New Schedules

I am quite embarrassed that I couldn't find even a moment during the month of September to update this "project" of mine....



We are all still adjusting to the new schedules that we have. A typical day goes something like this:



Alarm goes off around 5:30. Provided Ella isn't already awake, one of us jumps in the shower for a few minutes of solitude before his/her circus of a day begins. I usually draw the short straw and get the 5:30 shower time slot, but every so often, I'm able to trick Britt into taking it. hahaha!!



If Ella is already awake at 5:30, you can bet there aren't many pleasantries being exchanged in this house. Not because we're mad that she's awake, but because I am not a morning person. Britt knows this well enough that he doesn't really speak to me unless I've had a) breakfast, b) a diet coke, or c) both.



Fast forward to 7 am. Somehow we are all three about to make it out of the door. This is nothing short of a miracle considering I changed outfits three times, had to repack Ella's diaper bag twice, and I've gone back in the house for who-know-what at least once. (I know I'm highly disorganized. I've learned to accept it.)



Even though I've made it out of the house, strapped the baby in, and said a fleeting goodbye to that fabulous honey of mine, it's only the beginning. Really. But I'll save the rest for another day. I still want to post some pics and I have to call my eldest sister because today is her birthday.



This is from the first week of September. Ella is quite a camera ham...

This is from last week. Ella and Grammy spent all week at our house while we had central heating and air installed. With all of the banging and drilling, there weren't very many successful naps taken. She feel asleep during dinner..
She kept waking up, seeing the food tray, and grabbing at the food. As you can see, she fell asleep mid-grab. While I should have moved her out of this seemingly uncomfortable position, I instead grabbed the camera. To good to pass up :).

This is also from last week. She mustered up enough energy to go outside and play with the pumpkins. This is my favorite and will be arriving at your house soon in the form of a birthday invitation!! (save the date--Oct. 25th!)

My Birthday

I turned 27 today. As on every other birthday, people kept asking me if I felt a year older. I suppose that is the default question to initiate conversation when someone has a birthday. (I'm going to try to think of a new default question...)


The truth is, I've always felt older than I am. This year, however, I feel MUCH older than I am. I've learned that children really do age a person.


Speaking of...Ella is growing like a weed. We went to the mall this evening (the only thing I asked to do on my birthday), and I carried her out to the car. I can't believe how big she's getting! She is quickly growing out of her 6-9 month clothing. We'll be moving into 12 month clothes very soon I believe.


She has taken well to staying at her Grammy's during the day. Probably better that we would like--she never wants to come home! We're glad that she has grandparents close by that are able to keep her as much as they do.

Some pictures...

Our butterfly bush. Thanks to Uncle David, I actually know the name of this!

The gladiolus that fell victim to the dog. I'll have to move these before next year I guess...

Said dog, eating his bone.
Britt and Ella at a wedding we went to a few weeks ago. So sweet...

A New Chapter

Yesterday was Ella's first official day at "Grammy Day Care". As some of you may know, I was offered a job as an instructional aide in Greenup. Even though it's nothing close to my job of choice, the pros outwighed the cons and I accepted!

One of the cons, of course, is leaving Elaa. I've really enjoyed staying home with her for the past nine and a half months. However, I know I was never meant to be a stay at home mom. Despite my hermit tendencies, I really prefer to be out of the house. So I took the leap!

Ella's newest achievements are standing by herself! She likes to play with her toys on the couch or ottoman, so she'll get a toy from the ground and put it on her "table" of choice. When she's really engrossed in playing, she just lets go and stands there. It is so strange to see her just...standing. She seems so little to be doing those things. I guess I still see her as an itty bitty five-pounder that we brought home with us.

These pictures are courtesy of Wendy, taken at Ellie's first birthday party. We had a ball! And so did Ella. She was hesitant about the pool at first, but once we got her in, she didn't want to get out!

Tooth update: 2 bottom, 4 top. Wow!

9 months

We took Ella for her 9 months well-baby checkup yesterday. She weighed in at 18 lbs 4 oz and measured 28 in long! She wasn't a happy camper while we waited though. I guess she could sense my anxiousness as we waited yet again (for the umpteenth day in a row) on doctors and nurses. The nurse practitioner understood our frustration and granted us a speedy, yet thorough checkup. We love her. :) Unfortunely for Ella, we did have to do one shot at this visit because we were behind with one set of shots (due to a recall). We also updated our teeth count--2 bottom, 3 upper.


When we visited Cathy last week, she sent us home with Ella's newest climbing aparatus. She loves to open the door and crawl through. And then close the door. Then open the door. Then...well you get the idea. I have to turn the sound off occasionally to save my sanity. She doesn't seem to mind... I took this picture the day I brought it home.

Ella's other new toy stays at Grandma's. I'm not sure if it was really for Ella, or if Mom was just excited to find a red Bug...

Either way, she loved the swing, and we can't wait to go see Grandma again so we can play with it!

Laughter

Amy--I don't have your email, but Britt told me of your conversation today. I always watch that video when I need to laugh too! It has saved many a tear.

If anyone else needs some laughs, please check out this link: Happy Girl

Papaw Barnett always said (or at least Mom always said that Papaw always said...) that everyone needs at least one good belly laugh a day.

I totally agree.

The fourth

I caught a movie on tv last week called "Seven Thing to Do Before I'm 30". It wasn't a good movie by any means (it was on Lifetime, if that tells you anything), but I saw some parallels to my own life. The main character had been plagued by half-finished projects her entire life. I realized how many things I've wanted to do, and haven't. Or things I had started, but only half-heartedly, only to abandon it halfway through.

One thing I've wanted to do is keep up with this darn blog. I know of a handful of people that are keeping up with this (or claim to!). I love you all, but I really started this for me. And for Ella. Mostly because I can't remember anything! I want to have a record of our lives together.

So in the spirit of keeping up with the blog and not leaving things unfinished or abandoned...

Our 4th of July, in slide show form :)

Que Sera, Sera!

You can't always get what you want. Thankfully, you can't always get what you DON'T want, either. My interview went well, although it wasn't enough to land the job. After I learned what grade it was for, I spent two days trying to talk myself into wanting the job. Umm...red flag?? The hiring commitee asked a lot of grade-specific answers which pretty well blew my chances. Bummed? Incredibly. End of the world? No. Whatever will be, will be.

Last Sunday our preacher spoke on discouragement. I sat there thinking, "Ahh, this one's for me!" I marked the verses in my bible and began listening to the sermon. Then I realized the sermon wasn't for me. It just wasn't what I was looking for that day. I wanted to be lifted and renewed and I felt nearly the opposite when I left. I left discouraged (ironic...).

I looked back over those verses today and realized that it was meant for me. Just not that day. Sometimes the Lord knows how to bring us back, again and again. Back to Him, back to Earth, back to reality...whatever he wants to bring us back to. The verse I marked that Sunday (about two weeks before I needed it) was Joshua 1:9--

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be terrified;

do not be discouraged,

for the LORD your God

will be with you

wherever you go."

Well I don't mean to get all...preachy...I just wanted to share.

And since this is not supposed to be about me...here are some pictures of my and Ella's trip to Grayson Lake today.

What happens when Mom takes to seconds to turn the camera on...we discover leaves and grass!

If I had known she would have so much fun with the stroller, we would've just stayed home!!

Thumb: best teething aid ever.

I finally got a picture of the teeth. It was purely accidental, as I was trying to figure out some settings on our new camera. These are the first two teeth, but we are currently working on numbers three and four. 3 and 4 are proving to be a little more difficult than the first two. I thought this was supposed to get better as it went along!!

For those keeping tabs, Britt got the job! We got a call around 9:30 pm, the day of the interview, from the principal. We went and looked at his classroom a few days later. The job is for fifth grade and we couldn't be happier!

I interview tomorrow and am taking lessons from Mr. Interview himself (uhh...Britt of course). Wish me luck and pray for me!

A long winded update

I realize that I have been a slacker in regards to updating. There's been so much happening that I rarely have the time (much less the energy) to come and update. Of course, when you put something off for so long, everything just compounds and you are faced with a bigger task than if you had just taken a few minutes to do it before. Yikes! The story of my life!

So in the spirit of getting caught up, here is a list of the latest things in our lives:

1. Ella is crawling! Yes, she is definitely mobile. After weeks of sleep on her knees, she finally got the hang of getting up on all fours. It was extra special because both Britt and I got to witness her first crawling experience
2. She is pulling up! On the couch, ottoman, toy boxes, and (most frustrating for me) her crib. Nap time has been especially difficult because of this new trick, but she very quickly learned how to sit down.
3. Nemo has almost resigned to the fact that Ella is not going away. I think he almost likes her :). He's not very excited about her new found mobility though...
4. Ella had her first play date yesterday, with her friend Ellie. Wendy brought Ellie up to our house, along with Miki and Andrea. Five years ago I would have never dreamed that the four of us would be sitting around playing with babies!

That's Ella's list. We have had a lot of excitement here on the farm as well!

1. We are the proud parents...err...owners of another set of goat twins! Actually, the nanny gave birth to triplets, but unfortunately she lost one during birth. The other two are doing great, but they will probably find a new home soon.
2. Harley has come home! For those that don't know, Harley was given to me as a wedding present the summer we moved to Grayson. We sold him to Britt's papaw last spring when I was pregnant. We bought him back this summer, although I have yet to ride him. Harley is a horse, by the way :).
3. I planted flowers in May and they are still living. Now this wouldn't top most people's lists, but for me this is a major accomplishment.
4. Britt had his first job interview today. He just called to say that it went really well! We're keeping our fingers crossed.

And because it has been such a eventful month in the family:

1. One of my besties is getting married!! Miki dear, I hope you don't mind that I mention this :). I'm so happy for her I could just bust!
2. My baby cousin Michele just got married. She was beautiful and the wedding was so sweet!
3. Our good friends, Scott and Sarah, had a baby girl on May 14th. Ella has a new playmate! As soon as Madison is old enough anyway. She's a beautiful baby, and we're so happy to be an "aunt" and "uncle" to her.
4. And there is one more terribly exciting news item in our family, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to announce that, especially via internet. But it involves a new baby in our family! The proud parents-to-be are most deserving and my heart absolutely split wide open when I heard the good news!

If you made it this far, bless you. Next time I won't be so long winded. Maybe next time it will be all pictures. There are a lot of pictures to catch up on!

Happy girl

I finally got the videos to work!! I'm not real happy with the quality, but it's definitely better than nothing. I took this today after her nap. This went on for about five minutes before I went and got the camera...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

I tried.

I've been trying to get a picture of Ella's new teeth. Unsuccessfully of course. Rest assured, they are there and they are sharp! Here's us trying to get a picture of them...

Stubborn much???

The price of independence

Everything has a cost--even independence. (Cathy, thank for you understanding my intentions for leaving her in the nursery!) After an entire winter free of sickness, we woke up Monday with the beginning of a runny nose. By Tuesday it was quite obvious. By Wednesday, she was miserable enough that a pacifier was no longer an option. Of course I blame the nursery!

Who knows if any one of those kids was really sick. Maybe it's allergies. Maybe Britt brought it home from a school he's been in this week. It's really hard to tell. But the whole "experience" (if you could call a runny nose an experience) shows me just how little control I have.

Despite being my laid-back father's clone, I would definitely classify myself as a control freak. Most of my life, I have been overshadowed by bigger control freaks than myself. Only in the last few years has my freakishness really developed, as I've spent most of my time around significantly more laid-back persons than myself.

Motherhood has only intensified my inner control freak. But just when I thought I had control, the rug again gets pulled out from under me. I'm learning with every new day that I actually have very little control over anything. Drivers on the road. Lines at the grocery. Wait time at the doctor's office. Other people's runny noses.

Somebody told me once that I can only control so much. The rest is up to God. The teacher in me knows to approach motherhood this way: give them the tools to succeed, give them the opportunity to succeed, then give them to the world. Everything else is out of my control.

So next Sunday I will again leave her at the nursery. She will flirt with the boys, play with the girls, and in the process, gobble up all kinds of germs. But I'll be okay knowing that she's gaining some more independence, no matter the price.

The Nursery

We had another first yesterday: the church nursery. After spending all winter avoiding sick children, all the while wrangling a fidgety baby during the service, I decided that enough was enough. What good is church anyway if you aren't able to pay attention?

So yesterday Ella took her first trip to the nursery. It is setup for ages birth through 24 months, so of course Ella was one of the youngest in there. Here's how the conversation went when we took her in:

me: Good morning! Room for one more?? [As I hand her over]
Nursery staff: Sure! What's her name? [As she takes the baby]
me: Ella. [As I step out of the doorway]
N.S.: Well hello! My, she's a happy baby! [As Ella entertains the masses]
me: Yes! You know where to find us! Bye!! [From down the hallway]

We were sitting in the pews before Ella probably knew what happened. :)

When we went to pick her up, she was sitting in one of these:

and was reaching across the table trying to get to a little boy. Uh oh...

Two Things.

We have officially dropped Toby. Well, not the dog. Just the name! He actually answers to Radar. As much as we don't LOVE the name, if it ain't broke... I had no idea how the shelter came up with the name Radar, but apparently it is the name of a character on M.A.S.H.

As exciting as the new dog has been, the most exciting news of the week is that Ella finally cut her first tooth! She was a trooper, even if she was a bit fussier than usual. She kept her sense of humor (mostly), continued with a good sleeping routine (mostly), and made teething as pleasurable as teething can be. As soon as it's visible in a picture, I will post a toothless-grin-no-more picture.

Welcome Toby!

As you may know, our dear Lady is no longer with us. She lived a good life, got sick, and was no longer leading a comfortable life. She is living it up with Charlie, CJ, and a number of other animals we've loved over the years.

We had decided that we would get another dog a while ago. Britt looked up the dogs at the Boyd County Animal shelter on Petfinder and found "the one". Today we rescued "Radar", who we quickly renamed Toby. :)

Meet Toby Radar Bush:
Toby loves his new home. He was well taken care of wherever he was before. (My guess is that he ran away from his previous home.) He likes to roll in the grass, bark at the cows (uh oh), and play fetch. He doesn't know any commands, but knowing Britt it won't be long!

We're still trying out the name Toby. I hope it sticks!

Baby Crush

So apparently we're not the only ones that think Ella is to die for. Dr. Cline said she had a baby crush on Ella. I bet she says that to all the girls... ;)

Our big girl is 15 lbs 8 oz and measures 26 1/2 inches long. That is the 50th percentile for weight and 75% percentile for length. Dr. Cline said she has taken a growth spurt in length since last time.

Everything else was perfect: ears, heart, motor and social skills, and whatever else they check.

Shots went...as well as can be expected. She was fine, actually, as soon as the nurses left. Out of sight, out of mind.

Practice Makes Perfect

Ella has been trying to get up on all fours for the last few days. This started while we were at Mom's and Dad's this weekend for Michele's wedding shower. From a sitting position she would lean over until she was on her hands. Then she would try to pull her legs out from under her. She was successful in getting on all fours a few times, but not for very long.



We practiced this today too, but didn't seem to make any progress. Infact, she didn't get on all fours at all today.



Being the little Barnett that she is, stubborn and determined even in her sleep, I went to check on her and found this:




Knees tucked underneath her, rearend straight up in the air. Just the sight of it was enough to risk waking her to take the picture. (I'm happy to report she didn't even budge)

What's next? Driving?

Our newest trick was slowly learned, but quickly mastered. When we had her pictures done a few weeks ago, she could barely sit up by herself. A few of my favorite shots were cropped because I could be seen on one side or the other, offering a steady hand to hold. But now those days are long gone...Hmm...I thought I fixed the red-eye...

Anyway, next on our list is crawling. I'm afraid that it is closer than I'm ready for! Anyone want to come babyproof my house?

No Crying?? Nah

I Can't Imagine Why Anybody Would Want To Stop Crying

I think if I had read this article when Ella was 2 months old, it wouldn't have been that funny. I find it quite hilarious now! I cringe at the memories...and smile because they are, well, memories.

Rain Rain Go Away

Just when the snow went away, the temperature began to rise, and the birds began to sing...

In came the rain. It feels like it has been raining for weeks. I resist counting how many days it has rained in the last month because it is completely depressing. I am ready to get Ella out of the house and into the great outdoors before her first birthday.

I know, I'm being dramatic. We did get out today for a walk so we (Ella and I) could survey the flooding on our farm. For those familiar with our place, the gravel road to the churches in completely impassable. The creek has overrun its banks at every point on the property. One field (the one behind the white church) is almost completely covered in water and the other field is about halfway covered.

Here you can see the bridge in the middle of the left side of the picture. The white church is just behind those trees.

The trees running through the middle of this picture actually line the creek bank. As you can see...no creek! Just a lake. Just for reference, the creek is over Britt's head in most places. (Please excuse the leftover building materials from our new shed:) )

But with every trial comes a blessing (or ten!), right? Spring is really showing itself on our farm, mostly because of the rain. Because we moved in here during the summer, we haven't yet experienced Spring here. It is so exciting to see the trees and plants start to bud and grow. Especially since I don't know what most of them are yet.

The most exciting part of Spring on a farm is, of course, all the new babies! We have several new baby calves. I think 5 have been born since Ella was born. Our newest (and most exciting) additions to the farm are our twin goats. Umm....that would be TWO sets of twins actually. The first set was born Wednesday and the newest set was born sometime this morning. We are expecting at least one most set in the very near future! I didn't dare bother the new moms with my camera, but wanted to share, nonetheless!

Some pics of new blooms:

America's Next Top Model

We had Ella's pictures done on Thursday (3. 27). Britt's mom found a lady in Greenup that does pictures from her house, and after seeing her gallery online, I had to book her! Ella was a trooper (as always!) and charmed her way through the entire hour and fifteen minute photo session. We got some really cute shots--some classic and some quite trendy--it was so much fun! Click here to view the gallery on smugmug.com. You will see Ella's gallery at the top of the page.

And for those of you at Mamaw's this evening, Ella was asleep before we made it to the bypass, slept all the way home, and went straight from carseat to crib. What an angel...

And one more thing: to conclude the "Yellow C" debate (you know, the yellow C on UCLA's jerseys...), check out this article. Isn't it nice to find answers to all of our questions?? Ahhh, I can sleep now.

What a difference a year makes.

It seems unreal that a year ago at Easter, I was only beginning to get used to the fact that I was pregnant.

A year ago this past Wednesday (the 19th), I woke up for school, sick as a dog. I had spent the following Thursday and Friday substituting in a kindergarten class. I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say it was not the best experience I've ever had.

I had three days left with the kindergartners and had no idea how I would make it through. Besides being exhausted, I was so emotional and irritable. I decided it was the kindergartners and the substitute aide I was working with (it's always another's fault, right?). The icing on the cake, I thought, was that they had given some kind of bug.

As I ate my breakfast, it dawned on me that maybe....just maybe.

But it couldn't be...

Before I left for school that morning I talked myself into taking a test.

And sure enough...the rest is history.

The change that can happen to a person in one year is amazing. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. One year and three days ago I had no idea where I was headed. One year and two days ago, I found out. And I really like this trip.

Dear Feet

Dear Feet,

I think I love you. Where have you been all my life?

Love,
Ella

p.s. I love giving you kisses. It makes me laugh! xoxo

Just a note: I've been trying to get this video to load. When I do I'll put a note at the top of this page!!!







Tummy time antics! Ella loves to jabber when she's on her belly. In the last few weeks, she's been perfecting the roll from tummy to back. I still haven't caught the roll on video yet, but this comes close. This was taken Feb. 25, 2008.

Sunny Day

Yesterday we received a wonderful tease from Spring. We've only been able to take Ella outside a few times since she was born because of the cold weather. I had my eye on the forecast for a while looking for a good day to take the stroller out and get a little relief from this house! Thankfully, Britt was home for the day and we went out as a family.


We left Crane Creek just before noon and stopped in Ashland for lunch. After lunch, we headed over to the mall to shop and walk. The crowd was sparse except for the many moms and strollers, no doubt enjoying the good weather as much as we were. As usual, we spent more money on the baby than ourselves. We did find an Easter dress/formal pictures dress for Ella. She slept most of the time and didn't make a noise (unlike the last time I took her to the mall when she fussed if I slowed to a walk!).

We weren't quite ready to go home, so we headed on over the Ashland Central Park. Although I have passed by it a million times going to the doctor (it is right beside the hospital), I had never actually been. It must have been the sunshine, or the good moods of the other park-goers rubbing off on me, but for a few moments everything was just perfect in the world. I had my baby, my love, and sunshine. Who really needs anything else?



Ella must have felt something similar because she squealed with delight several times, something she's only started doing recently (and quite randomly). She squealed with purpose yesterday though.

Today the rain was back, but I'm still quite overcome with love and joy for my little family. Some things just can't be dampened.

A Day at the Doctor's

Full doctor's office + a million sick kids + a two and a half hour wait= ?????

Three cranky people: mommy, daddy, and baby.

What is usually a 3 hour trip to Cannonsburg (doctor, Walmart, lunch, then home) turned into a 5 1/2 hour trip.

While we waited to be called back at the doctor's, I told her to make sure she cried for the doctor when we saw him. She very happily (or would that be unhappily??) obliged. He was so patient and answered all of our questions over her tears. Admittedly, I missed a lot of information because my brain can only hold so much noise at once. Of course that's why I take Britt with me!

Thankfully she slept long enough in Walmart for us to pick up some essentials. She woke up as we were waiting to checkout, all smiles, as if three needles had never poked her only an hour beforehand.

We made it home and after introducing her to the wonderful world of rice cereal, promptly put her to bed. Although her normal bedtime is around 8 o'clock, she slept from about 6:30pm to 7:00am. I think we ALL really enjoyed that.

Today she has been very clingy...to me mostly. She had a fever earlier, but it had come down to normal before her bath. We're crossing our fingers that the sick kid that invaded the well waiting room and tried to get his little hands on Ella won't land us back in the doctor's office.

That would equal cranky mommy to the millionth power.

(Picture was taken today during a rare moment out of my arms)
(THANKS Melissa for being our first poster! Mom: Maybe you should try again? Your comment never posted!)

Four Months

Ahh...nap time.

Yesterday we celebrated Ella's four month "birthday". When I say celebrate, I mean that we sat on the couch after she was in bed and marvelled at the miracle that she is. It honestly feels like we brought her home yesterday. Everyday she is a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, and LOT sweeter.

Of course with the four month milestone stone comes a four month well-baby checkup and shots. The two month shots went off without a hitch. We even went to lunch on our way home from the doctor's, while she slept peacefully in her car seat. I can only hope we're this lucky again.

The picture was taken Saturday. She has just figured out that the seat moves all the way around!

The beginning.

So I have been exhausting myself trying to keep people updated on the progress of my family. In a quest to keep everyone in the loop and to keep myself from repeating myself to people (I've probably told several people the same story 14 times), I've decided on a blog.

Myspace is not for everyone. The same goes for facebook. I hate mass emailing, although I guess a blog is mass emailing to the extreme. . .except that this page will always be here to greet you with a new picture or story, and you can catch up whenever you like. No unread message in your inbox glaring at you, begging for attention. No replying to a message when you don't REALLY have time. Just a link to a page that is always there.

I figure that I have 3-4 chances a day (nap time!) to post something about that brilliant daughter of mine. :)

So save us in your favorites. Because we know we're your favorite anyway. hehe!

Leave us a comment now and again. . .we love them.

And we love you! Our family and friends make the world go round!