Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday.  Amelia may taking convincing with the Easter bunny.  When she was looking at her basket, she said, thank you, momma.  I really don't mind.  The whole thing is silly to me.  Plus, she is terrified of the thought of the Easter bunny.

Easter bunny came and brought treats for the girls!

Is she happy or what!

Digging in her first Easter.

I think she likes it!

Me with my sweet girls!

Daddy with his girls!

Playing with the photo prop.

 

Sweet girls!

Easter Bunny

Today, we decided to take the girls to see the Easter bunny.  I was worried about Anna Claire, but I should have known it would be Amelia that would have the melt down.  Anna Claire really didn't know what was going on, but Amelia was terrified.  I had to join them.  It took 5 shots to get one that was ok.

Sorry, it is a picture of a picture.  She isn't happy, but there are no tears!

Old videos

I have been trying for so long to upload some videos from my phone.  Well, last night, I finally was able to attach my phone to my computer and they finally transferred over.  I tried this before and it didn't work, so I was supper excited!

When Anna Claire was in the hospital over Christmas, my parents came and sat with her one morning so Drew and I could have some time with Amelia.  We rode the carousel many times, and she actually did the spider bounce.  I was so proud of her!

We were headed back to the hospital and she started singing twinkle, twinkle little star.  So cute!

 

Today, I had a very interesting encounter.  I met a friend of mine at Subway for lunch.  I looked at the line when I went in and the doctor that treated Anna Claire in the hospital when she was first born was there.  I wanted to vomit.  I know it's been a while for most of you, but he is the one that treated her initially for an infection, and would not even consider the fact that the cyst at her liver could be the cause of the abnormal lab values.  I assumed he would not remember me, so I just acting like normal.  Well, as I went to get my drink he was sitting right beside the fountain, and he said, hey there.  I said, hey.  He said, do you remember me?  I said, yes I do.  He asked how Anna Claire was doing.  I was so torn on what to say.  But, I just responded that she is doing really well.  And, then I decided, I needed to let him know.  So, I said, she was diagnosed with biliary atresia.  He said, oh no.  How did they find out, so I told him her bilirubin was still high and we did ultrasound, and the cyst was on her liver, but it was actually on bile duct, but whatever.  He said, well, we did an ultrasound, and I said, yes, but only of her ovaries.  I then told him she had her surgery, cleared her jaundice, and has had only 1 episode of cholangitis, but is now doing very well.  It was a tough time there for a while, but doing much better now.  I am glad that he knows, and I am glad that I handled it better than I would have 4 months ago.  But, I just hope he realizes what he did and in the future, will listen when a mother is telling him something and not just treat every baby the exact same way.

We can wear a bow!

Today turned out to be a beautiful day, so we went outside and played.  I am so excited for warm weather, just like everyone else I know.  But, Anna Claire is so happy outside!  It is so peaceful!  But, I got my roses weeded.  Did it bear handed, and I will never do that again.  Put my finger right through a slug!  I wanted to die, and I'm sure the way I was screaming the neighbors may have thought I was.  But, after that we played some basketball and colored with the side walk chalk. 

Anna Claire had a ton of hair when she was born, but it has thinned quite a bit.  Well, I just happened to find one of Amelia's bows in our screen porch, so I decided to try it out on Anna Claire.  It didn't fall out!  This made me so happy!

Egg hunt

Today, our church had its Easter egg hunt after our potluck meal.  There were a ton of eggs.  None of the children were disappointed!  Amelia had a blast.  We had to have it inside because it never seems to stop raining.

After her nap, we opened all the eggs to see what she got.  (I had already checked them to make sure it was all ok)  But, she got to pick 1 treat, and she picked skittles.  I don't think she is the biggest fan.  She ate a few, made a mess, and gave the rest to daddy. 

 

She would not take her dress off all day.  She wanted to be a "princess" all day.  

Pretty, pretty!

We are getting in the Easter spirit here at the Ellis household.  Amelia and I dyed Easter eggs today.  Anna Claire supervised from her jumper.  It just keeps getting better!

We made the pretty glittery kind.

She makes some silly faces!

She was so excited about the eggs.

 

Come Back

My girls are pretty easy to put to bed at night.  Amelia has been for a while, and Anna Claire has been a little work to get to that point.  But, we do baths, read stories, Anna Claire takes a bottle, then we lay them down.  Well, Amelia, has gotten to where she doesn't want to be left in her room.  It breaks my heart.  She only does this to me, but when I go to the door, she will say come back.  She just says it over and over.  It makes it hard for me to leave the room.  I will go back once, but I don't give in any more after that.  She goes right to sleep as soon as we leave the room.  She is such a sweet girl!  Drew says that he thinks I secretly like it, and he is a little right.  But, I do hope that she isn't scared in her room.  I'm trying to be better at monitoring what she watches on tv to keep her from seeing scary things. 

We are a cool family

Sunday, we went outside and played so we all had to wear our sunglasses.

We are all just so cool!

 

I have been without my glasses for a month.  I was so excited to have found them on Sunday.  Drew had taken my car to get detailed about a month ago, and took them out and forgot.  They were sitting in a bag with all my stuff he had taken out of my car.  I have been hearing for the past month about how I always lose my glasses.  I had decided that I was going to go get a new pair the next day until we found them on Sunday when we were looking for Amelia's glasses.  I'm glad to have them back, and to be able to say that I am not the one who lost them!

our trip to Memphis

I ended up heading up later on Thursday afternoon.  I was determined to enjoy some of our family time we had planned for that week.  Friday, we met my sister's family at the zoo.  It was an absolutely beautiful day!  Luckily we got there early because it seems that all of Memphis planned on going to the zoo that day.  We had a lot of fun!

Amelia wanted to hold Madison and Brady's hands the entire time.

Uncle Mike showing Amelia the flamingos

Anna Claire and Aunt Sharon got in a lot of bonding ime.

Amelia rode the camel with her cousins.  I was a bit nervous about it, but she was fine.

She was in heaven!

That night, we celebrated my sister's birthday at her house.  Drew bought Amelia a jeep.  She loved it! 

Anna Claire loved playing with her cousins too!  And Chloe!

Amelia and Chloe

 We all had a lot of fun!  Amelia didn't want to leave.  She loves her cousins so much!  Hopefully we will be closer soon and get to spend more time with them.

Both of Anna Claire's doctors appointments went well.  We have to continue the vitamin.  Boo!  We go back in 2 months, hopefully we get to stop then!  I'm just glad my sweet girl is doing so well!
Plus, we had another big moment this week.  Anna Claire is officially sleeping through the night!  Yay!  I really thought it would never come, but we have had 5 nights of full sleep.  I am so proud of my little girl.  She was given a nickname at my sister's house.  They now call her frogbat.  She loves to jump and be upside down.  Poor girl.  I don't think I will ever call her that, but I am scared that it will stick with everyone else. 

Saturday, the girls rode the 4 wheeler with grandmomma and granddaddy.  It was Anna Claire's first time on the 4 wheeler.  I'm not really sure what she thought about it.

 

We had a good time.  It was a lot shorter than I hoped and seemed really rushed.  But, we made the most of every minute!

A Big Thank you to my Husband!!

What started out seeming like the typical flu like symptoms last Tuesday night turned out to actually be the worst stomach bug I have ever had in my entire life!!!  I went to bed Tuesday night, and did not get out of bed except for very short moments until Thursday.  We had planned on leaving to go to Memphis on Wednesday, but it didn't work out.  My wonderful husband did a fantastic job of taking care of the girls so I could sleep and get better.  He even took the girls to Memphis on Thursday morning by himself for Anna Claire to make her doctors appointment.  I would not have been able to do it without him.  It is nice to know that when I am sick I have a wonderful partner who can do it all without me!  I hope I never have to return the favor for him though.  I am so thankful that he and the girls were spared!  I love you babe!!!!

Catching up

I know I am terrible keeping up right now.  I was going to use tonight to catch up, but this momma is sick.  So, I am going to make this past week short and sweet. 

Thursday, Anna Claire had her md appointment.  We did labs because her nose is turning yellow/orange.  You can probably see it in her previous photo.  I wasn't worried that it was her liver because everything else is perfect, but I was worried about too much vitamin A.  She likes her carrots and sweet potatoes.  Well her liver looked the same, bilirubin low and enzymes still elevated.  So, most likely her diet.  I guess we are going to have to cut back on the orange veggies.  I am hoping to talk her md into stopping her vitamin on Thursday and just letting her get her vitamins from her diet.

Friday was so pretty, so we went outside after naps.  We had a lot of fun.  Amelia loves picking flowers and Anna Claire loved playing with the grass. 

Saturday was a lot of the same, but we did take a little walk around the neighborhood.  It was the first time Anna Claire didn't have her view blocked because of wind.  She loved her stroll seeing the neighborhood.  She just propped her feet up and relaxed. 

Sunday was rainy, so we played inside.  Anna Claire is doing so good sitting up.  She doesn't fall over anymore.  She loved playing with the little people zoo.  Drew and I were getting ready for church really quickly and left Amelia and Anna Claire in the living room/playroom alone for a minute and I went to check on them.  Amelia didn't know I was looking, and she leaned over and gave Anna Claire a hug and a kiss.  It was the sweetest thing and absolutely melted my heart!  I love my girls so much, and hope they love each other as much as I love them.

Me and my baby girl

My sweet baby all dressed up.  This was Amelia's Easter dress when she was a baby.  I had planned on AC wearing it this year, but I got them matching outfits.  So, she wore it a little early.

Amelia's first Easter in the dress.

AC sitting like a big girl playing with the little people zoo.  She loves it!  We are trying to get her to start drinking from a cup, but she is stubborn and just won't have it.

Just a warning to my friends reading this.  The flu is making a come back so be careful!  I'm pretty sure I got sick from coworkers, but Amelia had a friend at daycare with the flu.  I started her on tamiflu yesterday, so hopefully she will be ok.  I am praying Anna Claire doesn't get it.  Thank God for being so good to me.  Daddy is back home tonight, just in time to take over.

6 months

Anna Claire turned 6 months old yesterday!  My how fast this first half year of her life has past.  She has officially also been out the hospital for the longest period of time in her life.  So, very exciting!  She is such a fun little girl.  She just decided in the past week that she likes to sleep.  Yay!  She gets up 1 time a night, but that is a huge improvement!  We had plans to go to the doctor today for a check up and shots, but they called to cancel.  Apparently there were a lot of sickies there and they didn't want to expose her.  I really think they had just over booked him though.  But, it is nice to think that they were really thinking of our little girl.  I do know that there has been a resurgence of influenza b and strep, so I guess I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.  We are going tomorrow though, so we will see how much our chunky monkey weighs then.  She weights 17#s on our scale.  She is definitely a little chatter box.  Drew is hopeful that she is getting it all out of her system now.  She started saying dada about 3 weeks ago.  She can sit independently for a little bit.  She tries to reach for things and most times she can get back upright, but other times she lands on her belly.  But, I'm pretty impressed with her.  She still loves to jump.  She loves her food, and hates when anyone eats in front of her and she doesn't get to share.   She is working on her first tooth.  It was very dramatic at first, but I think she has gotten used to the pain because it doesn't seem to bother her so much anymore.  She just chews on everything in sit.  Her favorite chew toy is paper!  We give her all the junk mail and let her have at it.

Our sweet angel, growing so big!

Amelia at 6 months.  I really don't think they look very much alike, but maybe that will change.

 

Starting a new journey

Dr. Seuss had a birthday yesterday, so in celebration of him, the daycare is dedicating each day to him.  I love Dr. Seuss, but boy was it hard for me to dress Amelia for mismatch day.  I was thinking, how can I make her look cute unmatched.  And, then I remembered, that is not the point.

I tried to make her hair look like a Whoo.  It didn't make it to the end of the day, but it looked really cute.

Today was Anna Claire's first day of daycare.  She didn't participate in Dr. Suess, but she doesn't know that.  She seemed to do really well.  She cried a little, but I don't expect her to never cry.  She enjoyed playing with the other baby.  There are only 3 in there right now including her.  1 of the babies is a newborn, so not really playing so much yet. 

We started the day with Amelia reading a story to her little sister.  They are so competitive with each other already.  We are in trouble!  You can't tell in the picture but Anna Claire is trying to take the book, and Amelia is trying to prevent her from doing that.



As a tribute to Dr. Seuss,
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Saying the blessing

Last night, I was so proud of my little girl.  We were sitting around playing, and she just randomly just said, say the blessing.  So, we all bowed our heads, and Amelia said the blessing.  It was so sweet.  We say prayers every night at bedtime, but she just makes me or Drew say them for her.  It is nice to see that she is learning something from it, and it has some meaning to her.  She is such a sweet little girl!

Flashback Friday

3 years ago, Drew and I took a trip with some friends to Park Lake City, UT for some fun in the snow.  It was our last trip before we became a growing family.  We went in celebration of us both graduating the year before.  We had a lot of fun and look forward to taking the girls someday.