Ella's B-day!

Hard to believe it has been one year.......

But, this Friday Ella will have her first birthday! A few things about Ella at one year old....
She doesn't walk yet and, in fact, refuses to stand. If you try to get her to stand she will make herself go completely limp. Matt and I tend to have very cautious children and neither of our boys walked until well into their 13th month. She is generally a friendly baby and loves attention. Luckily, she gets a LOT of it from her brothers who both adore her....sometimes too much. It is often hard to carry her around because both of the boys are tugging at her legs and trying to kiss her. She usually enjoys new people and will let most everyone hold her, but occasionally she meets someone who rubs her the wrong way and immediately starts screaming (we think it has to do with how deep a person's voice is). She loves her Daddy and smiles and lunges for him every time she sees him. Certain things however, MUST be done by Mom. She will not eat or go to sleep for anyone else, including Dad. Her favorite toys are rattles and she shakes every toy she picks up to see what kind of sound it will make. She is not a picky eater, but we recently discovered that she gets very ill from gluten, just like her brother Gavin (he is very excited to have another gluten-free kid in the house). Most everybody calls her Ella Bella. I don't know why we even tried to go with a different middle name for her, Ella Bella just seems to roll off the tongue. Matt and I also refer to her as "the Hoover" (because she eats anything left on the carpet) or just "the girl". She definitely gets spoiled by her Dad and I because of her tender feelings. She isn't left to cry nearly as often as the boys were. She is adored by everyone in our house and we are all excited to watch her grow!

Will the real Santa Claus please stand up.....

Last weekend our church had its annual Christmas party and both of the boys got to sit on Santa's lap and rattle off their wish list. They were both very excited about it! Then, on Saturday, we were at TJ Maxx doing some Christmas shopping and Santa and Mrs Claus walked into the store. Gavin and Abe got to shake his hand and Mrs Claus gave them both a little stuffed reindeer. On the drive home we were talking with Abe about how lucky he was to see Santa twice in one week since Santa must be really busy right now. He said "Mom, that wasn't the same Santa, that was a new Santa." Trying to perpetuate the fantasy, I said "Abe there is only one Santa Claus." Gavin took my word for it immediately and tried to help me convince Abe that it was,in fact, the same Santa. Abe didn't say much about it on the rest of the ride, so I thought we had done a good job convincing him. But, this morning he came to me and said "Mom, do you think both the Santa's know what I want for Christmas?"
Oh well, I tried!

Walking Webster's....

Gavin is always on an information hunt. His brain is like a rolodex of information and he is constantly trying to add to the files.
The result of that is a really smart, but compulsive, boy. One of his newest learning tools is asking us to define words. For instance in the last 24 hours I have had to come up with definitions for: nosering, piercing, babushka, language, OK, including, soda, science, etc. I honestly don't know where he hears some of these words....I don't think that we have even said the word babushka in the 6 yrs since he was born. Once you give him the definition he usually asks you to define the words that you used in the definition to the original word....it's a vicious cycle! I'm thinking about buying a pocket dictionary and keeping it with me at all times because I am honestly not smart enough for most of his questions. He'll probably make a killer scrabble player someday though!

Snow Day!

Yesterday we had our first significant snowfall of the season. We had some flurries earlier in the month, but nothing that stuck. We didn't get much yesterday either, but the ground was dusted with white. So, the boys insisted on pulling the sled out. We have a little hill in our back yard that is just perfect for 4-5 year old sledders.....not too steep, but enough to give them a thrill.
We spent about 20 minutes putting on the gear. Snow pants, boots, mittens, hats, coats, etc. Then they headed out. They went down the hill about 4 times and then wanted back in. I think this is one of the natural laws they fail to teach you in school. Children will stay out in the cold for about 1/3 the time it takes you to put on all the clothes and about 1/8 the time it will take you to clean up the melting snow and put away all the snow clothes. It was worth it though to see the look of joy on their faces as they went flying down that hill!

Ella's first word!

It's official! Ella said her first word today. She learned to wave and say Bye-Bye. It actually sounds more like "Ah-Dye", but we know what she means.

Brotherly Love?

Craft Corner

Last night we decided to repurpose some baby food jars by making homemade snowglobes. They turned out pretty cute, don't ya think?

Thanksgiving Weekend

We've all enjoyed a fun, four-day Thanksgiving weekend together and now it's coming to a close. Time flies! Like Karen wrote in her last post, Gavin had a great gluten-free meal prepared for him and he loved it! He ate some of his stuffing, most of his turkey and all of his gluten free rolls. And for dessert - gluten free pumpkin pie! (We won't mention that he decided to skip the gluten-free pie crust and stick with just the pumpkin part.) Karen found her true culinary calling: making the most kickin' stuffing this side of the Food Network, with apples, sausage, and all sorts of good stuff. Karen's mom made a great turkey and controversial mashed potatos (that I stand by 100 percent) that made for a great meal. We all had fun hanging out with the Worlton's and stuffing ourselves silly.

The next day, we decorated our house for Christmas. Gavin and Abe loved trimming the tree - it's in a constant state of flux, with ornaments being moved every few minutes. On top of our usual decorations, we bought a few strands of battery operated twinkle lights for hard-to-reach places. They shone brightly for a grand total of 6 hours before fizzing out. (Needless to say, don't buy battery operated lights.)

We also went to the Naperville Christmas Lights Parade with Karen's parents and Dan, Marci and Ethan. We almost froze Abe and Ella solid in the process, but it was still fun! And Santa Claus was the big ending of the parade!

It's back to reality tomorrow, but we're definitely feeling the Christmas spirit after this weekend. Let the Christmas season begin!

The Grinch Loves the Ladies!

Activity Page Genius

"Don't even try to top me, mister. I'm the connect-the-dots master!"

Gluten free Thanksgiving

I am so excited about Thanksgiving! Mostly because Gavin is excited about Thanksgiving. Gavin is never excited by food or eating. He is more of a drinker....orange juice is his weakness. But, since it is a holiday, he has been talking non-stop about eating turkey, stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pie and all the other fixins. If you know Gavin, you know what a big deal that is (Karina, I know you understand). He is not usually open to new foods (those foods may not seem exotic to you, but for Gavin they truly are). Not only is he gluten free, but he is also EXTREMELY picky. This is our 2nd Thanksgiving since he went gluten free. Last year he didn't eat much. I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, so he didn't have much to choose from. This year I am making gluten free stuffing and I bought gluten free dinner rolls. My Mom even bought a special gluten free pie crust to make him some pumpkin pie. I am so excited to see him eat something other than peanut butter and jelly and apple slices! It might just be a Thanksgiving miracle! He is also excited about Christmas dinner....he has been reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and can't wait to "carve the roast beast". Maybe I can disguise some spinach as a roast beast and really expand his palate!

A few of my favorite things....

Our kids drove us CRAZY this weekend! My first instinct was to vent to you all and wow you with how difficult my life can be. BUT, in an effort to have an attitude of gratitude during the Thanksgiving season I have decided instead to share with you some of my favorite things about each of my kids.....
Ella:
-The way she sticks her thumb in her mouth, snuggles her blanket to her face and looks up at me adoringly as I lay her in her crib (check out my "Ella Bella" entry from June for a visual).
-How she lights up when she is around animals. I take her to a pet store almost every week just to watch her face as she looks at the puppies in the windows.
-How she loves to look at herself in the mirror. She gets a big cheesy grin when she catches a glimpse of herself (I would too if I was that cute!).
-Her tender feelings. She is so sensitive to a harsh voice or look. She has such a sweet girly temperment.
Abe:
-The adorable monkey/baby talk voice that he uses when he talks to Ella. He is always so sweet and gentle with her.
-His love of food. He reminds me of the rat in "Ratatouille". He loves to experiment with different tastes and textures.
-His enthusiasm. He loves life so much that he can make the most mundane task seem amazing. When we drive in the car he gives a running dialogue of all the great things he can see out the windows.
-His social skills. Abe really has a way with people. I have yet to meet someone who can resist his charms.
Gavin:
-His mind. Gavin is so smart that it sometimes scares us. He will definitely be surpassing Matt and I in intelligence very soon.
-His imagination. He can turn a box into a spaceship or a newspaper into a pirate's map. He is never bored!
-The questions he asks. I know my brain will always be challenged by him. Just this weekend he asked Matt and I to explain the differences between colons, semi-colons and ellipses....and he is in Kindergarten!
-His innocence. One of the benefits of Gavin's disability is that he is blissfully unaware of social stigmas. He is just happy with who he is and he is teaching the rest of us to be too.

So, there it is. I feel better already!

Primary Program

Today was the annual Primary Program at church. Gavin has been really excited about it because he inherited his Dad's love of public speaking (he definitely did not get that from me!). He only had one line, but with Gavin you never know what that will mean. Last year his "one line" turned into a mini sacrament meeting talk. Our morning started out badly. For some reason Sundays are horribly chaotic for us. Ella was screaming, skippy was doing his nervous pee thing, Abe was really emotional and Gavin was obsessing over a new activity book and refused to get dressed. When we finally made it to church it was fun to see that Grandma and Grandpa Worlton and Uncle Dan and Aunt Marci had all come to see us. Gavin did a great job saying his line. He did it just like we practiced and sat still through the entire program. Abe had a lot of fun watching the big kids and is excited to be a part of the primary next year. I can't believe how grown up our kids are getting. Life seems to go at warp speed lately.

Tricks and Treats

Halloween this year was a scary ole time . . . in more ways than one. Gavin spent the night before following Abram's example (see Karen's "never cease to be amazed..." entry below), so he missed school and the class parade. Luckily Karen made the boy's skeleton costumes and used comfy jogging suits, so he was able to spend his sick day in his costume. This is Gavin:





We went to Gramma Worlton's house for treats and she made the day especially memorable. Then, after a lot of rest. we headed out to hit a few houses for trick-or-treating. Ella was a bee, Karen was a butterfly and I was a bug catcher (follow the theme?). We gots lots of candy, and despite having to adjust our plans, we had a great Halloween!




It was pretty cold, but as you can see Ella was as snug as a bug!

Ray of Light

Ella exhudes so much sunshine, it actually comes out of her mouth! Don't believe me? Exhibit A: