And She's Off!!!

Ellington's walking has improved SO MUCH since she got tubes last week.  She can now walk quite a distance with no problem.  She is so very proud of herself and we are proud too!  These pictures aren't the best quality, but it's a little glimpse into Ellington's new world!

Saturday Living in Starkville

Ahhh...Saturdays.  Gotta love them.  Robert had to work a 12 hour shift Friday night (he normally doesn't work at all on Friday nights) so Ellington and I had Saturday morning all to ourselves while Robert got a little rest.  Ellington has been really into playing with her baby dolls recently.  It's so precious.  She loves to give them love, kisses, and take them strolling.

After playing for awhile in our pjs, we headed out and did a little grocery shopping.  Not long after we got home Bryant, LeAnna, and Emerson arrived.  They came to town for a baseball game.  We were SO excited to see them because we hadn't seen them any since Christmas Eve! 

Ellington took a nap and then we (Robert, E, and I) joined everyone (Pop, Pappaw, Bryant, LeAnna, and Emerson) at the baseball game.  We had a great time!  The weather was BEAUTIFUL again.

After the game we went to Little Dooey's!  What a perfect Starkville day....baseball and Little Dooey's. :)

Near the end Emerson got a little fussy and after a quick round of dance/sway/jiggle we found the perfect spot and he fell asleep.  I then settled into a rocking chair and really could have stayed all day!

What a fun day!  Hopefully it won't be another 2 months before we see Emerson again!  He's already growing so fast!

Feeling Better Already

{Strolling with her balloons from the Connerley family and new bunny from Grams & Pop}

As you can see, Ellington is doing fantastic one day after surgery!  We have had the best day and you definitely can't tell she was in the hospital yesterday!  Today was such a fun day for the two of us.  Based on other people's stories I was pretty sure it would be fine for us to go to school today, but that just seemed really crazy to me.  I know plenty of kids who have done it, but I really wanted to stay home with her.  It reeeally made me miss being home with her every day though.  I've been pretty sad lately that she has to go to school every morning.  We're still together (which is a HUGE blessing) but it's not the same as being at home.  But, today we took advantage of it!  We did a little browsing at some stores, got some cleaning done, and had lots of play time!  

The two biggest changes I have already seen in Ellington:

1) Her walking is SOOOOO much better!  She is so much more stable and confident.  It's truly amazing.

2) She isn't HYSTERICAL when I put her to bed.  Bedtime/naptime had gotten reeeeeally hard.  She would scream and scream when I layed her down.  She hasn't done that at all since she got tubes.  

So, we're definitely on the mend around here and are looking forward to a fantastic (hopefully ear infection free) spring!

Our Morning

Ellington finally got tubes this morning! She also had her adenoids reduced. She did GREAT and it really was not anywhere as traumatic as I was expecting! Everything went super smoothly.  We had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. so she was still pretty sleepy in this first picture!

We had heard from another mom whose little girl had this done last week that they got there at 6 and didn't have surgery until 9:15.  I was super worried about that because she couldn't eat or drink this morning.  So, I decided to borrow a portable DVD player from a friend to hopefully help make the time go a little faster!  Thankfully, Ellington was on her way to surgery at 8 so it wasn't too bad at all.

After surgery is suppose to be the worst part because they wake up so groggy and disoriented.  Everyone prepared us for the fact that she would be VERY fussy and would cry a lot.  Well, sweet Ellington just rocked and slept on me for the most part. 

Her lion also went in to surgery with her.  I love this little detail because Reagan gave Ellington this lion on her first birthday.  Reagan also has a beloved lion who traveled with her to tonsil surgery when she was about 5 years old.

Ellington is napping now and will hopefully be a super happy girl when she wakes up.  :)  Thanks for remembering us today!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

On Saturday afternoon Ellington attended her first MSU baseball game.  Robert, Ellington, and I met Pop at the game and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL afternoon.  I seriously couldn't believe it was still February.  70 degree weather?  Yes please.

I am one of those moms who LOVES to dress their child for every holiday and occasion.  I can't tell you how much it hurts my heart that she isn't wearing something MSU.  I had nothing.  My sweet husband (knowing this about me) offered for us to go buy something but we would have been late for the game and that seemed kind of ridiculous.  But seriously, she's wearing green.   She should be wearing maroon. :)

We had a FANTASTIC afternoon!

Counting Down to Tubes

In an effort to keep Ellington well enough to have surgery for tubes on February 23rd, the doctor recommended that she not go to school where she would quite possibly (and most likely) pick up something else.  So, Ellington stayed with my parents all of Monday and Tuesday and half a day on Wednesday so that I could still go to work.  To say I was nervous about leaving her is an understatement.  She had gotten sooooo clingy to me and a sick baby is hard to deal with anyway.  However, my mom posted pictures for me daily and I was able to see that she was just FINE!!!  In fact, I think they all had a great time!  Here are some of my mom's pictures!  (By the way, they make me envious of her camera!)

Monday morning.  I would say she was pretty happy! :)

Reagan was there on Monday and they made cookies!  

Grams, Reagan, and Ellington went to the park.  (Cookies AND the park??!!  No wonder she had fun!!!)

LOVE this face!

This is one of my ALL TIME favorite pictures.  Priceless.

On Wednesday Reagan came to Starkville and we had lunch together (just the 2 of us!) before heading to Philadelphia to pick up Ellington.  I was SO happy to have her with me because on the way home Ellington BROKE DOWN and Reagan put on a puppet show for her.  :)  When we got back to town it was a beautiful day so we went to Grumpy's for a little outdoor dining.

Reagan was able to keep Ellington Thursday morning for us and Robert stayed up after working all night and kept her on Friday morning.  I am SO thankful for my family and their willingness to help us this week.  I am even more firmly convinced that families aren't really meant to move away from each other!  Everyone needs each other in times like these! 

Lately

Let's see...where did I last leave off??  Oh yeah, it was Thursday morning and Ellington and I were enjoying a wonderful, cozy snow day at home together.  After nap things turned south pretty quickly. :(  It was obvious that Ellington did NOT feel good and was running a temp.  In fact, I was cooking and Ellington just layed on Robert.  Ellington doesn't just lay.  So we knew she wasn't feeling well at all.  Poor girl.

At supper Ellington fell asleep in my lap.  Again, never ever happens.  Her temperature was 102.5.  After supper we put her in her pjs and let her watch a DVD and she feel asleep again.  So, the poor girl ended up going to bed about 6:00 (an hour and a half earlier than usual). 

About 11 pm Ellington threw up in her bed. :(  That was definitely the most disgusting parenting task (or any kind of task for that matter!) that I have ever had to deal with.  The ENT told us that if Ellington didn't improve or got worse he wanted to see her again because if she is sick/running a fever she can't get her tubes in.  So I called the doctor's office about 7:40 Friday morning and they told me they could only see me if I came immediately so Ellington and I jumped in the car.  I signed in and they took us right back and we got to see the doctor immediately (what a blessing!).  As it turns out she also has tonsillitis.  So, she got a antibiotic shot and was prescribed a stronger antibiotic.  The doctor recommend that she stay out of school until after her surgery so that she doesn't pick anything else up because her immune system is currently so low.  So that definitely sent me into a tailspin about trying to figure out what we would do with her so I could continue to work as much as possible.  (I have already used all of my vacation and sick leave for the whole school year.) 

The picture below was taken Friday afternoon.  The shot kicked in and helped SO much!  Also, the green ball that we bought while waiting on our prescription helped too. :)

On Saturday we got a real treat!  Reagan came to spend the day with us.  It was nice to see another face and Ellington really enjoyed having someone so fun to play with!

We let Reagan choose where she wanted to go for supper and we went to Little Dooey's.  It was delicious as always.  I think our family picture is really sweet, although a little blurry!

On Sunday I went to church and Robert stayed at home with Ellington.  Here they are watching Elmo on my phone (kids these days!):

On Sunday afternoon Ellington and I went to Philadelphia. Ellington is going to stay with my parents for a couple of days. I was SOOOOO worried about leaving her because of her being sick and so clingy to me, but word is that she's doing great and having so much fun!!! This has been sort of a wild ride and I will be SO glad when she gets her tubes in on the 23rd. Hopefully it will make a big difference!

Snow Day

Hey Ellington, you don't have to go to school today!

Hooray!!!

The view out our front door:

Today we are enjoying our 4th snow day of 2011!  Crazy!!  We got lots and lots and lots of snow.  We didn't get out in it today though.  Ellington and I thoroughly enjoyed our morning playing inside together.  The picture below is typical Ellington.  She loves to crawl around the house with the wooden chicken leg in her mouth.  Silly girl!

Mickey Mouse and some goldfish for a mid-morning snack. :)

And....we practiced WALKING!!! :)