Erika's birthday dinner

Tonight we went out to eat for Erika's birthday. After a bit of shuffling to get settled, we had a nice dinner. Erika and Ellie enjoyed coloring a lot while waiting on the food. Max sat beside his new friend Faith (almost 1) and they shared just about everything each other had, including some loving touches of each others heads, arms and hands. It was so cute to watch them explore each other, smile at each other and then just ignore each other and get on about their business. They were great at parallel play, which is all that's expected, but also very sweat and gentle (and I must admit, I wasn't sure Max would be that way if he sat beside a little girl for an hour at the dinner table.)

Third hiarcut - return of Sven

This morning we got Max his third haircut; it was only slightly less tramatic then the others. There were a couple minutes in the middle where is stopped screaming to listen to me do rounds of Ba Ba Blacksheep into his ears. He and I were both relieved when it was done and I was able to hold him and calm him down, which did happen very quickly this time.

They did all have a nice time on the Merry Go Round before we headed up the road. Max is definitely intrigued now every time, just like Ellie was. They learn so quickly!

Little miss thing's words to Mommy

This morning Ellie doesn't want to brush her teeth, so proceeds to fuss and tell me to brush her teeth. I informed her it was her job and best just to get it done. Her response, in between wines "Mommy, I am just going to keep fussing until you brush my teeth." My response, "Now you've sealed your fate Ellie. No help from me with threats. Come on Max, let's leave Ellie alone in the bathroom." About 10 minutes later, she came out having completed the task and ready to start the day. The things this girl will try amaze me. I think we need to improve our negotiating skills a bit. Perhaps a few less threats to her and a bit more around the idea of getting it done.

A round of applause from Max for the family

Tonight instead of me putting Max to sleep, David was going to do it (in hopes he would not cry). When I turned him horizontal for a snuggle, he responded the way he always does, "Baa ba. Baa ba." This is his way of asking me to sing Ba Ba Blacksheep. So, instead of just me singing it, all of us (David, Ellie and I) sang a rendition. Max was so excited he clapped when it concluded!

Then asked us to repeat it, in the normal fashion. So we did, and he clapped again. I guess the family rendition is more impressive then mine alone.

Ellie turns four

First we will have a breakdown of the day, highlights and lowlights. Then we will talk about the fact that my oldest baby is already four! which I can not believe.

The morning was a bit of a disaster with little mishaps here and there - mostly with Max and Lady Grey. So, although I had promised Old McDonalds pancakes, followed by a dropoff at Miss Sara's for Max, a visit to the doctors and then something special to follow (was thinking a movie). The day continued on the path of disaster instead. We didn't get any breakfast and instead barely made it to the doctor's office in time. Upon being examined, the Doctor commented that Ellie had in fact a "raging ear infection." To top that off, becuase she didn't have a fever, she could still get all her shots (Three of them!) Ellie was really worked up about the shots, but trying not to be. Once the doctor left the room, she lost it and started crying. She wanted me to "count them for me Mommy like this, One, Two, Three." (she said this very quickly with hopes that if I counted quick, they would be over quickly.) I did count them for her, but it was about 3 minutes before they were over and the tears were pouring out of her little eyes. She had a really bad cough at this point, so this made for quite a scene - poor thing. It was nearly 11:15 by the time we left the store with her Perscriptions. The 4 year check up went well - she's doing fine - healthy - growing - 75% for weight and height. She passes all the cognitive tests, stability tests and hearing and screening tests. Now we just need to get her over the hump with this ear infection.

Coming out of the store I decided we could go to IHOP for lunch so that she could still get her pancakes. At the time, this was exciting for her. She had her favorite "Chocolate Face Pancake" and I enjoyed a stack as well. Then, when we were about to leave, four waitresses brought her an ice cream sundae and began singing. This was a shock to us both, but especially Ellie. There were no smiles of delight here, they were more cowering into Mommy and hoping these nice ladies would quickly dissappear (I know where those genes come from :-).) After lunch it was home for a nap in her own bed, with hopes she would begin feeling better.

I'm not convinced she got much sleep, but she did lay still up there for about 3 hours - only 1 of which didn't have constant coughing. When she got up, she was very fragile and needed a lot of TLC. I had to leave her to Daddy and take Max tot he doctors. He too has an ear infection. So Mommy enjoyed frequent flier miles at both the doctors and the Pharmacy today.

Back home, Daddy prepared a glamorous meal of frozen pizzas for us all. (Exactly what we had planned) The rest of the evening went pretty smoothly with Ellie feeling a bit better thanks to the medicine coctail she's been enjoying today. We had our pizza, enjoyed some singing and cake, and followed it up with a mound of presents. I honestly think there were 12-15 total. The biggest thing was a box of dresses and dressy shirts from Grannie in Scotland, which was a big hit. Ellie enjoyed pulling one dress of the box after another and sharing her squeals of delight with us all. Grannie wins the prize I think!

At bedtime each night we try to talk about the best part of our day. Today Ellie told me that the best part of her day was that Shot #1 didn't hurt as bad as the other two shots. Poor thing. I tried to remind her of all the fun things today, but I do think the doctors experience was a bit much. Perhaps Mommy shouldn't have scheduled it on her actual birthday.

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is four. It has been a lot of work, but it also feels like nearly yesterday that I was in the hospital with her trying to learn to take care of her and me in this new world order. I wouldn't change it for the world. Ellie is my precious treasure that I've wanted all my life. I love her with my whole heart and look forward to celebrating as many more birthday's as God will give us together!

a few photos from the night show a happier Ellie.

3 am kiss

Max has been really having a hard go of sleeping recently; this may correlate with the lack of blog posts I've had time to do. Last night was a particularly long and rough patch. I got to sleep at 12:30 or 12:45, only to be woken at 1am to the sound of Max screaming. After trying once to put him back to bed and failing, I just put him beside me hopefully... either he'd sleep or David would take care of him. Neither happened.

After about an hour, David decided to put him in his bed sure he'd eventually fall asleep. I listened to him scream for nearly 45 mins. He's stop for a minute or two and wind back up. I was really exhuasted, but I hit a limit. At 2:45 I went in to rescue him, determined to sleep in the chair with him if I had to.

When I picked him up his face was a mess with tears and snot; he was gasping for air; he was mad at me for letting him go on like this for so long. I grabbed him and the blankets and snuggled him against me. He loves my soft robe, he laid his head on it and closed his eyes and just laid their, silent after an hours marathon of tears. After about 30 seconds, he looked up at me with sad, tired eyes and a little relief, then he leaned in and gave me a kiss! This was the first unsolicited kiss I have received from Max. Although it was a long night, it is so cute to have received my first unsolicited kiss from my little boy. Sad that it was after tourchering him for an hour or so. At least he still loves me!

The Millions

Last weekend Erika was waiting for us to show up at Emily's 5th birthday party, she said Katie, "Mom, when will the milions get here?" Katie's response, "Who?" Erika, "You know, the Millions. Ellie Million. Max a Million. The Millions!"

My cookie monster

After the main service today we tried a new service that has just started called "Wiggles and Worship." It's designed to teach very little kids about God's message and also allow them to move about at their own pace and speed, even during worship. Max decided this was a good idea. He was standing there in the center isle and pointing up towards Pastor Terri, so I encourage him that he could go forward. Little did I know, he thought I had given him permission to crawl under the seat of a little boy in the front row and remove his cookies from his plate he had tucked under his seat. It took me a minute to realize this and when I did, I quickly grabbed Max who only had one leg and a but remaining outside the chair, and returned towards our seat. Max let out a whale of a scream, the kind that says Mommy you are so mean and have really just hurt my feelings. He thought I was cruel saying he could try to get the cookies, but I'd yank them out of his hands right before he took a bit. Poor little guy. As he screamed and his hurt filled with sadness, I quickly husseled to the table where the post service treats sat and grabbed him a substitute cookie to stop the noise. Despite the fact that kids are supposed to be able to move about and make noise in this service, I was not comfortable with the sounds he was sharing with the room, and the fact I felt like a horrible mommy. So I gave him a chocolate chip cookie and he promptly stopped crying. He did however continue to look at me tearfully with a quivery lip for about a minute. I believe the chocolate finally hit his tongue and that's when he decided to forgive me!

This picture was taken before the cookie incident. He's a tired boy this morning becuase he was up until very late last night at Gramma's 60th birthday party!

Ellie's first stage appearance

Ellie has been practicing singing and signing "Jesus Loves me" with the kids from SUnday school for about a month now. Today was the big day to perform in front of the church. I wasn't really sure she would even go up there without a fuss. I had been preparing her for it by talking about it every few days and having her tell people that she was going to be doing it. We also had practiced singing it quite a bit. So, when the big moment came, I ushered her (and her security Whale) up to the front and then crouched down on the ground about 5 or 6 feet away. She stood there skeptically with another little girl from class who was equally skeptical. The music began and the kids started sining. Ellie stood there, without tears! I call this success for her first time around!

As the second verse started, I even managed to get a half smile and a bit of small singing. I was proud of my little girl! Hopefully next time it's a little easier to also sing. For now, she managed to stair down quite a full church of adults and hold out on crying! Good job Ellie Bean!