5 on Friday

1. I had the whole week off! Although there was not much 'vacation' aspect of it, I got a lot done!

2. Including all of our Christmas shopping! Nick and I spent Tuesday shopping. He is a very good shopping partner and lists from others make it SO much easier.

3. Last Sunday my mom, sister and I made a day trip to IKEA in MN! It was a successful trip (with a van load of purchases) and a lot of fun. Thanks, Mom!

4. Ellie's new thing is having friends over to her house. She asks for them all the time! Last Saturday her friends Gracie and Lucie came over, Tuesday night Sophia and Baby (Collin), and yesterday Ruby (and Izzy, Ally and Sammy) stopped by. I told her today was just Mommy, Daddy and Ellie--- she looked a little disappointed. Mommy and Daddy must not be enough fun for her.

5. Yesterday we enjoyed Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house. 32 of us total! Ellie has a blast playing with her cousins. So much so she skipped nap. This meant she slept in this morning. Good thing we were done with our shopping and didn't need to be anywhere at 7AM (or midnight or 10PM last night).

Thanksgiving Extra: On Tuesday Ellie slept in... we didn't wake her up because we didn't have to go anywhere at a certain time and could drop her off at day-care whenever. We learned that letting her sleep in on day-care days is not a good thing, as she opted to not take a nap and instead throw books at the other kids that were sleeping--- thus waking them up. Let's just say it was not a good day at day-care.

5 on Friday

1. We celebrated Ellie's 2nd birthday on Sunday! It is crazy how fast they grow up.

2. We found out Ellie was going to have a baby sister. She is getting very good at saying, "little sister."

3. We had water in the basement... of our brand new house... not fun. Turns out when they installed the bar cabinets they punctured a water pipe or something. At least we don't have to pay to get it fixed and the damage is not too bad.

4. Ellie has been very clingy lately. She always wants to be held or on someones lap. And lots of tears when she doesn't get her way. I guess this comes with the age--- or so the Dr. said.

5. Ellie had her 2-year well-visit on Monday. She is doing great for her age--- even ahead developmentally (and in size!) And her iron levels are normal! Which means we don't HAVE to go back to the Dr. for a whole year and she can stop taking her iron supplements.

It's a...

... GIRL! Ellie is going to have a little sister. When we asked her before we found out if she wanted a baby brother or a baby sister she would almost always say baby brother. I think this was because the two newest babies she knows are both boys. She is now saying that she is going to have a baby sister. Although she also still says that she is the baby...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Eleanor!

Dear Ellie,

I can hardly believe two years have passed since you officially joined our family! You have grown up so much in those past two years. I feel like if I blink I will miss something new with you.

According to Dr. Jay, you are right on track or slightly ahead developmentally. You can put together lots of two and three word sentences, even forming a four word sentence every once in a while. You talk about yourself in third person almost all of the time. You love Elmo, coloring and reading. You know your surroundings and after spending over a month in a hotel, are glad to be back in a ‘home’ with your own belongings. You started potty training (because you were interested, not because Mommy and Daddy were in a hurry to have it done) and have mastered it except for during nap-time and night-time. Day-care thinks you will be ready to go diaper-free at nap-time really soon. You love M&M’s and earn them any chance you can get. You are not a picky eater, but have your days. You are starting to get a little more afraid of loud sounds and are not sure you like the doorbell at the new house. You love to play “run” (aka hide-n-seek) with Mommy and Daddy any chance you get. You also go bye-bye and outside any chance whenever possible. Talking about your friends at day-care and outside of day-care occurs daily. Outside of Mommy and Daddy, Aunt Megan is probably your favorite person. You don’t have to be the center of attention, but you enjoy being around other people and would rather play with other people around than by yourself. You have an independent side that is starting to show. Daddy says you get this from Mommy, but Mommy thinks it comes from both of us. You love to brush your teeth and take bathes. You are not really into the TV, unless Elmo or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on--- and even then it only keeps your attention for a few minutes. You love to sing songs (or have them sung to you) and to dance around. You have many ‘faces’ and expressions that you share with people. You are not hard to read in that aspect. You are still an easy child, although I am sure we will have some rougher moments in the next two years as you establish your independence and test your boundaries more and more. Thank you for coming into my life and letting me be your Mommy. It means more than you will ever know. Love you!

Mommy

5 on Friday

1. We have a new house! And actually get to live there! We had rescheduled closing for Tuesday, but late Friday afternoon we were able to get it changed to Monday morning (Thanks, Jess!). What a beautiful day to move, much better than Tuesday or Wednesday. With the help of my mom, dad and Two Men & A Truck (or 2 men, 1 woman and a truck as we had) we got it all moved in before 4PM that afternoon. Ellie's room was set up before she was picked up at day-care and the kitchen was done before the end of the night. I was very happy with the progress we made the first day.

2. Nick and I were back to work the next day, and have been doing a few boxes each night. We now have both upstairs bathrooms done (as much as they will be for the time being) and our closet done. Now, if we could only find the feet to our bed-frame we could have our bedroom done. Until then we are sleeping on the floor, which is still an upgrade from the hotel beds.

3. Ellie LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her new house. We are so happy about that and the transition has been very easy (after being in a hotel for a month plus). She does call it "Grandpa's House," although I think that is because the only other garage she has driven into has been at my parent's house and they were the first people she saw when she came home the first day. At day-care she has been talking about "Ellie's House" to all of her friends and teachers. She loves her room, but loves the basement more. We had neighbors stop over Monday night and Ellie was very proud showing the older kids her house and all of her toys.

4. We also had family pictures taken on Sunday downtown. We cannot wait to see how they turned out.

5. We ended up switching hotels Friday, good decision as Ellie liked the second hotel much more than the first. And the pool was warmer so we could actually swim. The Beltman Family came over Friday night for swim/play time. Watching Ellie scream when she saw Sophia and Brad was priceless. Saturday night Megan, Mike and Liam joined us for a swim (although Liam didn't swim). Ellie had a great time then too and enjoyed getting to go out for frozen yogurt after dinner.

Bonus: what a crazy week! Wonderful, busy, crazy. And the fun doesn't end. Today we find out the gender of Baby #2!

5 on Friday

1. Yes, since I have time to write this it means we did not move into the new house as planned. No counter-tops equals no moving in.

2. We are now hoping to move in on Tuesday. Let's hope this actually happens.

3. Of course we didn't find out about the delay until AFTER we had spent the lunch hour shopping for and buying curtains rods for the windows and liner for the cabinets. No big deal, we need them anyway--- but I would rather not have to store them in our car or in the hotel until the time comes. Oh well, we will work around it.

4. Ellie had a great time trick-or-treating at day-care. She still does not understand what she is doing, but she likes to be in her monkey costume.

5. Helping hand out candy was a little bit more difficult as Ellie got REALLY scared the first time she heard the doorbell, the dog bark and people dressed in scary costumes at the door. After that she was a little more hesitant, but still wanted to help. Thanks to Mike and Megan for letting us hang out with them Sunday night!

Occupancy

I was getting our bills ready for the builder yesterday and noticed that a few days ago the hotel stopped charging us the "occupancy sales tax" and "state occupancy tax." I thought that was odd and wanted to make sure the bill was correct, so I called the hotel to verify. Sure enough, after living in a hotel for so many consecutive days you establish residency there. We are official residents of the hotel. Never thought that would happen.

As my co-worker put it: I can cross that off my bucket list. Too bad it was never on there in the first place, and is something I hope to never experience again.

We are still scheduled to close on the new house tomorrow and will be waiting around for the certificate of occupancy to arrive (crossing our fingers that occurs tomorrow as well). Wish us luck!