Ella Jane-3 months!

How can it be March already?  And how can Ella be 3 months already? 

Here are her 3 month pictures-March 22, 2013

 

Seriously, it has gone by so fast!!  Well, our sweet little girl is 3 months and definitely no longer a newborn.  Can almost 15 pounders be considered newborns-no way!  That's right-she had a doctor's appointment on March 21st the day before her 3 month birthday and weighed in at 14 pounds, 8 ozs. 

A few photos of our chunky monkey from March 19th, 2013.

 

We took Ella in to the doctor because she is continuing to have mucus in her poop and she had a bit of blood in it this week (I know too much information but I want it recorded for the blog book!)  The dr did some blood work and stool sample and all came out normal so she is still pretty convinced it is an allergy or at least sensitivity to something.  She strongly recommended that I eliminate dairy (which I have been doing since January), wheat, soy, and nuts for a month to see if it gets better and then start to re-introduce things one at a time.    So, I am basically a vegan now but it seems to be helping...still some mucus at times but overall it is much better and she seems happier when pooping, too!  Again, too much information, I know!  I should hear back next week about the allergy results so we'll see.  My gut (and based on the food journal that I have been keeping) tells me that she definitely has an issue with nuts but we'll see.

 Our favorite things to call her are Ella Bean and sweet girl.

A few pictures from March 16, 2013

She is still up pretty much every 3 hours during the night.  She was giving us 4 hour stretches but is back to 3 hour stretches this week but that is better than the 2 hour stretches she did last week-growth spurt hopefully!  During the day she is pretty much a 40 minute napper in between being awake and her next feeding.  I am trying to implement Baby Wise (which I did with Joseph and it worked really well) but am finding it a big more challenging since we are on the go a lot more with her big brother.  She still fights to go down for a nap when we are home and at night but has gotten much better and no longer cries for as long...I think her tummy is feeling better as well so that helps with her fussiness.  We still have to hold her to get her to sleep but know this doesn't last forever so are trying to enjoy it and soak it all in while we can (not always how I feel but I try to keep reminding myself of this!)  She doesn't nap well once the car stops moving so if we are out and about she is normally up as soon as we get to our destination...she definitely loves to see what is going on and honestly many times she will nap for 10 minutes in the car and then be as happy as can be-especially if someone is smiling and talking to her.  She is such a flirt and loves the attention!  Her hands are in her mouth constantly and the drool is flowing.  She is starting to enjoy tummy time more and is kicking her legs up when she is on her back and close to rolling over but not quite yet.  

I was just looking back at Joseph's 3 month blog entry which you can view here and he was in size 3 diapers already so I guess Ella is a bit smaller than he was at this age.  The both love the bath at this age and we hope that she continues to have a love for the water like her older brother.

Bath pictures from March 15, 2013.

Happy 3 month birthday little girl.  We love you!

 

Follow Up

Had to document this since it just came at the perfect timing after writing the previous entry...last night Rich was putting Joseph to bed and as he put him in his crib Joseph requested to change out of his monkey pajamas into his Superman pajamas.  Rich told him "no" since he already chose the monkey pajamas and put him to bed.  Joseph cried for a little bit about it but he was overtired as it was since he didn't nap that day so he was soon fast asleep.  Well, then comes 1:00 a.m. and Joseph woke up crying.  Rich went into his bedroom and Joseph looked at him and said, "Superman pajamas!"  Rich didn't feel like fighting with him about this in the middle of the night so changed him and Joseph rolled right over and fell right back to sleep.  He is a determined (or stubborn!) little guy!

Quirky-ness

It is so fun to watch Joseph develop quite the personality-he definitely has some quirky-ness to him.  He is pretty particular about most things and we're just not sure where that comes from considering both of his parents aren't OCD or anal at all!  For example, when he goes to sleep at night, he needs the night light on, the closet door closed with the light on inside, the fan on, his frog blanket (which we keep on the floor to change him on) perfectly straight and all books and toys, clothes, etc put away.  He always goes down without a problem, but if something isn't right he will lie in his crib for a bit and then call to us and let us know what needs fixing.  As soon as we fix it then he normally falls right asleep.  Also, if he isn't perfectly happy with what he is wearing to sleep that will also need to be changed.  Recently he has said good night and then started yelling for one of us and requested socks on his feet.  He still changes outfits frequently throughout the day (although I do try to limit it as best as I can) but  always for his nap he changes into a new outfit.

He loves being naked but we make him wear boxers as much as we can...I was feeding Ella and looked over and this was my view.  

 He is pretty much obsessed with Daddy's bike helmet and bike shoes these days.  On Saturday after Rich's bike ride he went to put his helmet on and he said, "Daddy's helmet sweaty-yuk!" and he wouldn't wear it until later that day when it dried off!

 And I just had to include this-a picnic lunch with Daddy while both were taking a break from the yard work last weekend.  Too cute.

Best Buddies

Joseph is fortunate to have a great group of friends here-even at the age of 2 when sharing can be a challenge (thats an understatement with him right now) and sometimes he doesn't treat his friends as nicely as he should!  Claire and Norah are two of his best buddies and normally when we ask who his friends are or what he did that day or even when Nani talks to him about his day he always seems to mention Claire and Norah first and even if we didn't see them that day he normally says that we did.  We had a photo shoot with the girls this past weekend for their upcoming birthdays and at the end got some cute ones of the three buddies.  

First I had to reminisce about them a little bit smaller...this was almost a year ago in Kemah on our way to watch the daddies race in their first triathlon together...

And this fun one was taken last week at a park-

Joseph insisted on wearing his big boy boxers (only) for most of the day at the park so I would catch him taking his pants off as he is in this picture and tell him to put them back on.  At one point he was standing by the slide taking them off and I told him, "Joseph put your pants back on" and another mother (who I didn't know) just smiled and said, "Oh, the things you hear at the park!"  We also had to document Claire's (on the left) incredible fashion sense as she put her outfit together that morning.  

 Here are the cute pictures from the girls' birthday shoot on March 17th with the three of them...

Sweet friends

 

And, Claire has a real obsession with Ella-she just loves her SO much-it is adorable!  Carrie tells me constantly about how Claire talks about her non-stop and whenever we are together she is wanting to hold her, burp her, change her, or just stare at her.  It is so sweet and she is such a great helper.

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Some St. Patrick's Day love from the Ducote family!

And just some other festive pictures from the day!

 

Hungry Boys

Rich has been craving Pizza Hut for awhile now-random, I know-but he saw a commercial for it about a week ago and hasn't stopped talking about it.  If you know Rich, I am sure you can totally visualize him talking about it incessantly...last night I caved and picked it up for him.  8 bucks for a large you can't go wrong!  Since I'm not eating dairy and wheat now (thanks Ella!) it was Joseph and Rich to take on the large pizza and sure enough they conquered it.  Joseph did have 2 pieces but Rich did most of the work and as he took the last bite with the empty box sitting in front of him, Joseph looks at Rich and says, "I guess you ate it all Daddy!"  We couldn't stop laughing-Rich just looked at him and said, "I guess you're right Joseph." J totally called him out on it! And just for the record Rich did say he didn't eat lunch but to be honest I don't believe him ;)

A few pictures after dinner

In Like a Lion...

It has been a busy month already for us and we aren't even half way through it yet.  The month started off with the fire station field trip from the previous post and we have pretty much been on the go since.  Rich went to Boston over the first weekend in March to attend an energy/renewable resources conference (and to visit a good buddy!)-yes, I am a fabulous wife-so that first weekend we jam packed it with activities to make it go by fast.  Saturday morning we bundled up and went to cheer on friends run the 1/2 marathon with the Sealy family.  I wish that I had taken a picture because Joseph, Ella and Nelson looked so cute all bundled up-it was about 40 degrees at 7:30 in the morning which is SO cold for us here!  

Later that afternoon we had a birthday party to attend for Joseph's friend, Tierney, and he had a blast bouncing in the bounce house and it was a great way to spend the late afternoon.  No pictures from this party either since I was busy chasing around Joseph and carrying Ella in the carrier.  

On Sunday we had another birthday party to attend-this one for Thomas.  Joseph was pretty excited to wear his "football sweater" (there are patches on the elbows that look like footballs so he says) and he wanted to take a few pictures to send to Poppa-with his football, of course.

What a ham!

 Thomas' party was at a park and I had to get a picture of this-Joseph was in the swings and started pointing and saying "triangle" which I wasn't quite sure what he was saying so I turned around and sure enough he was right, a triangle!  I was pretty impressed-I knew that he could point to shapes and identify them in the books that we read but he had never done it on his own in a different setting before-it is amazing watching these little ones grow!

The first full week in March was a busy one.  We spent a lot of time playing at parks since the weather has been beautiful, back in the routine of going to boot camp and church playgroups, and, of course throwing in a few photo shoots of this sweet girl!

 March 4th, 2013

Her smile is contagious

And another quick photo shoot on March 5th, 2013 before heading to bootcamp.

Sorry, I know it is overload of Ella but I just can't get enough of her!

Also, on March 5th, 2013 we put her in the bumbo for the first time.  She didn't seem to mind it but wasn't loving it either.  Since then every time we put her in she hasn't loved it-I think Joseph is using it more than she is.

After boot camp on Tuesday we made a quick stop to the mall to get some new sneakers for Joseph...he is sporting running sneakers like Daddy now.  Or sometimes we call them football sneakers...

Sleeping beauty! 

After bootcamp on Thursday, March 7th, 2013 the park was hosting a crawfish festival for a company so the kiddos enjoyed dancing to the music of the Zydeco band that was performing at the festival.  We spent almost 2 hours playing in this spot dancing and playing-the kids were so cute and having such a wonderful time. 

On Saturday, March 9th, 2013, we experienced our first public temper tantrum!!  I am pretty sure that must be a sign that we have officially entered the infamous "terrible twos."  Saturday morning we went to a bounce house to meet with some friends while Rich and his Ironman training partner, and friend, Mike went for a 75 mile (yes, that's right, 75 mile!) bike ride.  We had a great time at the bounce house...so great of a time that Joseph didn't want to leave.  I had Ella in the ergo and was getting my shoes on as I just watched him crawl, cry and repeat "No, Mama, no" right in the middle of the entrance.  After a few sympathetic smiles from other moms I picked Joseph up and carried him out-must have been quite a sight but didn't make a big deal out of it and after a banana and some water in the car he was fine.  When we told Daddy about it later that day he tried to deflect the situation and kept talking about his friend Norah who got locked in the bathroom while we were there-nice try buddy trying to put the attention elsewhere-he's smooth!  

Ella enjoyed some play gym time and worked on her rolling over (she is getting close!) while Joseph napped.

After naps we all headed to The Little Gym for our friend, Claire's, 2nd birthday.  It was such a fun party and a great way to end the day.  We just love watching these little ones have so much fun.

Check out his flexibility!  Future gymnast or dancer?!?  I love how his toes are pointed and everything!!

March 10th, 2013

Texas has crazy weather!  Especially coming from Hawaii where it was really 80 degrees and sunny with a possible afternoon rainshower (followed by a rainbow) year round.  Sunday started off pouring rain, lightning and thunder with us losing our power off and on throughout the morning...so with all that going on we had a lazy morning but by the afternoon it was gorgeous so we made our way to the park.   This is how he goes to the park these days-in hopes to play football with the big football players!  

Daddy went for a run (16 miles which is impressive in itself but even more impressive since it followed that 75 mile bike ride the day before!) and after the run both Daddy and Joseph recovered with a shake.  I just love the way that Joseph is looking at Rich...too cute!  

And we'll finish off the weekend with baths and just a cute picture of our growing little peanut in the bath.

March has definitely kept us busy thus far with lots of fun with family and friends and we are hoping that the rest of the month is just as fun.