Life with Lucas {week 38}

I'm not sure what was more exhausting....this past week, or trying to take Lucas's weekly picture without him grabbing the blocks!

Seriously though...this past week we did ALL OF THE THINGS. Now, we are pretty busy most weeks out of the year, but this past week? Well, I made myself an extra cup of coffee just thinking about it! 

Here we go...

Last Thursday was Ella's day to bring her birthday treat in to preschool (her birthday was Friday but she doesn't go to preschool on Fridays). She specifically requested donuts, telling her teachers that her mom is "always going to the donut shop and buying donuts." 😂 You all know I am not a regular donut purchaser, so who knows where she got that from!

Anyway, I woke her up extra early and we headed to Dunkin Donuts (in pajamas!) to get some donut holes for her class. 

Her teachers sent me this next pic of Ella at preschool while everyone was singing to her!

It's a shame she hates preschool so much 😉

After naps, we made cupcakes for her party!

And that night, since it was "birthday eve," Ella got her traditional present of books before she went to bed (I got her this one and this one)! Also: she picked out her pajamas. Clearly, someone is still living in October. 

The next morning was Ella's birthday!!! She woke up to the area right outside of her room all decorated! 

I'm a mean mom and scheduled her 3 year check up on her birthday, so off to the doctor we went! I'm pretty sure this was Lucas's first time at the doctor's for his sister (and not him) and he had some cranky moments, especially during Ella's fingerpick to check her hemoglobin (he knows that all too well)! #FOMO

After the doctor, Ella requested to go to Barnes and Noble to play with the train table, so that is what we did!

Then we met up with my parents for lunch at Chipotle!

After naps, my mom wanted to buy Ella some new shoes, and we certainly didn't have to twist Ella's arm to go to the mall!

She picked out these, which she proudly wore to go get cupcakes!

Saturday was birthday party day, which I blogged about here :)

Sunday, we took both kids to the circus! 

They were both totally mesmerized! I'm so sad it's the last year for the circus! 

After that, we had some friends come over and hang out while I hosted a Shrimp and Grits Kids trunk show! (If you want to order something from the website, you can still use my hostess code: 62438). My in-laws were sweet enough to buy a whole bunch of clothes for Ella and Lucas! I can't wait for everything to come in...I'll be sure to share pics of what all we got! 

Oh and then, my husband decided to make his parents, sister and me a special Super Bowl meal while we watched the game! I didn't take any pictures, but he made clam chowder (for New England) and peach bourbon glazed ribs (for Atlanta). Everything was SO delicious! 

Whew! So that was a crazy weekend!

Monday morning, we were back at gymnastics!

We also went out to lunch with Trav's parents before they went back to Chapel Hill!

Tuesday, this little stinker figured out how to sit up in his crib and repeatedly attempted to PULL HIMSELF OUT! Thank goodness he was not successful, but too many times I looked at the monitor and had to go running in there to save him! So we lowered his crib mattress ASAP.

Yesterday we went to our church story time. The theme was Jesus keeping us safe during a storm and the kids got to draw a picture of a storm with chalk. Guess who drew "Elsa"? (In her defense, I guess Elsa does create a winter storm...and in "Let It Go," she does sing, "let the storm rage on...")

After that, we played with our friends Mackenzie and Cooper!

We came home to a clean house (I finally bit the bullet and had someone come clean my house...yes, Classic Annie, it was Rosa's ladies!! 😉 They are my best friends now!) and I sat down for a 90 minute phone call with a sleep consultant. Lucas and his nightly wakings are just killing Trav and me, especially because now he won't even go back to sleep once we put him in bed with us! So, this consultant told me to put him to bed at 6:00. Yes, 6:00. It sounded totally crazy to me, but I was willing to try anything at this point, so here is Lucas, ready for bed at 6:08 (whoops, sue me, I am 8 minutes behind schedule). 

I am happy to report that this sleep consultant might be on to something...Lulu slept until 6:45 this morning!!!! No night wakings!!! 🙌🙌🙌

Fingers crossed we get a repeat performance tonight! 

SaveSave

Ella's Golden Birthday

This past Saturday, we celebrated Ella's golden birthday! If you're thinking this is something I just made up...it's not! A golden birthday is when you turn the age of the date of your birthday...so this year was Ella's (3 on the 3rd)!! 

Saturday morning we had a little get-together at our house for our family. Mostly so I could decorate something (because I have issues). 

{To make the "gold" 3, I had pictures printed at Target in the sepia filter, which made them all look kinda gold!}

{I ended up making Ella's birthday cake myself because I wanted something simple. I just spray painted it gold using this and then threw a bunch of gold sprinkles on top! Done and done.}

First, we opened presents!

Then we sang to her and had cake!

That afternoon, we had the "real" party at the Y! I felt like Ella was getting to the age where her friends needed something to do at a party, and they would probably be bored silly at our house in the dead of winter! So, YMCA to the rescue! Ella chose the gymnastics party option and it was pretty much the best thing ever. We showed up with some decorations, and they set everything up for us! Amazing!!! While they were decorating the party room, the kids got to play in the gymnastic center for a whole hour! 

First they had to stretch...

...and then they basically had free reign of the gym! 

Even Lucas had fun!

After we wore out the kids, we were escorted back to the party room for snacks and cupcakes! 

For party favors, we did jump ropes, Flipz chocolate covered pretzels (get it?!), bottles of water and gold medal sugar cookies!

We had so much fun celebrating our *golden* girl! 

Sources:

Ella's shirt: Etsy

Ella's pants (are they not the most hilarious thing you've ever seen?!): Amazon 

Lucas's shirt: Gap

Invitations: Etsy

Happy Birthday Banner, water bottle labels, favor bag toppers, Ella sign: Etsy

Birthday cake topper: Etsy

Cupcake toppers: Etsy

All other decorations from Party City, Target, or given to me by Kathryn, left over from her girl's gold birthday party in December! :) 

Ella Grace {3 years}

Dear Ella,

Today you are THREE! And it's your golden birthday (aka, you are 3 on the 3rd!)! How fun is that?! And how fun are you at this age?!?! You just crack me up daily! I definitely miss my teeny tiny little bean, but then I see all of the fun things you can do now and it's all good! 

We went to the doctor for your well check this morning and you are perfectly healthy! You weigh 35 pounds and are 37 inches tall. You are only in the 50th percentile for height, which is surprising since everyone comments on how tall you are! You are pretty solidly in 3T clothing, but a lot of it is quickly getting small...you'll be moving up to some 4T stuff this summer! 

{side note: this is the only big 3 we could find in all of Charlotte and there was this big dumb dumpster in front of it! 😩}

You have become an amazing sleeper once again, even with your naps! Hallelujah. You go to bed around 7:30 PM and sleep until your clock turns green the next morning at 7:30. Sometimes, I get up early to run and will check on you around 7:00, but you are usually sound asleep still. You nap every afternoon for right around 2 hours (because your clock is set to turn green after 2 hours...and you usually get up right as soon as it turns green). You are also a really sound sleeper. We all know your little brother hasn't been rocking the nighttime sleep thing very well lately, but he never wakes you up with all of his crying! So we are very thankful for that. 

Your favorite things are anything and everything that has to do with Paw Patrol and/or Frozen. You are OBSESSED. You got the Paw Patrol Lookout for Christmas and you just about died and went to heaven. Anytime we see a fire truck, you say, "There's Marshall!;" when we see a police car you say, "There's Chase!;" when we see a construction site you say, "Oh Rubble!" and so on....you freaking LOVE the Paw Patrol. Ever since we went to Disney World in September, you have become equally as obsessed with Frozen. I was pregnant with you when this movie came out, but yet there is still Frozen merchandise everywhere! And you must have all. of. it. We listen to the Frozen soundtrack everyday in the car (some days, multiple times) and you know all of the words to pretty much every song. "Let It Go" is by far your favorite song, followed by "For the First Time in Forever." 

You still love Mickey Mouse and Daniel Tiger (specifically, Katerina Kitty Cat), and are starting to get into PJ Masks, Lion Guard and Doc McStuffins...but none of these hold a candle to Paw Patrol and Frozen. 

You started preschool in September and it has been the greatest thing to happen to us both! ;) You absolutely love school and think your teachers hung the moon. We drive by your preschool almost everyday (it's like right across from our neighborhood), and you always say, "There's Ella's preschool! I wanna go back there! When I go back there?!" Your teachers say you are very helpful and super smart for your age, which I obviously agree with. I've definitely seen an improvement in sharing and cleaning up your toys since starting preschool, as well as some of the most random things you pick up there. For example, one week in chapel, you were learning about Baby Moses. For whatever reason, you became fixated on Baby Moses and even thought Christmas was his birthday! (Don't worry, your minister grandpa got you straightened out about that 😉) You have made quite a few friends in your class, but your best friend? Well, I'm certain this particular little girl is your friend because, as you tell me, "she gots Paw Patrol shoes...with Skye and Everest on there." I mean...

Other things you've learned (preschool or other places...): you know pretty much all of your letters. We are still working on identifying numbers (you know 1, 2 and 3) and counting (you get up to about 14/15/16 before you get really confused!). You love to color, but I am still trying to get you to hold a pencil/crayon the right way instead of making a fist around it. It's hard for me because I am left-handed and you are right-handed, so I get confused! Ha! You have also been really into the months of the year (thanks to this book that you and Lucas got for Christmas). I've been teaching you the Months of the Year song from when I taught kindergarten, and you love asking me who's birthday is in which month. You can also tell me when your birthday is, and when mine, Daddy's, Lucas's, and Nay Nay's birthdays are (we are working on other family members!). 

You continue to be the absolute BEST big sister to baby Lucas. You tell everyone he is your baby! Whenever you are around, you can always make him laugh. He just looks at you, half like you are crazy and half totally mesmerized by you. You have gotten much better at being gentle to him, partially because you are older/he's bigger and stronger, and also because he has learned to pull your hair when he doesn't want you to smother him! Welcome to having a little brother, sweet girl...there will be a lot of hair pulling. Sorry! I also think going to the doctor for Lucas a whole bunch of times has rubbed off on you...you LOVE doctor things! You got a doctor's kit for Christmas, and love to give anyone and everyone a check-up (while singing the check-up song from Doc McStuffins)! You used to call the stethoscope a "telescope," but you've learned it's correct name now. I asked you one day if you wanted to be a doctor when you grew up, and you told me "No, I'm gonna be a doctor RIGHT NOW!" 

You love to perform! You took dance lessons this past fall and absolutely loved every minute of it. On recital day, you were not nervous one bit and did not cry when I dropped you off with your class backstage. You said you had the best time dancing on the stage and you wanted to do it again! You also love going to shows...in the past few months we have seen the Nutcracker (which you loved, especially the "Sugar Flum Pairy" 😂), Paw Patrol Live and Daniel Tiger Live. You (very surprisingly) were able to sit through all of those shows totally mesmerized!

You also really, really love sports! When I asked you what activity you wanted to do this winter, you said "Basketball!" Unfortunately, there are no basketball programs for 3 year olds, so you are doing gymnastics instead, which you have been loving! I am already amazed at the things your gymnastics teacher has been able to get you to do, and we are only a few weeks into the program! I also would be remiss if I didn't mention your love of watching sports with Daddy. Too often on the weekends, I'll see the 2 of you sitting on the couch watching whatever sport is on. You will yell at the tv, "Oh! He missed it!" and may or may not have even yelled a not-so-great word a time or two. Whoops. You also tell us your favorite golfer is Tiger Woods, which is funny because I think Daddy has told you his name, oh once, and you came up with this a month or 2 ago...its not golf season. Who knows where you get this stuff from, but it sure is hilarious. 

Sweet Ella, thank you so much for making me a mommy 3 years ago...but more importantly, your mommy! We are so proud of everything you do each day and you continue to surprise us with your smarts, charm and language! I can't wait to see what year 4 of your life holds in store for you...but can you promise me it will go by a little bit slower?! This past year just went by way too fast! We love you so so so much Ella Grace!