Time flies!

Life keeps moving along here!

Rand continues to make us laugh with all of his unique words and phrases. He told us the other day that the sun comes up because he yawned really big. He asks us frequently if we remember something -- "Member that train, mom? Member?" He also says "bump it over" instead of knock it over and loves it when we address his trains instead of him -- "Thomas, you need to play nicely!"



I started doing Calvert's preschool curriculum with him and it's working out beautifully. We don't do it every day, but the nice thing is that it's structured so it's not a big deal if we only do "school" two or three times a week.

We went to a birthday party last weekend where Rand saw his first pinata. It was a slightly traumatic experience, but he survived and is still talking about "that guy" (Buzz Lightyear) and how you hit it hard and candy falls out.


Ella had her one-month doctor appointment, and she's now up to 10lbs 8oz as of August 25th! I knew she was getting big, but to gain 3lbs in a little over a month was surprising. She's already starting to outgrow some of her cute clothes. She's starting to smile at us and has the sweetest little dimples.


We had a lovely surprise visit from my mom, Margie, and John on the 19th -- it was so nice to celebrate John's 11th birthday and Ella's one-month birthday with them!

Baby shower!

Last Saturday, our lovely friends Chris and Leah threw little Ella a baby shower! We had a wonderful time and Ella was given TONS of adorable clothes, blankets, toys, and more. We were so blessed to have so many friends there. Ella managed to sleep through almost the entire things, despite being passed around from person to person. Here's a few pictures from the day....

Busy week!

Lots of things happening here, but not much time, so here's the cliff note's version:

1. Werner has survived his first week of school! He really likes all of his classes and stays very, very busy.

2. Ella is growing and growing. It's hard to believe she'll be 4 weeks old tomorrow. She does really well at holding her head up and makes the sweetest little cooing noises. She's getting chubbier and I'm finding new little fat rolls all over the place. We started her in cloth diapers this week since we were spending a small fortune on disposables. She is still very easy going and peaceful and just loves to be held -- I mean, honestly, she has spit up three times in her whole life! How chill is that?

3. Rand started school this week! We ordered Calver's preschool curriculum, and he was super excited when the box arrived with all kinds of cool things inside. Most days only consist of 3-4 activities (a story, craft, game, etc) so it works very well with our schedule. I'm not doing it daily, just when we don't have anything else planned, and we're having fun with it.

4. At naptime the other day, Rand stayed in bed for nearly two hours without falling asleep. After two hours of, "I can get up now?" followed by, "NO!", I went in, handed him his clock, and showed him that when this hand reached this number, he could get up. I went back in at the appointed time, and he had fallen asleep, holding said clock. Silly boy.

5. I had my first dog training lesson this week since Ella was born. It went very well and it was nice to be out doing my own thing for a couple of hours. Ella took to a bottle easily and they both had a great time staying with Leah.

6. Ella at the park. It was still pretty bright outside, so she was not keen on opening her eyes. Her eyes are definitely starting to turn brown.

7. Ella got her first real bath this week! She hated it so badly I didn't even stop to take a picture, poor thing.

Big brother

They would've been cuter pictures if Rand didn't have a dirty shirt and macaroni all over his face, but hey, we're all about keepin' it real here.

World's Cutest Dog

Riley is one of my favorite clients. Seriously, how can you not love that face?! And he has a personality to match.

VBS

The three days before Ella was born (July 16-18), Rand attended his first ever Vacation Bible School at our church! We had a wonderful team of volunteers come in from Seattle to put on the kids program for the children in our church's neighborhood. Rand had such a great time! Every night he came home with a new craft project, and he's still singing the songs (and doing the hand motions) that he learned.

Awesome nametag

Can you see Rand on the right? He did such a good job of following Pastor Chris's directions and sitting quietly with the other kids.

Rand singing and doing the hand motions -- it was super cute!

Making crafts

Playing ball

Three weeks!

It's hard to believe that Ella has already been here three weeks -- it's so cliche, but time is flying by! She is growing bigger and stronger every day. During tummy time this week she rolled over onto her back, but I think that must've been a fluke. She is sleeping great, although she prefers to be held or (eeeks!) be on her tummy rather than on her back. Ella normally eats at 11:30pm, then goes until about 3am and wakes up around 6:30am. How lucky am I?!

Werner has had a busy week full of meetings and preparing for school to start; his actual first day is on Monday. Rand is still being a really good big brother and so gentle with Ella, but his "good listening" ears are disappearing. Hopefully this phase will be over sometime in the near future! We've tried to go somewhere fun just about every day (to friends' houses, the mall playground, the park, a super cool museum, etc) this week and I'm crossing my fingers that my efforts will pay off soon.

We were so lucky to have Aunt Katie and Uncle Dustin come out last weekend for a visit. Rand had a wonderful time learning lots of cool songs from Katie. We spent an afternoon in Old Town Scottsdale and the Scottsdale Fashion Square and finished up the day with "Arrested Development" and chinese food. We had a really nice time with them and they both got lots of practice holding babies.

Proofs are in!

If you're interested in seeing the proofs from our photo session, go to:

www.kimheffington.com/show/girard

For family members who want to purchase prints, you have to create an account and then you can view and order pictures. The password is "ella." If I was a millionaire I'd buy pictures for all of you lovely people, but alas, I'm not.