Bad to the Bone

This past weekend, I missed my very first "girls get-together" in Reno. Due to the new little addition in our family, I opted to stay home and miss the wedding of my good friend, Alex. To my great surprise, the girls opted to have a good time without me! Melissa even flew in from Virginia knowing full well that I wouldn't be there! Shocking... I know.

SO since the others seem to all be reminiscintly blogging about some of the time we spent all living in the Reno area, I thought I'd join in. The four of us... Stacey, Melissa, Carrie and I all hung out quite a bit. Stacey and Carrie were friends first... I moved out shortly and met them at church, while Melissa joined us a few months later after moving from South Dakota. (I know, who lives there? right?) Anyway... we all became fast friends... I think mostly because we bonded over the single-independent-female status that we all shared. We found a really great "young people" group at church, and for awhile anyway, life really centered around it all.

Months into our friendship, we discovered that our little "gang" had somewhat of a reputation for being a little bit intimidating! What? Us? According to particularly some of the men in the group, we portrayed a slightly "untouchable" persona... often all dressing in black and always sitting in the back row of room. I stole an excerpt from Melissa's blog... because I thought it was too funny:

"As Stacey's brother Aaron put it, we would all come into church together, wearing black, moving in slow motion with Bad to the Bone playing in the background."

Truth be told... we all just knew the secret to looking skinny was black... and probably wound up in the back because we were late. Funny isn't it? We seriously all believed that we had wonderfully sweet and loving personalities (we did!!)... and all that time we were all looking to meet some cute Christian men... we were just scaring them off with our incredible confidence and dazzling looks. :) We kind of felt bad about it when we discovered how others perceived us... but after a few minutes... whispered (I think we all kind of dug it)! :)

Anyway... the girls took a shot of themselves at the wedding and texted it to me.


They were... of course... all wearing black dresses.
I tried to figure out how to photo shop myself in with them... but apparently I need a Mac... I did find this pic of me - black dress... intimidating look (or maybe just downright scary)... and even a Martini (Melissa and I have bonded over one a few times - very responsibly I must add).

So here you go girls... here's to the last time I remember feeling "cool". And here's to the last time I could FIT INTO a black dress!.. :)
Wish I had been there! I love you all!

Poop

I'm a little tired of it.

Many of you probably know that breast-fed babies tend to do it a little more than formula fed kids. I was well aware of it being a NICU nurse... What I was less familiar with, was the breast fed kids who prefer the marathon pooping routine over the "poop-every-time-I-eat" one. Ella has adopted the former, and I'm not a big fan. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, allow me to explain. Since I realize a video is probably not an appropriate way to explain all this on a G-Rated blog, I'll simply create an image.

It happens 2 or 3 times a day... always shortly after I begin feeding her. I can now sense when it's coming, as she straightens her legs out, stiffens up her abdomen, and far-from-discreetly lets out ridiculously loud grunts that signal she is desperately trying to "help things along". And just in case the noise isn't enough to clue everyone around her in... the intense squishing of the face along with the beet red coloring are sure to confirm it all. Her calm suckling suddenly switches to biting (thank goodness there are no teeth yet)... and then... suddenly... no matter how prepared you are... the explosion makes you jump. No kidding... Eric almost dropped her once! You would swear in that moment that intestines shot out along with all that was in them, and no way could such a tiny little human being have room to store all that up... and then... another bomb! A yellowish warm leak begins to emerge on the back of her clothing... and it's time to hit the changing table. Or not. Before you can even stand up the red face, tense belly, and legs stiffen once more as the adorable yet sneaky little monster on your lap explodes with a vengeance that puts her father's intestines to shame! Finished? Heck NO!! Two or even three more shots are yet to come with my sweet baby girl grunting like those scary die-hard weight lifters you see in the gym. By now the small yellow warm spot on her back now saturates her outfit... and my own. I wait... suspending her in the air in a pathetic attempt to protect all around her from more damage... praying that the battle is over. The squished, red, weight lifter face suddenly returns to it's pure and angelic appearance... and all is calm once again. Why I bother feeding this child is beyond me... but all the books and doctors tell you that you must.

For a moment, I'm left wondering what the best plan of action. Becoming a mother basically carries with it the loss of all modesty and dignity. So there I sit... boob out and dripping (sorry... the details are necessary)... with warm wet stains on one of the two pairs of pants that fit me right now... balancing a poop-soaked (yet very content) baby mid-air.

Just two nights ago... this is again where Ella and I found ourselves. At 4am... it really is a good time let me tell you. I wobbled down the hall to her bedroom to disrobe us both and suddenly... something warm and mushy surrounded my toes. You see... about 3 months ago we began tying Max out on a stake to do his business rather than letting him go free to mess up the neighbors yard. He has been in somewhat of a rebellion on and off ever since. Apparently, not long before I got up with Ella that night... he had chosen to unleash that rebellion in the hallway outside her room.

Perfect.

So there I was... boob dripping... poop soaked baby... I don't really need to review do I? Just add dog feces to my foot now. Max was lucky. Had I not been so pre-occupied with my child decorated in feces (and now very hungry), I would have turned him loose outside, bidding the family of hungry coyotes "Bon Apetite!". Seriously. The dog must die.

Why is it that this is not the image of Motherhood that we all fantasize about when we dream of having our own children some day? I've decided God must count on our naive nature... or else NONE OF US WOULD EVER HAVE THEM!!

Ah... good times. You can imagine my response when my well-rested husband greeted me in the morning asking, "how was your night?".

*sigh*
"Fine, honey. No problem. Thanks for asking... sleep well?"

I do love them all... really... I do. :)

(innocent looking, aren't they?)

Shout Out

Ella just wanted to give a little "shout out" to her biggest blog fan... her big cousin Mia. Mia's only 5, but we hear from Grandma Cook that she's checking the website regularly to see how her baby cousin is doing. She's recently admitted that Ella is actually "cuter than her!", but we all think they are both totally adorable!

Ella loves you Mia, and she can't wait to show you her toothless grin in person! She can't wait to learn all the things you're planning to teach her!

(scroll down for more smiles!)

Smiles

(This is Eric writing...) So over the past two weeks we feel like we have a new baby. Ella's personality is really starting to come out and she is much more interactive. She is also starting to fill out and is outgrowing her early outfits. We love our new addition to the family. Here is a series of pictures Meg took today.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Eric's 1st Father's Day was filled with all of his favorite things...

1) Trip to Home Depot (check)
2) Nice long nap (check)
3) Steak dinner (check)
4) Lowes gift card (check)
5) Adorable baby girl (check)
6) Hot wife (check, CHECK!!)
(Hey! When you author the blog you automatically get the liberty to impose impressions on others as well as put words into their mouth... especially your husband's!)

Happy Father's Day Daddy... We Love You!

Thank You Baby Einstein...

Charlie Bit Me!

Noura Meets Ella

Last week Betsy and Noura came over to meet Ella. We had fun introducing the girls. Noura was more than ready to cuddle and become friends for life...

Ella wasn't so sure...
And here's a shot of Betsy and Ella. Betsy was the first person to learn that I thought I was pregnant. I was working and Noura was my patient that day!

And the Club Grows....

I am so excited! Bloggers are coming out of the woodwork and they are all good friends of mine!! Some say I pressured them into it... I say "Great! I'm glad it worked!" Now what's wrong with the rest of you?!

Since everyone hopes to have others read and comment what they write... here are the blog addresses of some friends you need to know:

Marylea (left of me):
http://callmemare.blogspot.com

Natalie (right of me)
http://babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=225881

My friend Stacey from Reno (left)... her baby Peter got cut out of the picture, but you'll see more on her blog at:
http://4staceylynn.blogspot.com

Carrie (right), has had a blog... but she's recently been redeeming her nickname listed on the right... so give her a second chance and check her out! :)
http://carelizabeth.blogspot.com

Definitely not the greatest picture of us... but this is my cousin Lisa. She'll soon be "Dr. Lisa" so follow her fun med school journey at:
http://lifeofthedunnings.blogspot.com
p.s: her most recent post is a super hilarious video that you have to check out!

HELP! I can't keep my eyeballs straight!

"Mommy... why are there two of you?"

So many visitors... so little blogging time...

We've been slacking on the blogging but enjoying lots of visitors! Last week Ella met her only living Great-Grandparents! My Grandma has 3 Great-Granddaughters... and their names are Elsa, Ellie and Ella! Poor thing... we aren't making it easy for her to keep them all straight!

My Aunt Marcia also got a little bonding in...
My sister Jennelyse came to stay with us last week from Colorado. It was fun to spend some time with her and Ella really loved her Aunt Jenn!

And finally we were able to introduce Ella to her Grandma Debbie! What a fun visit we had!