18 Month Update

One thing I've learned is it's not so easy to update a blog with a toddler around!

That being said, I can't believe I have a toddler!  Time is really flying by.  Ellie is growing and learning new things every day.  She says so many words very clearly and then others not so clearly :).

She is speaking both Albanian and English words and has mastered "Thank you" and "You're welcome".

We switched her out of her crib about a month ago and it went ok I guess.  She stays in it but only after she's asleep.  We have had issues trying to get her to fall asleep on her own.  She still needs mommy to put her to bed.  Definitely think this was my own fault and don't think I'm strong enough to change it now.    I guess we can wait until she understands and just does it on her own?? Lol I know, wishful thinking!!

We recently introduced the potty to her.  Not quite potty training but have put it in the bathroom to let her explore when she inevitably follows mommy in there.

And yes that ducky ended up in the garbage! Ew

That's about it for big milestones I think this summer.  It went way too fast!  We did take a month long trip to Macedonia to visit family.  She will never remember this trip but I know her aunts, uncles and cousins will never forget it. They all made it a great time for her and she can look back at pictures when she gets older.

Now the weather is starting to cool down and everyone is back in school so we are trying to get ready for Fall stuff.  Hopefully next weekend we will go pumpkin picking and then get ready for Halloween!

This last picture was Ellie on the trampoline at her cousins house for a birthday party and I'm only including it because I can't get enough of her!

Eliana's First Birthday

So Ellie turned O-N-E on March 16, 2014 and we had a great big party to celebrate.  Haven't had much time lately to post updates but I wanted to make sure I will always remember this day.

It difficult to pick a party theme for this birthday because they aren't really into any characters yet.  The only thing she really loved was elephants so we based our whole day around that or should I say  Ellie-phants!!

We decided to hold it at our house mainly because we didn't want to make it too big.  We would be forced to keep it intimate because everyone needed to fit in our home.  That being said, we still had over 50 people but it definitely could have been worse.  

Because she is our first and we tried so long to have her we wanted this day to be extra special.  I planned every detail of this party for months and months and of course not everything turned out like I wanted it to ( that always happens!)

Nevertheless we had a great time and our princess was super happy.  That's all that matters after all.

Here are some pictures to illustrate how it all went down.