Be Gone, Dreary Housewife!

Tonight, I am wearing high heels. I am putting my sweats aside, bypassing the jeans, opting away from my teacher shoes, pushing past my t-shirts and sweater sets, and I am wearing a skirt and a shirt that qualifies as a blouse. I am wearing a necklace with matching earrings. I am actually going to brush my hair into a nice ponytail and not the regular bird's nest that is on my head.

I will also be wearing control top pantyhose underneath a body-shaping Spanx and a tummy tightening tank top. Since my body's not right and tight anymore (literally), I gotta fake it somehow.

Hello Christmas party, Elizabeth Ellis is coming to you looking like the pre-baby-ish version of herself.

Separation Anxiety

Last week I went on a trip to Oklahoma to see my brother graduate from college. What an enormous accomplishment for Woody! I'm definitely a proud big sister!

I went to Oklahoma without Nyla because, let's be honest, what a nightmare having an almost-2-year-old on an airplane flight for a three day trip. So Paul and I decided she would stay home and I would go by  myself. Secretly in my head, I was saying "YES!" I could hear the George Michael song in my head: "Freeedooooommmm...FREEEEEDOOOOOMMMM." :)

Thursday morning, I headed out to the airport with my parents and aunt and uncle. It was about then that I started to get a little itchy about being gone. Then we sat down in our seats on the flight and I was getting extremely itchy about it. It's not that I don't trust Paul at home with Nyla; he's a wonderful father! I just was starting to feel extremely apprehensive about being away from my girl.

When the airplane began to push back from the gate, I started to cry. My apprehensions got the best of me and I waved my white flag: I was going to miss Nyla and part of me was terrified that something was going to happen to her or to me while I was gone.

I was sitting in row 17B (middle seat) and I was really trying to hold it together. I had one guy to the right of me at the window seat and then another man on the other side of me whose wife and children were across the aisle. And then there was me, tears streaming down my face. I was blotting my tears with my scarf and trying to maintain some sort of dignity through this crying episode.

Mr. Window saw me crying out of the corner of his eye and promptly turned his entire body so that he was straight up facing the window. Mr. Family Guy kept making "crying" hand signals to his wife and pointing at me. I'm relatively certain I made those two men uncomfortable, but I didn't care. You guys, I couldn't stop crying! I cried all through taxiing, takeoff, and 15 minutes into the flight...a good 30-40 minutes of crying.

Thankfully I was able to get through the rest of the trip episode-free. Whew! It was just that initial, "OMG-I'm-leaving-Nyla-and-something-might-happen-what-if-she-needs-me" freakout. After that, I was good to go!

I'm thinking she'll go with me on our next trip though...I missed my sweet girl!

Our Singer

Miss Nyla sang her first song today from memory...part of a song, at least. She sang the letters A through G today in the car. Clear as day, she just sang them out from her car seat!

I can't even begin to express to you how overly excited I got about this. My child, Nyla Ellis, terror of our house, animal monkey savage child, sang the first part of the alphabet un-prompted! We didn't have to sing the song to get her going, we didn't have to ask her to sing it for us. She just started to sing it to the other cars on the road.

My angel is growing up. Today she's singing the alphabet, tomorrow she's asking for money from her father. Awww...

It's a Pants-less Party

A week or two ago, I thought to myself, "Nyla should be self-sufficient. She should be able to take her own clothes off when we change into our jammies." I am now regretting that decision to teach her those skills. Homegirl now loves to take off her pants. LOVES it.

Case in point: $1 taco night on Tuesday. We went to the Mexican spot in Tigard and had tacos. Nyla happily had a grilled cheese and fries and then wandered around our table, people watching. Paul and I are talking to my parents, just visiting, and I saw her out of the corner of my eye. Miss Nyla was standing in the middle of the restaurant pulling her pants down. She pulls her shirt halfway up her tummy and then starts to fervently pull at the waistband of her pants. What do you do, but laugh and try to convince a 20-month-old to keep her pants on?

Let's just hope this little pants-less phase doesn't last into college.

School Pictures

Nyla had her school pictures taken a few weeks ago and we just got them today. Can you say adorable? 

Hey guys.

Now don't think that Paul or I did her hair. If we would have "done" her hair, it would look all amazonian and jungle, curling in all directions and falling into her face. Thankfully our girl loves for her teachers to do her hair, so they happily put it in pigtails for us. 

You look at that picture, look at it real closely. She almost looks angelic, like she could do no wrong. DO NOT BE FOOLED. That is the face of a monkey girl who loves to taunt and torment her parents and her dog. 

But alas, I adore her immensely. This school picture will take a place of honor in our home. It will be our constant reminder, especially when homegirl is acting up, that she is our little angel. 

Who Needs Wipes?

I had to take Nyla to an appointment today. I picked her up from daycare and she had just, literally JUST, had her diaper changed and we were heading straight to the doctor's office. When we got to the office, I started gathering my 8,000 things that I would need while we're there: snacks, toys, a book, a spare diaper, sweater (in case it was cold), a short sleeved shirt (in case it was hot). I was prepared.  My bag was chock full of distractions for Nyla and the last thing that I would have needed to grab were wipes. The only thing of wipes I had in the car was a massive bag of them...the bag that is filled with wipes that you use to refill your regular wipe-distributor. Great.

I stupidly thought to myself, "I won't need wipes. She won't poop...she just had her diaper changed." Guess what the first thing homegirl did when we got to the office was? Pooped.

Of course she would poop. Why have I not learned this yet? When in doubt, Elizabeth, take a hundred of whatever you are doubting. I should have lugged that whole damn thing of wipes in with me, all 475 wipes. But no, I decided against it and I was punished...again.

When will I ever learn?

**No, I didn't just let her marinate in her poo. I cleaned her up using regular ol' toilet paper...and it broke when I was wiping her, thus getting poop on my fingers. Day #602 of getting poop on my fingers. Seriously, I am not made to change diapers.**

Terrible 2's? How about Terrible 19 Months?

Let's talk about homegirl for a second, okay? Miss Thing has hit her stride with throwing tantrums. Her favorite thing to do? Throw herself face first into her chair and let her legs fly up in the air all while she's trying her damnedest to cry with *actual* tears. I love when I catch her mid-cry, looking at me like, "Is she watching?"

Even her daycare has noticed that Miss Nyla is...dramatic. She comes by that honestly from, ahem, me. But her level of dramatics is far superior to mine. I'm one to have a little fit when I don't get my way, then I realize that I'm a grown woman, and I put on my big girl pants, and move on with the day. Nyla will hold onto her fit for hours...HOURS. It's like once the bad mood starts, there is no end in sight. Everything is cry-worthy: socks on the floor, Okie not giving her a kiss, the teddy bear is upside down, she doesn't have enough broccoli on her plate...I put that last one in there so that you all know that I feed my daughter vegetables. :)

She might be a hellion, but she's our little hellion. And we like her just as she is.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny