Ella's big girl room

Finally! I started on Ella's big girl bedroom before she was 2. She's 4 now and I just now have the bedding that completes her palace! I've been saving for forever now and ordering it piece by piece for 6 months as they have sales because it is not cheap! But...it's perfect and worth the saving because I've been looking for over 2 years now. Her bedding is one of the few things in her room I didn't make but that's ok b/c it's gotta hold up for a while. Like til she's 16 :) But now I need to repaint her walls. The decorating never ends! Good thing it's a hobby :)

loving life

This picture pretty much sums up our sassy sister these days. Her favorite new saying is, "AWWWWKWARRRD!"

And here are some of my favorite pictures I've taken lately of my little lovelies...

L-O-V-E

                                                  This is my favorite part of the weekend :)

I'm backdating a post from Superbowl Sunday! We had so much fun! I haven't been on my blogging game as usual. It's not like I'm busy these days or anything-HA!

MY LITTLE DARLINGS-I know I say this all the time, but they truly have a special bond and are so attached to each other. They are a TEAM!

I love that everywhere we go, Ella and Luca think it's a party just for them. Espeically Ella ;) She was talking the next week all about her party at Amy and Hersson's house :) Of course Amy bought them party favors and everyone was so happy to oblige that I'm not surprised!  

the baby whisperer...

Ella was so excited to hold the baby. She was ok with me holding the baby the idea so long as I understood that we would be taking Luca home and we would NOT be trading brothers :)

music to my ears...

i love the noise these two little lovelies bring to our home :)

apparently he's been taking notes...he's never been put in time out before, but one day he put himself there when we told him to put down the remote! this was a recreation b/c we thought it was so funny ;)

Ella's First Date!!!

When we found out we were having a little girl, Mike immediately began to dream of that special daddy daughter relationship. When we first found out we were pregnant, Mike immediately said he wanted a baby girl. Mike was meant to love a little girl...obviously :) What these two have is rare and so special. For Valentines Day, he took her on her first date. All I have to say is her future husband has to be one heck of a man for this loved little lady to even consider dating him...all because she has such a special daddy that has taught her how to be loved.

She was greeted at the door with a red rose (her demand)...

 For her date, she requested: spaghetti, ice cream, a movie, a red rose, a dance, curly pigtails and to be picked up in the truck :) Daddy made ALL of this happen of course! We tried on dresses the night before. She twirled in each of them and picked the one that twirled the biggest :)

She skipped so happily all the way to the truck :)

  She told Daddy that this was such a fancy date...

Mike loves dating Ella to show her how she should be treated by a true gentleman and to give her a strong sense of love, admiration, and security in the lovely little lady she is. I can't wait until Luca is old enough to take me out!!! 

Lately

I have been a horrible picture taker lately which makes this blog kind of boring, but seriously I've been SO tired lately! I've just been walking through my days and taking care of business while trying to keep my eyelids open! I think it's just the business of late and the post holiday rest and catch up that never happened. So we have spent our weekends hanging with friends, squeezing in a date here and there and hibernating for the remainder of winter to get ready for Spring!

I go back to the doctor next week for what will hopefully be either my last check up or next to last check up to be "cleared" of all post molar pregnancy issues. Pray all goes well!  

 Could they be any sweeter? I love how much they love each other. I hope they always do!

 Mike and I got a fun LATE night away thanks to Amy and Hersson who basically spent the night at our house to let us stay and party the night away! The wedding was so much fun and absolutely beautiful. Congratuations Mr. and Mrs. Kling!

Tonight we are starting the week off right at a Super Bowl Party!

all things lovely

can i get an amen?

tiny dancer...

 love this dog...

 love these babies...

love him...

have a great weekend!

a little of this and that

Lot's of exciting things have been happening here at the Reading house! I can't wait to report on those things later--but mama is sickly today so I'm just gonna lay here on this couch and blog about these two little lovelies...

this little dude has been on a trial base gluten and casein free diet to see if/how it helps his alopecia. Gluten includes everything that contains wheat and most things that contain preservatives...so like-everything. And casein is in dairy-which is like everything else he has left to eat :) but we have gotten the hang of it and it actually is helping. We are going to give it a few more months to see exactly how much it will help, but we have hair growth! I also want to see what is actually the diet and/or if it is a part of the regrowth pattern, which is why we will give it more time.

we let him break his diet every now and then. the first time we gave him real food about a month after we started this was in december. we ordered this boy a quarter pounder and he ate every last bite!!! he's never even eaten more than half of a regular happy meal-but he seized his opportunity for sure. and he was happy :)

this is what most of our days have looked like lately! we are enjoying a super relaxed post holiday schedule :)

Also, I'm behind on Luca's well check stats. I was late taking him in for his 15 month well check. Like 2 months late...oops! Anyway, he checked out "perfect"! However he is slowing down on the growth charts these days. Never did I ever think my nearly 9 1/2 pounder (a week early at birth) would have ever been called "petite", but he's slowed down a lot ranking at a whopping 31st percentile in height and weight :) He's very muscular and still has his big bowed chest--he just doesn't have any baby fat and he's not super tall!

and these are just because he's so darn cute :)

And have I mentioned that this little guy is into EVERYTHING?!?! I walked away last Sunday morning to grab my jacket before church and in the 2 seconds I took my eye off of him-he broke the dog bowl, tried to chew on the broken piece and cut his lip AND crawled up on the kitchen table to get my coffee mug that I strategically placed in the center so he couldn't reach it and he poured it down the hallway. We've started putting the remotes out of reach because he's obsessed with them and he hides them like a dog hides a bone! He hid our remote in the Christmas tree and it took us a month to discover it. The crafty little dude got the laundry hamper, carried it into the living room, turned it upside down and crawled up to reach the remotes. We can't outsmart him!
BUSTED :)

Ella and Luca got superhero capes for Christmas this year :) They love flighting around the house in them. Ella's favorite thing to do is throw Pippa behind the couch so she can rescue her-over and over again. Poor Pippa! But Ella sure does have a blast. I love her big "imagillation" ;)

And here is the little lady :) She is such a doll...

This is Ella with her American Girl doll and their matching Christmas dresses :) I forgot the doll at Christmas (along with everything else including my mind) so we had to wait for our picture. 

so cute together ;)

And then there's the newest addition to our family! She has just fit right in! We have learned a lot about Pippa. She loves to play with jingle bells. Her favorite treats are not beef chews, they are mini marshmallows. She likes to play with balls that she can bounce and tackle--like a cat. so we have been visiting the cat section to find her a few toys she'll actually play with.  She enjoys perching on the back of the couch and playing under the bed-like a cat. She like's to prey and pounce-like a cat. Even though she has some kitty like tendencies--she's so cute and the PERFECT dog for us :)