Thursday, May 1, 2014

Eliana turned 18 months old and Happy Easter!!


First of all I will have to just say...Happy Easter!! Our Easter was fairly unorthodox. We missed the bus for church. There was a lot of grumpy shenanigans all around...and I have no idea what is going on with my hair, lol. I seriously never wear my hair parted down the middle like this. Oh well, the point is we were altogether for in a picture for  Easter.


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It has been a couple months since I have done an update post! One is due for Parker too. So much has changed with both of these kiddos. 

Eliana's 18 month stats

Weight: 20.5lbs (< 5th percentile) 
 Height:  31.5" long (25th-50th percentile) 
Clothing size: Wears 18-24 month clothing and some 2T
  Shoe size: 5/6

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Eliana's vocabulary has grown SO much since my last post. Amazing how fast she picks things up. I remember Parker being a lot quieter at this age and Parker used sign language more and knew more signs then Eliana. She has had an easier time with her words, that she has pretty much stopped using signing for communicating with us. She still does sign please, more, and change.

I find it so cute when little ones are first learning their words. I hope one day I can make a book for each of the kids with some of my blog posts. I love re-reading the posts I wrote for Parker and seeing how different the two were at the same ages.

Some cute words Eliana says:

Grandpa                                        owie
bye bye                                          cheese
I uv oo (I love you)                        eww
juice                                                stinky
popcorn                                          yucky
Elsa                                                pee pee      
Olaf                                                tubby (bath)
please                                             happy
sorry                                               ball
scary                                               cracker
mine                                                baby
bo (which is her way of saying, "no") backpack
outside
shoes



 photo 18months_zpsf832080d.jpg

As you can see from the above picture, Eliana is such a happy, fun loving and silly little girl. She loves to sing at the top of her lungs when she hears a song she knows. She finds ways of making us laugh, all-the-time! The combination of Parker and Eliana together, makes for a lot of fun times. Together they are both so funny. 

Though Eliana is very funny and goofy, she is very sensitive. If we tell her, "no" she will break down and cry. It's so sad. Nearly, the exact opposite of how Parker would respond to, "no." For Parker, it was a challenge and for Eliana, it's the end of the world.
  photo 18months5_zps7ca66206.jpg
'
Eliana just cut 4 more teeth. 2 are barely poking out of the gums as of today. She now has a grand total of 16 teeth!

Eliana is getting better at eating. She will only eat a few bites of her breakfast and lunch(sometimes she refuses to even eat breakfast,) but she does have a fairly good appetite by dinner.

She is still nursing, a lot. All day and at night. Obviously, this has a lot to do with her not eating enough food. It's not for lack of trying to get her to eat. If she's not going to eat, at least she is getting her calories and nutrition from nursing. She is only nursing once at night, but during the day it's quite often.  I don't remember Parker nursing so much at this same age, but after a certain time I stopped blogging about it so I'm not really sure. We are letting Eliana self-wean. We did the same thing with Parker and he ended up stopping a couple months before his 2nd birthday. We are hoping for the same timeframe with Eliana. 

 photo 18months4_zpsff98e61b.jpg

Eliana knows and can say a lot of the parts of her body. She will point and say where her eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, chin, armpit, belly, toes, hands, hair and butt. I didn't get them all in a video I took of her, but she did a lot of these. Her little voice is so cute to hear.


Eliana isn't officially "potty training," but she does understanding sitting on the potty. She knows you pee-pee in the potty. She will take off her diaper and sit on the potty, but she doesn't ever go. Anytime I'm in the bathroom she HAS to go in there and also sit down and "potty." Nolan and I have never been the type to push any of the kiddos to potty train. We will talk to them about it and tell them what it means to potty. We are very open with bathroom talk. When we see that they have a good understanding of the concept, we start to work consistently with them to potty train. They see daddy and I go potty and learn that the potty didn't eat us and it seems to help them not fear the potty. We let Eliana flush the toilet, when needed, so they aren't afraid of the sound. We did the same with Parker, so I think that has a lot to do with why Parker's potty training went so easily?? Vanessa was very easy potty train also.  Again, I can only hope Eliana is the same way. 

 photo 18months6_zps700f3438.jpg
Eliana loves:

-playing hide and seek with Parker and Vanessa...one of her favorites. She runs around cracking up the whole time. Doesn't really ever hide. 
-pretending she is a kitty. She will crawl around the house, meowing. 
-going to the park. She LOVES the slides. She will climb up the stairs and slide down all on her own. Though she is still terrified of the swings. 
-playtime with daddy. She might always seem to want mommy, but honestly she is a daddy's girl. So cute when she calls for him. She loves talking to him on the phone when he's at work before her nap. 
-baby dolls. She loves baby dolls. She walks around the house with no less than 2 dolls at a time. She has about 6 dolls and loves them all the same. 
-her red Fisher Price car she received at Christmas. She sits and plays in that car all the time.
-craft time with big brother. We do a lot of preschool crafts for Parker. Helping him to learn weather, time, letters etc. and it's one of Eliana's favorite times of the day.
-loves to cuddle mommy. She will stop everything she is doing to lay in my lap when I go to sit down. 

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Eliana doesn't like:

-to sleep in her own bed. To be honest, we aren't really pushing her a whole lot. I love to cuddle my little miss. It will be nice to one day have our bed to ourselves, but for now I'm okay with our sleeping arrangements. Having a 14 year old really puts in perspective just how fast these kiddos grow up. We do have the kids' room all set up for both of them to share the room. We separated the bunk beds and we decorated the room for each of the kids. Parker's side is firetrucks and misc. vehicles and Eliana's is just random cute girly things.
-swings at the park.
-to wear clothing. Unless we are going outside, she takes off everything I put on her. Most times she will leave on her diaper.

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I can't believe how big she is getting...so fast too. It's amazing that we are in our second Spring and heading into our second summer here in Montreal. With all that went on last year, in went by so fast.

Here's to another amazing, wonderful and happy month...happy 18 months my little miss :) We love you so very much. 







Friday, March 7, 2014

Siblings!

Sometimes being a big sister is a little more than she bargained for...

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Though I know my oldest gets overwhelmed with her little siblings, I know she wouldn't trade being a big sister for anything.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Sewing, sewing and more sewing!

I've actually taken a little break from selling my items and as you can see it has been a little bit since I have been able to post. It can get a little stressful sewing for customers and I always need a good vacation from selling to  sew things for myself, family or close friends. Always projects I can never get done when I'm selling my wares.

Anyhow, this is Eliana modeling a couple of the new dresses I made for her. Can you believe how big she is getting? She turned 16 months this past week and has changed so much!


If you are interested, similar dresses and outfits will be available for sale in my ETSY shop later this week.

Bohemian Baby Couture

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This dress is one of my new favorites and you will probably see me making more of these. The dress is made from the peppermint swirl pattern by Candy Castle Patterns


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This is my Tiffany & Co inspired dress. Eliana has a couple Tiffany & Co. bows that I bought and never anything to wear them with.


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A cute little beach comber top and ruffle capris. Getting ready to welcome in some warmer spring weather!


Monday, January 13, 2014

Eliana is 15 months old!

Didn't she just turn one? I didn't even have time to get her 12 month post up, lol! Holidays always make the time fly by...

Weight: 18.5lbs (< 5th percentile) 
 Height:  30.5" long (25th-50th percentile) 
Clothing size: Wears 12-18mo clothing
  Shoe size: 4.5-5
 photo Eliana7_zpsf2ceec3f.jpg
Words she is uses:
Mama
Dada
Sessa (Nessa/Sister)
Papar (Parker)
Titi (kitty)
Tan tu (thank you)
Choo choo (when she sees a train)
Hello
wuv u (I love you)
uh oh
oww
 photo Eliana1814_3_zps650a65d5.jpg


Signs she does:

milk
please
more
eat
all done
change

 photo Eliana1814_zpsf04fa206.jpg
At 15 months;
...Eliana is starting to eat more solids and she's doing really good at using a spoon or fork to eat. She loves a lot of different foods, so far. As long as she can dip it in ranch dressing, she will eat it.
...she is still nursing quite often and through the night. Now that she's starting to eat more solids I'm hoping that the night time nursing sessions will stop.  
...we are working on getting Eliana to sleep on her crib mattress on the floor in our room and will hopefully move her to sleeping in the crib in her and Parker's room over the next few months. 
...has 4 more teeth. 4 molars broke through the gums during the holidays for a total of 12 teeth. Teething makes her very clingy so I'm happy they finally broke the gums.

 photo Eliana1814_2_zps80bac382.jpg
...her eyes are really taking on more of a gray/blue color. If you look closely she has a lot of different colors in her eyes. 
...you can see from the pictures that her hair has a lot of curl to it. It's starting to get a little darker, but still a lighter brown with reddish undertones. 
...she lost a couple pounds the last three months. At her 12 month appointment she was 20.5lbs and now she's down to 18.5lbs. It probably has to due with being so active and hardly eating. She looks healthy, so we aren't too concerned. 

 photo Eliana1814_5_zps668799c4.jpg

...Eliana climbs on EVERYTHING! The TV stand, tables, chairs, couches, beds....toys! We are looking into getting a climbing toy for the front room to help redirect her from climbing on things she shouldn't. Maybe I will look into getting her and Parker into a gymnastics class too.
...Eliana LOVES to dance and will even sing. Just garbled words, but she's trying. 
...Eliana LOVES anything that Parker does. He does great 95% of the time though Parker gets pretty annoyed when she continually rips apart his train tracks.
 photo Eliana6_zpsc4d77e98.jpg
She has such an amazing, silly, happy and loving personality. She is my little cuddle bug!
Happy 15 months lil' miss!! We love you so very much!







Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Memories, Dreams and Reflections 2013

Here we go again! This is my third year participating in this photo series. I love doing this, love reminiscing on the past year. If you would like to visit my post from last year, click here. 

1. Me!
  photo temphousingjan2013_zpsac92705e.jpg
 This picture was taken while we were living in temp housing when we first came to Montreal. 

2. I Love You
  photo Iloveyou_zpsf66f3757.jpg 
It's these moments that I love. Eliana snuggling against my chest or snow ball fights with the kids. Long conversations with my oldest daughter or moments when we can't stop laughing at the oddest things. Pillow fights with Parker. Walks to the store with my hubby. Sometimes, it feels like time stops for a little while during these times. These wonderful moments, make all the rough ones manageable. Moments I wouldn't trade anything in the world for.

3. Still Laughing…
  photo Elianameme_zpsd96a0b1e.jpg
Another series of pictures taken in temp housing. I couldn't resist making Eliana into a meme. 

4. Winter Wonderland
  photo Snowcolor_zps3525e01f.jpg
It has taken a bit of getting used to dealing with cold weather and snow. This is a picture of Parker all bundled up and ready to play in the first snow of the season.

5. Birthday
 photo Elianaoneyearphotos2_zps5d61f3a0.jpg
Eliana's first year photo shoot. I wanted to take these photos at this park about a mile from our house. It has some gorgeous trees and so many beautiful backdrops for pictures. We haven't owned a vehicle since our move, so you could imagine how "fun" it was hauling all the stuff I used in this photo to this location.


6. Friends
 photo DSC_0743_zpsa495309b.jpg
This picture was taken at Parker and Evan's Willy Wonka themed party. Our move to Montreal brought us closer to families and friends that were also relocated from Arizona to Montreal. I also love that we were able to Skype with family and friends that couldn't be at the party in person. 
  
7. I Was Inspired… 
 photo AllkidsFathersDay_zps36d1a2a8.jpg 

 I really wanted to do something cute for Father's Day this year so we made a cute little video for daddy.


8. Spring Fever
  photo dandelionsupdated_zpsddd0b1d4.jpg
The minute the snow cleared, and the temperatures warmed up, everything that had grass was also filled with dandelions. Couldn't imagine having to deal with them if we had a yard, but Parker enjoyed playing in and with them.


9. Travel or Vacation
   photo Bigapple2_zps6a7c4412.jpg
 When my parents and brother came into visit us in Montreal, we took a road trip to Toronto. We packed a lot of activities into a couple of days including taking Eliana and Parker to their first baseball game. 


10. Summer Days

 photo Summer2013_zps21b5cf21.jpg
 Unintentionally, when we chose our place, we moved into a neighborhood with a public pool and a big park only a block away. We didn't take advantage of the pool as much as we should have this past summer, but now that we have our free passes we will be going there a lot more this next summer.

 
11. A Day In My Life
 photo Eliana_Nessa13013_5_zpsc289e1d9.jpg
With three kids, someone always needs something.  I know all three kiddos love each other so much, but there is always some sort of sibling drama going on. I wouldn't have it any other way....unless of course all three decided that sibling rivalry is overrated.

12. All Smiles
  photo summer2013_zps1568e737.jpg
It's a rare moment to have all three kiddos smiling. Takes a lot of patience. I was going through all the pictures and found this picture. I didn't even remember I had this one of the kids.


13. Autumn Harvest
  photo Eliana1styearphotoshoot_zps20a63216.jpg
Eliana's birthday falls right into the most colorful time of the year. It was so much fun to take her to the nearby park for her birthday photos. You can see she had a lot of fun playing in the fall leaves.


14. Family or Home
    photo Familypicture2_zps555c4549.jpg


15. Celebrate!
  photo NewYearsEve4_zps958e824f.jpg
Happy New Year!


16. Let’s Do It Again…
  photo Letsdoitagain_zpsbf3d580e.jpg
 The kids and I will be doing the, Color Me Rad, this next year.  For the most part, we had a blast! I'm excited to participate in the race again.


17. I Miss You
  photo IMG_2126_zps29c9a841.jpg
  This is the first year we didn't celebrate birthdays and many holidays together. Missing my parents and brother since our move to Montreal.


18. Beautiful
  photo Vanessa2013_zpse066bb6e.jpg
I'm nearly certain I've posted a picture of Vanessa for this prompt the last couple of years. She is beautiful in so many ways.

19. Dress Up
  photo Halloween2013_zps14fa2b59.jpg
We all dressed up in steam punk versions of Alice in Wonderland characters. I'm still hoping to take a better picture of us all in our costumes, but for now this one will have to do. 

20. Macro
  photo spiderwebhydrant_zps56b8a5ed.jpg
 One of my biggest fears are spiders. We had some deadly spiders in Arizona, but you would never see them. Here...they are everywhere. Trying to have a nice picnic at the park? Nope, giant spiders live in the grass here. Anyhow, I saw this web and it was the perfect web!
 
 21. Holidays
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Christmas morning!


 22. My Favorite – share your favorite picture or memory from 2012.
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This was taken a couple days after Christmas. Eliana was being so silly.


 23. Don’t Ever Change
  photo kiddosJan2013_zps707be78b.jpg
 I hope my kiddos will always be close, always love each other.


24. Just Because…So There!
  photo NewYearsEve6_zps1b6d7a3a.jpg
And we can't forget Picasso! He's been through a lot. Just a week before our big move, he was mauled by two dogs. We nearly lost him.  Picasso is such an awesome cat. He's been a very important part of our crazy, wonderful story too. 


25. Hopes and Dreams
  photo Christmasmorning4_zpsa4ac1632.jpg
We sat down and made a few resolutions this year. My main resolution is to learn the French language to a point I can carry on a conversation with someone. Another resolution is that my hubby and I will be dedicating one afternoon/evening a month for a date night. We've discussed starting the process to becoming permanent residents and citizens of Canada and possibly buying a home here in Montreal after Vanessa graduates from school.

2013 was an amazing year and my goal is to make 2014 even better!



 
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