A Very Sad Valentine and a Sitter

Wednesday night was a very long night. Poor Ellie cried and cried unless she was being held or her back was being rubbed - she was so sad! Initially Jon thought she was just used to being coddled and wanting attention but as the night progressed we knew she was sick. She had been seeming a bit under the weather on Wednesday. I was up so much that I eventually took her to the living room so that we could lay down (Jon has a strict no-baby-in-our-bed policy). She fell asleep in her own bed at 5:30 and slept until 8:30 without making a peep. Poor baby.

Thursday morning Ellie's eyes and nose were all red and puffy. Her nose was running and her voice hoarse, too. I managed to take a shower and do a little bit of my Bible Study homework during the morning but otherwise held the poor little girl. Since it was Valentine's Day and I didn't have any lunch food, Jon and I decided to meet up for lunch at AJ's whenever Ellie woke up from her morning nap. We ended up eating around 1:00. Jon ordered lunch and I ran over to the Dollar Tree for a last minute Valentine's project I came up with. 

Following lunch Ellie cried the entire trip home. She slept for a bit and I worked on cutting out the men's initials from our small group. I was cutting them with an exacto knife onto vinyl that had a sticky back. Then I used transfer paper to put the newly-made stencil onto these huge glass mugs. Using a class etching cream the initials were permanently etched into the glass. I made a mug for each of the men.
It was a lot of fun and poor, sick, little Ellie watched me work. Fortunately she took some decent naps. I think Ellie must have had a bad cold because she never seemed to have a fever (at least from the trick Carly taught me and her forehead never felt burning hot). She was definitely unhappy, though. I finally gave her Tylenol at 3:30 to see if that would help her out but she spat must of it out. I really do not know if any made it into her system, but I tried.
Jon came home around 5:45 and helped clean up the house. Because of the mug-making project and Ellie's sick state I had run short on time. I was glad we celebrated Valentine's Day on Tuesday night at the Mexican restaurant because I didn't even make dinner!
For small group we decided that everyone could bring something to contribute for snack. I provided drinks and others brought brownies, ice cream, chips and dip, and sundae toppings. We still did a study lesson but we hung out for a while afterwards. Jon and I put the mugs in the freezer so that they could have "frosted glasses" for the drinks. When we gave out the mugs Paul couldn't believe I put his initials on his - why would I want a mug with his initials? Um, Paul, you can keep it.
Towards the end of the study portion of our evening (we listen to half of a sermon then discuss it) Ellie woke up. She was really crying upstairs so I decided to see if she would stop if she had something to look at (people). She did and sat very still on my lap, watching whoever was talking. She looked so sad and pathetic! After about thirty minutes she started pouting so I took her upstairs and put her back to bed.
Friday morning I had the lofty goal of going to the gym before attending a Valentine's Day playdate at my friend AmyBeth's. Since Ellie had been sick the day before I decided that we would only go to the gym if she woke up in time (by 9:00 since the class begins at 9:15). That baby ended up sleeping until almost 10:00! I had told AmyBeth that we would be a bit late to the playdate because I had wanted to go to the gym but we were late because Ellie slept so long. I tried giving Ellie some Tylenol before we left just in case she wasn't feeling well but she choked and gagged until it was all over her belly instead of in her stomach.
AmyBeth had a Valentine's Day craft for the kids so Ellie and I watched everyone put together these heart puppets. Then she pulled out cupcakes for decorating. I was grateful that she thought to include us even though Ellie is too young to participate. I still ate a cupcake, though.
After two hours Ellie was getting tired and I wanted to make sure she continued to get all the sleep she needed. She was looking a lot better and wasn't crying our pouting, so that was good. During the afternoon I made another glass-etching project for a gift for Dorothy.
Jere Scott was throwing a surprise party for Dorothy hosted by Peter and Brittany. I etched "Bradshaw" into the side of a 9x13 as her gift (I got the idea off of Pinterest). I also had volunteered to bring a cake, dessert, and salad. In hindsight I really should have only done two things since I ended up forgetting about the salad dressing. Oh well.
I took two recipes I found online (thanks again, Pinterest) and made Rolo cupcakes and a salted-caramel cake. I wish I would have taken pictures to compare to the actual pictures...I do not know how people ice cupcakes and make them look so nice. I do not have the touch! Both recipes were fairly involved so I was thankful when Ellie slept a solid two hours.
Jon came home at 5:30 and saved the day by cleaning up the kitchen. I was having our first ever non-family babysitter. I had texted someone and called another family and the youth were all tied up with the progressive dinner. Well Mrs. Jackin's called me back and said that she would love to watch Ellie for us. I questioned her to make sure she was serious and she convinced me that she wanted to do it. The kitchen looked like a hurricane had occurred when Jon arrived and when Mrs. Jackin's came an hour later he not only had cleaned up the kitchen while I finished up the desserts but changed Ellie's explosion diaper. He's the man.
The birthday party was an enjoyable time. We came back after three hours or so and Mrs. Jackin's said that Ellie drank both the bottles and had fought sleep the first go-around. She said Ellie started crying the minute they walked into the bedroom - she knew what was coming! The second time she fed her the bottle in the room with the lights off and Ellie fell asleep eating. So success with the first sitter!

Ellieisms:
Ellie is very sad when she's sick. I can't help but feel so bad for her!
Ellie is not very impressed with applesauce...yet.

I apologize once again for no pictures. My camera is not cooperating and it's not transferring the pictures.

Celebrating Valentine's Day

After our busy Monday I took Tuesday to recover. I spent a lot of time researching and planning my menu and other desserts I'm going to be making over the weekend. Ellie took a nice nap in the morning and early afternoon. My first piano lesson cancelled so we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house at 4:00. Grandma was teaching a piano lesson so Grandpa took care of Ellie while she finished up. I taught Dr. Kane but during his lesson his son hurt his head playing hockey in their basement so I was able to go home early. Ellie behaved for Grandpa: he said he took her to the bedroom and hung out on the bed chatting and whatnot.
Ellie and I headed home and I did some of my Bible Study homework until it was time to take Ellie to the Fenton's.  Jon and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day early since our weekend was shaping up to be busy. Since Jon loves Mexican food and I just had my choice of restaurant for my birthday, I suggested that we go to Taqueria El Carreton.
The restaurant was empty and we had a quiet, relaxing dinner just the two of us. We ordered tacos, five seasoned pork and five roast pork, and chips and salsa. Jon prefers the seasoned ones and I like the roast ones. They only carry the authentic homemade Mexican drinks on the weekend so we had some Mexican soda. After dinner we stopped by Peter and Brittany's house since Peter was trying to replace their kitchen faucet and ran into some trouble.
We picked up Ellie after being away three hours. Thank you, Kelly, for watching her! I can relax when I know she's in good hands. She woke up when we transfered her into the car seat and had trouble getting back to sleep at home. Jon fed her a bottle that Kelly had heated up but Ellie had refused earlier and then put her to sleep. She was so tired but didn't want to fall asleep in her crib so Jon held her until she was snoozing away. She's spoiled!
I'm hoping that Ellie is growing because she woke up every two hours last night. A few times I tried to put her back to sleep but she wanted to nurse. It made for a long night! Jon went running and I woke up when he was all ready for work and eating breakfast.
Ellie slept while I prepared for Precepts and we made it to church just in time for class. Ellie hadn't eaten breakfast yet (nursed) so I kept her with me until after she was finished eating. She survived the rest of the class in the childcare then we headed home for her nap.
During naptime I ordered my shopping list by rows and figured out what I wanted to purchase from the craft store. I called two places and the second place had the items I needed. When Ellie woke up I packed her up and headed to Michael's in Pottstown after she ate. I purchased more items than I intended (I've been needing another muffin pan and it seemed like a good price!) and was home in under two hours. Ellie was seeming tired and I didn't want to push her and go straight to the grocery store. She napped but I think was woken up early by a loud truck at the intersection because it was only thirty minutes later. I should have turned on the sound machine.
When she woke up I quickly went to the grocery store for the items. It took about an hour and Ellie was tired because she cried the entire way home. Fortunately it was not a wailing but I still felt pressure and I was behind a car driving ten under the speed limit. Why does that always seem to happen when Ellie is crying?
Ellie seemed to cheer up when she was out of her carseat. I emptied the groceries and carried her around while picking up the house. I cleaned the bathroom while she hung out in the living room but she soon sounded cranky. Since she woke up so much last night I went ahead and fed her again before putting her down for another nap.
Jon had to work late for the third night in a row. He came home earlier than the other nights, which was nice; around six thirty. We had a pathetic meal of chicken strips since I didn't want to push my time limit and put together a salad like I had envisioned when I purchased them. Oh well. Jon didn't seem to mind.
Ellie was still sleeping when it was time to leave for Bible Study so I made her a bottle and carpooled with Tara. I forgot my phone at home so I hoped Jon wouldn't have any type of emergency.
Jon missed probably three quarters of his prayer group that he was hosting since he had to take care of Ellie. Next week he is leading the prayer time so Ellie will be coming with me. When I came home Ellie had just finished her bottle so I put her to bed.

Sorry, no pictures! Lame, I know.

Ellieisms:
Ellie really likes Kelly. She always smiles really big for her.
I use a baby-bullet to make Ellie's baby food. Whenever I turn it on to chop up the food Ellie's eyes get really big and her entire body shakes. If she's tired she will burst out crying.

Unhappy in the Car

Sunday morning we didn't have any obligations so I went to my Sunday School and Jon went to his and we met up before second service. I had popped my head in at nursery and Ellie was fussy but had already eaten her bottle so I told them I would come nurse her and try to put her to sleep before the service started. Thinking that she would probably not sleep, I attempted to put her down and left her laying quietly in the pack'n'play. Usually when I do that she starts crying a few minutes later and it was all futile. This week Ellie decided a nap was necessary and slept for forty-five minutes.

Jon's trying to tell me we don't have time for pictures.
We need to get ready for church!

Before her nap we took pictures together because we matched. She was a bit cranky, if you can't tell. Not the most flattering pictures.

Jon invited Omar over for lunch so I cooked some chili and cornbread for us to enjoy. Ellie fell asleep and woke up just as we finished lunch. I hung out with her while the boys worked on a project for Efra. When they moved to the family room for FIFA I put Ellie in the exersaucer and she watched their game for a while.
Omar headed home when Jon and I needed to go to evening church. Ellie hung out in nursery along with a larger-than-normal group but apparently she enjoyed the entertainment. When I went to pick her up Clark was very excited to help me pack her up and he even performed "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" for everyone. Jon and I went right home afterwards and ate some leftovers before heading to bed early.
I am so thankful I went to bed early last night because Ellie woke up at least four times before 8:00. Grandma wants to watch Ellie while I go to the gym to keep her away from the germs so I dropped her off at 9:00. Grandpa was standing in the garage ready to help unload her. I felt terrible because I was late! Sorry, Grandpa. I didn't have a bottle pumped so I left a container of formula and an empty bottle at their house because they like to give her a bottle while I'm away (it doesn't matter if I just fed her an hour before - they like to make sure her belly is full!). Apparently it was quite a conundrum. It took a while to figure out the bottle and then once Grandpa made it Grandma knew it seemed thicker than usual. When I returned I told her that it was because I usually gave her breast milk! Ellie didn't take the bottle so perhaps she doesn't like formula. That could be a bummer.
Following the workout I gained back any lost calories plus some because Grandma invited us to stay for lunch. I put Ellie down for a nap and Kelly and Clark came over. Grandma showed me some of her old quilts and we stumbled upon her extra piano lesson books. She offered to loan me some so I went through the stack. Lunch was delicious and Clark was in high spirits. He didn't seem to notice having all the attention since Ellie was sleeping the entire time he was there.
Since Ellie was still sleeping after the Fenton's left Grandma told me to run any errands on my list. I picked up the dry cleaning and stopped by the dollar store for a few things. When I returned Grandma said Ellie had woken up just fifteen minutes before, meaning she slept for almost two and a half hours. Feeling ambitious I changed into some clean clothes and drove out to Ephrata.
Betsy Kreider, a lady from our church (she's in a wheel chair as is her husband Earl), is recovering in a rehab center and has been there for weeks. Aunt Carol Hoke visits her and has asked us to pray for her at our Wednesday morning Precepts class. Before Ellie was born I was talking with someone about how a baby can lift spirits (if the person likes them) and always provides something to talk about. So I thought I should go visit Betsy since she was feeling a bit down about having to stay in rehab a lot longer than they thought and wasn't progressing very quickly.

Snoozing on the way to Ephrata

I arrived around 2:30 and fed Ellie in the car. Of course she decided to boo so I changed her diaper discreetly in a corner near the lobby. We stayed until around 3:45 when Mr. Kreider arrived. He asked to hold Ellie and he took her out of the room and showed her around. She looked up at him and touched his face and mustache. Before I gave him over she was getting a bit cranky but remained quiet while with him. Perhaps she just wanted a change of scenery!
On our way home I stopped by a store called Carson's In the Corn Fields. It has a lot of flea-market type stuff but is very clean and orderly. I headed home at 4:15 to make it back in time for my 5:00 piano lesson. Ellie decided that she does not like the car because she wailed the last twenty minutes home. Carly, I know feel your pain. If she would do that all the time I do not know if I would ever leave the house except for on foot! I nursed her and put her to sleep before Brooke arrived.
Jon had to work late tonight so I showered (finally after working out - yucky) and ate leftover chili then packed some up for Jon. Ellie wailed the entire trip to Iron Mountains then back to Geigertown. I picked up Tara Frey to head over to the craft night and Ellie continued to wail. She was not happy!
But she was tired so I put her on the floor to hang out with Wyeth Estes while I brought up a pack'n'play from the nursery. I set her up in the library which is right next to the gathering room and I nursed her and put her to sleep. She cried pathetically for a few minutes before zonking out the rest of the evening. But she was not happy again on the ride home two hours later! If Tara never has children we know who to blame...

Ellieisms:
I put Ellie on the couch and went to the other room. When I came back I was a bit nervous when I saw her flailing around since she was actually moving a little bit. This baby may some day roll over!

Hanging with Wyeth at craft night

He scooted closer to hold her hand...

...and then give her a smooch!

Modeling her hat and jacket from Nana (Donna)

Congratulations Corinne & Daniel!

Thursday proved to be a typical day. I had one of my free consultations with a trainer at the gym. When I signed up I received two free workout consultations and one free nutritional. Poor Ellie was sad in the childcare services but the girl in there was very patient and up for the task. Halfway through the trainer received a phone call so I went and calmed Ellie down. It helped. The employee told me that Ellie would generally stop crying when she was watching the Zumba class dancing.
We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch and Ellie took a nice nap on Grandma's bed. Grandma and Grandpa were raving about the Badger's game they watched the night before (I believe) and how well Ben played. They didn't initially agree on how many overtimes were involved but they said Ben played very well and that he looks just like Jonathan. Kelly and Clark also joined us for lunch and we hung out for a while until heading home. I had big plans for cleaning and grocery shopping in the afternoon but that was put on hold when Lauren called from Austria! We ended up talking close to three and a half hours. It was so nice to catch up.
Jon came home for dinner and we ate and then went out to Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up a shower gift for Brittney's bridal shower on Saturday. We also ordered a wedding gift. Jon sat in the car with Ellie until she became cranky and he said when he walked into the store she became silent and just looked around quietly until we left. We arrived home relatively early but went straight to bed since we were both feeling tired from our late nights.
I caught up a bit on my to do list on Friday. I cleaned up the house and even cleared out a corner of my bedroom after Carly's motivational text. Ellie also took a bath which was a necessity as she was starting to smell like a wet diaper. Clark came around lunchtime since Kelly had a doctor appointment in Collegeville. He is such a good boy! I held off his nap for a bit since Kelly said he generally sleeps two hours and I had a piano lesson at 2:00 and it would work best for him to be sleeping during it. He went down at 12:45 and woke up right near 2:30. He was a nice distraction for Ellie, who actually took a nice long nap over the piano lesson, too.

Admiring herself

I guess it's not vanity when she doesn't even know that's her own reflection

Clark showing off his skills

Kelly came after her appointment and hung out for a bit before heading home. I continued some laundry until Peter and Brittany came at 6:30. They brought along some Joe Corbi's pizza from a fundraiser at their school and we watched the rest of Season 3 of Downton Abbey. While we were watching the final episode we heard a loud noise outside. Peter and Jon went upstairs to see if they could see anything and they concluded it was a snow plow. About thirty minutes later our doorbell rang and it was our neighbor telling us about the car accident that occurred in our yard. A lady was driving on Haycreek Road and lost control rolling her car in our ditch. She flipped it once and the car was definitely totaled. I tried to sneak some pictures through the blinds in the bathroom. I wasn't very successful.

Since the weather was nasty from the snow and the car accident was disconcerting, Peter and Brittany decided to spend the night at our house. The hunkered down in the basement by the fire since we don't have an extra bedroom and I'm sure they wouldn't have wanted to share Ellie's!
When I woke up at 8:00 on Saturday morning Peter and Brittany were already home. I had my second consultation scheduled but the trainer called to see if I was able to drive in and I said I felt safer staying home after seeing the accident. In reality, I just didn't want to get out of bed earlier than necessary and then also risk being late to the bridal shower at 11:00. It was a win-win cancelation.

The wall he just repaired this summer. It took over 9 hours of work. 

Jon took pictures of the damage to our stone wall during the morning and I hung out with Ellie and prepared for the shower. I put Ellie to sleep before leaving at 10:15 and hollered some directions and wished him good luck.

Playing the piano for Ellie

To economize I went to Brittany Mountz's house and we carpooled to Kelly Estes' for the shower. It was a very nice shower with maybe 25-30 people present. After the gifts were opened I checked my phone for any message from Jon and Brittany looked at Facebook. She showed me a picture of Corinne and Daniel and said, "Did this just happen?" Confused it took me a while to realize it wasn't just a cute picture but their engagement picture! She probably wonders why I hardly reacted (sorry, Corinne) but I think I was just trying to figure it out. I sent out a text to the siblings just in case they hadn't seen instagram or Facebook. When I realized what was happening I told Kelsey, Marianne, and Hannah Kurtz who were also at the shower and they were really excited. Aunt Sharon, Mom-mom, Aunt Carol Hoke, Aunt Carol Stoltzfus, and others all wanted to see the picture. I was asked what happened and when they planned to get married which I had no response for. So let us know, Corinne! We are all very excited for you and Daniel!! Congratulations!!
After the shower Brittany wanted to stop by Aldi's so I went in, too. Brittany had thoughtfully brought some bags for me and I purchased much more than I anticipated. I had told Kelly that we could watch Clark tonight if she wanted to do something with Josh and she took me up on the offer so I picked up some vegetable chips for Clark. We were in and out in pretty good time and I was home by 2:30.
Ellie apparently had some difficult spells with Jon but they survived. When I arrived she seemed content hanging out in the Bjorn and Jon had finished eating lunch. I took over with baby so Jon could work on the taxes. Clark joined us around 4:15 and in the evening we ate dinner, played with Clark, and Jon worked on more tiling. We're making progress!

Clark showing Ellie how to eat vegetable chips
(I put our highchair low down so he could see her. He's not a giant)

Cousins playing

I am so excited for Corinne and Daniel's engagement! I can't wait for Mom and Dad to come home and give us the details of everything. We love you both!

Ellie Behaves Poorly in Nursery

Jon woke up and went running in the cold and snow and woke me up at breakfast time. While he was on the men's retreat I made some waffle batter since we were out of Bisquick. I still have some left in the fridge (it keeps for a week) so we had waffles for breakfast. I would not recommend the batter recipe, though, because I don't really care for the taste of it.
After Jon went to work I did some of my Precepts homework before Ellie woke up. I had a bad week keeping up with it and I still wasn't finished everything by the time we had to head to church. But it didn't really matter because the childcare worker came and got me at 11:00 because Ellie was sad. Since she had woken up at 8:30 she was tired. In the past she has been distracted enough to stay awake and content by the other kids but recently she has been very tired after her two hour window is up. I went and nursed her but she didn't fall asleep so I packed her up. She seemed content in her car seat so I left her by the door where I was sitting (outside of the room) but she only lasted a few minutes. So I packed up my study materials and left. I was bummed because there was a lot of good conversation happening! We were looking at Ezekiel 37.
We headed home and I tried to keep Ellie awake because I never transfer her successfully. As I was unbuckling her car seat straps she was nodding off to sleep and I just placed her in the crib and she went right to sleep. Perfect timing.
After lunch I called up Donna and set up a time to visit Grandma Mountz. My piano student came from 3:00-3:30 and we headed out to run some errands before stopping by Donna's at 4:00. Ellie was due for a nap and I was hoping she would fall asleep while I was driving (we went to the post office and bank so she never had to leave the car) and I even did an extra lap through Summerfield. I was unsuccessful so I decided to just brave it at the Mountzes' and hope she was happy.

Heading out for errands

Grandma Mountz was thrilled to see Ellie. Donna broke out the Johnny Jump-up for Ellie and she pivoted around on her toes for a bit. She lasted about 45 minutes before becoming cranky so we went home to prepare dinner. I had warned Jon that dinner would be wimpy since I haven't gone to the grocery store yet. Donna saved the day, however, by giving me a bag of spinach. She had purchased a large bag on sale and knew she wouldn't use it all up while it was fresh. So I googled a recipe with the ingredients I had on hand. I had about a pound of sweet italian sausage to use up, too, so that narrowed down the options. I went with this sausage and pasta recipe with a few alterations: I used red wine instead of chicken broth, two cans of diced tomatoes, some red pepper flakes for an extra kick, put the parmesan cheese on at the table, and I didn't measure anything.
Following dinner I cleaned up the dishes while Jon hung out with Ellie. She was busting some moves in the exersaucer for him and he hovered her across the carpet to help her get the feel for crawling. I put her down for bed before heading off to the women's Bible study with Tara at Brittany's house. Jon hosted the men's prayer group and Ellie slept through the prayer time. She woke up while the guys were chowing down on brownies and Ryan Frey held her for a bit. Apparently she started crying soon after the men left and was very sad and pathetic looking when I finally arrived home twenty-five minutes later. She's now sleeping soundly while I sit by the fire and Jon starts working on our taxes.

Ellieisms:
Ellie has more of a schedule established. When she wakes up she is tired within two hours. She also has taken better naps lately.

below: hanging out with Daddy

Visiting Grandpop & Quilting Lessons

I had no excuse for missing the gym after Grandma called asking to watch Ellie during my workout. She said that she doesn't want Ellie at the gym because "there are too many germs there." She then asked when I was going to the gym again - next Monday? Um, hopefully sooner.
I tried out the BodyPump class which was the same class I had done when I was a member a couple years ago. Ellie did well for Grandma and Grandpa and they said they switched back and forth with her. When I started packing Ellie up Grandma asked if I wasn't staying for lunch. Free babysitting and lunch? This is the life. Kelly and Clark showed up and Grandma treated us all to sandwiches, pasta, cake, and cookies.
Ellie took a brief nap on Grandma's bed. She woke up after 30 minutes probably because she was laying on her back. We went home and she took a nice long nap - about 2 1/2 hours. I was working on my Bible Study homework and cleaning up the house a bit. My piano lesson came at 5:00 and Ellie behaved, sitting in the exersaucer most of the lesson. When Jon came home we grabbed some crackers, cheese, and green tea and hopped in the car.
We have been planning to try to visit Jon's maternal grandfather, Grandpop, since Christmas. Jon had bought him "Unbroken" and we finally set up a time to visit. It worked best for us to arrive after dinner so we came at 6:30. Grandpop had forgotten about our scheduled visit (we had called over a week prior) but it worked out fine. They were in a gathering room, almost like a large living room, so we joined him and about six other ladies. A concert by the AmeriKids was scheduled to begin shortly.
Bringing a baby into a room full of older women is like bringing a basket of candy to five year olds. They were thrilled! Ellie was on her best behavior throughout the concert and in between songs when Jon was holding her while standing up and walking a bit back a hallway, Grandpop would ask where he went with the baby. He told us that Ellie was his ninth great grandchild! Following the concert Grandpop asked us upstairs to his room for some drinks.
We spent a while catching up before heading out at 8:45. Grandpop said goodbye to us and smiled at Ellie a bit more before walking us to the door. He asked us to come again soon.
Since we only had snacked on our way into West Chester we stopped by On the Border for dinner. We were the only people in the restaurant when we walked in but we did not feel bad after two other parties came after us. Jon and I split the Big Burrito (it's delicious) and Ellie sat very quietly in her seat. Dinner hardly took any time and we were home shortly after 10:00.
Today came the first of my highly anticipated quilting lessons from Mrs. Saint. Mrs. Trevino was also there for her lesson since she purchased the same package as me. Today was an introduction to all the elements of quilting: the needles, thread, fabrics, lingo, and so forth. It lasted through the morning and Ellie took a two hour nap in Mrs. Saint's crib. I actually hung around after the lesson waiting for her to wake up (Mrs. Saint insisted I did not need to wake her up). I really enjoyed learning from her but have a lot more reading up to do before our next lesson!
After lunch Ellie took another sizable nap - one and a half hours - causing us to be a bit late to Brooke's lesson. Brooke never seems to mind and was once again gracious. Ellie hung out with Aunt Carol and didn't cry at all, fortunately. We had planned to stop by Grandma and Grandpa's before the lesson but Ellie slept too long so we stopped by afterwards. They had been watching Clark while Kelly and Josh went to Josh's Pop-pop's funeral but he had gone home by our arrival. Grandma wanted to get some cuddling in with Ellie before we left.
Ellie and I arrived home at dinner time and I cooked up the sausage I had defrosted earlier in the day for spaghetti. Jon came home relatively late (5:45) and I realized how wonderful it is that he works close to home. After dinner Peter and Brittany came over and we watched a few episodes of Downton Abbey. They bought Season 3 on DVD so we are currently ahead of what has been shown on TV in the US. Ellie watched the first episode with us after a failed attempt to put her to sleep before we started but then fell right to sleep with attempt number two. We watched two episodes and are saving the others for this weekend.

Ellieisms:
Ellie has become noisy. During dinner she kept chatting but stopped when I pulled out the video camera. How does she know?
She has started a new pattern of sleep at night. She wakes up around 2:00, 4:00, and 6:00.

I know Ellie's blurry but I like how Grandpop's smiling at her

Hanging out on his bed

Girls' Weekend

On Friday Jon took the car to Fisher's to fix the breaks. I had intended to run errands in Reading but the car was not going to be finished until after lunch. Instead my morning consisted of cleaning up the house. Since the men's retreat is this weekend I invited a handful of girls over to watch the chick flicks our husbands never want to watch. Therefore I wanted to have the house cleaned up for the event.
Jon texted around lunch time and said the car would not be finished until after noon. A colleague was leaving Iron Mountains for another job in NY and the office was going out for lunch at Antonio's. Jon had not intended on going but felt like he should after he was asked another time by a coworker but he felt bad to not be coming home. He texted and asked if I wanted some pizza that he could bring when we go pick up the car. Yes, please!
So Jon came home after lunch and we went into Elverson for the car. Ellie and I then went to Walmart for a few groceries then back home to make some brownies. I had decided that we should have the cliché meal of Chinese with our movie night. Since Chinese food is also known for making people ill in this area I was a bit nervous about choosing the restaurant. Should I go with Zou's Garden, Good Friend, or China III? I decided to stick with my usual location of Zou's Garden and proceeded to over-order for the group of six women.
Jon came home at 4:30 and packed up the car, set up a fire in the fireplace, and headed off to the men's retreat. He picked up Ryan Frey and they drove to Black Rock together. The girls weren't arriving until 6:30 so I tried to feed Ellie some bananas then played with her before putting her to bed at 6:15.
Brittany Mountz, Dorothy Bradshaw, Sarah Rus, Tara Frey, and Kelly all came over for dinner and movies. It was a nice group of girls. Sarah generously picked up the dinner so that I would not have to run out since she lives in Morgantown and came from that direction anyway. They arrived and we picked out a movie then dished out our Chinese food.
We ended up watching two movies, Crazy Stupid Love and When Harry Met Sally. We ate Chinese and had ice cream sundaes. After the movie we spent some time just hanging out in the basement. Ellie woke up around 12:15 and I fed her and came out to say goodbye when I heard people starting to come upstairs around 12:30. As the girls left they said that we should do this every year - I think that means it was a success!
On Saturday I had previously thought to go out to Reading to do some shopping for next weekend. After our late night I decided to just take it easy and laze around the house. I slept almost whenever Ellie slept, which felt great! Mom came by and brought soft pretzels after lunch and stayed for a bit. She said she wanted to make some caramelitas so I offered to do the task since I had all the ingredients and an empty afternoon and evening ahead. We made the caramelitas and spoke with the Brust family for a bit over Skype. It was great to see them! Please do not hesitate to call again :)
Sunday morning I had the task of arriving at church at 8:00 without the help of Jon. I was playing in worship but I told Mr. Lambert that I expected to be late but would come! I went to bed at 10:00 so that I would wake up without trouble. I set my alarm for 6:30 and woke up shortly thereafter. Although I tried to leave on time Ellie was still sleeping by 8:00 so I finally woke her up and headed out the door. Having Jon take care of Ellie, make breakfast, and pack up the car on Sundays really helps me out. I finally made it to church and walked into the sanctuary around 8:25. They were halfway through practice -- oops. Perhaps they'll dock my pay.
When I dropped Ellie off at nursery I told the volunteers that she would be hungry but I only had one bottle (usually I send two - one for each service. Although she does not need two eating always helps calm her down when she is tired and she's always tired from lack of sleep at church). Since I was helping in worship I could not come if called during the worship time. After second service worship I checked in and baby was crying really hard. So I fed her and she slept briefly and then I handed her off. I went to Sunday School for the last twenty minutes of church and then picked up Ellie from nursery and headed to Mom and Dad's to pick up my caramelita pan and say goodbye.
Jon was tired from the men's retreat so after lunch he took a nice long nap. Ellie had fallen asleep in her car seat and napped for a bit so she was not ready to sleep again. Instead we hung out in the living room. Corinne sent me a text message so we corresponded for the next hour or so. She is very excited about seeing Mom and Dad! She also updated us on the toddler house (which is still not finished) and the boy the Brusts' used to support who was adopted officially and went home in January. I really enjoyed hearing from her and hope it happens again!
Ellie fell asleep while I was texting with Corinne and slept for about thirty minutes on the living room floor. After she woke up we played for a bit before I fed her and put her down for a real nap in her crib.   I laid down while she slept and then we woke her up to go to church. They changed the time of our evening service from 6-7:15 to 5:00-6:00 for the Superbowl. I was in nursery and had Ellie and Clark along with two other boys older than Clark. It was fun to spend time with Clark!
Jon's parents invited us over for dinner following prayer meeting. Ellie was a bit on edge since she was both tired and hungry during dinner. She had a lot of fun watching Grandma and chit chatting. Pop-pop (Doug) enjoyed her animation since he had not really seen her so active.
Jon and Doug talked in the kitchen while the girls went into the living room to be by the fire. Ellie really started chatting at Donna (Nana) as she was becoming tired. She also chuckled a bit for us all when she was tickled and whatnot. We came home around 8:45 so that Doug and Donna could watch Downton Abbey and Jon could do some work on the computer before heading to bed. I'm now watching a TV show on AmazonPrime while I blog. I think I will head to bed, though. Grandma called and left a message saying that she was looking forward to seeing Ellie tomorrow while I go to the gym so I better wake up and get to Elverson in time for my class!

Ellieisms:
Ellie does not like sweet potatoes....yet.
Ellie loves her exersaucer. She lasts longer than 2 minutes, now! She actually plays with the toys instead of just staring at them.

Clinging to her toy while she sleeps

bathtime

No longer in the newborn swing!

Sitting on the couch like a big girl

Exersaucering!

Packing goodies in Daddy's suitcase for the men's retreat