He Cares About the Little Things

Over the last several days, I have spent all of my free time trying to get Ella's two scrapbooks done. (I really want them done by her birthday and I have not even started one of them.)

Anyways, I have spent the last two days frantically searching for the ONE picture I took with my phone of her when we were getting ready to leave the hospital. Pray. Search. Pray. Make a page. Pray. Search.

Tonight I even asked my brother if I by chance had sent it to him, nope.

I was beginning to think I did not transfer all the pictures from the old computer before it crashed.

Every time I thought about the picture, I wanted to cry. You may think I am silly for getting so uptight about a single picture. But the truth is that I LOVE pictures! I make extra effort to take pictures of just about everything because these are special moments pass and I never want to forget them.

This picture was one of those special moments in time.

So here I was thinking about our computer transfer just a few minutes ago and it dawned on me that I had not looked in one spot on the computer. I ran back over to the computer and sure enough it was there. I know that God helped my find that picture. I cannot thank Him enough. I am so grateful that He cares even about the small things in my life that are important to me.

Still Here

Sorry it has been so long since I have written. Things here have been super busy. So here is a brief bit as to what we have been up to.

The last two weeks I subbed for the after school program that I worked for previously. Adam would come home from work and I would leave for work. He and the girls would eat dinner before I got home. Ella has been sick the whole time so she has been fussy. I also had praise team and a youth retreat in the mix. Kaylee has been such a good girl, which is a praise. Adam has been working on getting a few more sponsors for our local board gaming convention that we host every year. This week will be busy for Adam as he helps get the games packed and loaded, helps with name tags and goody bags, and helps get the raffle ready. He will also be setting up the room the night before.  My week is pretty laid back, thankfully. My biggest thing will just be taking care of the girls while he is out doing convention stuff and I am looking forward to not having much of anything else.

The convention is this weekend and I am pretty excited about playing games with people I normally do not get to play with. My in-laws are watching the girls so I will also be making some time for myself at some point.

What are you up to? Do you feel like February has just flown by? It definitely has for us!

Ella's Endeavors

Can you believe my little Ella is almost 1?

I seriously cannot believe it. Where has the time gone?

She is everywhere though as a blatant sign to me that she is nearing her first birthday. Especially when she is pulling up on the furniture. She does crawl some, but usually it is with one leg out. I call it her peg leg crawl. She still prefers to scoot on her bottom as her way of getting around.

Ella can say Da-Da, night night, Momma, hi, and I am pretty sure she says her own name sometimes.


She finally has two teeth on bottom and is working on two top teeth. It is so weird to me because Kaylee had a mouthful of teeth by this point.

The last week with Ella has been difficult as she has been really sick. It started with a fever and cold like symptoms. She slept on us pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday and has been super cuddly and clingy the rest of the week. By the 4th morning of fever I called her doctor. (I only waited that long because of their website information.) So on Tuesday morning I took her to the doctor to find out she has an ear infection and that some of the infection is in her lungs. The doctor gave her a breathing treatment while we were there to see if it would help at all. Thankfully, it did. After the appointment, I took both girls to CVS to pick up the antibiotic, the ear drops, and the medication for the nebulizer. (And was hoping the nebulizer itself.) CVS for some reason does not bill insurance for it so I could buy one from them or I would have to go somewhere else.  In the process of walking around CVS waiting, I called my insurance to see if they covered the nebulizer or if I would have to buy/rent one on my own. Insurance does cover the machine, but since CVS did not bill insurance I was going to have to make another stop. The agent was really nice and tried to help me find a place to get one, but unfortunately the number of the place she gave me was disconnected so I had to try to find a place on my own with the girls in tow. Fortunately, CVS knew that there was a place across the street that could bill insurance so I took both girls over there to see if they were in our network or not. While they were checking on that, I took Kaylee and Ella home to feed them as it was now 1. Thankfully, that place was in network so after lunch I went and picked up the machine. I got back to the house around 2:45 and got the girls into bed by 3:10. It was a very stressful afternoon. All of that was to let you know that Ella is now on breathing treatments 3 times a day for the next 2 weeks, hopefully weaning her off of them slowly. She seems to be feeling a little better as she has been playing more with Kaylee again, but she definitely is not back to normal.

Ella is a happy girl and loves playing with Kaylee. Hopefully, she will feel better soon!

Top Ten Things I NEVER Thought I Would Say As A Parent

As a parent, I have come to the realization that sometimes that things that come out of my mouth surprise me and make me laugh. Here is my current

Top Ten Things I NEVER Thought I Would Say as a Parent:

10. "Your diaper needs to stay on your bottom, not go on your baby." - Try not laughing when you walk in to your toddler's room and see her sitting in her own pee all because she put her dry diaper on her baby.

9. "Stay out of the toilet!" - Who knew the Sims game was so right when it came to babies? Ella is fast! She hears the toilet flush and she magically appears right next to it, pulling herself up to reach in and touch the water before I can stop her.

8. "Please stop putting toy dishes in your sister's clothes." - One night I could not figure out why Ella would not just lay down and drink her bottle. Finally, after holding her a few minutes I realized that she had a spoon under her back inside of her pajamas. No wonder.

7. "Girls, stop licking the gate!" - Tastes like chicken?

6. "Standing on your sister is not an option." - I wish I could know what is going on in their little heads.

5. "Molly (Kaylee's baby doll) does not go in the toilet." - Apparently the toilet is a doll bathtub. (Sidenote: no toy should go in the toilet.)

4. "Do not put your fingers in the cat's nose!" - It is bad enough when they put their fingers in their own noses!

3. "Please keep your fingers out of your poop." - What is with their interest with touching it? Ew!

2. "Do not throw the cat down the stairs!" - I knew the poor cat would get his tailed pulled and his whiskers yanked, but really.

1. "Keep it in the toilet, please." - I have girls. I never ever thought I would have to figure out ways to help my daughter not pee all over the seat. and the floor. and herself.

Strappy

As a last ditch effort to get myself out of my hobby slump of not doing any of my hobbies, I decided to sew a cover for my camera strap.

I like looking at a pile of cameras and knowing which one is mine. In this day and age where everyone has the same camera as me, it can be difficult to see which one is mine quickly. Enter the camera strap.

Plus, it looks cool.