Cream, heart skirt Tights Pink bow
We are very excited to announce we are having another baby in April. We are taking family pictures the first weekend in December and are going to do an announcement for our Christmas card. Ella Rose is especially excited! Every time we ask her what the baby is she’ll say, “baby gurrrl” or that she wants a “baby sista/sissy.” It’s really cute! We have not decided whether we are going to find out the gender of the baby. Brendan really wants to, but I think a surprise would be fun. For Ella Rose, Brendan found out first and we had an awesome gender reveal for our birthdays. And because we found out, we have all pink/girly stuff.
Therefore, if we were to have a boy, it’d be nice to have some blue and grey clothes, bedroom items, etc. So we shall see what we decide. We are very happy that the two of them will be just about two years apart, 25 months! I am due April 22nd, but I am planning a scheduled C-section for the week before, so mid-April (right around our anniversary, yey!). I have contemplated doing a V-Bac, but after thorough thought and research, I have decided a C-section is best. I just do not think I am built for regular deliveries, along with my mom and sisters, for that matter, and feel much more at ease knowing it will be scheduled and my recovery will be so much easier without the labor this time around. I know it is risky, especially since Brendan and I would love a bigger family, but I know if we put it in God’s hands, we will be okay. We are so excited for our family to grow, and cannot wait for April!
Ella Rose is blossoming at this age! Every day she has more new words and is a talking machine! She is one chatty-cathy! At least she gets something from me ;). She has such a spunky personality. She is the sweetest, most passionate little girl, yet so feisty. It is so neat to watch her grow and change, daily! She is one sensitive soul, and really feels for others. Whenever she sees another child or baby cry she’ll pretend to cry and empathize with them. Another sensitive side is especially seen at music class. At the end of every class, the teacher plays a lullaby, dims the lights, and all of the children snuggle with their mamas. Well, for many months when this would happen, Ella Rose would weep to the sad music! It was really sad and amazing all at the same time. The other side of Ella Rose is one tough cookie! She demands things her way, and will fight for what she wants. She has always been this way, even since she was two weeks old! My mom and our family friend Dee always joke around that she will be president one day because she is so strong and feisty, it is surely funny. We absolutely love every minute with her. One of our favorite activities this summer, before I got pregnant, was to ride our bikes together. She has a seat in front of me on the handle bars, and absolutely loves riding bikes. The bike seat is amazing, and I recommend it for anyone with babies around 15 months +. She also is obsessed with her helmet. When we first bought it, the guy at the bike store was cracking up because she never wanted to take it off. He said he had never seen a one year old enjoy wearing a helmet, ha!
Additionally, she is once again, still really into her baby dolls. She loves rocking them, feeding them their bottles, changing them, and putting them to sleep. I know she will be a great big sister. I’m sure there will be some difficult times with the transition, but we will get there. At the moment she is also really into her mermaid, that she named “mimi.” She loves this mermaid and it’s perfect because she has really been into these “mini myth” books. The one she is reading now is called,”Brush your Hair Medusa,” and in the story, Medusa, the little girl, has a mermaid she loves. I think that is why Ella Rose has made this mermaid a favorite toy of hers. She has also really been into drawing/coloring, having tea parties, puzzles, blocks, and reading, of course. With the puzzles, she knows how to match all of the primary colors and she knows where all of the letters of the alphabet go. She continues to really enjoy music class and soccer. I am thinking one more activity will be fun for the winter, maybe swimming or gymnastics. Another major milestone she is accomplishing, is going pee-pee or poo-poo on the potty, always before bath. We are not pushing it, because I know she is not fully ready, but I think this winter we will really work on it after the holidays if we think it’s a good idea. After she goes, we sing a song and clap to it and she gets a sticker on her chart. Her favorite foods right now are: popsicles, cereal-KIX, mum mums (Still!), gold fish, cheese, yo yo (yogurt), & na na’s (bananas).
We have had an eventful few months with visitors in town and some side trips. We decided to take a little family getaway, with us three, to Vail. While we were in Vail, we enjoyed walking around the village and eating delicious food. A couple of weeks later, my great friend Liz came in for a girl’s weekend with me and Ella Rose. We took a trip up to Boulder & Liz and I had dinner on Larimer street.
Then my parents road tripped out here for a little over a week. We had such a fun time with them. When Grancy and Bonka were here, we took a trip up to Breckenridge for Brendan’s and my birthday. We have always done a little getaway since our birthdays are two days apart in October. My parents really enjoyed Breck because they had never been. Brendan and my Dad went fly fishing up there and had a great time doing that, while Ella Rose, Grancy, and I shopped :). For Halloween, we took a couple of trips to two pumpkin patches up north, and Ella Rose had so much fun at these!
Unfortunately, she got croup the week of Halloween, but luckily was feeling better and we were able to do a little trick or treating with our little Lady Bug! Just this past weekend, my brother DJ & his girlfriend, Ali, came to visit as well. That was a lot of fun too! Now, I don’t think we will have any visitors until closer to the baby’s arrival! However, we are really excited to see our families for the holidays. We will be spending a good amount of time with both sides for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we are really looking forward to it. Ella Rose is especially excited to fly on the airplane again!
