Dancing and an Ellie chase

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A toddler, a teddy bear, two babies, and a dog

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Sharing with Ellie

 

Giving his O's cereal to Ellie is very fun.  He laughs when she snatches it out of his hand.  Whenever he has his little snack cup of O's and I hear him giggle I always catch him feeding Ellie.  I thought it was pretty cute that he sat down outside to feed her instead of standing up like he usually does.

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The original center of attention

I love this picture Brett took of Ellie yesterday.  She is relaxing on the couch...yet ever vigilant of the little tornado that's making his way through the living room on his way towards her.

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Happy Birthday Ellie

Ellie is 8 years old today.  She enjoyed a day at the spa this morning and has been trying to take it easy today.   All in all, I'd say she has had a great birthday.  Hank has been practicing "gentle" petting although I did have to stop him from swiping her with the spatula he had been dragging around all afternoon.  He doesn't quite realize that he is hitting things when he waves it around. 

Happy Birthday to our first little baby. 

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Testing out the new wheels

After Hank's birthday party ended, we took a family walk around the neighborhood to test out Hank's new wheels.  The verdict is in:  Hank LOVES the wagon.  Ellie?  She's not so sure yet.

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Watching you watching me

Always watching each other...these two!

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My birthday in pictures

Today is my birthday and it has been a wonderful day. Since pictures of Hank make me very happy I am loading up this post with a bunch of pics taken today as a birthday treat for me!

Hank says: Rise and shine Mom - it's your birthday!
Mom says: It's 5:15, please go back to sleep. We don't get up before 6. My birthday can wait.

Hank says: For reals mom, get up.

(Look at those puffy eyes - he just woke up!)

Hank says: I have places to explore...

...and goofy faces to make

...and bowls to eat.

Ellie says: Why oh why are we up so early?!? It's Mom's birthday!

Playing with Dad's hat

Giving Mom a big birthday kiss

Dad giving Hank his bedtime bath

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Hank says Ellie

Hank has been saying Ellie's name for a little over a month now, but I finally got it on video the other day. In this video he says "eh-yay" and he says "eh-deh". Those are his two variations of her name.

Besides babbling and other random sounds, his main words are "dada" and "Ellie" right now. He says "dada" but as I mentioned the other day, I really don't know if he knows who "dada" is. "Ellie" is the only word he consistently associates with the correct object.

As for his love for Ellie, a lot of his "firsts" revolve around this girl! He is always watching her and he's pretty obsessed with her. Many of his achievements have been the result of his desire to go get her! In the video he is smacking the couch. He does this every day in an attempt to touch her and lucky for her, his arms are too short to reach her when she is curled up against the back cushions!

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I'm 8 months

Hank is 8 months old today. Here are some things he has been up to this month...

I'm still interested in Ellie. She likes to lick my face and I think it's really funny. Here, I am trying to lick her face.

Crawling is my favorite thing to do. I am very fast at it. When mom leaves me for a second, I take off as fast as I can to any place where I am not supposed to go.

Eating cell phones is my second favorite thing to do.

The past week or two, I've learned how to play a game with my mom. I look at her over the rail of the crib then I squat and look at her between the slats. Then I stand up and peek out and then I squat. (You get the picture.) We do this for long periods of time when she comes to get me from my naps. We do it until I cry out of hunger or I fall down.

This is my scrnchy face. I make this face at least 100 times a day. I use it when I'm sad, mad, excited and happy.

I love to read books. I love this one that is from my Gigi. The pages are big and thick and I can read it all by myself.

I like to roll toys on the wood floors. I can pick out this green cylinder from my toy box and take it over to the wood floor and roll it. I chase the toy around the house. I even go under the kitchen table and hang out when ever the toy rolls under the table.

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The walk must go on

Ellie is usually a good sport about going on walks but today she was having none of it. I brought her along with Hank and I to go meet Brett for lunch on California Ave. Half way there, she planted all four paws in the middle of the sidewalk and refused to take another step. Lucky for me Hank's stroller basket is big enough for a Yorkie. Crisis averted.

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Trying out the gear

Who knew Ellie would fit so well in a baby sling?

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And baby makes four

Oh by the way, I haven't gotten around to mentioning it here on the Blogtacular, but Brett and I are expecting a new addition to our family around Thanksgiving. I'm already 19 weeks along and the time has flown by so far. This week we found out that we're having a BOY! We're very excited because now that we know what we're having, it makes all the planning and purchases so much easier. We're looking forward to our little family growing in November. Amidst all the excitement this week, I did feel a little sorry for Ellie because the poor thing has no clue what's about to happen to her world! This baby is going to grow into a very curious little boy who's going to be very interested in the little furry thing that's always running around.

Yes, I know that in the above picture it's not obvious that it's a boy, but I am a modest gal and didn't want to post the one with the evidence!

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Little friends

Over Memorial Day Weekend our friends Brittany and Tim came down to hang out at our place for a day. The weather was only 60 degrees in Palo Alto but it was better than the cold weather they left behind in San Francisco, so we pretended it was a nice warm holiday weekend to enjoy!

Our house was filled with two extra little friends - their 7-month old Presley and Leo the dog. Presley was so cute, easy going, and just so much fun to play with. As always, Leo just chills and makes him self at home. Ellie, ever the nervous one, kept a watchful eye on both of these two little ones, but I'm not sure she'd describe them as her "friends".

Presley is getting so big! She's crawling around and laughing hysterically at everything and even things we couldn't figure out. It was a very good time with some pretty fun friends!

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Watching the world go by

Ellie often keeps an eye on the neighborhood from our office window. She has even figured out how to open the curtains so she can sit and watch.

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Holiday round-up

Brett goes back to school this week so that means the holidays are officially over. Here's a round-up of our adventures this holiday break!

Christmas Lights in Austin
Angie, Brett & Ellie ~ Kathy, Tyler & Ron ~ Ellie checking out the lights from the car

On Christmas Day in Austin, we went out and saw Christmas lights with Kathy, Ron, and Tyler. First, we drove down to San Marcos to this hilarious place called Santa's Ranch where they basically covered several acres with millions of lights and you drive through them and check out all the little scenes they created. From there we went back to Austin and headed over to a neighborhood that is full of hippies who decorate their yards and houses with lights and other crazy props. Both of these places define the slogan "Keep Austin Weird".

The Texas Paulsons
Jake ~ Jesse ~ Kai ~ Kris & Theresa ~ Julian & Brett

On Friday, the day after Christmas, we hung out for most of the day with Kris & Theresa and the boys. After a great lunch out to eat, we came back to their house to exchange gifts and play games. It was great to see all of them. The boys are getting so big now - big enough to beat Brett and me at HORSE!

On Friday night, Brett and I snuck out on a date and had tapas and just enjoyed being in Austin again. After dinner, we were able to drop by Emily and Joe's for a little while. We haven't seen them since they visited us in Palo Alto over a year ago. I didn't get a pic of us on my camera. :(

The Dallas Family
Brett & the boys ~ Courtney ~ Pearce, Angie, & Ellie ~ Lisa & Luke ~ Mom ~ Pete

From Austin, we went up to Big D to spend a few days with my side of the family. We had a big Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts and watched the boys play with their new toys. Thanks to Santa for giving Brett and I the Mexican Train Dominoes. We played that for a few hours that night and we've played it several times since!

New Year's Day in Carmel
Pic taken with camera phone - can you believe I forgot my camera?

On New Year's Day, we headed out to Carmel to be hosted for a night by Adam and Rachael. We had a great time with them as we walked along the beach, ate fajitas and efficiently watched football using the DVR. Who knew you could watch a football game in an hour and a half?!?

I'm always a little sad when the holidays are over - I am not taking the tree and decor down until tomorrow so technically it's not over yet - but I know this new year is going to be filled with so many things to look forward to!

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Ellie is six

Yesterday, Ellie turned six years old. She celebrated by wearing the new coat she received from Tank Chen and she sported a bow in her hair. She tolerated both very well so she might wear this same outfit on Christmas.

Last night, in honor of Ellie's big day, we had Leon and Sandy over so we could see them before we left for Christmas and also so Sandy could spoil us with her Christmas cookies. They were delicious!

Tomorrow we head to Texas for Christmas!!

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Family beach excursion

Brett finally came home from Texas on Saturday! We had a great weekend together and he's all settled in and unpacked. On Sunday, we decided to go for a drive after church and do some exploring. We ended up at Pescadero State Beach which is about 45 minutes from our house. The beach allowed dogs on leashes so we thought we'd take Ellie out for her first beach excursion. She hated it and it was hilarious. She had never stepped on sand before and every time she took a step and her foot would sink in, she would make a single bark. She was making one bark per step and it was so funny. We eventually picked her up so she would relax and so we could take some family photos.

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Let's do work

Today I am working from home and Ellie wants some attention. She often sits in my lap while I work at the computer and today she decided she wanted to stop my work altogether by climbing out of my lap and onto the keyboard. She succeeded because I did stop long enough to take these pics.

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Another Texas visit

I'm leaving for Dallas in a couple of hours and on this trip, Ellie will stay in California with her sitter. Now that the airlines have jacked up the prices on everything - even the price for bringing your dog on the plane - it's cheaper to leave her here on short trips than to take her with me.

I'm looking forward to a fun weekend in Dallas. We are planning to visit a few friends and my Mom and sisters as well.

Oh yeah, I get to see Brett, too!!

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