The past 6 weeks

The Ellis family has been pretty busy since our last post around Christmas time. In early January we flew to Seattle to visit Mark's extended family- aunt and uncle and cousins- and to introduce Taylor to Mark's grandmother. We had a fun time staying with Uncle Roger and Aunt Joy at their awesome house on Puget Sound. We also arrived just in time to celebrate cousin Ella's birthday party. Taylor had a ball with her cousins and exploring other houses and of course she loved climbing the stairs!

A week or so later we made a trip down the coast of California to see life in SOCAL. We happened to pick the one time of the year that we had torrential downpours for an entire week. You may remember seeing California all over the news with mudslides and blizzards...yes that was the week we decided to trek almost the entire state . Apparently in LA there is only a few times of the year when this happens and unfortunately we were there and didnt see much of the sun during our trip. We stopped in LA first, saw the Santa Monica pier and a few other sights from the car. Then we headed South to visit an old friend from Texas, Amy, who we had a great time catching up with. We headed to San Diego next and walked around the Hotel del Coronado and spent a day at the San Diego zoo. The zoo was pretty awesome! Taylor's favorite animals seemed to be the turtles, the lions and the otters. Then we headed back up to the LA area and stayed with some other old friends from Texas, the Albertos, who have young children ( one around Taylor's age). It was so much fun seeing them and getting to know their kids. We'd love to see them more often- wish they didnt live so far away.

We drove back up through San Luis Obispo and Big Sur, which were AMAZING! Big Sur was one of the most gorgeous places I've ever seen. I highly recommend driving the Big Sur coastline if you ever get a chance. Anyway all in all we've been pretty busy, but now I'm 36 weeks along and we're staying put until Noah arrives. Here are a few snips of our trips...

Mark and Taylor at Laguna Beach

San Diego Zoo- rattlesnake ( looks real huh?)

Taylor and Levi playing the piano
San Diego zoo

Laguna Beach ( it was the only time we saw the sunshine)
Mommy and Taylor - Santa Monica Beach

Seattle Science Museum - Butterfly Garden

Great Grandma Lee and Taylor

Taylor is teaching Great Grandma how to use her Elmo phone

Taylor and cousin Hailey playing the piano in Seattle

Hailey was playing it with her rear end

Aunt Joy with Hailey, Ella and Taylor

Aunt Joy with Hailey and Taylor ( who are days apart in age) neither one with much hair :)

At Ella's Bday party- my starlett

Mark, Great Grandma Lee, Taylor and Uncle Roger

Taylor, showing her support for Uncle Wes! Hoorah!

I'll be 36 weeks this week with Noah. I'm so ready to have this baby. Being pregnant while chasing a toddler has been exhausting. I'm so thankful that Taylor is content and entertained just playing at home because some days getting up and dressed is all I can do. But I know I dont have too long to go. Taylor's personality has really come out in the last few months. She's been such a joy to be with because she is so full of energy and laughter. She tries hard to make Mark and I laugh and loves to be chased around the house. Her language has really developed as well. She's been mimicking our phrases...for example when we get home from an errand she'll yell out " HEY BOYS!" to the dogs just like we do. She has mastered the climbing skill and so now we really have to keep a close watch on her. We've found her in the dishwasher, on the kitchen table, on the high bar stools and her favorite spot is in her glider rocker where she sits all by herself reading books. We really have a toddler on our hands and as tiring as it can be we are enjoying every moment of it - its been a blast.

I cannot imagine life with two kids but I wont have to imagine much longer. Taylor has no clue whats about to happen. We try to talk about Noah and get her prepared but I think she's just too young to understand quite yet. Whenever we ask where baby Noah is she points to her tummy - so at least she's got some of it right.

Mark is doing well and gearing up for a busy spring and summer. He's got several trips planned around the globe that should be really interesting. He's got two trips lined up with Racing the Planet which will take him to Australia and to China. Then he's got several trips around Wyoming, Montana, and around the mountains in California. We're in full swing with the job searching for next year . We're just praying to be lead to look in the right places. Thank the Lord there are lots of ER opportunites so now we just need to pray about which direction to start the searching. Hopefully we'll have a job lined up by April or May but I guess we'll wait and see.