FPD

Today we started a new tradition at the Wolf house.  Family photo day!  After numerous request from the school to send family photos, I realized we didn't really have any.  Especially recent ones with our newest member.  Also, we take tons of pics of the girls, but speaking from experience, one day they are going to cherish the pics with other people in them.  So, I am implementing a new tradition.  Each month we are going to take at least one family photo.  I know that they aren't all going to be pretty and we didn't make a point to get all fixed up for this one or anything, but I hope that we'll keep it up and we'll be able to look back and laugh at them over the years.  Here are the official results of our first family photo day (didn't really go that smooth, and my sanity was questioned a time or two, but I think we worked out some kinks this go round!)

Ella Pics

I've been trying to get pics of her smiling.  This is the best I could do this weekend...

Park

Going Organic

Kind of!  First there is our garden - remember those little seeds we planted back at the beginning of the year?  Well, they didn't all make it, but it is probably a good thing b/c we clearly underestimated the space we'd need and our garden looks like this

Yes, mad chaos!  Fortunately for us, everything we planted seems to thrive on neglect.  We have a tomatillo plant that has taken over, but currently has tons of tomatillos on it, so I'm excited to make some salsa.  We have jalapeno peppers and Anaheim peppers for a family of 12.  Pesto anyone?  Seriously just come and get some of our basil.  Few tomatoes in there.   Michael is already working on a revised garden area for next year - clearly some better spatial planning is needed! 

Part 2 of going organic is the organic co-op we've started getting fruits and veggies from.  It is super fun and is definitely making us eat more fruit.  We were pretty good at veggies, but not real creative when it came to fruit, but it is always a surprise what you are going to get and we've had fun cooking with veggies we normally wouldn't buy.  You can just order whenever you want, not a mandatory weekly deal, so we place an order online and go pick it up on Saturday.  Only done it twice, but we'll definitely continue.  Here is our loot from this past Saturday.

We are trying to eat healthier, but Michael and I laughed because after picking up all of our organic fruits and veggie we stopped at Wendy's for lunch.  Pretty sure not a single component of our bacon cheeseburger was organic!

More Sister Time

I love taking sister pics!

If you look back to my post on May 15th, it is fun to see how much Ella has grown and changed. 

Addy said they were making silly faces in this pic. Addy is of course being silly and if you look close enough, Ella kind of looks like she is sticking out her tongue too!

So sweet.

Line Leader

Addy is doing great.  On Monday we went to play with her friends Brooke and Emily at Brooke's house and it is just amazing that we can send the girls up to Brooke's room and they play forever by themselves.  We've been doing play dates since Addy was 3 months old but just this year the kids are actually playing together - nice for the moms and also fun to see that development.   

She seems to be fine with the change from "Mommy, Addy days" on Mon and Fri to "Mommy, Addy, Ella days".  She can be completely inpatient and irrational over the silliest thing, resulting in the previously mentioned tantrums, but fortunately when it comes to me taking time to feed or change Ella or something, she is completely patient.  We are so luck!

Addy had another fun week at school.  She got to be the line leader one day which she was very excited about.  When I asked her what she did as the line leader the only thing she'd tell me was that she stood on the orange line and held the line leader sign up.  She was very proud though!  They also started going to the splash park which is of course a hit.  Wearing a swimsuit to school is always a treat!  Next week she starts dance class again which she is super excited about.  I got her a new leotard and tights yesterday and she was giddy, she wore them all day today. 

4 Months Old!

When a blanket isn't handy a new favorite is to pull up her dress and chew on it or put it over her head!

Our baby girl turned 4 months old on Monday!  Seems like I was still pregnant just yesterday, yet can't remember what our world was like before Ms. Ella.  Tonight I realized that Addy probably cries more than Ella (3 year old tantrums - ugh!)  Ella continues to sleep like a champ.  I think that she was asleep in bed by 9, maybe 9:30 last night and I had to wake her up at 8:00 this morning because I figured she need to eat.  She had even woken up earlier with a super wet diaper and Michael had changed her and put her back to sleep.  The sleeper in me loves it! She is also sleeping in her bed now.  I think that she is much more comfy because she can spread out more and the transition was seamless.  There is the occasional trek down the hall in the wee hours to give her a pacifier, but they seem to be getting less and less. 

We had Ella's 4 month checkup on Monday and she is doing great.  Well, when we went to the doc she had a rash all over her from what we can only guess is an allergic reaction to something but it has since gone away.  We had a red spotted kids for a while though and no clue what she was reacting too, just glad it is gone.  Her weight was 12 lbs. 12 oz. and height is 24.75 inches.  As I've mentioned before, the height measurement is quite sketchy due to their measuring technique, but it is in the ballpark.  I can tell she is taller because her feet are getting closer and closer to the edge of her swing and her carrier.

Another change this week, at the doctor I mentioned that Ella spit up a whole bunch and now that she is spitting up all on her teachers at school we'd like to see what we can do about it (and we both have the fear of her spitting up on us in our work clothes as we are rushing to get out of the house in the morning!).  Fortunately the spitting up never bothered her but she is now on a formula made for healthy babies that spit up and she is doing SO much better.  There is still the occasional spit up, but nothing like it was! 

Ella is still enjoying her class I think.  The other day when I dropped her off she got a big smile on her face when her teacher said good morning to her and one day she came home and one of her teachers had written "Mommy I had an AWESOME day today".  Still not really sure why it was awesome, but it was nice to see.  She still comes home really happy and has yet to cry when I drop her off.  Happy baby, happy mommy!

New Favorite

This is my new favorite sister pic!

First Day of School

Big Day!  Addy's first day in the 3 year old class, Ella's first day ever at school and my first day back from maternity leave.  All went great.  Addy had a blast at school and was very excited when she got home.  She is in a class with pretty much all of her good friends at school, so she was happy to be back with some of the kiddos that she missed this summer.  Seems to like her new teachers and the new toys in her classroom.  There is apparently a jewelry bucket (not a jewelry box per Addy) and she played dress up and fashion show today apparently.  The note home today from her teachers said that she did a really good job following directions today.  We were happy to see that comment!  Here is a pic of her before school today

Ella had a great day too!  When I dropped her off, her teacher said I was welcome to call as much as I wanted during the day to check in on her.  I had convinced myself not to call because I didn't want to know if things weren't going well, but after I got back from lunch I couldn't help it I had to call - fortunately her teacher said she was having a great day.  Slept and ate well.  I asked if she had been fussy and her response was "Oh no, she is a good baby."  Ella was happy when she got home, lots of smiles and that made me happy.  Here is a pic of Ella before school today (when I uploaded the pic I realized it kind of looks like she is crying in this pic...it is actually a smile.  I finally got Addy looking at the camera and smiling but still working on getting smiles on cue from Ella!)

I should also add that we had 2 kids in bed by 9:00.  That is a record.  Now we are cleaning and getting ready to do it again tomorrow! 

Last Week of Summer

Last week school was closed and we had 5 whole mommy, Addy, Ella days!  Knowing that it was going to be a long week if we just hung out at home all week I made sure to have a bunch of play dates for Addy and Ella got to come along for the ride.  Ella got to spend some time at both of the grandparent's houses, Addy got to go to the Children's Museum with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was a busy fun week!  Here are some pics to commemorate the last week of summer before school and work started

Ballerina bike ride

Can't get enough swimming with Granddad!

Ella is rockin' in her saucer these days.  And here is pic #1 of Ella modeling Addy's headbands.  Addy had a blast dressing Ella up.  Ella tolerated it well for a while!

"Not so sure about this one ma"

OK, no more! 

Addy put this outfit together - I think that she walks better in my heels than I do! 

Ella resting in the shade outside. 

Have you ever seen anything so pitiful?!  I don't remember why she was upset - think it was because she wanted to come inside and I was trying to get her to play in the pool more since it had taken longer to get it set up than she played in it! 

More Beach Fun

We had another great weekend at the beach this past weekend.  Just so nice to get away from the distractions at the house and hang out and relax. 

Made in the shade.  It was HOT this weekend - thank goodness for he beach umbrella and tent!

Addy making "snow" angels in the sand. 

Not sure where this pool came from but we've loved having it to play with on the deck. 

Popsicle time on the stairs. 

Ella is becoming quite the beach bum.  Her favorite thing is to sit on the deck and rock.

Cute Sister Pics

"Fish" Wolf

At the beginning of summer we couldn't get Addy to leave the steps long enough to even make it towards the deep end of the pool - now she swims over by herself (well, with the help of a noodle) and swings around on the rope. 

When the pool isn't super full she can easily stand by herself in the shallow end.

Old Friends and New Friends

Last weekend we had an amazing night catching up with old friends and Ella and Addison made some new ones.  The Wardells and Weavers were in town and we met up at Ralph and Sandra's for a pizza party.  There were a whole bunch of little girls running around - kind of funny that we all have 2 little girls (the little boy you see in some of the pics is David's sister's son).  There must have been something in the water at Bellaire High School!

Rolly-Polly

We try to do tummy time, but have trouble sometimes because Ella flips to her back so fast.  She really has that move mastered! 

Great tummy time!

Roll in motion

And Ella is on her back! 

Growing Like A Weed

Ella is officially 3 months old now!  Everyone says that it gets easier after the first 3 months - I thought that the first 3 months went super smooth, so who knows what we have in store.  I start back to work on the 24th, so that should be interesting.  Not sure how I'll get me and 2 kids ready and out the door before 10:00, but I guess we'll have to figure it out.  Ella has still been sleeping through the night, so I haven't been getting up until 7-7:30ish.  She gets baby of the year in my book for her sleeping habits so far!  There will obviously be some alarm setting required come the 24th.

Addy definitely gets the big sister of the year award!  I keep expecting her to get tired of having a baby around, but I haven't seen a minute of jealousy and she absolutely loves playing with Ella.  We spend more time playing in Ella's room than we do in Addy's room these days.  I imagine our troubles will come once Ella is old enough to get into Addy's stuff and mess it up! 

I got all of Ella's 3-6 month clothes washed and they actually fit really well.  I am excited to have some new outfits for pics :)

Freddie the Firefly is probably Ella's favorite toy.  Every day she is trying to get more and more things in her mouth.  Freddie's wing was a hit this day! 

Ella really likes to sit up these days.  She hadn't been a fan of the Bumbo chair (the purple thing) but now she can sit in it for a while before she gets mad.  Only problem is that she spits up a lot when she sits up.  She is still a bit small to use Boppy (the pillow looking thing...not sure who came up with all these strange names for baby gear) to help her sit up, makes her kind of slouchy, but she loves it.