"Mommy, Darla pooped!"

Disclaimer:  If you don't like gross things, don't read this story.  Really.  It's pretty gross.  I debated about blogging this one but feel the need to document this for my own memories and to laugh about with Ellie someday :)

So tonight, Ellie was in the bubble bath and tooted a few times in a row.  She said, "Mommy, I'm pooping."  I assured her that she was just tooting, and she went along playing.  About five minutes later, I was looking down at my phone because I was posting pictures of our snow cream making, and she said "Mommy, Darla pooped!" and handed me a turd from the bath tub!!!  Ahhhh!!!!!  Oh my!  The turd fell onto the bathroom floor, and I immediately called downstairs to Mike for him to come up (not so much to help but more to share in the moment with us!)  I pulled her out of the tub of course and scooped out most of the floating feces with toilet paper and put it into the potty.  We made sure Ellie knew that it was okay, and we were all smiling and laughing about it.  She ran around naked and yelled down the stairs to Daddy after he left the scene, "I pooped in the bath tub!"

Ellie enjoyed standing there naked watching me fetch it out of the tub and exclaimed "Poop's everywhere!"  Hahahaha, yes my child.  Poop is everywhere.  She had done this once before around 9 months or so, but this was much more messy and much more entertaining with a chatty little girl :)  Ellie also commented, "It's okay!" and even said "I'm sorry."  Sweet girl.  I finished cleaning the tub out of course and ran a fresh bath.  She was very excited to get to take another bubble bath!

Ellie was so proud looking in the potty and claiming "I pooped in the potty!"  Oh no!  Please Lord, don't let her think this is how you go about pooping in the potty!!!  She has been fascinated with all things related to the potty for a while now, so she seemed to become more and more excited about this event over the next 30 minutes or so of our evening before bed time.  With that said, I guess I should have involved her in the flushing process, but I didn't (mommy fail!)  Boy, did she notice right away when I was drying her off that the "Poop's all gone!"  While I was getting her ready for bed, she kept asking me, "Where'd the poop go?"  She eagerly told me it was time for diaper change when I was rubbing her down with lotion, and when I got the diaper on she repeatedly cheered "Yay, diaper!"  She is not normally quite this excited ;)

Oh my Ellie, even these disgusting moments can make for sweet memories with you!  Thanks for making Mommy laugh every day.  You make life so fun!  Just remember, when you're not in your diaper, let's try to poop in the potty.

Encouragement

Encouraging one another is something we are called to do.  1 Thessalonians 5:11 states, "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."  For those of us that value "words of affirmation" (those who have read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman will understand well) as much as I do, simple words of encouragement may change the tone of our entire day, or maybe our whole week!  I strive to be an encouraging wife, mother, and friend, but I know I could do better, and I honestly will pray that I do better to encourage those who are sometimes the hardest for me to encourage...we all have those people in our lives, right?

Today I was encouraged by this poem posted on Facebook by my dear friend, Anniina, who lives in Finland.  We shared 2 years together with our friends The Halonens when we were all living in Pennsylvania, and it's wonderful to continue to be encouraged by such a special friend who lives almost half the world away!  Even though I don't get to see Anniina or her precious family anymore, I am encouraged not only by this poem but by knowing she is loving her children so well and doing it all in the name of Jesus.        

Loving Jesus 

By: Megan Breedlove

I started my day early,

Before the room was light.

I lifted my son from his crib

And wished it was still night.

But as I held him close and said,

“Hi, Kenneth, precious one,”

I knew that as I greeted him,

I greeted too God’s Son.

When my daughter woke up later,

Calling, “Mommy! Mommy! Down!”

I picked her up and hugged her

In her worn Elmo nightgown.

I know she felt the closeness

That a mother’s touch affords.

I welcomed not just Ellie,

But so, too, the Lord of Lords.

That day, I mixed some formula

And opened jars of peas.

I fixed some “pizza butter” bread

When she grinned and said, “Pleeeeease.”

I heated up some leftovers;

I had to nuke them twice.

And when I fed my children,

I was feeding Jesus Christ.

I made some funny faces,

And “played puzzles” on the floor.

I dressed kitties, ran around outside,

And played with them some more.

We laughed and jumped and tickled,

Making memories to be stored.

When I spent time with my children,

I spent time with my Lord.

I wiped up sticky cereal

And washed the dishes clean.

I straightened, picked up, put away,

And dusted in between.

I did six loads of laundry

And folded it like new.

When I cleaned for my children,

I cleaned for my Savior, too.

When my children were both crying,

I held them in my arms.

I cuddled them and whispered

That I’d keep them safe from harm.

I told them how their Father saved them

With His perfect Lamb.

When I comforted my children,

I comforted I AM.

Later on that evening,

I put them in the bath.

I washed their little bodies

As they kicked around and splashed.

I dried them in soft towels

And put their jammies on.

When I had washed my children’s feet,

I’d washed the Holy One.

I cooked and cleaned and rearranged,

Made beds and taught and played.

I made sure that we had food to eat

And that we often prayed.

I died to self. I made a home

From ordinary things.

But when I served my children,

I served the King of Kings.

To some, I have done nothing,

But to two, I’ve done the world.

I made eternal difference

To my precious boy and girl,

And to the One who watches over

Every pathway that I’ve trod.

For when I’ve loved my precious children,

I’ve loved Almighty God.

Another friend of mine from my PEP Moms group, Amanda Martin, is always intentional in reminding us that motherhood is a high calling.  I believe that will all of my heart and do not take it lightly.  Thank you to everyone out there who encourages me to be the best I can be!

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."  
Hebrews 10:24-25 

Amazing.

Being a mommy is amazing.

It's amazing to watch Ellie grow up and learn something new (or 10 somethings new) every day.  It's amazing (and a little scary, I admit) that Michael and I are 100% responsible for the care and well-being of a little human being.  It's amazing to see life through the eyes of a child again.  It's amazing to see more of myself in Ellie every day as her personality develops.  It's amazing to know more of her heart and her spirit as she learns what's right and wrong.  It's amazing to have the privilege to raise our daughter, day in and day out.

Ellie is amazing.  She was created by God, and for God, for a divine purpose.  I get to be a part of that every day, and that is nothing short of amazing!  Today I am overwhelmed with blessings and gratitude, and the word I keep coming back to is amazing.  I never want to forget this feeling.

My fixation on the word amazing began early this morning.  I was struck by the smallest of things as we were getting ready for the day doing nothing out of the ordinary.  Literally on my way out the door to drop Ellie off at school, I looked at her and said, "You are amazing."  And do you know what she said?  "You are amazing, too."

I was struck.  I have been struck by that all day.  Motherhood is amazing.  An amazing journey.  You know what makes me the most excited about that?  I get to be a mommy for the rest of my life.  Now, that is amazing.

Gearing Back Up for 2014!

So, I knew I couldn't really keep up with the monthly Ellie updates forever.  That was a nice little stint, but I'm just not cut out for something that structured.  I do want to catch up at some point with at least a post about the holidays, but I have to try to assemble pictures from our "real" camera.  My phone flaked out and had to be reset completely, so I've lost a ton of my pictures a videos on my phone from sometime in October until mid-December.   A great loss indeed, but I have some pictures and not others and can't quite figure out why.  Ellie changed SO much in those 2 months that it makes me very sad.  I had several notes on my phone too of things I wanted to remember...our first "conversation" and several funny quotes of hers.  I will try to highlight a few updates on what our little munchkin is up to before any more time flies by...pictures first, then a few stories:

Shenanigans in the closet! 

Running around one afternoon in the yard was one of my favorite times with Ellie so far...her playful spirit was so alive, and the weather and lighting couldn't have been more beautiful! 

Arms back and full on RUNNING up the driveway.  I love when she has her wings out to fly! 

Possibly my favorite picture ever. 

Opening a surprise delivery from our dear friends The Winstons...so thoughtful and fun! 

 Our little "raff" getting ready for a pre-Halloween trunk-or-treat!

Happy girl headed home from the event eating cheese balls after a night of gathering candy, oh boy!

Aunt Ashley, Ellie, and I met my mom in Chattanooga for her birthday and had a great day at the Tennessee Aquarium and going out to lunch!  I'm SO glad we made time to have a special girls day!!! 

Ellie and Nana are best buds :) 

Nana gave Ellie a few toddler songs CDs for Halloween, and Ellie was beyond herself listening to Old McDonald in the car! 

Pure joy! 

First time out to ice cream just the 3 of us! 

 And then our sweetheart got sick...she got hand foot mouth and had a high fever for 7 days!  We obviously took her temperature a lot, so she got really into it, too! She also had to check bunny's temperature, of course!

We stopped by one of Daddy's work Halloween events, and she fell asleep in the car at 5:00.  This girl hardly EVER sleeps in the car, but she did not feel good at all....so sad! 

 We could barely get her to eat or drink anything...not even a Mt. Dew slushie!!!

 She got better just in time for Halloween day, thank goodness!

Family walk and fun playing by the creek!

                                                     Look at that little belly...too cute!

Cookie decorating date with her buddy Landon

She looks so old in this picture!

Fun afternoon playing outside!

Celebrating the 3 McBride November birthdays!

Ellie and Nana enjoying some birthday cake!

I absolutely love this sweet series of pictures. 

Another new favorite! 

Fun night out with my handsome hubby!

Boat ride down to the UT vs. Auburn game!  

Sweet picture :)

 Big smiles :)

Silly girl!

We always have the best time out on the boat!

James made his big break directing the Pride of the Southland!  He was amazing!!!

Mommy, Ellie, and Monkey had a blast jumping in Daddy's leaf piles :)

2 little monkeys jumping in the leaves...

First haircut!  Ms. Cindy handled Ellie and her being a total spaz very well :)

Lots of laughs with Ms. Cindy and Beth!

Ellie was all about walking like a big girl at the zoo with Ernie and Kelli.

• We have a talker folks.  Ellie is a little chatterbox (just like her mommy), and it seems like she can say just about anything now.  She is talking in a lot of sentences the past few weeks, mostly 3-4 words, but sometimes 5 or 6!  Some of her most frequent phrases these days include "Mommy painted toes", "Diaper change bear/baby/Pooh/Elmo/monkey/etc.", and "Play dishes/princess Mommy!"  She has learned how to make requests of where she wants you to be and what she wants you to do, but we have to watch her being a little *cough cough* bossy.  She likes to request, "Sit in chair Mommy/Dada!", "Lay down Mommy/Dada!", "Come downstairs Mommy/Dada!", so we are trying to get her in the habit of adding "please" :)  One of my favorites is when she just exclaims what she's doing such as "I'm playing _____ Mommy!" or "I'm reading books Mommy!"  She is starting to wander to a different room or even level of the house by herself some, which I'm really excited about!  She will go upstairs to her room and read books behind her glider or climb up in her little rocking chair and entertain herself for about 15 minutes at at time.  Now, that's not to say that when we go check on her she hasn't emptied her 2 pajama drawers or gotten into who knows what, but for the most part she's pretty safe and minimally destructive :)  Today during lunch, Mike walked up to his office from the family room, and Ellie was so excited to tell him, "I'm eating cottage cheese Dada!"
• Our "first conversation" that I had written down in my phone was at the dinner table was around 20 months and went something like this (and I hope I never forget it!): 
• Mommy: "Ellie, what did you do at school today?"
• Ellie: "Friends"
• Mommy: "Who did you play with?"
• Ellie: "Candace, Destiny (her 2 teachers)....Charlie, Davidson" (she always talks about the 2 boys in her class first, oh boy!)
• Mommy: "What did else did you do at school?"
• Ellie: "ABCs" (with the biggest smile ever on her face!)
• About a month ago I would say Ellie officially mastered her ABCs, most colors, and counting to 12 pretty accurately.  She continues to love anything related to ABCs and pretty much has every letter/animal association on her Leap Frog laptop memorized.  She loves to play the "guess the animal game" and can push the correct on the laptop letter after seeing the tiniest corner of an octopus, vulture, yak, etc. appear on the screen.  She's absolutely nuts.  I am certain she inherited Ma-Maw's memory, which should serve her well in life!    
• Ellie is starting to be able to talk about things she did that day and even days and weeks prior.  For instance, I'm pretty sure she will never forget Abby painting her toes over Thanksgiving.  She is SO proud of that and obviously cherishes the memory---so sweet!  She also has been asking to "see horses" (from the Dixie Stampede) and "see peacocks" (from my cousin Matthew's house).  A few days ago we went to Taturus open gym with our friends the Phillips, and right before bed she was out-of-nowhere talking about "jump in blocks...fun" and "orange slide...climb up ladder".  She had a melt down on the big blow up slide, and she talked about "Big slide...no like that." a few times throughout the day, haha!  She talks about jumping in the blocks at least twice a day since then!  
• Ellie continues to LOVE books and now frequently requests her favorites: pumpkin book, fall book, I love you book, moon book, gorilla book, our house, Jesus book, or manger book.  She has been waking up nice and early lately (typically right around 6:23), so we bring her into our bed, and she reads books until we are ready to get out of the warm cozy covers!  
• Ellie is learning more and more songs and is starting to sing a few on her own!  She can sing parts of "ABCs", "Twinkle, twinkle", "Jesus Loves the Little Children/Jesus Loves Me" mixed together, "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Rock-A-Bye Baby", and her current favorite "Away in a Manger".  It may be the cutest thing I've ever witnessed.  I just can't get enough. 
• Ellie loves to draw, especially on her magnadoodle or the chalkboard.  She likes to requests certain animals be drawn...her most frequent request is "draw a hippopotamus" haha!  
• Ellie still loves the color brown, but her other new favorite is PURPLE.  Anything purple makes her just light up, and she gets so excited about it.  
• Playing with her baby dolls and a few choice stuffed animals (bear, monkey, 3 different Pooh bears, 3 different Elmos, and Scout) is still a favorite activity.  She talks about changing their diapers all.the.time. and thanks to Rebecca's mom who sewed adorable cloth diapers for her and my mom who bought her a precious little diaper bag with all the fixins' for Christmas, we change her friends diapers all day long :)  She asks for help to put the diaper on, and then almost immediately she says "I take it off", and then wants to do it all over again!  She also pushes them in the stroller, car, and new shopping cart, puts them in and out of the baby car seat and crib, and rocks them to sleep.  She really is very nurturing and sweet...until she chucks them across the room ha! 

Ellie: 19 Months

It has been a fun, action-packed month filled with all kinds of fun fall activities!  We have been loving the weather and trying to be outside as much as possible!!

 Yes, we eventually put away the water table...like 2 weeks ago :)

 Fun playing in the back yard!

 Ready, set...

 GO!

Cobble family Sunday lunch at La Parilla!

We have been down to the Vol Walk several more times and one Saturday we played in Vol Village, which was really fun!  

 Watching the Vol Walk!

The crew the weekend of the Georgia game

 Dancing her little heart out with Dada

We went on a play date to Oakes Farm with our PEP Moms group.  We had a great time!!  Too bad we went on a Friday, so Mike missed out on the pumpkin patch fun this year.  

 Ellie's 1st hayride!

 Picking out her perfect, plumply, dumply, pumpkin (one of our favorite fall books)

 Ellie loved exploring the pumpkin patch!  She calls our pumpkin we got and most other pumpkins she sees "heavy pumpkin!"

 Mommy and Ellie in the pumpkin patch!

 She was a big fan of talking to and petting the goats!

 She had a blast running through the corn rows!!!  She would have stayed there all day!

 Love that silly girl!

 My sweet little pumpkin

My girls!  Darla and I were both fresh from the beauty parlor :)

 Puddle stomping!

We got to go to Indy to see my dear college friend, Anna, get married on October 12th!  Anna and I lived together freshman year in the dorms and then again junior and senior year in the beloved shack we affectionately call 4-oh-1.  We always have the best time visiting with my U of I friends, and this weekend was no exception!  It was a little different for sure because Miss Ellie came along, but she did great and made lots of new friends!  I forgot my camera and my phone because I was rushing around running late ("like a nut job" as Mike always says), so I barely have any pictures from the wedding...such a bummer!  Even though I literally have NO pictures of her, Anna was such a beautiful bride, and we loved celebrating her big day!!!

 They had the greatest kids meal ever!

 Michelle was a beautiful matron of honor!

 Dancing the night away!

Kate is the greatest :) 

Family photo 

Love these friends so much! 

Why does Chicago have to be so far away?

 My sweets.  Although she looks so precious here, I think this was right after she hit me in the face actually because she didn't want to take a picture, and she was trying to divert being disciplined by saying "hair!" and playing with my hair (one of her latest tricks!)

 Ellie was crazy about Kate all weekend!!!  Mommy was definitely chopped liver compared to Kate :)  She was super sweet and patient with Ellie being so demanding of her attention!

 At breakfast the morning after watching Elmo or Pooh on Nicole's phone...she sure knew how to win her over ;)

 Someone was verrry sleepy the next day while Daddy was trying to fold up her pack-n-play!

 Just a little stop at McDonald's play place on the way home

 Little monkey

 Play date with the Winstons at one of our favorite places, Anchor Park!

 This little mini skirt just kills me...so cute.

 Fun times in the sand box

She learning to cross the bridges by herself!  She used to walk across holding my hands, but this day she was adamantly saying "no help!"

 Checking out the new spinner at our neighborhood playground!

 The petting zoo at "Hello Fall" at church was a huge hit!


I think she went around and pet every single goat and sheep in there!

 Merry-Go-Round all by herself!

Tid bits from this month:

• Probably the cutest and newest thing about Ellie this month is that she has become slightly obsessed with letters and the ABC song!  She absolutely loves all toys that involve letters...her foam bath letters, the tiny Bananagram letters she pulls out of the cabinet, her Leap Frog laptop, you name it...if it has letters on it, she's all over it.  She frequently requests "more song", "song please", or "more ac" (she likes to leave the b out)  Once you start singing, let me tell ya, it's hard to stop.  She wants you to sing the "ac song" over and over and over again :)  It's pretty adorable to see how her face just lights up when you start to sing.  She loves to pat her hands on her lap to the beat, and at the end when you sing the "now I know my ABCs..." part, she sways back and forth.  It may be the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Trust me, we (being the adults in the household) definitely get sick of the song, but it's hard to beat seeing the joy she has when we sing!  She also loves "Old McDonald" and is starting to sing along some with the animals sounds.  "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is probably in 3rd place right now.
• In addition to loving the ABC song, she really is excited about learning her letters and numbers.  She blows me away with how many of them she actually knows and will point out when we are reading or just randomly on people's shirts or wherever she sees them.  I have caught her "counting" a few times.  She will NOT do it if prompted, but one morning she was touching the dots on her cup and saying, "5, 6, 7, 8, 9!"  No joke.  So stinking cute!  She is also starting to associate letters with certain words (thanks to her Leap Frog laptop), so she will say things like "E for elephant", "J for jellyfish", or one of her favorites, "D for Darla".
• Ellie is also starting to learn her colors.  She has a fish bowl game where it names the color of the fish as she puts it in, so that really got her started with learning her colors.  Her favorite color is....you'll never guess...brown!  Yes, she loves brown!  She loves to point out her "brown shoes" and she always puts the "brown fish" in the bowl first.  Her 2nd favorite color is green, which was my favorite when I was little (because it was my buddy Uncle Mike's favorite, too!)  If you ask her, "what color is ____?", she will usually respond with "green!"  She also likes to point out purple and red.  
• Ellie is starting to laugh more at socially appropriate times...like she will giggle at funny things on a show or something Darla does.
• Instead of just labeling items with one word, she oftentimes will say "It's a _____."  She also is moving beyond nouns and using adjectives to describe objects.  Her favorite one is definitely "heavy", and she also comments about things that are "soft."  She likes to call her puppy "silly Darla" or "crazy Darla" :)
• Ellie is becoming more independent and is doing much better during drop-off at school and church nursery.  She doesn't usually fuss at all when Daddy drops her off at school, and some days she reaches out for her teachers.  One day when I took her, as we were pulling in the parking lot she said, "more wind" because the wind from the window being down died down as I slowed down to turn.  Then I explained that we were slowing down because we were at school, and she said, "oh boy!"  I was really excited to see her being excited to go to school!!  We have always known she has a great time at school, but it's another thing to see her show it!  Her teacher are really happy to see this growth in her, too!
• Ellie has a new love for Winnie the Pooh, especially the Pooh song.  She watched a lot of the "Pooh" song on my mom's iPad when she was in Atlanta, so now it's a toss up between which friend to take in the car or in the stroller on any given day: Elmo, Pooh, or baby?  Oh, the decisions of a 19 month old! :)  My mom sent back my Pooh piggy bank from when I was little, and Ellie got a hold of it and fell in love.  For several days, she carried around that ceramic Pooh.  It was so cute but slightly dangerous, haha!  My mom sent her a Pooh stuffed animal in the mail and Miss Beth is letting her borrow her Pooh bear from when she was a little girl- very special!  

Daddy tried to hide the ceramic Pooh since her obsession was becoming hazardous.  He obviously didn't hide Pooh very well because Ellie spotted him (turned over on the 3rd shelf up) and begged for "Pooh please, Pooh please..."  I tried to redirect, but that did not work out too well.

Look at that face.  Poor girl!

Since Daddy hadn't done a very good job hiding Pooh, I felt badly and let her play with Pooh.  She was SO excited to put Pooh in the stroller and share some juice with him :) 

Over the moon with joy!

"Yucky diaper!"  

 Such a little mommy!

 Pooh had to wear a bib to eat his lunch :)

Thanks for reading!  Until next time, friends!