How Do You Give?

Lately I have had a heavy heart. My life has been tight and we, has a family, have had many changes! But I have felt that I need to be a better giver. So many people give to me so freely and how do I return the favor? I know that it doesn't have to be to them, but just giving in general, the way God intended us to give.

My friend Jody gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Will, at 29 weeks and I am so happy to say that after a long stay in the Vanderbilt NICU, baby Will is home with his Mommy and Daddy. Jody and Chris started a blog after Will's birth. They are such an inspiration and a testament of God's strength! I haven't met Will yet, but I feel like I know him and love him so much already!

When Will was born his Doctors discovered that he has a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). What this means for Will is that he will have to undergo heart surgery. Will is now almost 5 months old and the time for his surgery is so near and Jody and Chris have so humbly asked their family and friends to donate blood "In Honor of Will" and his open heart surgery. A service that we should all do more often and since Jody will be donating her blood to Will, she asked if we could all do the same! It Saves Lives!

This REALLY touched me and opened my heart! I want to give. I want to give "In Honor of Will." I want to give to honor God. So for the very first time, I GAVE BLOOD. Through out the day I prayed for Will and I prayed for me. And I thanked God for this opportunity. It was so easy. I have a feeling I will be back in 65 days. And each time I will be reminded of Will and his journey of life and I will thank God for him and his parents and I will give of myself whenever necessary. So if you haven't given blood lately or even at all, like me...I challenge you! If you are able, give blood "In Honor of Will" or someone else you know! I am honored to do this for such a precious little boy!

Unexpected Surprise...

Last night around 7:45pm we put Ella to bed. We did our usual routine books, pray, kisses... She was very tired so it did not surprise me that she was so quiet and went right to sleep.

I head to the living room to talk to my girlfriend on the phone and Jeramy heads to the computer. Around 8:30 I get off the phone, give kisses to Jeramy and head to bed.

As I approach the end of the hall way, Ella's door is open just slightly. "Hmmm, maybe she got up?" I thought. As I turn into my bedroom, I find the sweetest most peaceful sleeping beauty I have ever seen, tucked tightly into Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Heart Breaker!

My Baby is Two!

Well Ella came into her TWO's with a bang! Am I surprised? Not Really. We have all been passing a cold around the house for the past three weeks. Last Sunday Jeramy and Ella got the sore throat/runny nose thing pretty bad! By Wednesday Ella got a fever. Wednesday night she began vomiting, only once but it is still hard to watch your baby getting sick. (Jeramy was home with Ella at that time, needless to say he was pretty scared) By the time I got home, Ella's fever had spiked again. She and I moved to her room, to go to bed however, there was no sleeping involved! By 5am, both of us exhausted, she began having convulsions. Apparently this happens when a fever spikes so fast that the brain can not control the signals it is sending to the body to naturally protect itself. As a Mother, this is the scariest thing I have EVER been through. And we have had a lot of scary moments. The day before her 2nd Birthday and you are watching your child lay helpless and unaware in your arms. I began praying over her body immediately. Mean while, I'm screaming for Jeramy and sobbing at through it all. One spell after another and I had no clue what was happening to her. Thank you Lord for protecting her body.

We ended up taking her to the ER and then her Pediatrician. They treated her with an antibiotic for Strep and said that the spells were probably due to her fever. After a long trip we head home to sleep the rest of the day off.

By Friday, Ella was worlds better! We celebrated her Birthday the best we could. We had originally decided not to have a "party." But was going to celebrate with my family at my Mom's house. We had family in from New York and planned to meet over there Friday anyway, so why not add cake and ice cream into the mix! Since she was sick, we decided not to go :(

Nanna had planned to come over Friday to see Ella and a little sickness was not going to stop her from seeing her Baby Girl! She and Aunt Nea(Renee) came over Friday morning with a car full of goodies for all of us! We are so lucky to have such great parents! Aunt Nea made a Dora the Explorer cake for Ella and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen and Nanna loaded Ella up with microphones and goodies galore! (Ella loves to sing into a turkey baster at Nanna's, so a microphone was a perfect gift) We had a wonderful celebration and it warmed my heart to be able to see Ella smile on her Birthday! Later that afternoon, we headed over to Gramma's house. Everybody was out for the day so we thought it was a good time to visit. We enjoyed the beautiful day with a walk and some Fudge Cake!

I really felt bad that we didn't do a whole lot for Ella, but she got plenty of attention and I know she felt special ;) By Saturday, her fever was gone and we went to Cade's 4th Birthday party. Ella wasn't very happy while we were there, but we enjoyed seeing our friends and playing a little. Thank God for the bouncy thingy is all I have to say about that! hehehe :)

On Sunday, since we had this great Dora cake and a gallon of ice cream that never got ate I asked if my brothers and sisters could bring the kids over for a quick celebration. It was plenty of fun and the best part was watching all of the kids play together outside! All in all, she had a great weekend, the weather was beautiful and Ella was feeling better. My baby is TWO! YIKES.

Busy Girl...

It has been a busy couple of months for Little Miss Thing! Potty Training, Saying bye-bye to paci and now she is in a big girl bed!!

Ella's "big" Birthday present form Mommy and Daddy was her big girl bedding... I know, sounds lame, but she has so much already. She loves her bed and loves that she can crawl in and out all by herself. At first I was worried about that aspect of it, but she has done really well!

Ella and Chelsea Bear

Playin' Around
Sleeping like a Big Girl!

The only thing left to get is some wall art and a headboard. Aunt Kimmy and I plan to make the headboard, so when that time comes I'll be sure to post about it!

Fun in the Snow 2010

In the five years that I have lived here on this hill, the one thing I have wanted to do is sled down it! Well today was the day :) 1 maybe 2 inches of snow and ice turned into 6 inches of snow! When Jeramy finally made it home, we headed outside and sled down that hill over and over and over... We had a blast! Ella did it all by herself, as you saw in the video, Jeramy sled with her, I sled with her; we had a fantastic time!

This morning was pretty interesting too! As the snow began to fall, the cars began to pile up. Ella spent the afternoon, flipping around in her ball tent and I went from window to window reporting to the Facebook world the activity outside of my house. I had to share it with somebody!

This is a beautiful shot out of my kitchen window!

This is all of the drama! Car after car piled up and down the hill. People out running around, kids on dirt bikes, dogs in the road... I just knew someone or something was going to get hurt or smashed into.

But all is safe and thanks to one very good Samaritan who towed everyone that was stuck right up that hill! Tonight is going to get bad, more ice and more snow. We are safely tucked in for the night and plan to play tomorrow!

Follow Up: Life Without Paci

We have tried a couple of times to get rid of the paci and for some reason or another, we found it soothing for us or whomever to just let her have it. When I worked full time, the daycare pretty much had her broke of it, but I was the one who gave it back to her after the "tongue incident!" It really did help her.

Ella is almost three and a half weeks away from being 2 years old, OMG! I just realized that myself. I really think that her talking will improve without paci.

It has been about three whole days without paci and ultimately Ella is doing really well. Even being as young as she is, she is definitely human...Exchanging one habit for another! She has her moments of whining, but I just tell her "paci had to go bye-bye 'cause you are a big girl now!" She seems ok with it but ten she asks for a book. Even in the pitch black room, she looks at her book until she falls asleep. I'm very proud of her. Sometimes, I wish I could just give it to her, but I ave to be strong too!

Also, today is my wonderful Husband's 33rd Birthday! I love you Baby and I hope you have a great day!

"Say Good-Bye to Your Little Friend!"

It has been a long time coming, but I think I'm finally ready for it to be gone. The little one on the other hand would not agree. Daddy actually said he would like it to be gone by the end of January. I have faith in us that we can do it!

Today Ella was having a little throwing fit, imagine that, and threw her paci into the kitchen cabinet. Nap time roles around and paci is no where to be found, seriously we searched the house! So it occurred to me that this could be my ample moment. So I say "Paci had to go bye-bye, because you are a big girl now." Her reply was "Uh-huh." Was it really that simple? I think not! After a sweet little talk with the sad little girl, I said "Now let's go to the back door and say bye-bye to paci!" Oh it was a sad moment for both of us. Then we went pee pee and I told her if she went to bed like a big girl, I would give her an M&M when she woke up. I know what you are thinking...Bad Momma! I promise I won't continue this but my little girl is in love this "mem, mem, mem's!"

She finally fell asleep, but there was lots of sad whining involved. Tonight is going to be harder!