Please Hang Up and Try Again

Ella picked up the phone in the office today and asked who was on the phone. I told her no one and to hang up the phone. A few seconds later she starts having a conversation.

"Hello friendly operator. How are you? Oh, OK. Friendly operator, please hang up and try again. Just tell your friend to hang up, cause I'm just on the phones with our friends. Well, I just want to dial you. Are you coming home to see me? Well, just remember me if you want to come. Well, share your wagon with me. I'll just play with it when you come home.

Well, hello McKenzie. I don't want to dial you until Thursday. Well OK. Bye McKenzie"

By the way, I have no idea who she knows named McKenzie.

I was laughing so hard! Really, laughing isn't a good thing when I want to teach her to not play with the phone, but it was so funny!

Is Santa coming?

With all the Christmas decorating that has been going on at our house Santa has been a big topic of conversation for Ella. Scott told her that on Christmas Eve after she went to sleep Santa would come down the chimney to leave her presents in her stocking. She is VERY excited about this idea. She keeps going to the fireplace, peering up the chimney and saying, "Nope. Not yet. Santa's not coming yet." Or, she will point to the fireplace and say, "Tonight when I go to sleep, Santa is going to come down our chimney." Thank goodness Christmas is getting near! The poor child can hardly stand herself she's so excited.

Brenna's Second Ultrasound

We had our follow up ultrasound for Brenna this past Monday. The CD with our pictures on it wasn't working correctly, so it took me awhile to get the pictures uploaded. The technician was able to get the views of her lip and her heart that were missing from our initial ultrasound. It was very nice to get confirmation that she is perfect! The pictures were of such good quality we even know that she had 5 fingers on each hand and 5 toes on each foot. They also confirmed that we are, in fact, having a little girl.

At the time of the ultrasound, she weighed 1 lb 3 oz. Her heartrate was 129--which, by the way, completely negates the old wives tale of a faster heartrate for a girl. Due to the measurements that they took, they moved my due date from April 1 to March 27. More than likely the girls will have birthdays that are within a week of one another.

Here are some more pictures of Brenna:

Her face:


One perfect hand:


Her tiny feet crossed at the ankles:


Her precious little ear:

Introductions

As we were checking out at the doctor's office yesterday, Ella decided it was time to introduce herself to the appointment scheduler. She said, "Hi. What is your name?"

The woman answered, "Phyllis. What is your name?"

"My name is Ella, and my mommy's name is Jana. My daddy's name is Scott."

Phyllis said something about how she really knew what everyone's names were really well.

Ella paused for a few seconds and said, "Thank you for meeting us." The entire back office staff as well as Scott and I died laughing. I'm sure the fact that she got a laugh will mean that she is introducing herself to people all the time now.

Too Smart (mouthed, that is) for Her Own Good

Ella is proving to be quite a challenge already. I am scared to see what the teenage years have in store for me. Here are two examples of her recent shenanigans.

Ella wanted me to play catch with her the other day. My back was hurting so I wanted to sit on the floor, but Ella wanted me to stand. She kept asking me to stand, and I kept explaining to her that I wanted to sit. Finally I said to her, "Ella, listen to my voice. My back is hurting, and I am going to sit down." She looked me straight in the face, stomped her foot and said, "NO! YOU listen to MY voice. I want you to stand up now!" We ended up having a nice chat about how Mommies give instructions and little girls do not before she went to sit in time out.

The second thing she has said to me when she doesn't like that she is getting into trouble is "Don't say that. Use your big girl voice!"

Everyone keeps telling me that if I persist through this it will pay off in the end, but there are days when I feel like I am losing the marathon. The energy level of a hot-headed two year old is just astounding.

We have kicks!

Scott felt Brenna kick for the first time last night! It feels so much more official now that Daddy can be in on the fun. I can't wait to see what Ella's reaction is the first time she feels Brenna.

We have been saying that Brenna was kicking me, but that turned out to be BAD terminology. It took a little while to figure out why Ella has been kicking a lot lately. I guess she thought if it was cute for Brenna it was cute for Ella. Yikes! We now say that Brenna is giving Mommy love pats. I sincerely hope that cuts down on Ella's kicking habit.

Fall Leaves

Notice the Brenna belly?

Sisterly empathy?

Earlier today Ella got a spanking for jumping on the bed. She cried and cried! I pulled her onto my lap to cuddle with her while she was crying and to talk to her about why she was punished. The entire time Ella was crying, Brenna was going BERSERK! She kicked me repeatedly until Ella stopped crying. As soon as Ella quieted down, so did Brenna. Sisterly empathy or coincidence? I'm not really sure, but it was a weird experience.

Halloween Fun

We had a wonderful Halloween with Ella this year. Our morning started out at the YMCA. Ella and I go there three times a week for my water aerobics class. Yesterday they had a Halloween party for all the kids in Kids Watch. The kids got to decorate brown paper candy bags, they got their faces painted, and then they went trick or treating around the Y. They could also wear their costumes, but Ella and I didn't know that since we were out of town last week. Here's a picture of Ella's cute face painting and another of her sweet, smiling face that I just can't resist adding.





Then last night we went trick or treating with our friends the Mazon's. Johnny is one of the pastors at our church, and they were some of the first friends we made when moved to Knoxville last year.

Last year Ella was very frightened by all the activity around her. This year, she thought trick or treating was great fun! She was very polite. She'd say "Trick or treat" at every house and said, "Thank you" with no reminder about 80% of the time. She also mentioned that she could now teach Brenna to trick or treat. She's starting to relish the idea of teaching her little sister new tricks when she arrives.

Here's pictures of all the kiddos!

Ella's smile should show you how THRILLED she was to dress up as Wags the Dog from The Wiggles. She thought it was the best costume ever, and she would "ruff, ruff" on command. She was so cute!!! When she would run, the tail on her costume would wag back and forth just like the tail of a real dog. It was precious!


This next picture is Ella, Maddie Grace (as Cinderella), and a very tired Annie Beth (as Tinkerbell). Ella and Annie Beth are only 2 months apart in age, but all three girls are wonderful friends. I swear, we could drop Ella off at the Mazon house and never come back, and she would assume that she was just meant to be a part of their family. In the second picture, we added the Mazon's little boy Trace.




And finally, a Griffin family picture.

Prima Ballerina

Ella loves her tutu and "ballet dancing shoes." Here she is practicing her dance moves.

Introducing our new baby....

The so-so news first. My ultrasound was so early (17w 5d) that they couldn't get the proper view of the upper lip (to check for a cleft) or the aortic valve (to check for a healthy heart). Because of that we have to go back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound to make sure that everything is indeed developing correctly. I'm not too concerned. I really think that because the baby is so little they just couldn't get what they needed. Apparently about 20 to 25% of all ultrasounds get redone for a better look. We did talk worst case scenarios with the doctor. I would rather be prepared with the info in advance than have it sprung on me in 4 weeks, but we will know more then.

Now, onto the GOOD news!!!!!



















I am pleased to introduce Brenna! We are still discussing middle names, but more than likely it will be Brenna Corinne--Anne, Nicole and Joy are also on the list.

Ella has been insisting for almost the entire time that it was a sister, but had very recently (as in the past couple of days) changed her mind. I had thought it was a boy the entire time. When they told us it was a girl, Ella started crying! LOL! Once we reminded her how much fun all of our friends who are sisters have together she came around. I think all of us felt a little bit of disappointment because we had talked about it being a boy so much. I am thrilled Ella will have a sister, but a bit disappointed I might not ever have a boy. I think I would have been thrilled if it was a boy, but a bit disappointed that Ella wouldn't have a sister. LOL!!! I am now really excited that Ella is going to have a sister.

We decided to go ahead with the 3D. Because we did it this time, they will do a second one for us next time without charging us. So hopefully we will have even better pictures in four weeks. She doesn't have much fat right now so the pictures look a bit alien.

Here's the face:




Here's her face and body:


Here is her 2D profile:

She kept opening and closing her mouth like she was yawning. It was so cute!

And here are her "parts" in 3D and 2D:

A New Room

While Ella and I were in Texas this past week, Scott was hard at work at home! We returned to find that Ella had a brand new princess room!!! When we moved into our house, Ella's room was painted a nice rust color. However, the color scheme didn't go very well with her pink and white bedroom.

This week (as a complete surprise) Scott not only worked full-time, but he also spent his evenings and late nights turning Ella's room into a beautiful princess room. We came home to find this wonderful surprise waiting for us!


Ella is thrilled with the room as you can see.

Below are the details of the wall with the windows:






Here is a picture of Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)above Ella's headboard:


Here is Snow White above Ella's closet door:


Here is the wall opposite her windows, and the light switch (now the rose switch to Ella):




To fully understand what a completely awesome gift this is, there are a few things you should know. Scott HATES to paint!!! I am so shocked that he did this because I know he hates to paint. LOL. He also did this entirely by himself. He had no help from me picking out the colors or the princess theme. He also bought new mini-blinds to replace the ones that were bent, and he bought new valances for the window. He looked in about 5 different stores to find a valance that perfectly matched the lampshade Ella has had in her room since she was a newborn! Oh, and he broke his toe moving the furniture back into the room. OUCH!!!

I cried when I saw the room. I am so impressed that he did all of this as a complete surprise while we were gone. Plus, it means that I didn't have to do it. Ella loves her room. She wanted to touch all the princesses. She kept turning on and off her rose light over and over. She even laid her head on the wall at one point and said, "Thank you for painting my pretty room, Daddy." She also keeps repeating over and over, "Wow! This is neat!"

Mr. Potato Head Gets a Manicure (picture only)

Riding in the car

We have been on quite a few roadtrips lately. In the beginning of October, Scott, Ella and I went to Virginia or the weekend. At the end of October, Ella and I went to Texas. Ella travels so well in the car. It is almost like traveling with an adult she does so well. On our trip to Virginia I snapped several pictures of her riding contendly in her car seat.

Working with Daddy

Ella loves to sit in Scott's lap while he is working. Here are a few pictures I snapped of the two of them one afternoon.

Wheezer is stupid!

Ella walked up to me the other day and informed me, "Wheezer is stupid." Wheezer is Scott's mom. I was appalled. I said to Ella, "Wheezer is NOT stupid. We don't say those things. It is rude. I do not want you to be rude like that." Ella replied, "I'm not rude. Wheezer said it when we were watching Lion King."

I talked to Sandra later that night and asked her, "Did you watch The Lion King this weekend?"
The reply was a hesitant, "Yes."
"Did you have trouble getting it started?"
The reply was a confused, "Yes."
"Did you say you were stupid?"
Sandra laughed and said, "I will admit to this one, but everything else is a lie!"

Hmmmm, I wonder what else was said this past weekend? LOL

I think we all learned a very important lesson. Ella will sell you up the river and tell you everything she knows, so BE CAREFUL what you say. She has big ears and an even BIGGER mouth.

A spanking? OK!

The conversation went like this:

J: Ella, do not jump on the furniture!
E: YES!!!! I DO jump on the furniture!
J: If you jump on the furniture you are going to get a spanking.
E: OK. (bounce, bounce, bounce)

ARGH!!!! Child, that is supposed to deter you!!! She did get the spanking, and she did not jump again. I guess she needed to see if I really meant it or not.

Ella came up with a boy's name

We have been discussing boys names quite a bit lately. We haven't found one that we absolutely love, so we keep on talking about new names. Ella informed us that if we have a boy that she wants to name him "Cowboy." Yes, we laughed very hard!

The second part of this story involved Scott's cousin Lucy and her little boy Galen. Lucy and Aaron gave Galen a list of girl's names to choose from when his sister was born. He chose Zoe. When they asked what her middle name was going to be he immediately responded, "Pineneedle."

In honor of both names that our toddlers came up with, Scott and I are now affectionately calling our baby Cowboy Pineneedle. I'm sure if we find out in November that we are having a boy we will continue to call him Cowboy until we come up with an actual name.

That sweet, precious sound

We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time today! It was very exciting. Ella gets to get up on the exam table and squirt the gel on my tummy. She was helping to run the doppler when we found the heartbeat. She was thrilled to hear the baby. I just love that precious swoosh-swoosh sound. It seems so real that we are having a second baby now! Statistically, I have less than a 2% chance of miscarrying now that we have heard the heartbeat so things are looking really good. I have no idea the beats per minute; the doppler didn't calculate it. DARN! But, it seemed slower than Ella's to both Scott and me. The old wives tale is that a slower heart rate is a boy and a faster heart rate is a girl. Who knows though.

Everything else looked good, healthwise. I didn't have any weight gain. YAY! My blood pressure was still customarily low. I go back in 4 weeks for another check up. Then we go back again 2 weeks after that for the ultrasound. We should find out if it's a boy or a girl around November 2. I am really looking forward to that. Maybe once we know the gender we will start discussion names more diligently.

Introducing Swellowee

Ella came up to me and said, "Can I shake your hand?" I shook her hand and she said, "It's nice to meet you Jana. I'm Swellowee." I have now spent the past several minutes having to call her Swellowee. Apparently, this is her new chosen name! LOL Let's hope it doesn't last long.

We've also achieved a new milestone. Ella introduced me to her doll. Up until today she has always called her baby. Today, her name became Molly. It's the first time Ella has named one of her toys. Of course the true irony is that it is one of her few toys that already HAD a name! It was my Cabbage Patch Doll from when I was a child. I named her Tamara, but I am happy to give over naming rights to Ella now.

First OB appointment for the new baby

The appointment was LONG, long, long and boring. We were there for THREE hours before it was all said and done.

I had to take the glucose test. They usually don't give it this early, so I'm guessing I had to take it because of my weight. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard. This was the first time I had to take it, and I wasn't prepared in advance at all. With Ella I got to drink 8 ounces of grape juice. The nurse just showed up with the cup and said "drink this as fast as you can so it's over." It wasn't too aweful.

The best part of the appointment was that Ella got to squirt the gel on my belly and help the doctor move the doppler around. We didn't hear the baby's heartbeat because it is so early, but he wanted to reward her for being such a good girl the whole time we were there. Ella was a beautifully behaved little girl for the entire three hours! I was very proud of her. All in all, it was a completely uneventful appointment.

We go in for our next appointment on September 21. We will be able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time at that appointment.

In Your Head

Ella has been watching Monster's Inc., and she had stopped sleeping at night. She was convinced a monster was going to come get her. After several rough nights, we decided that it was time to buy a different movie so that we could put something else "in her head."

I bought her Mary Poppins. Ella asked about the new movie. I told her, "We are buying Mary Poppins so you can watch it over and over and get Sully Bear out of your head, and you can start sleeping through the night."

Later that day Ella and I had a funny conversation.

E: "Mommy can I watch Mary Poppins and get the sleepers in my head."
J: "The sleepers in your head? Is that what you said?"
E: "Yes. I want the sleepers in my head."
J: "Ella, what does that mean?"
E: "You know. Sully Bear is in my head, and I need the sleepers in my head."

I guess she understands even more of what I tell her than I think she does! And yes, I did let her watch Mary Poppins.

Yes, Ma'am and a mispronunciation

Ella doesn't quite understand the nuances of saying, "yes, ma'am." She has answered her Daddy several times today by saying, "Yes, ma'am, Daddy." LOL! We keep trying to explain he's a sir and mommy is ma'am, but it just isn't sinking in yet.

We also had another cute mispronunciation today. Her lemon was pelicious!

She talks like such an adult

I'll get the bad one out of the way first. We walked into the garage and Ella bumped into the car. She turned and hit it and said, "Stupid car!" Scott asked her where she had heard that word and the little imp says, "Mommy." ARG!!! I guess I must have called something stupid. It is just so hard to watch what you say all day long every single day.

Today she said to me, "Please have a seat." I also heard her saying, "Pssst. Listen up, you," and "Oh man!"

The final one made me one proud mommy. We have been trying to break the uh-huh/uh-uh habit. This morning she said uh-huh, and I corrected her by saying, "Say 'Yes, Mommy.'" She said, "Yes ma'am, Mommy." Then a few minutes later she fell, and I asked her if she was OK. She said, "Yes ma'am. I'm OK."

Chocolate Cake and Regular Milk

Ella and Granny were eating chocolate cake tonight. Granny said to Ella, "The best type of milk to drink with chocolate cake is white milk--regular milk." Ella looked at Granny and in a very serious voice said, "No. It's chocolate milk, and it's brown."

No. I don't like a boy!

Scott and I have started discussing names. We had Ella's name chosen before she was ever conceived so we are actually starting later this time. Most people think we're nuts to be discussing names this early in the game.

We came up with names that we both liked and then told Ella what they were so she could choose a name she liked. I'm pretty sure that Brenna will be our girl name. It was one of the top names on both mine and Scott's list and the only name that Ella liked.

When we told her the boys names her response was, "No. I don't like a boy. I want a sister." She has since refused every single boys name we have spoken. She is bound and determined that she is going to have a baby sister.

The Announcement!

A Vocabulary Lesson

All four of these happened in one day! LOL

We went by the store this morning to pick up laundry detergent. In the parking lot Ella says, "Hmmm, I wonder where the moonpiles are? I like moonpiles!"

At lunch she says, "You have pickles on your cheecks." "Pickles?" "Yes, Mommy (while tapping my cheeks) pickles!"

Then she says, "I want some check-up" "Some check-up?" "Yes, Mommy. I want to dip my chin fries in my check-up."

I was ROLLING! The last three happened in a bout a 3 minute time span.

Translations:
Moonpiles = moonpies Scott let her have one of a road trip a few weeks ago. I can't believe she remembered it out of the blue.
Pickles = freckles
Check-up = ketchup
Chin fries = french fries

Beach Pictures

Ella with her Great-Granddaddy Griffin


Playing in the sand




Riding rides at Jungleland (Scott's brother works there and got us in for free!)

She's actually sad the ride is over. It looks like she's not having a very good time, but she LOVED it!

With her cousin Sam


Sparkler Time!

One little, two little, 100 little stamps

Ella goes to The Little Gym every week for a gym class for toddlers. At the end of each program they give the kids a stamp on their feet and hands.

The other day Ella was playing with markers at the table. I heard her singing "One little, two little three little stamps on my arm" over and over again. When I went into the kitchen I found this:



She was so proud that she could give herself stamps. Thank goodness they were washable markers that came off with water only!

Yes, Scott - a conversation

E: Scott! Hey, Scott! Scott! SCOTT! HEY, SCOTT!!
S: Ella, my name is Daddy.
E: Yes, Scott.

Bad mommy! I died laughing at her response. It was so funny. She wasn't phased in the slightest by the reprimand.

Neck Check

I went to the chiropractor today for a really stiff neck, and Ella went with me. She watched everything he did while he was adjusting my upper back and neck. After he was done with the adjustment, he had me sit up to make sure I wasn't dizzy. When he left the room she told me to lay down. Then she put her hand on the side of my face and pushed my face gently over to one side. She walked to the other side of the table, and pushed me face the other way. Then she said, "OK, sit up! OK sweetie, you're good!" Then she screams with delight, "YAY!!! I DID IT! I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF!" Ella seems to feel that she has a promising career as a chiropractor.

A nursery rhyme

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead

And when she was good,
She was very, very good.

And when she was bad,
She was AWEFUL!