Wordless Wednesday

The Most Adorable Outfit

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

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!

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

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

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

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!