catching up on some pics

ella hanging out at mimi's house

it was gorgeous out yesterday so ella met up with her friend emi at the playground.  a pair of ducks came to visit too.  

ella and george watching daddy work in the backyard.

thanks for the adorable shirt aunt jeanne!!  and oh so true...

strong like bull (hopefully part 1)

so we had our 4 month ultrasound today and despite the doubt that my family and friends have demonstrated in my ability to resist finding out the gender of the baby, i held strong and we still don't know.  :-D  but the best part was when ella pointed to the screen and said 'baby!'

and then later, the girl showed how much she actually loved me.  she was hanging out with me and then walked over to roger and kept repeating 'poo, poo...'  ha ha, thanks for getting me out of that diaper change, els bells!!

scoops and hoops

happy 18 months ella bean!!!  i can't believe you're a year and a half old!  to celebrate, after dinner, we took el to graeter's for sorbet (she's allergic to their ice cream) and she got a new basketball hoop from daddy.

today also marked a year that we've been in cincinnati.  it went by so fast - we miss chicago and my parents and friends of course, but we've found a ton of things to do here, having roger's mom nearby is fabulous and we've made some good friends.

ok-sober-fest :-( for me, anyway

we had a great weekend - ella loved sample day at costco on saturday and then we went to dinner at nana's and ella LOVED amy's dog cocoa.  as of the next morning she was still saying 'cocoa!'  on sunday she went grocery shopping and to home depot with daddy and then it was off to oktoberfest!!  ella ate a soft pretzel, potato pancakes and pierogis.  yum!!

nana, ella and cocoa.  

ella and daddy at oktoberfest - and her balloon animal - a monkey in a tree.  later, she ran around chasing george with it and laughing hysterically.

uncle jon trying to sneak saurkraut to ella

and tonight, when roger asked ella if she was ready for bed, she ran over to me for a kiss and then followed her daddy upstairs.  LOVE LOVE LOVE

my not-a-good-bye

to alleviate some of ella's allergies, we made the decision to have bailey live with steve and breanna.  we will all miss bailey very much - probably no one more than george.  thank you to steve and breanna - i know that bailey will be well-cared for and loved.

my first 'baby'

bailey meeting george for the first time (look how tiny he was!!).  it was definitely not love at first sight, but they're best of friends now.

our little family

ella and bailey taking a little nap together

dear bailey,

thank you for being my dog for the past 7 and a half years.  you've been wonderful to me and i love you so so so much.  be good for steve and breanna - miss you tons and we'll see you soon!

week 1 and i'm almost football-ed out

the rest of our chicago trip went great - on friday daddy came home from cali and uncle steve arrived safely after his cross-country road trip.  we spent saturday watching 12 hours of college football followed by another 12 hours of pro football on sunday...it's definitely fall!  

thank you to gigi and poppie for a great week!!

ella helping gigi to make pie crust

gigi and poppie swinging el

OMG - guess what el said??

so today at lunch with my mom at nordstrom, el was being goofy as usual so i looked at her and said "i love you!"  no joke, she looked back at me and said "mom, i love you."  yaayyyyyy!!

gigi and el at gymboree

el with me, gigi and poppie singing 'ring around the rosie'

i {heart} chicago

with great grand auntie janie and auntie kathryn - we went to walker brothers pancake house for the first time!

at the kohl's children's museum with ella's friend andrew.   

picking out her chiquita bananas at the pretend grocery store.  she also 'bought' 8 containers of half-and-half...

at the looney tunes playland with her friend maia.  maia was soo sweet and kissed the boo-boo on ella's nose.

UNsuperMOM

a recent conversation with ella:
ella (seeing bailey in the morning): baydee!!
mom (she calls me 'mom' now): yes!  that's bailey.
ella: baby?
mom: no, bay-Lee
ella (getting somewhat frustrated): baby...
mom: bay-Lee
ella (frustrated): baby.
mom: bay-Lee
ella (annoyed): dog!

ella wearing her dinner after she dumped a bowlful of mac and cheese on her head.

ella and her friend caeden playing in her pool

thank you uncle alan for my cozy new hat!

ella with poppie and gigi and legoland

her first set of duplos!

poppie teaching ella to play golf