Father's Day Weekend and a whole lot more

It's crazy to me that a week has flown by. I want to tell time to slow down so that Elle stays a baby for just a little while longer!! It is definitely exciting to see her progress but after holding my bff's 3 month old baby today for the first time, it made me miss Elle being so little and cuddly!

Father's Day weekend seems like an eternity ago. Sunday was a busy day for us - my parent's and brother came over for lunch after my bro and dad played in a golf tournament in the morning. My dad is so amazing - he helps us out so much - whether it be coming over to play with our dogs during the week or helping clean out our garage or backyard. He is such an amazing dad and grandfather. Elle's sign for my dad is "hat" because he is always wearing a hat. She loves him so much and so do we! Go figure that I only took pictures of my mom and brother playing with Elle and didn't get any of my dad and Lee!

Elle and her twin, Uncle Benny

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and the amazing father that he is. I loved Lee from the moment I met him but seeing him as a father has made me love him even more. He and Elle have such an amazing relationship - she loves him so much. She sign's "where's daddy" no less than 900 times a day and every time I reply "daddy's at work." When he gets home, she is all daddy's girl. Even though I didn't get any pics of Lee with Elle on Father's Day - I have snapped a few with my phone that I just love...and there are some great ones from our vacation a few months ago.

Out on a walk with the dogs

on a bike ride looking at the baby bunny that was in the flower bed

Sunday night we went out to dinner with Mark and Vickie, Uncle Jake, Mel, Austan, Witt and Mel's parent's, Jim and Karen. It was a wonderful evening and we all had so much fun! Mark is an incredible grandfather. Elle is one lucky lady to have such an amazing man in her life. She loves her Big Daddy so much - even more when he lets her crawl and climb all over him!

Like usual, last week flew by. Elle was a super diva all week long and she had the right to be - poor little girl is getting 3 molars in at the same time. She won't hardly open her mouth and forget brushing her teeth. That's a daily battle anyway and the fact that her gums are so swollen doesn't help much. We've had to get very creative and tooth brushing time now involves 3 toothbrushes and a lot of distractions! Thursday, we saw Elle's pediatrician for her 15 month check up...I just can't believe she is 15 months old! I totally forgot to post her 14 months stats so I will have to make up for it and post her 15 months stats soon. From the pedi - she is weighing in at a whopping 20lbs 9oz and is 30 3/4 inches long. She is in 10-25% for weight and 50% for height. All in all - she looks good and our pedi is uber impressed with her progress.

Friday night we had a party at our house for some friends of ours that just got married. It was so much fun to see everyone and get a chance to catch up. I am so thankful for all our friends - we are so blessed! Like usual, we didn't get our camera out until waaay late in the night. But thankfully Tina, the new bride, got a few good pics with her camera.

Elle eating ice out of the ice chest - we eventually had to get her her own little cooler and put ice in it...it made a huge mess...but she (and her aching gums) were happy!

Ark and Tina the happy couple and Bear and Lee looking like brothers (nope - they aren't related!)

Vickie giving Elle a bath trying to get her to go to sleep - little lady just didn't want to miss any of the action!

Since Elle finally hit the length limit for her carrier, we went and invested in a new one. Shopping for toddler seats was worse than registering! We finally found one that wasn't too bad and brought it home. Lee and Elle then proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon playing in her new clubhouse. I just loved watching them crawl around the living room - putting toys in to the box and then bringing them back out.

Elle and Lee playing...her little backpack is actually her feeding tube...i love that she can move around and play and eat all at the same time!

A Few New Signs

Thank you Lord for TCH

I know I have been remiss in posting as frequently as I should...or even as frequently as I would like. We've have been busy bees around here. On top of Elle's 5 therapy sessions a week that we normally have, I also signed us up for a mommy and me gym class, story time and ASL (American Sign Language) story time. Then add in a few doctor's appointments here and there and we are blowin' and goin' non stop. Whew!! There usually isn't one day that we don't have something scheduled! Generally by the time Lee gets home, we eat dinner, go on a bike ride and then it's almost bed time!

Elle out on a bike ride

Since we are at the outpatient TCH so much - we have become good friends with all the nurses and therapists and staff members. Elle and I love them all so much. Today it was my turn to be a patient at TCH. Funny that I as an adult had an appointment at Texas Children's. My back has been killing me more than usual for the past month and I thought a few visits to the chiropractor would help. They have seemed to help a bit, but I still can't sleep more than 2 or 3 hours before I wake up and have to stretch and walk around in order for the pain to subside enough to go back to sleep. After talking it over with Elle's PT, I decided to see a Sports Medicine doctor. I played golf in college and continue to play so a bad back is something I've dealt with for a long time...but now it's getting out of control. So...I saw the Sport Medicine doctor at TCH today. While I was being stretched and evaluated, Elle was playing with all her favorite nurses. As soon as I was called to the back, Mrs. Wendy, Elle's favorite nurse, said "can we watch her?" Of course I said yes! My room was right next to the nurses station and I could hear Elle squealing with delight while the nurses all played with her and I could hear their laughter after asking her to sign "octopus" or "frog" or "later." I could hear the laughter and sounds of smiles in their voices as other doctors and therapists stopped by to say hi to "Miss Elle." I'm sure Elle was loving every minute of the attention!

Elle playing at the nurses station

Three hours later, with a sufficiently sore back but better understanding of my problems and hopefully how to fix them, we were leaving TCH. Elle did not want to leave that nurses station! I am so thankful for TCH and the staff that we see almost everyday. Those doctors and nurses and therapists are wonderful. Words can't even describe how happy I was today - my heart was filled with joy while I was in that room hearing all the love that every single one of those employees have for Elle. I was all smiles as therapists and admin were coming up to me as we were leaving saying "oh I just love Miss Elle! We read a book together today" or "I love you my little Ellie - see you tomorrow!" Elle was blowing kisses to everyone as we were walking out the door. She is such a little ham - a very lucky little ham that is loved by so many people!

This past Friday, Mrs. Wendy gave Elle a pair of super star sunglasses. They matched her pink frog dress (ode to Animal Print Friday!). Elle loved them! She even napped in them...

What a little rock star!!

Memorial Day Weekend more ramblings...

Time seems to fly by more quickly now that I am at home. I often look at the clock and realize that Lee will be home in an hour...where do the days go? For not having any plans for the Memorial Day weekend...we ended up having a fabulous few days. It's hard to make plans with Elle because she has a way of changing everything. She has still been throwing up and has had a runny nose - so we decided not to commit to anything just in case the fever and virus she had a few weeks ago came back. Thankfully, the puking rallies have become fewer and farther between...but in the last few days Elle has puked in a Mattress Firm and in the mixed grill of a very nice country club!

We started off our Memorial Day weekend on Friday with Elle's red, white and blue animal print Friday outfit! I LOVE this outfit - thank you Mud Pie for FINALLY making clothes for babies older than 6 months old...and thank you TCH for carrying cute clothes in the gift shops! Saturday afternoon we headed to College Station, TX to spend some time with my parents, play some golf and get in some pool time. It was Elle's first time on the driving range and she loved it! I think she actually like driving the golf cart the best.

After hitting golf balls on the driving range, we spent the evening at the pool. Unfortunately we didn't bring Lee's good camera so all pics from the weekend were from our phones!

sunblock hair! love it!

We took Elle out on the golf course on Sunday morning for the first time. I loved that she watched us play with so much amazement. She laughed every time one of us would swing - I hope she's a golfer! Sunday afternoon we went to Lee's granddad's 80th birthday party! We had so much fun (and of course - forgot the camera!) and Elle loved seeing all her cousins and second cousins and family friends. She loves Lee's granddad - and we've heard her say (more than once) "granddaddy." One of Lee's cousins took some family pictures - I can't wait to see how they turned out. Monday we didn't end up doing much of anything. We let Elle play in her new baby pool in our backyard and then she took a 4 hour nap and we ended the weekend with dinner at Mark and Vickie's. It was a fabulous, restful weekend - I wish we had more 3 day weekends!

In other ramblings, now that I am home, I have become obsessed with "projects." Problem is...I haven't finished one yet! My dad gave me an ultimatum this past weekend. Our dining room chairs are in pretty bad shape. Reggie (our black lab) had an obsession with ruining antiques. He didn't touch anything else in the house except for the dining room table chairs and a few other pieces that had to be thrown out because they were demolished. Since our dining room is pretty small, we have a small Duncan Phyfe table and chairs. One of my projects it to make slip covers for the chairs to cover up the half eaten spindles. The ultimatum my dad gave me was that the covers have to made by July 4 or else he is throwing the chairs out...I can't blame him because they have been sitting in our garage since Elle's birthday party. He and Lee cleaned out the garage on Saturday morning before we left for College Station and my chairs were a part of the clean up!

I found these slip covers (the picture is from the movie Something's Got to Give) - so I am going to put my sewing skills to the test and try to make something similar. This is on top of a few other projects I have in the works. Lee is getting pretty frustrated with all my projects - one day...hopefully one day soon...they will all be complete!