21 Months

Elliana turned 21 months old this past Wednesday and it is hard to believe that we are just 3 months away from her 2nd birthday. She is repeating most of what we say these days and I started counting up her spontaneous words the other day, but she has too many to count. It surprises me what she remembers from day to day.

These days, Elli is really into coloring (I don't want to be one of those moms who always brags about their kid, BUT you should see the way this girl holds a pen...unreal....she has pretty much always held a writing utensil exactly the way you are supposed to). Elli loves books....we read many each day. Some favorites include: Olivia, Dog book, Where is Baby's Valentine, and Kisses. She is also really into sesame street. Her favorite movies are Snow White and Fox and the Hound. Her favorite song undoubtedly is "Hi-Ho" off of Snow White. I'm contemplating a Snow White theme for her 2nd birthday....we will see!

Elli continues to love jewelry, make-up, dancing, and playing with her baby dolls. Also, she loves watching trucks and buses!

Elli still loves animals, but especially loves dogs.....

Loving on Mackey during a wagon ride.

As you can tell from the pictures below, Elli enjoys tractor and combine rides....

*Elli spent a couple days at home with her Papa and Nana Lindvall this week. She got to experience her first combine ride and loved it...something I have never done.

Farmer Elli

And when there is a slide near, you can bet Elli will be going down it!

Elli has quite the personality. There are days when she tests every limit possible and then days when she follows all the rules and listens so well to me. She keeps us on our toes and has had me recently searching the computer, books, etc. on the best way to discipline and handle these "terrible twos." She is strong willed and has a mind of her own. BUT she can be the sweetest little thing and is very willing to hand out hugs and kisses. We feel so blessed to have this little girl.

Pumpkin Patch

We've been excited to take Elliana back to the pumpkin patch this year so she could pick out a pumpkin. She's been enjoying all the pumpkins that have been out on everyones porch. We had big plans to let her ride the train ride, play in the sandpit, play on the big hill, etc., but never made it to that part of the pumpkin patch. The weather conditions were less than wonderful. We made it to the store and got some salsa, apple cider slushies, cinnamon rolls (Scott says they are the best he's ever had...they are very good), and rock candy....

"Cheese"

Elli and I went to look for pumpkins while Scott and Connor stayed in the car. It was way too windy and cold for Connor to be outside. As I would have guessed, Elli wanted every pumpkin and of course she thought I could carry as many pumpkins as she pointed out. We finally settled on two small pumpkins and I lured her back to the car promising her she could eat her rock candy (See above pictures).

Our trip to the pumpkin patch wasn't exactly what we thought it'd be. We're hoping to go back sometime this weekend where we can spend more time.

2 Months

Connor turned 2 months this past Sunday! He continues to be such a sweet little guy! We had his 2 month check up today and the dr. thought he looked great! He was 10 lbs 15 oz (25th percentile) and 22 1/4 inches long (25th percentile). He received 4 shots and 1 oral vaccination and did not like those at all (well...he didn't mind the oral vaccination). It took a little bit of time to calm him after the shots and has been pretty exhausted since he got them.

Connor has what looks to be a divot in his chest and it is very noticeable when he breaths. The doctor had some fancy name for it and said we'll continue to watch it as he grows. It shouldn't cause any harm, but would be more of a cosmetic concern as he gets older.

I'm seeing a little bit more of a routine with his sleeping/naps. As of now, Connor takes a couple short naps in the morning and a long (3-4 hour) nap in the afternoon. This works out perfect because most of the activities we do happen in the morning, so both kids get a good nap in after lunch. He typically grabs a quick nap before bed and has been in bed anywhere between 7:45-8:45. He is still sleeping through the night with the exception of us putting his pacifier back in his mouth 2-4 times a night.

Connor has his second cold already and I'm fearing that this could be another long winter for the Lindvall house. We've all been sick this week (the second time for all of us since fall hit) with Elli having it the worst. Poor girl has been coughing nonstop, fever, congested, and threw up in her bed last night. Needless to say, we are all stuck in this house today and it was no daycare for her! Her voice is so hoarse today...bedtime this week has been 6:45pm or 7:00pm! BUT enough of sick talk.....here are some pictures of our little man at 2 months old!

Happy 2 months Connor Lee!!

Random Pictures

I don't have a fancy title for this post (nor do I ever), but the pictures below were taken over the past 2 weeks.

Two peas in a pod watching sesame street. I asked Elli if Connor could sit in her chair with her to watch sesame street. She of course said "yes," but when it came time to actually putting him in HER chair she didn't want any part of it. He'll be getting a chair for Christmas or his birthday :)
We've been giving Connor and Elli baths together most nights just because it is easier. As you can imagine, it is pretty eventful. We've already had the "no touch, Elli" and "boys and girls are different" talk with Elli multiple times. I think you can imagine what I'm referring to :)
My little helper...she's always willing to sweep

This girl loves marshmallows!!

Big Boy
Do they look alike? Elli wanted in on the photo shoot....please ignore her crazy hair.
People have asked me if we've taken Elli to get her hair cut. My response is "Do you think I would pay for a haircut like that." I've contemplated taking her to see if they could even it out a little more, but I think it is best right now to try and let the top catch up with the rest of her hair...we'll see how it continues to grow! We do put a bow in it most times when we're out in public, but around the house I just let it go :) It's hard to tame those curls with the way it has been growing!

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Some of the pictures below look relatively the same, but I couldn't pick my favorites. She looks so grown up in these pictures.

Doesn't she look like she is modeling?

So....an update on the toddler bed...Elli has been doing GREAT!!!!!!! Since we switched her beds, she has yet to have any trouble going to sleep at night. As far as naps go, she has had trouble on 2 different occasions with getting out of bed and playing, but eventually went to sleep. Her first nap in the bed washilarious. Elli would run and face plant right into her pillow every time she heard me come up to tell her to get back in bed. I had to hide behind the door to keep from laughing. I had to take her rocking horse out of the room because she had quite a good time riding on it. I couldn't stop from laughing, but it stopped getting funny when she locked herself in her room...not once, but twice. Try explaining that to a 20 month old that you can't get into her because she locked the door. When I finally got her out, she kept walking around the house going "lock," "lock," "lock," etc. She has fallen out of bed a couple times during the night, but she quickly just climbs back in bed and goes back to sleep. I can't believe how good she's been with her new bed!

Elli and her best friend, Bella. Elli loves to torture Bella and hides her ball or bones in places Bella can't get them. BUT...she also give endless amounts of hugs and kisses to Bella.

Throwing Bella her ball

We always have to look for buses when the kids get done at school

Potty training anyone? Elli has seemed interested in using the potty for awhile, but hasn't actually ever gone on the toilet. She often tells us when she poops, but never wants to sit on the toilet when she's going. We have a jar of M & Ms for her and she thinks that she gets one just for sitting on the potty. We're not sure that she understands she actually has to go to get one. The other day I thought I'd turn on Snow White (she has her blanket because the guy in the mirror scares her....oh the drama!), give her endless amounts of watered down juice, put the candy beside her, and have her just sit on there. Unfortunately, she never delivered. Poor girl has yet to get her M & Ms.

8 weeks

Connor Lee,

Happy 8 weeks! I feel like I just got done writing a blog about you turning 7 weeks old!

We continue to love watching you smile and enjoy talking to you, as you are doing these things more and more each day.

In addition to your smile, we have loved the fact that you've given us 4 wonderful nights of sleep! Yep, you've slept through the night for the past 4 nights. We've had to put your pacifier back in your mouth anywhere from 2-3 times a night. I know you could probably eat at least once a night, but the pacifier seems to soothe you....so we're happy to all go back to sleep!

We still continue to try and figure out feeding with you. You take a bottle like a champ, but aren't that great at nursing. It takes you forever when I nurse you and you want to take many, many breaks!

We go through days where you will want to eat every 1.5 hours. I'm convinced we will get this feeding figured out and eventually on a schedule to where I don't feel like the only thing I did in a day was feed you :)

You LOVE being held and would be happy if someone would hold you all day long! Today you really started enjoying the play mat and I was able to eat lunch with your sister while you played on the mat!

It is so hard to get a picture of you smiling because every time I bring out the camera while you are talking to me you look like a deer in the headlights (see the above picture), BUT look at your eyes! You are so handsome!

And I love watching you sleep because you still curl up in a little ball. I put you on this towel while I was folding laundry and the next thing I knew you had fallen back asleep!

You are as sweet as can be and I love spending my days with you (and your sis)!

Zoo Trip

This weekend, we decided to go to the zoo while we still had some nice weather. We took our friends and their kids with us...there were 4 kids all 20 months or younger. Our day consisted of a train ride, seeing different animals, and moving kids in and out of the stroller. It got to be a little chaotic and having all 4 of us adults proved to be necessary for this trip.

This was also Connor's first trip to the zoo.

He spent most of his time in the stroller and seemed pretty content.

Elli loved the petting zoo...

I was trying to get a good picture of both kids in our massive double stroller. I didn't succeed!

We were definitely on borrowed time with both toddler girls. It was way past nap time and our goal was to get each girl out to the car without meltdowns. We were successful...as you can see, Elli was loving life on her Daddy's shoulders!

Brown County

As promised, I've finally gotten around to uploading pictures from our trip to Brown County last weekend. Every year, Scott's family goes to a state park in Indiana for the weekend. This year was Brown County, which was great because it had an indoor pool and water slide! It was about a 4 hour drive for us and the kids did GREAT on the way there and home. We arrived Friday around 7 with hopes to get Elli a good nights rest before a busy day of playing with her grandparents and cousins on Saturday. Well....we attempted an early bedtime, but she had a lot of trouble sleeping in her pack-n-play and woke up several times that night. Connor was also still getting up during the night. Saturday night was no different with both kids. Needless to say, Scott and I were exhausted when we got home. We had a great time, but little sleep for Elli equaled various meltdowns for during the day. Elli LOVED playing with Vander and Dane. For the past week, we've heard at random times throughout the day "Nana," "Papa," "Dane" (which when she says "Dane" she means Vander....she can't get their names straight. She's a little obsessed with Vander) and she's even pointed out pictures of Aaron and Ross. Elliana hesitated going down the slide at first, but after a nap she was ready to go! Take a close look at Scott....would have been a great picture if he wasn't trying to make crazy faces!

With Papa down the slide



Happy to be swimming!!


Dane going down the slide...


Vander (or as Elli would say "Dane") in the pool

Ever since we got home, Scott has been looking at places we could take Elli swimming with a comparable slide to the one at Brown County. Connor spent most of his weekend sleeping, eating, and cuddling up with Nana.