A Thousand Words...

My little fish. It's so fun to see how nine months of winter have made such a difference in Ellie's physical (swimming) abilities! Last summer, she could only swim in a tube, but this summer, little Miss Braveheart is goin' solo a bit too!





Sidewalk-turned-Blanket chalk...and this summer Ellie has someone to steal toys from, er, I mean PLAY with!


Checkin' out my parents' new digs...


Look how cute Ellie is in these bar stools! She's sitting so perfectly straight and tall....I'm so proud of that kid!


Mama? Where are youuuu?


Everyone's favorite room in the house: The media pit! Can you see Richard's saliva on the picture?

Oh. My. Word. Sesame Street on the big screen!


Life can't get better than this...

Ellie-Love

That little girl keeps getting more precious and more fun with each passing day. Perhaps I am a terrible mother for admitting this, but I am SO glad that the baby stage is done. I’m just not a baby person. Evil, but true. I love the interaction I get with “older” kids, especially the one that looks like me. Yes, baby bums are the sweetest, and yes, I could relive five minutes of peaceful nap time rocking, but I LOVE this new stage that Ellie has entered. LOVE it.

I get little emotional goosebumps when I watch Ellie playing. She loves to pretend and it warms my heart to watch her feed her dolls or make supper in her kitchen or give Cookie Monster a sip of her juice (cuz, “Mommy, he’s thirsty!”). I have waited for these days. Waited for Ellie to develop into a “typical” little girl with her play. Waited to hear her have a conversation with her stuffed animals. Waited to listen to her tell me details of her day.

‘Course, I’m not quite ready for her to fall in love.

Oh yes, my little princess has a crush! It is beyond cute, as she is completely innocent (of course!). Her boyfriend’s name is Chris. He’s one of the therapist-helpers at The Movement Centre. Ellie adores him. Her eyes light up when he walks into the room, waiting to take her to class. The other day, out of the blue, she told me this:

“Mommy, know what?”
“What, sweetie?”
“I love Chris.”

If my mouth would have been full of something, I surely would have spit it out! That girl is somethin’ else. Four years old and in love.

The funniest (and perhaps most eye-opening) part came later that week, when I was talking to Ellie’s boy-toy, Chris, after a therapy session. I was holding Ellie in my arms, telling Chris about Ellie’s exclamation of love for him and Ellie started to blush and hid her face in my shoulder. The sweet girl was completely embarrassed! While we all giggled and thought it was terribly cute, it made me realize once again how much she understands and how her feelings are starting to develop. She can get embarrassed! I love and hate that for her all in one breath. I’m ecstatic that she FEELS and can express those emotions, but I’m also terrified for what those feelings will mean in the future.

I hate that she’ll FEEL different. I hate that she’ll FEEL embarrassed when she can’t do something that “everyone else” can. I hate that her raw sensitivity will result in a broken heart at some point.

Welcome to parenthood, huh?

My sweet girl is going to be in HEAVEN the next few weeks as she gets to see her crush five days a week for the entire month of July! Intensive therapy camp starts June 29th and I am so excited to see what Ellie’s doing by the end of it! I’m proclaiming it here: My goal is to get the mail with Ellie, as she walks down the driveway, across the street and on the sidewalk in her walker. I am BELIEVING it’s possible! So, neighbors, if you see me boo-hooing at my mailbox one day, with Ellie standing beside me in her walker, you’ll know why.

So, here’s to my beautiful growing girl and a rock-star month ahead of us!

Checkin' In

Whew, there's a lot going on.

We have something up every night this week. Richard's lovin' it. Me, not so much. I used to be a social butterfly, but I think my wings are a little worn these days. I get tired. I need at least one night a week to just veg (ie: watch "So You Think You Can Dance"). Makes me feel kinda old. Boo.

I don't have enough time to post any heart-news, but I have a couple of those entries waiting. I need to blog about what's (not) going on with adoption plans. I need to blog about the new boy in Ellie's therapy class; the one who is severely physically and mentally disabled because his biological parents beat the crap out of him when he was a baby. I need to blog about how terrified I am of sending my sweet Ellie to preschool in two months. See, that's why I need a night of nothingness--so I can blog!

For now, though, you'll have to be satisfied with a few pictures. Finally, I know!

My cousin turned the big "1-1" last week and Ellie lurved every minute of attention she stole from the Birthday Girl.




Can you tell that Miss Ellie Mae Clampet adores her Uncle?!






Ellie's new favorite thing to do is to sit in the car and drive. The other day I asked her where she was driving to and she said, "To see Southern Grandma". Now, given the fact that Southern Grandma lives 1500 miles away, I'm thinking my little girl is a road trip junkie! I haven't yet noticed her flippin' the bird out the window, so she must not be paying *too* much attention to her dad when he drives. Good thing...


We're trying to make Ellie go down the stairs on her own. She's doing really well! For the most part, she slides down, but occasionally she'll stop and bend her knees too. The "going up" part is still a work in progress, since it's really difficult for her to raise her knees an entire stair length. But, we're trying! The big screen TV is downstairs, so the girl's gotta learn how to get there!



Jelly B'Ellie's doing really well with her walker, whoot! She's starting to really use it to get places around the house. Every morning she walks down the hall from her bedroom to the kitchen for breakfast, then from the kitchen to the bathroom to wash her hands, then from the bathroom to the bedroom to get dressed. She's learning how to squeeze and steer the walker into doorways, too. It's awesome! The other day she wanted to see out the front door, so she walked herself over there!


I leave you with a picture I entitle, "Could there BE more static in the air?"

From the Mouth of Babes...

After plopping myself on the couch to catch 2 minutes of shut-eye following a long day of work:

"Wow, Ellie, mommy looks pooped!"

"Yeah, mommy DOES look like poop!"

Love you too, Elle.

I'm Blue

Hey kids.

It's Monday. And I've got a slight case of the Monday Blahs.

The mental Tylenol for my Monday was the mere thought of tomorrow morning. Usually Ellie has therapy on Tuesday mornings (hence the reason why I start work at 1:00) and we have to leave the house around 7:45. But, tomorrow, Ellie's therapist is in meetings all morning so we have a Tuesday off. And we all know what that means:

SLEEPING IN.

Y'all, my girl is such a rock-star sleeper and it is pure bliss. I don't take one moment of sleeping-through-the-night-ness for granted. Not after surviving that hellish first year of Ellie's life, when she'd wake up 3+ times per night, wailing at the top of her lungs. Life is so much better with sleep. And both us girls love our beauty rest. When allowed, Ellie will often sleep till 9.

And THAT's what she was fixin' to do tomorrow.

Until I made the phone call.

Richard sent me this picture as part of an email:



It's a arm-powered tricycle that I thought would be GREAT for Ellie! 'Course, Richie also sent me the price to go along with the tricycle pictures: $700. SO, rather than try to come up with the money to buy this BMW-ish trike, I figured I'd call over to our Children's Rehab Centre (where we get all of Ellie's equipment) to see if they had anything of the sort.

I also had it on my list to call over there to inquire about a special stroller. The not-quite-a-wheelchair-but-more-than-a-Babies-R-Us-Stroller. Bah humbug.

Our typical wait for an appointment at the Rehab Centre is a month or two, so I wasn't expecting anything till July or later. Well, waddayaknow, they had an opening for tomorrow!

At 9:00. AM.

It's a one-hour drive to the centre, which means we'd have to leave around 7:45. Which means getting up at 7:00. Which is a far, far cry from my dreams of 9:00.

It made me bitter. Selfishly bitter. I know it's ridiculous, but I really really wanted to sleep in tomorrow, slowly drink my coffee, and spend the morning getting ready for my garage sale. Instead, I'll be up early, I'll be driving for 2 hours, and I'll be sitting in a doctor's office, trying to entertain a tired kid for 2 hours. Lucky me.

Or, maybe UNlucky me.

It just frustrates me sometimes. Parenting is tough no matter what the circumstances. It requires constant selflessness. And that's difficult for me. I'm selfish. Sometimes, though, especially on a blah Monday, it feels like it's just one thing after the other. Not just for me, but for Ellie too. SHE likes to sleep as much as I do. SHE hates doctor's appointments as much as I do. SHE's tired of being in the car as much as I am.

And it's raining.

I need a cookie.