Holiday Party

Ruby's pre school had a holiday party complete with a musical performance.  Ruby had been singing the songs for weeks before the show so we were excited to see her in action.  It was a tight squeeze with all the families but Adam, Ella, Grandma O'Brien, Uncle Zach and I all got to enjoy the show.  Here's the grand finale.  You can't hear Miss Margaret very well but she taught them to sing the second time with BOO-YA!  So, so cute.

 

Santa* made a surprise visit to the school while the kids ate their lunch.  Everyone got to take a turn sitting on Santa's lap.  Once again Ruby marched right up and asked for a purple bike with two wheels.

 

After years of sending home hand made holiday gifts with my students, we got our first hand made gift this year.  It's an ornament Ruby's hand print turned into snowmen.  It is now my favorite ornament and I will be stealing the idea for my own class next year =)

 

* It turns out Santa was a teacher's dad.  She has a daughter a bit younger than Ruby.  This was the first year her daughter was at the party and aware of Santa.  Everyone was watching to see if she realized Santa was actually  her grandpa.  She had no clue.  She didn't even wonder why her mom posed for pictures, gave Santa a big hug and said, "See you Saturday!" when he left.  What a great story that will be some day.

My Child at Two to Four Weeks

Ella had her one month well baby check up on Tuesday.  The first thing the doctor said when she walked through the door was, "What a great eater she is!"  I've been a mom for almost three and a half years and have never heard those words.  It was music to my ears! 

She weighs 10 pounds six ounces and is in the 69 percentile for weight.  She's gained two and a half pounds!  She is 21 1/2 inches tall and is in the 55 percentile for height.  She didn't have to get any shots this visit so she was perfectly happy and didn't shed a tear while we were there.  Go Ella!

 

Off topic, Grandma O'Brien and I walked over to Town and Country to do some errands after the appointment.  It was getting close to feeding time so I stopped at Day One.

I don't think Ella and I will be there very much since I can't take Ruby and they don't have classes while she's at pre school.  It sure did bring back a lot of memories and made me think of the best friends a mommy could ever have.

Mornings

For the past three years, I woke up before Adam and Ruby.  I went downstairs, made coffee and watched Bravo.  It was quiet, I was alone and I loved it.

For the past five weeks, I am out cold until Ruby comes into the room to tell me it's morning.  She climbs in bed with me, we cuddle and she watches a show so I can keep my eyes closed a little while longer.

Eventually Ella wakes up.  Once I feed her and get her back to sleep, Ruby and I go downstairs, make breakfast and play.  It's our special time together.  It's not quiet, I'm not alone and I love it.

Oakland Zoo Again

Since it was so cold, Ella is so little, Ruby is so snotty and school was still in, we did a lot of sitting around while Grandpa O'Brien was in town.  By his last weekend, the weather was beautiful so we planned a trip to the Oakland Zoo.  I love the Oakland Zoo!  I can't believe that there are real animals at a zoo so close and easy to get to with plenty of parking.

Ruby remembered our trip from the spring so she was all for it as well.  All she could talk about on the way to the zoo was petting the goats.  Even with monkeys, giraffes, elephants, tigers, etc., all she wanted was to pet the goats.  She humored us by stopping to look at other animals but after about 7 seconds would shout, "Come on girls!  Let's go to the goats!"  I finally reminded her that Grandpa was with us as well so she switched to, "Come on girls!  Come on boy!"

Her second favorite thing at the zoo was the little children's play area.

And her third favorite, were the rides outside the park.   With four people, it made sense to buy a book of tickets.  After the train and the carousel, Ruby got to ride on three more rides.  She picked the cars, the airplanes and the roller coaster.  The car was a nice simple ride with no controls.  The airplane has a lever that makes it go up and down.  It took her a second to figure out how to use it but then she went as high as she could the rest of the ride.  I went on the roller coaster with her...thank goodness.  After the first turn I was tightly holding on to her, my hat and the bar.  What was Ruby doing?  Putting her arms up in the air and screaming with joy.  She's my kid =)

Ruby must've had fun.  For the second time in a month, she fell asleep in the car.

 

As a side note, Ruby was an awesome listener from the time we left to the time we got home.  I don't know if we're done with the terrible threes (two was no problem but a new strong will accompanied by an occasional tantrum were special gifts on her third birthday), if being a big sister really means something, if the Elf on the Shelf's power extends to the zoo or if the promise of a trip inside the gift shop kept her in check.  Regardless, I'll take it and am actually excited for our trip to Disneyland in February.

We did it!

Ruby, Ella and I made it out of the house on our own today! Wheels weren't moving until 9:46 AM but we were all clean, dressed and fed. I'll consider that a success =)

Grandpa O'Brien is visiting to meet Ella and celebrate an early Christmas.

The photo is unrelated to making it out of the house but blog posts are boring without pictures.  Ha!

1 Month

I blinked and it's already been a month. Happy one month birthday Ella!

Ella is doing great and other than missing a full nights sleep, I have no complaints. Thanks to my family, we're adjusting to life with a three year old and a newborn. With all the help, we've been able to spend time with Ruby, keep a clean house, grocery shop, etc. We even have a Christmas tree, holiday decorations and all our holiday shopping finished. I have yet to leave the house with both kids on my own but after an LNO, don't feel so bad about it. My mommy friends said they try to avoid errands with both kids and their youngest are nearly two years old. I guess I still have time to figure it out.

Since I already compared the two girls, here are some things that are different about Ella:

• She is huge! Yay! We don't go to the doctor until Tuesday but she weighs at least 10 pounds. As a matter of fact, she's already wearing size 1 diapers. I tried to use up the last pack and a half of newborn diapers because it kills me to waste them but they were way too tight around her belly. She's also getting chunky rolls on her legs. I would love, love, love to have a chunky baby.
• She doesn't burp very easily so she's a spitter upper. I've never dealt with spit up before. I'm not very good at it. Fortunately, Ella doesn't seem to mind.
• On a related note, she gets the hiccups all the time. Again, she doesn't mind one bit. Actually, she is very calm and happy when she gets the hiccups. I welcome them because I can put her down and take care of housework...or use the computer =)
• She prefers to poop with her diaper off. It's crazy. The minute you try to change her diaper, she poops...three to five times in a row! It only took one projectile incident to realize she needs to be covered at all times.
• She seems to have dimples. I'm not sure if it's because her cheeks are getting chubby or if they'll last forever. But, she has them on both cheeks for now.
• She smiles and giggles when she's about to fall asleep. It's super cute.

Ruby is great as well. She loves her sister, always wants to help and has only asked "when will Ewwa go home?" once in the last month. It was bedtime and she was upset that Ella was still downstairs with us. Other than that, she loves to be our helper, is patient when she has to wait her turn and is thrilled that most gifts that arrive include something special for her as well.

It's still weird that we have two kids. My mom teased me the other day because I said something about being a grown up because we put up outdoor lights (Ruby wanted them), only hung up kids stockings (I figured after 38 years I've had enough stocking stuffers) and bought a monogrammed tree skirt (it matches the stockings). She said, "As if having two kids doesn't make you a grown up?" Haha. She's right.  Like I said, it's still weird.

Santa

Time sure does fly when you're having fun.









Good thing we just started over =)