Thoughts from a Blonde...

Just some pictures

2012-02-10T13:17:00.000-06:00

pigtails

sweet sleeping baby!

funny puff face

brushing those 10 teeth

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11 Months Old!

2011-12-22T00:36:00.000-06:00

How did my girl turn 11 months old? It seems like only yesterday, we were bringing her home. She growing up too fast! I'm in party planning mode here and also Christmas mode. Things are definitely crazy! ha!

Ellie took two steps on her own last week. She had a nasty virus last week and I spent two days at home with her while she had a pretty high temp. Finally Wednesday evening she started feeling better and Barry was playing with her on the floor. She let go of the coffee table and took two steps towards him. It was sweet! She definitely loves her daddy. She hears the garage door open when he comes home and starts looking for him. As soon as he walks into the kitchen from the laundry room, she starts crawling as fast as she can to him. I love to watch her...and him!

She's started saying, "Wo" in the last couple of weeks. She'll say it when Sam comes running up to her or something surprising happens or even if she drops something. I think Barry and I must say it quite a bit. It's too cute. I think she says a lot of other things that I say to her often, but I'm not sure. Is it an accident or real words. So hard to tell sometimes because this girl babbles ALL. THE. TIME. She wakes up talking and doesn't stop until we lay her back for a nap or bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime...well really wake up time. Ellie still has her pacie. She's only ever had it at bedtime or in the car. We occasionally give it to her at church when it's nap time, but she doesn't get to crawl around with it. When she wakes up in the mornings, I'll pick her up from her crib and tell her to throw her "night night pacie" in the crib. She takes it right out of her mouth and throws it back in her crib. It's so stinkin' cute!

My girl has started biting. What's up with that?! Our pediatrician said most babies don't start until around 15 months. Just our luck she'd be an early bloomer with the biting. The first time she did it, I screamed a little because it HURT! This girl has 8 teeth and she bites hard. Plus it was unexpected. She laughed so it was hard for me to be serious, but I told her no. The next time she did it, she pretended like she wanted to snuggle and bit my shoulder. She's done it several times. Our pediatrician gave me some good advice and I'm hoping it works. The last thing I need is her biting one of the boys at the babysitter's.

If we are playing with Ellie on the floor, Sam is sure to be right there. A while back he stole one of her small teddy bear stuffed animals with a rattle right out of her toy basket. I didn't catch it in time and he'd slobbered all over it so I let him keep it. One day last week, he was chewing on what I thought was that, "baby" as we call it. All of a sudden I heard a "baaaa" coming from it and realized he'd stole another animal from Ellie. I grabbed it from him and washed it off since he'd just picked it up. The lamb got a good bath and was as good as new. Well, fast forward to playing later in the day. I'm playing with Ellie and throwing Sam's other slobbery baby for him to go get and bring back. Ellie goes to her toy basket, gets out that lamb and hands it to Sam. He takes it from her and runs off. I had to chase that dog to get that lamb back. Apparently Sam and Ellie have worked out some deal so he can have that lamb. They are really starting to interact more lately and it's so cute. She's even been throwing him puffs from her high chair.

Ellie is still wearing 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. I do have some 12 month onesies I got a while back for Christmas because I wasn't sure how big she would be by now. They fit, but are definitely big on her. She can't wear 12 month pants though, they fall right off her. She's just a little thing with a big personality. She laughs most of the time. Of course she's getting to that point where when she wants something, she wants it. If you tell her no, there is likely to be some screaming.

And now the important stuff...pictures! I have gobs of them because she was just too cute this month. Still a bit of a goopy eye. Going to see a specialist in January about the clogged tear duct. Hoping we come up with a plan.

Here's a bit of that temper I mentioned.

laughing at my funny faces

had to pose in front of the tree

this is before our christmas with barry's parents and grandpa last night, but i love it so i had to throw it in!

My mom, sister and nephew arrive tomorrow. I'm so excited! Can't wait to get lots of pictures of Ellie and Cooper together.

10 Months Old...

2011-12-09T13:02:00.000-06:00

Better late than never, right?!

Ellie has so much personality! She is so much fun! I wish I could freeze time right now...of course I think that every month. This month is so much fun though! Ellie laughs and smiles so much. I think she's got to be the happiest baby I've ever met. Don't get me wrong, we've seen glimpses lately at some serious stubbornness. But, that's OK too. We love everything about this sweet darling!

We finally got in for our 9 month well baby visit when she was 10 months old. Our pediatrician had to reschedule the previously scheduled appt. Ellie weighed 19.6 oz. Even though she's only between the 50-60% for weight, she's in the 90% for height. She is growing!

We still have lots of drool, but definitely not as much as before those last teeth popped through. She loves to bite. Sometimes us, but mostly our clothes or blankets...things like that. She's never been interested in those teething rings that you freeze or refrigerate too much. She is however loving her tooth brush! I’ve been brushing her teeth for a while and now she wants to do it herself. So of course I let her after I do the actual brushing. She smiles as soon as she sees that thing!

At our visit with Dr. L, he told us we could start some table foods. I had already given her a few things, but he said to try turkey on Thanksgiving. Let me just say, it was not a hit. I even tried leftovers with her a couple times and it's a no go for now. I think it might be the texture because her response was to put it in her mouth and then make a very odd face. ha! She did however LOVE the mashed potatoes. We've also tried steamed peas with the skin peeled off. She loves those as well.

She has added a couple words to her repertoire "dada" and "mama." She also says, "dog-dog," "no-no," and "ni-ni" (when it's time for bed). At first she only said "dog-dog" when she would see our dog, Sam or I would ask her where he was. Now she says it when she sees any dog. It's so sweet.
She loves, loves, loves to sing! In church she has started singing/humming along with the songs. We sing songs in the car and I'll look back in the mirror and she's just smiling away. We sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" several times a day and she now tries to do the hand motions. It's mostly just lifting her hands up and down, but it's so cute.

Bed head!

Ellie is still cruising around furniture. We also borrowed one of those stand and push toys from a friend and she goes to town with that thing. She will stand still on her own, but as soon as she realizes we've let go of her fingers, she sits down. She is just lacking the confidence...she'll get there though. She also stands at her Laugh and Learn Fun with Friends Musical Table. She crawls right to it and then will play with the different activities on it for what seems like forever. She just loves it!

This girl loves to read! We have SOOOOOO many books. I went a little crazy with the board books. I turn in a scholastic book order every month for my class so I also go on their website and order from the baby/toddler book order. Ellie had shelves full of books before we ever even got the call for her. Now she continues to get books. Plus her Aunt Laurie (my bff) sends her a gift each month for her month birthday. There is usually one or two books included in that. You know how us teachers are! Anyway, her favorite right now is, Toes, Ears, & Nose! It's a lift the flap book of body parts. She will let us read that to her multiple times while she lifts the flaps. We've only had one mishap and had to tape the flap back on.

Reading with Daddy

Sleep is still a wonderful thing for us. She has been going down between 6:30 and 7:00 and I wake her up about 6:30. The weekends she usually wakes up by 7:00. I think mostly because she's in a good routine. Over Thanksgiving break, she slept until about 7:30. She still takes two naps a day. One in the morning for about 2 hours and her afternoon nap is down to 1.5-2 hours. On Sundays, she only gets one nap because of church. She sleeps in the car on the way to church for about 15 minutes and then sleeps after church for about 2.5-3 hours. She doesn't seem to have trouble with that. I mean I know she's tired, but never gets too cranky. She is definitely a go with the flow baby girl.

All in all....Life is GREAT!
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Wordless Wednesday...not even close

2011-11-30T21:14:00.000-06:00

As you can see, I was a 30 Days of Gratitude blogger drop out. I honestly don't know how you moms that blog daily do it!! I just don't have the time. There are so many other things I need to do other than blog. As much as I'd like to keep up with it daily, I just don't.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful and that deserves a post of it's own. But, until then, I will leave you with some iphone pics. I put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving, but Barry was officiating a football game so I waited to decorate it until he was home Saturday. Ellie is interested in it for sure, but not obsessed so that's a bonus. Now if I can just start wrapping some presents.

I finally ordered our Christmas cards tonight. I can't wait to get them. I also ordered our family pics we had done the end of October last night. See...I really am behind. And I really need to start thinking about a first birthday. Eeeek! Is it really possible??

Ellie's 10 month update will happen sometime before she's 11 months old. That gives me 14 days. I'm enjoying every minute with this little darling! She is so funny and her smile just melts my heart. I love her more every single day...and I didn't think that was possible. This is just such a fun stage!

Here are what you all really want to see...

My little Thanksgiving turkey.

Checking out the tree before we decorated it.

Not sure if she likes the cat or the tree more.

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30 Days of Gratitude: Day 12-15

2011-11-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

Is anyone surprised that I can't keep up with this? I had the best intentions, but life gets in the way.

Day 12:
I'm thankful for the weekends. I am glad I get to spend my weekends with my sweet husband and the cutests baby around! I even love weekends when Ellie wakes me up at 5:45...this time change still has her messed up.

Day 13:
I've said it on here before, but I'll say it again. I am truly thankful for my small group. I cherish the friendships I have with the people in this group. I appreciate the transparency we can have with one another. These people have supported us through the good and bad times and I know they will continue to do that! This group is just what I prayed Barry and I would find when we got married. I thank God I get to "do" life with these people.

Day 14:
I'm thankful Ellie slept until after 6:00 this morning. It allowed me time to have some quiet time, drink my coffee and start to get ready for work before she got upt. It sure beats the 4:45-5:00 she's been getting up at since the time change.

Day 15:
I'm thankful that 10 months ago, my daughter was born. Even though I didn't know it at the time, this day changed my life. Thank you, God for this darling baby girl! She is the light of our lives!

9 months old

2011-11-15T20:57:00.001-06:00

I'm a month behind on posting about my sweet girl.

At nine months my sweet girl is changing everyday. I love this age so much! She is becoming quite a little person. :)
Ellie is cruising around the furniture with ease. She thinks she's a big girl, let me tell ya! She loves grabbing things on the coffee table and has knocked over our drinks twice now....lesson learned! ha!
We had her in to see our pediatrician again on the 15th...poor girl had another double ear infection. He started her on an antibiotic for 20 days to try to get rid of it once and for all. If it doesn't work, we are going to talk about tubes the next time she has one. We were able to get her weight and she weighed 18.7 lbs. Not sure of her length. We just moved up to the 9 month onesies and sleepers. They are big around, but the 6 month size was just too short. She has a long torso and short legs so she's still in 3-6 month size pants. Dresses are hit or miss...just depends on the dress.
She cut another tooth on the 8th. Her upper right lateral incisor popped through. That gives us 5 teeth now. The other three on top are getting closer too. She is a drooling mess most of the time. Some days I pick her up from the babysitter and she's wet to her belly button and that's with an outfit change.
We started some stage 3 foods this month. She loves to eat and there really isn't anything she won't eat. We can't give her any of the foods with broccoli because it gives her a terrible diaper rash. I read that happens so I've gotten rid of that. I also had some prunes in the back of the pantry for a just in case situation. :) Barry fed her dinner one night while I was doing some work and he didn't know what prunes can do to a baby. Needless to say, I got to experience those prunes the next morning when I got Ellie out of her crib. Oh my goodness! The poor girl pooped all day long.
Ellie loves "Pat a Cake." We do it all the time. She also loves to play peek a boo. She just laughs and laughs. Speaking of laughing, this girl is ticklish! SO very ticklish! She has the deepest belly laugh. It just makes me smile.
"Dada" is still her word of choice. She says it constantly. Whenever Barry walks in the room, she'll reach for him and say it. She knows what she's saying and what it means. She does the same thing with. "Mama" just not nearly as much.
Other kids fascinate Ellie. Whenever she sees another child, she starts smiling and "talking." It doesn't just have to be kids she knows either. It can be any child. She is very friendly and will play with them easily.

This girl is still a rock star sleeper! She sleeps from 7:00 until I wake her up at 6:30 on weekdays. She takes a morning and afternoon nap. Some evenings it's all we can do to keep her awake until bedtime.

Bath time has become her favorite time of the day! We got a new bathtub inflatable duck. It sits inside our bathtub. She just loves it and so do we. It lets her sit in the tub without the chance of bumping her head. It also keeps her contained in a small area. It's just perfect!
I'm sure I'm leaving lots out. I try to jot things down on my iPhone to remember what I want to blog about, but I am sure I don't get it all.
Here are the pics...not too great because she was sick, but that's what was happening that weekend.

Check out that drool.

I love this girl!

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 11

2011-11-11T08:26:00.000-06:00

photo courtesy google

To all of the veterans out there....thank you. Your sacrifice allows me and those I love to live our lives each day in a place we love. I will never really know all the sacrifices you and your loved ones make for the rest of us. I can imagine some of them and it breaks my heart, but unless I was living your life, I wouldn't truly "get it. "

The fact that you put yourself in harms way day in and day out, says a lot about you. It tells me you are brave, you love this country you live in and you are willing to sacrifice your own life for others. That in my book makes you a hero. So today, as we honor veterans in this country, I want to say THANK YOU. Thank you for all you do to make my life safe.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 10

2011-11-10T20:57:00.000-06:00

I'm so very thankful for the amazing job I have. While, I'd prefer to be at home with Ellie everyday, it's not possible right now. So instead I get to go spend my days with a classroom full of 2nd graders.

My days are full of children who make me laugh, teach me more than I teach them some days, gross me out and sometimes their stories make me cry. I'm lucky to do something I am passionate about. I'm lucky I get to teach children.

I'm also extremely thankful that I work with an absolutely wonderful group of people. They make my days brighter and a whole lot of fun. We truly are like a family and I love them dearly!

We also have the best custodian in the world. He goes above and beyond for all of us! I teach in a portable and he goes out to my room and turns on the air or heat in the mornings before I get there so the temp will be perfect. When we had super cold days last year and school was closed due to the ice, he went up to the school on his own time and checked on things, turned on heat in the portables and made sure everything was ok. He didn't get paid for that, he did it because that's the kind of man he is. He will drop his lunch if someone needs something. He is truly a one of a kind guy. (and he's single...which still amazes me!)

So even though I wish I could spend my days with my sweet girl, I have the best of both worlds. I even have great vacations. I'm thankful for being able to do something I love.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 9

2011-11-09T07:49:00.000-06:00

I'm thankful that I get to share this life with a man I love. We've been through some difficult times, and it's made us stronger. I know that he is in this with me for the long haul. During tough times, he's not going to give up on me. He proved that when I was a wacko during our fertility treatments and wait for Ellie.

Neither one of us are perfect...certainly not me. He might forget to put his dirty clothes in the hamper, watch too much football or forget take out the garbage, but at the end of the day, he loves me. Yes, this man I married, my best friend, loves me. Each day, he chooses to love me. Even when I'm at my worst. Even when I am being a freak about him taking out the garbage, or putting his dirty clothes where they go, or watching too much football. He still loves me. He chooses to do that.

Let's be honest, love isn't always easy. There are times when we aren't too loveable. At least I know that's true for me. I don't always make it easy for him to love me. I know that. But, he does. And those things that drive me crazy about him, they aren't really that important. Not in the scheme of things. Because, I'm married to a man who would do anything for our family. I am married to a man who absolutely adores his daughter. When I watch him with her, I can't help but smile. And sometimes, I even cry. He loves our sweet baby more than I could have imagined him loving her.

Most importantly, I'm married to a man who loves God. He wants our family to serve God. Barry wants our family to do great things for His kingdom. We don't always know exactly what that looks like, but because he wants that, he prays about it. This man I love asks God to guide him in his role as a husband and as a father and in serving Him.

Yes, I'm married to a man who loves God, and because he loves God, he chooses to love me. And for that I am so very thankful.

Our first moments with Ellie.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 8

2011-11-08T09:54:00.000-06:00

I cannot begin to express just how thankful I am for Ellie's birth mom. When she chose us to parent her daughter, she gave us the most wonderful blessing anyone could ever give us. I will never know how hard that decision was for her because I'm not her. I can only imagine...

We never met Ellie's birth parents and that was their choice. We were prepared for an open adoption and honestly wanted one. But, circumstances prevented that. For Ellie's sake, I hope that one day she will be able to meet her birth parents and really know them.

There are many nights when I sit and rock my daughter. I tell her her story. I tell her how she came to us and how we were beyond happy the first time we held her. She was the answer to years of prayers. She was our dream come true. Her mother made that dream a reality. I pray that one day I will be able to tell her (in person) just how thankful we are for the plan she made for Ellie. Because of her plan, I am a mommy.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 7

2011-11-07T12:09:00.000-06:00

I'm thankful I have a little "alarm clock" who woke me up this morning. Even if it was at 4:45...gotta love daylight savings time with babies. I wouldn't trade it for anything though!!

Here she was last night at 5pm. She just couldn't keep her eyes open another minute. She fell asleep while we were snuggling. I had to wake her up later and put her in her jammies and give her a bottle. She went right back to sleep. :)

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30 Days of Gratitude: Day 6

2011-11-07T12:01:00.000-06:00

I am thankful for my amazing mom! She left last Thursday after being here two weeks. The time went by way too quickly. We had an amazing visit and she was able to spend lots of time with Ellie. Thankfully, she'll be back at Christmas.

My mom is one of my very best friends. My dad passed away when I was 12 so it was just my mom, sister and I after that. She was our rock. She could have become sad and bitter, but she had two little girls to take care of, and she did. So many people lose their faith when something bad happens, but not my mom. She continued to take us to church and be a wonderful christian example for us both. She taught me how to put others first and serve them. She taught me that it's not all about me. She taught me so many things that I look forward to teaching Ellie. I think I'm a pretty good mom (so far), but it's because she was such a wonderful example for me...and she still is.

I love you mom and am so thankful that God gave me to you.

My mom meeting ellie for the first time

4th of July

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 5

2011-11-07T11:54:00.002-06:00

Who was I kidding thinking I could stay on top of this?!? I'm going to get caught up today. I've been keeping up on faceb00k so at least that's something.

I'm thankful that God's plan isn't always my plan! Last year it was harder for me to see that, but this year...it's a totally different story. I'm reminded of this daily when I look Ellie. Thank you, God for knowing just what/who we needed. Your plan is perfect!

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30 Days of Gratitude: Day 4

2011-11-07T10:00:00.001-06:00

I'm so very thankful for wonderful friends! I've been blessed with some amazing friends who've always been there for me. Some of them have been my friends for years, while others are my newer Texas friends.

Whether new or old, I'm so thankful I have them all in my life!

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 3

2011-11-03T23:08:00.000-05:00

Planes! I'm so very thankful for planes that make an 18 hour drive to Michigan so much shorter. My visits to Michigan are much easier because of air travel. They also make it easier for my family to visit me.

My mom flew home today, but she'll be back in December. Along with my sister and my nephew. I'm looking forward to them spending Christmas with us. Cooper is thrilled about coming to Texas. Especially since he'll get to see his Ellie Grace. So, today I am very thankful for planes and the under three hour trip from TX to MI.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 2

2011-11-03T07:03:00.000-05:00

Today I'm thankful for wipes and a change of clothes! Can anyone relate to this??

We went to do some shopping after I got out of school on Tuesday. Ellie needs some good walking shoes and we wanted to take my mom out for her birthday dinner. She won't be here for her actual birthday so we had to celebrate early. We went to The Cheesecake Factory...mmmmm! Ellie was perfect. She ate her dinner while we waited for ours. She might be the nosiest baby ever. ha! She was into everything going on around her. I love her curiosity. When we were done eating, I took her out of her high chair so I could give her a bottle. We were going to be out past her bedtime so I knew she'd just sleep in the car on the way home. I sat her in my lap and started feeding her the bottle. What happened next isn't pretty!

We both ended up in the family bathroom cleaning up. I guess I should be thankful for family bathrooms too. Although Ellie HATES those changing tables they have in bathrooms. She is terrified to lay on them. She screams the entire time....like bloody murder screaming. With the cleanup we had to do, I'm sure people outside were wondering what was going on in there.

Thankfully, I had lots of wipes and had packed extra clothes as well as her jammies. I put on her jammies and she was as good as new. I on the other hand didn't have jammies with me. Or extra jeans. So, I cleaned myself up the best I could with water, soap and paper towels. As you can imagine that wasn't the best solution. But, it did the trick until I got home. I tried to cover the giant wet spot that was now on my jeans with the diaper bag. I'm not sure it worked.

It all worked out just fine and I'm glad I pack extra stuff just in case we have an "issue."

Anyone have any experience with this?

And just because I think she's so stinkin' cute...

Trying on our owl hat that came in the mail.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 1

2011-11-01T22:14:00.001-05:00

I've been a terrible blogger lately. Oh who amI kidding? I've been a terrible blogger for months and months. I'm going to try and do a better job this month!
I want to participate in what so many other bloggers are doing this month. I need to take time to remind myself of all the big and little things I have to be thankful for this month/year.

So today, I'm reminded of just how different my life is this year. I have this beautiful baby girl and last year she was just a hope, a wish, a prayer. This year she's an answer to so many prayers and more than we could have hoped for.

I thank God for this darling baby girl every single day. Ellie Grace you are my pumpkin pie!

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Almost Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

Daddy's biggest fan

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Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T18:27:00.000-05:00

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8 Months Old

2011-10-11T20:15:00.000-05:00

I'm so late posting this considering Ellie will be 9 months old this week. I didn't even get a picture with the sticky on her shirt this month. Between going back to work and trying to get into a routine, my trip to Michigan, another ear infection for little miss and just everyday stuff I just honestly didn't get around to it. I do take LOTS of pics though so I'm not lacking in the picture department.

Even though some of these things have changed, I'll write this like I would have her 8 month update.

Ellie started pulling up this month. It's the sweetest thing and makes me sad that my girl is growing up so fast (I know I say that every month), but believe me, I'm thankful that she is growing up. Make sense? I know we are in for lots of bumps and bruises. It's just part of growing up, isn't it?
She still sleeps like a rock star! She goes down about 7:00 and I wake her up at 6:30 so I can get her dressed and give her a bottle before we head to the babysitter. We had a couple of rough nights when she had her ear infection, but she's back to her normal schedule. She is still taking two naps a day and usually sleeps really well. We still lay her down and she's out. Although, I will admit there are some nights after her bottle that she falls asleep and I just hold her. Sometimes for 15 minutes, other times for an hour. I hate that I spend so much of the day away from her. I also feel like she's growing up so fast and I just want to cherish every single minute I can!

So tired she fell asleep on Daddy. He's pretty tired too.

She hasn't been drinking quite as much. She's only drinking about 7oz four times a day. I checked with our pediatrician and he said that it's perfectly fine because she's eating more solids now. She's gained weight since her 6 month visit. She's at 17.2 lbs. I only know this because we had her in for the ear infection.
She is still eating stage 2 foods and I'm still making some of those, but not quite as many since I've went back to work. As much as I'd love to make all her food, I'm not gonna lie, I'm just not making the time for it. I don't want to spend the small amount of time I have with her before bed each night in the kitchen. No thanks! Maybe once I get into the groove with school.

She still loves the ergo. I use it a lot at home when I need to get something done and she wants to be held. I also used it on our trip to Michigan. Ellie is as content as can be in that thing. It's a life saver.

This girl is teething like crazy. She is trying to cut her top, right, lateral incisor. Poor girl is having a rough time of it. She is drooling like a fountain. She's even got a rash below her chin from all the drool. The doctor gave us some suggestions for that, so hopefully it will improve. Hoping this tooth pops through soon.

Ellie loves singing. People singing to her that is. Her favorite is The Itsy Bitsy Spider. It's so cute to see her when I sing it. She loves any sort of music though. She can be fussy and I'll turn my ipod on and she's calm as can be.

She has become best friends with our cat. CB is 15 and I honestly wasn't sure if she'd even tolerate Ellie. Oh how silly I was! The cat LOVES Ellie. If Ellie is on the floor playing, which she does quite a bit, that cat is right next to her. She's really quite sweet with her.

She finally said, "Mama." It was the best word ever! She still says, "Dada" a whole lot more than "Mama," but I don't care. I also think she knows when she says, "Dada" what it means. She'll look right at Barry and say it. Or I'll say. "Daddy's home!" He'll walk in and she'll say it. It's adorable. She loves her daddy. Although, she is definitely a mommy's girl!!

I feel like I'm leaving so much out, but there aren't as many changes this month as there will be when I post about her 9th month. The girl has lots to write about Saturday.

In our jammies

Definitely not as easy to photograph her now.

I want down!

I love this hat! We had to play dress up with it.

Cuteness Overload!

2011-10-03T11:26:00.000-05:00

Gotta love the teeth and the drool! She's got more coming in.

This girl will not leave shoes or socks on. She rips them right off. It wasn't so bad this summer, but now with the cooler weather, we might need to work on this.

Hope your Monday is marvelous!

Love/Hate

2011-09-21T19:34:00.000-05:00

Grandma reading to Ellie and Cooper. Love this!

Ellie and I flew to Michigan early Saturday morning and flew home yesterday. We went for my aunt's funeral. It was all quite sudden. The trip to MI was obviously for a very sad occasion, but the time there with my family was perfect.

I love watching my mom love on her grandchildren. I love seeing my nephew play with his cousin. He calls her "my Ellie." It's the sweetest thing ever. I love seeing Ellie reach for my sister when she saw her. I loved introducing Ellie to all of my family that hadn't met her before this trip. I love that my BFF was able to watch my daughter while I attended the funeral, even if I didn't get to see her for more than 15 minutes during this trip.

I hated sitting and listening to someone sum up the life of my aunt if just a few words. How can a person's life be summed up like that? It can't. I hate that her life was not longer. I hate that this woman that I love and have so many memories with, will not get to make those same memories with my daughter. I hate that Ellie will only know her through stories.

I love that my aunt was able to meet Ellie in July and love on her. I hate that I didn't get a picture of that moment. I love that my memory will allow me to remember that day forever.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fortune Cookie

2011-09-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

I found this in the junk drawer this week.

I stuck it in there last summer after dinner one night. Oh how true it is! :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finalization!

2011-09-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

I realized today that I never blogged about our finalization!

Ellie's adoption was final July 27th. It was a fabulous day. If I'm being honest though, it wasn't nearly as wonderful as January 20th. We weren't ever scared that it wouldn't be final. We weren't ever worried that something would happen and we wouldn't be a family. From the day she was placed in my arms, I knew she was ours.

We stood before the judge and promised to love Ellie and care for her. We've loved her from the moment we knew about her so that was an easy promise. We answered all the questions the judge asked us and then he pronounced her our legal daughter. We were officially a family of three. It was definitely one of the best moments of our life. Ellie was her normal charming self and smiled right on cue. It was perfect.

Here are a couple of pics of our special day.

Waiting to go in to the courtroom.

God's plan for our family was/is perfect. This little person is more than I could have ever imagined. Ellie is the best part of my day. When I go into her room in the morning and she's standing in her crib waiting for me, just smiling, I immediately thank God for her. When I lay her in that same crib at night and pray over her, I immediately get teary eyed. God has blessed me more than I deserve. She brings me more joy than I could have imagined. I definitely don't take being her mommy lightly. What I want most for her is for her to love God and do great things for His kingdom. I pray for that daily. I also pray that I am a role model for her and let my life be an example of the things I want most for her.

I am looking forward to all the years we have in front of us and to see where God will take us now.

We Will Never Forget

2011-09-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

Praying for all those who lost someone they loved that day.

Bath Time!

2011-09-10T07:45:00.000-05:00

Ellie absolutely loves bathtime! From the moment we start getting her ready for her bath, she starts getting excited. We've still been using her little pink tub in the kitchen sink because it's just easier for us than trying to hunch over the tub. Plus we can kind of keep her contained so she's not flopping around and hitting her head in the big tub.

For a while I thought most people probably have their babies in the big tub by now. But, ya know what I decided? I don't care what most people do. ha! This works for us and we are going to do what works good for us! The sink is probably coming to an end soon. She loves bath time so much and the pink tub is starting to get a bit snug. Until it is too small though, we are going to live it up!

Here are some pics from bath time last night while daddy was at his football game. Ellie and I had a great girls night!

Playing in the sprayer. She loves this!

Look at that sweet little smile

Those eyes! And the lashes!

iPhone Pictures

2011-09-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

Just a few recent pics I want to post of my sweet Ellie girl...

I love this baby girl!

She likes the basket more than the toys that it holds.

Celebrating Great Papa's birthday.

Fell asleep during her bottle and then mommy needed some snuggle time.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quiet Time

2011-09-02T06:22:00.000-05:00

Photo courtesy Pinterest

As a working mom, I find it very hard these days to find quiet time to be in the word. During my summer vacation, it was easy. I got up before Ellie, got my coffee and went out on the patio to read. Life has changed in the last three weeks.

When I get up in the mornings now (at 5:00 I might add), I jump in the shower, then head to the kitchen to let Sam out and get my coffee ready and pills and breakfast for Sam. Then I get myself ready, Ellie's bottle ready, her out of bed, fed and we are out the door.

I teach all day, pick Ellie up and by the time I get home it's about 4:30...and that's without any stops. I play with my sweet baby girl, feed her dinner and also try to make something for us. Then play some more. Ellie gets a bath, book and bottle and goes to bed about 7:30.

Which would seem like the perfect quiet time right? Sure, in a perfect world. But, that's when I clean up dinner dishes, throw in a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, and do a few things around the house so I don't spend all day Saturday cleaning. Before you ask what Barry does, he's great! He helps out a lot. Right now though, it's football season and he's gone quite a bit officiating HS football games. It will be that way until Christmas.

By the time all that's finished I'm exhausted and ready for BED! I know I've only been back three weeks now, but I honestly don't see things changing.

I promise I'm not complaining either! I wouldn't change this life of mine for anything! I just need sometime in the word. So I ask all you other mommies out there....How in the world do you do it?? How do you find a chunk of time each day?

Thankful Thursday

2011-09-01T06:14:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday post in a while. Not because there aren't any things I'm thankful for, just the opposite! I have so many things to be thankful for, it's hard to narrow them down. I'm going to do a better job each week of writing this post.

I'm thankful for our weekend getaway to visit Barry's brother and his family. Ellie slept the entire way there and back...several hours! We had a wonderful visit with them. Wish we could see them more often! Ellie got to spend time with her big cousins. She always laughs and smiles the entire time she's with them. They are just so sweet with her.

Especially this guy!

That's not so say the rest of the cousins are amazing with Ellie too, but W has just has something special about him. He has a real talent with children. He gets right down on Ellie's level and plays with her. He makes her smile SO big. Most 13 yr old boys I know wouldn't have any interest in spending much time with their baby cousins, this guy was a sweetheart with Ellie. W, we love you so much and are so proud of the young man you are becoming. God has great things planned for you and we cannot wait to see what those are!

What are you thankful for this week?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-31T23:01:00.000-05:00

The Most Adorable Outfit

2011-08-25T22:15:00.000-05:00

I've been on the hunt for something cute for Thanksgiving. Deni and I text back and forth about cute smocked clothes we find, but none of the turkey smocked outfits were that cute. So I went to etsy! I was not disappointed!

Here's what Ellie will be sporting Thanksgiving day!

Check out the shop here for this and more super cute outfits

Isn't it the cutest?!!!

7 Months Old

2011-08-21T21:17:00.000-05:00

Ellie turned 7 months old last Monday. I haven't had a chance or been able to take pictures because she's been sick. Our pediatrician was on vacation again so we saw his fill in and he said she was fine. GRRRR! When our pedi got back last Tuesday, Barry took her in to see him. I knew she was sick! I was right! She has an ear infection and upper respiratory junk going on. Poor girl! She still has a terrible runny nose a little cough and watery eyes today. I think she might also be cutting her top teeth. She is drooling like crazy and has been quite fussy!

When we went to the dr last Tuesday, they weighed our girl and she has actually gained a little even being sick. She weighs 16.7 lbs. She still loves to eat! She's tried just about every stage 2 veggie and fruit except peas. She loves pears and squash the best though. We also tried peaches again and she likes them. I'm happy about that! I'm still making a lot of her food, but also buying quite a bit. I think now that I'm back to work, I'll buy more. We had to move up a size in onesies, she's now wearing 9 months. The 6 months were too short. I feel like my baby girl is growing up too fast.

Ellie is at such a fun stage right now. She is changing so quickly. It seems like everyday she does something new. She started saying "Dada" about two weeks ago. It's adorable! She also says "Mmmma" when she sees me now. That just started this past week. I love it!

Ellie is crawling. It's just about the cutest thing ever! She almost looks like a frog when she gets going. She started crawling to get the cat and hasn't stopped yet. ha! She loves anything paper. I have some magazines on the bottom of the coffee table and she pulls them off all the time. She's also pulling up on the bottom part of the coffee table. I think we are going to lower her crib this week. I sure don't want her pulling up in there!

She still loves her jumperoo. She goes crazy in that thing! She doesn't care for her bumbo much anymore at all. She can get herself out of it so we just haven't used it lately. I think she just wants to be on the go all the time. She doesn't stay still too much.

We are down to two naps a day. She still takes her morning nap about 9:00 and sleeps for about 1.5 hours. Then she goes down at about 1:00 for 2-3 hours. She's been in bed by 7:00 or 7:30 each night and then I wake her up at 6:30 to get ready to go to the babysitter. I love that she's such a good sleeper! She has been waking up a little in the middle of the night since she's been sick. I just go in and give her the pacie and she's usually right back to sleep.

Ellie has definitely turned into a big time mamma's girl. While I love this, I also don't want her to feel bad when I'm not around. When I leave the room she often cries. When she sees me and is with someone else, she'll reach for me. She is the light of my life and I certainly don't mind that she prefers me right now. I know it won't always be like this so I am soaking it up!

Barry took these this morning before church.

Notice her bare feet? She will not leave shoes or socks on those cute little feet.
Since it's been over 100 degrees forever now, I just gave up the battle. I don't blame her!

We Survived!

2011-08-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

Maybe the title should be, "I Survived!"

Today was my first day back to work after a wonderful summer at home with Ellie. I had several breakdowns last week and a big one yesterday. But, this morning I got up feeling ok about it all. I think it was because of a wonderful message my sweet friend Julie sent me on facebook and then followed up with a text this morning. She basically said we aren't bad mommies because we work. She knows there is going to be some child that will be in our rooms this year that we can minister to in some way. I think she's right. She also left her sweet baby to go back to work today. We made it through day one, Julie!

I know I had lots of people praying for me and that sure helped too!

Then I came home to the sweetest, smiliest baby around! I just love that girl. I love her daddy too!

My two loves! Taken in July on Mackinaw Island.

Now, it's off to bed so I can be somewhat rested for Day 2...

Sam Update

2011-08-12T07:13:00.001-05:00

I want to thank all of you who commented on my last post. You were so sweet and many of you had me in tears. I love that our community of bloggers all stick together to support one another! It meant so much to me!

No one around here is a pi11 pus.her or a dr.ug addi.ct. Those are the pills that Sam has to take twice a day. Thankfully the vet ruled out leukemia. After all the tests they've run in the last 2 weeks, he called his specialist friend in Dallas for a phone consult. He believes Sam has some sort of an auto immune disease that is causing the hemolytic anemia. He's lost a lot of red blood cells and they are not regenerating on their own. These two vets put their heads together and decided the course of treatment for Sam and it includes all those pi11s twice a day. My vet wants me to call him everyday and give him an update on Sam and then take him in once a week for new lab work. He is hoping this can help him turn the corner, but said there is no guarantee. I am praying it works!

Sam's on a large dose of steroids each day and that gives him more energy than he's had in the past. Well, yesterday we had rain, yes I said RAIN, in Texas! The storm clouds were a glorious site! Ellie was napping so I went outside on the patio and sat just to watch and wait for the rain. My thermometer said 81. I couldn't remember when it had been 81 degrees. Sam sat our with me too. He's supposed to stay cool and calm so he doesn't usually get out much during the day with the heat. I knew he was loving it as much as I was. He even seemed to perk up a bit and get his throw toy. Of course I didn't really throw it much for him since he's not supposed to exert himself. But, I did get this shot with my phone.

(You'll notice our grass is like straw. We gave up watering because it was still dead. Now we've just embraced the dead grass.)

Thanks again for all your sweet comments!

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My (other) Baby is Very Sick

2011-08-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

Sam is very sick.

My normally happy, at times rambunctious 5 year old boy has not been himself. It started with a lot more sleeping than normal, which I attributed to the heat. Then he refused to eat much for a day or two. After a coupled days of him not acting "normal" I planned to take him to the vet when Barry got home from work. Before he got home Sam was having trouble walking. It appeared he just lost control of his legs so I took him right then. I had to carry him and lift him into the car.

His blood work came back with dangerously low levels of iron and red blood cells. They keep dropping every day even with the medicine and injections the doctors are giving him. They are trying to figure out what's causing this. They've done all sorts of tests and yesterday they ran some more tests because the vet now things he has leukemia or some type of bone marrow cancer. :( We will know more this afternoon.

My heart is broken. I know to some he's just a dog, but to me he's my first baby. I got him when he was 6 weeks old and only weight about 7 lbs. He's been with me through a lot of crazy hard times. He's sat with me and licked me when I was crying. Right now he's so sick and there is nothing I can do about it.
I just think about all the things I had planned for him and Ellie. They are supposed to be best friends! Am I crazy that I love my dog so much? Maybe to some. But, right now I don't care. I just want him back to his normal ball obsessed self. At this point I wouldn't even hide his ball.

Cuteness Overload

2011-08-07T06:20:00.001-05:00

I realize I'm a bit biased, but I think she's just the cutest! I love these pics...even though they aren't the best because they show her personality. She almost always has a smile on her face and laughs all the time!

6 Months

2011-08-06T08:54:00.000-05:00

I know I'm a couple weeks late with this post, but between our vacation and Ellie's pediatrician going on vacation we didn't get in to see him until Wednesday.

She is doing great! She weighs 16.3 lbs and is 26 1/4" long. She's in the 50th percentile for both. At her 3 month visit she was only in the 25th percentile. It's those solid foods.

Ellie eats cereal, although she doesn't much care for it. She prefers her veggies and fruit. She has tried green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, peaches, and pears. Squash being her favorite. Maybe because that came right out of daddy's garden. She hated the peaches. Maybe we will try them again sometime, because peaches are just about my favorite! I'm making a lot of her food, which has been super easy! She also still takes four 8 oz bottles a day.

Check out those teeth!

This girl rolls wherever she wants to go. I can't turn my back or she'll be in another room. She is also scooting all over. She even scoots on her back. She will arch her back and inch along like an upside down inchworm. It's so funny to watch. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. I don't think it will be long before we have a crawler. Which I am in no rush for! That only means she will be into everything and she will be getting too big. When she first turned 6 months old she was a little wobbly at the sitting, now she's got it down.

Her favorite things are her jumperoo. I had a friend give me hers and let me tell you, Ellie loves it! She goes crazy jumping and screaming in that thing. It's so fun to watch her. She still loves her activity mat and swing. Although she doesn't spend much time in the swing anymore. We had to put the bouncy seat away because she was trying to squirm out of it. Have you noticed a pattern? She doesn't like to stay still too much. She sits in her bumbo to watch her Faith Baby DVD if I am getting lunch or dinner ready. We have three of them, but we only watch them about twice a week. She loves them. They have puppets and she laughs and smiles at the puppets. Especially if they pop up out of nowhere.

Which leads to another funny thing about our girl. She loves to be startled. She just laughs and laughs anytime we catch her off guard and startle her. She will jump and then just cackle. It's the cutest thing!

She's still wearing size 6 month clothes. The footed pj's we put her in at night are starting to get a little bit short and I think we will need to jump up in sizes soon. I realize it's 110 degrees here in TX, but with the AC on at night, I still put her in footed pj's. She doesn't have a blanket in her crib and I don't want her little feet to get cold. Speaking of feet....do any of you have babies with stinky feet? Well, I do! Miss Ellie has very stinky feet. Only right around her toes. So I think it's because she keeps her toes curled a lot of the time. She hasn't been wearing shoes or socks much because it's just too darn hot!

Little Miss is still in size 2 diapers. I see the diapers changing soon. I'll just use up what we have and then order more. Did I mention we use amazon and are part of the amazon moms program? I've told all my IRL friends about it! I've found it to be cheaper than buying with coupons. I get 30% off my order, no sales tax and free shipping right to my door. I enrolled in the program and they send out diapers automatically each month unless you tell them not to. Which I generally do. With us being on vacation and getting so many diapers at our showers, I haven't ordered consistently each month. Some months I order 3 boxes, other months 1 box. It just depends on how many I have from my shower in the size she is in. You can change your order at any time. I highly recommend it. We use Huggies and I get them cheaper there than any other place I've tried. (I get no incentive for telling you about this. Just wanted to pass along some good mommy advice.)

Other kids have become very interesting to Ellie. She loves to watch them, and smiles all the time she is around them. She also loves our cat! CB is 15 and for the longest time showed zero interest in Ellie. But, in the last month, she has decided Ellie isn't half bad. Ellie will "pet" her and shows her some attention so CB is always near her when she plays on the floor. Ellie and Sam have made up. She loves him again. He has been very sick though. I take him back to the vet today. I'll update on that more later.

Ellie "talks" nonstop. It could be because we talk to her all the time. She's also discovered her voice. As in screaming and squealing. She loves it! She especially gets excited if we clap and cheer for her. It's just the cutest thing ever! This week she also started saying "da da da da da" over and over again. Barry was thrilled of course because he just knew she was saying his name. ;)

She's still sleeping like a champ! She's still taking 3 naps a day. I'm trying to transition her to two because when I go back to work I don't want really want her sleeping in the evening when we have time with her. She goes to bed around 7:30 and gets up at about 7-7:30 in the morning. Then takes a nap at 9:00. She sleeps about 1.5 hours and then is up to play and eat until around 1:00. That nap is her longer nap. She sleeps anywhere between 2-3 hours. If she sleeps 2 hours she'll take and evening nap. It's usually about 45 minutes. If she sleeps longer we can usually keep her up in the evenings. This girl loves her sleep!

Ellie had her first vacation in July and returned home just before she turned 6 months old. She and I spent 17 days with my family and friends in Michigan. They got to love on my girl. It was wonderful. So hard to come back. Daddy joined us after the first week. He said it was the hardest week ever being aways from his girl(s) so long. I think it was just the one girl in particular. ha!

I realize this is long and most of you probably didn't read it all. That's ok. This is so I'll remember all the details as Ellie gets older.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

Going Fishing!

2011-07-28T15:03:00.001-05:00

My nephew Cooper is obsessed with fishing. On the days that my mom keeps him, she takes him to this park near her house that has a fishing lake. He watches the men fishing and has a fantastic time. Barry loves to fish and once Cooper found that out, he would tell Uncle Barry he wanted to go fishing. He even told one of the fishermen at the lake that his Uncle Barry was going to teach him how to fish.

Every single time we talked Cooper on the phone, he would talk to us about going fishing. We knew we had to get him a fishing pole for his birthday. We were back in Texas by the time he turned 4, but we did give it to him while we were in Michigan. I think it was a success!

Waiting for his surprise! Yes, he is still wearing his pj's...my sister said she picks her battles and pj's during the day isn't one of them. :)

Wow! A fishing pole!

Checking it out.

It's a Spiderman fishing pole!

Happy boy

Ellie wants to check it out.

No Ellie, it's not for babies.

Get away from MY fishing pole!

Maybe if I hold it up high she won't be able to reach it.

Barry getting the line ready.

What a mess!

Uncle Barry teaching Cooper how to hold the pole.

Practicing...

Casting

Way to go!

I want to do it by myself

Success in the grass...now for the lake!

5 month pictures

2011-07-26T20:11:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm way behind on posting pictures. I know! I'm waiting to do Ellie's 6 month post until her doctor visit. With our vacationing and his, we don't go to see him until next week. I'll post after that. For now, here are her 5 month pictures I took.

Two Teeth!

2011-07-22T21:29:00.002-05:00

Ellie woke up Monday morning with her two bottom teeth popping through! We knew they were coming, but were just waiting. She is a drooling, chewing, biting mess! I love it!

I still need to update with her 5 month pics and do a 6 month post since that was last Friday. Right now though, I'm just not feeling much like blogging. I'm enjoying every single minute with my girl! I go back to work in 3 weeks and am DREADING it!! I am usually in my classroom working by next week...guess what...not gonna happen! I'm ok with that! This time is way more important to me!

So for now, I'll leave you with some iPhone pics...

Loving the jumperoo!

Looking at herself in the bumbo. She sits in her bumbo on my counter in the bathroom while I get ready in the morning.

Ready for the pool. I found this adorable hat while we were on vacation in Michigan.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Blood Curdling Scream

2011-07-15T22:18:00.001-05:00

That would be little Miss Ellie doing the screaming.

We've been home almost a week from our Michigan trip, but our black lab, Sam only returned home tonight. He spent the first week of our trip here with Barry since he didn't join us until the second week. Then Sam went to stay with Barry's brother and his family. Sam and their dog, KC love to play so it works out good. They live about three hours from us, so instead of making a 6 hour round trip drive to get him we just waited until Barry's parents were going to be in their town to pick him up. Barry's dad brought him to us tonight.

Ellie was just waking up from her evening nap when Sam returned. She has always loved him and he has loved her too. I went into her room and got her to bring her into the living room. Sam was across the room sitting down and she took one look at him and started screaming. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before. I started talking to her calmly and left the room with her. I went into her room and Sam followed us in a couple minutes later. Same thing...screaming! It was awful.

I tried calming her down and letting her see it was Sam, but since it's been three weeks and she's grown so much in those three weeks I doubt she remembers him. I left him in the living room and took Ellie into the kitchen to feed her, he walked in there a bit later and she started shaking and crying. We decided to put Sam in another room and shut the door until after Ellie was in bed.

She was quite whimpery through her bath and bedtime routine. It's not like she hasn't been around dogs in the three weeks we have been away from Sam. My sister's dog is staying with my mom so Ellie saw Maggie every day. She's not quite as big as Sam, but still a bigger dog. She loved her. She would smile and touch her every time Maggie walked up to her.

I didn't want to force the issue tonight since she was already tired and it was late for her). Tomorrow we'll try to slowly reintroduce these two. I'm hoping we can get them to be fast friends again. Sam seemed to not notice anything was wrong...so that's good. He's just super tired from two weeks of playing with his friend! He has been sleeping since we put Ellie to bed. I think that's where I'm headed too. I need my sleep...tomorrow's a big day at our house...I turn 40! eeek!

Here

2011-07-14T08:08:00.000-05:00

Every night when I lay Ellie in her crib, I stop and pray over her. While I'm praying for her and her life, I also thank God for this amazing baby girl He gave us. The road to Ellie wasn't a quick or easy road, there were many bumps and even some roadblocks along the way. But, When I stand in her nearly dark room with the only sound that of her sound machine, and watch her sleeping I know it was the the perfect route for us.

Don't worry...she doesn't sleep with a blanket.
(This was during nap time when I was cleaning out her closet while she slept.
I had the fan on and just threw the blanket over her because she was in just a onesie
and I didn't want her to get too cold.)

Our girl will be six months old on Friday and these are the best 6 months of my life (Barry's too)! Ellie brings such joy to our lives. She is learning and growing at such a rapid pace, it is sometime hard to believe all the new things she learns and how quickly she changes. Her smile melts my heart. She is the best part of my day!

No, the road to this darling girl was not an easy one, but I wouldn't change one thing.

These lyrics by Rascal Flatts kind of sum it up for me...

"And I wouldn't change a thing

I'd walk right back through the rain

Back to every broken heart

On the day that it was breakin'

And I'd relive all the years

And be thankful for the tears

I've cried with every stumbled step

That led to you and got me here, right here"

Just some random pictures Barry took last night...

Had to have a drink out of mommy's water bottle

Enjoying some floaty time in the pool

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Life is Sweet!

2011-07-08T22:04:00.002-05:00

Doesn't that chair say it all?!?!

We are still on vacation. Although we're heading home tomorrow. The picture was taken on Mackinaw Island. We spent an absolutely wonderful day there. More pics and details about our trip soon!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-29T21:10:00.002-05:00

Ellie met her Michigan boyfriend today. I think I need to explain to her about playing hard to get. Ha!

She's not a very exciting girl to go on a date with.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Five Month iPhone pics

2011-06-27T22:50:00.002-05:00

I'm so late in posting pics from our 5 month photoshoot and an update. Right now I'm just going to post a couple of my favorites that I took with my iPhone and an update. Regular pics will be posted when I return to Texas.

We continue to fall more in love with Ellie each day. She is truly the sweetest baby ever!! She's happy all the time. She still only cries if she's hungry or overly tired. We try to avoid that last one. Ha!

Ellie is still taking 7 ounces at a time and we've also added rice cereal and stage 1 veggies. This girl loves to eat!!

She continues to wow us with her rolling and scooting. She has also started pushing up on her knees. Now if she could just figure out her arms. She loves to play on the floor.

She goes to bed between 8-8:30 and gets up between 6-7:30. We are blessed with a great sleeper. She takes about an hour nap in the morning, three hours in the afternoon and 45 min in the evening.

Ellie still loves her playmat and also the bumbo seat. She also loves to sit with me in the rocker while I read books or a bible story. She is rarely without a smile. She will smile and "talk" to just about anyone. She will let any of our friends hold her. No sign of stranger fear yet either. Our pool has also been a big hit! We hoped she'd love the pool since she loves her bath so much!

Ellie can still wear lots of her 3 month sized clothes. Her sleepers are 6 month size because of the length.

At our 5 month visit Ellie weighed 12 lbs 9 oz and was 24.5" long. She has some chunky thighs, but that's about the only chunky part of her body.

Ellie laughs like crazy at us and when we tickle her. It is the sweetest sound ever! We could not love her more if we tried! She has made our lives better than we ever imagined. We are feel blessed beyond belief.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but if I am I'll add it soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cousin Love

2011-06-26T20:01:00.002-05:00

Ellie and I are visiting my family in Michigan right now and having a wonderful time. My nephew LOVES Ellie!! He tells us all the time that he "needs" Ellie. It's adorable! He is so sweet with her. Here's a picture of the first time he held her.

Sure does melt my heart! I love these two sweeties and love that he loves her so much!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Boo to Shots

2011-06-06T22:49:00.001-05:00

Ellie had her 4 month well visit today. We are just a couple weeks late. She is still technically 4 months old...and some. She weighed 12 lbs 9oz and was 25" long. She's in the 25th percentile for weight.
Our pediatrician was impressed with her gross motor skills. She is rolling back and forth and all over the floor. She's also been getting up on her knees and scooting around. She just can't figure out how to get those arms going.

This is what a girl who gets three shots looks like.

Poor baby! She cried and slept all afternoon. She went down at 7:00 again tonight. That's two nights in a row. This morning she slept until 6:30. Hoping for another night like that.

Also...can someone tell me how to post to blogger from my iphone? I registered my phone, but I can't get pictures to post. I can't get a subject either. What am I doing wrong? Help a girl out, please!

Nursery

2011-05-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

It's been brought to my attention that I never posted pictures of Ellie's nursery. Sorry! Her placement happened pretty quickly and we didn't get it all done for a while. It is now finished...well unless I decide to tweak it, and I might.

I love old windows and plan to put different scriptures on this one that I painted with chalkboard paint. This Ikea dresser we use as her changing table. It gives me so much storage!

The butterflies on the wall are from Pottery barn and so is the owl and her bedding.

The curtains are from Target and they have the blackout panel behind them. I looked all over for some that weren't super high. I think these add the perfect touch of pink against the blue walls.

This was my dresser when I was a baby. I sanded it, painted and distressed it. I love how it adds a bit of texture to the room with the distressing. The hanging above it is from Canton. My Texas friends know about Canton. I stuck pics of our family the first time they held Ellie in it.

Here's Ellie's crib! We love this bedding!

Look at that closet. Those aren't even all her clothes. I have them all in tubs that I store in the garage. They have 3 months of clothes in them. I bring them in and trade them out as she changes sizes. It's a great way for me to stay organized.

There you have it! It's not a huge room, but it's perfect for my sweet baby girl!

Swimsuit Model

2011-05-21T17:46:00.000-05:00

I'm definitely not referring to myself! I may have went a little crazy with swimsuits for Ellie. My justification is that we do have a pool and she will need several options. Last night we did a little photo shoot when she tried them all on. Well, I put them on her and she just smiled. :) She has 4 swimsuits and I only took pictures of three. I love them all and can't wait until she is able to wear them. We have a lot of pool parties and I am definitely looking forward to this summer!

Look at those chubby legs! I love them!

Ellie's serious face

I love this Mudpie lady bug suit!

Now if I can just find myself some cute swimsuits. ha! And if someone would just comment on how cute my chunky thighs look like they do Ellie's.

4 Months Old

2011-05-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

Look at that smile!

Ellie Grace turned 4 months old Sunday. Where has the time gone?!?! It seems like we were just bringing her home. Ellie brings more joy to our lives than we ever imagined she could. Just about daily, we find ourselves asking one another if we can believe how blessed we are. She's really our baby girl.

Here are Ellie's 4 month updates...

We go for our 4 month check up Friday so until then I don't have all her stats. But, when we were there 2 weeks ago with an ear infection, Ellie weighed 12lbs 2oz. She's eating 7 ounces of formula every about 5 hours. That girl loves her bottle!

Ellie started rolling over from her back to her stomach this month. The first time she did it was the day after Mother's Day. We came home from work and I took her out of her car seat and laid her on her play mat so I could let Sam outside. When I turned back around, she was on her tummy. I sat down with her right then and she did it 2 more times. Of course I didn't think to grab my phone or the video camera. I was just so excited. She doesn't do it every single time we lay her down, but she does it often.

She watches Sam all the time. Whenever she sees him walk by or if he goes up to her, she watches him as long as he stays near her. She just loves him. He's so sweet with her too.

We've started using the bumbo seat. She seems to enjoy it quite a bit. I think it's because she's sitting up and able to really look around. She likes to sit facing away from us or up on our shoulder most of the time now. She still snuggles, but not nearly as much as she's become so social.

Ellie smiles ALL the time! She is truly the happiest baby! The only time she cries is when she's ready to eat or just overly tired. Which doesn't happen too often because we really try to keep her on her schedule. Speaking of sleep, we stopped swaddling her arms. I know that probably sounds crazy to some of you, but she loved being swaddled! She slept so great. I was really worried about not swaddling her, but she was breaking out of it at night and then waking up. The first night she took a little bit longer to fall asleep, but after that it's been business as usual. We put her down awake and she goes right to sleep! We usually put her to bed between 8:00-8:30 and she sleeps until about 5:30 or 6:00.

Ellie still loves her play mat. She grabs at everything hanging from it. She has shown a real interest in toys lately. Of course she puts them right in her mouth. Her hands are in her mouth all the time lately! She's been trying to get her feet to her mouth too, but hasn't succeeded yet. She does grab them as soon as we lay her on her back. It's just too cute.

One of the very best things that our sweet girl has started doing more and more is giggling. It is the sweetest sound! At first she would only laugh when we'd tickle her. Now we can make funny sounds and she'll laugh.

Every month I think is my favorite and then she gets older and it's just as wonderful. I just wish time would slow down a little. I'm looking forward to spending every single day with her this summer! Only 9 more days!!

Here are some more pics.

Can you see those eyelashes?!

She just melts my heart

Ellie and Joy the owl

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T06:21:00.000-05:00

Our Family of Three!

I had a wonderful weekend with my family! We were all sick around here last week so it was nice to finally be feeling better. Ellie is still getting breathing treatments to help with her upper respiratory infection, but I think she's on the mend!

Sunday Barry got up with Ellie and gave her a bottle at 7:00 when she woke up. I got up shortly after that so we could all get ready for church and be on time! What is it about a baby that takes twice as long to get ready? He went to get breakfast for us...donuts and pigs in a blanket. Yum! Barry also gave me the sweetest Mother's Day card from him and Ellie. It made me cry! They gave me a gift card so I could do some shopping.

Our church always has a beautiful Mother's Day program and this year was no exception. It was very touching. What made our service even better is that one of our dear friends was baptized!! We are so proud of his decision and thank God that he is in our lives.

After church we went to lunch, then came home. Ellie went down for her nap and I made peanut butter no bake cookies for small group. Our small group is finally meeting again after taking some time off since December to work with the youth group. We see our friends often, but it's not the same as meeting in our group. We love these people!

Small group was fantastic as always! Ellie was perfect. She was held by many and then rolled around on the floor. She is so close to rolling over from her back to stomach. She just needs to move her arm out from under her and she'll have it. Of course that could take a while.

The evening ended with us coming home and doing our bedtime routine with Ellie. I silently thanked God for this amazing baby girl that we had waited so long for. She was worth the wait....oh was she ever! I can't imagine a more perfect fit to our life!

After she was in bed we watched Brothers and Sisters. I had DVR'd it. Does anyone else watch this show? I love it! It's one of my favorites. I cried...of course. I cry at almost anything. ha!

It was just a normal day for us with some wonderful and even unexpected events thrown in. It might not sound so exciting to many of you, but it was perfect for me. I'm finally a mommy and believe me I don't take that lightly or forget how blessed I am.

I continue to pray that my friends who are waiting will be mommies very soon!

A First

2011-05-08T16:37:00.000-05:00

I remember sitting in church last year on Mother's Day. I cried most of the service and really didn't want to be there. It was brutal.

A day honoring mothers seems great doesn't it? I mean mothers are wonderful...or at least that was my experience. But, what about those that didn't have a mother in their life growing up? Or those whose mothers have passed away? I can't imagine their pain. I know those people never forget their loss or lack of mother, but this day just makes it all the more real. They have to spend the day thinking about what they don't have, while others celebrate what they do have.

For me, last year was a lot like that, but in a different sense. It was about wanting to be a mommy so bad and not. When all around me people were moms or moms to be. It was so easy for them. They wanted to have a baby and guess what, they did! I sat in church last year with tears streaming down my face. Praying and wishing that this year would be my turn.

And it is. This year I am a mom. I have a beautiful baby girl. But, this morning as I was holding my daughter, the tears started again. I knew that there were so many of my friends that weren't holding that baby they so desperately want. The baby they pray for each day. I know how real that pain is for each of you that are still waiting. My prayer this Mother's Day is that each of you make it through this day and that next year you are celebrated in a special and wonderful way. That you wake up with and hold your baby in your arms.

Much Love to each of you

20 Days

2011-05-05T23:21:00.000-05:00

I was born to be a teacher. When a student finally "gets it," that just makes my day! Heck, sometimes my year! The stories the kids share often have me laughing my head off or crying my eyes out. Notes that tell me I'm their favorite teacher mean so much...even though I know next year another teacher will receive the same note. The notes that tell me she wishes I could be her mom break my heart. I say all that to say, I do love teaching!

Right now though....I hate it! Not the job, not my class...still love that. I just HATE dropping Ellie off everyday.

I had a breakdown before I left for school yesterday and we didn't even take her to the babysitter. I cried almost the entire way to school and then kept on crying in the teacher's lounge once I got there. Ellie has another ear infection and upper respiratory infection. I stayed home with her Tuesday and Barry stayed with her Wednesday because I just couldn't take her to daycare. She isn't running a temp and is actually quite smiley and happy. I just hate that she doesn't get one on one attention all day.

If I could stay home, I'd give my notice tomorrow. OK...I would have given my notice on January 21st! But, it's just not possible. As much as I want it to, it just isn't going to happen. I knew it would be hard, but I thought it might get easier to leave her each day. Well, let me tell you....it hasn't! It has gotten harder.

Our babysitter isn't a problem. We do like her and she came with great references. She takes good care of Ellie and I know she is safe. BUT, she's not me. She's not giving her 100% of her attention. She's not spending her day with just Ellie. And ya know what...even if she was...she wouldn't be me.

So right now I'm counting down. I'm counting down the number of days until I'll be able to spend my days with my sweet baby girl. I'm counting down the days until I wake up and don't have to rush around getting myself and Ellie ready to leave the house. I'm counting down the days until I can sit and watch her sleep in the mornings. I'm counting down the days until I can play with her on the floor during the day. Until we can go for walks in the morning before it gets too hot. I'm counting down the days until we can splash in the pool to cool off. I'm counting down the days until I can spend my days watching my baby girl smile.

(courtesy google images)

Those 20 days speed by fast enough!

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

I was going through my pics tonight and found this one. Barry came in and took some pics one night when I was reading to Ellie before bed. Our bedtime routine is bath, bottle, books and bed. So this was right before I laid her down. She looks sleepy.

I look pretty rough too, but I don't even care much. ha! After I get home from work now, I put on some comfy clothes if we are staying home and spend the evening relaxing with Ellie and Barry.

Life is good!

Easter

2011-04-30T09:09:00.000-05:00

Ellie had the most adorable Easter dress and hasn't got to wear it yet. Technically she has two. The dress my mom bought that was supposed to be her Easter dress is still too big so I found one just about as cute. So now she has two dresses to wear on top of the closet full of others.

Thursday right before Easter she was not feeling well and running a temp on so I took her to our pediatrician. She had an ear infection and some sort of virus...poor girl. She was pretty miserable all weekend and the antibiotic gave her some less than desirable side effects...at least for this mommy. :( We stayed home Sunday so I'm thinking she'll wear her super cute dress this week.

I think I heard my daddy's voice.

I think it's time to stop!

Two seconds later comes the photo shoot meltdown.

My friend Kathy got her the darling 1st Easter onesie and tutu for my school shower. I got the cute little clip at Target in the Dollar Spot. I love that place! Here are some of our pics from the day. I did a quick little photo shoot. That's about all little miss could take!

Thankful Thursday

2011-04-22T06:08:00.000-05:00

I am extremely thankful for a pediatrician we love! I got a call from the babysitter yesterday and Ellie was running a temp, not eating and just overall fussy. I called our pediatrician's office and they got her right in. She has an ear infection. Poor girl! Her nose is also super stuffed up and her eyes are goopy from the infection.

After we got home we gave her the medicine. She took about 1.5 oz of her bottle and then projectile vomited it all up...all over me and all over her. Poor baby. She's been pretty miserable all night with diarrhea as well. We called the ped. on call and were told not to give her anymore medicine last night, but wait until the morning. If she throws that up to call our Dr. Praying she is able to keep it down when I give it to her!

I want her back to this normal happy girl!

Taken last week...3 months old.

What are you thankful for?

Baby Steals

2011-04-21T11:46:00.000-05:00

Do any of you check out the twice daily deals on Baby Steals? If you haven't been there, you should! I've found several items since we brought Ellie home at about half the normal price.

Today they have the aden + anais sleeping bags made for Target on sale. They are selling for $10.99 instead of the normal $19.99. That's a 45% discount! I had to buy a couple!

(courtesy babysteals.com)

We use the swaddling blankets and Ellie loves them. They are a great lightweight blanket for everyday use. I don't swaddle her with it in the crib anymore though. She can get her arms out of those blankets now and wakes herself up. Instead we use these. The Velcro prevents her from flailing out of them.

I can't wait to receive mine so we can put them to use! Look how sweet this baby looks!

(courtesy babysteals.com)

I haven't been compensated for writing about this or anything. I just think it's a good deal and wanted to pass it along to all my friends in blog land! Have a great day!

PCOS

2011-04-20T13:06:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! I have a friend that has been diagnosed with PCOS and has started cl0mid. Since that wasn't my diagnosis, I don't know a whole lot about it, but would love to send my friend to some blogs for information and support. If you have a blog that deals with this or know of one that does, please leave your link in the comments or email me the blog address. Thanks so much for your help! I appreciate it and I know she will too!

I've got one more favor to ask. Many of you know Tammy over at Tammy's Journey. If you don't, please go send her some love today. She desperately needs it. She got some devastating news today. I am brokenhearted for her and her husband Mark. Life just isn't fair, is it?!

Thanks again!

Babysitter

2011-04-19T22:01:00.000-05:00

I took this picture Sunday during church when I took Ellie out to change her diaper.

That was the first of three times we had to go out. Poor girl was not having a good day. We ended up leaving church early because our sweet girl was screaming at the top of her lungs and wouldn't stop. She was extremely fussy all day, but was not running a fever. I finally gave her some tylenol just to see if that would help. Sleep came quickly after that and we had to wake her up to feed her so we could put her down for the night. She slept all night and woke up Monday morning her normal self. Praise the Lord!

Monday was our first day at the babysitter. It went well. I cried when I dropped her off and even more when I picked her up. She was sleeping when I got there to pick her up and when I lifted her up, she snuggled right up to me. I started crying because I felt bad that I had left her with a stranger all day. Our babysitter is not a stranger. We met with her for several interviews and checked all of her references, but to Ellie she is a stranger. This working mom thing is tough. I'd love to be able to stay home! But, since I can't teaching is a pretty great gig! I have 32 days left of school then I'll be hanging out with my girl every single day! Can't wait!

I need to update about my weekend. Ellie and I met one of my bloggie friends, Deni from Foxy Troxies. We had a wonderful day! More on that in the next post. I need to upload some pics before I can write about it. But you can go to Deni's blog to read about it in the meantime!

Have a great week friends!

Baby Food

2011-04-14T13:36:00.002-05:00

(Courtesy Google Images)

I know I have a while before Ellie will start eating baby food, but I'm a planner. ha! I've been doing my research and I'm even more confused than before!

If you make baby food or plan to, what do you/will you use? Do you have a specific baby food maker? Do you use a food processor? Is it BPA free? Help me out!

I've found that everyone says something different. So I decided to come to you all, my bloggie friends, for advice.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-13T05:40:00.000-05:00

Two months old! This is long overdue considering she'll be 3 months old on Friday. I just love this picture!
I'll update more soon...yeah yeah...I know I say that all the time.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

2011-04-07T13:25:00.000-05:00

Ellie rolled over for the first time Tuesday night.

I was sitting with her on the floor while she was doing tummy time and after she did it, I just sat there. I don't think it registered at first. She's only 11 weeks old and I guess I wasn't expecting it quite yet. She turned onto her side many times, but that's about it.

I just couldn't believe it! Than I yelled to Barry to get in here! He came in and I put her back on her tummy and she flipped right over again. We realized then that we needed to get the video camera and I also got out my phone. I put her back on her tummy and by the time I picked up my phone I only got the very end of her rolling over. Barry got it all on regular video camera though.

Yesterday after I got home we got everything all ready, put her on her stomach and over she rolled! She is so cute...she pushes herself up so she can look around and then rolls right over.

Here's the video...we sound like dorks, but were just so excited!

Two Months Old

2011-03-22T22:24:00.000-05:00

Where has the time gone? I can't believe my baby is 2 months old. Actually she was two months old a week ago and I'm just finding time to update.

Ellie has been smiling since she was 5 weeks old and smiles all the time. She's also cooing and "talking" to us and it's the best. She loves her mobile in her crib. She'll lay there and just talk to her butterfly friends as they spin around. She also enjoys her play mat. The flashing lights and mirror seem to interest her most. Ellie definitely recognizes our voices. When I come into the room and say something she whips her head around as fast as she can to find me. She does the same thing for Barry.

When we went for her 2 month well baby visit, she weighed 9lbs 14oz and was 22" long. She wants her bottle about every 3-4 hours and takes 4 ounces at a time. I think she's ready for 5 though because last night and today she's wanted more several times and will take the extra ounce. She also got her shots. It was NO fun for me or for her! My poor baby screamed her head off for about 10 minutes. I scooped her up as soon as they were done with the shots and she kept right on crying. She was pretty miserable for a couple days. She had a slight fever and was super cranky which is not like her at all.

Ellie is truly the BEST baby ever. She is so easy going and sweet, sweet, sweet. She is a mamma's girl right now. She snuggles right into my body whenever I hold her. It is the best feeling ever. I love this baby more and more each day. When she's crying I can pick her up or take her from someone else and she stops crying immediately. Is it bad that I love that?! :)

She's also a really good sleeper. We have had several nights that she's slept through the night. We lay her down awake and she goes to sleep right away most of the time. There are times we have to go back in and put her pacie back in her mouth, but it doesn't take long. Speaking of her pacie...she loves it! She only takes it when she's sleepy, but it's a must have then.

I can tell Ellie is becoming more and more social and also mobile. She's started rolling onto her side...not over at all, but just up onto her side. It's pretty cute.

I went back to work Monday and although I have a great class and love what I do, I hated it! I was dreading it for over a week. Who am I kidding?? I've been dreading it since before we brought Ellie home. My class was great and so happy to see me, but I missed Ellie so much. I couldn't wait to get home to her. The evening time goes by way too fast!

Here are some recent pics. I still need to upload her 2 month onesie pics, but I just don't feel up to doing that tonight.

Loves her bath time!

Daddy got his girl this super cute owl towel

She's over it and ready for bed.

I found CB here on the sponge that I store on the bottom shelf of the island. I guess it's a good spot. ha!

My best friend Laurie came to visit and meet Miss Ellie.

Isn't this outfit adorable?? My friend Deni sent it to Ellie. It came with a bib too. Thanks Deni for all the cute things you sent us. We love them!

I love these socks! Dollar Spot at Target!

I'll say it again...I'm going to try and start blogging more regularly. I miss it and I want to have a record of everything. I've been trying to catch up on blogs, but can't seem to get to them all. Sorry friends...I promise I'll get there eventually!

Time

2011-03-09T22:23:00.000-06:00

How do mom's find time to blog??? I just can seem to catch up! Of course bogging means I have to find time when Ellie is sleeping and those times are spent doing other things. I still have housework, a dog who feels left out, a husband, and of course I must eat so I have to cook.

Don't get me started on the thank you notes!! We were so very blessed with a fantastic shower and so many friends sent things, but I am struggling to get them completed. Total, I had close to 200 to write. I sit down and get about 5 done and Ellie wakes up or Sam wants out, or in. Last night I did about 40 because my sweet girl finally passed out after crying and screaming forever. She had her shots yesterday and was not a fan in the least. I feel awful for her. Today was also pretty tough. I have about 40 more to finish. Hoping I'll have them done next week!

I'm NOT complaining! I am LOVING every single minute of it! In fact I dread going back to work on the 21st. I'm just heartbroken in fact. So if you could spare some prayers I sure would appreciate them!

Here's one of my favorite recent iPhone pics! I just love this baby girl SOOOO much!

One of these days I'll get around to a real post. I have people to thank for gifts and feel terrible, but just can't seem to get all the pics uploaded and into a post. I also need to post about Ellie's 2 month check up. We went about a week early because our pediatrician is going to be on vacation next week and I didn't want to wait until I went back to work to have her get all her shots. The consensus at the appointment is that she is perfect!

Right now, I'm going to bed! I'm beat. My best friend is flying in from Michigan tomorrow and I need to be well rested!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-23T23:27:00.001-06:00

I knew I would LOVE her...I just never knew how MUCH I would love her! My heart could just burst every time I look at her, think about her or hold her.

She fills our lives with sunshine...and our heart with love!
-author unknown

We love to rock in the glider!

Come on mom! Enough with the pictures!

Don't you just LOVE that bow??!! My sweet blog friend Deni sent a whole box full of them. She's been making them for her sweet baby Cala and thought Ellie needed some too. That one was just too perfect for this outfit! She also sent me a box of some other sweet goodies for Ellie and one special gift for just for me. That post is coming tomorrow! Thanks so much sweet friend! Your support has meant the world to me!

Smile!

2011-02-23T00:16:00.002-06:00

Our sweet girl smiled for the first time on Saturday. I was finally quick enough to snap a pic with my iPhone for the first time today. Oh she melts my heart!!

Sent from my iPhone

Update and Professional Pictures

2011-02-17T18:03:00.000-06:00

I have the best intentions about blogging, but just can't seem to get it together enough to actually do it. I'm just soaking up every single minute at home with Ellie. When I even think about going back to work I feel sick. Thankfully I'll be home for 8 weeks. I'm almost half though though and I can't believe it. Time is flying by so quickly.

When Ellie was born she weighed 6lbs 13oz. When we took her to her first appt she was 7lbs 4.5oz. At her two week check up, she was 8lbs 3.5oz. She turned a month old on Tuesday and I'm curious what she weighs now.

Ellie is eating 3-4oz of formula every 3-4 hours. She is a very good eater and doesn't spit up much at all.

The swing is still Ellie's favorite! She can tolerate the bouncy seat for a bit, but mostly because she loves looking up at the birds that hang from it. She will lay on her activity mat and look at the lights and other objects forever! She loves it...it might soon replace the swing as her favorite. She also does really well with tummy time. She's been lifting her head and turning it while we burp her since the first week we brought her home. So she does well with that during tummy time too.

Sam has become quite protective of Ellie. When she cries he gets to her before I can sometimes. After he's been outside, he'll come in and go right to her and check her out to make sure she's OK. He's actually done better than we could have hoped so far! It's really quite sweet.

We have kept Ellie in at the advice of our pediatrician because of all the flu and RSV. I did take her out today for the first time other than doctor appointments just for a quick trip to S0nic! It's been absolutely beautiful here this week with temps in the 70's and I needed a diet cherry c0ke.

We had professional pictures done a couple weeks ago and got them back from the photographer last week. I just haven't had time to put them on here yet.

Here's our girl at 3 weeks old. She's already changed SOOOO much since these were taken.

Up next I need to write about the gifts my sweet bloggy friend Deni sent me. She's a bow making genius too! Hoping to do that soon as baby girl is waking up now.

Grandma's Visit

2011-02-07T10:06:00.000-06:00

My mom left Saturday after staying with us just over a week. When she arrived the Friday before, the weather was 78 and sunny. It was gorgeous. She was here for our ice storm and there was still ice on the ground when she left Saturday. The weather here has been crazy. The kids were out of school 4 days last week. I'm not complaining about that because that's less pay I am docked while being off. :)

It was definitely sad when Barry and my mom left for the airport Saturday morning. I was sitting on the couch feeding Ellie and we said our goodbyes. I love my life in Texas, but I so hate living so far from my family! We have a vacation planned with my family this summer. We've rented a house on Lake Michigan for a week. I can't wait. Although I think Ellie will need a grandma visit before then.

When Ellie was born she weighed 6lbs 13 ounces. At our one week well visit she was up to 7lbs 4.5oz. We braved the roads on Thursday to take her to her two week well visit and she is already up to 8lbs 3.5oz. I tell ya this girl loves to eat!! She takes about 4 ounces of formula every 4 hours.

She is a great sleeper! I'm almost hesitant to type that because I know it could change so easily, but right now she makes us happy during the night. She is finally sleeping in her cradle and pack and play. At first she wanted nothing to do with them. We could only get her to sleep in her swing. While she still LOVES her swing, she also seems to love her cradle and does fine in the pack and play too.

Sam has become pretty protective of her. If she's been sleeping what he thinks is too long, he'll go peek overe the top of her cradle and check on her. It's super sweet. He loves to come look at her while she's eating or we are holding her. I felt bad in the beginning because he was pretty sad. He wasn't getting as much attention as he did before. But, we've made sure to give him time and he's really settled in pretty well.

Here are some pics from my mom's visit.

Grandma getting to hold Ellie for the first time!

Have a great week!

Not So Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-02T13:43:00.000-06:00

My wonderful friends from church hosted a beautiful shower for me on Sunday. We were soooo very blessed by our church family. I don't think we can ever use all the cute burp cloths we received. Although I am sure we'll come close. We are truly blessed to be part of such an amazing church. I thank God for placing us there everyday!

With my mom before we left for church

The table was beautiful!

The cupcakes were delicious!

My fantastic friends were my hostesses. Two of them weren't able to be at the shower due to being sick or a child being sick.

With mom

Mom and my mother in law

Isn't this tutu super cute?!

My MIL jazzed this bath towel up a bit.

The quilt that goes with our bedding.

A sweet friend from church makes the most beautiful onsies, quilts and burp cloths. She made several items for Ellie

Checking out the gifts after the shower.

Barry's grandpa meeting Ellie. He came with Barry's parents for the shower. He hung out with Barry, Ellie and Papa at home while us girls went to the shower.

It was a wonderful day. More than I could have expected. My mom and I spent all day Monday washing items we received and putting other gifts away.

Picture Taking Attempt

2011-01-28T09:41:00.003-06:00

We are having professional pictures taken next week, but I couldn't help but attempt to take some cute ones of my own yesterday morning. I'm far from a pro, but it sure was fun!

She is changing so much every single day. I just can't believe it. I take so many pics each day just so I can remember this time.

Ellie's first bow! We LOVE bows!
A student in my class and her family got us a bag full of hair accessories.

Have a great weekend!

ICLW

2011-01-27T13:21:00.000-06:00

I have been terrible about posting for ICLW and commenting this month. If you are new to my blog and have left me a comment, I promise to get back to you ~~soon~~ sometime. I look forward to finding some new blogs.

Sorry I don't have time to post more, I need to change the sheets in our guest room before Ellie wakes up. My mom arrives tomorrow to meet her grand daughter. I could fool myself with thinking she is coming to see me, but I think we all know better.

Take care!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-26T10:41:00.000-06:00

Love

2011-01-24T09:54:00.000-06:00

I need to start by saying THANK YOU to all of my sweet blog friends. Your sweet words have meant so much to me. I wish I had time to email each one of you back...I just don't right now. Some of your comments brought me to tears. Especially those of you that are still waiting. I know how that wait feels...it's terrible! It was honestly the hardest thing I've ever experienced.

I don't want to sound preachy (that's just not me), but I just want to say something to all of you. While this sweet baby girl doesn't make the wait, the struggles and the heartache disappear, she sure makes me praise God for the wait.

This may not make sense to anyone still waiting...and to some it might. But, honestly I can't imagine our life any other way now. If we hadn't waited, we wouldn't have this amazing baby girl. So for those of you still waiting, please have HOPE.

I pray each and every one of you experience this day soon. Whether that means you become pregnant or your path leads to adoption, I pray it comes quickly. I also pray that while you are waiting, you feel God's arms around you. I know sometimes it's hard to have faith and trust God's plan, but in the end it makes sense to me. I am so thankful for His plan for our life. He has blessed us with this baby girl. He blessed us with Ellie and for that I praise Him!

I used to read this scripture over and over..
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

I sincerely hope that doesn't offend anyone. That is truly not my intention. I just want you to have hope. I appreciate you all so much. Thank you for sticking with me during the road that has led to Ellie. I hope you will continue to follow me, but if you can't I understand. I don't want my joy to be a source of pain for anyone. I know how that feels.

And now for what a lot of you are probably here for...Ellie Pictures!

I love this one!

Daddy loves this one!

First bath...Ellie was not a fan!

Meeting DeDe and PaPa for the first time!

Great Grandma

Four Generations....love it!

These are some of our best friends. Their baby is 7 months old and had to come meet her new BFF. We can't wait for these girls to grow up together.

Aunt Amy walked in the door and said, "OK..let me have her." We loved it. Our families have been praying for this day just like we have.

Ok...I need to get going. I need a shower while Ellie is sleeping. :) I'll add more pics later. I have SOOOO many.

Much Love!

Home!

2011-01-21T13:09:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful and crazy week this has been. We brought our beautiful baby girl home yesterday! We are in love with Ellie Grace already and so many others are too!

Here are some pics from yesterday. I'll share more info when we have time. We are just enjoying our sweet baby girl and praising God!! He has blessed us beyond anything we could have imagined!

Checking her out for the first time!

FINALLY!! A family of THREE!

Daddy holding his girl for the first time.

Look at that smile!

We have the MOST amazing friends and church family. We came home to this sweet surprise.

First feeding at home by mommy. Can you tell I've been bawling all day? Tears of joy!

Daddy does the second feeding later in the evening.

Such big eyes!

Ellie Grace

Big Yawn

Sam is being so good and wants to be right there with us. Time for bed!

Thank you so much for your support, well wishes and prayers from my last post. I could feel it all!

Hugs!

We Got THE Call!!!!!!

2011-01-17T21:32:00.000-06:00

Yes, THE CALL!!!

While we were sitting in church yesterday and were totally unaware, until after church when I went to make a call while talking to some friends and there was our agency as a missed call and a voicemail.

I freaked out...it was a Sunday and soooo not normal!

When we finally got in touch with our social worker, she gave me the details. The baby girl was born Saturday morning and is healthy!! Our SW asked if they could show our profile today. I won't go on and on with the story tonight because my brain is fried, but they showed the BM our profile as well as some others this morning and she chose us!!!! We will not meet her. If all goes according to plan, we will have our daughter home with us on Wednesday!

I'm not going to share all the details, because they aren't mine to share. This is not my story. It is this mother's story and this BEAUTIFUL baby girl's story for her to one day tell if she so chooses.

Please pray that this all works out...we will know for sure tomorrow when the relinquishment papers are signed.

Praise GOD!

I'll update with details as soon as I can!

Believe

2011-01-09T08:58:00.000-06:00

As I sit here at my kitchen island looking out the window watching it snow (yes it's snowing in Texas), I think about what lies ahead this year. In a world full of uncertainties, there are so many things that could happen this year.

Don't we all know that!

But, instead of thinking about all the things that may not happen, all of the negative "what ifs" I'm going to focus on the possibilities. I'm going to BELIEVE that good things could happen this year.

I'm choosing to BELIEVE that God has good things in store for us this year. Whether they are those things on my list or not, I'm going to trust His plan for my life.

courtesy google image

This year, I'm going to BELIEVE that...anything is possible!

Lisa Leonard is having an amazing giveaway this weekend. Hop on over to her blog for a chance to win your "word" of the year necklace. I love all her designs, but this one really speaks to me. If you aren't one of the lucky winners and want to purchase something she has a discount code too.

Good luck!

Getting Back in the Groove

2011-01-07T17:22:00.000-06:00

The Christmas holidays were so busy for us! I finally feel like I'm getting my head above water.
I started my Christmas vacation with a stomach bug. I was out of commission for 3 days. I haven't been that sick in years. I was finally starting to feel better on Tuesday before Christmas and we were planning to leave for Michigan on Friday so I had lots to get done before we left. I rushed around getting stuff done, running errands and taking Sam to my in-laws (they spoiled him by the way).

Our time in Michigan was wonderful! I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, but we had a fantastic visit. I spent a lot of time with my mom who's been recovering from her knee replacement surgery and also got to spend time with my little love, Cooper. He's not really little anymore either. He also doesn't think he's little. He thinks that he is the boss and wasn't scared to tell me so. ha! I quickly let him know he wasn't my boss. :) I also got to spend an evening with my best friend and her family. We had such a wonderful time with them, although we didn't take any pics because we were too busy talking and having fun. I miss everyone already!

Here are some pics from our time in Michigan...

Cooper and Aunt Jennifer in the snow

I love this one! He has the bluest eyes!

He was so excited to get Toy Story 2...look at that smile!

He loves his dinosaurs

My sister is putting his new boots on so he can go out and play in the snow with us.

Making a snow angel.

Uncle Barry loves the snow.

To Infinity and Beyond!

Reading with Uncle Barry

We "made" cookies. Cooper picked the chocolate chips off the top as I set them on the pan.
He was a mess by the time they were ready to go in the oven.

We returned from Michigan on the 30th and hosted a NYE party at our house the next night. We had a BLAST! Our good friends who moved away this summer were even able to make it. We played some Wii games, sang karaoke and had lots of yummy snacks. At midnight we rang in the new year by watching the ball drop. I'm certain this year is going to be an amazing year for us! God has great things in store...and not just for us, but for all of us!

To all of my friends still TTC, I pray this is your year! And to my friends waiting to adopt, I pray your wait is short and you have a child in your arms soon. The wait can become long and frustrating. We've been waiting 6 months now, which doesn't seem bad to me, but I am ready! I'm ready to be a mom. Aren't we all??!! Hope keeps me going...as well as the peace I feel from God. I know we have so many people praying for us...I truly believe that's the only thing that's kept me from being a total freak during this wait. But. that's another post.

I have several catch up posts to do including our Christmas pics with Barry's family, our NYE pics and a post about our meeting with our social worker. We got a new SW back in the fall because our SW was promoted to another position. We hadn't had a chance to meet L yet and finally did over the break. We love, love, love her. She is fantastic! I'll share more about that in another post. It's all really, really good though! :)

Happy New Year to you all...even if it is a little late coming.

Birthdays

2010-12-18T21:22:00.000-06:00

My wonderful husband shares a birthday with my sweet friend Nikki. We had our second annual birthday party for them this year. Last year I planned ahead of time and this year I sent out a text message Friday morning just before school started. We have wonderful friends, because they all were quick to reply with a "Yes, we'll be there!" Our friends Greg and Amy even offered to host so I didn't have to rush home after school and get things ready since Greg had the day off. We have the best friends!

Here's some pictures I took that night...

Snacking and chatting

The birthday boy

Nikki (the birthday girl), Naomi and Abby

Greg and Kyle hanging out around the fire pit while the kids roasted marshmallows.

Did I mention how much I LOVE Texas in December??

The sweet newlyweds

I love this sweet baby!

Friends!

This poor sweetie wanted outside with the bigger girls.

I am officially on vacation! I'm so excited! Friday we leave for Michigan to spend a week with my family. I can't wait. Barry is hoping for a big snowstorm while we're there. I'm not! I'm hoping for just a nice amount of snow so we can still get out an see all our friends and family we need to visit.

Anniversary, Thanksgiving Pics and Other Stuff

2010-12-01T10:03:00.000-06:00

An update seems desperately needed. We've been busy! I had last week off and it was wonderful! There were so many things I needed to catch up on, errands I needed to do and just stuff that needed to be completed.

We've been in desperate need of new living room furniture! We have been putting it off for a while. We decided that it would make a good anniversary gift to ourselves. Barry officiates football and we've been saving all of that extra money for this and some other things we need. We started looking a couple weeks ago, but nothing really stood out. The day of our anniversary, we decided to head to Dallas and were determined to find something.

We went to one of the big stores down there. It was a bit overwhelming. They had so many choices. I felt like Goldilocks trying out all those sofas and love seats. We finally stumbled upon a set we thought was leather. It certainly looked like it. But, when we sat down on it, it was so warm...and also very soft. We were hesitant to buy leather because of Sam. Even though we don't allow him on the furniture, I'm sure he breaks the rules sometimes when we aren't home. The salesman came over and told us it wasn't actually leather, but a special kind of microfiber. Which is just what I wanted! We loved the look of it and worked out a deal with him.

Did you know you could haggle over furniture?? I sure didn't until my friend Naomi told me that she had watched a segment on a morning show about making deals when you are furniture shopping. So that's just what we did! Big time bummer when he checked about delivery...it wasn't in stock. So we are waiting 3-4 weeks for it to come in. So right now we are without a sofa because we donated our old one to some people who needed one.

Here's what we are waiting on

(Courtesty Lane Home Furnishings)

(Courtesy Lane Home Furnishings)

The day before Thanksgiving we packed up our vehicle and headed to Oklahoma. We spent Thanksgiving with Barry's family. We actually stayed until Saturday. What a wonderful visit! Barry's mom and I even got up on Black Friday and did some shopping. My brother-in-law and his family joined us on Friday and we had a nice day with them. They had spent Thanksgiving day with my sister-in-laws family. It's great that we are all so close that we can get together over that weekend even if we miss the actual holiday. I didn't take many pics, but here are a few:

Barry and his grandpa

Me with my mother-in-law

No wonder I can't keep him out of the kitchen. He gets lots of love and attention!

Feeling sad because I made him leave the kitchen and lay down.

My sweetie and me

In the midst of all my packing on Wednesday, I was also trying to get my laundry finished. Of course what should happen? Our dryer finally died. We knew it was not long for this world, so it came as no surprise. Since we were out of town, we didn't hit any sales in our town on Black Friday, but I did some research over the weekend. On Monday, I checked out all the cyber deals and then we hit several stores after school. We checked out the washers and dryers in the stores that were on sale online. Does that make sense? Of course, nothing we wanted was in stock...story of our lives lately. So we ordered our washer and dryer and it will be here somewhere between the 4th-12th of December. They will let us know soon. So for now I am hang drying items. That is until these beauties come in!

(Courtesy Best Buy)

I know this is a little long...sorry about that. I just wanted to get it all down. I need to do an post soon about babysitting Sunday. We had our friend's sweet 5 month old daughter for the day. It was heavenly!

Have a great week!

Project Day

2010-11-22T16:23:00.001-06:00

I'm officially on Thanksgiving Vacation, but I'm not really laying low. I have a list of things I need to get done so today I tackled one I've been wanting to do for a long time. I bought this old student desk for $15 at a consignment/antique store in town over a year ago. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, but I knew I needed to sand it and repaint it. I had some red paint I got in the mail from Glidden last year when you could get a free sample of their paint. I didn't have a project small enough for this little can until I started thinking about the desk. AH ha!

Painting it all red seemed a little much red to me though. It wasn't in great shape and had several layers of paint. So I could either sand the desk part down to wood and stain it or paint it another color. I had some extra chalkboard paint in my paint cupboard and decided that would be a fun idea.

I got up this morning and decided since it was such a beautiful day (76 degrees and sunny) I would work on the little desk today. It might rain later in the week and I can do my indoor projects then. I'd already started sanding when I remembered to take a before picture. So this picture has the top layer of paint already off.

BEFORE

AFTER

Sam can't miss out on the action!

You can also see part of my baby dresser that I sanded and painted white during the summer.

As you can probably see, I need to do some touch up on the inside legs,

but I need to turn the desk upside down to do that and want to wait a couple days.

Also, what do you think I should do to the inside?

Here's the chalkboard top. I'm so excited about this little project.

It took four coats of paint and this was the result. It's not perfect, but I wasn't going for perfection. ha! I'm also wondering if maybe I should add a poly top coat to it all. That might prevent scratching and peeling. Anyone have any advice about that?

Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments on my last post. The talk went well. Everyone was really sweet and encouraging. I did show the video at the end. Lots of tears were shed. I'll try and share some of what I said another time.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Update: I linked up to Creations by Kara for her Look What I Made day.

In All Circumstances

2010-11-15T19:14:00.000-06:00

This Wednesday I'm going to share my struggle with infertility and where that has lead us with our ladies class at church. When I was asked to do this, I was asked to share how we have been thankful and faithful through our struggles.

I don't want to come across as being perfect in that sense or having all the answers, because I don't! I've questioned why this has happened to us more times than I can count. But, even during all of this, I've trusted God...even though I don't understand the why of it. I know His plans far better than anything I can imagine.

I'm nervous and trying to prepare and could really use some good thoughts and prayers!

I'm also considering showing this video. I'm sure most of you have seen it by now. I'm just not sure I will be able to speak after watching it through all the tears. I think it gives women a glimpse into the struggles we face and feelings we have. What do you think?

Thought for Thursday

2010-11-11T19:24:00.000-06:00

"Every experience God gives us,

every person He puts into our lives,

is the perfect preparation for a future only He can see."

~Corrie ten Boom

I took this on our camping trip. It has nothing to do with the quote above.

I just like the pic. The girls were playing in the water/mud and had so much fun!

Halloween Camping

2010-11-08T22:04:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend camping with some of our greatest friends. We got out to our campsites Friday after school and set up our tents. By the time we got everything set up and everyone finally arrived, it was time for a campfire. There's nothing like sitting around a campfire and chatting with friends. After the kids all went to bed, that's just what we did.

Saturday, we got up and made breakfast and then went for a hike. We spent the day hanging out and I even had to run home for a bit. Did I mention the campground is super close to home?! When I came back some more friends that weren't able to spend the night came out for the evening and we had a pumpkin carving contest. It was so much fun!

I won't write about everything we did, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Once again, I have to say, I am blessed to have amazing friends. We love our little group!!

Our campsite...that's our orange tent in the background.

Our home for the weekend.

Hanging out around the campfire Saturday morning.

I love these girls!

Wes is amazing!

Ready with a worm.

Using that new Barbie fishing pole

Avery scooping out the pumpkin guts.

Barry getting started on our pumpkin.

This is serious business!

I love this picture!

"Please daddy, will you carve the puppy face?"

Abby's giving me some advice on how to carve my pumpkin.

Nothing better than playing with dirt and rocks when you're camping.

Cara made donuts and they were yummy!

Enjoying a donut

Sam wants his ball!

He likes to drink water from the faucet.

Here are a couple I touched up of the girls. I've got plenty more to work on.

I know there are a lot of pictures in this post, but I want to do a better job of adding pictures of our life. I take hundreds of pictures all the time and then I don't ever load them on here. I'm going to do a better job of adding them so I can look back in years and know what I was doing during this time in my life.

Prayer Request

2010-11-05T12:48:00.004-05:00

Thanks for all your sweet words about Molly. I truly appreciate them. CB has been doing quite a bit of crying and I just feel so bad for her. I'm sure she has no idea what happened to her mom. I know it will get better and soon she won't cry so much for her. I'm waiting for that day.

(courtesy google images)

In other news, as some of you already know, we could really use some prayers right now. I won't get into all the details, but we have a possible adoption situation. It's a different and somewhat complicated situation that involves a toddler. I'll share a little bit of an email I sent to our friends and family...

Please, please pray for us. We are scared about this situation because adopting a toddler is so very different than an infant. This wasn't our plan, but really when we thought about that, none of this has been our plan. ha! God's plans are often different than our plans. We are praying that we allow God to work in this situation and do what HE wants us to do. It's scary to us, but it's also exciting. One of my favorite quotes from Francis Chan in his book Crazy Love is this:

"But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through."

We don't doubt that God will come through for us. :) We trust Him completely.

Please also pray for this child. Whether we are a match for him and adopt him or he joins another family, he is going to go through a BIG change in the very near future. Pray for him to adjust well to his new family and for that family to love him and support him during this time. It will be a big transition for him. Also pray for his family. They love him so much, which is why they are choosing this adoption plan for him. Pray that they are able to find some comfort in the choice they are making for this sweet little boy. I can't imagine their pain in making this decision and I just pray they have a sense of peace about this.

That's just a portion of the email. I won't share all the other details at this time. Please just keep us and all the other people involved in this situation in your prayers.

Thanks!

My Sweet Girl

2010-11-01T21:24:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I came home to find my sweet Molly had passed away while I was gone to work. She was 16 years old and had slowed down quite a bit, but was still her normal sweet self.

I'm going to miss my Molly girl. She greeted me at the door everyday and sat on my lap in the evenings when I watched TV. If her dish wasn't full of food, she'd cry until I filled it up. She never wanted to be without food.

I feel really bad because I've been complaining about cat hair the last couple weeks. I usually vacuum every day and when I was sick a few weeks ago, I didn't get to it everyday and I was just disgusted by the hair. I don't just have Molly, but I have her "kitten" CB. She's not a kitten anymore, she's 15 now. She was right by her side laying down when I found Molly. It just broke my heart. She's never known a world without her mother. Poor girl.

Tonight I'm watching TV without my girl and I'm just sad.

Does a 98 degree bath make me infertile?

2010-10-27T21:53:00.001-05:00

(Courtesy Google images)

Do you ever check your stats for your blog on blogg.er? If not, you should. It's some pretty interesting information. Someone found me using the search keywords, "does a 98 degree bath make me infertile." I'm pretty sure I never blogged about that. ha! That's certainly not why we are infertile. Or is it? ;)

Hope you are all having a great week! We've had a busy, but wonderful week. We are going camping with some friends from our small group this weekend. Have I mentioned how much I love fall in Texas? Well, I do! Bring on Friday!

What do you have going on this weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy it as much as I know I will!

The Best Small Group

2010-10-22T21:10:00.001-05:00

I've written before about how blessed I feel to be part of such an amazing small group. These wonderful people have become some of my very best friends. Living so far away from my family, they have become my family here in Texas. They have supported us through our fertility treatments and now with our adoption journey. They have prayed with us, for us and over us. They are some of the most amazing, giving people I know. I love them all.

We hosted our small group at our house most of the summer since we have a pool. The kids and adults all love the pool and it gives us a great time to fellowship. One Sunday, our friends surprised us with some baby necessities. It wasn't a shower, because they know I want to wait until we have a baby home with us. They did however want us to be prepared in case we get a sudden placement. Like I said, they are the best!

Here are some pics from that evening.

Just a few of us

Here's all of our goodies in the nursery.

Sam follows me from room to room. He's never far from my side.

The dresser you see in the pic about is the dresser I found on Craigs.list for $100. It has so much room and it will be perfect as a changing table. There were just a few scratches that I touched up with paint. I can't wait to fill it up with stuff. :)

Thought for Thursday

2010-10-21T18:30:00.000-05:00

(courtesy of google images)

Never let go of hope.

One day you will see that it all has finally come together.

What you have always wished for has finally come to be.

I posted this on face.book yesterday and decided to share it here after I read an amazing post by my sweet friend Deni at Making Our Troxclair Family. Go read what she had to say about Hope in her post today. Thanks Deni...you are such an encouragement! hugs

Are You Kidding Me?!?!

2010-10-20T17:04:00.001-05:00

I did a goo.gle search for toddler adoption showers and toddler adoption yesterday. Some of the articles that came up floored me. I was shocked and also pretty upset!

Here are just a couple of the quotes I found...believe me there were several more where these came from. By the way...I didn't find these quotes in just one article.

And all babies need "stuff", even an adopted child, so having an adoption baby shower for this child is not only acceptable, but necessary.

Even an adopted child???? This child?? Glad to know it's acceptable.

"I helped throw a baby shower for a friend who adopted a child last November. This was her second child (her first was her own). We pretty much treated it as we would any shower."

Her own? What do we as parents who are adopting or have adopted need to do to get others to understand that children that are adopted are our OWN children? They just join our families in a different way!

"The addition of a new child to a family is a wondrous occasion! An adopted baby is just as much a miracle as any other and should be celebrated as such."

Here's the thing with this last one. I think the writer of this post meant well. What I have a problem with is the term "adopted baby." The first quote also used "adopted child." The baby/child was adopted...it's not a term we should use to describe the child. It's an action word...not and adjective. I don't want my child to be five years old and have someone say, "Oh so this is your adopted child?" No...this is my child!

Maybe I'm overly sensitive or over-reacting, but I don't think so. I never want our child to feel anything less than completely loved and wanted. I know I'll deal with stupid comments and hopefully handle them with grace, but I really wish I didn't have to.

Secret Identity

2010-10-19T18:17:00.001-05:00

(photo courtesy google images)

A couple weeks ago one of my students hurt his knee before school. He went to see the nurse and she gave him an ice pack to make him feel better. When he got to class he went on and on about his ice pack. Did you know second graders love ice packs?? Well, they do!

He was sitting at his desk reading when his BFF walked in the door to our room.

What happened next still cracks me up.

He yelled across the room, "Hey T, do you recognize me with my ice pack?" I immediately busted out laughing and said, "J, you don't have the ice pack on your face, it's on your knee."

Whoever said teaching was boring? It certainly wasn't me!!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

2010-10-18T10:55:00.001-05:00

I think I've mentioned my love for children's books before. I love, love, love them! As a former kindergarten teacher...up until this year....I have a love for all things Dr. Seuss. His books are great for teaching rhyming. I read, "Oh, the Places You'll Go! to my class last week and it really hit home to me. I feel like this one part is my life right now.

*picture courtesy of wikipedia

"You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

                   You can get all hung up
                    in a prickle-ly perch.
                   And your gang will fly on.
                   You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chance are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down those long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place..."

Do you ever feel like your friends have flown on without you? I sure do. Don't get me wrong...I have amazing IRL friends! They have been wonderful during all of this. But, there are many things I don't share with them because unless you've been down this path, you don't get it. I have friends who are done having babies, I have friends that are having second and third babies and I have friends that are just starting their families. What are we doing?? Waiting!

Believe me...none of this has been our plan. Those bang-ups have happened along the way. I've also spent my time in a slump and it's no kind of fun! It stinks! I don't like feeling bad. I wish I was stronger. I wish I trusted God so much that I never questioned Him. It's not that I don't trust Him, because I definitely do, but a lot of the time I question Him. It's the control freak in me. :) I know that. I also know that this has been good for me. It stinks, but it's been good. I've learned that life is not about what I want. This life is about what God wants for me. It's about what God wants me to do with this life He's given me.

During all of this, I've decided that while I'm in this "Waiting Place," I'm going to use this time to serve God and to praise Him. Because, I know however our story ends it will be just the way we've always wanted it. Our path to the end will just be different than we planned.

2010-10-03T12:44:00.000-05:00

I think I mentioned that our small group did a study on the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan last spring. It was amazing! The book has changed my thinking in so many ways. It made me think more about my relationship with God and with other people. It made me think about my love for Jesus. Do I love him enough that I'm willing to take risks? Am I willing to love him in that crazy way that I would do anything for him? Good stuff!
This Friday, our small group is going to the World Impact Conference in Dallas to hear Francis speak! He has such a heart for those that need help. I know I will be convicted and encouraged when I leave there.

If you aren't familiar with Francis, take four minutes and watch this video. It's pretty powerful!

"Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter."
— Francis Chan

I Love Breakouts!

2010-09-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

Student: "Mrs. C, what's that on your head?"
Me: "A pimple, thanks for noticing."

You can't get anything past a second grader.