"I'm three!!"

Happy 3rd birthday to our very sweet and very spunky Ella Bean!!  We had so much fun celebrating our big three year old!

We started off the celebration on Sunday, December 20th at Sea World, which was a blast!  We all loved the show and the rides were fun and it was special seeing it all decorated for Christmas. It was a really fun day!  

Could her outfit be any more "Ella"?! The pink and white striped leggings really make it that extra sort of birthday special!

 Enjoying the show!  I actually think the adults enjoyed the show more than the kids-the kids liked it but about half way into it both of them asked if it was almost done and I wanted to respond with, "Shhh, I'm watching the show!!"

 It was so fun having Nani with us and of course, she was a huge help!  She hung out with Julia while we were able to go on the rides with Joseph and Ella-definitely made it easier.  Thanks, Nani!

 Ella had no interest in posing with Elmo, but Joseph happily jumped up there.

 Julia had some fun in the baby area.

 The sea lions were a huge hit, especially when Daddy bought fish to feed them!

We also were fortunate enough to see the beluga whales being fed as we were at the exhibit-pretty awesome!

This past year it really has been awesome watching Joseph and Ella become good friends.  They have so much fun together and just enjoy one another's company.  I promise I'm telling the truth when I say that they rarely get upset/frustrated with one another and play so well together. 

Ella requested pizza and macaroni and cheese for her birthday dinner so we ended up picking up Panera and Costco pizza since it was so late in the day by the time we left Sea World.  All three kids fell asleep on the ride home but perked right up for dinner and cake.  Ella wanted a Hello Kitty themed party so that is what we went with.  She helped decorate the cake and absolutely loved it!  

She was singing to herself!  

Ella received a "big girl bike" from us and she LOVED it!!  Joseph and Rich brought it upstairs and had it on the porch and we told her to go and open the door.  

She went to the door and then ran back and sat down like this saying, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"  

And, then she started rolling around yelling "Yay!!" 

I mean, look at that excitement!!  I just love all of the personality and life in this little girl!!!  

She had a little help from Joseph opening the rest of her presents.  

Testing out the bike-we took it out for a ride after we returned from our trip from Christmas and she still needs a little help on it but she'll grow into it real soon.  

It is amazing to think back on the year and how much Ella has changed.  She seems like such a big girl now and we are so proud of the type of person she is becoming.  She is so kind to Joseph and Julia, always thinking about them and doing things to help them, is much easier to reason with these days (although she still definitely has her moments!!) and just has such a FUN, quirky and spunky personality.  

Here are some of her favorites with added information about her from me!  

Favorite sayings- 

She is still pretty hard to understand to people that aren't around her all the time but I honestly think she is continuing to improve on a daily basis.  She has a large vocabulary and speaks in full sentences but we will most likely get her evaluated again once we move into our home at the end of January (we did so last February and she was in the normal range). Our pediatrician isn't overly concerned but said that if less than 75% of her speech is understandable by others (which it definitely is) then it couldn't hurt.  If you make her slow down and repeat words after you she can do it but when she is talking she just talks so fast and wants it all out quickly that she'll often shorten words which make her hard to understand.  For example, she can say "sorry" when stopped and repeated but while talking she still says, "sor sor." Sometimes we just joke around saying she is just lazy and wants us to work harder than she has to!  She is definitely very expressive and her tone and pitch often make me giggle.  She has recently started calling me "MIMI".  A few months ago, one day totally out of the blue, she was crying about something and instead of saying, "Mommy" she started saying "Mimi" and it has just kind of stuck.  She uses "Mimi" more in a situation when she is upset or frustrated but it definitely comes out at all times.  Too funny.  I know I have mentioned this before but she is still calling Joseph "Jo-fuss" which is just so cute!!  She still calls Julia "Baby JuJu" and when Julia does something cute Ella always goes, "Oohhhhh, she's so cute" in the cutest little voice.  I'll often say to her, "Hey, Ella, I love you" and she almost always responds with, "Hey, Mom, I love you, too."  Always make a day a little brighter when you hear that!!  

Favorite food-“cheese”  which is Macaroni and cheese.  She loves her some macaroni and cheese and would probably eat it at every meal (thank goodness Costco sells Annie's in bulk!) She knows she has to eat broccoli with it though and normally eats it first to get it out of the way!  She loves her snacks but is also a really good eater at meals most of the time, although she still isn't a fan of bread which always makes packing lunches a little challenging but she gets by.  

Favorite friends-"Jack"  This one caught me by surprise but totally love it-I love that she still thinks about our friends from Texas!  She loves playing at Joseph's preschool when we pick him up so she can see her "friends".  She also has a special bond with Sydney and they play really well together.  Ella's favorite game to play with Sydney is still "You, momma, I, baby", although I think Syd is kind of over the game :)  

Favorite color-"Pink"

She definitely loves pink and purple.  She is still a little shaky on the rest of her colors.  She knows "blue" and "black" but "orange, green and red" are hit or miss.  We're continuing to work on them.  

 Favorite animal-"umm, grrr, no duck" She was playing with Julia when I was asking her this question and wasn't really paying attention so I guess that is why I got the answer that I did.  She loves being around dogs and still talks about Cali dog every now and then.  

 Favorite song-“wheels” Wheels on the bus is definitely a favorite with her and she also loves listening to Frozen.  

Favorite thing to do outside-"jump"  She is still a very active little girl always trying to keep up with Joseph.  However, she is also known to sit on the swings for a very long time at the park.

Favorite drink-"mulk"  She is still only drinking almond milk as we continue to notice that if she drinks regular milk it upsets her stomach.  She probably complains about her stomach hurting one morning during the week and I can't pinpoint what bothers her.  Most mornings she eats the same thing (yogurt, oatmeal and eggs) and some mornings she complains that it hurts and others she doesn't-I think it is more gas than anything and is always fine after she goes to the bathroom.  Too much information which she probably won't appreciate reading this when she is 18!!  

Favorite book-"Doc book" We have a few Doc McStuffins books from the library right now which she just loves.  

A few other things to remember about Ella at the age of 3-

She still is wearing pull ups at nighttime and wakes up dry about 50% of the time so we'll keep them on her for awhile longer!  Her hair is always down and I try to keep it brushed and looking somewhat decent!  Even if I can convince her to put it in a braid or a ponytail it is normally out within the hour. Her wardrobe is always a hot mess!!  Especially since being in the condo and having such a hodge podge of clothes she is always coming up with some sort of extra special outfit.  Thankfully she always seems to pull it off and I have gotten pretty good about just laughing at what she comes up with!  I do love it when she looks put together though but she definitely has an opinion on what she wears and gets very picky about what she wants to and doesn't want to wear so normally it is just easier to go with what she wants.  She does love her boots and has worn them pretty much every day since we bought them in November...just hoping she still doesn't want to wear them in June!!  We still call her Ella Bean, Bean and Baby Girl (which is a bad habit that I'm trying to stop but having trouble with.)  She loves dancing and we often find her saying, "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, Jump and Twirl" which is from Daniel Tiger and she'll jump and twirl.  She normally naps about every other day now and on the days when she does nap, she definitely stalls at bedtime.  Joseph will be sound asleep and Ella will still be playing in their room and sneaking out to see us to ask random questions or just to wave and say hi.  She always seems to find her way into bed with me when Rich is out of town.  

Since I am behind on inputting this post, I can include the information from her 3 year well check that we had on December 28th.  

She weighs 30 pounds exactly which  is in the 43rd percentile and is 2 feet, 11.79 inches long (I guess they didn't want to round up to 3 feet!!)  That puts her in the 21st percentile for height.  She received a clean bill of health from the doctor!  

On her actual birthday we were in Atlanta and had another fun day celebrating her!  As she woke up that morning I said to her, "Happy Birthday, Ella" and she came running over to me and said, "Today?? I three today??"  She was SO excited!!  We spent the day at the Atlanta aquarium with our family and Aunt Anne Marie, and cousins Sam and Joey.  The kids had a blast and I think all of the adults enjoyed it as well.  They had a great dolphin show that we finished the day with which everyone really enjoyed. 

We celebrated that night back at Nonna and Pop Pop's with ice cream cake and more presents.  Happy 3rd birthday Ella Jane!  We love you SO much and can't wait to see what your third year has in store for you. Love you!