our first family outing

Before Emery was born, I had a grand plan to prepare a special package for Ellie that we would leave at the house when we went to the hospital. I thought it would be fun for her to get a bunch of new and entertaining toys to distract her from the fact that her whole life was crazy for a few days. I was also hoping those new toys would be awesome enough to keep her occupied while David and I adjusted to life with a newborn. The plan never actually happened (even though we talked about it a lot), but we did make it a point to take Ellie to Build-a-Bear about a week after Em was born so that she could pick out a new, special stuffed animal.

Thankfully, we attempted this trip while Grandma Ann was still around to offer extra support (and hands!). Build-a-Bear seems like a fun idea, but apparently not for a cranky 15 month old that really just wants to play on the computer! We spent some time trying to convince Ellie to pick out her own stuffed animal--holding up one lifeless animal skin after the next, seeing if she took an interest in any of them. The one that David and I were both pushing for is the only one that Ellie consistently pushed away every time we showed it to her (wah-waaahhh). Usually Ellie is pretty clear about what she wants and what she doesn't, but after about 5 minutes of hugging then pushing away animals, we decided just to pick out a cute little monkey. Things weren't going great, but we still had hope. Until we realized that one of the building machines was occupied by a group of kids from a daycare, and the other one with a family of 3 kids. We had to wait in line. Ellie doesn't understand that (and I'm not so good at it either). I almost lost it when David made some comment about how this trip would have been easier without Emery. I responded, while choking back tears, that this is our family now...

After the family before us was done, we tried to convince Ellie to participate in building her monkey. Kiss this heart! Give her a hug! Step on this pedal that makes the giant machine make scary noises!...OK, maybe just stop crying and trying to run away???

We finished the monkey and headed over to the computers to fill out her birth certificate. We named her Dinah, the name (er, sounds) that Ellie said when I asked her what she wanted to name her baby sister a few days before Emery's birthday. She got a cute little ruffle skirt and a bow for her ear and we were off. And probably won't return until the girls are much, much older.