Have a great weekend!