A party fit for a (three year old) princess

(Ellie's little princess friends. Hailey was there too, but she darted before the picture was taken haha)

Ellie only had one request for her third birthday; that it be "pink princess" themed. Ellie is so completely different than Maisie in that she likes ALL things stereotypically "girly". If it's pink, purple, sparkles or has a Disney princess on it, Ellie is obsessed. So we thought it would be good fun to throw her a little princess party, so that's exactly what we did. It turned out really cute, the girls ate flower cupcakes, danced to Disney music, kissed a frog prince (a pin the tail on the donkey variation, but with a giant cardboard frog and lipstick for kissing) and played with their tiaras, bracelets and scepters.

Ellie ended up unintentionally falling asleep on the couch before dinner time, so I think its safe to say that she had a great time. :)

Big Sisters

As you can see these girls were in absolute heaven meeting their little brother for the first time. They intuitively and lovingly welcomed little Evan into our family without any hesitation. I think they both could feel that he was with us all along- the belly (my pregnant belly AKA Evan) finally had a face and such a kissable face it was (and is). I am happy to report that even a month in, these girls are still completely smitten with their brother- they jump at any chance to rub his fluffy head, kiss his chubby cheeks and tickle his teeny toes. We all love our little baby Evan and are so happy to finally have him here.

A couple more photos for good measure:

"Let it go"

A few months ago Ellie (and Maisie... again) went through a big Frozen obsession. It all started when Maisie would come home from school and the girls would watch it (wearing their princess dresses obviously). It then turned into excited Ellie screams every time she saw anything related to Frozen any where (Elsa and Olaf being her favorite, but she doesn't discriminate). Then one day a couple months ago, I hear them bouncing on Maisie's bed belting out the famed and way overplayed "Let it go". I walked in as they finished, sat down on the bed and started another round of the song, but this time recording it. I still laugh when I watch it- Ellie's hesitant face at the beginning and then her enthusiasm as she hits her stride. 

Enjoy!

Ellie actually has teeth!

So the day has come! Finally, at just a few days shy of 15 and a half months old, little Ellie has cut her first tooth- her top right to be exact and following closely are about 7 others! Poor girl.

I am just relieved that she actually has teeth. I was getting a bit worried that maybe she would be forever toothless, but here they are! A little late, but here regardless.

P.s I found it surprising just how much stuff Ellie could eat being without teeth. Just about everything we ate she did too, not without special precautions, but still!

Ellie's mid-morning nap

I have mentioned this before, but Ellie is NOT a morning person. Even as a little baby, she would wake up fairly early and then within that hour (after breakfast and a diaper change) she was ready for her first nap. Waking up early every morning to walk Maisie to school has been taking a toll on little Ellie and even though she has been slowly transitioning to one afternoon nap a day, there are plenty of days where she can't make it that far... So instead of cleaning or doing the dishes, I get to enjoy this view instead:

No complaints here. :)

First Birthday Shenanigans

A few pictures of Ellie from a little photo shoot we did to celebrate Ellie's first birthday and upcoming Sister's Day- I'll post on that soon.











A few more pictures of Ellie's birthday...

I love how lovingly Maisie watched Ellie open her gifts. Not an ounce of jealously, just happy to be celebrating her sister.

Maisie's special cupcake with "gold pixie dust!"

A picture from our birthday breakfast when we had a couple friends come over and celebrate the birthday baby.

It's still hard for me to believe my little baby, who in a lot of ways still seems so little and baby-like, is ONE. She adds a lot of action and smiles to our day and I couldn't have dreamed how seamlessly she came in to our little family. It's like there was always a space for her from the get-go. She was and is so easy to love and we are all still so smitten with our little Ellie bug.

I loved celebrating this little babe. We had originally planned a party with a bunch of friends and their kids, but it turned out that the weekend we had planned it for, EVERY ONE we knew was out of town, had sick kid(s), or some other plans. So we ended up just having a couple friends of ours come over for breakfast (thanks Caden and Kaitlin!). It was low key and very much Ellie's style. 

Even with how laid back it was, that didn't stop her from being spoiled by our families:

-Austin and I got her a Little Einstein's musical toy and a Hape wooden bench w/xylophone.

-Auntie Katie bought her a set of 8 Babylit books.

-Nana and Papa sent a gift card to Amazon so we bought her some cute shoes- which she needed badly.

-Grandma, Grandpa and Miranda got her a babydoll (which she lovingly carries all around the house), the book "If you give a dog a donut" +  the stuffed animal that goes with it and a poppity-pop. 

Now that Ellie's birthday is over, we have Austin's birthday next month and then starts our birthday drought... confused? Starting with my birthday we have a birthday every two months. March, May, July and September. Austin's mom pointed this out one day and followed the observation with "now you guys need to have a baby in November and another in January!" haha!

Cupcake Annihilation

On Ellie's birthday we picked out a special cupcake (ok two, one for Maisie of course) from The Cocoa Bean and let her go to town. I had no doubts that she would dive right in, but I didn't think she would eat the ENTIRE thing like she did. She didn't hesitate a single second and nearly inhaled the thing. Literally. No joke, we had to confiscate the cupcake to clear her nostrils of cream cheese frosting. She was more mad about us taking the cupcake away for the few seconds than she was about breathing in globs of the delicious thick frosting. Silly girl.

Like I said... inhaled it.

This is her sharing face. She was offering a lick of her sticky fingers.

Trying to eat the wrapper after obliterating the cupcake in a matter of minutes.

Ellie is 1!

Can you believe that Ellie is ONE already? I can't. I keep reminding myself that today is her birthday.  Our birthday plans are to just take it easy today (we will be doing a cupcake smash though) and then tomorrow we will have a handful of friends come by for a birthday breakfast.

In case you find yourself wondering all about Ellie, I made an info-graph* for her first birthday. It's packed with information about Ellie's first year and all of the things she has come to love so far.

*I have seen infographic charts for babies first birthdays on Pinterest and loved them, but they are expensive! So I decided to try my amateur hand at anything computer design-y and actually had a lot of fun learning some new tricks and hopefully will get better with more time and practice.

Ellie @ 11 months

Each month we are figuring out more and more about our little Ellie Hazel. She's still so sweet and cuddly, but sleeping a little less and getting into trouble more (oy vey). Ellie enjoys doing things that either endanger her life or things she knows she's not supposed to do. I joke around that she's going to be our E.R child because where Maisie is filled to the brim with caution, Ellie is not. I love that about her, but I get truly scared at least once a day because of her antics. Outlets? Let me put my fingers in one. Outlet covers? Let's just take those out, put one in my mouth, gag on it and THEN put my finger in the outlet. Our brick hearth? Let's climb it and attempt to crack my head open on the edge. She's constantly finding things to climb, get into or eat choke on. Life isn't dull that's for sure and between my comedian and my Knievel it's an out right circus in the Lee household.

Today before church.

Don't let the coy smile fool you, this girl is trouble, but the cutest kind.

-Tricks: waves, claps, points blows kisses, gives real kisses and makes kissy noises.

-Prefers her pluggie (pacifier) upside down. Even when she's on the verge of sleep, she will rotate her little wrist until it's in the right spot.

-Still taking two naps (mostly. She's just now starting to phase out her second nap.)

-Still no teeth and I'm not complaining because not only does she eat real food now (lots of it too) she's still nursing like a champ and being toothless helps keep that going.

-Officially walking everywhere. She can also stand up from a sitting position without pulling herself up on something, turn in circles, bend down to grab something and correct herself perfectly when she gets a little unstable. This girl is a champion walker. She's already starting to experiment with going faster, so I'm guessing not much longer until she tries to run.

-Lately she's been sleeping in this strange position- it's like this hybrid downward dog thing where her bum is in the air and her head cocked to the side. Its really funny and I can't imagine to be very comfortable.

-Words: hi, Mama and Dada

-She is a full fledged trouble maker (see above) not only does she know when she's doing something she's not supposed to, do but if you call her out on it she will glance over her shoulder and smile as she decides to do it anyway. It's equal parts cute and infuriating.

Conquered the step ladder.

-We are chasing her around every where we go. She's a busy body and likes to keep moving so my life now insists on chasing my child everywhere.

-Loves when Maisie plays with her by tickling her belly or playing from behind/under the door. Big belly laughs every time.

Their under the door game.

-Has been throwing mini-fits. Austin is convinced she learned some of these things from Maisie, but I just think it's her determined and adventurous spirit. She doesn't like to be interrupted or stopped from her goal (which sometimes I think is a one way ticket to the hospital).

-Favorite toys: Sebastain (yes the crab) duplo block, a gold glitter ball and pink cell phone toy.

-Favorite foods: blueberries, bread, yogurt, Annie's mac and cheese. This girl will eat anything and everything, which is odd seeing how she refused food for so long. I have yet to find something she actually hates. She is indifferent to mashed potatoes- weird huh?

-Firsts: 1-peanut butter experience because Maisie left a peanut butter spoon in reach of Ellie's grasp- I nearly had a heart attack and was expecting some horrible life threatening reaction, but thankfully we dodged that bullet. 2- Swimming at Rexburg rapids (photo above). First sip of cows milk (today) and she loved it so I think we will start giving her some in a sippy cup soon, but I'm not ready to wean yet, so we will phase it in gradually.


-Likes: bike rides, sitting in Maisie's blue chair, trying to use the teeter totter in the backyard, climbing in the vegetable garden (much to my dismay), wagon rides and climbing everything she sees.

Getting ready for a bike ride.

If you cant find Ellie and the bathroom door is shut I.E she's not in it, here's another spot she has come to love. I can't tell you how many times a day she will just go to this chair and proudly sit there while Maisie destroys plays in their room nearby.

Just wishing someone her size would come teeter totter with her.

Oh you know, just sitting on a squash blossom. 

Wagon ride with Ava.

-Dislikes: 1- the vacuum. She legitimately hates it. It may or may not have something to do with big sister chasing her around with it (gah). Even when it's not on she can't stand to be by it and will often hide under the desk or insist on being held until it's put away. 2- When we don't give her a bite or sip of something we are eating/drinking. She whines pitifully or semi-politely yells until you give her the thing she seeks.

I can't believe Ellie is going to be ONE in 5 days!! Ah!

Ellie @ 10 months

This post is a few days late due to our Vacation to Arizona, so here it is now while she's technically 11 months now (what!?) these pictures and happenings are from her 10 month old days.

Ellie is showing us more and more who she really is. I feel like this month especially. She's as sweet and mellow as ever, but theres some sass deep down inside. And boy, is she an adventurous little one. Austin and I were talking while the girls were playing with some friends in the backyard, I can't remember how it got brought about, but I said something like "Ellie is such a watcher". Austin then disagreed. I was wrong because Ellie is a doer if there ever was one. She's brave and not afraid to fall and get dirty. Maisie was always so cautious and while she's a ham, it took a lot to push her to come out of her shell to try new things, mostly physically (learning to walk, climb, jump). Maisie would get on a stage and sing her heart out without hesitation, but climbing up stairs or getting down from a high spot? No way... at least not until recently. So it's so funny to see that there spiritedness is so different. 

Maisie: high energy, social butterfly, performer, cautious and hilarious.

Ellie: mellow, go with the flow, quiet, adventurous and brave. 

They are complimentary to each other and it makes me so excited seeing how they will help shape each other and become better because of it.

Anyway, back to Ellie can you believe she's going to be ONE in less than a month!?

likes:

The kitchen, but more specifically the dishwasher or water dispenser:

Pointing at things.

Trying to put her fingers in our mouths. She especially loves doing it to Maisie because Maisie will actually open her mouth for her. She even tries to forcibly stick her finger in my mouth when I'm nursing her, which makes me laugh and so she wins.

Food... finally! yayyyyyy! She will pretty much eat anything we give her now, she mostly likes real food I.E whatever we are eating, but she has also come around to purees. Mostly fruit mixes, but hey I'll take it!

Hiding in the bathroom and trying to climb into the tub, she tries to hoist her little leg over the side, but she's still too short. I can't tell you how many times we have found her like this:

Music of any sort, she loves to enthusiastically bounce up and down, shake her head and stomp her little feet.

Exploring outside the more dirt, sticks and leaves the better she likes it:

Dogs- Maisie even at this age, was terrified of dogs. 

Where there are dogs there is a water dish and where there is a water dish, there is Ellie.

Being held. She still likes to cuddle a lot which I am totally fine with :)

Swimming. She loves being in the water, trying to drink the water and float around in her floaty. If Maisie or her cousins push her around the pool the better:

Birds of any sort, but especially the pigeons that have decided to make their home in the rafters above our porch and deck. If only we liked them as much as she does, but we don't... so they are about to meet their demise if they don't choose to relocate soon. 

Sitting in the stroller without being in her carseat:

dislikes:

hot cars

More than 2 minutes of wrestling with Maisie.

Diaper changes (still).

Too many hugs, kisses, back pats from Maisie. Ellie is pretty vocal when she's not in the mood for playing, but Maisie is persistent so this leads to Ellie screaming dramatically until someone rescues her or she manages to escape her big sister's grasp.

activities:

First trip to Arizona where she finally met her Nana and Papa (my parents) hence all the swimming and how we discovered that she likes dogs and hates getting into ovens hot cars.

Loves the song "the wheels on the bus" but the wiper part is her favorite, she happily swishes her arms and shakes her head. She also does the arm movement and head shake if we say "P U" as in she has a stinky diaper, but she scrunches her nose and squints her eyes. It's really cute.

She's calmed down on her walking a lot, I was convinced that she was going to be full on walking soon, but I think she realizes that she gets around a lot faster by crawling because she will start taking a few steps and then will purposely fall and crawl to her desired destination.

Falling asleep on us. She will just crawl over and lay in our laps and fall asleep. Even with maisie running around or with the tv on. It's pretty surprising and its making me wonder if its contributed by the following:

1)The warmer weather and our lack of ac? It does get toasty.

2)That I am failing to see her tired cues? Probably.

3)She prefers to cuddle over being alone in her crib? I mean, who can blame her for that one?

Regardless, I love it. Maisie was always so particular where she slept and couldnt have any distractions because she always wanted to be apart of the action. Ellie showed early signs of this too, mainly because Maisie would make her excited to play, but I think the novelty of it is starting to wear... or it could be that Maisie really likes forcing Ellie to wear something, go somewhere or wrestle past her limit... sooo maybe Ellie is sleeping on me for refuge. haha

Asleep on Daddy:

Asleep on Mommy:

More sleeping pictures because who doesn't love a sleeping babe?

sleeping at Nana & Papa's:

sleeping at the hotel:

We all just love Ellie to pieces. She's our little buggy, bah-bah (Maisie has called her that since we first brought her home from the hospital) and muffin. We're so glad she is apart of our family.