Ellie Bug

Isn't she just the cutest little thing you've ever seen?

She just blows me away everyday. She can be just the spiciest little stinker in the whole world one minute, and the next minute she is throwing her arms around my neck and giving me the best hug ever. In fact, I think she's figured out the power of the almighty hug.. now whenever she gets in trouble, her first reaction is to try for a hug. Cute, yes. Manipulative? Maybe a little. But we usually let her get away with it anyway.

Ellie really loves to be the life of the party. We went and did the race for the cure here in Detroit last weekend and while we were walking, there were several bands playing on the roadside. And guess what Ellie did every time we passed one of these bands?

She was certainly a distraction for the other racers, though I'm pretty sure they didn't mind (not that it would have stopped her).
Last but not least in the list of Ellie updates is the fact that she has learned how to take her pants off. And she's pretty excited about it.  More often than not when I leave her alone for a minute or two, this is what I find:

(She'll probably kill me in the future for publishing this photo)

On a related side note, the pediatrician informed me that we should start potty training Ellie earlier than planned since she has such sensitive skin. Not really too excited about this stage of life, but Ellie does seem ready for the challenge. So I guess I'll just have to get ready too. Any advice would be welcome.



50/50 Chance You're Right!

Boy or Girl???

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We get to find out the gender of our little one in a couple of weeks! So so SO excited. I would have bet my entire HP collection that it was a boy a few weeks ago... but now I'm not so sure. Either way, I'm just really super duper uber schmooper (Sid the Science Kid anyone?) excited to have another little one in our family.  So make your selection- it's always fun to see what other people think. And maybe you'll get a prize if you're right (though your prize will probably come in the form of your own hand patting  your back...).

Ps, we still haven't come up with any other names. Looks like we'll either have an Evelyn or a Ronald/Lincoln (depending on who gives in there- Scott and I are kind of facing off at the moment).

Incidentally, Ellie has been working on learning how to share in preparation for becoming a big sister. She's really very good about sharing her toys with the puppies (sometimes to my chagrin) and often more than willing to share her snacks with them too (always to my chagrin). The dogs, in turn, have learned that they have to share too:

Just about once a day, Ellie tries to go into their little den. We're working on establishing some boundaries.

TWINS!!!!!!

Yes, we now have twin boys in our family- Fred and George. They are a little hairier than Ellie, but we still think there's some family resemblance...

(George is on the left, Fred is on the right)

These little puppies were saved from a puppy mill and we adopted them today. They are my mothers day present from my lovely parents- they're the BEST.

We're still adjusting to our new family dynamic. The first thing Fred and George did when we got home was poop and pee. On our newly cleaned carpet. Awesome. But with a little training and a lot of patience, I think we'll all be very happy together.

And I sincerely hope that the fact that they joined our family on Friday the 13th isn't a bad sign... But then again we did name them after the most mischievous twins ever penned, so we may have set ourselves up a bit.

So cute taking a nap together!

In other news, I put foam curlers in Ellie's hair this morning.... it wasn't the hugest success.

The immediate after:

The after after... Ellie wasn't too kind to her curls, so we ended up with pig tails. Still cute though. I guess I'll have to wait until she has a little more hair/patience for the curlers.

Meet Chloe

 

 My NEW KITCHENAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She came just in time for mothers day. As you can see, it was pretty much love at first sight.

 On Saturday we went to Greenfield Village. Just in case you don't live in Dearborn, and therefore have no idea with GV is, here's a little explanation. Henry Ford (founder of the Ford Motor Company) became quite wealthy after striking automotive gold with the Model T. So, not really knowing what else to do with all his riches, he started collecting historic buildings from all over the world. And brought them all here, to Dearborn. So the village is just a collection of historic buildings and other artifacts. It is really quite fascinating and I count myself very lucky because we have annual passes. The village has (among other things) a courthouse where Abe Lincoln used to practice law, Eddison's laboratory, one of the oldest windmills in the country (from the 1600s), the Rosa Parks bus (actually this is in the museum, but the same general area), and my personal favorite- the Eagle Tavern: a restaurant from the 1800s that still serves authentic period food. It is such a fun place to go if you're obsessed with food, like I am:) Another popular feature of the village is their collection of farm animals. They have sheep, cows and horses among other animals. Obviously, this is a pretty popular attraction for the little ones- Ellie just couldn't get enough of those giant "woof woofs." She also really liked the Carousel, which is almost 100 years old now!

 On Sunday I got to spend a wonderful mothers day with the three loves of my life- Scott, Ellie, and Chloe!!! I made angel food cake and real whipped cream for dessert that night. It was sooooo much fun! And probably the most successful cooking adventure I've had in a while.

 I also tried to get a decent picture with Ellie in honor of Mothers Day. Unfortunately, she wasn't really too into it... But I really did have a GREAT day. And I got to talk to my own wonderful mother- though not quite as good as getting to see her, I'm so thankful for modern technology that allows me to stay close to my wonderful family even though we live so far apart.

Who knew a plum could be so much trouble?

So baby is the size of a plum right now. I find this estimation to be misleading... Are they saying that the baby weighs the same amount as a plum? The same length? Surely not the same circumference? I guess I'm just having trouble converting the very round shape and form of a plum into something recognizable as a baby.

Anyway, the check up went well today. I had to have another ultrasound because my uterus is tilted making it almost impossible to hear the heartbeat with a Doppler. But I wasn't complaining! Ultrasounds are so fun. The baby had [his] hand up by the head, just like Ellie always did. So cute. That was the highlight of the appointment, we didn't really do anything else. Except discuss how I'm vitamin D deficient. But who isn't? So I get to take even more vitamin D, which is no big deal. Really, truly, I am a very lucky mama. Ellie is perfectly healthy and this baby has been progressing just fine. And I have been able to avoid all major pregnancy-related ailments thus far. Alas, however, the food aversions persist (and cravings to a lesser degree) even though I'm nearing the end of the first trimester.

Aversions:
soy sauce
artichoke hearts
pizza
middle eastern food
oil
lasagna
and, as always, MELTED CHEDDAR CHEESE

Cravings:
gyros
peanut butter captain crunch (I could live off this stuff)
asiago bagels with cream cheese
any kind of pastry
bread- especially crusty artisan bread

So Basically I am trying to really enjoy where I am right now in this pregnancy, but I won't lie- I'm already getting a little impatient. Thankfully this pregnancy is going by a lot faster than Ellie's did- probably because I spend a large portion of my day chasing a crazy toddler. She certainly keeps me on my toes. Another plus for this pregnancy is that I'm already showing a little bit. Why is this a plus? Because hopefully I'll really pop earlier too so that I don't spend quite so much time in that awkward stage- you know the one, when people really aren't sure whether you're pregnant or not so they either stare at your belly far too long or ask awkward questions, trying to beat around the bush. Not really my favorite stage of pregnancy. Anyway, I'll see if I can get another pictures up at some point. Maybe I'll even showcase the maternity skirts that I've been working on this week! Gotta love sewing machines:)

Picture Dump

It's been a while my friends. In the past few weeks the Andreasen clan of MI have traveled far and wide (actually, this is pretty true... we went to Ohio as a family and then Ellie and I went to Oregon for a week to visit the Hiebs). And Easter happened. And Fathers Day... kind of. So here are some pictures.

Well, we all know that the festivities started off with a pretty exciting movie release... Ellie was so happy about it that she couldn't hold still long enough for me to get a decent picture with HP. But let me just say this: it. was. epic.

 Next we went to Kirtland to visit some of our church's historical sites. It rained pretty much the whole time, but we still enjoyed our little mini vacation, even though it doesn't look like it in the pictures...

 Before we knew it, Easter was upon us and some great friends from church hosted an Easter egg hunt/birthday party for their little girl. We had a great time! Ellie really loved the egg hunt, but soon found the slide to be pretty awesome as well. And then the bubble machine came out and all heck broke loose. The kids went nuts for that thing! They were all running around screaming about the bubbles. It was pretty hilarious.

 

Isn't she just about the most lovely girl you've ever seen?

So then Fathers Day. Well, Scott and I decided that since we actually have some money for the first time, we would get each other nice Fathers/Mothers Day gifts this year. I have been longing for a kitchenaid mixer for some time now, so I ordered one off of Overstock. Unfortunately I don't have a picture yet, but it is supposed to arrive this week!!!! And Scott wanted to get golf clubs for Fathers Day. And then he found this awesome deal and somehow swindled me into letting him get them early. Darn him and his boyish charm. So he went and bought those last night.

side note: please excuse Ellie's crazy post-bath, pre-bed hair-don't

What about Oregon you may be asking? Well, thanks to my never-fail photo taking sister Michelle, I was relieved from the duty of documenting our trip (aka, I forgot to take out my camera...). So we'll all have to wait until she sends me the pics. Sad day. But here's a list of the cool things we did: Burgerville (only the most amazing organic fast food you will ever eat), OMSI, Cafe DuBerry (seriously, I would eat myself to death if we lived in Oregon... it is SO good), watched HP 4-7, visited Scott's fam and Missy's fam, lunch with Kayla and Barb, shopped at Woodburn outlets (4 polos from Banana Republic for $50? heck yes!), and most importantly spent some quality time with the good old fam damily.

So... longest post ever, I know, but I just had to share. Updates on baby #2 coming to a computer near you later this week.