I Lovey You

There is one very very important item in the Hylton household...the lovey.

Elle has always loved falling asleep with something on her face.  As a baby it was always a bib or burp cloth and I tried to rarely let this happen because it scared the bejesus out of me...even though I was holding her.  At some point last summer on a quick Target run I stumbled across these breathable security blankets and decided to give them a try.  Little did I know how important these little blankets would become!  We have 4 or 5 of them in rotation now and every single time I'm in Target I look for more (typically with zero luck).

Eric and I both had attachments to blankies as kids so it's funny to see that the tradition has carried on with Elle. Just last week at bedtime her loveys were in the washing machine so I tried to give her a baby blanket to use which did not go over well.  Her lovey goes everywhere with us...everywhere.  It calms her down when she's upset, it's a necessity when she's tired and watching Elmo videos is no fun unless you have a lovey to hold.  She has even tried to take a bath with ther lovey.

At around 11 months we started letting her sleep through the night with it.  Before that we would let her fall asleep with it in her crib and then sneak in and try to pull it from her little hands, sometimes waking her up in the process thus starting the bedtime routine all over.

 

 

I sometimes wonder how long she will be so attached to her lovey.  I actually still have my blankie made by my Grandma and would absolutely never be able to part with it.  It's just folded up in a drawer with other blankets but I will keep it forever.  Who knows, we may be moving Elle into her college dorm with this thing, and now I'm off to go cry in a corner. :)

Charles Edwin

Last week this sweet boy was born and he completely stole this aunt's heart.

Charlie had a scheduled c section for the morning of Friday, 2/21.  We were the lucky ones who got to keep big brother Henry for a sleepover on Thursday night.  Elle had so much fun having Henry over and these two ran through the house like little tu-tu wearing tornados.  We had a "Big Brother" cake for Henry, he wasn't too interested in it and actually didn't want a piece but Lord knows Elle did!

Henry was so excited to meet Charlie so on the way to the hospital we had a dance party in the car (after he took off his shoes and socks and threw them in the backseat). :)

It was such a fun day loving on this sweet little boy, he is too cute for words and looks so much like Henry as a baby!

Elle even let Uncle Nick hold her!

Due to Nick's bad back I got to stay at the hospital with Mary and Charlie Saturday night.  I kissed this sweet little face a hundred times.

We are taking dinner to the Voss family tonight so I will get to see and smooch on both my nephews and Elle will be smack in the middle of her 2 best buds.

Valentine's Day - 2014

We had a fun little Valentine's Day this year.  Our day starting by dropping off Elle at Grammy & PawPaw's on my way to work, as soon as we walked in the door Henry was ready for her to open her Valentine's day gifts.  She had presents there from Grammy & PawPaw and Henry gave her a cute little Cabbage Patch doll and some chocolates.  Henry also handed out a Valentine to each of us.  It was adorable how excited he was. (Uncle E got the ape, KayKay the penguins and Elle the polar bear)

 

 

After work I picked up Elle and Eric swung by Amighetti's to pick up some Italian take out (and cannoli's!) for a casual Valentine's day dinner at home.  After dinner we all exchanged gifts, Elle once again made out like a bandit and I didn't do so bad myself.  Eric got me a new iPad cover and wallet/cell phone wristlet.

I bought Eric a Keurig, he has been a big fan of the one my parents have so I figured he would enjoy his own.

A shot of some of Elle's Valentine's Day loot...I told you, the girl is spoiled.  Missing from this picture is a box full of adorable clothes & fun pink cup from PawPaw & Grammy and Minnie Mouse pj's from daddy.  Henry got her the doll and chocolates, Eric's mom and dad gave her the Elmo doll, one of those fun Disney sippy cups was part of my mom & dad's present to her and the rest is from Mommy & Daddy.

This little puppy dog abba barks and walks around.  Her name is Dottie the dachshund and Vito & Hermann hate her.  End of story.

 

Elle modeling her Minnie Mouse pj's Eric picked out for her.

I'm such a lucky lady to have such special Valentine's.

Bath Time

So remember when I posted about Elle loving her baths last year?  Well the love affair is over.  Elle hates baths now.  Actually, I take that back.  She likes the idea of baths, she loves watching as I fill up the bathtub, she even enjoys about 2 minutes of playing in the tub with all her toys but after that...forget about it.  She hates having her hair washed, pouring water over her head is her idea of torture and as soon as I start using the washcloth she's angry (don't even get me started on washing her face).

One thing she loves about bath time, putting on lotion after her bath.  She holds the bottle of lotion and closes the lid for me after I squeeze more out.  She has seen me put my own lotion on my face so she squeezes an imaginary hand full of lotion into her little palm and then rubs it on my face.  Makes my whole day. :)

Here's a cute little series of pics I took after a bath last weekend.  The second she's out of the tub and in my arms she settles down and is ready for fun again.  She's a tad dramatic and I have no idea where she gets it. :)

Baby Models

One day as I was sitting at work my phone starting blowing up with adorable pictures of Henry & Elle.  They decide to have a little photoshoot with Grammy in the kitchen.

 

These 2 have so much fun with their Grams!

 

 

January

Since I'm no longer taking monthly photos of Elle I decided to do a monthly picture roundup and recap.  Plus I figured this would be a fun way to remember all the things that occupied our time throughout the year.

 

You've already heard about the fun we had at Sesame Street Live and Fresh Beat Band so here is how we spent the rest of the month.

Fun times at Grammy & PawPaw's...& Uncle T due to some snow days

 

 

We enrolled Elle in a 12 months+ gymnastics class.  She is the youngest in the class and looks so cute and tiny next to all the other kids!  It's a fun little 30 minute class on Saturday mornings where she can burn some energy and mingle with other kids.  At the end of every class each kid gets a stamp, Elle typically asks for stamps on both feet and both hands.  She is so proud of that stamp every week and will show it to anyone willing to look.  Makes me smile every time.

 

 These are the pics you get when Eric has the camera, blurry & not very many options!
 

Elle is a pretty talkative little girl for her age.  She has at least 20+ words in her vocabulary and she can identify her toes, fingers, belly, buns, hair, nose, eyes and ears.  We are so proud of our smart girl!

Elle has started to request wearing her tu-tu from her birthday party around the house.  Not always, just when the mood strikes.

She still refers to puppies as "Abba" (we have no idea where this came from.  She is able to say "pup pup" but still calls them Abba).  When she wakes up in the morning she is so excited to see them.  Elle loves to help us let the puppy dogs outside. She stands at the door and watches them or holds onto their leash. Apparently she has also heard us tell them "No!" about 5,000 times because she will now do the same when they are doing something they shouldn't be. 

 

 

 Another milestone was drinking from a straw.  She has Elmo & Sophia the First sippy cups with a straw and they are by far her favorite cups.  Elle is also quite fond of tea-time now.  She received a cute little teapot for her birthday from Uncle Wade, Aunt Julie & Sammy..it has been a big hit in our house.

 

This month we have been really bad about bringing her in our bed.  She starts the night in her crib but about 90% of the time she wakes up at some point in the night to sleep with us.  She is a mama's girl during the day but at night daddy gets all the snuggles.


We still hold her during all naps (note to self break this habit immediately with any future child).  It would be nice to have that time on the weekend to get things done but I love that she still likes to snuggle up next to us.

 

 

We had our niece, Harper's Baptism this month.  Eric is her very proud Godfather.  Unfortunately I have zero pictures of Harper from the day. :(  I did snap these of Elle before we left for church.  She was running around and was so playful, I swear she knew how adorable she looked.

 

 

Waving at a puppy outside

 

 

 

 

We had a sick little girl this month (just a common cold) but still hard to see her miserable.

 

We finally baby-proofed our kitchen.  Elle hasn't shown much interest in exploring the kitchen cabinets.  She was starting to open and close the doors every once in awhile so we took that as a sign it was time.  The first day she was a little confused but honestly she hasn't really tried to open them since.  I'm beginning to think we could have gotten by without it.  Better to be safe than sorry though.

 

 

For my New Year's Resolution I'm trying to complete one thing house related every month.  I read home design blogs every single day but rarely find the time to do actual updates to my own house (besides shopping for decor at Homegoods & Target :).  A friend of mine at work is doing the same thing so we are holding each other accountable each month.  It doesn't have to be anything big...just something.  January's update was about 3 years in the making.  I purchased these chairs from Craigslist about 3 years ago, primed them about 2 years ago and finally finished painting them last year.  In January I finally reupholstered the seats.  And here is my lovely assistant Eleanor modeling the finished product.

And that's a glimpse at our January. :)