Ellie says...

Here are some of the phrases that Eloise is saying lately. This is the stuff I hope I never forget.
*When Julian is with us and walks away, either a phone call or to go to the bathroom, Eloise will look around and say, "Where daddy go?" It's her first sentence and she will do it for other people as well (Nan, Nini, Gigi).
* She will grab a bag or purse and say "bye bye Mommy". I'll ask her where she's going as she is opening the front door (thank goodness she can't open the storm door yet) and she will reply, "daddy work".
She likes to go in and out of the slider and say "inside, outside" over and over again.
When she dances she likes to say "erina" which means ballerina.
She says "sorry mommy" (or duke or daddy) when she bumps into me.
If someone is being funny and making her laugh she'll say "silly Nan" or pop or mommy.
She knows every princess and insists on naming them in pictures and getting anything with princesses on them when we are out.
Snow white is o white
Cinderella is Cinna
Aurora is Rora
Tiana is Iana
Belle is beastbelle
Ariel is ia which is also how she says Olivia
When something is dark or loud she will tell me " I scared"
If she is whining for something and I'm trying to figure out what she wants and I say "do you want goldfish?" instead of saying yes she says ok, like I just came up with the idea when in reality she was pointing and trying to tell me for 3 minutes she wants goldfish.
When she is hungry she says "I eat"

She can identify and name yellow, black, blue, and purple.
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Things I am really into right now...

1. Synergy drinks at Whole Foods


Not a lot of calories for a healthy, yummy drink. So good. I'm always trying to find something to spice up my water and coffee boring-ness. This does it and I don't feel super bad about it. To bad it's like $4-$5 a bottle.

2. Julian's Henna tattoo. Ha!


Actually, it's Sons of Anarchy that I'm into. We have been watching all the seasons on Netflix. But at the Point Pleasant jazz and blues festival, Julian wanted to look more "Sam Crow" (a Sons of Anarchy member) so he got a tattoo that washes off. He makes me laugh. And I'm glad he chose a henna tattoo over getting a real one or a motorcycle.

3. Being a first grade teacher! After coming back from a year off for maternity leave, I was put in second grade. I really enjoyed teaching 2nd and felt like I could move up a grade if it was possible. Well, a fifth grade position opened and there were rumors that's where I was going. Thankfully, prayers were answered and I'm not moving to fifth. I am still a first grade teacher and I couldn't be happier about it. My spiritual gift has nothing to do with 11 year olds. Or lattice multiplication. Of that I am sure.

4. My misto sprayer!



You just fill your sprayer with whatever type of oil you use- and pump. No more Pam for me!! And since you shouldn't heat up olive oil, this helps with using other oils.

5. Life Chapel - our church is beyond amazing and I feel so totally at home when I am there. We spend a lot of time with our church/at church with all the activities we have been a part of and I'm so blessed for the new friendships that have formed! Between softball, softball parties, VBS, meetings for young life, mens morning meetings, etc Julian and I have spent a lot of our time there.

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VBS, visitors and sickies.

This past week and a half has been nuts. Saturday night, Eloise was wheezing and coughing so badly that we eventually took her to the hospital.  Thankfully, the hospital was dead and we got right in.  I was so worried about my little girl.  She was diagnosed with croup and we were told to give her baby motrin and do the breathing treatments.  We followed up with our doctor and she said that it had gotten worse. (Sick baby = no sleep for anyone).  It was a really bad couple of days, but we made it out and now she is practically perfect again :) I am sure she got it from the Atlantic Club nursery because that is really the only other place we go that has a ton of kids in it.  So we won't be dropping her off there anymore. I know that getting sick builds their immunity, but seeing your child sick is the worst thing. I am going to avoid it at all costs.
This was only Eloise's second time being sick.  She had the same sort of thing (not as bad) when she was 6 months old.  Croup and such runs in Julian's family (he had it bad as a child, his dad had it bad as a child).  I really hope it is not something I have to do again.  I am just so blessed she is better :)
Not only was Eloise sick, but Julian's family (his mom, his sister, and our nieces and nephew) all visited   for the week.  They came Monday and left Friday.  That made things even more hectic.  It was a nice visit but things were crazy.
VBS was also this SAME week and I had to be at the church every night, Monday through Friday, from 5:30-8:00. Which meant I had to rely on either Gigi, Keri, and/or Julian to give Eloise her medicine, take her temperature and give her a breathing treatment before bed.  I know they are all capable but I was kinda bummed I couldn't be there to take care of her. Oh well.  VBS was amazing and all the kids had a fabulous time.  I took Kate and Olivia with me and I think they enjoyed singing the songs and hearing about some of the 'champions' of the bible.  I think even Eloise now knows the dances/songs because we were always practicing :)

whew. I am hoping this upcoming week is really boring :)

Sweet Sweet Summertime!

Sweet Sweet Summertime you are going by too fast! I can't believe how time is flying by! Anyway, I am truly enjoying my life these days.  I am reminded constantly of all the wonderful things I am thankful for and I feel so totally blessed beyond belief.  Eloise is having a great summer and I love watching her grow up to be a kid. (She only has a tad bit of baby left in her).

Our summer so far (and probably until it is over) has been go go go.  Ellie girl takes 3 hour naps and I have to go in and wake her because we having something else to go go go to.  Poor thing. We have been going to the Atlantic Club and having fun in the pool, my mom's house for the beach, and just random field trips (the teacher in me calls outings 'field trips').  We went to Sesame Place which I think Eloise was a bit young for.  We thought it was a bust, but then came the Elmo Rock N' Roll show. Now, Ernie used to be Eloise's favorite. OH, but not anymore.  Elmo has won over Eloise's heart and now  pretty much 75% of our conversations these days have to do with Elmo.  She loves him.  And the show was no exception. SHE LOVED IT! I haven't seen her smile and dance so much. It made the trip totally worth it. Julian was even chosen to go on stage and be a backup dancer for Elmo.  It was really cute and seeing her that happy almost made me cry. (ok, maybe a tear or two escaped, but soon the laughter tears came due to watching Julian shake it with Sesame Street characters).

The only thing I have been worrying about lately is when I am going to hear what grade I'll be teaching next year.  A second grade teacher retired, and they are supposedly adding an additional 5th grade teacher to our school.  Also, today I just heard that one of our kindergarten teachers moved schools.  I hope I hear soon.  I am really blessed that I have a great job AND I get summers off to spend with Eloise.  I feel really lucky to have chosen this profession.  But, that doesn't make my patience any better :)

I also wanted to document some of the things Eloise is saying these days.

"I love daddy"
"I love boats" (it sounds like boots---she took her first boat ride and I am pretty sure it wasn't her favorite thing, but my dad taught her to say "I love boats" anyway)
"Beastbelle" is her term for Beauty and the Beast and it sounds like baseball.  If you don't know her well, you think she is asking you to turn on the game
"Beach"
"WaWa" for water
"Snack"
"Night-Night Mommy"

June Happenings

Nothing too exciting has been happening in these parts.  The beginning of June was pretty hectic! Julian's family stayed for about a week and although thats fun, it is also exhausting! It was nice to have breakfast and dinner made for me almost every day, though!

We attended SummerFest and had a blast! It is one of the things Julian and I look forward to every year, and it didn't disappoint.  I can't wait until Eloise is just slightly older so she can really enjoy it! She fell asleep while we were there in the morning. I guess she was bored. But, I don't think anyone else was bored!

But she partied in the afternoon! We sat and listened to the reggae band and she danced and climbed and ran.  She didn't want to slow down to take a family picture, but I forced her to, and she wasn't happy about it.

I took my last personal day and we were supposed to go to Sesame Place. But, it was raining that morning, so we quickly changed plans.  We drove into Philly and visited the Please Touch Museum which was very fun! I really love getting out and doing things with Eloise. She is at such a fun age!

Besides that, the school year is quickly coming to an end, and I am excited about having the summer off!  We have nothing really going on.  Her swim class has been over for a while, and music class recently ended, and her final gym class is this week.  I signed her up for a toddler mommy and me class, so that is all we are up to this summer.It should be a relaxing, low key, wonderful summer.

She had her 18 month doctors appointment and she is finally above 1% in weight! I am beyond happy about this! She is 50% head, 25% height, and 10% weight! She is 32" and 21 lbs 10 oz. She has so many words its unbelievable.  I wouldn't have thought her vocabulary would have exploded this much. She can pretty much *try* to say anything if we prompt her.  Here are the words she says that I can think of right now:
-Mommy
-Daddy
-Duke
-Gigi
-Papa
-Nan
-Pop
-NiNi (For my sister)
-ReRe (For Keri)
-Ia (pronounced eee-ya for Olivia)
-Jesus
-Please
-Cheese
-Yes
-No
-Bubble
-Rora (for Aurora, her favorite princess)
-Away (for go away, I don't want your help)
-up
-go
-peas
-more
-teeth
-potty
-Ball
-Bike
-Beach
-Water
-bagel
-Yum
-baby
-shoes
-ME (as in it's mine)
-she can do the sounds of the following when asked: horse, cow, dog, cat, baby (wa wa), elephant (weird?), sheep, lion and bear which are both ROAR.
-beep beep (for excuse me)



I am probably missing some, but that is all I can think of at the moment.

We leave the day after school is out and we are spending some time in Virginia.  It'll be a nice visit. It is Kate's 8th birthday and they are doing a carnival. It'll be fun to be there and celebrate with her. Oh, sweet summertime :)

Spring and Summer List

This is the official list of things that Julian and I want to accomplish this spring and summer. We know it is probably impossible to do it all, but we are hoping to do most of it. We already crossed out a couple! But, even if we don't get to do everything on our list, we can keep it for next summer. I am definitely a list sorta girl!! For real, though, I feel like summer flies by! If I don't have some goals in mind, the time will just slip on by! Ok here is the official Barker 2012 spring and summer to list that's hanging on our fridge:
(Bolded means accomplished)

* Attend a Blue Claws Game (we are planning to go on July 15)
* Attend Point Pleasant Environment Day (we did this in April)
* Visit Sesame Place
* Storybook Land in Little Egg Harbor
* Go to Jenkinson's Aquarium (we went in March)
* Go to the Boardwalk
* Go to the Splash Park in Colts Neck
* Take Duke and Ellie to the Dog Beach



* Swim in the new Arzonico pool
* Have Eloise dedicated at our church
*Hoffmans! (We do this way too much)
* Volunteer for VBS (went to the first meeting and I will be teaching 1st and 2nd)
* Go to the Please Touch Museum
* Beach!!!
* Picnic at Riverfront Park
* Summerfest!!
* Visit the Popcorn Park Zoo (went earlier this year)
* visit the Philadelphia and/or Cape May Zoo
* Hershey Park
* Rita's Italian Ice
* Six Flags Jungle Safari
* Peach Picking
*Easter Egg Hunt
* Attend the Memorial Day Parade on Bridge Ave.
*Bike Rides




So, that is 25 things on our list.  We have accomplished 8 so far! We have a date picked out for some of the things on that list, so we should be able to accomplish most of it! I love summer and can't wait to enjoy every second of it :)

18 school days left

I.can.not. believe that there are only 18 more days of school until SUMMER!! I am so excited.

Anyway, lots of things have been going on.  I had my first night away from Eloise. Yes, there have been times someone else has put her to bed because I was out.  But, I have never, slept away.  It went smoothly, and we had a good night away.  Eloise has been giving Julian and myself hard times about bedtime lately (depending on how over tired she is) So I figured she would be giving my mom a hard time, too.  She let her stay up way past her bedtime playing with Pop and Aunt NiNi in the basement and was over tired and pitched a fit about bed.  But, she eventually fell asleep and all was good :)

Once I heard she was sleeping, I felt more relaxed. I was able to enjoy the wedding and my vodka tonics a little more! It was nice to be away for the night and we even celebrated Mother's day with  Kelly and Jeff at Ihop the next morning (how classy).  It was nice to sit and talk with them and get some pancakes and bacon that I didn't have to make myself. We took our time and probably didn't get home until around 11:30-12:00.  We didn't do anything really special for Mother's day because we were all hungover and cranky (Ellie girl included...a too much fun hangover). We went to Sea Bright for dinner and saw Mike and Jen. It was a nice day.

Besides that, Eloise's vocabulary has really blown up.  I am amazed at the things she says.  She is putting together two word sentences and I am sure she is going to grow up to be one of those kids who thinks she's the smartest thing EVER because I keep boosting her little ego about it ;).  She will see my shoes on the stairs and say "Mama Shoes".  She refers to herself as Ellie (totes adorbs) and can name people by looking at pictures.  Any kid her age or younger is still "baby" and Duke is her best friend BY FAR.  Their relationship has really blossomed and she'll find a ball and entertain herself and Duke for a good 10 minutes throwing it for him and then making him drop it for her so she can run around with it and he chases her, she laughs hysterically to where I think she can't breathe and then throws it again. 

Julian, Eloise, and I joined the church down the road from us and we are so blessed that we found it when we did.  I just feel we are exactly where we need to be (as far as church is concerned).  It is a small church but growing by leaps and bounds and I am super psyched that we get to be apart of the growth.  There are a lot of young families and the pastor has a gift for speaking.  The music is good and the people are so incredibly nice.  Julian joined the softball team and has really been enjoying it.  He has become friends with the guys and they are all around the same age with young kids.  I am now on nursery rotation and will sit down in the nursery with the kiddo's about every 5-6 weeks.  I am also planning on volunteering for Vacation Bible School, so we will see where my teaching skills can come in handy this summer.  I am really excited to not only be a part of our church more, but it's really helped us become more apart of our community.  We are feeling more connected. We always liked living in Point Pleasant, but joining Life Chapel and having a baby, and doing things with her, really makes you LOVE your town. I love that I can walk to my park and that everyone bikes everywhere.  I love that they are putting a frozen yogurt place down the street and that Hickory Hog is now closer. We are really learning to appreciate more about what we have and not worrying about what we don't have. 

Summer weekends are booking up fast and I can't even believe it.  Time flies.  I might need a new planner with all the use it's been getting lately. 

(Pictures are giving me issues...they're coming later)