We officially have a 14 month old! It doesn't seem possible! I love how she can understand almost everything we say these days. She has been helping me put away books and toys when we are done with them and she'll never know how big of a help this is! Elli even helped the "teacher" put away toys at the library yesterday. Every Tuesday we make a trip to the library for "baby laptime." We sing songs, read books, and then play with toys at the end. Lately, Elli has been the "center of attention" there (literally)....she will go, stand in the middle of the circle- right in front of the teacher and stare or do a little dance while we sing and every other child is sitting on their mother's lap. I enjoy our library time as much as Elli does because I've met some other moms there with kiddos about the same age as Elli. Elliana continues to do more and more each day. She is trying to say more words and most of the time they always end up sounding the same, but at least she is trying! Tonight we practiced turn taking (which is 1 thing I sometimes start with in therapy with a little kiddo for communication)....she did great and picked up the sign for "my turn" very quickly. Of course, she doesn't fully grasp this concept, but we had fun playing with our bubbles while working on this. Here are some pictures from our weekend....

Swimming at the pool! I love this picture even though you can't see Elli's face. I think I like it so much because I know how much Scott completely adores Elli. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear "Ash, Elli really is my best friend....I hate letting her go when I put her to bed because she is so snugly." Scott is excited to get his boy, but he wouldn't trade this little girl for anything. She definitely has him wrapped around her finger!

I, unfortunately, wasn't at the pool to watch everyone swim (I was....well....doing something else that we won't mention and I'd rather forget), but Elli apparently loved "jumping" (from a seated position) off the side. Elli's grandparents and cousins came to visit us this weekend, which is why you see her Papa in this picture :) We were hoping for some good weather to go to the zoo and park, but instead had weather in the 30's-40's....ugh! So...we settled with a trip to the indoor play area at the mall, swimming at the YMCA, playing at the house and............... a trip to Chuck E Cheese! (Not sure what is going on in this picture....I don't think I ask her where her belly was, but maybe I did?). There were SOOOOOOO many kids running all around at this place, but the kids enjoyed it.

And here is the real reason we went to Chuck E Cheese. Scott's dad enjoyed the games as much as the kids. Ha....ok....I kid! I had to sneak this picture in....I was watching Dane and saw him run over to this game. He was trying to win the boys more tickets because do you realize how many tickets it costs to win a tiny little toy???? Unbelievable....I'm pretty sure you could get any one of their prizes at the dollar store!!

Counting up the tickets. Vander enjoyed his first experience at chuck e cheese.....

and So did Dane!

It was a good weekend despite the fact that most of us ended up sick :/

Elli is growing so quickly these days....it is hard to believe that she is almost 14 months old! We've been trying to take advantage of the warmer days lately, as this girl loves to be outside! We've been making many trips to the park and we even let Bella tag along yesterday. It was quite a chore taking both of them as Bella tends to drag us....I woke up this morning with a sore shoulder :) Elli enjoys the slide and swing. Yesterday, she kept wanting to go down the slide though.

I spoke too soon when I wrote last week that our sickness was finally gone :) Scott and I found ourselves taking Elli to the urgent care on Saturday night and then driving all around to find a 24 hour pharmacy. Elli started having a fever and she was taking short, shallow breaths, which prompted our trip. She ended up having a double ear infection, so we go back to the dr. next Friday for an ear check. They gave us numbing drops for her ear and a stronger antibiotic than last time. I'm hoping this will clear everything up. She is still pretty congested. Luckily, Elli is able to understand when I tell her to "cough" so this has helped clear her throat some.

Elli understands the majority of what we tell her these days. She is becoming quite the helper and enjoys throwing her diaper in the trash can or diaper genie. I have to be careful because sometimes she'll take a clean diaper and head over towards the trash. Currently, she is signing 6 words: more, all done, please, milk, cookie, and wash. She is able to do some of them without prompting from me (esp. more....we see her do this all the time to try and get what she wants). She is using many different sounds, but hasn't quite formed a meaningful word. She is a little delayed on her expressive communication, but I'm not really surprised since she was such an early walker. She is able to identify her belly, ears and tongue on herself. She can identify "nose" on her animals or will just sniff if you ask her where her nose is. Elli is so much fun these days and we typically spend our days laughing at all of the silly things she does!

Elliana is doing great with eating!! Only making 1 meal for dinner and making her eat what we eat is wonderful! I can't imagine doing it any differently.....I can't believe how far she has come!

These days, Elli LOVES to run and does so all over the place. I took this yesterday when we were playing at the park.

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HAPPY BELATED ST. PATRICK'S DAY!! It was so nice when we got home from work on Thursday....we took her outside to play for a bit....(notice the green in her outfit!!)

Running after Daddy

Doing her fake laugh....probably at Bella

Laughing at Bella catching the Ball (she LOVES Bella)!!

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I wanted to post a picture of Elli in her new "Big Sister" shirt, but I didn't get my camera out in time on Sunday. During nap, I went on a short shopping trip to pick up some things. I got Elli and this new baby matching (as matching as you can get with a boy and girl) shirts....Elli's says "Big Sister" and his says "Little Brother". The difference in size is unreal. I forgot how small newborns are. I went through her stuff today and realized how much I needed to get for this little guy.....so far he has a couple gender neutral sleepers (Elli's old ones), 4 PU onsies (different sizes), and 2 white, newborn long sleeved onsies (which we probably won't use since he'll be born in the summer and we'll need short sleeved....oh well). I'll be busy, but its kind of fun thinking about litte boys clothes since I'm so used to girls.

OH BOY

OH BOY! Yep....that's right! It's a boy! After much speculation and me always calling this child a "him" or "he" we finally have proof that he is in fact a boy. The dr. spent a good amount of time looking at everything and said he looks great. Our dr. said that he has passed his 1st physical by a dr....way to go little nugget!! At this point in time he can tell that this boy has no cleft lip (thanks to the little nugget opening up his mouth wide to stick his thumb in) and no spina bifida. Also, his heart looks healthy with all 4 chambers. The dr. said he is measuring just right; however, when he was taking measurements I saw on the screen it said August 20, 2011. So....I'm not sure if that means we're 4 days behind schedule or what. I'd be ok with that....I'm not rushing this little guy out and would like him to stay put for as long as possible....the older Elli is- the better! We were extremely pleased with how the dr.'s appt. went. However, Elli did make her last appearance at that office. It is pretty difficult to have her tag along seeing as how they need a urine sample, blood pressure, weight, and measurement of my stomach at each appointment. They took me back 5 minutes early today and Scott still wasn't there. I had to take her in the restroom with me to get my urine sample. I was too focused on what she was taking out of the cabinet under the sink to realize I had set the sample on the floor. Next thing I new, she had spilled the whole urine sample on the bathroom floor. GROSS.....I did some quick cleaning and rushed out of there all disheveled! Luckily, my dr. stays open until 7:00 on Mondays. I took the 6:45 appt. (So Scott could watch her in the evening) for the 11th of April and had to throw out any chance of me getting a mani/pedi before we head to Vegas. Oh well....such is life!

I hope this little guy likes playing beauty shop and baby dolls because that is what Elli and I do all day. Looks like I'm in the market for some boy clothes and toys. I'm pretty sure this little guy has many air shows in his future.

I'm feeling great and honestly this pregnancy has been a breeze thus far compared to Elli's. The dr. put a halt on any plans we had to travel around the 4th of July, so it looks like we'll be staying close to Columbus. We're still tossing around the idea of taking Elli somewhere within a couple hours from our house.

Here are some pictures of baby boy lindvall....

picture 1 on left....his foot

picture 2 on right....opening his mouth to stick his thumb in (a behavior we'll have to decrease when he comes out of the womb)

picture 3 on left......money shot

picture 4 on right.....him looking at the "camera"

picture 5 on left.....money shot....he's all boy

picture 6 on right.....his head

The bottom left 2 pictures are upside down.

1st zoo trip and more

Elli is doing great and is on her last day of antibiotics. I can honestly say I've only had to wipe her nose a couple times within the past week. This is a huge change for us since she had been sick for at least 5 weeks. Antibiotics are amazing and has made life so much easier for all of us!!

Elliana continues to be a picky eater, but will try new things. We found out this weekend that she enjoys ketchup and will even dip her chicken/fish sticks in it herself. Such a big girl! She understands so much these days and it is fun to see her learn new things. Elli still takes 1 nap a day and sleeps about 12 hours a night. We've noticed a trend the past couple months with her sleeping when visitors are here :/ Elli tends to have a somewhat rough night when other people besides us are staying in our house. Typically she wakes up a couple times throughout the night and sometimes has trouble getting back to sleep. Luckily, she only does this when visitors come....I couldn't handle it if this was a weekly occurrence. Hopefully she'll grow out of this soon.

Sarah and Travis gave us a call a couple weeks ago to see if they could come visit this past weekend to see Elli. We were excited to have them spend 2 days with us and even experience Elli's first zoo trip. The zoo was a lot of fun and Elli LOVED it. Elli got a zoo membership from my parents for her birthday.....this gift will be used over and over again! We lucked out with some pretty good weather on Saturday! Elli loved looking at all the animals....ducking through the fences to see them. She would point and laugh when she saw the animals :) Here are some pictures from our trip...

I didn't mean to post this picture, but this was the polar bear exhibit under the water. They bears were standing on the glass playing with each other.

I thought it'd be a great idea to let Elli ride on the carousal. Ha! Sarah, Travis, and I sat and watched as Scott rode with Elli (we would have taken a ride also, but it cost money and Elli was free). She enjoyed sitting on the horse, but as soon as it started she jumped into his arms for the rest of the ride. I was surprised she didn't like it seeing as how my Dad introduced her to the penny horse machine at Meijer last weekend (luckily she has forgotten that she liked this and hasn't asked to get on it when we've been grocery shopping).

Thanks for coming over, Sarah and Travis! We had a great time! We'll see you in Vegas in a month!

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We decided to take Elli to the YMCA to go swimming on Sunday to get out of the house. She was a little scared at first due to all the kids in the pool, but ended up having a good time. She's getting better at putting her face in the water, kicking her feet, and splashing all around. It was a little cold, so we had to end the swimming trip a bit early....I could only look at her blue/purple lips for so long :/

She's got her new suit on for our swimming trip!

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Elli and Scott came upstairs and this is how I found her. Of course....she had to have something on her head. This time she decided her pj bottoms were the appropriate head-dress.

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She fell asleep at lunch again....

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Elli loves going outside and always watches Bella when she goes out to go to the bathroom.

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I know....there are a lot of random pictures in this blog, but it is late and I wanted to get this written.

Scott has an extended weekend coming up! Scott is taking off work on Friday to watch Elli, as I have a conference to go to all weekend. I'm actually really excited about the conference and am hoping I get all my continuing ed. hours so I don't have to worry about them when the new baby comes. I worked for a couple weeks to try and find someone to watch Elli, so he wouldn't have to take off work....clearly, I didn't have much luck....I actually think this is working out better because he is pretty excited about spending the day with her on Friday! He is already planning their day. I think a trip to the zoo will be in their plans as long as the weather cooperates.

We are finally feeling better! Elli and I are both on antibiotics and I can tell they are working! She is sleeping great and her appetite is definitely back! I just hope we can keep all other germs away! I was so glad to finally have some energy to clean today, as I've definitely been slacking lately on those responsibilities!

Elliana seems to be into everything these days....it is definitely getting harder to take still pictures of her! Our living room typically looks like a tornado by the end of the day (yes, still working on the playroom downstairs for her). Today, her and I discussed the fact that there is a baby in my belly. Obviously she doesn't understand what that means yet, but she gave the baby multiple kisses.....until she got bored and moved onto the next activity! Speaking of baby....Scott and I compromised and decided that we will in fact find out the sex of the baby next Tuesday. Our compromise?? Well....if we have another one after this (definitely not thinking about that anytime soon or for the next few years for that matter)...we will wait until delivery to find out the sex. Sounded good to me!

Here are some pictures of us playing the past 2 days....as you can tell she loves to have things put on her head.

She had to have goggles on her head and the baby's diaper bag around her neck.....

Thinking she is pretty funny. She was biting Ernie's nose and then cracking up (with her fake laugh)!

Doing her fake laugh

Real laugh this time....she was throwing Bella the ball and thought it was SOOOOOOO funny last night (and it was pretty funny to watch her).

The goggles once again

1 year pictures

I've done a pretty horrible job lately at taking pictures and told myself the other day that I'd take plenty of her on Monday and Tuesday for the blog. Well....both Elli and I then got sick and that never happened. Yep....that's right....we are sick again! We both have fevers and are just feeling not so grand. We originally thought Elliana's was from teething, but the nurse assured me today that a fever of 101.5 wouldn't be caused by teeth. They wanted me to hold off for another day to bring her in to see if she gets any better. I got lots of snuggles today! She pretty much spent all afternoon on my shoulder....this was great for both of us as I had no energy to play (There are not a whole lot of meds that I can take with me being pregnant). We are both staying home tomorrow and I will work on Friday instead of tomorrow. Here's to hoping this will be our last week of being sick!!

Since I don't have any good pictures to post....here is a slideshow of Elli's 1 year pictures....

http://video214.com/play/aObC2iG6Ffd91yqVzi0X1Q/s/dark

OR....If you'd rather look at them 1 by 1....click on the below link and sign up with a user name and password.

http://amysuzannephotographic.lifepics.com/net/Pro/EventInfo.aspx?event=elli1year


By the way....Scott you should know if you read this-I know I just told you this, but you're pretty amazing for taking care of everything tonight!!