A day in the life...

It's eleven o'clock and we're picking up before we go to bed. And before I put away Ella's play stroller, I realize that I want to forever remember that her favorite thing to push around is not dolls, but footballs. I have, in fact never witnessed her using it for doll, although I tried to show her it's intended use several times in the beginning. Instead footballs and sippy cups occupy the seat of honor. Occasionally a few of her other toys get a turn. But mostly footballs. You have to admit, they fit perfectly.

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah.

Yes, that is brown sugar. And no, we're not really sure how much she ate before we realized what she had discovered. I do know that in the thirty seconds it took to get a picture of her in the act, she took at least three handfuls of the stuff. And she was in the kitchen for several minutes alone when I thought she was just playing with the mixing bowls. I'm trying not to think about it.

Although, I can't say I really blame her. I myself used to eat straight powdered sugar. But at least I had the decency to hide in the garage while doing so.

I am still giggling at the whole situation. Way to take matters into your own hands, Ella.

I put Ella's hair in pigtails on Sunday. It was darling. Until we got to church and realized she pulled one out. And for the life of me I could not find that tiny hair elastic anywhere in the car. So then I tried a ponytail. But there is simply not enough hair for that. So the end result was the dreaded "pigtail hair"-- which is like hat hair for girls, only worse. Now I know. Bring extra elastics to Church :)

Max.

Not quite a year ago, when my sweet Ella was much too young for me to even consider having another baby, I was rocking her to sleep and I just really felt like a new little spirit child was ready to join our family. I could have sworn it was a little boy spirit. And I was so not ready for another baby, boy or girl, but I knew it would be time sooner than I thought.

I decided that I would wait until Ella turned one, and then we could try to get pregnant again. Paul agreed to this plan... but only because, he later informed me, he thought it would take six months to get pregnant the second time, because it took six months to get pregnant the first time. Someone did not explain how the reproductive process works well enough to Paul. He knows now. We got pregnant a week before Ella's first birthday.

So naturally, my thoughts turned to that quiet morning last winter, when I knew a new baby would join our family sooner than later. And I was just sure little Max was speaking to me from across the veil (metaphorically speaking I mean. It was more intuitive than spiritual.) And so I was really excited for this ultrasound, to confirm my women's intuition.

Well, Paul and I have decided that if Max ever wants to join our family, he is going to have to wait. Because Charlotte got here first. And it is too bad that he was so busy poking around in the Spirit World to jump on the last mortality train, because we don't have another one leaving for a good long time. Like five years. Some families can have all of their kids right in a row, but that was not our plan. I made an exception for Max once and I'm not going to do it again :)

But we are thrilled that Charlotte is coming to join us soon! I love having sisters, and we can always hope that Ella didn't inheirit her mother's or her father's propensity to torment and shame her younger sister. We are glad Laurel and Carolyn are so resiliant. Let's hope Charlotte has the same strength... and that she won't need it.

The cat's meow.

We found a halloween costume for Ella. I think it's darling. But she keeps trying to pull it off. I think I'll make her wear it every day until halloween so she can get used to it. That's what good mothers do.