When I woke up last Friday morning it hit me that that day was going to be one of the last ones with just Little Girl and me and pretty soon our very set daily schedule was going to be turned upside-down.
So I decided to take pictures of everything we did that day, to record our daily activities and how our life was before sweet Baby Boy came.
Once upon a time when we treated Ella like Harry Potter and had her sleeping in a closet she would sleep in so late because it was so dark in there, but now we treat her like a regular little girl and have her in a crib in a bedroom and so she wakes up between 8:30-9:30 AM.
Ha! Can you believe that I consider 8:30 AM early?
But compared to her old sleeping times it is early!
Anyway, I am SO glad that she sleeps in at least that long because being pregnant I needed every wink of sleep I could get to have enough energy to get through the day so I usually woke up at 8:30 AM when Adam kissed me goodbye as he headed to work.
And then I just lay in bed and quietly soak in the lovely morning and the sunshine that pours into our window and pretty much think about how much I love my life.
I plan out our day, read emails, look at Instagram and read scriptures until I hear Little Girl singing to Gerard in bed, or calls out, "Annieee!"
And then I go in and get that sunshine girl.
She makes sure that I notice Baby's beautiful eyes, nose, mouth and ears and I smother them both in kisses and Ella tells me all about her dreams while I change her diaper.
This is how Ella sleeps and soothes herself, with one of Baby's limbs held right in front of her nose and her thumb in her mouth.
Although, recently she's also been sticking a finger up her nose in addition to the thumb in her mouth,
which is just a very lovely look.
Also, have I mentioned how much Ella likes to smell things?
It's hilarious and weird, both.
We proceed downstairs where we get a "dee" (drink) and some breakfast (her current favorite breakfast is fried eggs, but no yolk, cheese, and fruit), while Baby watches on.
My current favorite breakfast is a Thomas cinnamon raisin bagel smothered in butter and fruit on the side.
Then we go upstairs and while I get dressed Ella finds plenty to keep herself busy.
She likes to try and dress herself
And play with toys
And play with Dada's stuff
And Mama's stuff and brushes her teeth and plays with more of Mama's stuff.
And jumping on the bed is always a favorite.
I choose one out of the five outfits that still fits me to wear that day.
But sometimes I just take too long to get ready and Ella doesn't like that and she makes sure to let me know.
She puts on shoes and grabs a bag and requests that I open the door for her so that she can just head out on her own.
But I convince her to be patient until I'm ready to go and then we finally head out the door and run errands, Baby come too, of course, and about a bajillion snacks to keep Ella content along the way.
As we drive, she requests her various snacks and I throw them back to her as we drive.
Stores with toy aisles are always a favorite.
She especially loves thrift stores because the toys are already open and out of their boxes.
She knows where the toys are located in every store that we visit frequently and makes a B-line to it as soon as we walk in the doors.
On Friday I was on the hunt for a mint green dress to wear to my brother's wedding that is in less than two weeks, the combination of the huge mirror and the music playing overhead resulted in a little dance party in the dressing room:
After our little outing for the day we head home and eat some lunch while skyping with Grandma.
And then, of course, we clean up after lunch
And then Little Girl goes down for a nap and I usually ignore all of this:
And do stuff like this while Ella sleeps:
I work on illustrations for clients and do projects and reply to emails and all that fun stuff.
Lala naps and has quiet time for 2 hours and then gets up and eats a "nack" (snack).
The house quickly unravels when Ella wakes up, toys suddenly seem to be everywhere.
Sometimes we try to make chores seem like fun games (Ella loves helping with the chores) but sometimes that results in favorite polka-dotted bowls getting cracked.
On Friday we threw pop-its on the cement and then stepped on them
And for the first time in months it was actually cool enough to walk outside and not want to die, so we took a walk, which we used to do all the time.
It rained on us and was lovely!
We just try to keep ourselves entertained at home until this cute-faced dada comes home and then he smothers that sweet girl with love and attention while I make dinner.
And that was life before a Little Boy came along and now our lives have changed forever and we're loving it.
