Happy Birthday Ellie!!!! - finally updated

Okay, I am a horrible mom. I am a day late with this post....first time ever I've missed one of the kids' birthdays on here (I do have a good excuse though - I don't think I've mentioned on here yet that I am pregnant again -- another boy (yes, really) -- and something popped out of place with my hips/spine and my sciatic nerve has basically been on fire 24 hours a day. Not just normal sciatic pain - it's excruciating and I'm not really functioning right now). I will write more about Ellie later, but for now I at least wanted to get this up here before it gets any later and I feel even guiltier.

Wow, two weeks later I'm finally getting back on here to write about my cute little girl. Ellie is awesome. But also a pill. And spoiled rotten by her dad. She gets whatever she wants from him. It's absolutely amazing what he will do for her that he was never willing to do for the boys. Hopefully the rest of us can keep her in line so she doesn't grow up to be horrid. But she really is great right now. I can't believe how much she talks. And sings...she knows about five songs that she can sing all the way through, and you really can tell what they are. Very impressive. She LOVES her brothers and calls them 'the boys'. She asks where they are all the time during the day. She knows that Duncan is the one who is in charge of her sometimes and if I ever ask Dayton to do it she rebels and won't have any of it. She is really a happy little girl and very cheerful, but has a pouty face to rival the best: she sticks out her lips and lowers her brow and prepares to do battle.

She climbs everything, and can frequently be found on top of the counter, piano, kitchen table, pantry shelves, top bunk, etc. She has also discovered that she can climb out of her crib, which has been super fun. I would say that she's not quite as good as Tucker was (and still is) at entertaining herself. Unless I were to let her entertain herself by putting on makeup, eating all the Halloween candy, and writing all over everything in the house. Then she would be perfectly content :) Her most annoying habit is probably that she cannot see any container of liquid without immediately dumping it out. Although she also goes to get a towel to help clean up, so that's something I guess.

She has finally discovered TV (hooray!) and her favorite show is Bubble Guppies. She can sing the theme song, complete with the characters' introduction, and does the arm movements to it too. Dang cute. She also likes Backyardigans and thankfully (so I don't have quite so much guilt) is learning to like Sesame Street. She loves babies and points them out to me wherever we go. She loves to play Little People and loves to carry bags around the house. Her favorite toy is still the old fashioned wood stacking ring that she got last year that was only $5 at Walmart. She seems to be gravitating towards the toys that are hers now and is not as interested in the boys' stuff as she used to be. She knows exactly what to do when I say let's do your hair, and is pretty good at sitting still for me to do it. She loves all of her hair clips and headbands.

It is so fun to have my (one and only) girl!! I love that she's nice and snuggly still - not necessarily sitting still with me for any length of time, but she comes up and asks to snuggle for brief periods at least. And as much as she is a daddy's girl, she still prefers me a lot of the time. We love you Ellie!!!!