Stuff and Things: 2/19

Linking up with Kristin and Joey

+Whistler.  Guys, Whistler was awesome.  Okay, it wasn't as awesome as it could have been because there wasn't very much snow so we didn't get to use our free snowshoe rentals, BUT it was still fun for our first trip out there.  We stayed in an adorable log cabin, spent WAY too much money on incredibly delicious steaks, and went to a Scandinavian spa.  Oh. My. Gosh.  There must be something to hydrotherapy because Nick and I felt SO good afterwards.  They tell you to spend 10-15 minutes in a hot bath, 10 seconds in a cold bath (60 degrees cold), and then 10-15 minutes of relaxing to get your core temperature back up, and repeat for about 2 hours.  All of the baths were outside AND it was raining.  It was magical.

Also, everyone in Whistler has an accent.  Our lunch waiter had an Italian accent, our spa lady had an Australian accent, our fro-yo guy had an English accent, and I heard about 10 other languages/accents.  I think I might have melted about 20 times.  Something about accents, I don't know what it is.  Even Canadian accents are cute. 


+ Speaking of our Whistler trip, the cabin had labels for all of their light switches.  Awesome, but I'm not quite sure I understand the need for "quotation marks".

+ I love cloth diapering.  It's been a fun adventure, but diarrhea with cloth diapers is just not fun.  No.  I'll let that sink in a bit...


+ I've just started trying out some Pilates last week.  It's been quite fun! I'm surprised with how much I like it.  I'm pretty sure I thought that it would consist of not doing much for too long, but it's pretty tough.  I was inspired by Kristin's post that had a few websites to try so I jumped on it.  


+ I started The Book Thief on audiobook for my commute to work last week. It's amazing.  I forgot how much I love books regarding WWII and how wonderful a good book is.  I'm still trying to get through my Blogging for Books book.  We're actually taking a break right now.  I just can't get into it and my free time is so limited.  So, The Book Thief trumps all.


+ I ordered my contacts two weeks ago from Vision Direct and my order is STILL processing.  I'm on my last set.  It's terrible.  Why must it take so long?!


+ Toddler tantrums are terrible.  I'm always conflicted.  Is she old enough to understand the consequences?  To actually GET why we're ignoring her screaming for no good reason?  I don't know.  It makes things very difficult.  We're getting into serious parenting territories.  I'm not looking forward to it.

Ellie Mae

Every stage is my favorite.  It's funny how as a parent you say "this is my favorite stage" over and over again.  I loved when Ellie was a newborn.  I loved when Ellie was starting to babble and laugh.  I loved when she started liking the swing and going for walks.  I loved when Ellie was crawling.  I loved when Ellie was talking.  I loved when Ellie was just walking.

Now, there a few things that I don't want to forget about this stage before it's gone.

-- Ellie always greets you in the morning with a "mo-ning".

-- She has a routine now of always picking out her PJs before bed.  I've started letting her pick out certain parts of her outfit (i.e. just pants and I'll pick the shirt to match).  It's fun to watch her brain work, pick up one pair of pants, say "noww" (no) and then pick four different pairs until she finds the right one.

-- She talks ALL the time.  Okay, not when strangers are around, but if it's people she knows she will talk on and on and on.  She is very good at play-by-plays.  She will see grandma coming up the steps to take her boots off from getting chicken eggs and Ellie will proceed to say "Mama (grandma) up, up, up.  Eggs?  Booss (boots) off.  Uggghhh (sympathy grunt).  Pussshhh (door opening).  Ah.  Hi!

It's adorable.  Sometimes, though, I swear she's speaking a different language.  She'll just start talking and it'll sound like full sentences, but just not English.

-- I love that she understands things now.  She knows what all done means.  She knows what wait means.  She knows so much.  It amazes me sometimes.

-- On that note, she is VERY aware.  My grandparents have a family picture on their desktop that Ellie loves to look at and point out certain people.  Well, one day she went in there to look at the picture.  The screen was off so she wiggled the mouse to turn it on.  It still didn't turn on so she went down below to push the button on the computer to turn it on.  It's pretty impressive how much she retains.

-- She is an outdoor baby.  Anything that involves being outside she will instantly be a part of.  Going for a walk around the yard, getting eggs from the chickens, going on a run with mom and dad, hanging up laundry to dry, etc.  If she's out there for less than 10 minutes it usually ends up in a meltdown because why would we go inside too early?!

-- She can really communicate with us now.  It's wonderful and frustrating all at once.  She will tell you if she does or doesn't want something, what she wants to do at that current moment, and what she's thinking.  Example: she may go to the couch, bang on it, and say "sit!".  Obviously, you know what she wants.  Sometimes, though, she knows what she wants and she won't take no for an answer.  Thankfully, we're still in this very short attention span phase so we can easily distract her mind if that happens.

She loves to be chased, to play on our keyboard, to read books, to snuggle with her blanket, to throw the ball around, to find sticks outside, to look for ay-panes (airplanes) and eat any fruit she can get her hands on.  

I love her tickle spots, her belly laugh (it cures all), her snuggl-y side that comes out before and after bed, her curly hair, her hip-swinging dance, and her love of animals (except bugs. She saw a ladybug crawling on grandma's hand and did not like it one bit).

Stuff and Things: 2/5

Linking up with Kristin and Joey

+ Winter?  Are you real?  No.  I don't think so.

+ Apparently we over here in Washington may get to vote on keeping or not keeping daylight savings time.  This better happen.  Do you know how much fun it will be to NOT have to change clocks and change my daughter's sleep schedule?  Too much.

+ You guys blog too much.  I can't keep up.  I want to comment all the time.  Keep up the relationship-building, but man if I try to at least once a week I have about 30 blog posts to go through! How do you make time for it all?!

+ I know I'm late, but Mad Men has me.  I'm sucked in.  I'm still trying to decide if I like Don or hate him.  I keep going back and forth.  Sometimes he lets a little sweet side slip, but most of the time he's kind of a jerk.  Betty, on the other hand, is crazy and she drives ME crazy.

+ Speaking of shows, Parenthood's finale killed me.  That show brings my hormonal girl side out.  I can't help the tears that swell up at least once an episode.

+ Ellie is ...sigh... growing too fast.  She's developing a personality and quirks.  I love it!  So far she has shown that she has her mother's OCD tendencies.  She cleans up and LIKES it.  Yes, you heard me right.  My 17 month old likes to clean up!  I don't know how this happened, but she will do it even when she's not asked to.  Sometimes she'll see a toy or kitchen item (best toys around) and she'll put it back.  Even if it's not what she was playing with at the time.

She also will lay out her stacking buckets so that they are all facing the same way.  It's amazing.  I don't know if this is something I should be celebrating or fearing.  What if I've created a crazy OCD child? I don't know if I can handle myself and my daughter.  Poor Nick...

+ I'm attempting to wake myself early in the morning to workout before Ellie wakes up.  No one told her that she needs to sleep past 7.  Can you tell her that that's what good kids do?  Anyways, I'm debating trying out a video service thing like Daily Burn.  Anybody use that or something similar?  I get so bored using the same workout video all the time.

+ I'm slowly, slowly, slowly getting through my Blogging for Books book.  It's slow and just not peaking my interest.  Maybe I should just write that as a review...

+ I wish is was Friday.  Friday means that it's only one more day until our Whistler getaway.

Happy day before Friday!