The ending of yet another year...

…and what a year it has been! Elyssa has blossomed into a beautiful, intelligent, loving little girl. My baby has somewhere and somehow disappeared, and this inquisitive, demanding, sweet little child has been put in her place. I do have to say I am a bit sad at the loss of my baby, but I am so excited about the future. She will be turning 3 in 3 months. Yes, 3 in three months. I almost had a small breakdown when I realized her 3rd b-day was so close. Of course this does bring on the excitement of planning her big 3rd b-day and we all know just how much fun I have doing that. I’m very confused about a theme this year, Elyssa and I will have to have a talk about this. Speaking of talking, she is doing quite a bit of it! Her vocabulary is just amazing and her ability to speak in full sentences is just amazing to me. I guess it is just normal for kids her age, but to me it is amazing that I am able to have a conversation with her and she is able to communicate to me exactly what she wants. She tells me when she is cold, hot, hungry, thirsty, sad, or having a bad day. Some of the things that she says just cracks me up. If she is upset, she will tell me “mommy, I have my feather’s in a bunch” or if she is happy about something she will say “mommy, that just cracks me out” (instead of cracks me up!!). She also tells me that Daddy is being grumpy when he tells her “no”, or that she wants to do things “by myself mommy, by my self”. Such independence and character, my little girl has!

The last few months have been very busy and exciting. There were so many holidays to celebrate. In October we went to the pumpkin patch with Elyssa’s friends Jack and Luke. She had such a wonderful time, feeding the goats, going on a hay ride and of course picking out the pumpkins to take home. We also went trick or treating for the first time. We went to Aunt Na-na’s house and went with her. This year Elyssa was a beautiful princess. It was so cute seeing our little princess go up to each house and say “trick or treat” and “thank you” for all the candy. By the end of the evening she had the whole idea of trick or treating down to an art. We also went to a Halloween party at Aunt Lisa’s house. It was so much fun getting dressed up; playing games and Aunt Lisa even had a haunted graveyard walk in her backyard. She did hay rides in her wheel barrel and had lots of pizza to eat. Aunt Lisa eve n took us to a Fall Festival at the Rec Center a week or so before Halloween where Elyssa go to play games, jump in bounce houses, walk through a petting zoo, and of course eat yummy snacks. Elyssa had so much fun!

November was not only a Thanksgiving celebration but also the kick off of the Christmas season! We spent Thanksgiving at Nana and Pops in Lufkin TX. Elyssa got to stay in a hotel while we were there and she loved it. Her cousin “Eban” (Ethan) even got to spend the night in the hotel with her and she thought that was just wonderful. The day after Thanksgiving Nana and pop took us all the Lufkin Zoo. We all had a really great time and Elyssa just loved running around looking at all the different animals. We even got to ride the “choo choo” train around the zoo. A week before Thanksgiving Elyssa asked to see Santa. Now everyone remembers that last year, Elyssa would not go near Santa. This year, she not only wanted to see Santa, she sat on his lap on multiple occasions. I was just so proud of her. Aunt Heidi also came to visit in November. We had a wonderful visit with her and wished she could have stayed longer. We went to the Gaylord Texan Resort with her and Aunt Lisa to kick off some Christmas spirit. They decorate the entire resort in a Christmas theme and it is amazing to see.

December was filled with Christmas fun! We even had a playdate with her friend Jamie where we made Sugar cookies and let the kids eat all the cookies and icing that they wanted to. Hey, kids are only kids once sooo I say let them eat cookies!! We went to the Bass Pro Shop’s Christmas celebration with her friend Jamie as well. We took her to the Wylie light up night to watch the parade, but it was soooo cold we did not stay very long. She even got to see Santa at Wal-Mart and got her picture taken there as well. There were so many wonderful things we go to do this year with her for Christmas. We went to Richardson’s Santa’s village and got to see all the holiday lights and walk through some really cute cottages as well. In school (MDO) Elyssa put on a Christmas program. It was so cute! The kids all got up on stage in the chapel and sang songs. I was such a proud mommy that day. She stood up there and sang and did all the motions for the songs. Of course I took hundreds of pictures and a video of it all. Afterwards she came to me and said “mommy, all I see was daddy taking pictures and more pictures and more pictures!” I almost died laughing, she knows her mommy and daddy well! For Christmas Eve we had a Mexican Fiesta at our house for all the family and Aunt Na-na & JT. Christmas morning was incredible and magical. Elyssa really understood that she was going to get toys for Christmas this year and was so excited when she came down Christmas morning. Santa had been very hard at work Christmas Eve putting together a new red tricycle and a new princess 3 wheel scooter. She got so many wonderful things that as of today there are still items still in plastic waiting to be opened and played with. I’m in no hurry, it can be a new Christmas next week! We spent Christmas day at Aunt Cheri’s house in Irving with all the family including Nana and Pop!

That brings me to today. New Years Eve 2009. Tonight we are spending it with some friends. A small gathering of people close to us to bring in the New Year and reflect on the past. I am hoping Elyssa is going to stay up for the New Year, in fact she is still napping right now in hopes that she will be able to stay in and ring in the New Year with mommy and daddy….

Happy New Year from our house to your!

Remember me? Can I? Why? Love you more…

Yup, those are Elyssa favorite new things to say. She will look at me with those big inquisitive eyes and ask “mommy, daddy remember me?” I try not to laugh and say “Of course Daddy remembers you”. Of course she answers this with, “why mommy?” and the day begins….

I sometimes think that Elyssa talks just to hear herself talk. It is truly amazing to me but I think she could amuse herself all day long just talking to herself! I remember saying that I could not wait till she talked and we could carry on our own little conversations, now, sometimes I wish I had a good set of ear plugs!

She certainly is learning how to push buttons with the phrase “Can I?” She will ask if she can do something and I will say “no, Elyssa”. She will answer this with “Can I?” I will say “no”, she will again ask “can I?”, and Again I will “no Elyssa” a bit more firmly. Does this stop her, of course not. She will yet again ask “Can I mommy, Please!!!” I look at her and ask “Elyssa, what did mommy say?” she then will get these adorable pouty eyes and whisper “Sorry, mommy, sorry”. I honestly think she thinks if she asks the same question multiple times she will get a different answer. And this scenario will play out about 20 + times a day with the same routine. I sometimes start to wonder about Pavlov’s theory…..

The sweetest thing she says and of course I could listen to her say it all day long is “love you more, mommy”. I can’t even imagine 3 sweeter words that she could ever say. She is just changing so much and growing up way to fast. I know I’ve said that a million times but it is so true and there is just no way to stop time.

Well it is official, Elyssa is 100% “poopie in the potty” trained! No accidents for about 2 and a half months now. Of course the “pee-pee” in the potty is a whole other story. Isn’t #2 suppose to be the hard for kids to get and #1 is the easy one? Well we think that Elyssa really has no control over it at all. The last time we had her VCUG for her renal reflux it had progressed from Stage 2 to Stage 3 so it was not getting any better. The dr agreed to allow us to wait till she was 3 to do the surgery (in case we could get her potty trained with the hope that it might help) but it appears my little girl is ready to be all the way potty trained and because mommy and daddy don’t want to do the surgery she is unable to “hold it or feel the urge” to go. In fact when I ask her where does the “pee-pee” go and she will reply “in the potty mommy”. So I ask her why is it in her diaper, she looks at me and says “no fair mommy, not fair”, so I ask her again and she tells me “hush your mouth mommy”! So, I think we have decided to call the urologist and see if we can go ahead and do the surgery and pray for the best.

Elyssa has been enjoying the fall. We went to the TX state fair where Elyssa got to see, pet and feed all kinds of animals and eat her first Corny dog. We took her to pumpkin patches, fall festivals, Six Flags Fright Fest and 2 Halloween parties. I don’t think there was anything she missed out on. She even went Trick or Treating on Halloween. It was her first time and she did great. She said Trick or Treat to everyone who came to the doors and held her bag open. She of course kept asking to “eat candies” all night long as well, and of course we let her. What else is Halloween about ….CANDY!!

Right now I have flooring installers at my house installing new floors downstairs. I am so excited, no more carpet on the first floor. Next is the upstairs!!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

TX State Fair~ Oct 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The amazing Jumping Bean..

Elyssa loves to jump. I guess all kids love to jump, but I just think Elyssa is sometimes obsessed with jumping. She even at 2 years old wants to jump rope. I hold the jump rope for her and she will jump over the rope. Now I only hold it about an inch off the ground but the girl loves to jump. Recently, on one of our many trips to Collin Creek Mall, Elyssa notices a new play object. They have something new that allows a person to be strapped into a harness and jump as high as they can. Elyssa of course when she first saw it, begged to go on the “jumping bean”. Jumping Bean is what she so loving calls anything she can jump on. The first time I saw it I told her no that she had to be “bigger” to get on it, to me it just looked a bit to dangerous for a kid her size and I honestly did not think they would allow her to go on it. So she was happy to do what we always do; ride the train, play in the play area, and ride the coin operated cars on the way out. Well the next time we went a few days later daddy was with us. Of course as soon as daddy saw the new “jumping bean” he was intrigued. As Elyssa was riding the train (it is in front of the area where the train is), he walked over and talked to the gentleman who was running the “jumping bean”. He found out that Elyssa was no only big enough they had actually allowed kids smaller than her to jump. Apparently the weight limit on the “jumping bean” was 20-150lbs and Elyssa is 30lbs. So after the train ride we walked over to the “jumping bean” and discussed what to do. As Eddie and I debated whether or not to allow her to jump Elyssa was standing beside me pleading “want to mommy, want to, please mommy want to” so of course as I looked into those adorable blue eyes and could not refuse..she got to ride the “jumping bean”. I won’t lie, I was scared to death that she would start bawling and hate it, but my little Elyssa was a real trooper. She not only did great, she loved it. The gentleman who ran the “jumping bean” was great with her and helped her the whole time. She was giggling and laughing as she jumped at least 10-13 ft in the air. All I could do was laugh with her and of course take a ton of pictures and videos of her first amazing experience on the jumping bean!

Of course since that first time jumping on the “jumping bean”, we now have to ride on the jumping bean every time we go to the mall, but I have to say her giggles and laughs make it all worth it…

Skateboards and Roller Skates...

Yes, I said a skate board and roller skates. I know she is only 2 but she was watching one of her favorite cartoons (Max & Ruby) and they were roller skating and on a skate board and she sooo wanted them as well. We did not exactly buy them at the same time. We actually went to Academy and got her the skate board first. We bought her a helmet, knee and elbow pads to go with it. In fact she insisted we buy them when we got her the skateboard. Of course it is a princess helmet with matching elbow pads and knee pad, what else would you expect? She did not do real well on the skateboard and pretty much just sits on the board and lets us push her around. We got her the roller skates about 2 weeks later at Target. They of course are princess roller skates and also came with matching elbow and knee pads. The kid is set for safety that is for sure. She did so much better with the roller skating. In fact reminded me of myself when I was learning to skate. She wears the skates all around the house. She does great on the carpet (does not roll as much…lol) and when she goes in the kitchen she does great as long as she is holding on to the counter and such. I’m really proud of her on the skates. In fact we took her roller skating at a real roller rink a week after we got the skates. She absolutely loved it and did a great job for a first time. Daddy was home so he went as well and Aunt Lisa went with us to. I actually think we could start skating more often … time will tell.

First Family Vacation...

Well we finally broke down and took our first and much needed family vacation. So we worked some magic with daddy’s horrible schedule, got the plane tickets, packed the suitcases and headed for the first Borden family vacation. Now what better place to take a well needed vacation than….WALLY WORLD…oh, wait that was the Griswold’s National Lampoon vacation I’m confusing this with, …we actually went to Disneyland or in the words of Elyssa “Mickey’s House”. Ok, really Disneyland was only a part of our trip, we took 8 blissful days and enjoyed the San Diego Zoo, a bunch of beautiful beaches, and 2 days at incredible Disneyland. Thanks to daddy working his horrible travel job, the plane tickets and the hotel were all free! Ok, since daddy sacrifices so much family time with us because of his job, I guess the tickets were not really “free”. Unfortunately daddy had to pay for all the “free” stuff with time he had to spend away from myself and Elyssa. There truly is a tradeoff for everything in life, nothing is every truly free!

We started the trip off by flying into Las Angeles and driving to San Diego where we spent 2 days. We went to the world famous San Diego Zoo where Elyssa had an incredible time visiting with all the animals and got to take her first Gondola ride over the Zoo and a tour of the zoo in a double decker tour bus. We also went to Mission Bay Beach, Ocean Beach and Dog Beach. At Dog Beach Elyssa got to run on the beach with all of the puppy dogs. She had an incredible time visiting with all the dogs. Dog Beach is an off leach beach that pet owners can take there dogs to play in the water.

After leaving San Diego, we made our way to Anaheim, CA to our hotel, Hilton’s Embassy Suites. We spent the rest of our visit there where we spent 2 blissful days at Disneyland, Downtown Disney and the rest of the time at Huntington Beach and Crystal Beach.

Elyssa had a wonderful time at Disney, and I have to say the most incredible way to see Disney is through the eyes of an inquisitive 2 year old. I had never been to any of the Disney parks so this was a first for me as well. The joy of seeing it through the eyes of Elyssa was more than any mom could hope for. At first she was a bit afraid of the characters but quickly warmed up to them and ran to great each and every one of them! She even really surprised us and rode all of the rides that she was able with us.

All I can really say to sum the whole trip up is….. MAGICAL!