In My Girl's World

A little life lately for you! 

Every once in a while I like to recap you on all random things... Yummy things we've been eating, activities Ella has been enjoying, and just how things are going with our family. I feel like my Maine family and friends probably appreciate these posts the most. I have a bunch of random pics and things to share. Absolutely nothing is in order! Enjoy :)

I had my anatomy scan for Mia and she's growing perfectly. I am finally feeling pretty 'normal' and am starting to feel our sweetie moving around in there. I have an anterior placenta which makes feeling her movement more difficult, so it's subtle when I do. Overall, feeling very happy and blessed with a complication-free pregnancy so far.

Since moving in, we discovered that we moved to the nicest neighborhood EVER. As soon as we arrived, we had knocks at our door and people dropping off goodies, cards and gifts. 

The woman across the street brought Ella this stuffed cat, along with a couple ornaments for our tree. So sweet.

We got baked goods! Which we enjoyed thoroughly I might add.

One neighbor literally brought all of this over for us, and I couldn't believe it. Gifts for BOTH of our girls, and a plant for our home... I mean, seriously? And these people don't even know us. But they couldn't be more sweet.

We did lots of treat making ourselves around the holidays... 

Sugar cookies, peanut clusters and pretzel candy.

We have been eating good these days! I made these Mediterranean inspired chicken wraps the other day and I thought it was really good! It was super simple... I tossed some mixed greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion, parsley and mint in a balsamic dressing. I added that mixture to a naan that had been topped with hummus and thinly sliced chicken breast. I topped each wrap with feta, folded in half and enjoyed. I may have overfilled them, so it was a little messy! But I highly recommend trying this if you like those flavors!  Also peep our new placemats- I got them on sale at Target and love the color/design.

More yumminess... I was craving Maine gas-station ham Italians the other day, but you can't really get that around here. Now you might be thinking, what on earth is she talking about? Gas station food?  Let me explain. In Maine it's fairly common for gas stations to also have a little deli style 'restaurant' attached where they make pizza, subs and salads. I am not talking about 7-11 food. It's genuinely good food and something I miss so dearly. They always have the best sandwiches and pizza. Ham Italians are fairly easy to whip up, so I made them for us and even Michael admitted "that was pretty darn good." Such a simple treat.

Another food craving I have been having is for Maine style Chinese food. While I get some of the best authentic Chinese food there is out here (thanks to my in-laws) I crave the 'fake' and less authentic flavors of the Chinese at our local restaurants in Maine. However, you cannot find that style of Chinese food anywhere around here. In fact, I discovered quite recently that the style I grew up eating is primarily a New England thing. What the heck!? I really love the fried chicken fingers, chicken teriyaki, crab rangoon, fried rice with duck sauce and sesame chicken... They are all my faves. I found a recipe for the chicken fingers and decided to give it a whirl. They look AMAZING and totally what I was picturing. But they tasted otherwise. Sigh. I will try again, but likely won't get that perfect chicken finger until I am able to go home again.

Ella has been playing up a storm with her new Christmas toys. I wanted to get her toys that were educational and developmentally appropriate for her. Not just things that look pretty and light up, but things that will grow with her and teach her a skill. She really loves her knobbed cylinders, threader log and magnetic tiles. I am so happy to see her learning and being entertained by them at the same time.

Her pikler triangle is always getting some use. As cute as I think it would look in her play room, it makes so much more sense to have out here. This was us on a Sunday morning watching cartoons, and even when she's watching, she's working on those gross motor skills. She has totally mastered that thing!

So much fun with her magnet tiles. Here's a tour of her playroom is you want to see more!

Ella loves having a yard and helping Daddy with the yard work! 

I mean, who doesn't garden in their night gown? :) 

Ella got this book for free out of a book bin on our block and is obsessed with it. It's so random to me but she loves it. My sister thought it was gross that I took a free book during Covid but I sanitized the covers and let it sit outside when we got home! 

In our new house, we've tried to continue with the theme of keeping Ella's things Ella accessible.

As you can see, we ran out of cabinet liner and need to work on that... but here is Ella's cupboard at our house. I wanted it to be easily accessible for her, so she can get her own kitchen and dining supplies (and put them back) when she wants to. We used to use a little plastic pull out drawer at the apartment, but I figure with the amount of storage here at the house, she could have her own designated space. 

 

 

Every time she made a new face she would start cracking up... It was so hard to capture these. Happy, sad, mad and excited! 

 

  

Some more pics because... she's cute.

And that's pretty much it for life lately. We really don't leave our house to go anywhere other than the playground down the street. I am currently suffering from a cough, but luckily I tested negative for Covid-19 which is a huge relief. I will probably be spending my final days off getting caught up on house projects, working on my blog schedule for next year (something realistic for me) and resting as much as possible to get well before work next week. Thanks for catching up with us.