In My Girl's World

Hi friends! Linking up with some fellow bloggers for their Hello Monday post! :) It's been a bit, so let me catch you up. We have been struggling around here with Ella's sleep schedule and this has left me feeling both frustrated and tired. I had this dream in my head that by 18 months we would have our sleep schedule figured out. Not sure what I was thinking, hahaha! For the last week we have been really trying to get her back on track and we are getting there! She had me up at 5 o'clock this morning, but at least she went to bed early without a fight! I normally do my blogging in the morning with my coffee, but now that we're ALL up at that time, I am going to have to shift things a bit and find time during her nap or before bed. I was able to find time throughout the weekend to work on this post, so here it is- a few pics from our weekend :) 

We had such a simple weekend, but I enjoyed it so much. I really tried to enjoy our final days together before I head back to work, as this is a 4 day work week for me! As awful as this pandemic has been for so many (and trust me, I do not take it lightly) it has really allowed me to have quality time with Michael and Ella that I may never get again. I don't know another time in our lifetimes that we will ever spend this much time together, so I am so grateful for that. Here are some random pics from our weekend.

I have been working on growing my herbs and also planted a couple more things... Bok choy and flowers. Wish me luck! I have never been able to grow anything in my entire life and this is so exciting for me! My Mom wasn't a gardener, so I never properly learned how, just learning as I go. I started growing my herbs using this herb kit (affiliate link) and I swear it was the easiest thing. I shared our herb kit in this post here if you are curious about it. I am itching to have a house with a backyard with a big beautiful garden, but we need to be patient.

Ella has been asking to go for walks at least 7-8x a day. It is her favorite thing to do right now, and I am guessing that's because we can't do anything else! While hiking trails and beaches are slowly opening back up here, parking lots are still closed. We are still very cautious with where we go and I aim to go places at odd times and we avoid people entirely but I always have our masks with me just in case! 

  

Sweet smiles because Daddy let her have a donut BEFORE her dinner on Saturday. And guess who didn't want to each much of her dinner after? I think that's why dessert comes last ;)

 

Ella has been loving her new dolls for her dollhouse (affiliate link), her absolute favorite toy right now. We made the peg dolls together, which you can read about here.

Bright sunshine and warm t-shirt weather makes us oh so happy. We had some great weather this weekend. Ella's cute shirt is from our friend Jena's online clothing boutique, which you can check out here. They sell the absolute CUTEST trendy kids clothes. I have been eyeing a few of her pieces lately, but I need to wait for Ella to outgrow some of her current stuff first.

All so cute, right?

We have been spending as much time as possible outside (safely.) We take Ella to the park near our house to pick leaves and flowers, and to just run around. She has so much fun and it makes me happy to see her happy. Her absolute FAVORITE is when there are dogs there playing and she gets to watch them. 

On Saturday we were all dying of boredom, so we decided to go for a drive. We ended up stopping at this nature park in Long Beach and it was sooo nice. It is super large so very easy to social distance and there was so much wildlife which Ella was LOVING. There were squirrels, birds, turtles, geese and swans. She was absolutely DYING she was sooo happy. She was waving aggressively at all the geese and may have tried to chase them. 

I have been asked about where I got my Friends sweatshirt before so I figured I would share. I got it at Urban Outfitters but I actually found it on Amazon too. You can get it here (affiliate link.) Hmmm, there have been no messages about my crocs... HAHA! It's okay guys, just don't judge my choice of foot attire, ok?

Ella spent a good chunk of time checking out this duck. Duck is one of the few words she can actually say, so should would point and say "duck" and it was the sweetest. Overall a very fun little trip and I am so glad we decided to check it out. I hope to go back this week as long as it's as empty as it was this weekend.

 

After our trip to the nature park I stopped to get myself a coffee. Mid-day ice coffee is needed with miss Ella. Her level of energy after waking up at 5 am is unbelievable. When I moved from Maine to California I was so afraid of never having Dunkin Donuts again! To my surprise they opened up several shops right when I moved and we live right next door to one. Their iced coffee reminds me of home. :) 

I did some meal prep this weekend. We made a peanut butter and jam pancake traybake, and some broccoli-mushroom-cheddar egg cups. It's nice to have easy, homemade breakfasts ready to go in the morning. 

I also made some smoothie packs for the week. This is my absolute favorite smoothie recipe. 

 I also made some yummy salads on Sunday. I had this one which had kale, spinach, cucumber, beets, feta, honey almonds, and balsamic dressing. Michael had a garden salad with romaine, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, croutons and creamy italian dressing. I baked some chicken and prepped 2 additional salads for our lunches tomorrow.

On Sunday we went back to the park with all the geese so Ella could run around and play a bit. She had so much fun! 

 

We took turns throwing Ella up in the air, her new favorite thing. 

We ended our Sunday with ice cream bars, popcorn and a movie on the couch. It was an amazing end to our weekend. I can't believe I am going back to work next week! I am seeing patients on Monday and Friday, with training at my second office on Wednesday and Thursday. I am anxious, stressed and excited all at the same time. I hope you have a great week!  xo

Thanks to the hosts of today's link up! :)

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