Instagramming It Up

I might not be doing blog posts very often right now (due to the craziness of life) but I thought I would let you know that I have been doing pretty good at regularly posting on instagram, so if you happen to be one of those people who goes a little bit crazy if they don't regularly get to see a new picture of Ella (pretty much this category would consist of Ella's grandparents) then you can follow me on instagram.
My instagram name is acurtisjones.
Of if you don't have instagram then you can follow me online here.
Instagram photos should get especially exciting as we head to Disneyland soon. 
Here's the latest:
This pretty much sums up how much fun moving is, luckily our place is looking much better now (although there are still a few boxes to go).
Also, Ella is in love with that shopping cart that her grandparents got her, she wants to drive it around ALL. THE. TIME.
And she likes to pile all of her toys into it and then take them all out and then put them all back in.
Organizer through and through.
 I kind of have this crazy collection of jars that I love that are now on display in my kitchen for all guests to see and admire (or more likely to not even notice, but they make me really happy).
 I have been wanting to try using a sharpie on porcelain for a while now and I finally had an excuse, when I was unpacking the kitchenware I noticed how plain the butter tray was and quickly fixed it.
It is getting hot around here, hot enough to go swimming in the freezing cold water of the splash pad.
I love how the water fountains look like strings of pearls.
A collection that I love even more than the jars: this children's book collection.
Oh, I'm in love with it!
So many gorgeous books.
Ella likes to pull every single one of them out on a regular basis.
Also in love with that blanket under her feet, so much color and so beautiful!
And then she loves to read them (but she doesn't like having them read to her).
She makes all sorts of animal noises (most of which I can't recognize) as she flips through the pages.
Decorations are a little bit scant around here right now, so the few that I have up I love!
We made that adorable wreath our of paint swatches at the weekly ladies group thing we have.
So simple but it adds so much to a bare kitchen.
And that is the table and chairs I got off craigslist a while ago for $50 and we've painted the table white and the chairs different colors.
Now I'm on the hunt for several mismatched chairs (I've already found one) to also paint various colors and add to the table.
I'll definitely post the finished result when we're done.
 Little Girl's room.
Another beautiful quilt that adds so much to her little bare room, I love it!
Those tissue pom poms are the only decoration upstairs but you can see them all the way from the bottom of the stairs and they add so much happiness!
The first time Ella saw the pom poms hanging from the ceiling she oohed and ahhed over them and it made it 100% worth the effort of making them (which wasn't that much effort because they are so simple, so it was totally worth it).
To be honest, Ella isn't sleeping in that crib yet, we have her sleeping in her pack-n-play in her little brother's closet (because that's what she was used to where we used to live).
But soon after we get back from vacation we are transitioning her to a crib (outside of the closet) for the first time in her life, we'll see how it goes!
 You know, just eating pretzels while waiting for her daddy to come home.
With me being pregnant and Ella being a toddler, we pretty much are snacking maniacs all day long.
 She adores chairs that are made for her size, she could spend hours just climbing up and down them.
 Making some grilled cheese.

And bits of randomness:

Ella finally started signing!
I started doing sign language with Ella when she was 9 months old and she refused to ever sign back to me.
Until now (9 months later)!
She is the cutest little signer, she can convince me to give her practically anything when she signs.
She says "peez" (please) and rubs her chest and I hand her all sorts of stuff I never used to give her because it's just so dang sweet!
And she does "more" and "again" and "all done" but what melts me is that she says the word at the same time as she signs in this little sweet voice.
 "Ah dun" (all done) is a favorite of hers.
Poor girl will sign this when we're a 1/2 hour into the church and it's so sad to have inform her that actually there's another 2 1/2 hours to go.
And she's started getting into a phase where she'd rather play than eat, so she is always saying "ah dun" and waving her little hands in the air after only 3 bites and we have to try and convince her that the food is more interesting than her toys.
And when she needs help with something she chants, "Mommy mommy mommy."
That is the only time my name is ever said, in moments of desperation.
But that's kind of wonderful that she turns to me when she needs help with something.
And she says her name! 
"Lala."


I'm getting a little bit worried.
Baby Boy NEVER STOPS MOVING.
Ever.
(Except for when Adam puts his hand on my belly so that I can show him how crazy his son is, then he never moves. Ever. He's as still as can be.)
Ella is one of the most crazy active people I know and when I was pregnant with her she did not move nearly this much.
I remember.
So if this kid is more active than Ella, then I pretty much should just plan on never sleeping or getting dressed or eating or getting anything done until the day that he goes to kindergarten.
I was kind of planning on that anyway, so that's good, but things might be even more insane than I had originally assumed.


Chunker Child

^This chunker child turned into this:
In just ONE year! 
Bah!
Can't even believe it.

 But Adam says she still eats like a chunker:
 But being able to run around and play at the park and dance and climb into things and tackle stuffed animals has slimmed her down a bit.

 And based on the near non-stop dancing in my tummy, Baby Boy of Chunkiness is itching to keep up with her.
Should be fun!

Ella is Sunshine

 



Mmmk, first item of business: these photos.
Are you dying with how gorgeous they are?
The photographer, Jostlyn, is incredible!
It was next to impossible to only put this many photos up on the blog because there were so many that I was in love with!
I love how she captured the little person that Ella is! 
The little details in the pictures are so perfect.

And now onto a mom rant:
When Jostlyn posted a few of the pictures on facebook she captioned one of the pictures "Ella is Sunshine" and I love that she said that because that seems like the perfect way to describe Little Girl.
Obviously she is my sun, because my whole world revolves around her and her little life.
But to other people too, I feel like one of her roles in life is to be the sunshine for them.
We were at a nursing home for an activity this week and Ella went up to every elderly person sitting in this room and waved her little backwards "hi" to them and gave them her little shy, cock of the head smile and you should have seen their faces!
If I had danced and sang and done tricks for hours on end for these people their faces would not have been half as lit up as they were when they saw Ella.
People who you thought were fast asleep suddenly were all wide-eyed and grinning at Little Girl, as she jabbered at them and played with whatever they were holding on their lap.
Through the entire activity they hadn't shown half the energy they suddenly seemed to have upon seeing Ella.
They were in love with her.
And when we are at random places like the grocery store and Adam's work Ella is always toddling up to people with a big grin, waving and giggling and these complete strangers break into the hugest smiles and can't seem to take their eyes off her.
She just radiates with this happy energy and love of life.
Ella is truly sunshine.
Plus, she's a toddler and toddlers are just cute and fun to watch in general, so we'll see if this continues to be a part of her little personality as she grows up.

And third item of business: I'm sorry for the lack of posts!
We have been moving and holy cow, let me tell you that moving with a toddler is not like any other moving experience I've ever been through before and I've moved quite a few times in my adult life.
We are currently living off frozen meals because I refuse to cook when things are so crazy, but much to our happy surprise we are kind of loving it!
I don't know if technology has just advanced in the frozen food world or what, but everything we've had so far we've loved, Bertolli is our current favorite frozen food brand.
Eating those dinners makes me wonder why I ever spend time making meals from scratch, and I'm not really kidding about that, although I'm sure I'll go back to making my own meals when we get tired of the options that Bertolli has to offer.
Also, Magnum ice cream bars are a favorite here these days.
Until things settle down, we may only have a little post every here and there.
But one day we will finally have settled in and then the nursery and living room decorating begins and furniture refinishing projects and all sorts of wonderful craftiness like that so there are sure to be lots of posts covering all of that, and I can hardly wait!