So Long Barkley Bear :(

Hey Strangers!  
It's me!  I know, it's been a long time.  Seems like there is always so much going on, but the latest would be that we had to get rid of our loveable Barkley :(  He was not getting along with Ella.  It was more of a jealousy issue.  He would snap at her or growl if she leaned on him or got in his way.  Ella brought it on herself most of the time, but about a month ago she was just sitting in her little pink chair and he got in her face and snapped at her and got her lip.  After that we had to make the decision to find another home for him.  We had already been looking for about 6 months, but with no luck we called Indiana Bulldog Rescue.  He is now with a foster owner who has 3 bullies of her own.  Barkley is doing well now but still needs a permanent home.  We miss him like crazy.  I never knew how hard it would be to actually get rid of him.  We both bawled our little eyes out (yes, even Chris was sad and still misses him)!  It was a sad day.  Barkley had a special place in our hearts and always will.  We had to do what was best for our sweet Ella, though.

I will miss watching B play ball with Chris

I think this was the last pic I got of him.  Halloween 2012

This is from Indiana Bulldog Rescue -- one of their recent events.  B got to see Santa.  See, he's already living it up.  Even we never took him to see Santa! :)

If you know of anyone interested, go to Indiana Bulldog Rescue or ask me for more info.  You have to apply online to be considered and they are asking for a family with kids over the age of 13 due to his aggression with Ella, etc.  Unfortunately there is a fee now.  We wish we could've just given him to a good family, but we just ran out of time and had to find a place for him.

That's all for now.  Hope you are all doing well.  We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with family this year.  It has been fun watching Ella enjoy festivities already this season.

These are a few of my favorite things...

This afternoon I dropped Ella off with Grandma and Grandpa.  She's only been gone for about 2 hours, but I miss her already.  As I am sitting here wondering what to do and where to start (with my house and errands), I cant help but think about her and how much happiness she brings us. So I decided to brainstorm 10 things that I love about her.  Of course there are lots more, but here are the first 10 that came to mind.

I LOVE...

1.  The way you jump up and down in your crib, whether you're happy in the morning or mad because it's not time to get up yet (you know, at like 1am)

2. Your contagious smile and your two (uneven) front teeth 

3. The way you say "choo choo" when you see any train... or truck!

4.  The way you reach for my hand when you are in an unfamiliar place or come running to me when a UPS man or school bus drives by

5.  The way you immediately point to the sky when you hear an airplane without even looking

6. The way you refuse to say I love you.  I know you will say it... some day. 

7. The way you giggle

8. The way you are mesmerized with Veggie Tales 

9.  The way you bop your head to music as if you think you are moving your whole body

10. The way you smile when I come to get you from daycare, and then continue with whatever you were playing with, as if you weren't really excited to see me

I've also been jotting down words to put into her scrapbook.  Here are my favorites:

Ella's pronunciations: 

Monkey = Mimi

Milk = Me

Shoe = Sue

Diaper = Biaper or Bopper

Banana = Nana

Apple = Abu

Grandpa = Ba-pa

Please = Peas

Thank you = Tank-too

Bath = Bah

No = NO!


As I left her today, she sat in her car seat and said, "Bye Bye Mama".  A little heartbreaking.  I know she's in good hands but I sat there thinking, this will never get easier, will it?  It's just amazing how much love you can have for such a little person!

Ok, time to be productive.  Ready, set, GO!

catching up

I feel like so much has happened since my last post--yet nothing too exciting--if that makes any sense.  I realize I said I was going to blog more, then it got put on the back burner.  Oops.  Things seemed to get a little hectic after my car accident.  We finally have two cars in the Reutter household again and are in the process of settling everything with the auto insurance.  I will be glad when that is all said and done.  I am now a very cautious and nervous driver.  I pretty much think every car is going to hit me if it's coming any where near me.  I always thought Chris was funny when he acted like that after his accident, but now I totally understand!

We have been enjoying the summer and I LOVE LOVE LOVE working part-time.  It's great to get out and work but then it's even better to spend quality time with my baby girl on the other days.  It has been fun to see all that Ella is learning and that she can do new things.  She is so silly and getting such a fun personality.  We've been able to go to a few splash parks, to the pool, zoo, etc.  She is also now in the toddler room at "school".  She sleeps on a little cot instead of in a crib.  It's so cute but makes me a little sad because she seems so big!

Ella's ears seem to have been doing better.  She did have a fever last week for about 7 days straight (on and off).  She had a sore throat and runny nose.  I think the tubes are working well because normally she would have had an ear infection after the runny nose, etc.  

Here are a few recent pictures:

Miley's Birthday Party -- she will be 2 tomorrow!

Nightly walk with "dog dog"

Smart and Sophisticated :)

Time to catch up on my reading

My "Daycare Diva" ready for her first day in the toddler room!

Being silly (milk cartons make great toys)

Daddy's Day

I don't think I have any dads that read my blog, so Happy Father's Day to the men in your life that are fathers!

We had a pretty low key day and tried to give Daddy some extra love today.  Ella and I put together a little project for Chris for his Father's Day gift. Here are some pictures.

It's time to swing, Mommy!

Daddy's little helper

Wheeee!

Daddy opening his Father's Day gift

Daddy's Day!

Ella and I worked on Daddy's project last week.  I chose blue ink to make it look manly, but then later realized how hard it was to get off.  Let's just say I thought Ella was going to have smurf feet for life!  It was a lot of work, but I was happy with it in the end.  The poem is about following in Daddy's footsteps.  I got the idea from Pinterest and put my own little twist on it.  Feel free to steal my idea for gifts of you own! :)

One Life to Live

Two weeks ago Ella and I were in a horrific accident.  It was the Sunday before Memorial Day weekend.  Ella had been sick with a fever so we came home from Illinois the night before where we had been visiting family.  That morning, her fever was gone and she was acting like herself again.  So, we decided to go run a few errands and Daddy was going to go play golf.  Well, you know how they say most accidents happen within a few miles from your house?  Well, I totally agree with that.  When Chris was in his accident a few months ago it was about 5 minutes from our house.  Then, after making just two turns, we were hit almost head on by a 93 year-old woman who slumped over her wheel and began driving into my lane. I can't begin to describe that initial "crash" sound, but I have replayed it 100 thousand times.  There is nothing more terrifying.  We ended up spinning around about 2 1/2 times (or so I think).  My windshield cracked immediately and I couldn't really see where I was going.  We ended up in the grass, right by the entrance to the Colts complex.  

In hindsight, this was a perfect spot to land.  Any further west and we would've ended up in a ditch where there was construction going on, and there are tons of trees on the side of the road that we could've hit as well.  When the car stopped, my stomach and ribs hurt, and then I heard Ella cry.  I pushed open my creaky door and went to get her.  All of my doors were locked and wouldn't unlock even though my car was still on.  I was in a panic.  So, like a good wife, I called my husband frantically.  Mind you, Chris has been in this situation twice before, and he has always been so calm on the phone.  Well, I apologized later because I was not one bit calm.  Anyway, as soon as I hung up, 3 amazingly nice people who had witnessed it all showed up to check on me and one of them climbed in the back to get Ella.  My baby girl was okay!  She was crying but we were both happy to see each other... and then she found her thumb. :)   


Chris was there within a few minutes and he helped me get what I needed to the police and I headed over to the ambulance that had arrived.  Just after I signed the waiver to have Chris take me to the hospital instead of going via ambulance, the paramedic went and looked at the front of my car. He then advised me that I needed to go right then via ambulance.  I agreed and Chris followed with Ella in her car seat.  


Chris took Ella to pediatric side and I went the other direction. Ella checked out fine.  A new sippy cup and some Teddy Grahams, and she was on her way with a smile. I had an u/s done and a CT scan to check for any internal bleeding.  Thankfully, everything was okay.  Just some cuts, a jammed finger, and a few bruises that I didn't realize at the time.  I still have a nice bruise on my right knee and a knot on my leg.


All in all, I am so thankful that we are okay.  I can't imagine losing Ella or Chris losing the both of us.  That has always been my deepest fear.  Unfortunately, the other driver went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and she did not make it.  It took them a very long time to get her out of the car after having to cut the top of her car to rescue her.

The Other Car

Front of car

At Zore's picking up my belongings a few days later

When we went to clean out my car, I couldn't find my prescription glasses that I had just gotten about a month or two ago.  I was wearing them during the accident and remember them snapping in half.  They were the least of my worries so I just tossed them into the seat.  Somehow they were nowhere to be found in my car when we went to get everything out.  BUT, I did find my cheap pair of sunglasses from Kohl's in tip top shape.  Wouldn't you know that those would be fine, but the others wouldn't.  I found a little humor in that :)

God spoke to me that day when I thought he was going to take me from this world.  I am forever thankful that he saved me and especially our sweet Ella.  I hope that we can all remember that life is so precious and that God can take us away from it in just a matter of seconds.  I had said goodbye and "I love you" to Chris before I left.  He was going golfing and I was going to run errands, but what if that would've been our last?  

We only have one life.  We are responsible for determining what God wants us to do with it.

Belated Birthday Post

I never wrote about Ella's birthday, so here we go... short and sweet.

Ella's birthday party was a lot of fun.  We had lots of friends and family over to celebrate.  She got tons of toys and gifts.  The most surprising part was that she did NOT like her cake!  She had already had a cupcake at daycare earlier that week and loved it,and also for pictures, so I thought she would dig right in.  I think the people scared her? After the party was over we gave her a cupcake and she finally had some bites after we stopped "watching" her eat it.  The first video below is of her eating her cake and the second is the cupcake.

1st Birthday Girl

Mommy I dont wike it!

Hope you all had a wonderful mother's day.  I had a wonderful day and continue to feel blessed every time I see sweet Ella. To those of you who still long to be mothers, hang in there.  God will bless you in time and I have prayed for you today, along with those who have lost their moms or a child of theirs too soon.

It's Birthday Week!

This past month has seemed like a whirlwind!  There is just always so much going on.  We have had raccoons trying to invade our house, a leaking faucet that turned into a new faucet AND sink (over a month long period in which we didn't have a kitchen sink for some of that), and of course we're still in search of a new vehicle for Chris.  Then, this past week was a little thrown off due Chris being out of town for work and both of us out of town over the weekend.  In the midst of all that, Ella's Birthday is coming whether i'm ready or not!  

We are having a sock monkey birthday party for little miss Ella.  I can't wait!  Here is a sneak peek of her 1 year photos. 

Bring on the cake!

I'm off to enjoy the last week of Ella being a "baby" (although she will always be my baby).

 Let's Party!!!!

Live.Love.Laugh

Well, yesterday was a crazy day. Chris got into a car accident on his way to work.  It wasn't his fault, but it was still unfortunate.  I swear i'm just going to stop answering my phone at 8:30am.  It's never good news.  He has had 4 car accidents/incidents in the last 7 years, and that is just too many in my opinion.  Thankfully, he is okay, but we are now looking for a car as is was most likely totaled.

Yesterday was also our due date for our first baby, Logan.  While it has gotten much easier over the last 2 years, it is still a day that Chris and I remember and like to take a minute to celebrate together.  It's hard to believe that we could've had a 2 year old right now.  Seems so different than an almost 1-year-old! 

I will leave you with some pictures of Ella.  She loves being outside and has enjoyed the beautiful Indy weather we have been having.  

Riding my Dino -- so much fun!

Ready for the Butler game... one of the last of the season :(

Running around town!

Play date with my buddy, Isaac!

Playing outside.  I love this picture, but I think it makes her look so big!

We love you baby Logan.  We will always take a moment to celebrate your Birthday, no matter how busy our lives get.  You will always be a gift to us from God. You help remind us to take a minute to "smell the flowers" and to enjoy every moment we have with each other and with Ella.  After all, we probably would not have Ella otherwise. The accident also was a reminder that any of us could be gone in just a matter of seconds.  It's up to us to enjoy life to the fullest, because God can choose to take anyone at any given moment.  Happy 2nd Birthday... i'm sure you are partying it up with all the other babies in heaven!  Muah!

Helping Mama

Ella decided that she loved the fridge today.  She was "helping mama" put groceries away. She also likes to dance now... she just does it for a few seconds here.  I think she needed some music :)

Other than that, she is growing so fast!  She is now in the second infant room with the "bigger kids".  She craws extremely fast, can go up the stairs, likes to play in the pantry (especially likes bags of marshmellows and chips) and scoots along furniture.  I'm sure she'll be walking before we know it!  It's hard to believe i'm already planning her 1st birthday party. Sheesh.

A "Super" Weekend

I love weekends off.  We had such a great time this weekend just hanging out with our little family of 3 (oh, an Barkley too)!

On Saturday morning we decided to head downtown to check out the Super Bowl festivities.  It was a little cold so we all bundled up and checked everything out quickly.  We were glad to take the time to see it all.  We then went out to breakfast at LePeep's.  Ella was so good the whole morning.  She then came home and slept for 3 hours!

Downtown

We had family over for the big game on Sunday evening.  It was fun to have all of the cousins together and to see them all play together.  I didn't manage to get a picture of all of them at once, but I did get a few pics.

Miley in her Hello Kitty gear (shirt, socks, and matching sippy cup)

Miley & Addie

Ella and Miley playing hard

Ella also has another tooth that came in on the bottom.  It's hard to see in this picture, but it's on the left (her right).  So now her teeth are lopsided... one on top and three on bottom. Hehe

Cheeeeeese!

 

Nine months... Nine!

Holy Cow!  Ella is now nine months!  That's like, the amount of time I had her in my belly! It surely doesn't seem like it's been that long, but alas, it has.  Ella has been sick for the last couple of weeks.  First she had the tummy flu then she came down with a fever.  It was just low grade so I thought maybe it was her teeth (her two front teeth are starting to make their way down)!  Then, she got a nasty cold and started wheezing and coughing.  I decided to take her to the doctor a few days before her scheduled 9 month appt and i'm glad I did because the doctor said her chest sounded really bad and she had the symptoms for RSV.  She didn't test her for it, but decided to treat her like she did (using a nebulizer every 4 hours).  She also had an ear infection.  Poor girl!  

She is finally starting to feel better, just still trying to get over the runny nose and cough.  At her 9 month appt she was 17 lbs 3 oz (25th percentile).  I think she has lost a pound or so with being sick, but she went from 75th to 25th in 3 months.  The doctor didn't seem too concerned.  We all know Ella loves her food and milk!  She was in 50th percentile for her height and head (Allyson and Rebecca -- your boys are way ahead of E in this category, eh? :)

Here are a few other things Ella has been doing:

• She recently started to like baths.  She got some toys for Christmas and loves to sit and splash while playing with them. 
• Crawling much faster these days and loves to stand up against me or something her height
• She hates when I leave the room or even her side lately.  I made dinner in about 10 minutes tonight (tacos) and she screamed the entire time even though she could see me!
• She likes cows.  She has two little cow toys (one stuffed, one little people) and she loves them.  If you put the horse and cow out in front of her, the cow wins 99% of the time, haha.  Mooooooooooo!
• Her two front teeth are coming in -- the left one is winning :o)

As always, here are some pics to leave you with: 

Playing with my dolly

Catch me if you can!

Pictures are getting much, much harder

If you don't put that camera down, i'm gonna get you!

She loves to stand on her jumperoo and balance herself 

Watch Me Crawl

Here is a clip of Ella crawling for the first time. I was so thankful that Chris and I were both home to see it AND to catch it on video. 

8 mos, 3 weeks