Ellie's 2nd Birthday! June 6, 2009

We had a wonderful day celebrating Ellie's 2nd birthday! We left Waynesville around 8:30 am and headed to Knoxville to go to the zoo. Grant's parents, DeeDee and RonRon, met us there. Ellie had a blast looking at all of the animals. She kept wanting to pet all of them! We were looking at the snakes and she said, "Ellie pet them". She really loved the red pandas. I am pretty sure her favorite part of the day was the carousel. She rode it 5 times in a row and we had to drag her away from it! Maggie did a lot of sleeping during the day, but was a trooper.

Probably the most historic part of the zoo trip was the giving up of the pacie. We explained to Ellie at 2 she is now a big girl and does not need a pacie. She only was sleeping with it, but it was time to part ways. That morning Grant talked with her about it and that she was going to give it to one of the animals because their babies needed it now. Ellie chose the giraffes. She has been using this green pacie for about the last four months. When it was time she let daddy "throw" it to the giraffes! We were very proud. We knew night time might be rough. Well, when it was time to go to bed, without flinching, Ellie looks at Grant and says, "orange pacie"! We about died! She had not seen nor used this pacie in four months yet this child was thinking as she threw her green pacie to the giraffes, "You suckers. I have an orange pacie at home so sure I'll give this one to these giraffes"! We did not give it to her, though, and she has done very well.

After the zoo we came home and Ellie put on her special shirt and tutu a friend of mine made. It was for her party, which was a week later, but we went ahead and let her wear it on her birthday. We also went and got birthday ice cream. Gotta have ice cream on your birthday! It was a wonderful day and we are so blessed. We cannot believe our baby is 2, but she is so fun and we are loving every minute of it, even the tantrums :)!

Ellie and Maggie: Two very different babies

When you have two babies so close together and of the same sex I think people have a tendency to say how much they look alike, etc. So I thought I would write a post about my two very different baby girls because it is amazing that I can already tell that they are going to be so different from each other, but of course great in their own unique ways!
To start with you can compare the pics above. That is Ellie on the left at roughly 6 months and on the right is Maggie at roughly 6 months. To me they look very different! Ellie has dark eyes, while Maggie is holding on to those blue eyes! Their face shape is different as are their eyes and nose. Ellie was about an inch taller than Maggie at their 6 month appt. and about a pound heavier as well.
Personalities: Ellie has always been our serious, observant child since she was a newborn. It took a lot to make her smile. She takes everything in and is cautious around new people. Ellie was a wonderful sleeper as a baby and easy to get on a schedule. She never really cooed or babbled much as a baby. She hated being on her stomach and would roll right to her back. She skipped the crawling phase and went straight to walking. She was very content just sitting and playing. She was not much of a "grabber". She learns things very fast and walked early, got her teeth early, and is now potty trained. As I said, she is our observant child and may not preform in front of people, but she is taking everything in. When she gets home she can repeat everything that happened in a class, etc. Oh, and she is still a full fledged daddy's girl. No one can even compare.
Maggie, on the other hand, has been smiling and laughing since she was a few weeks old. She "talks" all the time and makes all sorts of sounds. She loves to roll over on her stomach and play and then roll some more all over the floor. I am pretty sure Maggie will be a crawler, which Ellie did not do either. Maggie is also a grabber. If it is within a foot of her reach she will somehow maneuver to get it. She turned all the way around in her bumbo one day and to pick up a hammer! We have to keep anything she is not supposed to have very far from her so she does not get it! She is not as content as Ellie was, but she is still very patient when we have to rush Ellie to the potty or get Ellie's food, etc. Maggie loves to give hugs and cuddle. She does not, however, like to sleep! We say she is a grazer with eating and a cat napper with sleeping. Grant and I both think she is going to be our outgoing, personality plus child.
It is just so fun to see how their little personalities develop and how different they already are. I am sure there are more things we have noticed, but these are just a few. I mainly wanted to write this so that I would have record of it and remember!

The ABC's and more

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Gosh I have not updated this in awhile! We have been quite busy here in the Shanks' household! Maggie is now 6 months and Ellie is less than a month from being 2! Ask her when her birthday is and she says, "June". Maggie is rolling all over the place and that is her mode of transportation. She is also sitting up by herself and gets lots of help, whether she likes it or not, from her big sis. Ellie is talking up a storm and is so funny! She loves to sing as well. Her favorites are "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", "ABC's", "Baa Baa Blacksheep", "Jesus Loves Me", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to name a few. She is also potty trained and that has been wonderful to have her out of diapers. She is starting to prefer her princess panties over her Elmo panties, which is fine by me! She also is our little athlete. She loves to run and so we got her some running shoes. She tires Grant and I out running up and down the hill in front of our house!
I am going to try and catch up on pics from some of our adventures over the past few months from going to see my parents in Jackson to going to Grant's Grandmother's birthday party to other fun things we have been doing!
This is a video from last Sat after Ellie's kindermusik recital. She loves to entertain Maggie and sing to her in the car. I was able to capture some of it!

An update and video

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Ellie started Kindermusik classes back in January and is loving it! She is our serious, very observant child and will watch all the other kids in class. She is starting to do more in class, but when she comes home she will do all the songs and dances with her baby dolls. It can be so funny to watch! She has always been very observant and we are learning that because of this she does not forget a thing. This can be good and bad! She is almost totally potty trained at this point. She has a few accidents here and there, but for the most part makes it to the potty because she knows she gets a "emmie" as she calls them (we know them better as M&Ms). She is counting to three and learning her letters. It is so fun to watch her make new discoveries! Just yesterday we were going through what different names start with and later in the day when I walked into the den Maggie, who is in her boppy seat, had a big foam letter "M" on her. Ellie put it there on her own because Maggie starts with "M"! Another funny story is that she will get stuck on a song and want to hear it over and over again. There is a country song "Chicken Fried" that Grant sang to her. When we hear it on the radio she says, "Daddy". We now have it on CD and as soon as we get in the car she starts saying, "chicken, chicken!!!" After it plays she yells, "More! More!" We have heard that song more times than I can count, but it is very funny.

Maggie is a trooper and lets Ellie pile her toys on her and kiss on her and put tutus on her! She is such a good natured baby. She still has blue eyes, so we are thinking they might stay that way. She loves to "talk" and last week we were on the web cam with my parents when Maggie started "talking" up a storm. This upset my serious child and she looks at Maggie and says, "uh uh" and puts her hand over Maggie's mouth! I can see it now...Maggie is going to follow Ellie around talking her ear off and Ellie is going to be going, "BE QUIET!" Their personalities are already so different.

Snow fun!

We didn't get as much snow here in the mountains as you folks in West TN., but we have about 3-4 inches. Ellie was having a blast playing in it and eating it. Here is a short clip of her in the snow in our neighbor's yard. Maggie was asleep inside the whole time! Next year she will be able to enjoy it as well.

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In Loving Memory of Grandaddy Ellis

Wow. It has been a hard start to the year for us here. On February 1, 2009, we lost my precious Grandaddy, Dr. Bob Ellis. He had fallen in November and been in the hospital ever since. His 87 yr. old body just could not fight all the complications and we all believe that he was ready to go home to be with his Lord and the love of his life, my Mema. We were so blessed to have had him here with us for so long. He was an incredible man who lived an incredible life. He grew up in the Great Depression, went off with his father to Oklahoma and lived under a different name for several years before being returned to his mother in Memphis, fought in WWII, graduated from Ole Miss and became Registrar there during some of the most difficult days at Ole Miss, then went on to get his PhD in education from Florida State and became a professor at Ole Miss. I learned that upon his retirement he had the longest tenure of any professor. I believe that says something about him. Grandaddy was very involved in his church and literacy in Lafayette County. He was also an avid swimmer and swam up until he fell in Nov. He was also a big supporter of Ole Miss sports and attended all football games and baseball games. The baseball team will miss one of their best fans this season!

He has passed on to me the importance of education and doing what you love. He always supported my efforts and was also so proud of Grant for going back to PT school. He loved all of his 9 grandkids and was so good to us as well as his great grandkids. I am so glad that he got to meet Ellie, who's real name is Ellis after him, and Maggie. The women at the Methodist Church told my mom that they all referred to my Grandfather as "The Gentleman". He was that. The pastor referred to him as the "humble giant". He was that, too. He was my Grandaddy and he left a legacy for us that I hope to pass down. His life is one to be admired and celebrated. I only hope that I can make him proud and be half the person he was. We will all dearly miss him, but are also filled with joy over having him be a part of our lives.

The pictures are from this past Thanksgiving when we went to see him. What a blessing that trip was as he fell that Sun and this was the last time we got to see him. The one of him and Ellie was of him helping her put her boots on. It was so sweet.

II Timothy 4:7 says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith". Grandaddy did.

In Loving Memory of Pawpaw

With a heavy heart I write this entry into our blog. Last week, January 7, we lost one of the most wonderful people I will ever know. Grant's Pawpaw, Kenneth Shanks, passed away. I had the honor of knowing him for almost 5 years. I will never forget his smiles, singing, and genuine love for everyone. I thank God that I was able to stop to meet Memaw and him in Dickson on my way back from Thanksgiving so Maggie had a chance to meet her Great Pawpaw. We will all cherish this picture of Memaw and Pawpaw with her. The other picture is of Pawpaw sleeping with Ellie on her first Thanksgiving. We often get asked about Ellie's reddish hair color and where she gets it from. It was Pawpaw. He had red hair when he was a boy and was so proud that Ellie had red in her hair. She will always have a little bit of Pawpaw with her! He loved his great grandchildren dearly and there was no doubt of that. I could go on and on about how great of a man he was and how much I will miss him. Even though I was family by marriage he treated me like one of his own grandchildren so I know that they will miss him even more so. His faith is what stands out the most to all who knew him. He loved his Lord and was not ashamed to share it with anyone. One of his favorite songs was, "How Great Thou Art". I had the honor to play it for him on my keyboard as he sang along. It is a memory I will always cherish and I can still hear him singing it loud and proud. So I will end with the last verse of this hymn as I know Pawpaw's heart is filled with joy as he is with his Jesus.

"When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; How great Thou art. how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!"