Catching Up

Life has been pretty great lately! Ella is 8 weeks and getting nice and chubby- just the way I like em. She has been smiling tons and is trying to giggle. She has almost gotten a few out. She has started cooing a lot and making really cute noises. She is such a good sleeper. She has basically been sleeping the night since she was born. She was sleeping 5 hours in the hospital and has since moved up to between 6 and 8 hours straight. It is awesome! Sophie has still been an amazing big sister. She is so gentle and sweet with her. She absoloutly adores her little sister. All that worrying for nothing. Anyway we have been working really hard to get Sophie potty trained by this summer. I really really really hate changing 2 sets of diapers. We have our good days and we have our really really bad days. I am trying to be patient and not push it too much. 

Anyway other than that not much else is new. We move to Calgary in a month and I am getting sooo excited. We have some nice apartments to move into and it's in a great area. It will also be so great for Sophie to have her "very bestest friend" Grace there. They are just the cutest things when they get together. They are little girly girls and are so sweet to eachother. We went over to the Wolsey's house on Sunday for pizza and it was so much fun. It's always a party when we get together. I kinda forget I have a 2 year old when were there because Sophie and Grace pretty much spend the whole time in Grace's room giggling and playing with barbies and ponys. 

Ella's Blessing

We blessed Ella on Sunday night. Spencer gave a beautiful blessing and of course got me emotional. My mom and my aunt Marina made an adorable dress with smocking on it.  I loved it. We were grateful to have friends and family there to share this day with us .... and not to mention a delicious dinner that my grandma and mom prepared. The whole night was perfect and of course Ella was an angel, as always. She was passed around all night and wasn't fussy at all. We just love her and feel so blessed to have her in our lives. 

I have a ton of pics but I'm too tired to upload them all.. so check out facebook. I have quite a few on there!

A couple funny things

So I just had to write this down so I never ever forget it.. 

We were in Wal-Mart a few nights ago and we for some reason let Sophie walk next to the cart instead of strapping her in it. I kinda took the Ella responsibility which is definately the easy one. Poor Spence got the resposibility of chasing Sophie up and down every aisle... Sophie thought it was a funny game. Anyway Sophie was running down the aisle and it was really dusty and she slipt -the next thing I know Spence is on his way down and landed right into the splits. I don't know how he did the splits but pretty soon he has gone from splits to his bum and he couldn't get himself back up because Sophie had fallen too and they were kinda intertwined. Anyway the best part was the other customers faces and especially Spencers. I have never seen him blush until then. Soph thought it was pretty funny too and she just got back up and kept running. I honestly haven't laughed like that in a long time.. #1 because Spence never does anything like that and #2 because it's usually me.

Also the other day I was wiping Ellas nose and then I folded the wipe in half and wiped Sophie's mouth. Nothing from Ellas nose even touched Sophies nose but she looked at me like she was going to puke and said, "OH SICK mom. I got a booger mouth."

A tribute to Philly

So we spent the summer of 2007 in Philly with Tanner, Amanda and Watson and became quite addicted to a good old philly cheesesteak. When we get together with the Leavitts we always bring up how much we miss them--In fact we already have planned for next year to make a trip back to Philadelphia and New York and I would say that 50% of the reason is for the philly cheesesteaks. If you have ever had one you most likely understand. Anyway we have been talking about trying to duplicate them so finally we put our plan into action, buying the best cut of beef and fresh buns and did our best to make ourselves some mouth-watering cheesesteaks. We had to introduce the Bretzkes in hopes of hooking them on the delightful goodness. Kara, Cole and some of their friends also came and we had quite a fun time. We did it at the APX office or as Chels and Amanda call it "The Clubhouse", which i think perfectly describes it. There's a Pool table, fuseball, pingpong, airhockey, tanning bed, unlimited chocolate bars, chips and pop and lots of open space for the kids to run around -- needless to say we spend a healthy amount of time at the Clubhouse. Anyway they have a ginormous t.v so we thought we should plan our Philly night last night when there was a new episode of the Office which is also a favorite of all of ours. It was tons of fun and I am pleased to say that the boys did dang good on those cheesesteaks. I even indulged in 2- one wiz wit and one with provolone.. which completely does not agree with my "ditch the extra poundage" plan. Oh well. I was good for 14 days straight soooo 1 day is ok i think. I'll tell myself that anyway! All in all it was a great night and we got some cute pics of the kids. Sophie and Watson were so happy to see eachother and had a great time playing all night.

This is McKye Bretzke and the ladies, Finley Leavitt and Ella. How funny is this! He even has his arms around them. He's got a big desicion to make. Someday they won't be okay with him two timing. He's got a few years to enjoy both the ladies though.

Cousins! about 7 weeks apart

Kara and her friends

The Bretzkes I love the look on Tanner and Coles faces.. like spence is doing something scandelous....

Watson wearing sophies bow.. we have been doing this for a few years to poor Waty

Oh too cute!.. when I saw this picture it reminded me so much of the next picture of them almost 2 years ago

see what I mean.. how cute were they?

Sophie loves Tanner.. she always calls him "Funny Tanner" We will allow this for another 8 or 9 years then we might need to have a little talk about it Also.. how much do you love this wrap Amanda and Teale made me. It's like the moby wrap except they put that cute fabric on the front. I love it! I think they should sell them. I have been putting Ella in there since she was a few days old and it's so comfy. Thanks sooo much girls!

too good to be true??

3 nights in a row 7:30 has rolled around and Sophie says, "I want to go to have a tubby and go to bed." WhAT!!?? okay! She really hasn't been hard to put to bed but in the last year 9:00 was an early bedtime for her. Although she would sleep in till 10 or 11 everyday... It was very nice. Anyway this has been great! I have put her to bed at 8:00 for the last 3 nights and thoroughly enjoyed my evening and she slept till 8:00 each day too. So yay for a new bedtime and double yay for my toddler telling me it's bedtime! I think she's pretty great! The other day she told me that, "Mommy baby Ella is my best friend!" It was so cute and got me all choked up thinking about the two of them growing up. I can only hope that despite them probably going through there teenage years fighting and thinking they hate eachother, someday they will love eachother the way I love my sisters!

The other day when Ella was having a nap I asked Soph what she wanted to do and she said that she wanted to take "Pickers".. So out came the camera and we took some pickers. It was fun and a nice little time Sophie and I could share together.

So I have been sick with a cold for the last week and my mom called on Saturday and asked how I was doing. I was trying to be tough and act like I was just fine. Truth is I sounded a lot sicker then I was but my mom felt sorry for me and showed up in Lethbridge on my doorstep at 6:00 that evening ready to take Sophie for the night. It was so sweet of her and Sophie was over the moon! We ran upstairs and packed her bags and out the door she went with absoloutly no remorse. She had a blast and the next day after church we went and picked her up. She has since been saying on a daily basis how she needs to "packa bag so i can go to gamma lubbits for seepover." Unfortunately Sophie got my mom sick so I don't think there will be any seepovers for the next week or so. Anyway I think this picture makes her look so old. IT reminds me of when we were little and we would pack our little suitcases and go for sleepovers at grandmas. It was the funnest time ever. We got to drink pop and eat jube jubes which never ever happened at our house. Anyway thanks Gamma Lubbit! It was delightful only having one baby for the night. One of the million perks of living close to home.

And last but not least I love this pic of Ella. She looks like a little deer in headlights! haha.

Newborn Pics

We went and got newborn pics of Ella when she was 1 week old. I am so glad that we did it. I was still pretty sore and my tummy was still real pregnant looking but it was worth it.Jill Alston did them for us. Jill and I lived together in Edmonton-- we had way lots of fun and I just love her. She was so super patient with us and had all kinds of cute things to put her in and cool ways for me to hold her. I am so excited about them and think that she looks so darn cute. We were gonna try and take some of Sophie too but Soph was having too much fun playing dressups with Jills little girl, Dani. Soooo we will have to try that some other time.

House of Sickies

We all have nasty colds.. Even poor little Ella. Sophie has it the worst. She cries when she coughs cause it hurts so bad. She has been such a trooper though.. she is concerned more about little Ella then she is herself. Anytime Ella coughs she gets so sad. We went to the dr today and he said it's going around and that it definately isn't RSV so thats good. actually Ella isn't really that bad-- just a little dry cough. Anyway other than that things have been great! We are loving our little Ella girl to death and Sophie is such a great help. She has grown up so much since Ella was born and I feel so lucky that she has embraced the "big sister" role so well and really hasn't been difficult at all. She still reminds me on a daily basis that "No holding Sophie cause you have a sore tummy.. just hold hands k." My tummy is virtually pain-free but Sophie is still quite concerned about it. 

Today Ella is 4 weeks and is still so easy. She is incredibly content and has started to smile back at us. I love this newborn stage and wish they would stay this little for longer. 

One other thing! We are officially going to calgary with APX this summer. I have known for quite sometime now but it's now official! Spence is the lead tech for the Calgary office and I am soooo excited! It is fun going to far away places but I am ready to be close to home now. We are so excited that Ben and Kristi are coming with us so the girls have little friends to play with and I have Kristi to shop with. haha. Also my sisters and brother are working for APX too so i will get to have them around YAY!

Anyway I am sooo going to bed but I thought I would post an update.. its been awhile! Here are a few pics from the last few weeks.

Daddy and his sickies. Sophie wanted to be held but wanted Spence to hold Ella too.

Sophie has been OBSESSED with makey- up! She wants lipsty sticky on all the time.

Chase came to visit from Utah just to see Ella. I loved seeing him and I am so excited that he will be in Calgary this summer with us.