The Best Sound

There's no better sound than the laugh of a child, of course if it's your child it's the best. I was breaking up some noodles for part of supper and she thought it was hilarious when I threw them on the counter to break them up.

Patiently Waiting

She likes to comb my hair and hers, thus the pick in her hand.

I told her I could see Ben walking home from church and she stood at the gate and waited patiently until he came in the door. She has really been struggling lately when Ben leaves. It's been really busy for Ben at work with Confirmation, a wedding and preaching and I think Ellie's missing some of her daddy time.

A couple Ahh pics too

She thinks the whole saying "Ah" thing is sooo funny.

Say "Ah"

Our dear little girl is sensitive (like her momma). She tends to stuff her mouth with every piece of food on her tray and then cries when we tell her (in a very nice way) that she needs to swallow what's in her mouth before she can have more. She then cries and chokes on her food. After pulling her out of her high chair on numerous occasions because of the choking, we've resorted to feeding her one piece of food at a time. We also taught her to say "Ah" so we can see if she has any more food in her mouth because she tends to keep food in her mouth for hours.

Check it out. (sorry if the sneezing grosses you out)

My only regret is that I didn't grab the camera sooner. It's a yucky rainy day in WI. Ben is doing a wedding today along with Catechism this weekend and preaching. I'm looking forward to spending time with him at the wedding, one of our favorite things to go to together, it reminds us of the day we got married. :)

Another post about sitting

Eliana decided it would be fun to sit on her tower of blocks. She did it again and again and again.

Ellie has a Seat...on Mama

Eliana loves to find different things to sit on as you'll see from the next couple of posts. In particular she likes to sit on my face when I'm lying on the floor with her. I just happened to by lying on the floor trying to video tape her when she tried to sit on me twice.

Playing at Church

The weather's been getting nicer here in Wisconsin finally. I took Eliana to the church's playground in our backyard. That's the nice part about living in a parsonage, the church and school are right next door. Here are some clips from the last couple of days.

Cool Shades

Check out these cool shades from Aunt Julie. I get so many comments on them when I run with her. People have chased me down after we pass them to tell me how adorable she looks. Thanks Aunt Julie (and Uncle Jason of course).

More Crazy Hair

Here are some pictures Ben took of Eliana while I worked my last day at the Vein Institute. He always gets the crazy hair pictures. Maybe that's cause he doesn't have the patience to put her pig tails back in.

Play Date (From last week...oops)

Last week Ellie and I got together with Melissa and Evan again at the Mom and Pop Place for a playdate. We enjoyed our smoothie and chai while the kids played.

Some Pictures

Thanks Laura for the picture posting advice. Here are some pics of our silly little girl. We were able to get outside for a bit yesterday and I hope after her nap we can get out a little more today.

It's not working....again

Just thought I'd let you know I haven't been able to upload pictures to the blog. I'll get more up as soon as I can. I had my last day at the Wisconsin Vein Institute yesterday. It was getting to be to much in that Ben has been really busy lately and hasn't been home as much and I never seem to get out of that place on time. It was always difficult when Ben coached basketball especially because he would be almost late for his games. It's for the better anyway because I really wasn't getting to use my nursing skills and that was the whole reason for going back to work.

On another note, Pastor Raasch's wife (Pastor Raasch is Ben's associate) asked me if I'd be interested in working casual call where she works, Pinnacle cataract and eye surgery center. I checked it out last week and decided to work there instead. They are paying me 1 1/2 times the hourly wage I was getting at my other job, it's in Appleton (not 1/2 hr away), and I get to use my nursing skills again. I actually started my first IV last week since I worked in pediatrics at the hospital. That was a confidence booster. A lady who used to belong to our church is the nurse manager there and 3 other ladies from church work there as nurses, so I felt good about working there. Although, I met Dr. Vrabek last week and he asked me if I was in High School or College? I smiled and politely said I was a 26 year old mother who graduated with a bachelor of science in nursing in 2004. :) I hope I look so young 10 years from now. My primary role will be pre and post op, but I have the opporturnity to learn much more if I'd like.

She's Gettting Better

Our little girl is back to herself. Yeah!

Here's Little Ellie playing with her BIG box.

Good News....Bad News

The good news is that Eliana does not have influenza and her chest x-ray showed no pneumonia, but did show some peribronchial inflammation which is from her stuffiness and coughing. The bad news is she still has a fever and there's no magic pill we can give her to make her feel better.

Dr. Visit

We took Eliana to the Nurse Practitioner today as she woke up with a fever still. They swabbed her for influenza and did a chest x-ray for pneumonia, I'm doubting it's either of those. We will have to wait and see. Last night she refused to lie down, so I was concerned about her ears, but her ears look good. She woke up around 11:00pm and just screamed, so we went and rocked her and tried to put her down and she didn't like that one bit. We watched her in the video monitor and she eventually sat down, but didn't want to lie flat. You could see her little eyes opening and shutting as her little head bobbed up and down, side to side. She has literally been sick for a month (with the exception of a 3 day window, which is when she had her well baby check-up).

Here are a few pictures from when she was feeling better. She tried to take off her own pajamas, she unzipped them and got her arms out, but decided to stop there.

Lots of sleeping

Neither Ben nor I can believe how much Eliana slept today. She didn't wake up until 8:30, she ate breakfast and then went back to sleep at 9:00. She woke up again at 11:00, picked at her lunch and then slept more from 1:30 until 3:15. She let me rock her to sleep today at 7:00. It seemed as if we had her fever pretty much under control, but then she got terrible chills around dinner time and as I put her to bed she felt warm to me again. Not sure if it's a virus or the immunization, either way we're praying for her to get better.

Last night we had our friends Jenny and Drew over for some Chinese take-out and we watched "A Bee Movie". We always have a great time when we get together to them. The worst part is that we don't get together like we used to. Jenny and I used to coach volleyball together and the boys would tag along for our tournaments in Madison and Milwaukee. We'd spend the night and go out together. Now, our "night out" is ordering in and watching a movie (most times).

Even though she doesn't feel well, she still loves her bathtime.

Poor Poor Baby

Eliana is once again not feeling well. We took my mom out to lunch and noticed that Eliana was feeling a little warm. This probably explains her 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning. She finally was playing more like herself yesterday evening, but today it's now 8:00 our time and she still hasn't said good morning to us. She's usually up making noise at 6:00am. I'm not sure, but this could be from her immunizations yet, side effects can occur for up to 3 weeks post shot. We are just praying for our little girl to be healthy again.

Here she is playing with the band aids she took off her legs after her Dr. appt last week.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today is my mom's birthday. We thank God for giving us one more year with her. It's true what they say about not knowing what your mother went through until you're a mother yourself. I never knew the sacrifices my mom made until I had a daughter of my own. My mom has always been there for me and now for my family. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have as my mom. I pray that I can be half the mom to Eliana that she is to me. We love you mom and we think you're the greatest, Happy Birthday!

Like Usual....

.........the box is always more fun.

New Basketball Hoop

Eliana and I went to the store and came home with this basketball hoop.

Our Silly Little Girl

Our little girl is something else. She still continues to take off her shoes and socks when she's in the car. I watch her in the little mirror we have and she just gets the biggest grin when she takes them off. While we're driving I ask her what happened and she just laughs.

I can't believe it

I don't know what happened, I guess time just got away from me, I can't believe I haven't blogged in 4 days. I'll make up for it now though. I have been feeling quite a bit better and last night I was on the treadmill, maybe I haven't blogged because I'm trying to catch up on everything now.