Ella and Anna raked in the goods for Christmas! They both had a great time at our family gatherings and of course enjoyed their new toys and clothes! These girls are hopelessly spoiled.

Ella loves the kitchen, food, and dishes she got for Christmas. Every time you ask her what she is cooking, she says, "Bies!" (Fries!)

Mommy and Ella.

I love this picture!

Sweet smiley girl!

The family Christmas picture.

This picture made me laugh out loud. Ella loves hugging her baby sister, and Anna looks absolutely terrified!

Here is a sweeter picture of the two girlies.

Anna laughed for the first time last night! I bounced her on my knee until she was giggling and it was very cute. She laughed again today when I tickled her neck. This girlie is so smiley, I suspect she will be much more social than her big sister!

Speaking of her big sis, Ella has a new favorite place to go - the playground at the Towne Mall. She played and played this afternoon (and several other times). She wasn't even bothered by the dozens of ill-behaved boys running around and nearly plowing her down. She like to kid-watch and climb around on all the fun stuff there. We will be making more frequent trips to the playground.

Here are some pictures from November. Enjoy!

Ella and Anna watching Spongebob together.
Ella's second favorite kitty - Rudy (oo-wee).

Ooh, an acorn!

A beautiful little girl on a beautiful fall day.

Halloween with Ella!

Ella and Daddy trick-or-treating at Towne Mall.


Ella and Mommy


I just hold out my bag and people put in CANDY!! Check out all my loot!


Trick-or-treating is fun!


Well, gotta go get a sugar high!


Happy Halloween!!

Hi to all the Pres Girls! Thanks for visiting my blog!

I was very happy to see Anna B., Cece, Kathriena, and Ringo when I was in the hospital!

It also brightened my day when Cece, Ringo, Lisa, and Sydney came to visit my new school - Thanks girls!

Also thanks to Cece and Jessica C. for emailing me to keep in touch. :)

What a cutie!!


Cutie again!


Ella's hair really gets out of control sometimes...


But she really loves her baby sister!

My mommy finally found a paci I like! Thank goodness!!

My first big smile!! Actually caught on camera!


A little fuzzy, but still a cute smile!



Nana and Anna (Anna modeling the dress mommy wore home from the hospital 28 years ago!)

Anna's heart is almost all better! She has a murmur that is abnormal, but it is not a problem. Her atrial septal defect (the hole between the upper chambers of her heart) has turned into a patent foramen ovale, which means the hole is extremely tiny and no problem. She still has the ventricular septal defect, but it is also smaller and will likely not cause any problems. Basically, all that means that she is fine!! Yeah!!

We went to the zoo. Ella loved the animals. The real ones - the fake ones were a little scary (as shown by her expression in the picture). Her favorite were the naked mole rat babies.

Ella learns the value of breastfeeding. (She did this on her own - we didn't tell her to do it!)

Anna's umbilical cord came off last Wednesday (10/3), so yesterday she had her first real tub bath!

Naptime for silly girls:

Ella wants to be just like her mommy!!


She loves her new bath paints! She also apparently likes looking like she is stoned...

Doctor Visits!

Ella and Anna went to the doctor yesterday for regular checkups. Here are their stats:

Ella - 28 lbs, 35 inches tall. She is doing great!

Anna - 8lbs 9oz, 20 inches tall. I tried to get advice about Anna's gas problems and the nurse practitioner basically said to burp her more and give her gas drops. Wow...that's helpful. However, after searching the internet, I found info about hyperactive letdown and gas issues. I think this is what is causing Anna's pain. So, I'll try some things that deal with the hyperactive letdown. If that doesn't work, I think we'll unfortunately try breast milk from a bottle (or formula) to see if that makes a difference.

Because of Anna's gas troubles, I've barely been able to get 2-3 hours of consecutive sleep at night. Needless to say, I'm tired, cranky, and going a little crazy. Add a needy two year old to the mix and I feel like a zombie just trying to keep everyone happy.

After the birthday party, Ella needed to rock out a little.

Ella's birthday party was a huge success!! She had a great time, ate yummy cake, and got lots of great gifts!

She liked the rings and bracelets on her feet better than her hands!



She especially likes her animal hospital (of which she received 3)! She carries around her "Beow" (Cat) and "Woof" (Dog), and treats all their various ailments. Thanks everyone who got her that! She also likes her fridge magnet letters. However, that one is a little maddening to mommy. I can only listen to the alphabet song and "B says buh, B says buh" so many times in one day before I go a little crazy. I will admit it is really helping her with her letters, though.


Nana helped Ella blow out her birthday candle!

Anna got into the festivities...


Thanks everyone for the great gifts and your wonderful presence at the party!!

Woo Hoo!!! I did it!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!

Our two girls (pictures taken today):



Anna was three weeks old yesterday and Ella will be two tomorrow. I can't believe it has only been three weeks since Anna was born! I feel like I've been Mommy to these two girls forever (in a good way). We are so lucky to have two healthy and beautiful little girls!

Ella is getting more and more jealous of Anna. She normally wants nothing to do with me, but lately she has been more needy and clingy. I try to give her as much attention as I can, but sometimes it just isn't possible to give enough. Today she wanted to go play outside and I couldn't maneuver keeping both girls happy out there, so we just came back inside. Ella screamed and cried because she had to come back in, but I didn't know what else to do. I hope she knows we love her as much as we always have even if we don't give her all of our attention.

Fortunately, Ella's birthday party is this weekend! I hope the undivided attention of 20 adults will be enough for her! The birthday decorations will all be SpongeBob, and I will attempt to make a cake that looks like SpongeBob for my girlie. I hope it doesn't look too horrible!!! Wish me luck. :)

Anna's hospital pics:

Anna!

Just fill in the appropriate info and you will go straight to her page.

Anna and Ella!

Little, sweet Anna is doing wonderfully. She is eating like a horse, which is great for her and a little tiresome for Mommy. She rarely cries, only when she is hungry or has pee pee in her diaper. I guess I would cry if I had pee pee in my diaper, too. Ella is adjusting well, but she does require a little more attention right now. She also refuses to go to sleep in her bed. Oh well, we now have 4 people in our bed - good thing it is a king.

Ella is turning two in two weeks. I planned to have her party on September 30, but I unfortunately forgot that her Nana has to work that day, so the party plans may change. Either way, there will be some form of SpongeBob cake and other SpongeBob party favors. I'm most excited about the SpongeBob pinata.

Well, I know my loyal readers don't come here to read, they come here for pictures, so here they are.