Happy TEN Monthiversary, Ella!

2 months until my little girl is a year old. 2 months until I have to throw another themed birthday party which I really suck at doing. 2 months until baseball is almost over. But I digress...

Ella Faith has been strutting her stuff like nobody's business. As a result, we've had to upgrade her bedroom furniture a little earlier than planned. See, when Zach and I decided to start a family, we decorated one room as the nursery and intended it to be for all of the kids, regardless of gender. Our plan was to then upgrade the kiddos to their own rooms after we learned more about their personality, or, as in Ella's case, they have proven their nursery surroundings hazardous. Sigh. It's always something with this child. The sentimental hand-me-down crib she's currently in is a drop-side, and drop it does. Ella is so rough that she actually kicked the side down the other day. I thought a bomb went off it was so loud. I ran up to find her on her back, giggling. I was not as entertained as she.

Hazard #1

She also climbs on everything and the bookcase I scored at Ikea many moons ago isn't the most Ella-friendly; I'm afraid it's going to tip over on her. So, we gave in and took advantage of the USA Baby sale and got the little princess her new bedroom furniture. (Real talk: I'm super excited for it! It's ivory and adorable and I can't WAIT to decorate her room!) Everything will be delivered in the middle of April, also known as the heart of baseball season, and before then, we have to clean out her new room, get rid of old furniture, find a new place to store all holiday decorations, and paint. Oh and I'm OCD so I'll be looking for color schemes and accessories and new bedding from now until the very last second, so, yeah, this shouldn't be too hard...

Early morning photo shoot with Blondie and Chubs :-)

At the ripe old age of 10 months, Ella is sporting 3.5 teeth, a wicked hair do, and a temper that rivals mine. She eats very well and is pretty much in heaven any time Brady is around. She's begun drinking milk from a cup, but it's still force-fed. Chica does not care for cups. She also doesn't care for sleeping. She still wakes up at least once at night and screams louder and Louder and LOUDER until someone goes in. If it's Zach, she fusses but falls back to sleep. If it's me, she fusses and doesn't stop until she nurses. (Note to future self: nursing is great, but pump next time.) I swear half of this child's tantrums stem from my boobs. Regardless, the cold turkey cry-it-out method has not been successful, nor has the gradual version. I'm at a loss with this girl when it comes to her sleeping.

Angry she's on the chair

As was expected, Ella did not sit still for her photo shoot today. I got maybe one decent picture before she threw herself back into the chair and screamed or tried to hand glide to the floor. She's a real project this one. If we have any more kids, I pray we get a boy or at least a child with Brady's disposition. Had Ella come first, she would have been an only child until she went away to school. And by school, I mean college.

Now trying to push herself off of the chair.

Speaking of school, I've been discussing some different options with my supervisor to free me up during the day more because slowly but surely, the flexibility of the work-from-home job I once loved is becoming more and more demanding. It's now requiring more time-specific tasks, which requires more help with the kids, which defeats the whole purpose of working from home. I'm excited to see what my boss has planned; she e-mailed me and another colleague about a possible opportunity that would free us up a bit, and she asked that we meet about it on Monday. That's all the info I have now; hopefully in a few days I'll get to write back with news that I'm now making 3-figures and I only have to work 3 hours a day. What? It could happen...

I thought this was a pretty cool picture!