"Grape Festibal"

This past Saturday we went to the "Grape Festibal" (aka the Greek Festival) with the Holcombs for a very warm, but fun afternoon. The first thing spotted was the bouncy slide, and we were shocked to hear that little girls that had freshly pierced ears had to remove them to ride! We finally decided to just go ahead and take Ell's out since she only had 2 days left in her earring countdown anyway.

Ella & Ellison - the 2 little dancers waiting for the magic to happen.

Sweet Matthew

We sat down to a yummy lunch and some desserts.

Then the Greek dancing began. Ellison and Ella were completely entertained, dancing and clapping along to the music, even trying to copy some of the moves.

They burned off some serious energy. They had this little sequence they kept continually doing: dancing & clapping & watching for a few minutes, then they'd both run back to Jonathan & give him a hug, then they'd run back and start all over again. They had such fun.

Matthew didn't see what all the hype was about with those crazy girls. His stylin' shoes were far more interesting to throw around. :-)

After the Greek dancers took a break, the dance floor was open to anyone. Ellison so badly wanted to join in, but felt a little shy about it. She kept begging me, but I didn't want to make a spectacle of myself being pregnant and clumsy and all (I know, what happened to my wake up call? Doesn't mean I'm comfortable with people watching me look silly). Though I missed it, I did hear Daddy did a little Greek dancing with her. Thank God for her awesome Daddy who rarely disappoints, and helps suck up life with his girl.

[September 18, 2010]

Afternoon Fun

For an afternoon out - a fun one not consisting of groceries and errands - I took Ellison over to Cold Stone Creamery to FINALLY use her gift card that she won during the Halloween costume contest last year! She chose her concoction of blue cotton candy ice cream with white chocolate chips and M&Ms, and wanted to sit inside at a table until we were completely finished. As her blue ice cream turned to liquid, she decided to drink it down like milk instead. Made me want to reach for the closest garbage can to yack, but hey, she enjoyed it. I enjoyed her little blue mustache.

After filling our tummies with empty calories (OK, and running one errand), we went to Toys & Co. to look around and play, where she could've stayed for 4 hours playing with the doll houses and train table, and telling me of yet another 58 items she wants for her birthday.

[September 14, 2010]

Soto the Science Kid

We had watched "Sid the Science Kid" on TV the day before, and they were exploring the different things found in dirt. Ellison casually mentioned that she would like to do that. Later that day, when she spotted the twins, she ran out to tell them excitedly that we were "going to be scientists and dig up dirt!". I hadn't realized how much she truly wanted to do it. Well, I completely let it go, and Jonathan & I worked on so many household projects that day. I was feeling so bad and guilty the next day, and had one of those parenting days where I realized I need to share in the joy of discovery with my Little Bug. I don't want to be one of those moms that just sits back and watches everything (which I do a lot, especially now that I'm pregnant, and with my bad back) or that constantly says, "Yeah, later," (which I do a lot, too). I want her to look back with fondness at fun things we did. I want her to feel that I was into having fun, and I want to foster her enthusiasm in trying new things. Sometimes I just need a wake up call. So, the next day after we got home from church, and before I had to head to work, I skipped taking a nap and told Ellison we would dig up some dirt to see what we could find.

She had been riding around on her scooter and bike, so she had her helmet on. When I asked her if she wanted to take it off, she said she didn't. I think they went with her Dora gardening gloves.

Eventually the helmet made its way off, and we got down to business. The digging didn't get too far considering the ground was like cement. We don't especially have great areas to dig since Mama hasn't planted anything since occupying the house!

Nonetheless, we found a feather, acorns, some ants... Here's Elli inspecting. "We're being scientists!"

The twins felt bad for us using a plastic beach shovel on the rock-hard ground (can't find my garden shovel since I'm not gardening!), so they brought one over for us. So I need a lesson in making projects a little funner than I sometimes do...

It was fun, though. And I enjoyed the time with my girl, exploring dirt. That's what this is all about, and I was thankful I got the wake up call again.

[September 12, 2010]

Just Some Cute Pics

After eating at the Rio Grande in Summerfield, we perused the landscaping place next door. Ell was enjoying herself immensely. She ran around in between the plants exclaiming, "Oh! Isn't this beautiful?! Smell it!", and "Ooh, look at this one!". We had a difficult time getting her out of there without a little drama. As we were walking away, she ran to this area and asked me to take her picture. And she's playing with some landscape stones in her pocket that she found scattered around the parking lot. She has this thing for collecting rocks, flowers, pinecones, pellets from pellet guns that are found on the street...

She needed her hair washed, so I told her I'd do it kinda like Grandma does in her beauty shop in MI. She was all about that. You would've thought I was giving her a spa treatment. With her layed down across the countertop and her head over the kitchen sink, she kept blissfully rolling her eyes back in her head whispering, "Ahhh!". Upon completion, she wanted Daddy to put a towel on her head like Mommy wears.

[September 10, 2010]

First Day of Dance Class

Ellison was so happy dance class was beginning once again.

On the way there, she said, "I don't think I'm going to like Miss Adrienne. I like Miss Angela (her teacher from last year)". Nonetheless, she didn't seem too bothered by it.

When we got there, she was the little leader of the group, showing new students the ropes. She sweetly showed a mommy and the little girl where to set her dance bag, and showed Baity where to sit. I could see her telling her teacher some things, and would've loved to have been a fly on the wall.

Ellison and her friend, Baity, get to be in the same dance class this year.

I so love her random poses, still. :-)

And she came out of the class grinning, saying that she did, indeed, like Miss Adrienne.

[September 9, 2010]

First Day of School

Ellison's school year is off to a smashing hit this year. She has been SOOOO excited for it to start! There was not an ounce of hesitation on her part. I have to say, over the past month we have noticed a significant change in her! Her shyness has suddenly taken a backseat. She is so outgoing and social and friendly. Long gone are the days where she stands there mute when I'm prodding her with a gritted-teeth smile to answer people or say "thank you". We are so proud of her and glad to see her socially comfortable now.

It was so nice to have her wake up hearing, "I get to go to school today?!", with total excitement in her voice. She asked me to do her hair in "curly-curlies", and asked me several times throughout the morning if they were still present. It was a special day, after all. :-)

We went outside to snap the token pictures commemorating her first day. She was ever so creative in her poses. Ironically, her face isn't exactly the epitome of excitement, though I can assure you she was.

When I had told her a couple of days before that we had some fun school bus cookies to bake for her first day when she got home from school, she asked me if she could take them to school to share with her class. So we asked her teachers, and they were happy to have them.

Heading into school!

As we approached her classroom, she abruptly made me stop, then grabbed the plate of cookies out of my hands so she could present them to Mrs. Powell & Mrs. Ehinger. Then she turned around to give me a kiss, and happily went into her room grinning and saying, "Bye, Mom!".

We're so proud of you, big girl!

[September 8, 2010]

20 Weeks

Silly Mookie - every time we try to take a side profile shot she thinks it's this hilarious game where she keeps jumping into the pic last minute. :-)

[September 7, 2010]

Popcorn Night

Ellison adores popcorn, and becomes so bloody excited if we're having popcorn night. One particular evening we got our jammies on, and she suddenly got it in her head that she simply HAD to have her Dorothy wig from last Halloween. I have no clue why she even thought of it, but she completely begged Daddy to dig it out of the attic, and he obliged. She stuck it on, and adorned it with her hat the twins gave her, and she was good to go for our popcorn night. But wait - first Daddy had to put on a hat, too, and she and Mommy had to both wear slippers. She's got plans, this one.

Gosh, looking back, I sure hope I didn't use that much butter...

[September 3, 2010]

Big Day of Appointments

We had a very long and big day of appointments. It started off first thing in the morning with the "big" ultrasound of Baby where they check all the baby's organs and such, and then draw blood for the quad screen. We are thrilled to say that Baby is looking great (and the blood work has since come back just fine), and measuring exactly where he/she should be. Once again, we could've found out the sex, and once again it was just as difficult for me to say no! But we got some cute 4D shots of Baby - looks like it's sucking its thumb! Then it opened its mouth for us. So cute!

It seems pretty unanimous with people that they think it's a boy. In fact, I don't think I've heard anyone say they think it's a girl, and the opinions we hear are adamant. This pregnancy, I have not felt one way or the other at all, but I'm just now starting to think a tiny bit that it's a girl. Yet, either way will feel like a huge surprise for me.

After the ultrasound appointment, I had an OB appointment. Nothing to write home about, everything's just plugging away. Ellison was SUCH a trooper - we were at the OB office 2 hours, and she did great!

After heading home for a brief respite, we then were on our way to meet Daddy at Brenner's Children's Hospital Clinic in Winston-Salem for Ellison's much-anticipated endocrinology appointment. Everything was very fast and efficient, and we literally had NO wait time! Even the doctor came in almost immediately! Dr. Walsh was very nice. We knew we weren't going to walk out of there with a quick answer, but at least wanted to be in the process of finding out something. Dr. Walsh, like our pediatrician, also believes that Ellison likely is in the process of developing juvenile diabetes based on her history. She explained several things, and I won't even be able to touch the surface here with it all. They ran blood work, which we won't have results for a couple weeks. The biggie is the diabetes antibody screen (I was not even familiar with this test). Basically, if it's positive, Ellison will have juvenile diabetes, we just won't know exactly when full-blown symptoms will kick in for her, since her pancreas is producing insulin. If it's negative, it sounds like we may just chock this up to ketotic hypoglycemia (with an episode of hyperglycemia at one point), and basically we'd just have to make sure she always eats small, frequent snacks/meals. No cause for that, just something she'd likely grow out of eventually. Even if the test comes back positive, there's absolutely nothing we can do at this point. We can pray for a cure to happen before she develops the full-onset of the disease, but we'd just have to wait and monitor. Speaking of monitoring, she said to not check her blood sugars regularly anymore. (Thank you, Jesus!). Only if she is ill or exhibiting suspicious symptoms do we need to do a check, and if it's out of whack, then we need to watch it closely, then go from there. She is also checking thyroid function levels and other things that I'm unfamiliar with. She thinks Ellison's sleep pattern and new-onset irritability over the last few months all plays into this big picture. So we will wait and see, and in the meantime we are praying for a negative antibody screen!!!

Ellison's sleep is still atrocious. Some nights we feel like we're making headway when she only gets up once or twice, but more often than not she's up several times a night. Sometimes it's to pee, other times she doesn't say a word - just follows me back to her room where I tuck her in and not a word was ever spoken. We have literally tried everything, and I mean everything. It's an exhaustive list of different tactics we've tried to help her out of this. I feel so bad for her not getting solid rest. Part of me wonders if her little mind just can't slow down. I don't mean ADHD or anything, but her little wheels are a turnin' intensely, I think. Last night, when she was up at 4am peeing, she groggily said to me, "Mom, why don't some babies grow?". Holy. Cats. Is this what she's thinking about and dreaming about at night? Things like this? I suddenly felt like Horrible Parent of the Century - have I not filtered enough for her?! I feel our mistakes as parents just mounting on a giant list. Have I opened my trap one too many times on the phone not realizing my little sponge was really listening? I already know the answer to that, but... I want her little mind resting at night or dreaming of butterflies and unicorns and mermaids. Two nights ago, with Daddy out of town overnight, she slept with me, and that girl tosses about and whimpers in her sleep a lot. I wonder if this is part of her sleep problem. I know it's normal to an extent, but we just can't figure this sleep thing out...

Well, there went my therapy session for the day. I'm going to start calling this blog, "Delilah". What song do you think you could play for me tonight, Delilah?

Our New Family Members

3 fish and a new bookcase, that is. Since we got back from Michigan, it was finally time to break in the aquarium. Off the Sotos went to find our new family members. Ellison fell in love with some bigger fish (okay, they were small fish, but big for the tiny aquarium we have), and it took a great deal of coaxing to have her finally help pick out appropriate sized ones. Their names change on a minute-by-minute basis, but most consistently we have: Snow White, Aurora, Belle, and Cinderella (or Jasmine, depending on the mood). On other days, the fish are named: Dave (after Papa), Alice (after Grandma), Jonathan, Christina, and Mookie (yes, that makes 5 names, and yes, we only have 4 fish).

The germ factor made me cringe, but I thought it was so sweet that she was kissing her new fishies when she was welcoming them home.

The one Betta fish, Snow White, in her new little home which resides in Ellison's room. Aunt Marlene gave this little fishbowl to Ellison as we were leaving to return home to NC. I was feeling pretty bad for this fish having such a confined space, but apparently this type of fish does well like that, before you go hatin' on us.

The fish look no where to be seen - probably hiding from the mammoth unicorn - but these were the decorations Ellison picked out when she earned them. So Ellison. :-)

She was all excited to feed the fish the first night, but ever since wants nothing to do with it because she doesn't want to have to wash her hands afterward. So now Mommy and Daddy do it. This is one of the reasons we will never have a dog or cat in this house.

After the fish went to sleep for the night, Ellison turned her attention to the bookcase Dad was putting together. She wanted to help, and he was such a good Daddy really letting her do it.

Call me sappy, but it was so sweet to watch.

Daddy knows how to do practically anything around the house, with a vehicle, electronics, etc. He seriously has a crazy set of impressive skills. I hope this is one time of many he teaches our kids how to do those things. And it's good bonding, too. (Here's where I plug Dr. James Dobson's new book, "Bringing Up Girls". I'm feeling passionate about it right now).

[August 28, 2010]