I have learned that I say Ok, or “K” a lot. How did I learn this…because Ella says it all the time. She used to say “Yeah” until all of a sudden a few weeks ago it changed to “Ok.” Just the other day she was taking a nap while I went to the grocery store. When she woke up Joe said that she looked at him and said “Cake” so he asked the obvious question, “Do you want some cake?” (have I mentioned that Ella has a sweet tooth) to which Ella replied “Ok.” She made it sound like Joe had come up with the idea and she was just going along with it. She will also say, “Milk, ok.” As if to ask for it then tell herself that she’s going to get it. When she started saying ok my first thought was, ‘where did she learn this?’ As time progressed I realized that she learned it from me! Oh well, I guess “Ok” is better than what our neighbor little girl (who is Ella’s age) picked up from her mom…lets just say that it’s a 2 word phrase that starts with “Oh” and ends with word that starts with S. Enough said.
I’ve decided that I’m going to start buying Ella’s clothes at TJMaxx, or another outlet store. I usually get her stuff at Target or Babies R Us (BRU), but when I was in TJMaxx the other day I found 2 outfits that are exactly like the ones at BRU, and they were only $6 each! At BRU they are $14.99 each, so this was major savings. Now if TJMaxx would just have the perfect kid size table we’d be all set!
And finally, from the Murray household…I got a call last night from someone trying to scam me. They were trying to convince me that I needed to renew our car warranty. There were several signs that proved this was a scam: 1) When I answered they said that we needed to renew our warranty on our Pontiac Vibe…we don’t even own a Pontiac. When I told them that we didn’t own a Pontiac he said that their computers had been messing up all day and if I told him what kind of car we drove he could pull up the information, 2) When I asked for the name of the company he was calling from he just said “your warranty service center” and never gave me a real name, and 3) He got VERY upset when I told him that I wasn’t going to make any decisions without talking to my husband. He said that he had to close out my account tonight and that he really wanted to get home to his family so the sooner he could take care of it the better. Obviously this joker didn’t know that he was talking to Katie Cakes Murray who is smarter than the average bear! I wasn’t falling for his antics, and when Joe got home I told him all about the phone call. 15 minutes later Joe found this article.
That’s it for Murray news. Have a fun weekend everyone!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Katie's Random Thoughts
Last night we went to IHOP for National Pancake Day. They were giving a free short stack of pancakes to every customer. We couldn’t pass up that kind of deal, especially since Ella loves pancakes. I loved my short stack, and Ella ate a little bit of hers, but Joe decided to order a sandwich instead and Ella really loved his French fries. I think the only reason she likes them is because she can dip them in ketchup.
I’ve really been thinking a lot about potty training lately. I’m trying to map out our course of action. I think I’ll go get the Elmo Potty Time video this weekend and possibly some books, and we’ll start with that and see how things go. I hear that when they are ready they pretty much let you know. I hope that’s true.
On an unrelated note, does anyone out there in blogland feel like the entire world of women age 25-35 is pregnant? I told Joe that everywhere I turn there is another pregnant woman. No offense to all you pregnant women out there…I’m happy for you. It just makes me feel a lot of pressure…like something is wrong with me because I’m not pregnant and not planning on getting pregnant anytime soon. You know what would make me feel better? If one of you named your kid after me…Katie…it’s a good, strong name and I can honestly say that I’ve never met a Katie I didn’t like!
I’ve really been thinking a lot about potty training lately. I’m trying to map out our course of action. I think I’ll go get the Elmo Potty Time video this weekend and possibly some books, and we’ll start with that and see how things go. I hear that when they are ready they pretty much let you know. I hope that’s true.
On an unrelated note, does anyone out there in blogland feel like the entire world of women age 25-35 is pregnant? I told Joe that everywhere I turn there is another pregnant woman. No offense to all you pregnant women out there…I’m happy for you. It just makes me feel a lot of pressure…like something is wrong with me because I’m not pregnant and not planning on getting pregnant anytime soon. You know what would make me feel better? If one of you named your kid after me…Katie…it’s a good, strong name and I can honestly say that I’ve never met a Katie I didn’t like!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
20 Months Old
I can hardly believe it! Ella is growing up way too fast. In only 4 short months she’ll be 2 years old! With having a 2 year old we have a whole new set of trials on our hands: the terrible twos, potty training, finding a preschool, etc. I’m not sure I’m ready for all of that. What happened to our little baby?
We took Ella back to the doctor yesterday for a weight check. As you may recall, she had lost nearly a pound over the holidays, so since then we’ve been shoving food down her and I check the fat grams, calories and protein on EVERYTHING. I am happy to report that she has gained 8 oz in 6 weeks. This is great news. She’s almost back up to her pre-Christmas weight. The doctor was really pleased to see how Ella looked. She is definitely a healthy little girl and doesn’t seem to be facing the nutritional issues that a lot of EB kids face. The only problem is that she loves her veggies, so we have to give her meat or pasta first, then the veggies get to be her dessert. If we give them to her at the same time then all she’ll eat is her veggies and not get any of the fat and protein that she needs. So far her favorites are corn, broccoli and asparagus. She’s not a big fan of peas or green beans.
We have learned that having a smart baby (at least we think she’s smart) is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because she’s smart…who doesn’t want a smart kid. It’s a curse because she knows exactly what happens every time we take her to the doctor…shots. And as soon as we get into that little room she knows that sometime soon she’s going to get her shots, so she starts crying. It’s terrible. She did ok yesterday, but every time we laid her down on the table she would start crying and try to sit up. Luckily the doctors office is moving, so the next time we see them they’ll be in a new building. Hopefully this will trick Ella and she’ll be a bit more accommodating.
Last night was Friday night pizza night at the Murray house, and while we usually order in the pizza (Valentino’s in Alexandria…the best pizza in the area), last night we decided to go out and eat in the restaurant. Back to having the smart baby, we made the mistake of telling her that we were going to have pizza for dinner. Ella LOVES pizza! Unfortunately she thought that we were going to be having it at home, so when we got her into the car she started saying “pizza, pizza, pizza.” We tried to explain that we were going out to get pizza, but all she knew was that she wanted pizza and she didn’t want to have to go in the car to get it. Once we got to the restaurant and saw the pizza she was fine, and they even brought her some bread to tide her over before the pizza came. She loves going out to eat (which we don’t really understand because she’s so shy everywhere else) and she loves pizza even more, so it was a great night out.
Last but not least, I finally added some new photos from Feb.
We took Ella back to the doctor yesterday for a weight check. As you may recall, she had lost nearly a pound over the holidays, so since then we’ve been shoving food down her and I check the fat grams, calories and protein on EVERYTHING. I am happy to report that she has gained 8 oz in 6 weeks. This is great news. She’s almost back up to her pre-Christmas weight. The doctor was really pleased to see how Ella looked. She is definitely a healthy little girl and doesn’t seem to be facing the nutritional issues that a lot of EB kids face. The only problem is that she loves her veggies, so we have to give her meat or pasta first, then the veggies get to be her dessert. If we give them to her at the same time then all she’ll eat is her veggies and not get any of the fat and protein that she needs. So far her favorites are corn, broccoli and asparagus. She’s not a big fan of peas or green beans.
We have learned that having a smart baby (at least we think she’s smart) is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because she’s smart…who doesn’t want a smart kid. It’s a curse because she knows exactly what happens every time we take her to the doctor…shots. And as soon as we get into that little room she knows that sometime soon she’s going to get her shots, so she starts crying. It’s terrible. She did ok yesterday, but every time we laid her down on the table she would start crying and try to sit up. Luckily the doctors office is moving, so the next time we see them they’ll be in a new building. Hopefully this will trick Ella and she’ll be a bit more accommodating.
Last night was Friday night pizza night at the Murray house, and while we usually order in the pizza (Valentino’s in Alexandria…the best pizza in the area), last night we decided to go out and eat in the restaurant. Back to having the smart baby, we made the mistake of telling her that we were going to have pizza for dinner. Ella LOVES pizza! Unfortunately she thought that we were going to be having it at home, so when we got her into the car she started saying “pizza, pizza, pizza.” We tried to explain that we were going out to get pizza, but all she knew was that she wanted pizza and she didn’t want to have to go in the car to get it. Once we got to the restaurant and saw the pizza she was fine, and they even brought her some bread to tide her over before the pizza came. She loves going out to eat (which we don’t really understand because she’s so shy everywhere else) and she loves pizza even more, so it was a great night out.
Last but not least, I finally added some new photos from Feb.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
God Bless America
Joe’s a little patriotic…ok, so he’s a LOT patriotic. Case in point, Ella was born on June 21, 2007 and on July 4, 2007 Joe read her the entire Declaration of Independence. As I recall, she slept through it. Being the patriot that he is, Joe has been singing Ella “God Bless America” since she was born, and several times he has sung her to sleep. Tonight I was in rocking Ella to sleep and singing “God Bless America” and when I got to the “home sweet home” part of the song, she started singing along with me. Every time I would get to “home sweet home” she would sing along. Ella sings along to her ABC’s and several songs on Barney or Sesame Street, but this was the first time she has sung along to this song. Unfortunately poor, exhausted Joe was already asleep and missed it. I’ll make sure he hears about it first thing in the morning.
As noted in my above sentence, Joe was so tired tonight that he fell asleep early. Ella and I were in our bedroom getting things ready for her bandage change and she heard Daddy snoring. She came over to where I was and was imitating the snoring sound by saying “Ahhh shooo.” It was so funny!
Valentines Day was celebrated first with Grammy Janet and her friend Bernadette coming into town. Unfortunately they weren’t able to stay for long, but it was a nice visit anyway. The highlight of this was for Joe since his mom brought us fresh lobster to enjoy! It made for a very fancy Sunday lunch. That night we decided that we would go out to dinner as a family. Our first option was to go to Bertucci’s where Joe and I went on our first official date. The wait there was way too long, so we walked down the block to Cosi and had sandwiches. Lucky for Joe, Ella and I aren’t too hard to please. It was nice just getting out and spending time as a family.
GiGi came in town to celebrate President’s Day weekend with us before heading to Charlottesville for a few days. Ella was her typical shy self, but warmed up enough to show GiGi several of her tricks. Ella can now count to 10 and she can say her entire alphabet. We are working on learning her colors, and so far she only really knows pink. Sometimes she’ll remember blue and red, but pink is the only sure one. I’m ok with that! J Anyway, we had a lot of fun on my day off hanging out with GiGi and playing. GiGi even bought Ella a map of the US so that she can start learning where all her family lives. We can’t wait for her to come back in a couple of weeks. The only sad part is that we really miss having Paw Paw with her. I know that Ella would LOVE to sing along with Paw Paw. I bet he does a rockin’ Itsy Bitsy Spider!
As noted in my above sentence, Joe was so tired tonight that he fell asleep early. Ella and I were in our bedroom getting things ready for her bandage change and she heard Daddy snoring. She came over to where I was and was imitating the snoring sound by saying “Ahhh shooo.” It was so funny!
Valentines Day was celebrated first with Grammy Janet and her friend Bernadette coming into town. Unfortunately they weren’t able to stay for long, but it was a nice visit anyway. The highlight of this was for Joe since his mom brought us fresh lobster to enjoy! It made for a very fancy Sunday lunch. That night we decided that we would go out to dinner as a family. Our first option was to go to Bertucci’s where Joe and I went on our first official date. The wait there was way too long, so we walked down the block to Cosi and had sandwiches. Lucky for Joe, Ella and I aren’t too hard to please. It was nice just getting out and spending time as a family.
GiGi came in town to celebrate President’s Day weekend with us before heading to Charlottesville for a few days. Ella was her typical shy self, but warmed up enough to show GiGi several of her tricks. Ella can now count to 10 and she can say her entire alphabet. We are working on learning her colors, and so far she only really knows pink. Sometimes she’ll remember blue and red, but pink is the only sure one. I’m ok with that! J Anyway, we had a lot of fun on my day off hanging out with GiGi and playing. GiGi even bought Ella a map of the US so that she can start learning where all her family lives. We can’t wait for her to come back in a couple of weeks. The only sad part is that we really miss having Paw Paw with her. I know that Ella would LOVE to sing along with Paw Paw. I bet he does a rockin’ Itsy Bitsy Spider!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Play Date
Ella has had a couple of play dates with her friend, Savannah, who lives 2 doors down. Savannah is just a week or 2 younger than Ella, so they are right at the same age. As I have mentioned before, Ella talks a lot…A LOT! And while Savannah can definitely hold her own, her favorite phrase is “What’s that?” This makes for a deadly combination. An afternoon of Savannah pointing at something and saying “What’s that?” and Ella giving her the answer….over and over and over again. Poor Metti. Tonight, as a result of these play dates, Ella would point at something and say “What’s that?” Then she would tell herself what it was.
Ella is officially out of her 12-18 month clothes. The 18-24 month are still way too long, but that’s better than the 18 month that we could barely get her in. We go back to the doctor next week so hopefully she has gained back the pound she lost during Christmas and if we’re lucky she’ll have gained some more in the process.
Ella has also learned how to play hide and seek with her toys. She hides something like Doggie, her block, her ball, or anything else she thinks would be good to hide (and it’s usually hidden under the couch, a blanket or a big block) and she’ll say “Doggie where are you?” Then she promptly finds Doggie and says “There are! Hi Doggie!” Then Doggie gets hidden again…in the same place as before. It’s really pretty cute to watch.
Her other favorite game is to have Mommy kiss her toys over and over again. For some reason this always gets a nice long belly laugh. Of course I always comply because she’s just so stinking cute.
Ella is officially out of her 12-18 month clothes. The 18-24 month are still way too long, but that’s better than the 18 month that we could barely get her in. We go back to the doctor next week so hopefully she has gained back the pound she lost during Christmas and if we’re lucky she’ll have gained some more in the process.
Ella has also learned how to play hide and seek with her toys. She hides something like Doggie, her block, her ball, or anything else she thinks would be good to hide (and it’s usually hidden under the couch, a blanket or a big block) and she’ll say “Doggie where are you?” Then she promptly finds Doggie and says “There are! Hi Doggie!” Then Doggie gets hidden again…in the same place as before. It’s really pretty cute to watch.
Her other favorite game is to have Mommy kiss her toys over and over again. For some reason this always gets a nice long belly laugh. Of course I always comply because she’s just so stinking cute.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Happy Birthday to Ella’s cousins!
We spent the weekend in Charlottesville celebrating the 1st birthday of Sam and Nate. The boys were born on Super Bowl Sunday, so it was only appropriate that their 1 year birthday party was also a Super Bowl party. Nate loved his birthday cupcake, but Sam didn’t really like it. In fact, he much preferred the chex mix over the cup cake. Obviously he doesn’t get that from his Aunt Katie who loves all cake!
We had a nice weekend. Ella slept the entire drive down, which meant that we didn’t have to listen to Barney, Elmo or Blues Clues. She had fun with her cousins…I guess. Kids their age don’t really play together yet. They do what is called “parallel play” so they play near each other and are obviously aware of what the other kid is doing, but they don’t really play together. So Ella more observed her cousins, but didn’t really “play” with them. As for Sam and Nate, they were more interested in what yummy snack Ella was eating at the time. Those boys love their food. In fact, both outweigh Ella.
Ella has had a recent breakthrough with her sleeping. She still doesn’t sleep very well throughout the night, but all of a sudden last week she developed the ability to know when she’s tired and how to communicate that. So she started telling us when she wanted to go to bed by saying “Night night. Doggie.” Basically saying that she wanted to go to bed with doggie. So now we know when she says that we can lay her in her crib with doggie and she goes to sleep. It has only been going on for a week, so I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it keeps happening. It makes night time much more enjoyable and less exhausting.
That’s about it on our end. We’re keeping extremely busy and looking forward to the weekend to just hang out. I hope you all have a nice weekend too.
We had a nice weekend. Ella slept the entire drive down, which meant that we didn’t have to listen to Barney, Elmo or Blues Clues. She had fun with her cousins…I guess. Kids their age don’t really play together yet. They do what is called “parallel play” so they play near each other and are obviously aware of what the other kid is doing, but they don’t really play together. So Ella more observed her cousins, but didn’t really “play” with them. As for Sam and Nate, they were more interested in what yummy snack Ella was eating at the time. Those boys love their food. In fact, both outweigh Ella.
Ella has had a recent breakthrough with her sleeping. She still doesn’t sleep very well throughout the night, but all of a sudden last week she developed the ability to know when she’s tired and how to communicate that. So she started telling us when she wanted to go to bed by saying “Night night. Doggie.” Basically saying that she wanted to go to bed with doggie. So now we know when she says that we can lay her in her crib with doggie and she goes to sleep. It has only been going on for a week, so I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it keeps happening. It makes night time much more enjoyable and less exhausting.
That’s about it on our end. We’re keeping extremely busy and looking forward to the weekend to just hang out. I hope you all have a nice weekend too.
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