Remember us?

I'm sure that if my girls read my blog and knew that I had been failing to write about their important happenings they would be highly upset and sit down with me and have a chat about such disappointments.

So in hopes of appeasing them, and just remembering really sweet things about them, I will make a very humble attempt.

Ruby:

-Ruby is friends with everyone, or at least wants to be. Even if she has met you and doesn't remember your name she will say something endearing like "I'll see you tomorrow friend, maybe we can play."

-She does wonderful impressions of characters she has seen in movies and on T.V. My personal favorite currently is her Mother Goffel impersonation.


-Ruby is my most willing helper.

-She likes to climb up on the counter and help me with supper, and pretend she is the mom and will talk in an accent that I can't place and call me dear, and ask me to get things for her.

-She is good at bringing my emotions to the surface when she shares scripture stories during sharing time. She remembers them so well and is excellent at telling them.

-On Mother's day I was telling the girls things that I thought was special about them at the dinner table, as I was naming things off about Ruby I mentioned two things and smiled at her. She smiled back at me and said in a sing song voice. "Your forgetting something!" Love her.


Emma:

-She doesn't like to go bed early anymore and we have moved their bed time back but it now makes Emma sleepy during the day. I went to check on her and she was out cold. Later she came up stairs and I asked how her nap was, she scowled at me and said " I wasn't napping I was watching Cyberchase." She was out for quite a while. :)


-Emma is very particular about her name and likes to be called Emma and that is it. We of course enjoy calling her various things, and she hates it. We recently found a name other than Emma she likes to be called which happens to be princess. Occasionally we will just call her Emma and then she will cut us off and say "I like it when you call me princess too."

-Emma is only 3 and a 1/2, but she thinks she is a big girl. She runs around with Ruby and her friends and they treat her as an equal. It is going to be an interesting transition when Ruby starts school this fall.

-Princess lives in dresses, and has a particular fondness of dresses that spin.(big skirts that twirl.)


-Emma absolutely adores her primary teacher, and gets upset if he isn't there. There have been times that she has slipped out of the primary room to find him. I went to catch up with her and right at the moment I caught up with her she spotted Brother B. to her great delight. She shouted out in the hallway "Brother B! I was looking for you everywhere.

Eli:

-Is constant movement. He is almost impossible to photograph, due to his need for activity. Just when I think he is going to hold still he bounces up on his bum and lunges for the camera.

-He absolutely hates sippy cups of any kind.

-He is able to get finger foods into his mouth. Which I like much better than him picking it up, smiling and dropping it over the side of his high chair.

-He loves to squawk and show off his mouthful of teeth.


-Last week at church he was cruising along the bench and he came upon Emma's ankle and bit her. After we consoled her I turned to Jed and said "It brings a whole new meaning to ankle biters doesn't it?"



This is one of my favorite pictures, the quality isn't great, but it speaks volumes about how cute these two are together. I love when they make each other laugh. Such special little ladies.

Bubba's Party

We celebrated Eli's birthday the Saturday after his real one. It was spring break, and it was so nice of everyone to come even when they had the kids home.

Eli was a little more less cooperative because he was so tired. We had a lot of fun and Eli got spoiled. It was a great afternoon. Josie celebrated her birthday the same day but they had separate parties it worked out really well.

Bubby loved the cake. I think he got more on his face than he did in his mouth. He sure had a good time though.

Baby how you've grown!

A year ago tommorow, we welcomed Eli into our family. He came when he was good and ready, and after all of the waiting, it was incredible to hold him in my arms. We had a little boy! We love him so much. During this past year there have been many sleepless nights and worry, and certain points that I felt that my heart was going to break because I didn't want Eli to have to go through the challenges he has been given, and wondering if he would be ok.

All along the way we have been blessed with Eli's sweet smile, patient endurance with all of his tests and health concerns, and the brightest little spirit. He has taught me about life, and how to go through hard things with a smile on my face and faith in my heart that Heavenly Father is in the details, and is mindful of us.

We have been blessed with family, friends and skilled medical professionals that have made some very difficult periods bearable, by giving us a shoulder to cry on, or gentle words of encouragement and advice and on how to best meet Eli's needs.

What an incredible year it has been watching our "little" guy grow. Eli is a miracle to me, I am so thankful that he was sent to our family. He has brought us so much happiness. The girls adore him and love to make him laugh. He has the most happy laugh. I love this beautiful boy, and his sweet nature.

What a joy it is going to be to watch this little man grow as the years go by. It is so fun to hear him say "mom" or "ma ma" or "mam-mam" those words are so precious to me. I love seeing him cruises around the furniture, pull himself up to things, or hear him squawk for another bite of what we are having for dinner. He has such a bright future, and I have every reason that he will be able to live a normal life just like any other child.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Bubba! We love you so much!

Let's hear it for the boy!

Eli is crawling! I was worried for a while that he wouldn't because he could get where he wanted by either scooting or rolling. He has also acquired the skill of going from being on his tummy to sitting. This has been such an exciting step for him, and I myself have loved watching him achieve it because we have been saying for months that he would crawl soon, due to the fact that he has been getting up on his hands and knees and rocking for the past 2 1/2 months.

We sometimes have people at church ask us if we want to trade children because he is usually so content and rarely cries. I always smile but think in my head of asking if my emotional girls are part of the package swap. :) If you have ever seen Eli in person you would know that he likes to bounce up and down which means I have awesome mom muscles, and I had someone ask me if we had a Johnny Jump up at our house, to which I responded yes and then I was asked if our door frame are still in tact. :) His bouncing is intense.

I think it is interesting that sometimes when I worry about him and whether he is up to speed or not, I have three thoughts come to me.

1) Is it because of his Seizure disorders
2) Is it just his personality and he will do it when he is ready
3) Perhaps his size makes things a little harder to figure out how to manage his body (like crawling)

Jed often tells me that I worry too much, and he is right. I am so to have Jed as a sounding board for all of my concerns, he usually assures me that everything is ok, and helps me be calm. right now we are currently waiting to hear back from the Neurology dept. We are seeing some seizure activity breaking through. All incidents are very short, usually something like his back straightening up quickly like he has a chill, or his head dropping quickly when he crawls, or bending his head to the side. They increased his medicine a whole mL 3 weeks ago and it worked for a bit but it is breaking through again.

Eli is saying one word at this point. Mom. I am really liking it, he says it in a really drawn out way. I love it. We took this picture Sunday and it reminds me so much of a picture of my brother Spencer when he was a baby.



My mama has been asking politely for some picture of Eli so that she can do some digital scrap booking. I am pleased to announce that I am ready to oblige. Ruby got some great shots of him this morning as he was enjoying his mid morning snack of chicken and gravy(which my sister believes smells like catfood. I must concur.) and mixed veggies. Bubba has never met a food he didn't like.

February love

My mom had us over for a Valentine cookie making day a week ago. The girls loved it. Emma has been asking daily for me to drive her to Grandma's. We had a great time.



My amazing visiting teacher called me on Monday and offered to watch the kids so we could go out. It was seriously so nice. We hadn't been out together without any of the kids in 6 months. It was wonderful. Gina is so thoughtful and the kids had a wonderful time.

Eli has given me some Valentine love by sleeping through the night. It has been a long time in coming. But I am truly enjoying it.

On Valentines we made pink heart pancakes. It was a fun change.




At the beginning of the month we went to see my c0usin Lanette, we had lunch and had a good time visiting. The girls loved playing with photo booth on her computer. She sent me pictures but I can't seem to get them to post. We also visited University mall and the kids had so much fun playing in the tree house and on the dinosaur bones.



Ruby got registered for kindergarten and she insisted on coming with me, when we got there she was so excited! She asked me "When can I meet my class mates?" and "Can I take a tour of the school?" She will love school.

Confessions

*Sometimes I use a "mean voice" when Ruby would prefer a "nice voice." On occasion I feel ashamed of myself.*

*Extra Desserts gum is my new best friend.*

*I have a habit of falling asleep whilst reading with the light on. My utilities bill told me it was unhappy with me today.*

*I realized that I try to replace my feelings with food, so I don't have to deal with them. I am trying to change and sometimes I would like to tell my feelings to pipe down so I could enjoy a slice of pizza.*

*My mom always told me to be nice to my sister because we would always have each other. Those words ring true and I love having my sister only 1/2 a mile away.*

*I am a true worry warthog.*

*Sometimes I want to hold my children after they are sleeping, and I crawl in to their rooms and hold them for a little bit. Most of the time however they wake up, but not before I get to sit with them for a while and watch them sleep, and remember that what I do matters and how precious the time I have with them is.*

*I love my grandma-ish workouts.*

*I laugh at my own jokes.*

*I want to have a garden and eat cherry tomatoes to my hearts content. I miss the community garden more than I can say.*

*As a young woman, my friends and I adored bestowing upon one another wedgies to the point of panty rippage.*

Ukrainian Miracle.

I wanted to post about something that is really important to me, my neighbors. Yes you heard right folks. I have the most amazing neighbors, they are some of the happiest, most Christlike people I know. They have suffered a lot of tragedy, that could make those who have walked in the same shoes angry and bitter, however they have used those experiences to grow and become better people who are filled with compassion and love.

This past year they hosted 3 orphaned siblings from Ukraine. The children, 1 girl and 2 boys came and stayed with the Ceran family for 6 weeks at the end of the year in 2010. They are wanting to adopt these 3 beautiful children and were expecting to have 6-12 months to raise the funds necessary, but have recently found out that the children could be ready to come in March.

Their son Caleb has drawn an exquisite picture of President Thomas S. Monson and has been raising funds by selling prints of it. They are also having a huge garage sale on February 12 at the Rockwell Charter school in the Ranches to raise funds.

They have a website that tells about some of the Ceran families experiences and what brought them to the desire to adopt. They are such a wonderful family and the girls absolutely love them. Corrine who is the mom, often has the girls over to visit and play. Instead of calling her Corrine, my girls have dubbed her as Ceran. Whenever they see her, they scream out Ceran! Ceran! and they are always greeted with a hug and kind smile and genuine interest.

Very often we hear about things like this and we think to ourselves "I wish there was some way I could help." Turn your thoughts into action and you can help save these children and give them a home where they are loved and cared for and can have the opportunity for a bright and happy future.

Here is a link that will take you to their website, where you can get background information on the Ceran family, (they have been in the newspaper multiple times) find out about Christina, Sasha and Eddy, and find out how you can help.

http://www.ukrainianmiracle.com/

Yesterday the girls and I were sorting through some of our old things that we could donate to the garage sale and I found a pair of pant that are 3-6 month size that both of my girls wore as babies and we had Emma try them on and they still fit!