Happy birthday Ellie Bean...

Two years ago, my water broke and then nothing happened. And then, in a wild 40 minutes of labor, she showed up, my little Ellie bean.

Now she's 2. Now she is princess shoes and wands and dollhouses and dress up. She's pig tails and twirling and dancing and Charlie and Lola books. She is Binky and Blankie where ever she goes. She is a baby mullet growing into blond curls, the baby her daddy calls "Blue-Eyed Ellie." She is "El-yee" a little sister to her Jack and big sister to "Wobbie." She is a smile that lights up the room and a giggle with squinted eyes. She is funny with a joke on her lips to help get her out of trouble. She is "Daddy! Daddy!" in the afternoons and "Mama, Mama" through the day. She is arms lifted for a hug and a squirming body trying to be free.


She is my middle baby, my girl, my little Princess. For more than half her life, I have been growing and/or nursing another child. She is nonplussed. She is happy, healthy, lovely, feisty, humorous, unruly, curious, engaging, energetic, wild, polite, intelligent, silly. She is quick to laugh and quick to cry. She is everything and I love her.

Happy birthday, my Eliza Mae.

Ellie and her friend, Pumehana Baldwin were born two days apart, Pume on Jan. 18, Ellie on Jan. 20. So, Ellie and Pume shared a Park Day (our mom's group) birthday. They are cute friends!

Scenes from our little family party for her. Hannah, herself a princess pro, helped Ellie liberate her dress up presents and get all princessed up. Ellie also got some furniture for her dollhouse, a hand-me-down from the neighbors. We figure after years of living with just baby bassinets, high chairs and a kitchen table, the Bacon family dolls deserved a living room. :) Also, while I am NOT artsy I do like making my kids' birthday cakes. I have a great chocolate cake recipe that gets raves and I like seeing the kids get excited over my simple handiwork. My little princess got a crown with M&M jewels...her favorite!

Mini milestones

Some correspondence, which Bob swears if I don't post, he will. As his audience is significantly larger, I'm opting to release our family drudgery here:

Note to Bob, Tues., Jan. 13 titled "oh lucky you..." Background: Robbie has developed a habit of pooping once a week even though he started solid foods. I have been stressed about this:

"Good morning! You are stinking lucky I did not have a camera upstairs this morning, or you would have a picture of a diaper FULL of poop. The gory details: Robbie has pooped the last couple days, but just a little bit. He hasn't really pooped since last Tuesday. that all changed today. I was changing his morning diaper, which had a little bit of poop in it, when I noticed that he had some stuck poop trying to come out. I pumped his legs a little and all of the sudden, there was a torrent. The kid was loaded and ready to fire. Everything he had been holding back just came out in log after glorious log of his first real solid food boy poops. The poop was a little hard and Robbie had a tough go of it, but he seemed pleased when it was over. Jack was sitting near me for the big event and was himself impressed with Robbie's first showing. And there you have it, the joy of a mother's day, knowing her son's bowels are free at last."

In my defense, I have been WORRIED that the poor kid was going to have to have surgery or something. Important processes being restored are vital family information.

Secondly, Jack learns to operate machinery that "mystifies" his father:

Note to Bob, Wed., Jan. 14 titled "Jack is smarter than you":

"So, here's the scene:
I come downstairs from sorting laundry. The spotted chair is in front of the TV and Thomas is playing. Thomas is not on TV except for Sunday mornings and off the DVR.
Jack: Mommy, something magical happened.
Mom: Really?
Jack: Yeah, I pushed a button and that thing popped out (points to DVD player, which is turned on...) and then it went in and now Thomas is on. Isn't that magical?
Mom, confused because working the DVD player requires two remotes: How did you do that?
Jack: I just pushed the buttons.
So Jack can operate the DVD player and you profess to not be able to."

Bob's response:
"profess, hell, it mystifies me. but at least now i have a second helper in my time of difficulty."

And there you have it: 2009 with the Lonsberrys.

Jack the artist

Jack the Great (in a nod to one of his favorite literary characters, Nate the Great) recently reached a new milestone. It occurred to him that he can draw the world around him. The inspiration for this new obsession was the movie "Flipper," which Bob found on TV one day and let him watch. It was literally one day squiggles and swirls and the next, life via Crayola. Our refrigerator is now covered in artwork and I'm running out of printer paper. Without further ado, here is Jack's recent artwork:

This is Flipper in the water with the trash that the bad guys threw into the ocean.

The family, L-R, Ellie, Mommy, Small, Jack, Daddy and the round ball at the bottom is Jimmy the dog.

Our house.

Jack's best attempt at writing his name. This is signature on his best artwork, his name and a traced hand print. I traced this one, but he has since figured out how to do it himself.