Monday, October 5, 2009

Happy Birthday Ellie!





What a difference a year makes!



Ok, so Ellie's birthday was over a month ago, I know, but if you read on you might cut me a little slack. Just maybe.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Ellie's birthday in Columbus. She loved it!


Ellie with something ridiculous atop her head

I made her a cow cake which actually turned out better than I thought.


Moo



Thanks to Baba and Grandchuck for hosting Ellie's 1st Birthday party.



Here's a little video of the big event




Well, it has been quite a year! We have loved every minute of the past year we have spent watching Ellie grow. She has gotten so big and is really turning into a little person, not just a little baby anymore.






Here's a list of Ellie's recent accomplishments and entertaining feats:

*walks and stands all the time
*tries to run after the cat, but usually falls and then continues to chase him by crawling
*laughs when chased
*tries to tickle your toes
*shows her belly when prompted (probably not a good habit as we get older, but so darn cute at this age)
*found her belly button yesterday and discovered that mommy and daddy have them too
*plays hide 'n seek, but peeks through her fingers (uh-oh, early signs of a cheater, I hope not)
*fascinated with the bubbles in the bathtub (which had to be added when she no longer wanted to take a bath)
*says momma, dada, nigh nigh (while crawling to her room to go night night), mo (more food please) and several other unintelligible things that make for a lovely conversation
*makes the sign for "I don't know" (arms up by shoulders, shrug of shoulders accompanied by a tilt of her head)
*loves, loves, loves to swing outside
*loves on all of her animals and baby Betsy
and I am sure there are plenty more adorable things she does that I am forgetting!


loving baby Betsy

And in other news...

We are moving! Oh boy, where to begin? We will be moving to Columbus, GA (my home) and Jim will be opening his own practice just across the river in Phenix City, AL. Jim is only licensed in Alabama so that's why his office will be there. But this should be good because he will hopefully be able to pull patients from the Auburn/Opelika area as well as the Columbus area.

This has been a long and stressful year for both of us. We moved to Mobile so Jim could go into practice with two of his brothers and unfortunately it has not worked out. There is no easy or short way to sum up what went wrong, but after many sleepless nights and much deliberation, we have made a decision that we think will be the best for our family. This has probably been the hardest thing either of us has been through, but I know we will make it.

We really don't know when we will be moving, maybe sometime in the next three months. Jim is working on a lease for a space and hopefully it will be ready for us to open in January. I say us because I will be going back to work at Jim's office.

So we have had a few things going on down here in LA and it looks like we will be headed to higher ground. We are very excited to move to Columbus and have already been overwhelmed by family and friends who share in our excitement. So there ya have it.

Monday, August 24, 2009

St. George Island









The Cousins - Mac, Ellie, and Wynn





We went to St. George Island last week to be with my mom, my brother, his wife and their two kids. Ellie had so much fun hanging out with her cousins Mac and Wynn. It was great to spend time with Charlie and Paige. We certainly do not see them enough, Mobile to Charleston is a long way!


Mac


Wynn


Ellie demonstrating her crab crawl

Ellie really liked the beach this go round. She played in the sand, loved crawling like a crab, and actually played in the water. She wasn't nearly as scared as she was when we went to the beach earlier in the summer. I have discovered one major problem that I am going to have to overcome as a mother, my fear of sharks. I have a ridiculous fear of sharks. I know it is ridiculous and I do not want Ellie to be scared of the water. I thought I could be brave for my little girl, but I didn't have too much success. I made Jim wade in the surf with me so he could look for sharks. I know it is totally dumb. Any advice for getting over this fear would be wonderful.



The cousins on the beach







Other than that, we had a wonderful time. Jim cooked gumbo and crab cakes. We drank margaritas and just hung out. It was a much needed vacation. It was good to get away from all the drama in Mobile, but more on that later.





Before we went to the beach I made Ellie and Wynn tutus. Holly Homemaker at her finest, ha ha ha. They were so cute and super easy! Thanks for the no sew tutu idea Christi!!!


Wynn in her tutu


Ellie in her tutu




Ellie and Wynn relaxing in the hammock.

In other news Ellie went to "school" for the first time last Tuesday. She did great! She is going to Ashland Place, a church down the street, twice a week from 9-1. I am so glad she will have a chance to be around some other children her age. I can already tell that she has an early birthday for her age group. I went to drop her off and they asked if she could sit up by herself. I responded with yes, in fact she can pull up on anything and is trying to walk. Next question, what is her bottle schedule? Well, she is using a sippy cup and only takes a bottle before bed. Then I took a closer look around the room and noticed that the other babies had been dropped off in their car seats and were perfectly content where they were. Maybe Ellie can teach them all to stand up. Ha, ha. When I returned they did mention looking into the possibility of moving her up with the next age group. Made me laugh!



Ellie on her first day of school.





Ellie and Mrs. Elizabeth
(please notice the baby in the teachers arms)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Vermont Pics

Here are some more pictures from Vermont, mostly nature stuff.
If you don't like flowers, stop looking now.













































The pond