December 25th: Wonderful. Christmas was stress free and relaxing. A great day.

December 26th: Different story. We misplaced keys and drove back and forth from Park City three times. But the worst part was that Ella was horribly backed up and cried on and off for hours. I had to give her 1 suppository and 2 enemas before we made any progress. It was really awful. It was also Ryan's birthday and he pretty much got the shaft. No cake, no singing, no real celebration at all. He was a very good sport.

December 27th: I had a busy day at work and came home to a little girl who absolutely refused to say she was sorry for something she had done and spent 2.5 hours in time out. I honestly wondered if she was going to end up sleeping in the corner. Whew.

December 28th: Had a nice day, but spent most of it trying to make good on my Christmas present to Ryan: get his car serviced. Didn't get much else done.

By the evening of the 28th I was starting to feel overwhelmed {I'm sure the pregnancy hormones had nothing to do with it.} Early December found me overly ambitious and I tackled two major projects: making a new room for Ella and finishing our basement. Ella's room was 60% done, and it was driving me crazy that I couldn't find time or energy to finish it. We needed to make time-sensitive decisions on the basement, but irrationally I felt I couldn't even deal with it until the girls' rooms were completed. Then came the blessed phone call from my mom. "Kimmy and I don't have plans for tomorrow. Why don't we come down and help you get Ella's room finished and get the basement figured out?" How did she know? Exactly what I needed.

I love the finished product. So does Ella.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Ella is really into who's who lately. Ma Sue is "Your mommy" and Ma Janet is "Daddy's mommy." The frame on the wall has a really cool genealogy chart Kimmy and Chris made to showcase her roots. Love it.

merry merry

Hope you have a wonderful holiday.

baby baby

{thanks, Britt, for coming out of retirement to make these...Ella loved the "Baby Jesus"}

The best part of having your first baby is the Pinebrook shower. The moms of our childhood friends know how to throw a party. There is always delicious food, fun people and fabulous gifts. Since Jamie was in town for a few days we decided to squeeze in a shower over the holidays. Since Park City is wonderful but a little bit out of the way and snowy this time of year we decided to host it at my house. Which meant that I had help cleaning my house, got credit for food that I did not make and a party that I did not plan, and got to keep the leftovers. Sweet deal.

Congrats, Jamie, and can't wait to meet the little girl.

tone deaf

If you know me reasonably well, you know a few things about me. Things like I am irrationally afraid of mice. I hate pickles {although one of my best friends just told me she didn't know this about me....hmmm}. I love a good bargain and I love to share it. I am always up for a good cup of hot chocolate. And I can't carry a tune to save my life.

It's the last of these that has been on my mind lately. I am not quite tone deaf. I can tell when I am out off key. My problem is that I only hit about 1/3rd of the right the notes. It is truly foreign to me how people can look at sheet music and sing the correct notes. Not my gift. Not my mother's either. Lately Ella has really been into music and is always asking me to sing her a song. I oblige, but as I do I cringe because, really, I sound awful. And while I don't expect much at two, her little voice sounds an awful lot like her mother.

So...do you think musical talent is nurture or nature? Should I refrain from Twinkle Twinkle and the Wheels on the Bus? Or should I instill in her a love of music, even if I do make my husband cringe when he hears me croon?

Thoughts?

*this post was inspired by hearing David Archuletta sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I bet his mama is not tone deaf :)

thanks

Thanks for the input on the phones. I personally am a big fan of a live person (loved Molly's comment), but it's not completely practical right now. As a good first step we streamlined our phone tree. There used to be 38 seconds of "Welcome to Southpoint Pediatrics...our office hours are...our blogs is...our fax is...etc, etc, etc." and then the phone tree. Now it says, "Welcome to Southpoint Pediatrics. Press 1 to schedule an appointment {gets you to a live person}. Press 2 to leave a message for a medical assistant {gets you to their inbox, where they call back very quickly}. Our office hours are....the other 36 seconds..."

I'm still in favor of the live person answering the phone, at least when they can, but at least we are headed in the right direction. I mean, come one, no one wants to wait on the phone when you've got a sick kid.

In other news, today Ella pointed out that the Christmas lights weren't on. "You're right. I'll turn them on." I did, and was rewarded with, "I so proud of you, Mommy!"

Oh, Ella. When you're cute, you're cute.

***Okay, just called our office, and it's not short and sweet yet. But it will be. I promise.

polling the masses

Question:

When calling your Pediatrician's office, would you rather have a phone tree or a live person answer the phone?

Thanks.

ella at 27 months

• She is a fan of Dora. The children's museum in Manhattan had a whole Dora floor. She loved it.
• The other night we were eating dinner and she was being a little obnoxious. Not bad, just making it difficult to have a conversation. Ryan started to say something about her behavior, and I said, "I know it's annoying, but she's just two." A few minutes later she was doing something I didn't approve of and asked her to stop. She replied with, "Mom, I just two." I guess she got me.
• We've been using a lot of "option 1 or option 2." (Example: This morning she was on the verge of a meltdown because she wanted to say the prayer. Option 1: mom says the prayer. Option 2: go to time out.) She can be so stubborn, but when she is 'making' the decision she does so much better. Although I don't think it will be long before she realizes that she's being played.
• She is not interested in potty training. It's fine for other people, but she prefers her diaper.
• Her favorite number is 11. If you are having a conversation with someone and say, "Let's meet at 1125 south 400 east tomorrow afternoon" she'll say, "Were you talking about my fwavowit?"
• The other day she was playing with her toy clock and said, "I tan't find 13! I've looked everywhere!"
• She started pre-pre-school today. She is a little set in her ways when it comes to how the world should be run, so I thought some time with other kids may do her good. She loved her backpack, but informed me she would have preferred a purple one like Dora.


• 
  
• She thinks it's hilarious to make up "funny" words. Today she told me she was drinking "milker" and we were going to the "poke office." I am "mam-ha," we are going to have a "bay-pe" and Ryan is "dat-tee." She doesn't use the 'funny' words often, but when she does she gets a twinkle in her eye.

ella in the city

As I mentioned, we spent Thanksgiving with my two sisters in Manhattan. Lucky for us they both live in the same apartment building, with fabulous apartments and extra bedrooms (full-sized!! not NYC-sized). I was a little apprehensive about taking Ella as the week before we left she was acting very much like a two-year old. I seriously considered calling off the trip. But to my delight, she was a delight. Only had one minor meltdown; she was a real trooper. {2 doting adults and a grandma granting her every wish may have helped, too}

You would think that with Jamie's photography skills and all, we would take better pictures. But no. iPhone shots or bust. And none of them very good. But here's what I've got. (if anyone else took any good ones send them my way)

that's her camera smile....we need to work on it a bit

the train show at the botanical gardens. once we made it through the line, it was really cool

after a wet morning

ella and lily at the park--they had a great time together. and norwalk has a fabulous aquarium if you're ever in the area

Thanks, Wrides and Crosbys. Ella already wants to go back to 'York.