Bear Feet

As mentioned in my previous post, Tessa is obsessed with her new bear feet slippers. She wanted to wear them to school this morning. They are her new favorite accessory.

Mountains with Kirsten & Jenny

We had a GREAT time up in the mountains. On the way up, we stopped at Goat's on the Roof. It's this silly place right before Clayton where there are goats living on the roof, and they have these walkways between the buildings that the goats walk on. They also have several silly ways to feed to the goats (zip-line; pedal a bike to move feeder to roof, etc.) Tessa liked petting the baby goats. She also LOVED the bear feet slippers we bought her there. We have several funny pictures and videos of Tessa in her slippers. She wore them all the time and even slept in them.

We went to Mud Dabbers again and of course went to Heinzelmannchen to get some more beer. Tessa had her first taste of home brewed root beer. I don't like root beer, but Tessa loved it. Kirsten and Jenny took Tessa into Highlands one afternoon and she got her very own milkshake from Kilwin's.

By far, my favorite part of the week was picking wild, fresh, blackberries. There were a ton along the road up to the cabin and we hit the MOTHER-LOAD at the Kirk's property where most of the blackberry pictures were taken. See attached link for some more great pictures.

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
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Tessa loves Ellis

Tessa loves climbing into the crib with Ellis. Here she is being a good big sister.

Tessa sleeping

I took this video last night about 10:00pm. One of the things that I LOVE about her sleeping in a big girl bed, is not only the snuggle time at night before bed when we read our books, but also checking in on her before I go to sleep. Now that she is not in a crib anymore I can lean over and give her a big SMOOCH and tuck her back in.

Ernest William Ellis

Yesterday my Grandfather (one of Ellis' namesakes) passed away. Grandpa Bill was a great man and led a very interesting life. He served his country proudly, fighting in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He was in his 90's and had been very ill. Fortunately my parents and sister were able to go visit him recently and were able to say good bye. It was his time.

He was a very formal grandfather to us and we didn't have that close relationship like some people do to their grandparents. We didn't get to see a lot of him, but what I remember is his humor, he never missed Happy Hour and taught me how to make Gin & Tonic, and although I don't know the name I can smell his cologne. But I'll always remember his laugh and the twinkle in his eye after a good joke. He was very tall (6' 4") and it was always funny to see my dad (5' 7") standing next to him. If you really wanted to see something funny, then look at a picture of Grandpa Bill, my dad, and my dad's younger brother Uncle Pat. Uncle Pat looked so much like Grandpa Bill AND he got the height. I wish I could have known him better and had more memories of him. It makes me very thankful that my parents live so close and that they get to spend so much time with Tessa and Ellis.

We'll miss you Grandpa Bill and see you in Heaven for Happy Hour.

Back to School

Tessa and Ellis both started school at West Cobb Prep today. It was Tessa's first day back (in two months) and Ellis' first day ever. When we walked back to Tessa's class we saw all of her old teachers (Ms Arkeyshia, Ms Laura, and Ms Princess). She recognized all of them and gave them hugs and talked to them. She's in a new class now, Sr. Toddler with Ms Martha. She walked right into her new room and sat with the other kids, waved and said 'Bye Mommy'. And that was that.

Then I took Ellis to his room and met his teacher (who is new) Ms Andrea. She was so nice and Ellis thought she was very funny. He kept laughing and smiling. It was very hard to leave him, but I took a couple of quick pics and left. Unfortunately he got bit by a mosquito THREE times on his face last night, so he looks a little rough. I was very brave though and I didn't cry as I was leaving. But I miss him already.

Then as I was leaving I realized I had left my keys in Tessa's classroom. GREAT, now she was going to get upset seeing me come back in and leaving her after she had done so well. When I walked back in they were in circle time doing some dance. Tessa smiled, waved and said "Hi mommy, wook at me spinning. Bye Mommy" and was PERFECTLY fine. She was so excited to see all of her old friends she could have cared less about her old mommy. I am so proud of her.

Mountains

We are having a great time up in the Mountains. By far, Tessa's favorite activity is picking wild blackberries (probably because it involves food). Jenny, a friend of Kirsten's from Del Rio who came with, is a GREAT photographer and has taken some awesome pictures. I'll post some soon. Tonight I am going to make a Blackberry Cobbler, yum yum. After we went berry picking we went down to the dock and Tessa, Kirsten and Jenny swam in the lake. Ellis and I chilled on the dock. It was a perfect morning.

Dig a little deeper

Kirsten was trying to take a cute picture of herself and Tessa to send to Omi, this was all she got!

Stress and Vaca

So, this week, due to the timing of Tessa moving from her new school back to her old school, she is out of school this whole week, meaning I have two kids at home by myself. AND Omi and Opa are in Germany celebrating Gabi's 60th B-day. I know they are having a blast and eating lost of good German food. Anyway, it's interesting having Tessa home all day. The house looks like the Tazmanian Devil tore through it five minute after I cleaned everything. It's hard keeping her entertained with her short attention span AND with Ellis it's hard spending time outside. The bugs are horrendous right now. Tessa has seven bug bites and she reacts very badly to them (HUGE red welts).

Aunt Kirsten is coming in town today with a friend of hers and we are going to the mountains for a week. I'm stressed since I have so much still to do and with both of them at home, it's hard being productive. Everything gets done it short little bursts of time. I am so ready to get up there and relax (well, relax as much as you can with a toddler and babe at breast).

More Phrases

A few more of T's expressions......

Oh my goodness - not sure if she got this from me or from school, but it's funny when she says it.

Don't cry, baby. It's OK. - she says this to Ellis when he cries, it's so sweet.

Just one more - already negotiating

I'll be right back - she loves saying this, and she points her little finger at us and makes us stay, she cracks me up.

Updates

Ellis had his 2mo check-up on Friday. He weighed in at whopping 13lbs 7oz and is 23" tall. This puts him in the 75% for weight and 50% for height. Tessa still calls him Mr Moose and my parents have started calling him Tank. I just call him my big baby boy. He did great with his shots. It's always hard to watch BUT I know they will protect him from very detrimental illnesses that could either kill him or at the very least make him very miserable. It's worth it.

I remembered some more phrases Tessa is using quite frequently now. Her speech has definitely developed into more full sentences. I don't always understand some of the words (and sometimes she has full conversation where I can't even identify ONE word).

Look (pronounced wook) at me - I know I already wrote about this one, but this seems to be her favorite right. She loves attention and wants you to wook at every little thing she's doing.

Are you OK, mommy? - If I look like I'm crying or if I cough or trip she ask "Are you OK, mommy?" It is so sweet.

I go this way. I go that way. - she has learned directions. When we drive she points which direction she wants to go in and of course she gets upset when I don't go the way she wants. And sometimes she just plays and will point in four different directions and start laughing. She definitely has a sense of humor.

Special Day

Today is a very special day. My neighbors, Kathy and Calvin, are adopting a little girl from China (you can link to their blog through mine 'Journey to Emma'). Today is the day they finally get her. They have been waiting for a very long time and they flew to China earlier this week. I am so excited and happy for them. We can't wait to meet Emma Kate. I believe she is about 7 months old now, so Tessa and Ellis will have a little play mate right next door.

We wish them good luck and are anxiously awaiting their return (June 25th).

McDreamy

For the past week, Ellis has been sleeping until 5:30am and the last two days he has slept until 6:30 and 7:00am. This means that mommy is getting some good sleep now. He truly is my little angel. He's such a good boy and puts up with all of us. He patiently waits to eat while we go pick his sister up from day-care, or patiently waits for Tessa to finish her bath, read her books, and go to bed before he has his dinner. He is talking up a storm. I love listening to his little voice trying so hard to copy our sounds. He's such a happy, low-key, go-with-the-flow kinds of guy. AND since he so handsome, I've decided to call him McDreamy. He's such a dream baby boy.

7.7.07

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!! I can't believe it's been three years! Mike and I were talking this morning about it and it sure feels like it's been a lot longer. I guess with everything we've been through since then, it does seem like it has been longer. I wish we could be together today, but I know he's working hard and am very proud of him.

Below are some pics from the week in the mountains.

Pics from our mountain week.

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Catch-Up

Downloaded a bunch of pictures and videos from this past week, so I will be playing catch-up on posting them.

Here's a video of Tessa making pancakes with Omi.

T & A

Hahahahahahaha, made you look. For real, Tessa can now identify the letters 'T' for Tessa and 'A'. I figured I start with the letters in her name. She knows her ABC's and loves the song, but can't identify all the letters yet. I think I already blogged about this, but in the nursery I had her name out of these colorful wooden letters on her closet door. I moved these to her new room on the door, and when she got home from day-care that day she immediately noticed and pointed to it and said 'Tessa", so she actually somehow recognized her name. Now she always points out 'T's in the newspapers, on signs, on TV, etc. This morning she pointed out the 'A's to us. She knows 'E', but doesn't always get it right.

Mountain Activities

Yesterday we went to Sylva, NC. It's about 45 mins from my parents cabin. We went to this wonderful local potter called Mud Dabbers. They're 'signature' are the face pots that Appalachia is famous for. Ced gave Tessa and Ellis these beautiful sun-faces for their births from this place, and my mom and sister have bought several face jugs from them. One of the potters, Brad, was so great with Tessa. I was a little nervous, who takes a jacked up 2-yr old into a pottery place (can you say Bull in a China shop?). But, he took her to the side room where they sculpt and sat her on a stool and let her play with the clay while Omi and I shopped (good business keep, babysit kids so that parents can shop). When she tired of this, he gave her a giant piece of paper that she could draw on and just sat her on the floor. He was really great with kids and just kept playing with her and showing her all kinds of different things to keep her occupied. It was a really neat place.

Next cam my favorite place. In Sylva is a little Brewery called Heinzelmannchen (German for Gnome). They have these "growlers" that you buy and then fill up with beer. Then you can bring the growlers back and they will fill it for $8 (and on Wednesdays it's only $6). They have GREAT beer, my favorite was the Black Forest Stout. They always are brewing different ones, so you can go in and taste to decide what you want. It was AWESOME. The other cool thing, is that my mom has a growler that looks almost identical to the one from the Brewery that belonged to her Grandmother. Since back in those days you couldn't buy bottled beer, my mom's Great-Grandfather would send her grandmother to the local pub with the groweler and get 2l of beer. They actually have the growler up at the cabin and it truly is identical to the one they have at the Brewery.

It will happen when it happens

I am amazed that she lasted this long. Since we are up in the cabin, Tessa has been sleeping in a Pack'N'Play. Yesterday when we layed her down for her nap, she finally figured out how to climb out. I knew this was coming. With as active and curious and fearless as she is, I'm surprised she hasn't done this before. So, we skipped the nap (she had slept in the car on our outing already). But I was curious to see how night-time sleep would go. Would she lay down and go to sleep or climb. Before I could even shut the door, she was climbing out. I'm pretty sure she fell and was upset. So I went back in and she pointed to the big bed and kept saying "lay down, lay down". So I layed her down in the big bed, surrounded the edges with pillows and put her blanket on her. Amazingly, she stayed in the bed and went to sleep. I have been worrying about how I was going to transition her to her big girl bed and I guess she decided to take matters into her own hands. When we get home, I will just put her in the big girl bed and be done with it.