Give an Ellery a Bone

Ellery is always on the move. I was doing some household chores today and letting Ellery wander and play. I thought I had everything contained, but if anything is left out that she shouldn't have don't you worry she will find it. I came around the corner to find her chewing on the dog bone. In her defense she is getting a lot of teeth all at once right now. She has her two bottom teeth and her top right fang, but her two front teeth have popped through along with her left fang. Plus her teeth on both sides of her fangs are puffy and trying to break through. As you can see I let her continue to chew on the bone until I got the camera and then redirected her to something more appropriate to chew on.

Rob the Dog Whisper

Rob had a good trip and came back with new knowledge not only from the conference but also from a show he watched called the Dog Whisper. The "Dog Whisper" is hired and brought in by people to help train and communicate better with their pets. In just one episode Rob was able to learn a lot. Last night as we were watching TV and Rob decided to get a snack and eat it on the floor. We were having a conversation and Hudson was approaching the room when Rob jumped up and just stood by his food. I thought he was sick or something, but he just stood by his food and stared at Hudson. Believe it or not Hudson didn't come any closer and then went and laid down on the other side of the room. No words were spoken, Rob informed me he was speaking dog body language that he learned form the show. Sure I poke fun at Rob, but he might be onto something?

Hello

I tried to capture Ellery talking into the phone, but she isn't actually talking, just moving her lips like she is mimicking me. She says Hello, but I will keep trying for a better video, but it was too cute not to share.

Who knows where it went

I am starting to misplace items or put them in places so safe I can't even find them. I'd like to blame my children for these small mysterious disappearances, but I don't think I can get away with it. Needless to say I still can't find the camera adapter and I was forced to go buy a new one so I could get the pictures off my camera. The first reason being that my card was too full to take any more pictures so I had to get them off the camera and the second reason is that blogging isn't any fun without pictures. I guess this proves I am a very visual person.

Ellery 11 Months

I can't believe Ellery is going to be a year in a month. She is still my tiny peanut, but she has a lot of spunk. Mason would redirect so well, but little Ellery has a lot more determination and doesn't get side tracked very easily. We could scoop Mason up and place him with another toy and that did the trick for him, but not our little Ellery. She is a determined child and if you tell her no or scoop her up and place her some place else she thinks it is funny and grins and giggles at you. She is eating and drinking like a champ, but taking solids a bit slower. She is not big on the texture and spits out any big chunks in her food. She loves anything in a cracker form. She adores her older brother and follows him any where. We think this might be why she doesn't prefer any walker toys. He is too quick for her and she is faster crawling than walking. She loves playing with toys and looking at books. She currently loves baby dolls, magna doodles, and phones. When she gets a hold of a phone she holds it up to her ear and pretends to be talking on it, she also points the remote control to the tv. It amazes me how fast they learn these things and pick up on them. She babbles all the time and says mama, dada, and bye bye. She gives hugs, open mouth kisses, high fives, and cheers to command. Her hair still sticks up and is on its way to growing into a mullet. It is long enough to start putting bows in it, but it is difficult to take a bow with you in this weather because we don't go any where without a hat. She just started wearing 9-12 months clothes. I had to take Mason to the dr last week and had her weighed and she weighs 19 lbs. So she is growing, just not as fast as her brother did. I could ramble on and on about her, but that puts it all in a nut shell for now.

I'd lose my head.......

I think I would misplace my head if it wasn't attached. I lost the camera and my wonderful husband had the idea to look in the sofa cushions to find it. I have taken pictures I would like to post, but I have now misplaced the adapter to the computer to get the pictures off the camera. I tried looking in the sofa cushions and was unsuccessful. If I don't find it within a few days I will be forced to buy another one. Errrrrrrrr
So no pictures to share until I resolve the case of the missing camera piece.

Post Holiday Cheer

I saw these ornament trees in a department store while I was out on my holiday shopping adventures. I ended up in western Kansas after the holidays and didn't get to the store to buy any ornaments, so I thought my hopes of creating these trees were diminished until next year. I then would have to make the decision to buy the ornaments before or after the sales. If I bought them before I could have made them and enjoyed the decorations for next year, but would full price be worth it or wait until after the holidays next year and buy them on sale. I didn't have to make this decision because I was out at the store and found all the balls I needed to make my ornament trees. Also, a special thanks goes out to Rob for stopping by and getting me more since I miscalculated how many it would take. After a few hot glue burns to the fingers I am finished. One hot glue burn blister was as big as a small pea. OUCH
I have also made the decision to dedicate the whole year in completing my holiday cheer rather than try to cram the cheer into 2 months and not be able to recognize the cheer for its full meaning.

Single Mom

Rob headed out to San Francisco to present his research at the surgical cardiac and thoracic conference. He spent a lot of hours during his fellowship in Milwaukee to this research and it is getting a lot of attention due to the fact that the testing machine he used in being used more frequently. Smarty farty Rob came up with the idea to monitor some blood work on children getting cardiac surgery to see if they could get a better idea on why some might bleed post operative than others. Sad to report all the hard work didn't show anything, but it is getting attention for other reasons. He had to make a huge poster to present at the conference and be available to answer questions. Anyways, that leaves me being a single mom for a few days. I think I get the better end of the deal, I would love to be in San Francisco with Rob, but it would be bitter sweet if I was the one going and leaving Rob and the kids behind.

Two Cheers to Rob

We went out tonight to celebrate Rob passing his critical care boards. I am not sure if everyone can grasp what this means to him and to us because I only grasp a bit of how it felt for him. He states it was the hardest test he has ever taken, but since he passed with flying colors I have a hard time relating to it. He put in long hard hours studying and preparing for it which put wear and tear on him and the family. We are extremely proud of him and really excited for him. He is moving along in his career. 2009 seems to be a career year for Rob. He loves his job, he interviewed for the Director of Transport and got it, and passed his critical care boards. Cheers!!!!

Laundry Fun

Mason crawled into the laundry basket and asked to go for a ride so we slid him around the room. He then requested for Ellery to ride with him. They are becoming two peas in a pod.
I now find them playing together and can tell when she considers it playing and when Mason gets to rough with her and crosses her line of threshold. If she is having fun with him while he pokes her, pulls her, takes her toys, or lays on top of her she is laughing. If he gets to aggressive and places to much pressure in his pokes, pulls, takes, and laying she lets me know because she starts crying. I walked around the corner the other day and Ellery is laughing but you could tell it was about to turn into a cry and Ellery is on her belly trying to get away from Mason and he has a hold of both of her ankles and isn't letting her get to her destination. If she turns into a biter it won't surprise me.

Open Mouth Kisses

Ellery has started giving the famous open mouth kisses. Mason doesn't seem to mind yet, but BEWARE.

Say Cheese

Ellery started to "smile pretty" while we were home visiting family. She learned it from her cousin and has really started to ham things up. She is blowing kisses and giving high 5's left and right.

Let it snow Let it snow

We got a few inches of snow last night and got the kids out in it this morning. It isn't like the snow we got in WI, but snow is snow to a kid. We might have actually played outside longer than it took us to dress them for the occasion.
Ellery and Mason were thrilled to sled. Ellery actually hung out in her sled watching all the festives going on around her. We did let her crawl in the snow and she started out happy, cried when she got into the deeper snow, and then perked back up when Mason crawled in it with her. Mason made snow angels and stomped around in the snow.

Mason-2.5 Years old

Mason is now 2 1/2. I can't believe how fast it has all gone by. He is still tall for his age. My rough estimate for height is around 38.5 inches and weight is about 33 lbs. He loves to sing songs, his all time favorite is Wheels on the Bus. It makes me smile when I hear him singing songs to himself. He recognizes all colors and shapes and can count to 25. We are working on right and left and he is correct more than 50% of the time. He knows his ABC's, but doesn't recognize all his letters yet. He is learning his name and can recognize an M. If he sees an M any place he says, that's my name. We were in the car driving the other day and drove past McDonald's and Mason informed us that it was his name. "That's my name". He loves trains, balls, play dough, books, and markers. He recently discovered the movie Mama Mia and loves it. Potty training is coming along, he goes if you can get him to slow down from the activity, but he currently doesn't stop from the joys of playing to slow down enough to go to the bathroom without prompting. He is funny to ride with in the car because he loves to tell you when to go and stop by watching the traffic lights. He also has quite the imagination. We will be sitting at the table and he will say shhhh, you hear that. Then he proceeds to hear bears, bugs, fire engines, etc along with the bears sitting at the table or moving about the house while we eat. He sometimes catches the bug and lets him go, the other day he caught his pretend bug and ate it and then proceeds to spit him out. Afterwards he informs me that he doesn't eat bugs. He does all sorts of fun and crazy things. I am sure I will think of something else I wish I would have included but we have a wonderful 2.5 year old boy. We made cookies for the 2.5 year occasion and Mason required some persuasion to lick the beater but one lick was all it took. He can eat a cookie faster than me.

Smart Cycle

Mason got a smart cycle from Nana for Christmas and we finally got around and put it together. Well, Rob put it together, I am they type to put pieces together where they fit and read directions later. Sometimes it works for me and other times I wish I would have read the directions. Rob is my direction follower so he usually gets the tasks of putting things together or learning how it works. Followed by me asking questions later when it isn't working like it should and I don't know how to fix it since I didn't read the directions in the first place. It seems I should start reading more directions, but Rob spoils me, so until he decides to stop spoiling me I won't be reading any directions in the near future. He did get it put together perfectly and as you can see and Mason enjoyed sitting on it. I was calling it his motorcycle until Rob pointed out that motorcycles don't have pedals and spoiled our ride. Mason and I still like to call it his motorcycle despite the pedals. He enjoys sitting on it, but isn't doing so well when we hook it up to the TV. He likes to watch it, but doesn't like to pedal and ride.
In photo #1 pictured above shows Mason riding and Ellery playing beside him. Seconds later we found her in photo #2. She has a obsession with remotes and telephones and has started getting creative on how to obtain them. We also think she might be more of a climber than Mason. She is starting to put her foot up on things to hoist herself up higher. I might have to get child locks on the pantry doors, this is where I caught her trying to get a footing to see inside the drawers.

Monkey Faces

Aunt Jill and Uncle Todd taught Mason how to make monkey faces and he mimicked them without any hesitation.

Stop Holding Your Breath

I can't believe I am saying this but my brother has started blogging. I can't believe it. We set them up with a blog and showed them how when we were back for our visit, but I wasn't holding my breath for anything. I wasn't going to be pushy in asking when they were going to start, but I went out to check if they had posted and too my surprise they had. Yiiippppeeeeee. I hope everyone enjoys watching his family grow as well.
http://bamabrooks.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Elvis

One of the girls Christmas presents from Nana was inspired by Mason's Buzz Lightyear PJ's. She got Ellery and Isabella matching PJ's and sewed on wings so they could fly with Mason. They are adorable and they love them. My brother thought the girls looked like Elvis impersonators, so in memory of the King, 'Let's Fly'.

Uncle Todd

It only took 10 days, but Ellery finally let Uncle Todd hold her. She hasn't had any crying spells with men since the beginning of our trip, we are so proud of her. Uncle Todd was really good with the slow warm up all week and seized his opportunity.

Hamster Ball

Jordan got a human hamster ball from Santa and she is lucky it had a weight limit or I would have been secretly playing with it as well. Only in my dreams. We should have taken her to a hill and let her go, but we were nice and kept her in the flat yard.

Boxing Tournament 2009

My brother came up with the wonderful idea of having a WII family boxing tournament. I wasn't so thrilled on the idea at first, but as you can see I warmed up. I have learned I am a WII boxing spazz. I didn't want to post any proof of it, but Rob convinced me that I make fun of everyone else on the blog and I was overdue to make fun of myself. I am sad to report that I ended up being the first loser meaning I was 2nd place to my father Jim Balboa. He won the official title and bragging rights for the year. I am saddened by the defeat and getting beat like a step child from my dad, but I was finally able to beat my brother like I always dreamed. I think we are all going to save our pennies to buy a WII now and practice up for next year's rematch. I do have bragging rights over everyone else in the family and I will use it the most on my brother. I kicked his arse-BIG TIME! The bracket didn't allow me to box Rob, and we never boxed each other. We were on the same bowling team, also known as the winning bowling team, but no one wants to talk about that. Good times were had by all. I think we need to buy family bowling shirts along with boxing gloves!

Papaw and all his grandbabies

What a proud Papaw! I think he was excited to spend time with all of us but not expecting it to wear him out so much.

Go JayHawks

Isabella got a Nebraska cheerleader outfit while Mason got a KU football helmet and jersey. I can't get enough of these two. We were surprised that Mason put the helmet on his head immediately and gave his "look at me". We were expecting to have to do some persuading with him.

4 Legs Up BBQ

If you ever find yourself in Great Bend, Kansas I highly recommend stopping in for some of the best bbq at 4 Legs up BBQ. You get excellent service and they recently won the Jack Daniel's World Championship. It is like winning Miss America except for bbq. We are very proud of them and excited that our Godparents came down to visit us and the kids. Mason and Ellery are blessed with all the different sets of great grand and god parents they have to love them. We left full of joy and food. I was able to eat the smoked prime rib and I give it 5 stars.

Happy Hunters 2009

Mason wasn't so scared of the birds this year. He was thrilled to see and touch them. He didn't want to come inside when it came time to clean the birds, but I didn't want his touchy hands in the way while they were plucking and cutting them. We didn't get to eat any pheasant this year, what a coincidence that my brother decided to fix pheasant the night we were leaving. The good news is we live closer now and will be able to bring home 8 birds. I have no idea how to prepare pheasant, but I am looking forward to learning. If I mess it up we will have to wait a whole year before we can try it again.

WII

I can't believe my dad has a WII and we don't. Needless to say we have really enjoyed playing it. We came home tonight and Rob enjoyed some boxing with Jordan and I enjoyed kicking everyone at bowling. Jill might be sporting some form, but that didn't beat my fabulous score of 169. I don't think I ever bowled that in real life but that isn't the point. The point is that I am an excellent bowling gamer.

Holding hands and hugs

Mason is having a great time with his cousins. He loves to hug them, follow them around, and hold their hands. I'll just leave out where he steals toys from them and has trouble sharing trains.

Trooper Chaplin

Mason is into a touching phase. I think he leaves fingerprints on just about everything these days. We have now traveled out to Papaw's and Mason comes around the corner in one of my dad's old trooper hats and states "look at me". Adorable yes, but followed by "where did you get that and please put it back".

Update on Ellery and Men

Ellery is getting better with men since we have been visiting a lot of family. She let Papaw hold her without throwing a fit this evening and we were all impressed. Still hasn't warmed up to her bald headed uncle, but we have a few more days for that. She doesn't cry when he looks at her but she gets a bit frightened if he attempts to pick her up. She is however starting to form a tight bond with her Papaw.

Weigh in

You can call him Uncle Toto or my 4 legged brother. This is what used to out weigh Ellery. She weighs more than Toto now, but he used to have her before she hit 17lbs. This is however my mom's baby. He snuggles with her and is her constant companion. I think we stressed poor Toto out. He is usually bouncing off the walls and excited to play with Mason when he throws his toy, but he seemed to have lost his energy by the end of our visit and was passed out on the couch. I think he might have been bloated from all the special treats my kids fed him from the table.