Haircut

Ellie got a full haircut this past weekend, instead of just a bang trim like we've been doing. Her hair was getting pretty shaggy in the back so we got just a little cut off to keep it looking nice. The salon pulled out this special duck chair for her! She was a champ.
And as a reward mommy took her across the street to Meijer for a ride on the 1-cent mechanical horse. Now she wants her hair cut every day, I think :)

Discoveries

In my haste to get pictures from last week's vacation up on here, I didn't take the time to properly recap our vacation adventures. With a whole week off work and plenty to do, Brian and Ellie and I covered a lot of ground. But beyond the activities and travel, I was so thankful for the gift of time we had together as a family. We know our lives are going to get a bit more hectic in about four months. So we made the most of this opportunity to enjoy some time together as our family of three. And we also made some discoveries about Ellie, since our time with her wasn't interrupted by trips to daycare. Here are a few highlights.

• She can count to 10 in Spanish! We know they practice colors in both English and Spanish at daycare, so I guess it makes sense that they do numbers, too... but, still, impressive for a 2-year-old.
• She can read a lot of the book Where the Wild Things Are with or without the book in front of her. Ellie is big on reading books herself these days, which usually just means flipping through the pages really fast and then declaring "the end" when she closes the book. But with her favorite book — referred to just as "Max" — Ellie will read lines like "night Max wolf suit mischief one kind... and 'nother... Mother called wild thing... Max eat you up." It's so fun to watch, but she won't do it upon request because she gets shy.
• She also won't do this one on request, but Ellie can sing a couple verses of her favorite bedtime song "Hush little baby." Generally she just recycles the "mommy buy you diamond ring" verse, however, so we can see she's a toddler with expensive tastes already :)
• Ellie can — and loves to — eat whole apples. She got into the cabinet where we stored our recent 30-pound haul of apples from the orchard trip and pulled one out for herself the other day. Luckily she got one that is slightly sweet and not a super-tart baking apple.
  
• Speaking of eating, Ellie is testing our limits big time in trying to get treats and sweets... and the vacation week certainly didn't help, considering all of the ice cream, donuts and other unhealthy fare we indulged in. Beyond the occasional tantrums and arguments we have with Ellie on this front, she's developed this very cute way of asking for a treat. But recently she asks for a treat and if we seem to be considering the request she'll immediately amend her demands and ask for five! Not sure how she arrived at this new favorite number, but we haven't given in to any of the "five treats" requests yet... so maybe she'll lower her expectations soon.
  
• She refers to all bugs as bees. Ellie alerted me to a spider crawling across the kitchen floor the other day by shouting "no, bee!" Luckily the spider was small enough that I was brave enough to kill it without calling in reinforcements (i.e. Brian).
  
• Her imagination is running wild. Ellie comes up with pretend roles all on her own and we'll hear her acting things out with her baby dolls or the dogs or whatever object is closest. The other day she slung on her toy purse and yelled out "See you later, mommy. Bye-bye. I got swing." Good thing she hasn't mastered getting out the door on her own yet...

And on the marriage front, this past week of vacation helped Brian and I rediscover some simple joys in spending time together. In recent months we've been edgy and short with each other on numerous occasions, largely because of the stress that goes along with full-time jobs, parenting and trying to figure out family finances. And I have no illusions that our bickering is behind us forever... But this last week helped up reconnect. We laughed and cuddled on the couch for movie time and held hands and basically remembered how lucky we are to have each other and our kids and our families. Removing work stress from our lives for even a few days helped us both recharge and refocus. Hopefully we can hold on to some of this calm happiness as we return to our hectic schedules.

One more

On our last stretch of driving through Indiana we stopped at Fair Oaks Farm, a huge dairy farm just off I-65, and got a break from the car ... and some ice cream. We didn't go through all of the exhibits and activities there because of the high ticket prices, but we will some day when we have more time to spend. It was a fun stop.
The rest of our vacation week has been a blend of work and play. We've had a ton of projects and chores "in the works" at our house for months now, and we finally put some of them to bed. We have new front steps railings installed, our garage is cleaned and organized, our oak room has been transformed from dumping ground into playroom for Ellie, and the downstairs bathroom remodeling project is... well, closer to being done.
Just to show that I'm not purely working Brian (and myself) to the bone, we've gotten out for some fun time, too. (Although Ellie thoroughly enjoyed helping us empty out the garage. Her part involved moving very small items and then playing with everything we dumped in the yard.) We've been to two parks in the past two days and shopped yesterday afternoon for Ellie's Halloween costume. She's going to be the cutest ladybug ever!
And, last but not least, all is going well with baby #2. As I wrap up Week 22, the baby is the size of a spaghetti squash and I'm feeling good -- and round :) He/she is kicking and moving so much these days, and those nudges and flutters are amazing to feel. Here's the latest:

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

Michigan travels (part 2)

From our time in Grand Haven!
I caught this shot of Ellie being sweet and holding Baby Charlie's hand. Charlie, Amanda and Ben's almost-5-month-old, was a doll and Ellie was a bit infatuated. She also was a bit jealous when Brian or I would hold him... but she's going to have to get used to sharing us a bit, so this was a great experience for her.
She loved sharing his play mat and even invited her babies and frog in, too.

Amanda (Hallermann, as she'll always be known to me...) went down the slide with both Ellie and her dog, Eddie!

And Ben got roped into pushing Ellie during one of her marathon swinging sessions. We had so much fun visiting these guys and hope to make it back to Michigan soon!

Michigan travels (part 1)

Here's a collection of pics from our visit to Michigan this past weekend. We did a combo trip to visit our former Lafayette neighbors (and friends!) in Traverse City, and we stopped on the way up and back in Grand Haven to see some rugby friends of mine from college.

These pics are from Sleeping Bear Dunes where we visited one evening at sunset.

Here's the old crew from next door on Park Avenue: Ben and Janet with sons Micah (left) and Isaac (right).

And the whole gang!

Ellie did really great during the travel time. We tried to time most driving during her naptimes, and she took advantage of it :)

We also hit a fabulous apple orchard while in Traverse City. It had a petting zoo, hayrides, a yummy restaurant and, of course, tons of apples for picking. Ellie ate 4 apples while we were there!

Family shot at the orchard

Chomp!

And here are a few pictures of Ellie and the boys playing back at the Whipple homestead. Even though she's been having trouble with sharing recently, Ellie did pretty good while surrounded by Isaac and Micah's toys. She especially loved their tool set and trains... we may have to get her some.

Week 21: Carrot

As my belly continues to grow — and I continue to bump into things forgetting that it's there — it's nice to note that I'm more than halfway through the pregnancy. Baby is moving a ton these days, kicking and punching from the inside... probably in preparation for its dealings with Ellie :) Our toddler hasn't quite learned what it means to be gentle with her toy babies, as she's constantly throwing them and dropping them on their heads. She also keeps forgetting when mommy asks her to be careful around the belly, so the baby is likely practicing its defensive maneuvers these days for when Ellie steps on or digs her elbow into my belly.

Here's this week's baby update from the experts:
Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.

Turning 30

I had a great birthday weekend, starting off early this past Wednesday when Ellie and caught the bus over to Purdue to check out this free show on the union lawn. The performers, called Australia's Strange Fruit, did their routine from atop 25-foot poles. Pretty impressive.
Brian, Ellie and I got a pizza and picnicked on the lawn during the show. It was so fun!

*p.s. loving the cheesy "grin" that Ellie gives these days when we ask her to smile for the camera :)

I didn't get more pics from the rest of the weekend but we filled it with: trips to the park, a visit to a new West Lafayette children's store where Ellie got to see Elmo (a 6-foot-tall, kinda freaky version of him...) and a night out for mom and dad. Turning 30 isn't so bad with all this fun stuff going on!