Promised Video

He spotted Ella Ann's big container of bubbles so that is what he is after in the video.

Rane has started to really enjoy his rocking chair. He will drag it out from the corner every single morning and rock in it periodically throughout the day. He also likes to drag the chair around the room, which is what he is doing in the picture below.

He says "Eeeeeeeeeeese!" now every single time he spots a camera. He is saying it in the picture.

I wanted to add this picture to the post, even though it's a random one. This was taken last week when Mara Kate surprised Ella Ann at ballet before her big sleepover. They are so precious together....already holding hands in the van!

Everyday-dom

So Spencer took the computer to Toccoa this past weekend which explains my lack of post and I don't have anything new to tell my hoards of readers! I also don't have anything exciting to take a picture of either, so sorry no pictures of the kiddos but I want to get video up of Rane walking so the grandparents can see him in action so I will do that soon. In the mean time I know you are on the edge of your seat wanting to hear about our weekend and week thus far so here goes. Since Spencer was out of town I took the kids down to Atlantic Station (a place where you can "live, work, play," according to the billboards) for some shopping. It was rather brisk that morning but it was fun to just get out and enjoy the day. I am also trying to do some trial runs of Rane being in the stroller for longer than an hour because my Mom, Ella Ann, Rane and I are headed to Charleston soon so he needs to be dandy in the stroller so we can browse boutiques and walk around the city in general (he did great at Atlantic Station, fyi). I took Ella Ann to a chocolate store and an employee was in the process of rolling out fudge so the three of us sat there and watched him for quite a long time. Ella Ann's eyeballs were about to bug out of their sockets at the chocolaty goodies that surrounded her so I let her pick out one small piece. She chose, of course, two chocolate-dipped marshmallows on a stick rolled in hot pink sprinkles. It was so fun to watch her enjoy her treat and watch fudge being made....it was a learning experience, I say!

So far this week we have ran our usual errands, Target, Kroger, Publix and the DeKalb Farmer's World Market (my heaven on earth). I have started really doing the bulk of my shopping there each week. I put EA in the back of the cart, buy her a bag of popcorn for 32 cents and me a coffee for 65 cents and off we go a'shopping! It is so fun! In case you don't know what I'm talking about, it is a massive warehouse full of anything you could possibly imagine regarding speciality foods, produce, meats, cheeses, coffee, tea, homemade pastries and breads, candy, spices, wines, fish, etc. I buy my meat there because it's cheaper AND hormone free....yeay! All of their fresh foods are flown in daily from around the world. I have fun trying all kinds of new veggies, like a massive green squash from Honduras, and encouraging the kids (of course not Spencer!!) to try them....so far Rane will eat any of it!

I made a meal for my friend, Janelle, and her family this morning because she just had her third baby and Ella Ann and I took it to them this afternoon. It was the highlight of Ella Ann's day because her and Anna-Kate are kindred spirits, as are Janelle and I, so she had a lot of fun seeing her friend.

Rane has been entertaining us as of late with several new things he has picked up, such as saying "beep, beep," he walks around the house saying "Mimi! Mimi," grabbing his diaper and saying, "inky" with a crinkled face if he's pooped, climbing on our couch (it's pretty high so it's taken him a while to conquer it) and bringing random objects to us since he is up on two feet now. He has also learned to climb Ella Ann's step stool and get onto her bed. He squeals with excitement each time he's up on her bed....he loves it! He will drink her water on the nightstand, throw her clock on the floor, pull at the ballerina skirts on her bedspread and tear her tissues apart. Such fun for Ella Ann!

So this weekend we will attend our church's annual Easter egg hunt on Saturday and we are so excited! It is so much fun for all involved! We will go to the Easter service on Sunday and I am going to try and prepare an Easter feast. I'm going to attempt a ham, which I am not looking forward to because I am not a fan of ham but Spencer would like it so that's what I'm going to make....in the crockpot, of course!

Sleepover Success

On Wednesday Jana and Mara Kate were in town making their rounds visiting friends. They came over before Ella Ann needed to be picked up at ballet so they went with me to get her. When Ella Ann saw Mara Kate she was shocked....she couldn't believe her best friend was there! She didn't say much at first, I think she was overwhelmed, but they immediately hugged and started holding hands, even in the van. So sweet. Jana and I surprised the girls and told them that Ella Ann was going home with Mara Kate to spend the night! Oh my goodness they were SO SO SO excited! Jana and I visited for a little while at our house before they hit the road. Ella Ann was in the car in 2.2 seconds....she was beyond ready to go to Mara Kate's house!

Ella Ann stayed with them until yesterday afternoon, when I met Jana in Cartersville (halfway for both of us) and picked her up. She was very unhappy to go home, I mean really unhappy. She cried off and on about having to leave Mara Kate's house and wanting to go back. She was grumpy the entire way because she was so tired (all the playing and lack of a good night's sleep due to utter excitement) and she didn't want to go home. She told me on the way home that she wanted to live with Mara Kate forever. I take it she had a good time! Last night she was sitting on my lap and I was hugging her and telling her how much I missed her and she still said, "Mommy I want to live with Mara Kate. I promise I will come visit you for one month. I will see you for one month and then I'll go back to Mara Kate's house." Poor Mommy. ha!

To get the entire scoop, with lots of pictures, of her sleepover check out Jana's blog!

Daddy Daycare...

at your service! Yesterday I watched Spencer babysit the neighborhood....no kidding! He and Ella Ann went outside at 11:30 a.m. and the next time she sat foot in our house except for to use the restroom was to eat dinner at 6 p.m. Her and Spencer were in the backyard ALL day long! It was great! As soon as they hit the yard Jordan and Kayla saw Ella Ann and immediately came over to play. Their family was expecting company around lunch time so once the company's children arrived Spencer had them all.....at one point he was watching 7 kids 4 and under. Where was I, you ask? I went to the grocery, prepared a meal for a friend and her husband that had a baby and then took them the meal that afternoon. So Spencer was on his own the most of the day. While on the way home I received a text from him that read, "Daddy daycare here: 6 spills, 4 band aids, 3 glasses of water and several children wandering our house." I floored it home, mainly after the "kids roaming the house" part! I walked in the door and saw the first aid kit on our counter. He had wrapped Jordan's knee because after falling out of the door his band aids wouldn't stay on. The parents across next door would show their faces if they heard loud screaming but that's about it. Spencer even saved a runaway tricycle that went barreling down the driveway next door! Ella Ann was loving every second of all the entertainment in her backyard! The kids were in and out of our house and the neighbor's house all afternoon, which was fine. We honestly didn't mind at all that they were all over at our house. They were all good kids, Ella Ann and Rane had a great time, they were very entertaining and we would have been doing more work had the kids not had anyone to play with! They kept asking for a snack but, as you know, we live in a Jewish neighborhood so giving the kids a snack out of our pantry was not going to happen. Who knows what we have that is Kosher! Jordan couldn't understand why we didn't have Kosher food and I simply said, "We're not Jewish!" A little while later his mom comes over to tell us that when she asked him if Ella Ann would like a sandwich (she was preparing them for the kids) he said, "No, she can't! She's not Jewish!"

So anyway, Spencer was worn out from all the Daddy sitting he did. I know he really enjoyed it, though. It was fun for both of us to watch Ella Ann play all day in a make believe world with several kids her age.

We also spent the entire afternoon on Friday outside. Spencer came home before lunch so it felt like a Saturday to me. He brought home some soccer shorts from London for Ella Ann to wear since she says she is going to play soccer next year instead of taking ballet. Well she wasn't too fond of the shorts (shocking, I know) when she received them but once she put them on and started running around outside she realized how good they are at keeping her cool (she hates being hot and complains about it around 25 times a day...even in 30 degree weather). She also "allowed" me to put her hair in a ponytail. This has not happened in at least 7-8 months. She all of the sudden decided one day to hate ponytails, which Spencer and I were not liking because we love her hair up out of her face....she looks so cute. So this weekend watching her run around in soccer shorts, t-shirts and a ponytail we felt like we were watching a completely different child...it looked so weird on her, weird but good.

In other news, Rane decided to get up off all fours today and try walking all day long. Quite a surprise! He's been trying for a couple of weeks and today was the day to really do it. It's so strange to be in our dining room and catch Rane out of the corner of my eye walking down the hallway. He doesn't expect a cheering section for him each time he performs now so I know he feels it is more natural for him to be walking. Yeay!

First off, Ella Ann and I made "We Miss You" brownies for Spencer on Tuesday afternoon before he got home from London (See...my bitterness subsided!). Do you see Ella Ann's eager hand on the table? Yes, we started eating the "Miss You" brownies immediately after I snapped this picture. At least we left the writing for him to see.

She does pretty good kicking the ball around the yard. Well, at least it appears that way to me but who am I to know that kind of stuff?? I don't know a single thing about sports in general!

This metal contraption has been in our side yard since we moved in. We had no idea what it was until our neighbor came over this week and told us. It's an old jungle gym that the previous owners had left (her in-laws own the house we are in). So we dragged it out to the backyard for the kids to climb on and they love it. We are going to buy some spray paint and let the kids revamp it.

Jordan and Ella Ann being silly.

The two of them play so well together. (Note the band aids and tape on the legs thanks to the on-call Doctor at Daddy Daycare!)

I am so tired of Rane putting holes in all of his pants because he is lazy, especially when we are outside, so I put him in shorts yesterday so he'd be forced to walk because the grass is too prickly on his legs. Well this is Mr. Stubborn at his best.....doing the crab! He still wouldn't walk much!

He just roams the yard and will stop when he sees something that looks tasty....like mulch.

The following pictures Spencer took of the fiasco in our backyard. They were running around so much that he couldn't get a picture of all of them together.

First Time....

1) Spencer and I are on two different continents.
2) I bought a new vehicle, sans husband (note, husband has very limited contact with me while on separate continent).
3) Rane took his first sink "bath" at Chick-fil-A (note, he has also "bathed" at Taco Bell).
4) Ella Ann reached a new terror scream volume when she was chased by a tiny dog.
5) Rane began taking over 20 steps in a row while Spencer was across the pond.
6) Rane said "Mimi."
7) Rane climbed on a couch by himself.
8) I drove a vehicle home today with so much space I don't know what to do with it all.
9) Rane demonstrated that he has the Disney gene.

What in the world have we been up to you ask? You want more details? Of course you do, silly, you are still reading! Well lets start at the beginning, then. Spencer decided a few months ago to go to London, England with his brother, brother-in-law and father. A mancation. A mancation that I was NOT happy about. Did NOT want to discuss. Did not want him to go on....this all stems from my deep jealousy of never having been to Europe and Spencer going to an awesome place that he'd never been to either for 7 days with out ME, his wife! This was all under the disguise of, "We are going to watch soccer!" Whatever. Okay so I'm over it since I bought a van while he was gone. hehe. My dad called about an hour before we dropped Spencer off at the train station that would take him to the airport on Wednesday afternoon with the good news that he located a Honda Odyssey that is fully (more than fully) equipped with everything we have been asking for. Horray! So my parents met me on my way to their house Thursday afternoon at the Honda dealership about 30 miles from where they live. Dad and I test drove it, bargained a bit (Dad bargained), I wrote the check and off we went! Wait, back up. I mentioned that Rane bathed at Chick-fil-A. That happened on the way to the dealership. Poop from nape of neck to ankles. I'll spare you the details, just know that he was washed in the sink while a stranger handed me paper towels. Gross. We arrived at the dealership with him wearing nothing but a t-shirt and a diaper (I was too lazy to dig out clothes in the suitcase). Yeah, we're from Georgia.

So we had a great time with my parents. The kids really enjoyed being at their house, as usual. Ella Ann took her traditional trip with her Grandpa to the DQ for lunch followed by ice cream with sprinkles. Rane was up walking a lot while we were there. He is extremely wobbly and if he wants to get anywhere quickly he will just drop and crawl. We got outside despite the cool temps and drizzle because we were tired of being stuck indoors. We went to dinner on Saturday night and Rane ate more than the rest of us. He was in hog heaven with the Italian food! In a nutshell, we were lazy around their house for 4 solid days!

On Sunday Ella Ann, Mom and I went to a shower for my friend, Sara, who is having a little boy in April. Ella Ann enjoyed running around with another little girl that was there and playing with Sara's daughter, Lucy. Sara and her husband have 2 small dogs and they were at her mom's house in a back bedroom. Ella Ann and her little friend, Evelyn, kept hearing them bark so Brandon, Sara's husband, went back with the girls to visit them. Well we first hear Ella Ann's sheer terrifying scream and then we saw her run down the hall with a little dog right on her heels barking like crazy! Mom jumped in front of my open arms like she was taking a bullet for me and grabbed Ella Ann, who immediately wrapped her legs around Mimi's neck! Thanks mom. We must teach Ella Ann to not run around dogs or else they will chase! After she calmed down her and Evelyn enjoyed petting the dogs and chasing them around! It was great to see my old friends and spend some time with everyone.

Mom drove the kids and I to the dealership on Monday morning to pick up the van and we drove it home. It is awesome. So awesome. I am in love with it. It is silver so I'm glad I can somewhat keep it clean. I am just not used to all the space! I can cart around so much it's not even funny! I reached back to hand Ella Ann something and I couldn't even reach her! So strange. I'm used to her feet practically being beside me in our old car! I put a Mickey Mouse movie in the DVD player before we left and it was the first time Rane had ever seen Mickey on television and he went absolutely bananas! He was squealing nonstop! See, Disney runs in my blood line! Anyway, we enjoyed the new ride the entire way and I got to listen to my CDs! That hasn't happened since July when my CD player quit on the way to Kentucky. I received CDs for Christmas that I haven't even listened to yet and now I can! The cutest thing was when I opened the automatic doors for Ella Ann at Taco Bell this afternoon and she said, "Woahh Mom." I never thought I'd ever in a million, bazillion years think I would drive a van. However, the tides have turned and now I see why millions of Moms drive them....it is a necessity, especially if you travel as much as I do with two kids and all of our junk! Also, Rane had his best trip ever both too and from, despite the poop. He slept 3 hours on the way home (it's a 5.5 hour trip with a lunch stop) and was happy, for the most part, when awake. Yeay!

The kids and their favorite toy, Sebastian. Poor kitty. Ella Ann carries that cat around the house like a sack of potatoes and Sebastian allows it....even purrs!

Up on the couch....

ready to climb over the couch now!

We drug out Ella Ann's old bouncing zebra for Rane and he loved it! It is now in our playroom.

Ella Ann gave Grandpa a massage....

then Grandpa had to give her one! This kid will be my spa buddy one day. She loves to have makeup brushes run across her face, hair played with, back scratched, legs rubbed, you name it.

Watching the UK game with Grandpa on Thursday. Dad taught her to yell, "Go Big Blue" but I know that color will change to red when Spencer gets home!

It drives Ella Ann nuts when her Mimi's shirt buttons are not ALL buttoned so every. single. time. she sees that they are unbuttoned she is sure to button them all the way to the neck....modesty, ya know! My four year old is a stickler for it!

Watching Grandpa fix a drink before we left for dinner Saturday evening. I thought this was such a sweet picture of Baby Boy.

One last ride on the zebra before we headed out!

My parents are always sure to have all of our favorite foods while we are visiting, especially loads of berries. The kids go crazy. Rane and Ella Ann would eat their weight in blueberries, raspberries and strawberries!

Outside...FINALLY

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday in our favorite room of the house...the backyard! It's about time is all I have to say! According to Al Roker, it is "Much below normal" temperatures down here...duhhh! If it's even remotely close to 50 degrees we lose the coats, they are such a pain with kids! Anyway, Spencer worked a lot this weekend but he was able to hang with us today so that was great. After lunch both days Ella Ann and I played outside while Rane napped. Once he woke up I even moved his high chair outside so we didn't even have to go in for him to snack. Today our next door neighbor's kids, who are close in age with Ella Ann, came over to play. Ella Ann loves it when they come over to play and I do to because she has so much fun and it is much easier because they do their own thing and Spencer, Rane and I sit and watch. Poor little Rane, though, he just wants to be a part of their group so bad. He would crawl in the grass to get to them and just sit and watch them play. Bless his heart! Yesterday it was just Ella Ann, Rane and I outside. I had to go inside to get something really quick and when I came back out Rane was sitting in a dirt pile eating dirt. His face was black and I couldn't get the grit out of his mouth...he chewed it forever. Boys and girls.....SO different! Today Ella Ann actually got dirty but on most days I could send her out in her Sunday best and she would come back in clean as a whistle.

Rane discovered Ella Ann's tricycle yesterday and that was it. He wanted to be pushed around the entire time we were outside. Ella Ann loved pushing him around the porch! Now the dilemma...do I let him ride the pink and purple tricycle or buy a blue and red one? Surely he won't care when he grows up and saw that he rode a girly tricycle!

Jordan, Kayla and Ella Ann playing with the bubble gun.

They all loved it, including Rane, who I'm sure just wanted to drink the bubbles!

There he goes, trying to keep up with the big kids!

Jordan would trow the Frisbee and Kayla and Ella Ann would race to get it. (Look at Little Rane!)

He saw Ella Ann climb the slide so Rane thought he could do the same.

Little Man

Since there isn't much going on this week besides the usual happenings I will blog about Rane! You know it's just so-o hard for me to talk up my kids to anyone who will listen! He has started "walking" as of today! Yeay! He is still crawling all the time but today he seems to have made a turning point by standing up and taking some steps....often....and several in a row! I'm ready to get him walking so we can go to the park this spring and summer. I know when Ella Ann was 14 months old we had been to the park at least 50 times. Poor second child...again. Well I do have to say we lived in a condo at that time with no yard and we were about a mile from Piedmont Park so that is a big reason why we were there nearly 1-2 times per week at least.

In the last few weeks he has started blowing kisses, clapping along with "Patty Cake," doing the motions to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," kissing us on the mouth followed by a huge hug and being extra needy/clingy during the dinner hour. The last one is not so fun. Last night I gave Ella Ann and Rane a bath and Rane was trying to kiss Ella Ann so I told her to give him a kiss and when they did it was the absolute cutest thing! My heart just melted on the floor right then and there.

He now says "Ohhhh mannnnnnnn" ALL the time. Yesterday I was mopping, with Rane around...don't know what I was thinking, and had to stop because he was chasing the mop. I put it in the kitchen and he kept trying to get it so I moved it again before he got back into the kitchen. When he rounded the corner he looked to where the mop was supposed to be, saw that it was gone and said, "Ohhhh mannnnn!" I feel bad that some of his first words are, "Oh nooooo," "Ohhh mannnn," and "Uh-ohhhh!" Maybe because that is what we say to him ALL the time! Poor kid....can't get a break.

On Monday I took him to toddler story time at our (very awesome) library for the first time while Ella Ann was in school. It was fantastic! Since we have moved we go to a new library that is super close to our house and they have a great space for kids and they do all kinds of fun things for them. We went to Ella Ann's age group for story time last week and she had a ball. Rane's was just a bunch of kids near his age playing with toys everywhere for a set amount of time, followed by book time and then a book read by the leader. Rane is just not really into having someone read books to him at the moment. He is just too busy to sit still and he is very particular about the few books he will let you read to him. If he doesn't want to hear it he will slam the book shut on your fingers.

He is down to one nap now and has been for about 3 weeks. He went from waking up before 6:30 most mornings and napping two times a day to waking usually past 7 a.m. and taking one nap from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sometimes he has a bad nap but he's still fairly happy and will go to bed at 6 p.m.

So that's Rane in a nutshell at 14 months. Ella Ann is dandy, usual Ella Ann ya know. On Monday she disobeyed her teacher at school and after the teacher told her not to jump with her little friend off a piece of playground equipment off they went. When she hit the ground she evidently rolled her ankle. I thought we were headed to the doctor because she couldn't walk but as the day progressed she was able to put pressure on it...whew. I think the lesson was learned very well.