Leopard pants & white boho top
Welp…it’s a BOY! We decided to find out the gender of our second baby, and we were so very happy and excited to find out we’re having a boy. Brendan is absolutely over the moon. His family is also very, very happy since there hasn’t been a boy grand child in 8 years (there were 5 girls in a row!). So we are thrilled! We decided to find out because we realized we needed to plan a little more than we thought, and since we don’t have much boy stuff at all- we’re so glad we did.
Now that we’ll have a boy and girl, we will for sure do a surprise for the third baby (which I am so excited about, since I was tempted to do a surprise this time 🙂 . Ella Rose is also very excited to have a “baby brotha.” She loves rocking before bed and laying by the baby, and she gives my belly lots of kisses and hugs. She did the funniest thing the other day…whenever I sit on the ground now, it is getting more difficult to get up so I’ll say “ugh, I’m so big or ugh baby is holding me down…” and so, Ella Rose decided to mimic this and the other day when we were going up the stairs she’d stop and grunt and say “ugh, big babyyy” “ugh so big,” Brendan and I were cracking up. She is such a little actress! That is her new thing, acting things out. Another funny event that happened recently…happened when we were traveling for the holidays back to visit family in Chicago. While at Bonka and Grancy’s house, Ella Rose decided to steal a sucker from my bag. After proceeding to eat the sucker, she came over me to me and said “sneaky gurlllll,” with this sly smile. We couldn’t believe it, she’s too much 🙂 ! She can tell a whole story by putting all sorts of words together and acting it out, it’s so funny to watch.
We got home last week from the Christmas holidays. We were visiting both families for ten days! It was a little bit of a long trip, so we decided going forward we’d try and keep it to a week max. When you’re away from the everyday surroundings, sleep is never the best. Plus, in only a short time it will be that much harder to travel with two under two! But, we did have such a great time. When we were with Brendan’s family, we took all of the kids to Sky Zone and Build a Bear, which they all really enjoyed!
Boots with da fur Hot pink, sparkly hat
After a few days with Brendan’s family, we went to Glen Ellyn to spend some time with my family. We took Ella Rose and her cousin Joshua downtown Chicago to the Walnut Room for lunch. I loved this because we would do this often with my family when I was growing up. We also had a fun NYE with family too, we ate lots of yummy food (this baby loves to eat everything and anything!) and played some fun games. I’m really happy we spent a long time with both families though, because I know we will not see everyone for a while now until the baby’s arrival. Also, I knew this was our last Christmas holiday with all, because we want to start our own family traditions with Santa.
Speaking of Santa, Ella Rose loved the idea of him (not the actual Santa) this year and was so very aware! More so than I thought she’d be. Santa came early before our trip this year and brought her a kitchen, play food and cookies, and a Cinderella doll. She had been asking for many weeks for a doll and was so ecstatic when she opened it up! It was also very neat to see how involved she got with the milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. When she woke up “Christmas morning,” the first thing she did was run to the fireplace to see if Santa had eaten the cookies, and she was absolutely amazed that he did! It was really fun to watch. Santa also got her an Elsa dress, wand, and crown since she loves Frozen and some other little trinkets from Doc McStuffins as well. It’s fun because she is really starting to have an affinity for her “own” passions.
One last funny thing. We have started doing “time outs” with Ella Rose if she disobeys. We don’t want to overuse them, and have only had to do them a few times. So recently, if she does something wrong, she will say “trouble, time out” and walk to her rug all on her own. We’ve had to laugh and explain to her that “mommy will tell her when she needs to sit on the rug,” but it is just so funny to watch her catch on so quickly and think she needs a time out for the smallest things. She’s such a character! Two books that I have found to be super helpful with parenting during this time are: No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline without Shame and Happiest Toddler on the Block.
We have started to get back into our routine now that were home again for a bit. We have one last trip before the baby in a couple of weeks. We are going to Carmel, CA to visit my Grandma. Grandma Flo is so very excited for one of her “great grands” to visit as she calls them. We are just going for a quick weekend, but I’m excited to see her and have her spend time with Ella Rose and Brendan. Plus, it’s such a beautiful place to visit. After that, we are home bound until Baby boy arrives! I am scheduled for a C-Section April 15! It’s so weird planning and knowing that’s when he should be arriving! Until then, we have our nephew little John and my sister Laura visiting, and my parents are coming for Ella Rosie’s 2nd birthday. We can’t wait! Can’t believe our baby girl will be 2! She is repeating everything, still so sassy and strong, and is so excited for her baby brother to arrive! I know she will be a great big sister, and they will be best buds.