Merry Christmas to All

I hope everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas and that we all take time to remember what we are really celebrating and to be thankful for our many blessings!

Sick baby girl

Our sweet little angel is sick again. This time she has a double ear infection with a fever. She woke up this morning and her eye was all red and swollen with a little bit of green stuff in it so looks like our pink eye is back. I know she is miserable. She is so pitiful but inspite of it all, she still manages to smile, cuddle, and be affectionate. She is so sweet and I am so lucky to have such a sweet little girl!! I hope you get to feeling better soon Ellie.

Shame on Me!

I am a horrible blogger and have not updated in quite sometime and for that I apologize! Alot has been happening in our lives since my last post! Ellie is 15 months and as of 11/15 she is an official walker!! She is so clumsy and it is the cutest thing to watch. I recently went back to work so this has been quite an adjustment for all of us. Ellie loves her school and I am grateful that she has adapted to it and enjoys going. The first few weeks were tough but she loves it now. Yesterday she was screaming in excitement on the way to school if that gives you any idea of how much she likes it!! I am so excited to have four days off of work to spend with Matt and Ellie. We sure do have alot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! We have two family dinners tomorrow so it will be a fun, busy, and exciting day!

Ellie's favorite word and i guess object is "Baboon" (balloon). Anytime she sees flags or signs waving in the wind, she screams out "Baboon". She even asks for them at school and her teachers think it is absolutely hilarious!! We have had a long couple of months with how sick she has been but it can only get better!! Currently, we are still doing three breathing treatments a day, finishing our antibiotics and eye drops for pink eye and the asthma is really improving with the help of Singulair and breathing treatments!

I promised myself that I wouldn't get out with all the crazy people on Black Friday but after seeing the deals at Toys R Us, I have given in and plan on going. I know it is crazy BUT it will be worth it for the deals AND the good news is I won't be going to the mall and I can go in the morning while Matt and Ellie are still asleep. The true test will be if I can actually wake up that early!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Ellie's Fall

Well I never imagined that Ellie would have her first incident at such a young age but my worst nightmare came true on Thursday at around 7pm. We were outside playing with her new water table that she got for her birthday and we were having a blast. We were all soaked. Ellie loved squirting herself and pouring water all over her and she was drenched. She started crawling on the stone and had dirt all over her and was getting tired so time to wash her little legs off with the hose and in for a bath. M had her and reached for the water hose with one hand and had her in the other but she arched her back to get down and was a slippery girl and fell about three feet and hit her little head on the stone. It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. She screamed for about 15 minutes and nothing calmed her. We didnt even change her and put her in her carseat and rushed to Texas Children's. They got us right into an ER room and we waited and waited forever. They did four xrays (one on each shoulder, one spinal, and one neck) and it was so sad to watch them restrain her to take the xrays (it took four people). Then we had to do a CT scan. That too was heartwrenching to see your little baby in such a large machine screaming for you and theres nothing you can do. Finally at around 2 am on Friday the doctor came in and sat down and said he had the results of the ct scan and wanted to discuss them with us. I knew he was about to give us bad news from the way he talked. So he told us that she had a very small skull fracture (not words I wanted to hear) and referred to it as a ping pong fracture. Medical terminology can be confusing bc when i think of a ping pong ball relative to her head...that's pretty big but instead what he meant was a tiny dimple in the skull like the ridges on a ping pong ball. It is so small the doctor could barely see it on the ct scan to show it to us. The good news is that it will heal itself in the next couple of weeks and as for long term effects: minimal to none. That is very reassuring because that was my main concern. We are very excited because Ellie is doing all the same things she was doing before the fall: speaking the same words, doing her sign language for more, waving bye bye, healthy appetite, sweet and smiling, and same interest in her toys. So there does not appear to be any difference in her behavior and we are so thankful. They kept her overnight and moved us to an observation room and we were released Friday morning around 9:30. Thank you friends and family for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers and we are so fortunate and happy to report that our little girl is doing great. Sorry i didnt post any pictures but i have not taken any as this is not something I want to remember.

Pictures in the bluebonnets

This one is way overdue but here are the pictures I took of Ellie in the bluebonnets at the beginning of May when she was 9 months! I got a few good ones but she was not happy about the heat and being in the grass and turns out she had an ear infection so that explains her mood. Poor girl. We had fun taking her pictures. Enjoy!!

Trip to South Carolina

As noted in my previous post, we went on vacation to South Carolina over Fourth of July and it was a great time. Ellie was a great traveler and loved the beach!! We were able to do alot of fun stuff and spend time with family. Thank you Grandma and Pops for taking us on such a great trip. Here are a few pics of our trip!!

The Newly Engaged Couple

I would like to congratulate Uncle C and Aunt S on their recent engagement on our family trip to South Carolina over for the Fourth of July. C actually proposed on July 4th at dinner and S was completely surprised. We are so excited and can't wait to hear about wedding plans!! The ring is beautiful and S is one lucky girl!!!

Ellie's One Year Check up!

Today Ellie had her one year check up and she is doing great. She weighs 20 lbs. 8 oz. (40th percentile) and is 30 in. long (80th percentile)!! She did so great with the shots she got: prevnar, MMR, and chicken pox. The good news is NO ear infection!! YEA. Tonight M and I are going to the Astros game and Ellie has a date with her Memaw!

If you would like to view Ellie's one year pics please go to http://www.ameliajeanphotography.blogspot.com We did these this past Sunday on Ellie's birthday and they are beautiful. Cousin A, you did a wonderful job and we love them all!! If you love A's work as much as I do, shoot her an email and I am sure she would love to do a session with you and you won't be disappointed!!

Yesterday Ellie started her infant survival swim lessons that is a four week series and after one day she can already hold her breathe under water, swim approx. four feet from mom to instructor, kick her legs, and swim to the steps and pull up on them. It is amazing how fast little people learn. That is all i have for now, more later BUT just to let everyone know that I am back on board and will be blogging more than I have been over the past months and I apologize to those who have missed out on the past few months but I will do better!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy

Well this is way over do but I am just not getting around to posting our festive fathers day. Ellie wouldnt let him unwrap his present and helped herself to the unwrapping and eathing the paper!! As you can see in the pictures, he is a pretty amazing dad and is crazy about his little girl. I am one lucky girl to have this man in my life and he is truly a wonderful person!! Love you M.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Well it is hard to beleive that our sweet baby girl is already a year old!! Today we still vividly remember the day our Ellie was born. I must say that today was alot more fun though. We are having the big birthday party next weekend since this weekend was busy busy with the Dobbs Family reunion, visiting Uncle B and Aunt D, and seeing our cousins and hanging out while A took Ellie's one year pictures that turned out beautiful. I will post more pictures later and update the blog about what we have been up to over the past few months but here are a few of the very first pictures we took or our sweet girl after she was born!

It's Been a While

So sorry that I have not blogged in over a month, I know there are really no excuses for that kind of behavior. Well needless to say it has been a busy month! M is still preparing for his test that he takes this Saturday and we have been doing some painting to get our house more the way we want it. Still no job :( Oh well, something will come along soon. It is hard to beleive but Ellie is already 8.5 months. I don't know where the time went. She is such a sweetheart and is such a handful. She went from sitting up on her own to crawling in less than a month and now she is all over the place! I am posting some pics that Ellie took with her BFF, Audrey today and that was a blast to watch those two girls interact. Audrey was so sweet and let her mama take pics while Ellie was grabbing leaves, grass, and twigs and putting them in her mouth!! I really will get back and post something sooner this time. I promise :)

The month of February

I apologize I have not written in a while! We have had a busy month and Ellie has grown alot this month. This month we went to visit Aunt Shell and we went to Brandi's Wedding. The job search continues and still nothing but hopefully soon. Daddy has been busy with his class so we have missed him but it will be over very soon!! We visited Ellie's Grand Ma Ma for the first time and had a very special visit. Ellie has two sharp bottom teeth and can almost sit up unsupported by herself without falling over. It is so cute to watch her!!

In honor of Ellie turning six months today, I have FINALLY created our blog so everyone can watch Ellie grow. Thank you Anje for inspiring me to be a blogger!! I know I am horrible with keeping up on emails but I think this will be alot easier. My goal it so post twice a week but don't hold me to it!! Welcome to our blog :)

The pictures in this post are from our six month photo shoot that we did yesterday. We went in the backyard and rode our little horsey and went to the park in the neighborhood for some more. We had a great time. I think Ellie got annoyed with me but she better just get used to it. I LOVE me new camera and will get lots of use out of it. I am still an amateur but I am learning to take some great pictures.