CUPCAKES and a one week old!

Happy girl cause Mommy is holding both of them. This is how I move around the house a lot these days.

Having a heart to heart with Uncle Chris.

Just felt a little yellow today. Ella has received so many precious gifts and this is one of the homemade blankets friends have made for her.

Ummmm, that was good! Thanks Amy.

Happy First week as a Sitarski Ella. We all made with some minor bumps along the way :)

Our friend Amy Ryan brought us over cupcakes from this yummy place called Jilly's. Bryan and I got chocolate, but Miss Lily got an Elmo cupcake. As you can see, she kinda enjoyed it! This totally makes up for her not digging into her 1st birthday cake. It was hilarious to watch. She was a little worried about eating Elmo's eyes, but got over it!

Things are calming down around here. It was a ROUGH few days there, but as things fall into place and Ella gets to know us and we get to know her things are better. Lily has had some major crying moments and so has her Mommy. She loves Ella and is super sweet to her, but is not to happy with me when I have to feed her or I can't carry them both. It's so hard when Lily can't express with words what she wants so a meltdown is the way she gets her point across.

On Ella's birthday, which was one week ago today, Lily turned 22 months!

Some great things Lily is doing these days. I can't remember if I wrote this last month but the girl can do an amazing somersault! She is quit the little athlete. We are getting ready to start up Little Gym again, I can't wait to see the skills she gains this go around.

She loves "wheels on the bus," "itsy bitsy spider" "ABC song" and "Twinkle Twinkle" I think we sing them about a thousand times a day. She has all the hand motions and is getting the words down better all the time.

She is sleeping in her big girl bed pretty much all by herself. Her Daddy gets called in the middle of the night and will usually sleep in there with her since I have Ella to feed!

She is now really cooking in her kitchen making all kinds of imaginary concoctions.

She nurses her baby. She pulled her shirt up the other day and started nursing. It was so cute.

OK this post is super long and Miss Ella is waking from her nap. (Lily is with Grandma today, hence the time to post:)

We have Ella's pro pictures tomorrow with Laurie N. I can't wait to see how everyone does !

Just pictures!

Only have one hand to do things these days, so just some pics of my girls!

ELLA LYNN

Ella Lynn Sitarski is here! She was born August 20, 2009.
She's 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long.
She is a sweet baby and is already super alert and active.
Her big sister is so excited to see her each time she comes and talks about her when she's not here. She loves holding her and kissing her!! Hope this keeps up!
She is nursing great!!! And has had lots of visitors.

Grandma Cheryl
Grandpa Reynolds
Grandma Reynolds
Grandma McClaskey
The Quicks
Aunt Kim
A kiss from her big sister!
Meeting for the first time!
Uncle Chris and Aunt Amber
Ella Lynn
Our newest member
Holding her for the first time!

Last Day as a Family of 3!

Today, August 19th 2009, our official last day as a family of 3. I really can't believe I am going to meet my 2nd daughter tomorrow. It's a little overwhelming and I have had some moments today that I have had my heart race with joy or have been scared to death at what lies ahead for this family I love so much. I know, millions of big sisters and big brothers have dealt with a new baby. I just am so worried about how Lily is going to react and feel. I don't want her for one minute to feel sad or left out. I never had a sister so I am so excited that she now gets to have a best friend (hopefully) for a lifetime. She's been my baby for almost 2 years and has had both of our undivided attention. Everything will be fine I know.
Onto other things...this is how we spent our last day together. Coffee and Elmo this morning. A long 2 hour nap together, lunch, last minute packing, some fun pictures in Ella's room, and of course finding our first family fish. She has asked for a fish for some time and we thought it would be a great distraction to get one right around Ella's birth. So off we went to Petsmart this afternoon. She loved them all, but we settled on a goldfish. He/she is so pretty and she already loves him so much. We just have to think of a name now. She actually said "no" to Nemo. Humm?
Well they should be calling around 5:30 tomorrow morning for us to head to the hospital. I am so ready for what the day should bring. Say a prayer for a healthy baby and an easy delivery!!



Giving Fishy a smooch!!

How we will keep her hands out of the bowl, I am not sure.

Here he is, we haven't picked a name yet. Right now he's just fishy, fishy, fishy.

Checking out the fish at Petsmart. Looking for the perfect one to bring home!

I had set up the automatic timer to get some belly shots and Lily wanted to be in some pictures with me!! This is now one of my favorites.

Look at that belly!

Lily having fun with Ella's name!

Trying to balance the letters!

We spent last night and this morning doing breathing treatments. She's been coughing and wheezing for a day. I sure hope it goes away before tomorrow. Poor baby.

Big Tease!

Eyes closed

Starting to peek and smile!

Ha Ha caught you Lily!

My Lily is just like her Daddy and loves to tease and play tricks on us. Her new favorite, that I just happened to catch on camera, is acting like she's sleeping. She tries to keep those eyes closed for so long-but sometimes just has to peek to see if we are looking at her. This day I caught the silliness from start to finish. She is really a little actress lately. I LOVE this part of her personality. I can't believe she will be 22 months old on Thursday.

Baby Ella update-well nothing really. I have now gone to see one of Chris' professors at Logan 2 times for acupuncture to help initiate labor. The first treatment was Thursda. On Friday I had some horrible contractions at work, which my poor co-workers had to witness. But then the contractions fizzled away. My second treatment was yesterday, so we shall see what happens today or tomorrow. His wife also suggested an herbal tea that helps with increasing the productiveness of contractions during labor. She said she used it throughout the last weeks of each of her pregnancies and swares by it. So I have been drinking that, it's actually yummy with a little honey in it.

Who knows what Ella and God have planned as far as her birthday, but let me tell you today would be fine with me :)!!

This Egg Has Cracked!

So I took Lily out of the car this evening and put her inside. I ran out to get the mail and heard "UH OH MOMMY!!!" This is what I saw when I got back inside.

I also named this post because I swore I would work up to the day they induce me, which is now 8 days away!!! But after working today and feeling pretty exhausted, crappy and having lots of nonproductive contractions I decided that this Friday is my last day. Hooray for that!

Fair Time

Right before she started screaming! She asked to go on this ride and cried when we told her "no" then when it got going cried her eyes out!

LOVED the cars!! Adam Sammelmann rode with her!

This is probably one of my new favorite pictures and yes they had matching shirts on!

I know 2 posts in one day-how lucky are you? Summer time means the county fair! I have been looking forward to taking Lily all summer to the St. Charles county fair and we got to go last night. She had tons of fun. She got to pet all kinds of animals including a camel! She rode her first carnival rides one she loved-the cars the other not so much. We watched the dock dogs jump into the water and she thought that was super cool. Of course she boogied to the band and enjoyed some fair food! It was a beautiful July evening in St. Charles!

New Bike

Lily's grandma Cheryl found her this bike and Lily really loves it! We have to take it on all our walks, she's done with the stroller on walks, and she does pretty good. She hasn't learned to really steer it yet, but is starting to learn to peddle by herself. The handle for us to help push her is the best!!
Update on Ella! The Dr. is going to induce me on August 20th!! I can't believe it's August and I can't wait to see our newest addition. I have been having lots of contractions, especially in the afternoon when I am tired and doing too much. They always go away after some relaxation!! It would be great if they would actually do something instead of just hurt!! Soon enough though!