Wait.. WHO turned a year older yesterday?

Many of you know yesterday was my birthday.. Yes, I turned another year closer to 30. *Deep breath*
But not NEARLY as close as my dear husband whose birthday was the day before mine.. hee hee. 

THANK YOU for all the wonderful birthday wishes and for making my day so incredibly special.
(The Dairy Queen ice cream cake from the hubby helped quite a bit too..)

Anyways, apparently all the hype leading up to the big day(s) made Ella believe she was turning a year older..???
I'm not sure...
All I know is she is throwing temper tantrums like a seasoned veteran of a 2 year old.

Someone please tell her she still has 4 1/2 months left!! 

My sweet baby girl has morphed, seemingly overnight, into a raging FIT, throwing her pacifier across the room when she gets upset, then hastily crawling over to retrieve it, sucking on it a few seconds, then remembering she's mad, throwing it again (she's got quite the arm..), and frantically rushing to get it again, for fear that someone will take it away (as if we would punish ourselves like that!!) 

I'm really not sure how to handle her fits.. They're actually pretty hilarious. But I know she's mad about something. She just has no way of telling me what it is.. And I feel like I should leave her to cry and whine a little like I did with the boys, but knowing that she'll get a tummy ache I just can't do that.. A little frustrating to say the least.

On a lighter note, she is also acting like a "big kid" by doing some really great things! Last night for the first time ever, she pushed up to a sitting position from the floor all by herself! She has been so close for months, just stubbornly refusing to even try. She'll do it if there's something (or someone.. namely me) to lean on for help, but she's never done it all by herself before. ( - : So proud of her!

And today for the first time she left the confines of her rug! We have hard wood floors in our house and usually she plays on the living room rug. Sometimes.. rarely.. she'll venture off of it to grab something from the toy stash nearby, but she usually hurries back after a few moments to its comforting warmth and security. She's NEVER shown any desire to go anywhere else in the house.. This morning she was playing nicely (on the living room rug) by herself so I snuck off to the kitchen to wash the dishes quick (Obviously we had a therapist coming soon..). I heard some thumping, so I turned around and there she was, rockin' the army crawl around the corner to come find me. SO CUTE! She then proceeded to tear all the magnets within her arm reach off the fridge, find and eat a leftover cheesy puff on the floor from yesterday, and nearly pinch her fingers in the front door...

While I was super excited to see her venture out on her own and explore, there are some definite downfalls to her newfound independence..
   • Now ALL the floors need to be clean. Every. Day. Instead of just the living room rug.. Occasionally.
   • All the microscopic, most fun to put in our mouths, very choke-able boys' toys need to be picked up in the toy room. Every. Day.
   • I can't escape from her. Ever. Again.
   • I need to make sure ALL the floor are clean. Oh, did I already mention that? I'm a little stressed...

Good thing she's cute..

*If you didn't know yesterday was my birthday, maybe you should "like" Life on M Avenue on Facebook?? Like how I threw that in there? Hee hee.. I even created a cute little link box-thingey on the side of the blog.. Someone try it and let me know if it works? I put off creating a page for "myself" for awhile.. I guess because it seemed conceited. Like I was trying to get people to like me, and create a fan club for me.. But that's not at all what it is. A big part of my desire for this blog is to connect with others, especially parents of kids with special needs.. So hopefully this will be a good way to reach out and encourage others! Thanks!